Doubling up
By Jerry W. Kram
Having a high school team in your community getting to state championship is something to be proud of. Having two in the same schoolyear, well that’s something for the record books.
Before this year’s North Dakota Class B Boys Basketball Tournament, just 15 schools had sent teams to both the Girls and Boys Class B Basketball Tournaments since the girls tournament was created in 1974. Up until 2002, the girls tournament was in the fall and the boys tournament was in March, so the first opportunity to accomplish this feat was the 1974 girls tournament and the 1975 boys tournament.
The first school to accomplish the feat was the Sargeant Center (Forman) Cadets in the 1978-79 school year. For a while, it seemed to be common for a school to make both tournaments as the Edmore Vikings did it the following year and the Divide County Maroons the year after that. After 1982 there was a gap of seven years before the Hillsboro Burros won both region titles in 1988-89.
After another gap of five years, there was another first. There were two teams to do the basketball double, the Gackle-Streeter Orioles and the Bishop Ryan Lions. The Lisbon Broncos in 1998-99 and Kindred Vikings in 2001-02 were the last two teams to make both tournaments before both were played in March.
