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Activities director highlights state appearances, conference championships and staffing gaps
Summary
Activities Director Mitch summarized strong winter sports and activities results — including the girls hockey program's first state tournament win — and warned of ongoing shortages of officials and some coaching vacancies.
Mitch, the district's activities director, updated the Marshall Public School District Board of Education on winter athletics and activities, highlighting state tournament appearances, multiple conference championships and staffing challenges.
"We are the front door to the school," Mitch said, describing the visibility activities bring to the district and framing the update on team results, program participation and event staffing.
Mitch recognized the girls hockey team's trip to the Minnesota State High School League tournament, noting the squad opened at the Xcel Energy Center, beat Fergus Falls in overtime — which Mitch said was the first girls-hockey win in school history — and finished with a 2-1 loss in the consolation championship. He named players who were recognized: Lily Stelter, Brooklyn Mulk, Mia Wickman, Abby Gerard, Maddie Gerard and Abby Foley.
The update listed several successes across athletics and activities: multiple Big South conference championships (boys soccer, volleyball, boys cross country, girls hockey, wrestling and girls basketball, depending on division availability), several state qualifiers in volleyball, cross country, girls hockey, wrestling and football, and individual state participants in swimming and wrestling. Marching band placed third at the state festival at U.S. Bank Stadium; a BPA group of 42 members was headed to state; the math team and speech competitors also advanced to higher-level competitions.
Mitch described staff and operational supports at the high school: Amber Gorder serves as the full-time administrative assistant at the high school; Alissa Christensen is the event coordinator responsible for game-day staffing; trainers Matt and Aaron work seasonal hours (about 25 hours/week in fall, 30 in winter, 20 in spring). Mitch said the activities department includes about 85 coaching/advisor positions supporting 43 programs and that about 55 registered participants had been counted so far, with roughly 61% student participation districtwide.
He also warned of ongoing challenges: a shortage of officials and judges that sometimes requires officials to be brought in from hours away, and open coaching positions for robotics, junior-high golf and junior-high track. Mitch asked for help from the community with paid game-day and volunteer positions.
Board members congratulated teams and coaches recognized at the state and section levels. Mitch closed by noting continued communication improvements, including weekly emailed updates to high-school staff and building administrators listing bus dismissals and activity highlights.
