MARION -- Summertime is sports statistics time for the Unit 2 Board of Education, which heard on Tuesday night about the past year's action from Marion High School Athletic Director Ryan Goodisky.
"It was another good year for Marion athletics," said Goodisky, who noted the overall number of participants was at 401, barely down from the previous year's 405.
"Hopefully, we can stay above 400. We have a lot of freshmen coming in," he said.
Kerry Martin's gridiron squad had a roller-coaster ride over the past three years, Goodisky noted, from 98 players in 2016-17 to 69 the following year. This past season, there were 87 suiting up for the blue and gold.
Goodisky attributed the fluctuations to small class sizes in certain years.
"The numbers are back up to normal. Seeing the kids in the weight room, we could be back up to 90."
A big change for football will be with the switch to district play, he said, with the Illinois High School Association starting an experiment in the scheduling of games. That change, however, is not due to take place for two more years.
Another big highlight was the Lady Wildcat soccer team which won a regional title.
"So fun to watch," Goodisky said. The squad broke the MHS record for most wins and Coach Jaime Clark Verbeck was named SICA coach of the year. The Wildcats will head to central Illinois for the Forsythe Invitational to kick off the new year.
Girls basketball had just 13 members, "a down year", Goodisky reported. Past years had 20 to 25 players. "But all the pieces are there. Hopefully, the numbers will go up," he said.
"We've got to recruit more kids in bowling," Goodisky said. The program had five boys and six girls this past year.
Bass team numbers have dropped, as well, with 20 anglers this past year compared to 24 and 32 in the years before. Goodisky wanted those numbers up.
"Let's get as many kids in as we can," he said.
Goodisky also tallied the number of overall wins for the South Seven Gold Cup, an award he curates himself. Marion sits in third with 77, tantalizingly close to first-place Belleville Althoff with 79.5 and Carbondale with 78. Of course, Goodisky wants to win that cup.
"We're right there," he said.
The board, with president John Barwick, Vice President Joseph Bleyer and members Brandi Bradley, Cindy Gibbons, B.W. Bruce and Steve Cook voted 6-0 on coaching positions for the next year, including Martin as football coach, Beth Mitacek for volleyball, Gus Gillespie for boys basketball, Mike Manfredo for girls hoops and Marty Manfredo for baseball.
