Marion High School (Wisconsin)

Marion Junior/Senior High School

District	Waupaca Public Schools
School type	Public
Religious affiliation	None
Opened	September 1971
Location	Marion, Wisconsin, USA
Enrollment 2005-2006	305 students
Grades	7-12
Campus surroundings	Suburban
School Mascot	Mustang
School colors	Blue, Gold
School Hours	8:05 AM to 3:17 PM
Average Class Size	15

Marion Junior/Senior High School is a high school in Marion, Wisconsin that serves students in grades 7 through 12. It has an enrollment of approximately 200 students. The school colors are blue and gold and the mascot is a mustang.

Marion School District

The school district comprises territory along the boundary of Shawano and Waupaca counties, and includes the communities of Caroline, Leopolis, and the Town of Pella. At one time, Caroline had its own elementary school, however, because of small enrollment it was sold to the local American Legion group. Students from Caroline have attended Marion's elementary school since the early 1980s.

Although Marion has had several high school and elementary buildings in its history, the main building has usually been on School Street in downtown Marion. The elementary school and the high school were at one time in the same building. A fire in 1985 caused high school classes to be moved to the elementary school, while elementary classes were moved to various locations around Marion, such as churches, while a new high school, connected to the old gymnasium, was built on School Street. The separate elementary building for K-6 is located five blocks north of the junior-senior high school, just off Main Street. A field house was added to the elementary school in 1998, where many events are now held.

Extracurricular activities

Marion High School has extracurricular programs, such as music, FFA, FCCLA, forensics, and other academic groups. Every year, students represent the school at state and national levels in FFA, as well as at state competitions in music and forensics.

Athletics

Marion High School participates in the Central Wisconsin Conference - small division, or CWC-Small, in the following sports: cross country, football, volleyball, basketball, cheerleading for both boys and girls; baseball, softball, golf, and track and field. Local churches and groups also sponsor summer baseball and softball teams and tournaments.

Wrestling

Although Marion High School discontinued its wrestling program because of declining participation, the school had its first state champion, Sam Buckett, in 1997.

Track and field

Marion High School has had several state champions in track and field in recent history, including pole vaulter Gordon Zietlow, who set the school record of 15'6" in 1995, taking first at the state meet. Zietlow ranks sixth among all-time Wisconsin high school pole vaulters.^[1]

Cross country

The cross country program was discontinued for many years because of declining involvement, however, it experienced a resurgence in the late 1990s. This was followed by the boys' team finishing seventh at the state meet in 1997.

Softball

Under head coach Deb Malueg, who also serves as elementary school principal, the softball team has qualified and won the state tournament several times, the last time being in the early 1990s.

Baseball

Coach John Bartelt^[2] led the baseball team to many victories and state competitions until his retirement in the early 1990s. Since then, the team has had all-conference players. The team captured its first WIAA State Championship in 2009, coached by Head Coach Joe Morrison and Assistant Coaches Jeff Smith and Brett Shauger.

Ken Frailing of the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Cubs is a Marion High School graduate.^[3]

Golf

With the building of Marion's first community golf course, Perry's Landing, the students requested and received a golf team. .

Basketball

Basketball has had moderate success over the years. Most notably, the girls' basketball team nearly dethroned conference powerhouse Iola in the regional playoffs in 2000. Unfortunately, after Marion led most of the game, Iola came back to win.

Dick Bennett, former basketball coach at the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay, University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point, University of Wisconsin–Madison and Washington State University, began his basketball coaching career at Marion High School.

Football

Marion had no varsity football victories from the 2000 season finale until 2007. However, MHS won four games during the 2007 season, ending the seven-year victory drought.

Beginning in the 2009 season, they combined with Tigerton High School. The co-op team will be known as the Marion-Tigerton Thundercatz. The co-op was created due to declining numbers for both schools.

Notable alumni

• Teri Barr,^[4] television anchorwoman
  • Stephen Niemuth,Hydrogen Safety - California Fuel Cell Partnership
• David Michael Duffey - author, freelance writer & professional dog trainer; 23 yrs as hunting dog editor for "Outdoor Life" magazine.

References

1. ^ http://www.wisconsintrackandfield.com/listsrecords/boystopPV.html Wisconsin High School Track and Field records
2. ^ http://www.woodchucks.com/2007_Press_Releases/1-21-08.shtml
3. ^ http://www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/submit/Sargent_Jim8.stm
4. ^ http://www.channel3000.com/station/4345413/detail.html

External links

• Marion High School, Marion, Wisconsin