The Examiner U-46 News FeedU-46 Board approves boys lacrosse application By Seth Hancock
The Board of Education in School District U-46 voted unanimously in favor of an application to create a cooperative boys lacrosse team across all five high schools at its Dec. 13 meeting.
Superintendent Tony Sanders said the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) requires the board’s approval of the application.
Fil Torres, East Aurora High School’s athletic director (AD) and the president of the Upstate Eight Conference (UEC), stated in a letter that U-46 schools are “the only school(s)/team in our conference who participate in lacrosse.”
South Elgin High School already co-opted with Elgin and Larkin high schools while Bartlett High School was co-opted with Streamwood High School.
The U-46 schools “have agreed to enter into a co-op for [boys lacrosse] for the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 school year,” wrote Jeff Bral, Bartlett’s AD, in a letter to the IHSA. “Over the past few years, we have seen numbers dwindle for numerous reasons. Due to the fact we anticipate only 8-12 players for the previous Bartlett HS co-op with Streamwood, we have made this adjustment. We have received a letter from our conference, the Upstate Eight, even though we are the only team in the UEC. We have also obtained 9 other letters from our opponents. South Elgin will be the host school.”
The co-opt received letters of support from the ADs at Dundee-Crown, Glenbard West, Waubonsie Valley, Neuqua Valley, Geneva, McHenry, Jacobs, Conant and Carl Sandburg high schools.
The application stated that there have been only 0 to 3 players participating from Elgin, Larkin and Streamwood in previous years and Bartlett is projecting at most 10 this year. South Elgin projects 40 players this year.
“Co-opting gives all these students opportunities to be in an activity that we wouldn’t be able to host if it was just school-based,” said board member Dawn Martin.
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