Article by Jenna Jochum
Athletics in the state of Nebraska are very competitive, along with some very talented athletes that have a lot of potential to compete at the next level. The conference tournament is where some of the best teams and best athletes make a run at just one of three championships they are hoping to win their season—conference, district, and then state. The Greater Nebraska Athletic Conference (GNAC) is the conference that the Norfolk Panthers are currently competing in with four Class A and four Class B schools. The GNAC consists of Columbus, North Platte, Kearney, McCook, Lexington, Scottsbluff, and Hastings.
The level of the schools also depends on the sport; North Platte was Class B for boys' tennis this year for the first time, but they were Class A for other sports. Columbus will be one of the few that will be added into Class B in all sports next year; therefore, the level of competition in Norfolk's conference is not as strong as if we were in a conference of all Class A schools. For geographical and rating reasons, some of the teams in this conference want to explore and play against more teams in the metro and Lincoln area. Norfolk has been in the talk and speculation of wanting to join the Heartland Athletic Conference (HAC), which would consist of Lincoln East, Lincoln Southeast, Lincoln Northeast, Lincoln High, Lincoln Northstar, Lincoln Southwest, Fremont and Grand Island. Being added to this type of conference would put Norfolk against teams that they face on a regular basis. The Metro conference is another conference that Norfolk applied for, but Norfolk compares to the HAC more by size and demographics.
I was able to ask a couple of teachers/coaches how they felt about this change for the sake of their teams and for the Norfolk Panthers.
"I believe this change could be a very positive one for our school. Either conference would give us the opportunity for some exciting games during our conference tournament. Both conferences would also be a better fit geographically than the GNAC. Overall, I think it would be a great move for our school," Jared Oswald, coach, said.
"There are many opinions on this topic. Our coaches met with Mr. [Dennis] Dolliver [activities director] during the fall. Each coach had opportunities to share his thoughts and ideas. Ultimately, our coaches voted to ask to join the Heartland conference. Based on the feedback of our coaches, we feel this would be a positive move if it works out," Ben Ries, coach, said.
"The change would be positive - it lets you build a program around the types of schools that you are going to be competing against on a regular basis. If you want to be successful, you need to compete against the best competition available. If we are a Class A school, we need to be competing against Class A competition all the time," Kelly Krueger, tennis coach, said.
The HAC seems like the most reasonable and most suitable conference for Norfolk to join. Do not get me wrong; I love spending time on the bus with my teammates, but an eight-hour bus ride to Scottsbluff or a four-and-a-half hour long ride to McCook gets very exhausting after the first two hours. Getting the chance to play against some of the top teams in the state as much as a person can, no matter the outcome, is always very beneficial for teams to perform to the best of their abilities and create strong mental toughness.
For more articles like this, please see the rest of the January 2016 Panther Newspaper!
