Mankato Public Schools cooperative (co-op) agreements were originally put in place to help sustain certain MSHSL athletic programs.  Mankato East currently has a cooperative for girls’ gymnastics with Madelia and Mankato Loyola.   St. Clair has asked to join for the upcoming season. There are several criteria that are used by the Activities Council when considering cooperative agreements, including team size, competitiveness of the activity and whether adding schools moves the team into a higher class (i.e., from A to AA, AA to AAA, etc.).  Simply adding St. Clair to the cooperative would elevate gymnastics to a higher class, however Loyola does not have any students participating in the program. Given these circumstances, Loyola officials have agreed to withdraw from the cooperative.