Wilbur wrote:The answer to all three of my questions is Linton High School.
1. What school has the most State Class B Tournament appearances, including whether or not they were part of a co-op?
Answer: Linton has been to the State Class B Tournament 20 times (17 as Linton from 1933-2010), and 3 times since co-op with Hazelton-Moffit-Braddock before the 2010-11 season.
Mayville is second with 18 appearances. Mayville went 6 times, Mayville-Portland went 3 times, and Mayville-Portland/Clifford Galesburg went 9 times.
Kenmare went 15 times, and Kenmore-Donnybrook once (1988) for a total of 16, and Hillsboro went 14 times, and Hillsboro/Central Valley went once for a total of 15.
2. Which school has the most State Class B Tournament appearances WITHOUT a co-op?
Answer: Linton High School, which went to the State Class B Tournament 17 times before a co-op with H-M-B. Linton’s final appearance before the co-op was in 2009, where it won the State title.
Kenmare has 15 (I think they were Kenmare-Donnybrook in 1988), and Hillsboro and Bishop Ryan/St. Leo’s each have 14 appearances. Beulah has 13 appearances, and Dickinson Trinity has 12 appearances since being moved to Class B in 1991. Minot Model, which closed in the 1960’s, I believe, also has 12 appearances, which stood as the record until Hillsboro broke it in 1999.
I will make a bold prediction that, unless things change in Class B, Dickinson Trinity or Shiloh Christian will be at the top of the list by 2030.
3. Which is the only school to qualify for the State Class B Tournament (with or without a co-op) at least once in each decade since the first State Class B Tournament in 1932-33?
Answer: Linton High School, which went to the State Class B Tournament in the 1930’s (1934 and 1935); 1940’s (1948), 1950’s (1950), 1960’s (1964, 1965 and 1966), 1970’s (1979), 1980’s (1980, 1984, 1985, 1987); 1990’s (1994), 2000’s (2003, 2004, 2005, 2009), and 2010’s (2011, 2012, 2014 as Linton-HMB). Linton has gone to state multiple times in 5 of the 9 decades, and at least three times in four of the decades.
Beulah was a good guess, because there are only two decades (1960’s and 2000’s) where the Miners were not in the State Class B Tournament.
Mayville was very close, too, and even if you cheat and add Portland’s two appearances in 1955 and 1961, no team in the current co-op made an appearance in the 1930’s. Hillsboro’s first appearance wasn’t until 1962.
Kenmare has 16 appearances in the State Class B Tournament, but 14 of them came between 1940-68, including six straight (1963-68) and seven times overall (1961; 1963-68) in the 1960’s. It took Kenmare 20 years to get back to state in 1988, and another 28 years before the Honkers made another appearance in 2016.
Note: Hillsboro is credited with 14 State Class B appearances in PAST State Class B Tournament programs, but they are only listed as going 13 times (1962, 1968, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1977, 1980, 1981, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1989 and 1999). I don’t know if a year was missed by someone, or if they were overcounted, so I will give the Burros credit for 14 appearances from 1962-2016, until someone can tell me definitively otherwise.
Missed 1992 for Hillsboro.
Linton has had the benefit of playing in the weakest region in the state, which has heavily inflated the number of state appearances. Since going to the two class system in 1964, Edgeley in 1990 is the only other team that advanced from the region Linton was in to even play in the state championship game! The region is a little stronger now with Carrington and Oakes being shifted in a couple of years ago, but still not near as difficult as most other regions around the state.