MORAN — In March, Marmaton Valley High celebrated one of the best girls basketball teams in school history. The Wildcats won 15 games and came within a game of advancing to the state basketball tournament for the first time since the mid-1970s.
A mere seven months later, and the program will not field a team this season.
Principal Byron Campbell notified USD 256 school board members the high school had an insufficient number of girls who signed up to play basketball this season, forcing him to put the program on a one-year hiatus.
The decision came after Byron reached out to the 30 girls enrolled in grades 9-12 to gauge their interest.
“With volleyball, we’re sitting at eight players, and some indicated they didn’t want to go out for basketball,” Campbell told the Register. “We brought them all in for a heart-to-heart, to see how many were truly interested.”
Four girls said they “were definitely” interested. One other said maybe. Two others said they would in a pinch, but would rather not.
“Looking at the numbers, we could have guaranteed five players,” Campbell said. A typical roster requires 10-12 players.
THE DECISION prompted other discussions to see if those interested could play for another school.
But doing so would require the schools to enter into a cooperative, Campbell explained.
“The problem with co-ops is that even if you’re using just one player, you have to count the entire student body with your team,” Campbell said.
For example, if even just one Marmaton Valley player suited up for Crest, it would bump the team up to Class 2A. Uniontown would go up to 3A; Iola to Class 4A.
“None of those schools would be willing to go up a classification for one student who’s not in their district, and we understand that,” he said.
With no team to coach, Mykayla Ard, who was recently hired by District 256 to succeed the retired Becky Carlson, will serve as an assistant on the junior high boys squad this season. “That’s where the numbers are,” Campbell said.
“We’ve been in contact with Mykayla the whole time,” Campbell noted. “She’s a new coach, so this will allow her to get the fundamentals.”
A team meeting this week indicated 18 boys were signing up for junior high basketball. Campbell said a girls meeting will be held this week to get those numbers.
