Hayfield girls basketball to co-op with Schaeffer Academy

The Hayfield girls basketball team will be part of a co-op team with Schaeffer Academy this season, Hayfield Activities Director Chris Pack confirmed last week.
“Schaeffer Academy reached out to some schools about the possibility of pairing in girls basketball, as they only had six high school girls interested in playing,” Pack wrote in an email. “They made it clear they would be willing to travel to a school that would allow their girls to be a part of their team.”
Pack said when he first received the email, he shared it with head girls basketball coach Kasey Krekling, who was initially not in support.
“At first he didn’t think it was a possibility, but after more thought and conversations with all the coaches, we decided to explore the possibility,” Pack wrote. “We only had seven girls, three sophomores and four juniors, playing on varsity this summer. By pairing, we now have enough girls to practice against and are able to afford missing a girl due to injury or sickness without having to bring up girls that are not ready for varsity competition. This will also allow us to play some C squad games, in addition to a full JV and varsity schedule.”
It was noted by Pack that each of the schools will have their own seventh and eighth grade teams this season “and expect to be able to have their own team in the near future.”
“ By forming the pairing, we are required to have it for at least two seasons,” Pack wrote. “We will be playing one game at Schaeffer Academy in January for senior night, as there is one senior from Schaeffer Academy on the team.”
The team will be called the Hayfield/Schaeffer Academy Vikings, and the team will continue to wear its normal uniforms since they expect it to be temporary.
“ We will play all of our regularly scheduled games and compete in the Gopher Conference,” Pack wrote. “ We will be bumped up to class AA for playoffs and will be placed in Section 1AA.”