Marion could join MCAA in 2004 years ago
A super-sized MCAA league may be on its way for the 2004-05 school year — and with it, a chance for Hillsboro to play Marion on a regular basis.
Three schools have expressed an interest in joining the MCAA: Marion, Wichita Independent, and Hoisington. Hoisington is the only school to have submitted a formal letter of application, which the league received this week.
Marion and Wichita Independent are facing the disbanding of their current league, the Cottonwood Valley League.
Hillsboro has been in the MCAA for a little over a decade, said USD 410 Superintendent Gordon Mohn. Currently there are 10 schools in the league: Ellinwood, Halstead, Haven, Hesston, Hillsboro, Lyons, Nickerson, Smoky Valley, Sterling, and Wichita Collegiate.
If the three new schools did join the league, that would open up the opportunity to have "east" and "west" divisions, said Athletic Director Max Heinrichs. Right now, Hillsboro is the most eastern school in the league.
Having more nearby schools to play — especially Marion, which is just 10 miles east of Hillsboro — would make traveling to away games easier.
In the west division, Hoisington would be the farthest away — 98 miles.
Of course, everything's tentative at this point, but school officials seem optimistic.
"The schools we're bringing in will enhance our league," Heinrichs said. "It could be a super situation for us."
And there's no doubt that the Marion-Hillsboro games would draw good crowds, he said.
Schools all over the state are watching leagues get bigger and bigger, said Hillsboro High School Principal Dale Honeck. It would be better to have more conference games to play than to have to travel great distances — such as Wellington and Great Bend — to line up games, he said.
Also at Monday evening's USD 410 Board of Education meeting, board member Reg Matz had a league-related inquiry: Why are varsity volleyball games scheduled for 6 p.m.?
During this past season, HHS volleyball matches have often run late into the night, some going past 11 p.m. The varsity girls played two matches, each rally scoring, and each with the "best out of three" format.
Games used to be scheduled for 6 p.m. in order to give officials time to get to the games after their regular jobs, Honeck said. But that's not a good reason today, he said.
According to Mohn, the 6 p.m. guideline was also put in place to respect schools who didn't want volleyball games cutting in on "instructional time" during the normal school day.
But when you have the volleyball team traveling back to Hillsboro at midnight on a school night, you know something needs to change, Honeck said.
