High school athletes’ loyalties could be divided in Marysville

Published 2:07 pm Monday, February 23, 2009

MARYSVILLE — Chargers by day. Tomahawks by night.

Marysville Getchell High School students may go to class draped in green, gold and black, but sport red-and-white uniforms on the field.

Marysville athletic director Greg Erickson wants to wait at least a year to establish junior-varsity and varsity teams at the new high school.

Marysville Getchell would open in 2010 or 2011 with freshmen through seniors. Erickson’s controversial proposal is for the new high school’s varsity and junior-varsity athletes to play for Marysville- Pilchuck High School until the 2012 to 2013 school year.

“The class of 2011-2012, those kids have been Marysville-Pilchuck athletes their entire career in the high school level,” Erickson said. “A significant percentage want to finish their senior year at MPHS.”

At a meeting last week, some school board members said the plan may hamper school spirit and send the wrong message to athletes.

“It seems kind of ridiculous to want to start out as this really tough, great team — because that gives the message that being less than that isn’t great,” school board member Darci Becker said. “I totally don’t agree with being a Marysville Getchell student playing under the Marysville-Pilchuck name.”

The issue is further complicated by the unusual way the district’s two biggest high schools will be divided. Instead of splitting the schools along geographic lines, with kids going to the school that’s closest to them, students can choose which school to attend. They are supposed to pick based on their academic interests. Marysville-Pilchuck and Marysville Getchell will each house smaller schools that emphasize different academic pursuits.

Once Marysville Getchell opens, if kids want to switch to a school at the other high school, they’ll have to sit on the sidelines or play for junior-varsity teams for a year, according to Washington Interscholastic Activities Association rules.

Some parents worry that kids will pick small learning communities based on athletics, not academics.

If the first few groups of Marysville Getchell upperclassmen aren’t allowed to play for the Tomahawks, some would probably switch schools before MG opens in order to continue playing with their teams, said Helen Ashley, president of Tomahawk Booster Club.

She supports Erickson’s proposal.

“For kids who have been at MP for a couple of years already to have to move off campus to a new program, especially for seniors, that might be difficult,” she said. “I think that would alleviate a lot of the issues surrounding kids having to make those hard choices. It would also then give Getchell a chance to build teams from underclassmen up.”

Both of Ashley’s children will have graduated by the time the new school opens, but she said parents and students are already worrying about the transition.

“These kids invest a lot of money in equipment that bears the colors of their school — letterman jackets, the whole bit — if you’re forced to make that move, you’ve lost all that,” she said.

Uncertainty over when the new high school will open is one of the main reasons Erickson is pushing to delay high school sports. School officials told voters in 2006 that the school would open in 2011. Voters then passed a bond paying for most of the $96 million school.

Now school officials hope to open the school a year early in 2010. On Thursday, the district’s capital projects director John Bingham said Marysville Getchell could open anytime in 2010.

Delaying varsity and junior-varsity athletics would take some pressure off construction crews worried about deadlines, Erickson said. Because sports schedules are grouped in two-year blocks, the delay would also make it easier for MG to move into the league schedule, he said.

“It would be irresponsible for us to commit to having a varsity program when we don’t even know when we’re going to be in the building,” Erickson said.

He didn’t know of any other schools that had opened with seniors, but without a varsity program.

The Snohomish School District endured an emotional transition to a two-high-school town in September. Glacier Peak High School opened with varsity teams, but no seniors. Juniors are the oldest kids on campus.

School officials listened to parents and talked with officials from other new schools before deciding to field varsity teams, Snohomish School District athletic director Mark Albertine said.

While some Glacier Peak teams have lost by wide margins, many have succeeded beyond expectations, Albertine said. Overall, starting with varsity teams has been good for the school, he said.

“At first, yes, I was concerned that there was going to be the disparity in scores and I was concerned that we wouldn’t be able to compete, but as I talked to the other schools who had gone through this before and I looked at the coaches we had hired and the type of athletes we had, my concerns were somewhat eased,” Albertine said. “Because I felt that in most areas we were going to be able to compete — and maybe not win league championships, but at least be able to compete — and that’s kind of come to fruition.”

Because of their classifications, Snohomish and Glacier Peak teams didn’t have to play each other this year, and likely won’t for a while, Albertine said.

In Marysville, both the Tomahawks and the Chargers will probably be in the same classification, Erickson said. With an estimated 1,200 to 1,400 students each, the schools will likely face off in playoffs.

He said he’s run the plan by Washington Interscholastic Activities Association officials and they approve. The Marysville School Board will have the final say.

Erickson is eager to finalize the plan, so coaches, parents and athletes can begin planning for the transition.

“That’s the most important thing,” Erickson said. “We don’t want to hit people by surprise.”

Kaitlin Manry: 425-339-3292, kmanry@heraldnet.com.