After six years, Father McGivney Catholic High School continues to grow.
Just ask Marquette Catholic athletics director Jack Holmes.
“I had been in public schools in Jerseyville until I retired in 2004,” Holmes said. “Then I went down to St. John’s Neumann, an elementary Catholic school in Maryville, and I was principal there for 11 years. In the last three years, we opened up some empty space we had to Father McGivney and they started their school in that building down there, and they had 19 kids the first year. Then, they had 39 kids and it kept growing. They had their new school ready to go in their fourth year.”
Now, Father McGivney’s athletic program will be joining a new conference. The Griffins became the seventh member of the Prairie State Conference on March 15 after operating as an independent for several years.
“It’s nice to have a team their size and we know they’re growing, so they’ll be a little bit bigger within the next few years,” said Holmes, who has been Marquette’s AD since ‘15. “They’re just a good addition.”
Father McGivney will start conference play in the ‘18-19 school year.
“It’s a good thing for the kids,” first-year Father McGivney athletics director Jeff Oller said. “They’ll get a chance to compete for conference championships and it’s more recognition for them.”
The PSC was formed in 1985. Mount Olive and Nokomis are charter members of the conference.
Marquette and Metro East Lutheran joined the league in the 2012-13 school year and East Alton-Wood River joined in the 2014-15 season.
With the addition of Father McGivney, the PSC now has three parochial schools. The others are Marquette and MELHS.
“It’s the way it is,” second-year EA-WR athletics director Kevin Gockel said. “It’s the area that we live in, and it’s the area where our school is. I feel like it just strengthens the conference by having another school. They’re doing the right things and they’re building slowly and I think with more time, they’ll become a very strong athletic school.”
Father McGivney has cross country and track, golf, soccer, basketball and volleyball in both boys and girls divisions and has baseball. The Griffins are having track and boys volleyball for the first time this spring and wrapped up their first season in cross country last fall.
“We’ll be joining the sports that we have and that the conference provides,” said Oller, who is also the girls basketball coach. “We don’t have football, obviously.”
First-year MELHS athletics director Jason Batty said he’s glad Father McGivney is joining the PSC since the two schools are just 4 1/2 miles from each other.
“We played each other in sports already,” he said. “I think it’s a good healthy rivalry. I think it’s been a good thing.”
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