Wrestling coaches leave alma mater after top finishes at state

A shake-up in Kansas high school wrestling resulted in two coaches leaving an alma mater – and a successful program – for another traditionally strong program in the state.

First, Greg Buckbee left his state-championship team at Emporia to take the reins at Arkansas City. Buckbee coached for five years at Ark City before another five-year stint at Emporia, which he led to the Class 5A state title in February.

Buckbee wrestled for Emporia and won a 6A title at 98 pounds in 1983. After leading the Spartans to their first state crown since 2000, he will resume his tenure in Ark City.

Buckbee’s replacement at Emporia is Dennis Charbonneau, who just completed his 13th season at the helm in Clay Center. His Clay Center squad won team titles in four of the past eight years; the Tigers placed second in Class 4A in February.

Charbonneau won individual wrestling titles as a Clay Center athlete in 1981, 1982 and 1983. The Tigers earned a team championship in 1981.

Now Charbonneau – and his wrestler son, Brandon – are headed to Emporia. Brandon will be a sophomore Spartan. He and future teammate, Chase Sanchez, an incoming junior, participated in the ASICS/Vaughn Junior & Cadet National Championships last week at Fargo, N.D.

In the cadet Greco-Roman category, Chase placed seventh at 145 pounds and Brandon finished eighth at 119 pounds. Chase also placed at the state tournament in February, where he was third at 145 pounds in 5A.

Which league is best?

Based off the CatchItKansas.com All-Sports rankings we figured out who the best sporting schools in the state were this last year. I then found myself wondering what league is the best sporting league in the state?

Using the All-Sports rankings I took the leagues with the schools that finished highest in the rankings. The leagues I looked at were the Wichita City League, AVCTL Division I, Eastern Kansas League, Sunflower League and the Centennial League.

It was not even close.

The Eastern Kansas League was easily the best sporting league last year. Buoyed by St. Thomas Aquinas the league averaged 2.25 state championships per school and scored an average of 40.25 points in our All-Sports Rankings.

The other schools in the league are Blue Valley Northwest, North, West, Stilwell and Miege.
Second place was a tie between the Centennial League and AVCTL Division I. The Centennial League featuring 6A All-Sports Champion Washburn Rural and 4A champion Topeka Hayden had an average of 1.3 championships per school to the AVCTL Div. I’s average of 1.2.

AVCTL Div. I school averaged 32.08 point in the All-Sports Standings compared to 28.65 for the Centennial.

The City League brought was last in both average All-Sports points and average championships with an average of 21.22 All-Sports points and only .33 championships per school in the 2008-09 school year.

The Sunflower league averaged 24.08 All-Sports Points and .58 championships.

Do you agree with this ranking? Which league do you think is best?

Boys, girls golf tournaments plentiful next week

The Kansas Golf Association’s junior section team championship will be July 21 and 22 at Carey Park in Hutchinson.

Hutchinson’s Thane Ringler, Dylan Schmitt and Sam Schulte will play on their hometown course. Other area players who are scheduled to compete include Augusta’s Trey Hayden, Mulvane’s Jason Cain, McPherson’s Treg Fawl, Sterling’s Michael Gellerman and Michael Hendricks, Derby’s Shane Gilbert and Eric Mode, Marion’s Luke Gordon, El Dorado’s Dominic Lara and Salina’s Brooks Brown, Benjamin Hargrave and Ben Shoup.

Wichitans who plan to attend are Jared Burns, Grant Burnside, Caleb Childs, Joshua Cork, Matthew Gilbaugh, Caleb Haight, Craig Howell, Kramer Howell, Max Lazzo, Hunter Leichner, Andrew Munds, Colton Sorlie, Sam Stevens and Alec Wilbert. Western Kansas golfers slated to participate are Dodge City’s Levi Bone and Zach Kirby, Hays’ Trey Herman and Nick VonLintel, Garden City’s Taylor Larsen and Juan Ollarzabal, and Phillipsburg’s Jeff Jarvis.

On the same days – July 21 and 22 – girls golfers will be in action at Newton’s Sand Creek Station. The Kansas Women’s Golf Association Tournament of Champions will feature eight junior golfers in match play. They include Wichita’s Audrey Meisch, McPherson’s Audrey Yowell and Salina’s Hannah Martin and Lindsay Chapman.

Immediately following those tournaments, 16 boys will travel to Hutchinson for the junior match play championship July 23 and 24. This time, the site will be Cotton Hills Golf Club. The 16 golfers will be chosen following the junior section team championship.

Leddy leaves alma mater; local grads return for tennis event

After one season coaching the McPherson College men’s and women’s tennis teams, Dan Leddy has resigned.

Dan was a successful coach of boys and girls at Kapaun Mt. Carmel before leaving to coach for his alma mater, McPherson College. His first season was rough since the college teams lacked depth and experience.

Sydney Bwalya has been hired to replace Dan. Sydney, who is from Zambia, played for Barton County Community College and then coached there for the past four seasons. He has three children who also play tennis, including Nina and Besa, who battled in the girls’ 16 singles bracket at June’s Mid-Continent Junior Open. Nina won the bracket, defeating Wichita North’s Lauren Cheeseborough in the final. Besa won the consolation bracket at Riverside Tennis Center.

More recently, the Intercollegiate Tennis Association held a summer circuit event at Wichita State University. Last weekend’s competition featured graduates of Kapaun, Wichita Southeast and The Independent School.

Nate Kirk, formerly of Southeast, now plays for the University of Illinois-Chicago. He advanced to the singles final last weekend. Nate lost to Rajeev Deb-Sen, who will be a sophomore at Columbia University, 6-2, 6-1.

Ryan Norman, a recent Independent graduate, will compete for Creighton. He and his doubles partner, Harry Walsh – director of Genesis Junior Tennis Academy – won the doubles. They prevailed in the final 9-8 (11-9), edging Rajeev Deb-Sen and James Seagraves, who will be a sophomore at the University of Tulsa.

Ryan’s brother, Jake Norman, will be a freshman at Independent this fall. He lost in the first round and then beat two college players to win the consolation.

Other competitors from the area included Kelly Gebert, who previously played for Kapaun, and Suzan Lisenby, a Southeast alumnus. Her fellow Golden Buffalo, Nate, won No. 6 singles in April at the Horizon League Men’s Tennis Championship.

The University of Illinois-Chicago advanced to the league final for the fifth year in a row. Nate defeated a Cleveland State opponent in the final. The league features 10 schools, including Valparaiso and Butler.

Need a mascot? Consider the Hungry Termites

CatchItKansas.com recently featured stories about Maize South High School, which will open in August, and Goddard Eisenhower High School, which is planned for 2011. It was interesting to hear about each community’s process to choose a mascot and school colors.

Maize faced a dilemma of whether to stick with a bird theme and a red color scheme. (The Maize Eagles are part of the town’s tradition.) Goddard, on the other hand, is now susceptible to the inevitable jokes: Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! Since the Goddard Lions and Goddard Eisenhower Tigers will be cross-town rivals, it makes sense that if a third high school ever opens, the Bears should be strongly considered.

For some reason, birds and big cats are especially popular. Think Falcons, Hawks, Ravens, Eagles and, for a slight variation, Golden Eagles. Then there are Lions, Tigers, Cougars, Jaguars and Wildcats – not to mention Panthers, which are a dime a dozen.

At the 2008 state tournament, I covered a pair of girls basketball games that featured the same mascot: Falcons vs. Falcons (Wichita Heights and Olathe South) then Lions vs. Lions (Goddard and Lawrence).

I like original mascots, and Kansas colleges have no shortage: Kansas Jayhawks, Washburn Ichabods and our local Wheatshockers. If we must incorporate animals, why not use something really original, like the White-Lipped Tree Frogs. Oh, sure, it sounds ridiculous, but if Texas Christian University can have the Horned Frogs, then is this really such a stretch?

It’s funny how different mascots become scarier after we reach adulthood. How about the Hungry Termites? Anyone who has paid for termite damage would be filled with dread. (Trust me.) Or maybe the Fightin’ Bats. I have a friend who plays for the symphony and for some theater productions, and she told a story about a bat that flew into the pit at Century II. Ever been trapped in an orchestra pit with a bat that can’t find its way out? It’s intimidating, from what I hear.

And this would be an especially appropriate mascot in the spring, when baseball and softball seasons start. Make way for the Bats!

I really like the alliterative names, like the Lawrence Lions, Lansing Lions, Paola Panthers and Macksville Mustangs. But the winner would have to be the Lyons Lions. Some might consider that a copout, but what other choices remain? The Lyons Tigers? I don’t think so.

If I ever get to choose a mascot – and I’m not holding my breath – it will be the Fireworks. Of course, this would require a fireworks show to kick off each season. Fans can yell, “Go, Fire!” for short. Some hapless student can dress up as the mascot, a giant firecracker. If it’s a Black Cat, we can even pull in the animal theme.

The Bidding War

Just a few days ago, soon to be Heights sophomore Perry Ellis received yet another scholarship offer, this time, from Kentucky and John Calipari. This brings the grand total of offers to three for a kid who can't even see R-rated movies by himself yet. Granted, Calipari has technically offered Ellis twice, once when he was still with Memphis and now while he's with Kentucky. A lot of the chatter on different websites has people asking, "is this way too soon to offer a kid a scholarship?" My answer, well, I think it depends on the kid. Perry has shown himself at a very young age to be very mature both on and off the court. He works extremely hard, doesn't let the hacking fouls get to him in games, and was most recently the only member of the class of 2012 invited to the Vince Carter skills camp down in Orlando. This kid is going to be a star and what makes me even happier about that fact is that he's going to do it in the right way.

Which brings me to my next point of contention today: Xavier Henry. Wow, that's really all I can say about this kid. Quick disclaimer, I've never met him, never interviewed him, and yet already I'm annoyed by him. He has no desire to go to college, no desire whatsoever! Add this in with the fact that his father, Carl, is saying things along the lines of, yeah Sherron Collins and Tyshawn Taylor are nice and all, but CJ (Xavier's brother) is better. CJ has never played a game in college. Check out this article on Deadspin.com.



Essentially, this just makes me like Perry Ellis and his family even more. He's good, his family knows he's good, he knows he's good, and they're acting like they've been there before. Hopefully, Ellis takes one of those college scholarships, much like his sister did, and realizes that sports can actually be more about the game and not the money.

Nice to see some basketball in the offseason

Saturday night’s Border Battle between graduated seniors from Kansas and Nebraska was a fun event. For basketball fans like me, it was nice to see some basketball games in the offseason. It was a perfect time for indoor sports, too, because a rainstorm occurred that evening.

The games took place at Park City’s new arena, Hartman Arena. It’s a nice facility, if you don’t mind the $4 bottles of water and the $5 parking fee (unless you have a carpool group of four or more, or you’re driving a hybrid – then it’s free).

Despite the oddball policies, there was plenty of parking space available and adequate room to move inside. I remember the bottlenecks that used to occur at Big 12 tournaments in Kemper Arena, where people were cramped just moving through the hallways. Of course, Hartman isn’t as big as Kemper was, and the Border Battle didn’t attract as many as the Big 12 tourney. But the fans were about as vociferous, especially during boys basketball action.

That was the most exciting game. Kansas trailed 58-49 near the 8-minute mark of the second half, but the boys rallied and pulled out a 69-66 victory. The girls’ game wasn’t quite as close; the exciting period in that contest took place early, when a 13-4 Kansas deficit transformed into a Sunflower State lead, thanks to Derby’s Joanna McFarland (above) and Concordia’s Alex Muff.

It was interesting to watch Joanna dominate the game, aided by Alex and Goddard’s Lindsey Keller. Joanna, who will play for the University of Oklahoma this year, was named MVP. The Kansas roster featured considerable talent: Lindsey, who will play at Oklahoma State; Alex, who received a volleyball scholarship to Kansas State despite her impressive basketball and track talents; and Washburn Rural’s LaSharra Riley, who will join Lindsey at Oklahoma State. LaSharra’s absence from the game was disappointing. She had to sit out due to a fractured right wrist, but she was there to support her Kansas all-star teammates.

The scoreboard operator left a lot to be desired, but Hartman Arena should be able to work out those kinks before it hosts additional sporting events. After all, it is early in the arena’s existence, and the games were for charity anyway.

Some wondered what the Border Battle would be like if it included all-stars from every grade in high school, not just recent grads. The format is similar to an established event, the Kansas basketball coaches’ all-star game in August. The Border Battle would be fun if it included younger players like Tiffany Bias of Andover Central and Perry Ellis of Wichita Heights. Nebraska no doubt has some younger players who could compete well, too.

The only low point in Saturday’s showdown was after the boys’ game, when Nebraska’s Jarrell Crayton was named MVP and was greeted by a smattering of boos from the crowd. That’s not sportsmanlike, especially at a charity event, and he was the most deserving player. It’s tough to argue with 20 points and 22 rebounds.

All in all, it was a worthwhile way to spend time and it provided entertainment that an entire family could enjoy. But to keep it affordable, you might want to borrow a hybrid car – and bring your own water.

Three's A Crowd

Jordan Ottley of Victoria was invited to play in every single post season football all star game in Kansas. But because he will walk on with Fort Hays next fall, he had to turn one down.

Ottley, who played quarterback and safety for the Knights, was invited to play in the East/West Kansas 8man All Star game, the Shrine Bowl and this weekend's Kansas/Nebraska 8man All Star game in Hays. Jordan turned down the East/West game so he could still remain eligible to play for the Tigers.

Seems ridiculous, but a lot of things that the NCAA does is ridiculous, i.e.; the BCS. Ring a bell?

More importantly, Ottley was invited to play in the Shrine Bowl in Wichita - an 8man player will battle with the best in the state in 11man. We'll see how he does. Ottley is one of only two 8man players invited to play in the Shrine Bowl.

Funny enough, Ottley will be playing with the Bruna brothers of Hanover, John and Alex, against Nebraska. Hanover beat Victoria in the 8man Division II title game, and now they are playing on the same team! HA! And the coaches of both teams are coaching on the same side against Nebraska! HA again!

They haven't had a chance to talk about it yet, but Doug Oberle, Victoria's head coach, said some comments had been shared and some friendly ribbing is going on. Ottley said they talked about it but have moved on.

I guess in this case, three isn't a crowd, but it's company.

Boys tennis featured repeat champs, nice-guy Dippel

Boys tennis featured repeat team champions at two of its four state tournaments this year. Salina Central, which won its sixth consecutive title in Class 5A, may struggle to add a seventh since numerous seniors graduated this spring.

However, Wichita Collegiate still looks promising after picking up its second championship in a row – and its third in four years – at Class 3-2-1A competition. The Spartans are in good shape since only one of their six semifinalists was a senior. Collegiate sent two singles players and two doubles teams to the state semifinals.

The doubles team of Paul Abromeit and Wyatt Kesler emerged in first place. The pair faced half of last year’s state-championship doubles team, Brandon Somerhalder, in the final.

Brandon, also of Collegiate, won last season with teammate Miles Dunne. He played doubles this year with senior Varoon Bashyakarla.

Independence nearly put together a four-year run in Class 4A, but Smoky Valley dethroned the three-time defending state champ. It was Smoky Valley’s first team title since 1997.

The 4A state final pitted last year’s 4A singles champion, Smoky Valley’s Chase Dippel, against last year’s 3-2-1A singles winner, Independent’s Ryan Norman. The Independent School moved up to 4A this year, so only one of the seniors could defend his title.

Ryan barely escaped 7-5 in the first set at Oakdale Park in Salina, but he cruised 6-1 in the second set of the championship. Despite ending his season with a loss, Chase was in good spirits after the contest. He and Ryan are friends, and it probably didn’t hurt that Chase and his teammates secured a team title.

I asked Catch It Kansas high school prep editors to name, in their opinion, the athlete with the best sportsmanship – but it had to be a player who didn’t attend their school. One writer gave a resounding endorsement of Chase.

“He is a superb athlete in football, basketball and tennis, and he’s not cocky at all,” said the prep editor. “He was his school’s best player – and really the only player – but he just worked hard regardless and never gave up. During a basketball game when someone yelled, ‘Hey, Dippel! Remember football season when I tackled you?’ all Chase did was turn around during the game and smile, saying, ‘Yeah, man, I still do.’

“As my friend put it when they played in tennis, ‘He’s the kind of guy you want to hate because he’s so good and he beats you, but you just can’t because he’s so nice. He’s seriously like the nicest guy ever.’”

The Draft: Show Me the Money

It's hard to imagine what the phone call would be like. "Hi, Garret Gould, are you ready to become a Los Angeles Dodger? We're willing to pay you, an 18 year old kid, XX amount of millions of dollars to come play for our club. Oh, and if baseball doesn't work out for you, don't worry. You can keep that signing bonus and we'll pay for you to go to college for four years. So, what'll it be?" How in the world can anyone say no?

I covered a kid back in Washington, Travis Mattair, who was an excellent ball-player. He was taken in the compensatory first round by the Phillies a couple years back and given almost half a million dollars to join the club. Of course he said yes, it's a once in a lifetime opportunity with a huge "Ka-ching" attached to the end of it. I check up on Moose (that's his nickname) every once in awhile to see how he's doing. He's doing alright I guess, still toiling around in single-A ball though. I mean, he's just a kid, never really had to face big league arms in high school. Would his life in the majors have been different if he had in fact accepted his full ride to Oregon State, one of the premier baseball schools in the country?

A good friend of mine back in Washington was drafted by the Yankees out of high school. I don't care who you are or if you hate the Yankees or what, if you get a phone call saying the Yankees want you, you're going. Jason had a big-league arm, but injured his shoulder in the minors and wasn't the same after that. The Yankees then paid for him to go to school and start a new life. What a deal, huh? But would his arm have been thrown out by a good pitching coach in college or not? It's an answer he'll never know.

I am a huge baseball fan. I went to my first game when I was literally one month old. My oldest brother is 6 years older than me and every spring and summer of my life was spent at the ball field. My family used to plan our vacations around what baseball field we hadn't been to yet, which is how I got to see Fulton County, Dodger Stadium, Candlestick and Wrigley all before I was in high school. My family is obsessed with the sport. Our family dogs we had growing up, all named after baseball players. It's a tradition that carries on today, my dog is named Lou Gehrig and my mom has Cal Ripken and Babe Ruth. Seriously, my mother could probably tell you more about baseball than you would ever expect from a 58 year old woman. I'm making another trek to Wrigley this summer with one of my best friends because she's never been to the Friendly Confines and I feel it's something everyone should experience at least once in their lifetime.

Ok, I got off on a tangent there, I just wanted to make sure my love for the sport is understood. Because I love this sport undyingly, "Moneyball" is one of my all-time favorite reads. It chronicles a year with the Oakland A's, behind the scenes with the GM Billy Beane. The most interesting part of the book, for me, especially at this time of year, is how and who they draft. Billy Beane hates, and I mean hates, drafting high school players. Somehow, Billy Beane also manages to produce some of the best baseball players off a team that pays very little because they draft guys who have no expectations of being picked very high.

How in the world does any of this make sense? Well, to be honest, I don't really know. What I'm trying to say is getting drafted highly out of high school is such a gamble. Billy Beane was drafted the same year as Darryl Strawberry, and Beane was expected to be the next big star, but his head got in the way of his slugging. Maybe it's just some sort of "mom instinct" coming out in me that means I just worry all the time.

I just hope the best for Garrett Gould, and for the rest of the guys in the draft. I hope that Garrett's 0.88 ERA isn't spoiled by a bad pitching coach in the minors somewhere. I hope the Shockers don't suffer, yet again, because the guys they recruit get offered things that Gene Stephenson simply can't give them. But what it really all comes down to is, I hope that it's not just for the money. Of course, if I was offered millions for a shot at my dream, how could I say no?

Area soccer players end careers with impressive totals

Schools in the Topeka-Kansas City area have a stranglehold on state girls soccer championships, but the Wichita area has seen some stellar talent – including a state record holder – in the past two seasons.

We won’t soon forget the one-two punch of twins Kortney and Kelsey Clifton of Andover. Kelsey was an assists machine, and Kortney holds the state record for goals in a career (256) and in a season (80 in 2008).

However, 2009 featured a good crop of soccer players, too. Goddard’s Whitney Berry compiled 54 goals and 10 assists her senior year. She finished her career with 167 goals. She will join the Cliftons on the field at the University of Kansas.

Whitney was named the Ark Valley Chisholm Trail League’s Division I offensive MVP. Ashlyn Castillo of Maize was crowned defensive MVP. Ashlyn and her Maize teammates dominated area girls soccer the past two years.

Two other Maize seniors, Tia Stovall and Leah Talley, were nearly tied in leading the Eagle offense. Tia had 33 goals and 15 assists this season, while Leah was close behind with 31 goals and 13 assists.

Seniors Lorielle Slates of Campus (Division II) and Kristy Herman of Rose Hill (Division III-IV) were their division MVPs in the AVCTL. Kristy, who also shined for Rose Hill on the basketball court, contributed 20 goals and 16 assists this spring.

Finally, Cindy Benitez completed her reign at Garden City as Western Athletic Conference player of the year during all four years of her high school career. Cindy led the Buffs with 40 goals this season, and she tied Whitney Berry with a career total of 167. Cindy will play for Butler Community College.

All-Star Volleyball Match

The state’s best volleyball players will be in action this weekend at the 24th annual All-Star Match.

The local participants include Valley Center’s Brianna Kaiser, Clearwater’s Kaitlin Stearns, Hutch Trinity’s Stephanie Zrubek, and Salina Sacred Heart’s Abby Wittman. There are two participants from Hoisington in Kayci Boxberger and Micala Jamison.

Newton’s Jamie Dibbens, Sacred Heart’s Rose Wittman and Hoisington’s Tina Johnson were among those chosen to help coach the all-star teams.

The match will be played in Topeka at Washburn University’s Lee Arena Saturday, June 6, at 6 p.m.

East sends ultimate Frisbee team to nationals

Wichita East High School sent an ultimate Frisbee team to the national tournament May 16 and 17 in Blaine, Minn. Its team name was the Beast Aces. They were seeded 16th of 16 squads competing in the Ultimate Players Association (UPA) Western Ultimate Championships.

Wichita East lost 12-5 to Cathedral High School and 14-3 to Seattle Academy. The Beast Aces defeated the No. 9 seed, Nathan Hale, 8-7. However, they fell to Lakeside High School 15-6 in pre-quarterfinals May 16.

On May 17, Wichita East succumbed to Eden Prairie 13-8 and Fayetteville High School 15-9. Hopkins, which entered as the No. 2 seed, won the final for the first-ever Minnesota team title. Other schools in the competition were from Washington, Oregon, California and Arkansas.

East team members included seniors Michael Gurley, Andrew Lowe, Matt Heck and Dan Overholt; junior Christian Kaufman; sophomores Rachel Cross, Abby Lewis, Stephen Lowe, Eric Shook and Jesse Parker; and freshman Ryan Claybrooks. Dan, the team captain, won the spirit award at the event.

A timeless game

Some of you probably read that and immediately thought baseball.... wrong. Baseball is timeless and it's been around since just after the Civil War, but thats not what I'm talking about.

It doesn't matter how young or how old you are, skill level or physical stance but golf will always be around.

Think about it though - of all the sports you can participate in, amateur or professional, golf is the one with the longest possible career. Football is the most popular but the average career is somewhere in your mid-20's. The longest career was Mort Anderson and he was near 50, but that is one guy. Basketball is short, baseball short, hockey is longer but thats because those Canucks don't know how to quit.

But you can play golf, competitively(!) even, well into your 70's. Guys are on the Senior tour cashing checks. A little more valuable than running all those gassers in the summer...

I'm not dissing on the big sports, and trust me, Golf is not a big sport. Most people could name four PGA players, not named Tiger Woods, if they tried. But I remember playing with a guy and I asked if he played in High School. He responded, "No, I was a track guy... I wish I had played golf in high school because I play a whole lot more golf in my life than I ever did pole vaulting."

Mr. Blackwell's List...

Strikeouts, shutouts, pitching, hitting, offense and defense, and blah, blah, blah... with Baseball and Softball playoffs almost to an end, it is easy to get caught up in the numbers of all the good teams on the field, but I often notice something else about the teams on the field - their uniforms.

From what I've seen, from what I've seen - because I don't see them all, I have to give first place to Andale. Very nice black tops with black lettering and outlined in gold, with white pants and a black hat. Very classic. Now a lot of people would say, "Ew, too much black - they aren't the freakin' Raiders!" I get it, but they made it work and it looked really sharp against Great Bend. It also helped because they beat the Panthers as the lower seed -

For not so great looking uniforms, I have to give it to Hays' Golden Rod jerseys. I like the attempt at using an off-color for tops but the yellow is too much, when it should be gold or something darker, considering their colors are Maroon and Gold.

Their Home shirts are classic white with maroon striping on the sleeves, with "INDIANS" in cursive across the chest. Very Nice. But I wasn't digging the yellow. But they win in yellow, so it can't all be bad.

On the ladies side, which I really have no business commenting on, TMP pulled the BCS move and brought next years uni's out during the playoffs. Very feminine in design, with a tank top style of top and they went against the traditional pants, opting for shorts and knee high navy blue socks.

Their old uniforms, or the ones they used for the past two seasons, traditional white button down tops with "TMP" across the front and blue pants and socks. Looked solid, especially when they added the blue cleats. Sharp.

Best accessory goes to Hoisington's Kayci Boxberger and her big green, shield sunglasses. Their colors are red and black but the green did it for me. They were sweet. Unfortunately, they didn't help her on the mound the day I saw her. Hoisington lost to Lyons, 9-2.

I'll be at state this weekend, so I will see a lot more uniforms, so this list will have to get updated.

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Not all regionals are created equal

I complained about this last winter with basketball sub-states, but here I am again making the same complaint. There has to be a better way than the current regional system that KSHSAA has for its sports because the fact will always remain that not all regionals are created equal.

The biggest offender this year is in 4A baseball between the Wichita Independent regional and the El Dorado regional.

At the Independent regional there are eight teams with a combined record of 99-47. In El Dorado the seven teams have a combined record of 37-86. That is an average record of 5-12 at the El Dorado regional compared to an average record of 12-5 at the Independent regional.

Not a single team in the El Dorado regional had a winning record coming in. Number one seeded Abilene had a record of 9-11 on the year and earned a BYE! Thats right, a bye.

On the other hand, at Independent, Wichita Independent had a stellar record of 19-1 coming in. Instead of a Bye it got Augusta at 6-14. Its prize for beating Augusta will be 13-7 Rose Hill. If the chalk holds on the other side of the bracket 18-2 Clearwater will likely play 14-2 Mulvane in the semifinals.

At least two teams with only three losses will be going home and not making a trip to state from the Independent regional while a team at or below .500 will be allowed to continue to the state tournament out of the El Dorado regional.

There has a to be a better way to do the regional brackets so things like this do not not happen.

A welcome storm

Northwest baseball coach Travis Stockam actually welcomed the storm that prompted the umpires to call off his team's game against Maize on Friday afternoon.
Maize ace Garrett Gould had struck out the first nine Grizzlies who came up to bat, and the 10th had just grounded out to short when the umpires pulled the players off the field because of lightning in the area. At that point, Maize led 4-0.
With the game two outs short of being official, the umpires waited until there were reports of a funnel cloud a few miles to the west before wiping out the game and sending everybody home.
Game time had been moved up three hours to try to beat the storm. But even that didn't work.
With regional seeding meetings on Saturday morning, no attempt to resume the game will be made.
The bad weather also halted the City League track meet at Northwest. But they'll pick back up at 10 a.m. and run through to the end without a break.

North's painful loss at GWAL swimming

Though I was standing beside her, I couldn’t quite believe it when the official starter disqualified Wichita North’s 4x400-yard freestyle relay and cost the Redskins the championship of the City League swim meet Thursday night.
Then she repeated it into a microphone for all to hear.
I looked from an East High swimmer still trying to complete the race, to the finish where, sure enough, three North swimmers were now in the water, prematurely celebrating victory.
That was the basis of the disqualification – jumping into the water before the race was finished.
I didn’t know about that rule, and I wonder whether all the North girls did. It makes sense, in a way.
But East was the only team still swimming and so far behind (almost a full length of the pool when North touched home first) that it was almost out of sight and out of mind. And the Blue Aces were three lanes away, hardly where the North celebration would affect their ability to finish.
But as someone said, a rule’s a rule.
The North girls were understandably grief-stricken.
It’s probably no consolation, but there are two things I would say to them.
First, you may not have a medal to show for it, and it won’t be in the record book, but you know you won the race, you know you won the meet, you know you are champions. The medal would have been forgotten in a couple of weeks, tossed in a drawer somewhere at home, most likely forgotten as you moved along with your lives.
Second, winning that meet is not the most important thing you’ll ever do. You have a lifetime ahead of you. Whether you go on to college or straight to jobs, you will have bigger, more important and probably more rewarding challenges in school, maybe in sports, certainly in careers or vocations.
As a heavily favored U.S. athlete once said after failing to make the Olympic 200-meter final in 1992: “The sun will come up tomorrow. In fact, I’m pretty sure it’s shining out there somewhere right now.”
Michael Johnson did OK after that. In a career that lasted another nine years, he went on to win five Olympic gold medals and set two world records.
The North girls will be OK too, though they sure didn’t feel like it Thursday night.

NEED STORIES!!!!!!!!

I need story ideas. I want to do a story on some high school car racers! I want to! SO I need names and info. If you race at the Speedway in Hays or at SRCA Dragstrip in Great Bend - I want, need!, your information. If you want to be on Catchitkansas, or if you are cool, CIK - and you know you want to, help me help you.

Or extreme sports or action sports; Motocross, BMX, Streetluging - even though it is no longer cool, even though I think it still is. EX-treme fishing? X-treme billiards? eXtreme Poker!? Whoa! Something. Let me know what you are doing out there!

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I heard the story of Haley Wolf today, a track and basketball superstar for Ellis High School. She isn't very big but she is quicker than anything, and can score points in the bucketloads, but she hasn't been recognized for any of it.

No state championships despite lots of success on the court and the track, but the biggest injustice of it all was not being recognized for her basketball achievements. She led the Ellis girls to the 2A final and didn't receive anything for it. Not even honorable mention! From a player who scored 30 in the game that got them to the title game. Shame.

Word on the street is she is planning on walking on at Fort Hays for basketball. Keep watching, I'll be rooting for her.

Maize, Goddard gear up for soccer showdown

The Maize and Goddard soccer teams will face off Thursday, May 14, in a battle of west-side rivals that are undefeated in their division.

Maize, 12-1 overall, is 4-0 in the Ark Valley Chisholm Trail League’s Division I. Goddard, 13-0 on the season, is 3-0 in the league. The Lions will play league foe Hutchinson on Thursday, May 7.

Goddard and Maize both advanced to the Class 6A state tournament last year, where Maize placed second and Goddard finished fourth. Maize beat the Lions 1-0 in their regular-season matchup, but Goddard was missing three varsity players due to injuries – including offensive weapon Whitney Berry.

Whitney, a senior, leads the entire AVCTL – regardless of division – with 40 goals this year. She is on track to surpass last year’s total of 48.

Maize has its own stellar credentials. The Eagles return most of their seniors from last year’s squad, which wasn’t scored on until the state tournament. That’s where the girls suffered their first loss of the season.

Goddard and Maize didn’t meet each other at state, so their upcoming date should prove exciting. After Whitney, the next three leading scorers in Division I are from Maize. That includes Leah Talley, Tia Stovall and Blair Terry.

Both schools no doubt are anticipating the showdown. Last summer, Whitney recalled how tough it was to watch her teammates fall to Maize.

“That was the worst, having to sit out that game,” she said.

The May 14 contest may offer a chance for redemption. Goddard will host the game, but Maize fans won’t have to travel far – and the Eagles are motivated to defend their league title.