NRHEG School Board
By REED WALLER
Staff Writer
At a brief special meeting held Monday evening, NRHEG Superintendent Dr. Dennis Goodwin announced he was recommending making Wednesday, March 19 a non-school day if the NRHEG girls’ basketball team is victorious on Friday and are seeded first for the upcoming state tournament.
Until now, pairings for the Class AA state tournament have been set on a predetermined rotation. But this year seeding has been approved for Class AA, and on Sunday, March 16, participating coaches will decide on seeding from strongest to weakest.
The first game of the Class AA tournament, featuring the top-seeded team, will be held at Mariucci Arena, University of Minnesota, Wednesday, March 19 at 2 p.m.
Given the early game time, the approximately three hours’ travel and unloading time from New Richland to the University of Minnesota, and the time necessary to organize and load buses, that would put the time for all students to be dismissed at shortly after 9 a.m. Is it feasible to hold school for only one hour? Board members were in agreement that it was not.“We will be discussing details such as bus scheduling, the reallocation of snow days and the assignment of teachers as supervisors at the regular meeting next Monday,” said Goodwin.
No action was taken, pending the results of that night and Friday’s games, and the seed assignments.
Board members told this reporter a large (and non-refundable) block of rooms at a metropolitan hotel has already been reserved for visitors to the state tournament, and some plan to stay whether the Panther girls reach the tournament or not. But as of this writing, with a close (for them) 45-34 victory in the semifinals, they remain undefeated and ranked No. 1 in the state, having soundly beaten the No. 2 and 5 ranked squads.
If the Panther girls, who have been regularly trouncing their opponents with double-digit leads, defeat Norwood-Young America (20-5) Friday, they will make their third consecutive trip to state, seeking their second consecutive championship.
The winner of next Wednesday’s game will play seed 4 or 5 at 6 p.m. on Friday, March 21 at Williams Arena in the semifinals, and the championship game will take place at 12 noon on Saturday, March 22, also at Williams Arena.
Not just another snow day!