1 week Ago By CHRIS BASNETT Lincoln Journal Star
The largest high school in the state won't have a varsity girls basketball program this season. Grand Island Senior High announced Friday morning it had canceled the 202425 varsity season because no junior or senior girls had gone out for the sport. The shocking move comes from a school with a total student population of 2,070 in grades 9-11 — the largest enrollment in Nebraska.
Grand Island's girls enrollment of 967 in grades 9-11 is also the largest in the state. "We're committed to this program. And it's because of our commitment to cultivating girls basketball at Grand Island — and our state — that we are taking this difficult but innovative approach," Chris Ladwig, GISH activities director, said in a news release.
"We want to provide the best student-athlete experience we possibly can for our kids. Right now, we don't have the numbers to roster an upper-class varsity team. So, our focus will be to continue developing our freshman and sophomore players and put together a 'full court press' towards re-building our youth programs in our community.
" Grand Island will have freshman and reserve teams this season, and head coach Kathryn Langrehr and her coaching staff will remain with the program. The Grand Island coaching staff "will be at full capacity to accommodate spending more time investing in our youth and middle school programs, along with developing our freshman and sophomore players," the news release said. "We stand behind coach Langrehr and her vision for this program — she has our full support," Ladwig said.
According to Grand Island's news release, discussions were had with middle school and high school parents and student-athletes throughout the process of deciding to cancel the varsity season "to ensure the commitment to the program remained at the forefront." The news comes on the heels of the renewed debate of how to handle Class A football. Omaha Benson earlier this week canceled its remaining two games because of low numbers, and last week, Lincoln High ended its game against Millard South at halftime because of low numbers and the lopsided nature of the contest.
Millard South led 63-0 at halftime. In girls basketball each of the next two seasons, Omaha Bryan and Omaha Buena Vista, two Class A schools, will co-op for girls basketball. "Unfortunately, we're seeing a trend across the state," Grand Island superintendent Matt Fisher said.
"Numerous high schools across all classes are facing challenges with fielding teams for girls basketball. As difficult as the decision is to not offer a varsity schedule for a year, we agree with our activities department and girls basketball coaching staff that we need to be more proactive in building long-term solutions for the program. "In this case, that means taking a step back so we may develop our student-athletes the right way.
We remain committed to girls basketball and to student experiences." Grand Island hasn't won more than three games in a season since going 7-17 in 2016-17. In the seven seasons since, the Islanders are 11147 and have lost 43 of their last 44 games.
Grand Island last had a winning season in 2009-10, when it went 15-7. The Islanders haven't qualified for the state tournament since 2007, and haven't won a game at state since 2000. Since finishing second in Class A in 1980, the Islanders have made just seven trips to state in 44 years.
Now, the program will try to rebuild from the ground up. "The Islanders aren't going anywhere." Ladwig said, "For us, it starts by developing our young high school players and recalibrating our youth programs.
" reach the writer at (402) 473-7436 or [email protected] . On Twitter @chrisbasnettLJs.
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