MARION -- A team needs five players to compete in basketball.
Marion made the best of its situation this season as just four boys -- grades nine through 12 -- went out for the sport. Marion's administration planned ahead and filed a hardship with the South Dakota High School Activities Association in the spring. The hardship requested permission for Marion's four players to join Canistota's team for the season. The SDHSAA accepted the request, along with a co-op for the two schools beginning in the 2015-16 school year for all sports but football and wrestling.
"We did what we thought was best," Marion Superintendent Terry Winegar said Monday. "When you don't have any bench and would have to bring up an eighth-grader, that's not fair to anyone."
The four Marion students who are commuting to Canistota to play with coach Pat Jolley and the Hawks are Lincoln Langerock, Carson Gross, Greg Engbrecht and Koleman Matthies.
"It's been good because it's added numbers to our practice with kids who have varsity experience," Jolley said. "It's a great opportunity and they get to play basketball. The kids have come together quickly."
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The Hawks, who are in District 8B, open the 2014-15 season against Irene-Wakonda on Monday in Irene. With Marion out of District 9B, the district has just five teams vying for the title. Every other district in Class B has six teams.
Jolley added the junior high programs, which include the seventh- and eighth-grade teams and fifth- and sixth-grade squads, are in a co-op now, with the junior varsity and varsity teams joining officially next season.
