In February, Yorkville Christian High School received full recognition to be an IHSA member school from the Illinois State Board of Education.
The school was visited by a State Board compliance team in January and was given full recognition status.
When the school opened in September 2014, Yorkville Christian’s enrollment was 13. This year, there are 20 students. Administrator/athletic director/boys basketball coach Aaron Sovern is projecting an enrollment of 35 in 2016-17, but is hopeful that will be even larger with the new status. The Mustangs will compete in Class 1A.
“We are small, but we have building plans on the horizon,” Sovern said.
Boys basketball is the lone sport to have a full team at Yorkville Christian. Since gaining IHSA status, Sovern has wasted little time developing a competitive schedule for the Mustangs, including Lisle’s Thanksgiving Tournament and the Plano Christmas Classic.
The Mustangs previously competed in the Illinois Christian Conference – a league with similar-sized, yet non-approved IHSA programs. They left the conference and will play as an independent next year because most schools’ schedules are already set for 2016-17.
“It’s definitely an exciting time,” Sovern said. “I contacted Jim Schmidt [Plano’s athletic director] and was hoping he’d keep us on the radar after a few teams dropped out. The Plano Christmas Classic is a great tournament. [In 2015], some of our kids went and saw the environment and got really excited about it.”
Starting in 2016-17, wrestling and boys and girls cross country will be offered at Yorkville Christian. They are ideal sports for individuals at a small school that does not need a whole team to compete. Girls volleyball has also been offered, but there has not yet been enough interest to field a full team.