The Month of March, Beyond the Madness
Dr. Karissa L. Niehoff, NFHS Chief Executive Officer
And this year has been no different, as magical March moments have been produced all over the tournament landscape.
In the NCAA men’s tournament, there was sharpshooter Jack Gohlke leading 14-seed Oakland University over the 3-seed University of Kentucky, and 13-seed Yale University’s upset of No. 4 seed Auburn University. In the women’s bracket, University of Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark helped the Hawkeyes edge West Virginia University in the final home game of her storied career and Tara Vanderveer’s Stanford University Cardinal fended off Iowa State University in an overtime thriller to advance to the Sweet Sixteen.
Earlier this month, the Yuma High School boys basketball team went on a thrilling run to the Colorado High School Activities Association Class 3A title, grinding out their quarterfinal, semifinal and state final contests all by a single point; and in Missouri, the St. Louis Incarnate Word Academy girls team capped a perfect 31-0 season with their seventh consecutive Missouri State High School Activities Association championship, while extending the nation’s longest high school basketball winning streak to an astounding 131 games.
And while these unforgettable storylines are every bit deserving of the increased media coverage and fan intrigue, a brighter “spotlight” on the hardwood can overshadow those illuminating other scenes in the bigger picture. Often lost in the March hoops hysteria are the outstanding achievements of student-athletes, coaches and administrators in other sports.
For instance, on March 2, the Brecksville-Broadview Heights High School (BBHHS) gymnastics program claimed its 21st consecutive Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) state championship, adding to the longest high school gymnastics state title streak in the history of the sport. It was trophy No. 24 overall for the Bees, who trail only Essex (Vermont) High School (28 state titles) as the most successful program in the country. Head coach Maria Schneider has guided BBHHS to its last five crowns and previously served as an assistant under her parents, Ron and Joan Ganim, the architects of the BBHHS dynasty.
In addition to earning its 28th gymnastics state title in February, Essex High School was in the news again on March 5, when longtime teacher, multi-sport coach and assistant athletic director Melba Masse was honored prior to the Vermont Principals’ Association (VPA) Division 2 girls ice hockey state championship game. Masse, who coached basketball, cheerleading, field hockey and softball at Essex and co-founded the highly successful Vermont Student Athletic Leadership Conference, created the regular-season schedule for each of the VPA’s 50 seasons of ice hockey, and will now have the association’s ice hockey championship trophies named in her honor.
On March 9, just 60 miles down the road from where the OHSAA state gymnastics meet was held in Columbus, eighth-grader Autumn Hartman of Philo set the state record for a squat with a 325-pound lift at the Ohio High School Powerlifting State Championships in Kenton. Hartman later tacked on 380 pounds between the bench press and dead lift for a three-lift total of 705 pounds, which won her the state title for the 125-pound weight class.
And speaking of powerlifting, how about the HERCULEAN effort put forth by Dwayne Coleman at the Louisiana High School Athletic Association state competition this past weekend? The senior from Salmen High School in Slidell wowed the Cajundome crowd with a state-record 900-pound squat, bending the bar with a whopping NINE 45-pound plates on each side. Coleman’s scored squat of 875 pounds was added to his 500-pound bench press and 630-pound dead lift for an otherworldly total of 2,005, which made him not only the Division II champion, but also the state’s strongest high school lifter of all time.
There was an early-season milestone on the baseball diamond last week as well, as Hartselle (Alabama) High School coach William Booth notched his 1,199th and 1,200th career victories with his team’s sweep of Muscle Shoals High School. The Alabama High School Athletic Association’s (AHSAA) all-time winningest skipper and a member of the AHSAA Hall of Fame, Booth needed just 36 seasons to reach the 1,200-win plateau and owns a career winning percentage of .700 (1,200-515 record). The nine-time state champion also has the second-most wins of any active baseball coach listed in the National High School Sports Record Book and sits at No. 5 in the all-time rankings.
It’s unlikely that any other sport will ever challenge basketball as the headliner of the month of March, but as we take in these young men and women reveling in their “One Shining Moment” on the court, let’s remember the thrill of a lifetime being experienced by those involved in other sports and activities as well.
Online link to article: https://www.nfhs.org/the-month-of-march-beyond-the-madness/
Dr. Karissa L. Niehoff is in her sixth year as chief executive officer of the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) in Indianapolis, Indiana. She is the first female to head the national leadership organization for high school athletics and performing arts activities and the sixth full-time executive director of the NFHS. She previously was executive director of the Connecticut Association of Schools-Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference for seven years.
