The numbers are in and in general things are looking up for participation numbers in the nine fall athletic programs offered by the Farmington Schools.
Overall, 964 students are participating in middle school and high school athletic programs this fall, a modest increase of 1.8 percent. The seven-year average for fall activities is 866.1.
The relative rate of participation varied in individual programs with the largest percentage increases coming in boys and girls cross country. The girls participation numbers have increased from 20 to 27 (+35 percent) while the boys have gone from 61 to 77 (+26 percent).
Cheerleading has also seen a significant increase with 36 participants, up from 31 a year ago, an uptick of 16 percent.
Boys soccer and volleyball both show modest increases in participation with soccer total numbers up from 83 to 90 (+8 percent) and volleyball up from 146 to 155 (+ 6 percent).
Three fall sports--girls tennis (+1), girls soccer (-1) and girls swimming and diving (-2)--have virtually the same number of participants in 2011 as they did in 2010.
Football is the only fall sport that shows a significant drop from last year to this with total numbers falling from 303 to 281, a drop of seven percentage points.
