AD
Here is your latest Weekend Sports Brief featuring sports results we might not have had ample time to get published on the website earlier this week:
NFHS: 8 million+ participants competed in high school sports in 2023-24 academic year
Press Release
INDIANAPOLIS — More than eight million participants competed in high school sports in the 2023-24 school year – an all-time record and the first time ever that total participation has exceeded the eight-million mark.
The NFHS High School Athletics Participation Survey indicated that 8,062,302 participants were involved in high school sports in 2023-24, which is up 210,469 from the previous year and tops the previous record of 7,980,886 set in 2017-18. The total includes 4,638,785 boys and 3,423,517 girls – both record highs – according to figures obtained from the 51 NFHS member state associations, which includes the District of Columbia.
The 2023-24 total marked the second consecutive increase after numbers tumbled during the pandemic. Since the initial survey after the pandemic, participation in high school sports has increased by 444,248 in two years which represents a turnaround from the decline that started the year before the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We are thrilled to learn that participation in high school sports has exceeded eight million for the first time,” said Dr. Karissa Niehoff, CEO of the NFHS. “The comeback from the pause of school sports during the pandemic has been so gratifying and certainly indicates the staying power of education-based sports in our nation’s schools. We salute coaches, athletic directors, and other school administrators for making these experiences happen for student-athletes.”
Two of the biggest storylines are the increases in all forms of high school football – boys and girls – and the continued rise in both girls and boys wrestling. Eleven-player football remained the most popular boys’ sport and registered an increase for the second consecutive year from 1,028,761 to 1,031,508. There also was an increase in 8-player football participation from 23,812 to 26,420.
The biggest gains in football, however, came on the girls’ side, particularly with the emerging sport of flag football. The number of participants in girls’ flag football more than doubled from 2022-23 to 2023-24. A total of 42,955 girls participated in flag football in 2023-24 compared to 20,875 the previous year – a 105 percent increase. And from the 15,716 participants in 2021-22, there has been an increase of 173 percent. There also was an increase in the number of girls competing on 11-player football teams from 3,654 to 4,094.
Including boys and girls competitors in 6-, 8-, 9- and 11-player football, and girls and boys participants in flag football, the overall football total for 2023-24 was 1,118,705 – an increase of 28,825 from 2022-23.
Another highlight is the sizeable jump in wrestling – boys and girls – for the second consecutive year. An additional 32,443 boys were involved in wrestling last year, jumping from 259,431 to 291,874. Since the 2021-22 season, there has been a gain of 60,000 in boys wrestling – an amazing 25 percent increase. And participation on girls’ teams has continued its historic rise as well with 64,257 participants last year – an increase of 102 percent from the 31,654 in 2021-22.
Outdoor track and field, volleyball, and soccer all registered increases and remained the top three participatory sports for girls. Track and field increased four percent to 506,015, followed by volleyball at 479,125 and soccer at 383,895. Although the number of participants was down about 6,000, basketball (367,284) remained in the No. 4 spot followed by fast-pitch softball (345,451), tennis (195,766), cross country (192,989), competitive spirit (181,023 – up 20 percent), swimming and diving (138,174) and lacrosse (101,204).
Outdoor track and field, and soccer had significant gains on the boys’ side as well. After 11-player football and outdoor track and field (625,333), the rest of the boys’ top 10 include basketball (536,668), baseball (471,701), soccer (467,483), wrestling (291,874), cross country (239,381), tennis (157,835), golf (155,174) and swimming and diving (116,799).
The number of participants in Esports and Unified Sports also registered increases in 2023-24. A total of 27,051 students participated in Esports last year, which included 23,041 boys and 4,010 girls – an increase of 3,129 participants from the previous year. The survey indicated a total of 51,502 participants in the 15 Unified Sports, up from 42,010 in 2022-23.
Texas (859,301) and California (834,103) remained atop the list of state participation. New York (341,454) remained in third, followed by Pennsylvania (336,946), Ohio (323,117), Illinois (320,603), Florida (299,398), Michigan (289,740), New Jersey (280,798) and Minnesota (224,179).
The NFHS High School Athletics Participation Survey was started in 1971 and was compiled in its current form through the 2018-19 school year, resuming annually with the 2021-22 survey. The complete 2023-24 NFHS High School Athletics Participation Survey will be available soon on the NFHS website at www.nfhs.org.
Eastern Illinois hires Teeters as swim coach
News Release
CHARLESTON — Eastern Illinois University director of athletics Tom Michael has announced the hiring of Scott Teeters as the Panthers’ next head swimming coach. Teeters becomes the tenth head coach in program history. Teeters brings nearly 40 years of coaching experience to EIU, including 25 years at the collegiate level. He has led Division I programs at Eastern Michigan, Oakland University, and most recently Gardner-Webb. He has also served as head swim coach at Olivet Nazarene University. At Olivet, Teeters led his teams to three national championships, including back-to-back men’s championships in 2016 and 2017, and a women’s championship in 2017. His swimmers earned over 40 individual and relay national championships with a pair of NAIA national records. Teeters was named NAIA Coach of the Year four times while more than 100 of his athletes were named CSCAA NAIA All-Americans over six years. “I would like to thank Dr. Jay Gatrell and Tom Michael for this exciting opportunity,” said Coach Teeters. “Their leadership goals for the EIU swim program align perfectly with my vision for transforming Panthers swimming into a life-changing endeavor. I want to create a place where our athletes can return in 10 years and still feel like they belong”. Teeters spent the last five years teaching and coaching high school swim in Kankakee, Illinois. Under his direction, Teeters’ girls’ team went undefeated in 2019, while his boys’ team scored the most points in a sectional in 22 years. Teeters has an additional three years as the girls’ varsity swim coach at Novi High School in Novi, Michigan, where he produced 12 High School All-Americans. On the national level, Teeters has served in multiple leadership roles for USA Swimming, spending time as the national select camp coach, national age group camp coach, Team Michigan head zone coach, and member of the Michigan Swimming Board of Directors. Teeters’ teams have also excelled in the classroom, consistently achieving GPAs of well over 3.0. At Olivet, his 2018 team led the nation in Academic All-American selections (6) with a cumulative GPA of 3.59 while the 2017 women’s team ranked first nationally with a GPA of 3.63. “We are excited to welcome Coach Teeters as the head swim coach of the Panthers program,” said athletic director Tom Michael. “Scott brings an accomplished background developing championship swimmers in and out of the pool. I look forward to him providing some stability and leadership for the young men and women who are EIU swimmers.”
SIUE soccer men draw vs. Michigan State, women overpowers Chicago State
News Releases
EDWARDSVILLE – SIUE’s Nic Muench scored the equalizer Thursday as the 25th-ranked Cougars came back to earn a 1-1 draw with Michigan State on opening night at Korte Stadium.
Patrick Coleman collected the assist, slotting a ball between two defenders from the right sideline. Muench finished from just outside the six-yard box to the far post.
Michigan State took an initial lead in the first half when Sean Kerrigan converted a penalty in the 38th minute.
The Spartans outshot SIUE 12-4 and held a 6-3 advantage in shots on goal. Nacho Abeal led the Cougars with a pair of shots, including one on goal. Jake Karolczak also had a shot on frame for SIUE. SIUE goalkeeper Rob Gjelaj made five saves in his first regular-season start for the Cougars. MSU goalkeeper Zac Kelly made two saves.
SIUE takes a week off before traveling to Ohio for a pair of games. The Cougars will meet Ohio State on Aug. 29 and Dayton on Sept. 1 in OSU’s Wolstein Classic Tournament.
Meanwhile, also in Edwardsville, Savannah DeFini scored a hat trick and the SIUE women’s soccer rolled to a 6-1 victory over Chicago State Thursday at Korte Stadium.
SIUE was successful for the sixth straight season in the home opener and improved its season record to 1-0-1.
DeFini started the SIUE scoring spree at 8:26 on a pass from Kaitlyn Nichols in the box.
Matea Diekema, the two-time OVC Defender of the Year, scored her first goal of the season at 17:37 from DeFini.
Aleah Minehart made it 3-0 by halftime on an unassisted goal at 39:52.
DeFini scored the next two SIUE goals to begin the second half, the second on a penalty kick at 50:44.
Kasey Neidhardt added the final goal of the game for SIUE at 57:54, taking a Sidney Christopher pass.
Abby Haskell and Samaya Hogg shared time as the team’s goalkeeper. The duo each played 45 minutes.
No SIUE player was on the field for more than 70 minutes in the contest. Chicago State, 0-3, was outshot by SIUE 20-8.
Next up for SIUE is a 1 p.m. contest Sunday at Missouri State.
SEMO women fall short vs. Southern Illinois
News Release
CAPE GIRARDEAU – Southeast Missouri women’s soccer (0-2-0) fell on Thursday night to Southern Illinois (1-0-2) by a final score of 1-0 from Houck Field. The Salukis edged the Redhawks in shots for the match with an 11-8 advantage led by Guliana Ballstreri (2). Two Redhawks registered multiple shots on Thursday as freshman forward Alli Saviano and midfielder Elizabeth Rater finished with two shots apiece. For Saviano, the start was the first of the season for the freshman from Columbia, Mo. due to the first match of the season (8/15) being postponed. She played the full 90-minutes in Thursday’s match. Four other Redhawks played the full 90-minute shift on Thursday in Rater, Kristin Anderson, Alayna Jakul, and midfielder Justi Nelson. Nelson finished the match with a shot-on-goal. The Redhawks and Salukis played to a 0-0 draw at halftime behind a save from goalkeeper Sophia Elfrink. SIU outshot SEMO 7-4 in the first 45. Sophomore goalkeeper Madison Geisler started the second half for the Redhawks as she made a save late in the second half. The Salukis got on the board midway through the second 45 as Sophia Schlicklin took a pass from Dana Cruz and scored past Geisler to give SIU a 1-0 advantage. SEMO would not go away quietly. Elizabeth Rater, who scored the goal on Sunday night, fired another shot from distance that was knocked away by SIU goalkeeper Fabiana Solano. The goal proved to be the difference as the Redhawks could not find the equalizer to give SIU the 1-0 victory. Looking Ahead: SEMO Soccer will be back in action on Sunday, September 1, when they host Indiana State. Kickoff is slated for 1 p.m., CT. from Houck Field.
For more sports news, follow Jake Leonard on Twitter @JakeLeonardJRN and Heartland Newsfeed @HLNF_Bulletin on Twitter.
Additionally, you can follow Heartland Newsfeed on Facebook and Reddit among other platforms. You can now follow our news updates on Telegram and MeWe.
Support independent journalism. Become a patron on Patreon for as little as $1 a month. There are other donor options as well.
Get the latest news updates on our radio network via Spreaker, TuneIn, and other platforms.
Like this:Like Loading…
Discover more from Heartland Newsfeed
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.