Low numbers force Colfax-Mingo to cancel girls’ basketball season

Four players signed up for the 2022-23 girls’ basketball team at Colfax-Mingo.

Obviously, that’s not enough for a full team. And after exhausting all options, the school district was forced to cancel this season.

“I wish we had a better answer for those four kids,” Colfax-Mingo Activities Director Erin Hume said. “We tried to find out why there was no interest and we came to the conclusion that it wasn’t just one thing. It went from never played the game before to just didn’t want to play basketball.”

Hume said it’s unfortunate for the ones who wanted to play. The school district reached out to Newton, PCM and Baxter to see if those districts would take the four players this season, but they all declined because they did not want to bump up in class size.

Southeast Polk also was contacted but declined, according to Hume.

“It’s a sucky situation,” Hume said. “Everyone can make assumptions and narratives as to why we got to where we’re at. We have the students to play basketball. We have kids who are not out for a winter sport. They just decided not to go out.”

The junior high programs currently have more than 25 players, according to C-M varsity boys basketball coach Phil Grant. The district is hopeful this is a one-year cancelation only.

“The eighth-grade class has a large number of kids,” Hume confirmed. “We hope that class can give the upperclassmen a push into going out next year, too.”

The Colfax-Mingo girls’ basketball program has not had a winning season since 2007-08. The most wins the Tigerhawks have recorded since that season is seven, including last winter’s 7-15 campaign.

Larry Roberts was set to begin his second stint at Colfax-Mingo this winter but has since turned in his resignation and it’s currently pending board approval.