| Wichita South High School | |
|---|---|
| Address | |
| 701 West 33rd Street South [1] Wichita, Kansas, 67217 United States |
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| Information | |
| School type | Public, High School |
| Established | 1959 |
| School board | boe.usd259.org |
| School district | USD 259 [2] |
| Superintendent | John Allison [2] |
| CEEB Code | 173211 [3] |
| Principal | Cara Ledy [4] |
| Asst Principal | Jerry Cress |
| Athletic Director | Michelle Kuhns [4] |
| Band Director | James Drieling |
| Staff | 194 |
| Grades | 9 to 12 |
| Gender | Coed |
| Campus type | Urban |
| Color(s) | Red Royal Blue |
| Athletics | Class 6A [5] District 7 [6] |
| Athletics conference | GWAL [4] |
| Sports | 19 (10 Boys, 9 Girls) |
| Mascot | Titans |
| Rival | Wichita West |
| Newspaper | The Torch[7] |
| Yearbook | Sceptre |
| Communities served | Wichita |
| Website | south.usd259.org |
Wichita South High School, known locally as South, is a fully accredited high school, serving students in grades 9-12, located in Wichita, Kansas, USA. It is also known as Wichita High School South. The school colors are blue and red and the enrollment for the 2009-2010 school year is 1,657 students.[8]
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South first opened its doors in 1959. South's floor plan was modeled exactly after Southeast's floor plan and the similarities between the schools' designs can still be seen to this day. When South opened, their sports teams were known as the Colonels, though their colors were still red and blue. In the 1970s, the Wichita School board requested that South change their mascot name. The name Titans was chosen by students and the original Titan logo, that is still used by the school to this day, was drawn by a student. In the late 1970s, a $2 million football stadium was built. In 1985, South High athletic director C. Elmer Carpenter died and the football stadium was named in his honor. Also, in the 1980s, Sims Elementary, which was situated just a few hundred feet from the eastern end of the school, closed. South began using the old elementary school for the language arts department.
The school went up to 2004 without any major changes. In 2003, the school board approved a construction project to connect the main building of South to the "Sim Building" (as students and faculty called it), the project also added two new hallways and 20 new classrooms. The project began in early and was finally completed a year later in 2005. Also added to the school, from the same bond issue, was a baseball field that opened for play in 2007.
In 2005, South high alum and former South soccer player Tim Millsapp was killed in action in the Iraq War and the soccer field was named in his honor.
In 2008, another bond issue was passed by the Wichita School Board to create "equal athletic facility opportunities" for all Wichita High Schools. South's share of the bond issue was $10 million, which was used to put a new floor on the gym, buy new equipment for the schools weight room, improvements to the school's tennis court, and renovations to Carpenter Stadium including putting in Fieldturf on the field and new goal posts, as well as resurfacing the track.
On October 24, 2011, the Wichita School Board approved a $14.2 million bond issue to build a new 2,400-seat gym, a new practice room for the wrestling team, a walking track, and new locker rooms, as well as a new swimming pool, music suite, new pottery studio, art space, digital photography classrooms, a culinary arts room and a room devoted to its new fire science program that started in the 2011–2012 school year.[9]
Wichita South's 2008-2009 enrollment was 1,617 students. South's ethnic diversity during the 2008-09 school year: 55.6% of students are white, 19.6% are African-American, 13.9% are Hispanic, 2.7% are Asian, 4.1% are American Indian, and 4.2% are multi ethnic. As 2008, 59% of South's students, due to a low-income family, qualified for reduced lunches. The student-teacher ratio is 22:1. South teachers had an average of 7 years of teaching experience as of 2008. Additionally, South High employed 114 certified classroom teachers, 61 of which hold Masters degrees. The drop-out rate in 2007 was 7%, compared to a district average of 4%. The graduation rate for 2007 was 67.7%, compared to a district average of 76.4%.[10]
Hail to thee our Alma Mater
Hail to thee South High
We will sing and laud her praises
Ever to the sky
Lift the chorus
Spread it onward
Over hill and vale
Hail to thee our Alma Mater
Hail to South all hail
South is a member of the Kansas State High School Activities Association and offers a variety of sports programs. Athletic teams compete in the 6A division and the Greater Wichita Athletic League and are known as the Titans. Throughout its history, South has won 22 state championships in in 7 of its 19 varsity sports, the majority of which from the Boys Basketball team and Women's gymnastics team.
| Field | Sports using Field | Surface | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carpenter Stadium | Football, Track, Boys Soccer, Girls Soccer | Fieldturf | Named for fomer South AD who died during his tenure, also used by Southeast, East, and North football teams[11] |
| Tim Milsap Field | Boys Soccer, Girls Soccer | Grass | Only used during the annual soccer tournament, The Titan Classic, named for South High alumni who was killed in the Iraq War[12] |
| South High Gymnasium | Boys Basketball, Girls Basketball, Wrestling, Volleyball | N/A | New Gym being built, will be finished in 2013 |
| South Field | Baseball | Grass | Opened in 2007[13] |
| Seneca Bowl | Boys Bowling, Girls Bowling | N/A | Public Bowling alley used by school for practice and home meets |
South's Primary rival is West. The rivalry is widely known across Wichita among fans and local media as one of the most fiercest and bitter high school rivalries in the area. The origin of the rivalry is unknown. During South and West sporting events, fights often occur during the event between the two teams and even in the stands, and in the parking lots after the events. Extra security is often present by the Wichita Police Department at the request of the Wichita School Board.
South High fielded the most dominant high school basketball team in Kansas for almost 30 years, winning 15 state championships in that period of time, including 4 straight in 1978, 1979, 1980, and 1981. Coach Steve Eck led South High to 10 consecutive Wichita City League titles from 1986 to 1996.
South has won 3 city championships. Only 1 city championship season resulted in a state appearance and that was the 1971 team. South waited another 16 years before winning its next City League championship in 1987, and they also won another city championship in 1991.
The school's football team began to fall off after some success in the early 90's. The team eventually lost 50 straight games between 1996 and 2001. The Senior class of 2001 went their entire high school career without a varsity win, an uncommon occurrence in high school sports. The streak finally came to an end in October 2001 against North. South finished the season with a 1-8 record.[14]
South then improved to 2-7 in 2003 and 2004. In 2005, South improved their record to 3-6 and was one win away from making its first appearance in the State playoffs since 1971.[15]
In 2009 South hired a new coach, Cory Brack. In his first season South finished the season with their best record since the 2005 season their first winning season since 1996 by finishing the season 5-4. This season led to Brack being named City League coach of the year. Brock was soaked by the cooler after the Titans defeated Campus 12-9 qualifying for the playoffs for the first time since 1971. South went on to lose in the 1st round of the State Playoffs 46-14 to Wichita Heights. South failed to follow up that season and dropped to a 1-8 record in 2010.[16] On October 21, 2011, South defeated Campus 30-14 and the win, along with a win the previous week against Wichita North, gave South it's 2nd playoff appearence in 3 seasons under Brack and only its 3rd appearence in the previous 40 years.[17] On November 4, The Titans lost to Garden City in the first round of the state playoffs 35-7 finishing the season with a 4-6 record. In only his 3rd season as South's head coach, Brack has more wins then the 5 coaches that preceded him. Under Brack South has a win percentage of .370, a vast improvement compared to the .124 win percentage of the previous 11 seasons for South.
South's wrestling team has consistently been one of the top high school wrestling programs in Kansas since it first opened its doors. South has won 11 City League Championships, 2 state championships, multiple 2nd place finishes including most recently in 2006, 50 individual state champions, and 1 legendary coach. South's former head wrestling coach, David Nigg, is one the all-time winningest wrestling coaches in Kansas history and 2nd all time in Wichita behind his own high school wrestling coach. Nigg demoted himself to a junior varsity coach and gave the head-coaching job to one of his former wrestlers, Mike Church. After 2007, Mike Church took a coaching position at Heights and Mike Atlee took over as the new wrestling coach at Wichita South, and Nigg went to coach with his former wrestler Eric Prichard at Northwest. Nigg has since retired from teaching and continues to coach at Northwest.
South's Women's gymanstics team was one of winningest programs in the city from the time South opened its doors to when the GWAL ended gymnastics after the 1996/1997 school year, winning 11 city titles. The boys gymnastics team was also dominate winning 13 city titles over the course of 14 years, including the last city title awarded for the sport in 1980. (GWAL eliminated gymnastics after the 1979/1980 school year.)[18]
| City Championships[19] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Sport | Number of Championships | Year |
| Fall | Gymnastics, Girls | 11 | 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1993 |
| Gymnastics, Boys | 13 | 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980 | |
| Football | 3 | 1971, 1987, 1991 | |
| Soccer, Boys | 5 | 1980, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1994 | |
| Cross country, Boys | 3 | 1969, 1978, 1999 | |
| Cross country, Girls | 1 | 1987 | |
| Volleyball | 9 | 1974, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1985, 1986, 1989, 1991, 1993 | |
| Winter | Wrestling | 7 | 1970, 1987, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998 |
| Basketball, Boys | 12 | 1977, 1980, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995 | |
| Basketball, Girls | 4 | 1973, 1974, 1975, 1978 | |
| Bowling, Boys | 2 | 2000, 2002 | |
| Bowling, Girls | 1 | 2004 | |
| Spring | Baseball | 7 | 1968, 1981, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1990, 1991 |
| Softball | 2 | 1990, 1991 | |
| Track and field, Boys | 9 | 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1985, 1986 | |
| Track and field, Girls | 5 | 1973, 1974, 1975, 1978, 1988 | |
| Soccer, Girls | 5 | 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992 | |
| Total | 91 | ||
| State Championships[20] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Sport | Number of Championships | Year |
| Fall | Gymnastics, Girls | 5 | 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1988 |
| Winter | Wrestling | 2 | 1975, 1978 |
| Basketball, Boys | 10 | 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1996 | |
| Basketball, Girls | 1 | 1978 | |
| Bowling, Boys | 1 | 2006 | |
| Spring | Baseball | 2 | 1968, 1980 |
| Softball | 1 | 1990 | |
| Total | 22 | ||
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