Rock Hill’s Legion Collegiate gets go-ahead to rejoin SC High School League
Legion Collegiate will again be a member of the South Carolina High School League.
The league’s executive committee voted, 10-1, on Wednesday in favor of allowing the public charter school located in Rock Hill to be an at-large member of the SCHSL starting July 1. There are currently no at-large members in the SCHSL.
The school won’t be allowed playoff participation next year because of a new SCHSL rule passed last month that prohibits first-year schools from making the playoffs.
Being an at-large member means the school can’t compete in sports that require region play such as football, basketball, baseball, soccer and tennis but can participate in golf and swimming. Currently, the school offers seven boys sports and seven girls sports. The school says it is looking to add cross country.
It is unclear what classification Legion will participate in but it will likely be Class 4A or 5A because of the SCHSL multiplier rule that counts out of district students as three.
Principal Julie Marshall said during the hearing that Legion has 637 students. The school is in the South Pointe attendance zone but Marshall said a large number of students come from Fort Mill, Indian Land and Lancaster.
This will be Legion’s second go-round in the SCHSL with the first time ending in an exit from the league. Legion was a member when it began in 2019 but left voluntarily in 2021. The school still owes a $2,400 fine to the SCHSL, which Marshall, who wasn’t at the school at the time, was unaware of until Wednesday’s meeting. She said the school has every intention of paying it.
Legion joined the North Carolina Independent Schools Association after leaving the SCHSL but left that as an independent school. Marshall said during the hearing it was time to go back to the SCHSL and said the school, which has undergone changes in administration from the first time, to try and make amends to other schools in the area.
“We use our failures and go on with them. Over the past three years to restructure our athletic department,” Marshall said. “... We wanted to establish a new culture and one that better aligns with the mission of our school and South Carolina High School League with a hope to one day return.”
Legion came under fire from schools in York, Chester and Lancaster counties that it was a sports-centric school with shorter in-classroom hours. Schools also felt Legion was recruiting their players to come there.
As a result, schools in the area stopped playing Legion in most sports.
“The public saw legion as a threat,” Marshall said. “They saw us as a sports school and someone who was going to hurt their schools and their programs. The current administration has worked diligently to change that perception.”
Marshall said there is more of an emphasis on academics than athletics under the current administration. The school also got rid of football, another part of contention between the other schools.
It was brought up several times during the hearing if the school had any intentions of bringing the sport back.
“We live in Football City USA. We have learned our lesson,” Marshall said.
Marshall added that the school has sold all of its football equipment and the school’s turf field doesn’t have football lines on it.
With the addition of Legion, there will 16 public charter schools in the SCHSL with the most successful being Gray Collegiate in West Columbia and Oceanside Collegiate in Mount Pleasant.
