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GIRLS BASKETBALL, 2012:
Devon Brecke of Wagner, 1,874 Points, Career, and Marie Malloy of Parkston, 1,814 Points, Career entered the South Dakota Girls Basketball Record Book. They are joined by Kieran O'Malley, Centerville, who has one season remaining in her career; 1,887+ Points, Career; 55, 3 Pointers, Season; 3 Pointers, Career, 155+.
UPDATED SOUTH DAKOTA GIRLS BASKETBALL COACHES RECORDS, 3-2012:
SEE: BASKETBALL, GIRLS
UPDATED SOUTH DAKOTA BOYS BASKETBALL COACHES RECORDS, 3-2012;
SEE: BASKETBALL, BOYS
SOUTH DAKOTA CLASS AA HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL: A DIVISIONAL PROPOSAL
The current discussion amongst Class AA football schools in South Dakota involves the separation of the top 16(17) teams into two divisions. The current proposal involves dividing the schools by existing enrollment numbers. We believe that the potential divisions should not be created by arbitrary, current enrollment figures but by actual performances (wins-losses) over the previous number of years. The top eight teams would be in the Upper Division, the remaining eight/nine teams would be placed in the Lower Division of the Class AA High School football schools. This process is currently utilized by several sports leagues; Two examples are: locally the Sioux Falls area Church League, slow pitch softball; Internationally, the Premier League in soccer.
We have compiled the comprehensive records (overall, including playoffs) for the seventeen schools that have played Class AA football in the past eight years. We have also compiled their records for the past three years and past five years. These breakdowns provide insight into how the divisions could have progressed in the past decade. You can see the actual trends that have developed.
See: Comprehensive Records, South Dakota Class AA Football in the Football Records Section.
Myths: Facts:
Sioux Falls currently has 156,000 people as compared to around 80,000 in 1981 when the football playoffs began. Over 14,000 of those people who live in Sioux Falls do not live in the Sioux Falls school district. Areas of the City of Sioux Falls belong to the Harrisburg, Brandon Valley, Tea, Lennox, and Tri-Valley school districts. So the real population of the Sioux Falls School District is around 142,000 people.
You also have to keep in mind the size of Sioux Falls Christian high school. In 1981 they didn't have a football program and there were around eighty students in high school. Today they have two hundred and forty students in high school and have a football program. With the growth of Sioux Falls Christian another 3,000 residents have been taken out of the public school situation. These factors reduced the real growth of the Sioux Falls School District by nearly 19,000 residents. Has the Sioux Falls School District really grown from 80,000 to 156,000 residents?
Four of the six biggest schools in the state; Rapid City Central(0), Sioux Falls Lincoln(1), Rapid City Stevens(1), and Aberdeen Central (0) have won a combined two state championships in Class 11AA football since 1981. This is the same number, two that Spearfish has won in the same class during this time period. Spearfish has won as many state championships at the Class AA level as has Sioux Falls Washington, two.
Sioux Falls O'Gorman is smaller than seven of the eight ESD schools.
Rapid City Central has never played in a state championship football game since the playoffs began. Sioux Falls Lincoln has played in one. Rapid Stevens has played in two. Aberdeen Central has played in only three. These are four of the six biggest schools in the state.
NATIONAL FEDERATION HIGH SCHOOL RECORDS BOOK
Mariah Press and sdsportshistory.com efforts to document the high school sports records is reflected in the South Dakota records included in the National High School Records Book published by the National Federation of High School Associations.
Special performances highlighted in the 2011 Edition include Sioux Falls Washington's Rueben Narlin's four golf championships during the 1930s. Special basketball performances by the girls' team from Baltic in 1999, and exceptional shooting displays by Mandy Koupal of Wagner, and Jenny Bridge of Hanson are highlighted. The boys' section includes the exceptional number of state championships won by the Mitchell Kernels.
In the football section of the National Records Book, Sioux Falls Washington is the national leader with 37 high school football championships (35 mythical, 2 playoff titles). Aberdeen Roncalli's 11 consecutive shutouts in 2006 is tied for fourth on the all time, national records list.
Only three states, Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota play extensive 9-man football seasons. As a result the more thorough and complete South Dakota records permeates the National Records Book lists. Most currently established South Dakota 9-man records are also considered national records. The National Records book is being converted to a digital format, quite similar to the sdsportshistory.com site. The 2012 National Records book will be available this fall in the digital format. nfhs.org/content.aspx
