Rare scheduling conflict will send Kernel basketball to Mitchell Christian's gym
Jan. 20—MITCHELL — It will be a rare occurrence Saturday when the Mitchell High School girls basketball team tips off its afternoon contest with Spearfish.
That game won't be at the Corn Palace or even on the MHS campus. Instead, the Kernels will play across town at Mitchell Christian's gymnasium due to a scheduling conflict with the Hanson Classic boys basketball event already on the schedule for all day Saturday. The varsity teams will tip off at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday from the school's Baas Auditorium.
The conflict is a product of a scheduling change among the Class AA schools, Mitchell Activities Director Cory Aadland said, which saw a group of activities directors meet in late 2020 from around the state to create a master schedule to accommodate the addition of Sioux Falls Jefferson as a new school and to allow schools to get their preferred games on the schedule.
"In most cases, we'd have the chance to schedule around a conflict with the Corn Palace," Aadland said. "But this weekend, with it being a pair of West River schools, it made that more difficult."
Mitchell typically plays a West River pair of schools in conjunction with Huron, with one opponent playing in Mitchell on a Friday and then traveling to Huron on Saturday and vice versa.
Aadland said the schools looked at finding a different weekend or even playing on a Thursday and Friday, but asking schools to miss two days of school was a main barrier to playing a weeknight series. Playing before the Hanson Classic on Saturday morning was considered but was ultimately not something MHS was willing to do, considering the game would likely have tipped off at 9 a.m.
"That was not feasible and would not have been good for our girls to ask them to play 12 hours after Friday night's game ended," Aadland said.
So that left Aadland to look for alternate venues and Mitchell Christian quickly rose to the top of the list.
"Mitchell Christian was our best option and they have a nice facility, so we appreciate that they're going to allow us to play there," Aadland said.
While the Kernels use the MHS Gym for varsity volleyball and wrestling, along with gymnastics meets in past years, Aadland said that from a flooring and space standpoint, the on-campus option is not suitable for a varsity-level basketball contest.
And while the hope is that Saturday's conflict is a one-time occasion, as the Mitchell School District develops a wish list for a new high school complex, Aadland said having a suitable gym to back up the Corn Palace in a bind is high on his list.
"I've got no desire and interest in moving away from the Corn Palace, and I want to continue playing our home games there," Aadland said. "But having an alternative facility that's able to host a game when scheduling gets difficult, that's pretty important to us."
Mitchell is the only Class AA school that doesn't own its home venue for basketball games, although with the way the schedule usually breaks, the Kernels and other primary tenant Dakota Wesleyan University usually don't have major issues.
"Scheduling can be difficult. It's really hard and it's really complicated," Aadland said. "The Corn Palace works pretty well with us and Dakota Wesleyan and with our schedules, there's not much for conflicts. ... But when there's a facility that's not available, to be able to host these games and have a building of our own would be nice."
