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Verona athletic director reports steady participation, improved GPA and multiple postseason finishes
Summary
The Verona Area School District athletic director told the school board winter participation stood at 231 athletes, semester GPA rose to 3.44, and district teams and individuals recorded several conference, regional and state-level successes.
The Verona Area School District athletic director reported to the school board that winter athletics participation stood at 231 students and that student-athletes’ semester grade-point average rose to 3.44 for 2024–25.
The update said winter participation is lower than fall because football and soccer — which together account for about 250 students in the fall — are not in season. “So we have 231, with sports participants. That is a little bit down from fall,” the athletic director said.
The director highlighted academic and competitive milestones. The semester GPA for student-athletes rose to 3.44, “up 1 hundredth of a point,” he said. The athletics program recorded 133 varsity letter winners this year, 39 of whom were first-time letter winners; eight athletes earned letters in a second or third sport. He also noted several postseason accomplishments: a regional title in boys basketball, a regional title in girls basketball and multiple conference championships across programs.
Individual and team results cited by the athletic director included one individual state champion in floor exercise (identified in the report as Zoe Marconos, a junior), nine individual podium finishes in sports such as swimming, diving and gymnastics, and state-level team finishes for swimming. He said the boys swim team placed second in Division 1 team competition, the best finish in the program’s Division 1 history, and both boys and girls teams had strong sectional and state showings.
The director described cooperative programs with neighboring high schools: girls hockey was run as a co-op led by Middleton with support from Madison West, Madison Edgewood and Madison Memorial; girls gymnastics is a co-op with Edgewood; and co-op wrestling and hockey arrangements were noted. He praised coaches and staff for leadership and named multiple conference coach-of-the-year honors, singling out Lexi Richardson (girls basketball) and others.
On program development, the athletic director said girls wrestling participation grew to about 20 wrestlers and that the conference has begun offering girls’ wrestling championships. He described a newly launched student-led athlete leadership group and an alumni update feature to highlight postsecondary student-athletes. He also said interim head coaches from the fall are returning and that spring sports and conditioning were beginning.
Board members thanked the athletic director for emphasizing student academic performance alongside athletic success.
The athletic director closed by noting the district is in the process of hiring a boys’ volleyball coach and that spring sport calendars and a districtwide athletics kickoff meeting are being scheduled.
