MFL MarMac juniors take advantage of opportunity to swim

   MONONA — Swimming is a sport that is not often seen at smaller high schools. Thanks, however, to sharing agreements, students at schools like MFL MarMac whose preferred sport involves the water, have the opportunity to compete.

   Juniors Maya Butikofer and Destiny Berns have taken advantage of that opportunity the past three years as part of the Decorah High School team. Both had competed previously with the Monona summer swimming program, where they met girls from Decorah who encouraged them to give high school swimming a try.

   “They just introduced it to us and asked if we wanted to,” Berns said. “We were skeptical at first.”

   High school swimming is different than most Iowa high school sports, in that most of the teams are comprised of students from several different school districts. Todd Tharp, an assistant director at the Iowa High School Athletic Association, said in 2016 that 40 of Iowa’s 60 swimming programs were combined efforts. That number could be even higher this year, as the number of swimming programs in the state has dropped to 54 girls’ teams and 49 boys’ teams (in spring, 2018).

For the complete story, see the Oct. 17 Outlook.