Perry, McCord athletes celebrate together at pep rally

 

A Panther and a Mustang embraced -- and a Worthington Wolf was born.

Perry Principal Jeff Maddox wore a Panther head to symbolize the Perry Panthers and McCord Principal Michael Kuri wore a Mustang head to represent the McCord Mustangs at a pep rally on Thursday, Oct. 11, at Perry Middle School.

The pep rally celebrated the successful merging of the two middle schools' sports teams, which became the Worthington Wolves.

Guidance counselor Kathy Stark said after both principal "mascots" ran into the gymnasium and "embraced," a teacher danced across the floor wearing a wolf's head to represent the Worthington Wolves.

"There has always been a rivalry between the two schools, but they all cheered together at the pep rally," Stark said. "To begin the rally, we had all the nonsports kids line up in the hallway to make a tunnel and all the athletes ran past while everyone cheered."

Stark said students helped to choose the name "Worthington Wolves" for the combined teams.

The pep rally was organized by Perry Athletic Director Jill Wiebell, McCord Athletic Director Brad Whitlach and Perry teachers Lori Phillips, Jennie Lynch and Marty Mctigue.

"It was a little warm" under the Mustang mask, Kuri said.

"It was the best pep rally I've been to in seven years in the district and it was pretty fun for everyone involved," he said. "We had our challenges this year, but we met everyone of those challenges by keeping everything in perspective, and the most important perspective was the kids. It is what we are doing right that counts, and the combined sports were the best thing we could do given the circumstances we had."

Several McCord and Perry parents protested the sports merger at the March 12 board meeting.

School officials said the sports merger was necessary because of the enrollment decline in the middle schools and the change in feeder patterns necessitated by the creation of the Phoenix School at Perry. With Granby sixth-graders attending McCord instead of Perry, only Bluffsview and Brookside would feed into Perry, and the school could end up with too few students to maintain the sports teams.

The merger also was expected to save district funds -- close to $40,000 in supplemental salaries and $20,000 in the athletic operating budget.

The parents who spoke at the board meeting were worried about too many student athletes on the team rosters, resulting in not enough playing time and frustrated students.

Wiebell said the creation of "B teams" meant student athletes had other options.

"I don't think any kids have gotten left out," she said. "We added five B games, so the kids that don't normally play on the regular teams can play in the five B games. I've talked to 10 or 15 kids and I haven't heard any negative comments."

Wiebell said the pep rally exceeded her expectations.

"It was 100 percent better than I thought it would be to see the McCord, Perry and Phoenix students come together as one," she said. "It was awesome. You couldn't tell who was from what school. More than 90 percent of the kids had on blue and black to show school spirit.

"For the winter sports, we'll have the same kind of pep rally at McCord," she said.

Eighth-grader Josh Lawrence is quarterback of the Worthington Wolves football team.

"I was concerned about the merger when I first heard about it, because I couldn't see how we could fit everyone in the locker room," he said. "But we did merge and we're doing well -- we are 3-6 right now and we're excited because we've won three games.

"The pep rally was really cool and loud and I loved it when the big wolf came in dancing and the mustang and panther were there, too, and it was cool -- I think everyone liked it," he said.

Stark said the pep rally helped to create school spirit for the unified team.

"We felt it was important to set the tone and wanted to create some camaraderie in coming together as a unified team," she said. "When the kids get to the high school they will be Kilbourne Wolves, so we wanted to come up with a name that was close, to signify what they would become."

The Phoenix students who play sports at Worthingway and Kilbourne middle schools also were recognized at the pep rally, Stark said.

Stark has gotten positive feedback from parents and students concerning the sports merger.

"I heard from one young man who was the best runner on his team in cross country before the merged teams, and now is third or fourth best, but he said it gives him the drive to work even harder," she said. "I grew up in Worthington and went to Perry, and Worthingway and Perry kids were merged at Kilbourne Middle School in ninth grade. It was nice for us to come together and get to know each other well before we all went to the same high school."