Jackson County Central’s athletic teams have enjoyed a good deal of success through the years.
Still, conference championships have been pretty rare at JCC in the Big South Conference era that started with the 2014-15 school year.
When the Huskies’ wrestling team defeated St. Peter 44-10 in the conference championship match on Friday it marked JCC’s third BSC wrestling title in its nine-year history and that makes up half of the school’s total.
Gymnastics has two and girls golf has the other.
“There had been five in school history and this is the sixth one so that’s pretty cool,” said wrestling coach Nate Hanson. “It’s hard to get one. We’re not a really big school and we’re in a conference with some bigger schools. We have great athletics but the Big South Conference is a really, really tough conference.
“I don’t take it lightly and the guys don’t take it lightly. They know special it is and how rare it is to have this chance. Most of the time winning the Big South Conference is harder than winning the section tournament so it was a pretty impressive night.”
The numbers bear out Hanson’s statement.
While Jackson County Central teams have won six conference championships since 2014 the school has claimed 11 section titles.
Football does skew those numbers. JCC’s football team is responsible for four of those section championships and there is no Big South Conference in football.
Here’s the breakdown:
Big South Conference championships (6)
Wrestling: 2015, 2022, 2023
Gymnastics: 2015, 2016
Girls golf: 2016
Section championships (11)
Football: 2015, 2016, 2019, 2022
Boys basketball: 2016, 2017, 2020
Wrestling: 2015, 2021, 2022
Boys golf: 2019
According to this year’s figures from the Minnesota State High School League, JCC ranks ninth in enrollment of the conference’s 13 schools. Three of the schools have more than double the number of students.
2022-23 BSC enrollments according to MSHSL
Worthington 790
Marshall 757
St. Peter 624
New Ulm 591
Waseca 540
Fairmont 458
Luverne 339
Pipestone 311
Jackson County Central 306
Blue Earth Area 301
Redwood Valley 292
Windom 285
St. James Area 252