Still no state meet for high school golf and cross-country teams in Illinois amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

But boys’ cross-country, girls’ cross-country, boys’ golf and girls’ golf teams in the state received a bit of good news on Wednesday afternoon.

The IHSA Board of Directors voted to expand the state series in those sports, adding a sectional meet on top of the previously planned regional meets.

The vote took place during a special meeting that was called to specifically address sectionals for those two sports.

“Despite the challenges of this school year, our Board has remained committed to providing the most rewarding postseason experiences possible,” IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson said in a statement. “Given the relative success we have had safely conducting cross country and golf this fall, the Board asked our staff during the September Board meeting (on Sept. 14) to explore the possibility of expanding beyond Regionals to conduct Sectionals as well.”

The sectional meets will now mark the end of those respective seasons, which were initially scheduled to end after regional meets in late October. Golf sectionals are slated to run the week of Oct. 12-17, with cross-country sectionals expected to take place Oct. 29-31.

Earlier on Wednesday, the IHSA released regional assignments for boys’ and girls’ golf, with those events taking place Oct. 6 at golf courses throughout the state.

In golf, the top two teams and top four individuals in each regional will advance to sectional play. Cross-country will have five teams advance from each regional to sectional, with no changes in how individuals typically qualify to advance in the postseaosn.

The IHSA said it attempted to maintain COVID-19 regions and keep participant levels as low as possible when making assignments, but in some cases, generally those involving schools on or near a COVID-19 region border, schools were assigned to a tournament outside of their COVID-19 region.

“Given the timing, our greatest challenge will be finding hosts, especially in cross country,” Anderson said. “We have been granted exemptions to compete outside the COVID Regions in instances, for example, where assigning schools on or near a region border creates better balance in the number of participants at a site. Based on the feedback we have received, we expect some schools will choose not to participate beyond Regionals. We respect those decisions, but still want to provide as many opportunities as possible.”