Warsaw Athletics Highlighted At School Board Meeting
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David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
On average, athletes at Warsaw Community High School during the 2012-13 school year had a higher grade point average than non-athletes. The GPA comparison was part of the information Athletic Director Dave Anson presented to the Warsaw School Board Monday night. The average GPA for all WCHS students, including athletes, was 7.97. For male students, it was 7.62, while it was 8.42 for females. Taken separately, the average GPA for WCHS athletes was 9.78; with male athletes averaging 9.39 and females averaging 10.16. On Warsaw Community Schools’ 12-point scale, a 7.0 is a B-, an 8.0 is a B, 9.0 is a B+, 10.0 is an A-, 11.0 is an A and a 12 is an A+. Broken down by sport, the overall team GPA for cheerleading was 9.75; girls golf, 9.64; girls cross country, 10.54; boys cross country, 10.02; football, 8.58; boys soccer, 8.82; girls soccer, 9.82; volleyball, 11.2; boys tennis, 10.68; girls basketball, 10.18; gymnastics, 9.27; girls swimming and diving, 10.62; boys basketball, 9.55; boys swimming and diving, 9.93; wrestling, 7.85; girls track and field, 10.64; softball, 9.45; girls tennis, 10.59; baseball, 8.96; boys golf, 10.23; and boys track and field, 9.32. In starting his presentation to the board, Anson noted some recent athletic achievements. During the 2012-13 athletic year, the boys teams combined to win the Northern Lakes Conference All-Sports Trophy, with the girls being runner-up to Northridge. Boys soccer was state runner-up, and their trip to the Final Four last year was their third-straight trip. The girls basketball team reached the Final Four, he said, while Warsaw had a mental attitude winner in cross country. The high school also had finalists in swimming, golf and wrestling. “This year has started off much the same, and it’s been fantastic,” Anson stated. Of seven teams this fall, Warsaw has had two NLC championships, with every other team finishing at least runner-up. WCHS had five sectional champions, one regional champ and Nikki LaLonde was an individual state qualifier in girls golf. “Not only are the young men and women winning championships and having great experiences in high school, these young men and women are preparing themselves for beyond. We had 47 student athletes over the last two years go on to play at the collegiate level,” Anson said. From the class of 2012, 23 student athletes were signees for collegiate athletics. Of those, five are in NCAA Division I, one is in Division II, six are in Division III, 10 are in NAIA and one is in NJCAA. Anson said basketball player Jay Holladay could be added to that list as he’s chosen to walk-on at St. Francis. From the class of 2013, there are 24 student athletes who were signees, including eight for Division I, five for Division II, four for Division III, three for NAIA and four for NJCAA. More important, Anson said, is that all 21 of the athletic teams performed on average higher than non-student athletes when measuring GPA. “First of all, there are nine of these teams that are 10.0 or above. That’s phenomenal,” he said. While the football and wrestling teams may have the lowest GPAs of all the 21 teams, Anson said there are more than 100 student athletes on the football team. “They’re still, with an 8.58, much, much higher than the WCHS male average,” he said. “So, again, while they’re way down there at 8.58 ... that is almost a B+ average. So that is still pretty, pretty tremendous.” He noted the wrestling team has about a “B” average. “It’s tremendous how well our student athletes are doing in the classroom,” Anson said. Board member Jay Baumgartner asked what the requirement was to participate in athletics and if that was a certain GPA. “It’s not a grade point average, it’s a credit,” Anson answered. “The IHSAA mandates that students, to be eligible for student athletics, they must be enrolled in and having passed the previous semester 70 percent of the credits offered at the school. So at WCHS, they need to have earned five credits the previous semester and in the semester they are competing in, enrolled in at least five credits. So, it’s not necessarily a grade point average.” He noted that this past fall, not one student athlete failed to meet the grade requirement. There was one scare, but that student ended up passing that class. Every varsity athletic program also completes a service-oriented project, Anson noted. Some groups work with Miller’s Merry Manor, he cited as an example. Anson stated WCHS hosted more than 230 regular season events, more than 20 varsity and sub-varsity tournament or invitationals, nine IHSAA sections, two regionals and two semi-state events last year. Based on tickets sold and estimates of fans from visiting teams, Anson said WCHS athletics is generating revenue for the community. Regular season and IHSAA post-season events brought an estimated 14,000 visitors to Warsaw, he said. That generated thousands of dollars from meals, gas and shopping at local stores. “All of that has helped ... to create a very stable athletic department. Through increased revenue from ticket sales, advertising, very conservative spending in budgets and things that are purchased outside of team budgets, we’ve gone from a little under $50,000 as a year-end balance from 2007 to slightly over $100,000 in 2012,” Anson relayed. He said Warsaw had the opportunity to renew with Adidas. “What was once a $9,000 bonus of product over a three-year period, because of our renewal, it has more than doubled over a three-year period, so that’s a big help,” Anson said. The state of Warsaw’s finances has allowed it to do things “it normally wouldn’t be able to do,” he added, noting the wind screen around the soccer facility. Board member and former Harrison Elementary Principal Randy Polston asked if any of the money generated from the athletic department trickled down to the elementaries. Anson said, “Absolutely.” Commenting on facilities, while Warsaw has some “fantastic” ones, Anson said some are in need. The baseball field has several issues, including aging dugouts, rusted and leaning fencing and a lack of running water in concessions. He showed a photo of a very muddy football field from the Oct. 19, 2012, Penn vs. Warsaw football game. An official told Anson after the game he was “very close” to canceling the game after the third quarter because it was so saturated and nearly unplayable. Though the new stadium was started in late 2003/early 2004, and completed by 2006, it’s had ongoing drainage problems. “The soils there are still there. This year we dodged a lot of rain drops and it didn’t hold up much better,” he stated. Gymnastics lacks a full-time spring floor and space. The team spends roughly 20 minutes to set up for practice, and another 20 to tear down and store equipment. He stated an auxiliary facility certainly would be welcomed.
