| MAL to send out invitations (12-9-11) |
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| Written by Chayse Held Sentinel Sports Staff |
| Saturday, 10 December 2011 02:19 |
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KANSAS — The Midland Athletic League will be sending out an open invitation to area high schools to join its league. Acting president of the executive board of the MAL, Lakota superintendent Rebecca Heimlich, confirmed Friday that the league will be posting an open invitation to any schools that may be interested in joining the league. The MAL is left with nine member schools, only five of which play football, after Carey, Mohawk and Seneca East formally presented letters of withdraw from the league in a meeting of the league’s schools on Thursday. Heimlich stated that no formal contact or discussions with any other outside schools have taken place. She added that invitations will eventually be sent out to certain schools, but declined to comment on any specific schools that the MAL may be targeting. “We will be posting an invitation to any schools that might be interested, and then we will be sending some invitations to schools also,” Heimlich said. “We’re just kind of leaving our options open at this point.” Carey, Mohawk and Seneca East will begin play in the newly formed Northern 10 Athletic Conference in the fall of 2014. Current Northern Buckeye Conference schools Elmwood and Woodmore, which applied and were subsequently denied membership into the MAL less than three years ago, are widely rumored to be targeted by the MAL this time. Gibsonburg, of the Toledo Area Athletic Conference, is also among other schools being named as a possible replacement. “We’re going to post (the open invitation) and see who might be interested,” Heimlich said. “The ideal situation would be to bring the league back to where it was, which would be three (new) schools. “We’ve not formally invited any other schools,” she added. “Have we had discussions? Heavens yes we’ve had discussions. But we haven’t formally invited any other schools at this point. The posting will go out first and then some invites.” On Thursday Elmwood superintendent Tony Borton stated that Elmwood is staying in the NBC. “If the MAL holds a meeting ... Do we go? Do we not? Do we listen? In my opinion, no. But there are differences of opinion there,” Borton said. “Some people say you’ve got to listen to see what the options are, but I don’t. The NBC is where we’re at and that’s where we stay.” The MAL will hold its next regularly scheduled meeting on Jan. 10. Heimlich stated that the process of finding replacement schools could be delayed with the holiday season approaching. Heimlich added that the remaining MAL schools appreciated Carey, Mohawk and Seneca East formerly turning in letters of withdrawal at Thursday’s meeting. The schools technically did not have to do so until next school year, and now the league can begin moving towards finding replacements. “We were all saddened by it ... The MAL is an awesome league to be in. I think we’re good supports for each other,” Heimlich said. “It’s hard to lose those three schools. They’ve all been in the MAL for a long time. “It was nothing about the MAL, and they were very up front about saying that over and over again, that they’re not leaving because they’re disgruntled. They’re leaving because of geography and where their schools are and where that other league is. “We really think they weighed this out and pondered it for a while and made very thoughtful decisions.” Heimlich added that although the situation the MAL now finds itself in is obviously not ideal, the league plans on moving forward aggressively. “There’s a lot of change going on right now with a lot of leagues and a lot of schools. Sitting in a superintendent’s seat, you do have to think about all the pros and cons for your district,” she said. “Sometimes that makes for tough decisions. “I’m saddened that the MAL has to even look for any other schools right now, because we really enjoyed those schools,” Heimlich added. “But we’ll move forward. We have to move forward to keep the integrity of the league.” |
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