Market News: DJIA - NASDAQ - S&P

VALLEY CITY -- High school baseball teams in North Dakota will switch from aluminum bats to wood in two years, under plans approved by the state activities association.

The North Dakota High School Activities Association board of directors voted 10-1 Tuesday to make the switch in Class A and B baseball, starting in the fall 2007.

"Our baseball coaches believe it is best for their game," NDHSAA Executive Secretary Sherm Sylling said.

Fargo activities director Ed Lockwood said the switch would prevent injuries.

"It's a safety issue," he said.

Lockwood said he will recommend the use of composite wood bats to help offset the cost of the change. Composite wood bats, a combination of wood variations, are slightly more expensive but are considered to be stronger and longer-lasting than regular wood bats.

Wood bats could mean fewer home runs for batters and lower earned run averages for pitchers.

"It will probably bring bunting back to the game," Sylling said

In other action, the board voted 9-2 to move Jamestown to the West Region in all sports, starting next year. The move was made necessary when Beulah announced it was switching to Class B.

Beulah's switch left eight teams in the West and 10 in the East.

"It's a hard pill for them to swallow," Lockwood said. "It's kind of bittersweet because you hate to see them go."

Jamestown already was a member of the West Region in football and boys and girls soccer. The Blue Jays also competed in the West in every sport in the 1930s through the mid-1960s.

Jamestown athletic director Jim Roaldson said many in the community did not support the move.

"The thought since this fall was that we were not voluntarily going to go," Roaldson said.

Roaldson worries the move will increase Jamestown's travel budget, with the Blue Jays' average road trip increasing from 105 miles to 158 miles.

"It's not all negative," Roaldson said. "We now have the positive of being in one region and that creates continuity."

Also, the board voted to contribute $1,000 to join in the National Federation of High School Associations' new Steroid Educational Materials Project next year.

The project does not involve drug testing, but includes educational pamphlets, booklets and DVDs that address the dangers of steroid use.

"It would be facetious to think that there is nothing going on in our state concerning steroids," Sylling said. "We want to make sure we have the correct information in the hands of our school leaders."

The NDHSAA board voted 6-5 for a recommendation to hold the state track and field meet in Bismarck "every year."

Bismarck already had the meet for the next four years.

"I think that Bismarck has the best facility in the state," Lockwood said of the Bismarck Community Bowl. "But saying 'every year' is like saying it's never going to move."

Lockwood said the board could reconsider the track meet site if another city asked for the event.