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Friday, august 24, 2012 2012 Fall sports preview the ellinwood leader &hoisington dispatch2

Ellinwood boys look to defend title; girls hungry for championshipBy Wes Balun

Recenly, Ellinwood’s cross country program has ascended to heights not seen in these parts since hall of fame coach Jack Bowman was at the helm. Under, the direction of current head coach Lyles Lashley, the Eagle boys earned Ellinwood its first cross country crown since 1967, while the girls claimed their second consecutive runner-up trophy at the Kansas State High School cham-pionships in Wamego.

“When you have suc-cess, that puts a target on your back, that’s for sure,” Lashley said. “Our kids have great motivation to keep this going, to hang on to that trophy, but other schools have that same motiva-tion to take us down, knock us off. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good problem to have be-ing the returning state champs, we are certainly proud to be state cham-pions, proud to have Ellinwood on the front of the jerseys, but now we need to focus on the new season.”

Following their 31 point championship victory over Stanton County, Lashley’s boys attacked summer train-ing with a vengeance, their top six guys

covering 2,049 miles of road work during their vacation.

“Our guys did a great job” said Lashey. “We had six guys bust their butts all summer long.”

Senior co-captain Kyle Blakeslee believes that this summer’s work-outs and commitment were even better than those that paved the way to championship rings last October.

“Since we won last year, we felt like this summer would be crucial for us, to put the work in every day and make sure all the guys were there,” said Blakeslee, who was one of only 12 Kansas runners last season to be honored as an Academic All-State award winner.

“This is the best

offseason we have had. Last season we had 80 percent participation and this year it was even higher. Everyone seems really into this season, so hopefully we can get another one.”

In order to maintain their lofty perch, the Eagles must continue to fill the leadership and depth roles vacated by graduates Kale Claw-son, Shawn Troyer, and Brandon Coomes. Clawson, last year’s captain, was Ellin-wood’s fourth-best time at state, 18:37.54, but that hardly measured his contribution to the team. According to Lashley, “Kale was proud to be an Ellinwood Eagle. He was proud about him-self, his school and his team, he made you feel good because he was proud of where he came from,” said Lashley.

“Brandon and Shawn added good depth to the squad, and Brandon was the most fun guy in the world to be around.”

Despite those losses, the Eagles do return four of their top five scorers from last year’s champi-onship led by junior Pe-

dro Montoya, seventh at state (17:05.76), sophomore Morgan Feemster, who finished 14th in his first run at state (17:52.18), junior Kyle Ogelsbee, 40th, 18:39.85, as well as this year’s other senior co-captain Derek Ward, who finished fifty-second, 19:05.14, but had perhaps the best summer of all.

“I know this is my last year and I want to make sure it is my best,” said Ward of his motivation this sum-mer. “Kyle will be more of a vocal leader but I want to lead by example.”

Lashley feels his

squad is on the short list of contenders, along with Stanton County who returns every member of the team that ran second at Wamego, Ness City, and Maranatha Acad-emy, provided they stay course in some aspects and avoid a major pitfall.

“It’s like I always say, every week we just have to get better. We are in excellent shape. Now we have to carry that over to race situations and continue to work as a team,” said Lashley, the Kansas 2A Boys Coach of the year. “That is why we won a state champi-onship last year, because we worked as a team. Now we have to make sure our egos, indi-vidually, don’t get in the way. We cannot allow ourselves to get caught up in who wins, as long as they are Ellinwood Eagles.”

Lady Eagles readyIn the wake of three

straight appearances at Wamego and consecu-tive runner-up finishes, Lashley considers the summer commitment of his girls squad just so-so.

“It was pretty much half-and-half. We had three girls really work hard and three girls that didn’t make it there quite often.”

Ellinwood’s girls’ team has undergone a marked change since their appearance on the medal stand last October with just senior Jenna Snell, junior Brooke Panning and sophomore Chelsea Casper back for

this campaign. Snell, named captain

this year by Lashley, has numerous distance triumphs to her name. She won the individual State championship as a freshman and has been the Eagles’ top finisher in the girls’ race each of her three years. Last season, Snell finished fifth, 15:58.6.

“Jenna has had her best summer as a run-ner, so I am excited to watch her run. “She just now has to rediscover that fire that she had as a freshman where she didn’t like to lose, to anybody, in a workout, or a race, whatever. “She didn’t want anybody to pass her. She has to find that fire again, but I’ve seen flashes of it,” Lash-ley said. “Jenna is going to be our captain, so she has as much control as the coaches do to get this team headed in the right direction.”

Snell assumes the captaincy last year held by Becca Strecker, a four-year runner and part of the emergence of the Ellinwood girls’ program. Lashley describes Streck-er as, “a good team leader and great teammate.”

Ellinwood’s other re-turning runners finished 19th and 77th at State, 17:07.85 and 19:43.96, the latter, a 30-second personal record for Casper, who ran a 6:12 mile in track last spring.

They are joined by cross country newcom-ers McKenna Rugan, who had success on the track at 400 meters and

was part of the girls 4x100 that finished 2A State runner-up; fresh-men Ashlie Reichuber, who ran cross country in middle school, and Laura Standlee, who has expe-rience on the track.

“Our girls, in the long run, can be pretty good. We just have a lot of work to do between now and the end of October,” said Lashley. “We have some first timers, so we might struggle early. Hopefully, we can figure it out by the end of the year when it counts.

“This year, one through six, we will probably be stronger than we were last year, but our top end just isn’t quite as good as it was last year.”

According to Lashley, Maranatha Academy, the defending champion is a definitive favorite, with Ness City and Stanton County also in the mix. Asked preseason where the Ellinwood girls fit in Lashley replied, “To be honest, I probably couldn’t tell you. The talent is there but we will have to see how hard they work between now and the end of October.”

Ellinwood opens the cross country season, August 30, 4 p.m. at Great Bend, a day Snell anxiously awaits.

“It will be good to see how my summer work pays off,” she said. “It will be good to see where we are at as a team and it’s exciting to run in a meet we haven’t been to, against some different teams.”

2012 EHS and EMS Cross Country runners

Lady Eagle senior Jenna Snell, captain of the 2012 squad, leads the team in warm-ups during an early practice. (photos by Mike Courson)

Ellinwood Cross Country

Aug. 30 @Great BendSept. 6 @HesstonSept. 13 @StaffordSept. 22 @RimrockOct. 4 @SterlingOct. 11 MCAA@HoisingtonOct. 20 RegionalOct. 27 State

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folks following Otis-Bison Cougar football believe that the season runs 13 games.

In the past three years, Travis Starr’s clubs are 30-4, with stops deep into the Class 1A Division II playoff bracket.

Senior Dylan Wiss-man, who as a junior running back averaging 8.41 yards per carry with 21 touchdowns, and his Cougar teammates be-lieve it as well. Wissman and six senior teammates will be leading the assault once again on the Central Prairie League, which they cruised through last year unbeaten.

Kole Urban, a 5-8, 150 junior, steps into the quar-terback role vacated by graduated Trevor Keller. Last season, Keller passed for 1,110 yards and 20 touchdowns, av-eraging 92.5 aerial yards per game.

Also graduated is run-ning back Patrick Piper,

who posted 8.15 yards per game and 19 TDs during last year’s 10-2 run.

Last year, Thunder Ridge proved spoiler to the Cougars run at a perfect season. After put-ting a blemish on O-B’s regular-season record, the Longhorns advanced to the Eight-Man, DII cham-pionships with a 54-26 win. Starr, who was hop-ing for a return shot at the state title, took the blame. “Defensively, we didn’t get the stops we needed,” he said then. “Offensive-ly, we put together some drives, just not enough of them. The kids played hard. We fought until the end.”

The Cougars open the season Friday at home, hosting CPL rival St. John. Next, it’s CPL rival Central Plains. The Longhorns have dropped off the regular season schedule.

If the Cougars see them again, it will be in the playoffs.

Cougars resume assault on Eight Man Division II postseason

Dylan Wissman

Friday, august 24, 2012 2012 Fall sports previewthe ellinwood leader &hoisington dispatch 3

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Eagles welcome back six starters on both sides of the ball

By Mike CoursonThere are likely to

be struggles any year when a new football coach is introduced to a team. Last year, Dusty Beam took over on the Eagle sideline, and Ellinwood posted a 2-7 record. This year, with a year under his belt and six returning start-ers on both sides of the ball, Beam is expecting more.

“There is a buzz in the community,” he said. “We have out more kids now than we’ve had I think in four years. The big consensus for the kids is that they feel like they can win. I felt like in certain situa-tions last year, we kind of looked down upon

some games. This year, when we were at camp with Bethany, our kids wanted to play La-Crosse, runners-up at State. Our kids are just craving competition and I’m loving every minute of it.”

Among those re-turning on offense are 136-pound junior quar-terback Jared Oelke, 170-pound senior tailback Patrick Ring-ering, and 190-pound junior back Colton Churchill. Beam is also expecting key play from 182-pound wideout Cody Isern and 190-pound Adam Birzer, who returns to the offensive line.

Ringering leads the returning skill play-ers with 517 yards on

54 carries a year ago. Churchill was fourth on the team in rushing last year, taking 80 car-ries for 346 yards. The Eagles threw the ball just 65 times last year, with Oelke completing 21-of-62 passes for 364 yards, but Beam said the team could throw the ball more in 2012.

“By no means are we going to throw a lot this year, but we are going to expand our passing game,” he said. “We did a lot of seven-on-seven with Great Bend this summer. That helped us out a little bit with our confidence. This being the second year in the offense, we’re able to open it up a little bit more.”

Ringering led the receivers last year with 131 yards on seven receptions. Isern was Oelke’s second-favorite tar-get last year, catch-

ing six passes for 100 yards.

Defensively, Churchill will return to his spot as a line-backer where he led the Eagles with 46 total tackles last year. He also picked off one pass. He will be joined by returning starters Birzer and Trey Mosier on the line, Isern at linebacker, and Ringer-ing and Devin Ramsey providing coverage in the secondary. Isern and Ramsey each had two interceptions last year.

Overall, Ellinwood will feature a relatively small team on any given night with only two players tipping the scales at more than 200-pounds. Sopho-more Keaton Goering at 220-pounds, and fresh-man Josiah Caspers at 260-pounds will use their size up front on both sides of the ball.

2012 Eagle football team

Ellinwood football: new season brings new lifeFour new opponents highlight football schedule

By Mike CoursonLike in previous

years, the 2012 Eagle football team will play nine consecu-tive Fridays stretching from late August to late October. With any luck, this year’s sched-ule will extend into November. But to get there, the Eagles will have to face four oppo-nents that were not on last year’s schedule.

With the Hoisington rivalry being bumped back to week four of the season, Class 2A’s Ellis will be the first of the new opponents in week three. After an 0-4 start last season, the Railroaders turned it on late to finish at 5-5. This year, the squad will be without star quarterback Riley Hunsicker, who threw for 1,855 yards and ran for 1,056 more yards, accounting for 34 touchdowns overall.

In week six, the Eagles will head to Sterling to take on a Black Bear team that went 7-3 a year ago. Like Ellis, Sterling will be without several key seniors from last year, including quarterback Seth Humphreys, who threw for nearly 500 yards, and its top three running backs who accounted for 2,105 of 2,716 team rushing yards. The trio also accounted for 24 of the team’s 31 rushing touchdowns.

The Eagles will head 160 miles west to take on Lakin in week seven. The Broncs went 4-6 last season, and are yet another team on the schedule to deal with the loss of a quarter-back. Bryant Miller passed for 982 yards and 13 touchdowns last year to lead the Lakin offense.

Week seven will be interesting for another reason as Ellinwood

head coach Dusty Beam faces off against mentor Jeff Fuss.

“I think it will be exciting going out to western Kansas to play Lakin,” Beam said. “Lakin’s head coach taught me a lot of the stuff that I know about our Wing-T. It’s kind

of like the stu-dent get-ting to play the teach-er. I’m ex-cited

about that.”Class 3A’s Medicine

Lodge will be the final new opponent in week eight. The Indians posted a 4-6 record last year, and will have two key offensive players back. Bryan Hellman threw for 896 yards last year and led the Indian baseball team to a state title before moving on to Pratt Community College. Junior quar-terback Scott Beecher will return, however, after completing 20-of-47 passes for 258 yards last year. Senior running back Bryant Wornkey will also be back after averaging more than six yards a carry last year.

The Ellinwood schedule will also feature several familiar foes, including MCAA-rivals TMP in week one, Larned in week two, and Hoisington in week four. Larned has lost 26 straight games heading into the 2012 campaign, including a 44-20 loss to the Eagles last September.

Perennial-power La-Crosse again looms on the schedule in week eight, and is seeking another district title. The Eagles wrap up regular-season play by hosting Inman on Oct. 25. The Eagles beat the Teutons 32-22 last year, and a win in week nine could be all-important with a relatively weak district including Sterling and Medicine Lodge.

Ellinwood FootballAug. 31 @TMPSept. 7 LARNEDSept. 14 ELLISSept. 21 @HoisingtonSept. 28 @SterlingOct. 5 @LakinOct. 12 MEDICINE LODGEOct. 19 @La CrosseOct. 25 INMAN

Left: Ellinwood Coach Dusty Beam oversees a blocking drill at an early practice. Above: Ellinwood senior Patrick Ringering, seen here in a run-play against Inman at a football camp this summer, will be a key factor of the Eagle offense in 2012. (photos by Mike Courson/team photo by Jacque Isern)

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Friday, august 24, 2012 2012 Fall sports previewthe ellinwood leader &hoisington dispatch 5

Lady Eagles ready to get back to winning waysBy Mike Courson

After a successful 2010 campaign that included El-linwood’s first substate win since 2001, the Lady Eagle volleyball team fell a little short of expectations last year. After a 15-21 finish last year, eighth-year head coach Laurie Feist is ready to get her team back on the court to get back on the winning side of things.

“I have high expectations this year because of all the experience we return,” she said of her team that will return seven varsity players, including four starters. “I feel we will be very com-petitive and team oriented.”

Leading the way will be

two returning All-MCAA honorable mentions. Five-foot-ten senior Lindsey Zink returns as a decorated hitter who was a First-Team All-League player her

sophomore year. She will be joined by five-foot-nine junior Sophie Hayes, who was also an All-League honorable mention last year.

The Eagles can also expect key play and lead-ership from five-foot-four senior Chelsea Day, who returns as setter, and five-foot-eleven senior Devan Patten, who will be one of the big hitters and blockers for the team.

The girls open the season Aug. 28 at Wichita Independent, and will have home matches on Sept. 11 and Oct. 4. The Lady Eagles will be back home on Oct. 11 for senior night, then host the MCAA quad on Oct. 13.

Though looking forward to key matchups against MCAA-foe Hoisington and future Central Prairie

League-foe Central Plains, Feist is mainly looking for-ward to the season itself.

“I am looking forward to the excitement of the play-ers, the team unity, and the camaraderie,” she said.

2012 Lady Eagles volleyball team

Ellinwood volleyballAug. 30 @EllsworthSept. 6 @HoisingtonSept. 8 @EllsworthSept. 11 HOMESept. 20 @LarnedSept. 22 @LyonsSept. 25 @PrattOct. 4 HOMEOct. 8 @GoesselOct. 13 MCAA@HOMEOct. 15 @HavenOct. 20 RegionalOct. 26 State

Top: Lindsey Zink (middle) and Devann Patten block an Amanda Tucker kill try in practice. Bottom: Jenna Collins tries to get a spike past Kelsey Ward (left) and Chelsea Day. (photos by Mike Courson)

Ready for the fall since spring

By Mike CoursonAs much as I enjoy the

State track meet in late May each year - it may well be my favorite single event to cover - it also marks the end of the prep sports season. Sad face.

The start of the school year is the start of another busy schedule for me. I am ready for every minute of it. If State track and warmer tem-peratures are part of the magic of spring, Friday night football and cooler temperatures kick-off my favorite season, sports and otherwise.

This year will be dif-ferent for me. As a Great Bend High School gradu-ate, I’ve long remained loyal to the Panthers. Since moving back to Great Bend after a brief stint away in 2003, I cannot recall missing a home football game. Now, the Panthers will just have to take a ride in the back seat as smaller schools throughout Bar-ton and Rice Counties get their turns to drive.

The season really gets fun in late October.

It seems like there are always football games on Halloween, but this year, the two of my favorite things will not collide.

Still, the cooler tem-peratures will come. I recall wearing shorts and sandals to an Ellinwood game two years ago. I had to leave by halftime, and it took about 30 minutes for my toes to completely forgive me.

Teams like Otis-Bison and Central Plains always seem to make the playoffs, extending the season into November when “football weather” really begins to take af-fect.

Of course, there are other fall sports, many of which will have State contenders this year. Can Ellinwood’s Oma Thomas climb higher than seventh? A Central Plains tennis duo may be headed for another top-three finish. And those cross country runners. Will the Eagles be able to hang on to their title?

Regardless of the outcomes, I’m glad fall is finally here.

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By Mike Courson

Last year’s Lady Eagle ten-nis team was a special: a group of five seniors that played together for four years, achieving the ultimate prep goal of winning a state championship and going out as win-ners. This year, the team is ready to start over and be-gin rebuilding that legacy with one re-turning senior, two sophomores, and three freshmen.

“Coming off our state championship, we have to defend,” said Coach Lyle Stickney. “It’s go-ing to be a mighty task for us, but we’re going to be a very solid squad.”

The one return-ing senior happens to be a force of her own. As a ju-nior last year, Oma Thomas played a vital role in the team championship with a seventh-place finish at State.

“Her five team-mates have all moved on to college now so we’re look-ing at a very young team,” Stickney said. “I did have a couple of part-times in (sophomores)

Rachel Doll and Danae Patten. Both played sparingly in varsity last year, but both had really good records.”

Neither Doll nor Patten lost in JV action last year. This season, they will by vying for spots against three incoming freshmen: Mikayla Monday, Mattie Shafer, and Katie Shafer.

“We have three outstanding young freshmen,” said Stickney. “We’ve got Mikayla, who did a bang-up job in middle school, and the Schafer twins are going to be very promising. All three kids are into it, they’re aggres-sive on the court, and they do a lot of things I like to see out there. I’m pretty excited.”

Sophomore Ash-ley Hardcastle also returns after picking up valuable junior varsity experience last year.

“She’s hitting her best balls yet,” Stickney said. “With more time and practice, good things are going to happen there, too.”

For now, Stick-ney has the happy predicament of figuring out where to put players.

Thomas will return to singles, but the other singles spot and both doubles teams are still up in the air.

“On this squad, I’ve got five girls who can play sin-gles, which is an anomaly because that doesn’t hap-pen very often,” he said. “We’ll prob-ably have quite a varied lineup over a few meets until we settle on some-thing we’re all comfortable with. I can probably put any of these kids in singles or doubles and they’re going to have some success.”

The girls open the season on Aug. 28 at Ellsworth, then will stay in the area at Larned and Great Bend for the next two meets before hosting their own meet on Sept. 11. The Lady Ea-gles return home on Sept. 27 for league competition.

By Mike Courson

Last year, then-junior Oma Thomas was still the baby on the team. That team that included five seniors just happened to win the Class 3-2-1A state champion-ship last October. Darri Beckwith, Bailey Schartz, Kaitlyn Robl, Gentry McLeland, and Rachel Morales have all graduated, leaving Thomas to take over a young squad.

“It is very, very different,” the senior said. “I’m so used to playing with them. It feels weird being the leader of this team and practicing with many new faces. They have very large shoes to fill from last year, but i know it’s going to be a great year.”

As a three-sport athlete in her first three years at Ellin-wood High School, Thomas has the experience to be a leader, finishing seventh as a singles player at State last year, and compet-ing in the State track meet just three months ago. She also plays for the Lady Eagle bas-ketball team in the winter. With mostly junior varsity play-ers stepping into varsity roles this season, that experi-ence will come in all the more handy.

“I need to pro-vide a positive attitude to these younger play-ers and get them pumped for this season and remind them that all this hard work will pay off in the end,” Thomas said.

After a solid showing at state last year, Thomas has continued to work hard to im-prove her game. Last year raised the

bar, and she ex-pects nothing short of that again this year.

“My expecta-tions this year are to win more matches and to place higher at state than last year,” she said.” And to become an overall better tennis player.”

After tennis, Thomas will re-

main busy for the rest of the school year with basket-ball and track. After that, the door remains open.

“I have been leaning towards going to Barton and playing tennis there for (Coach Lyle Stickney),” she said, “and pos-sibly do the nursing program after my first year.”

Friday, august 24, 2012 2012 Fall sports preview the ellinwood leader &hoisington dispatch6

Tall task: young squad left to defend state title

Ellinwood tennis

Aug. 28 @EllsworthAug. 30 @LarnedSept. 8 @Great BendSept. 11 HOMESept. 20 @GreensburgSept. 22 @CollegiateSept. 27 MCAA HOMEOct. 5 RegionalOct. 12 State

2012 Lady Eagles tennis team

Going young Thomas time: lone Lady Eagle senior to lead team

Five players from last year’s state championship team graduated in May. Senior Oma Thomas, seen here at an early practice, returns after a seventh-place finish at State a year ago. A relatively young Lady Eagle team will rely on her experience from three sports to lead the team. (photos by Mike Courson)

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By Mike GilMore HOISINGTON – Our 16th President was known as a statesman and not a sportsman, but he did understand an often-neces-sary rule of sports when he said: “Experience is a hard teacher, because she gives the test first, the lesson afterward.” As he prepares his Hoisington High School girls’ tennis team for the 2011 season, no one understands this more than Coach Kerry Mooney. “We’re not really young, we are inexperi-enced,” said Mooney, as the nine members of his

current tennis squad took to the courts last week, some for the first time. Graduation and trans-fers hit the Lady Cardinals hard in the off-season, with Julie Bitter and Jennifer Funk, who placed fifth at regional doubles last year graduated, as well as Lind-sey Ney in singles. Only two, seniors Shannon Lacey and Kaitlyn Rodie, who paired up for regionals last year, return with varsity experi-ence. In the early going, Mooney said he was going to start Rodie in singles, after coach and player dis-

cussed her going solo last season. “As to the rest of them … I have got to come up with a clue, because we play in a week,” Mooney said. Mooney is only half-kidding. His squad, which sports three seniors, three juniors, two sophomores and a freshman, are an athletic and competitive bunch. “I’ve got a pretty good idea who my top six are going to be,” he said. “It’s a matter of who I’m going to put with who and who’s going to play singles. It’s going to be a good experience year for most of my girls,” he said.

With the first meet at Larned drawing ever closer on Thursday, Sept. 1, the pressure is off for Mooney, who is concentrating on the fundamentals and the joy of playing tennis. Experience will come through competition, as the squad is maxed out on eight varsity and eight junior varsity meets this season. The season opens for the junior varsity squad Aug. 30 in Russell. “I told the girls the other day this is the most relaxed I’ve been,” he said. “My whole thing this year

is positive attitude, have fun. “We have expecta-tions, but they are not so pressing that we are stress-ing about them. We’ve been focusing on proper footwork, cross stepping like we’re supposed to. We’re back to basics this year. For the most part, we’ve got it down, we’ve just got to get fine-tuned.” Joining seniors Lacey and Rodie is senior Krystal Cowan. Juniors are Kayla Reisner, Katy Barrett and Kim Harper. Sophomore Samantha Fox is a trans-

fer from Great Bend, and sophomore Deiah Curtis brings fundamentals and athleticism to the court, Mooney said. Jessica Schauf is the solo fresh-man on the squad. “Tennis is a mental game,” Mooney agreed. “You get what you put into it, and it depends upon what you want to give it, how well you will suc-ceed.” After all, as Lincoln said: “In the end, it is not the years in your life that count; it’s the life in your years.”

Hoisington Dispatch 2011 Fall SportS preview Friday, September 2, 2011 5

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Hoisington Tennis Schedule 2011

Hoisington coach Kerry Mooney surveys his team at practice last week at Bicenten-nial Park. (photo by Karen Van Brimmer)

By Mike GilMore The Hoisington Cardi-nal girls’ golf team, which dominated the links last year with seven tourna-ment wins, should be figured in as one of the top teams to beat in Class 3A this fall. If coach Bruce Cooper had his way, they’d be No. 1. Cooper, who is advanc-ing into his fourth decade of coaching girls’ golf at Hoisington High School, should know. He was asked by the state during coaching school this sum-mer to speak on translating practice results to tourna-ment wins. He wouldn’t give away all his secrets, but the proof is in the pud-ding; his squad won seven meets last year. And while Brittany Ax-man, last year’s top squad member, is now touring the links with Barton County Community College, the rest of the squad is back, after a third-place finish at state at the Great Bend

StoneRidge course last October. In the past two weeks heading into the first meet of the season, Cooper has also adopted the role as head cheerleader. “I Keep telling the girls they are probably one of the best 3A teams in the state,” Cooper said. “I’m going to say it enough that they are going to believe it. They have the potential to do that, it just depends upon the day, and the weather, and the course you’re going to play at.” Returning to the squad is Cooper’s own daughter Blakelee, now a senior, and most likely the team’s No. 1. Cooper outshot her graduated teammate last year for 13th place in the state standings, and has been working hard in the offseason and in the summer – which, with this summer’s heat not exactly attuned to golf, hasn’t been easy. “We just lost Brittany Axman from last year’s team and we have two sophomores coming up from last year’s team that have JV experience, they won almost every JV meet that they went to last year,” Cooper said. “Hopefully, the girls that were playing three and four, and are now playing two and three, will step up. “Blakelee is accepting the challenge. I have con-vinced her that she isn’t going to improve playing just in the girls’ season. She played a lot this sum-mer and she’s playing on weekends.” Stepping up is Shelby Littrell, who proved last

Lady Cards looking to do better than bronze on the links

2010 Fall SportS preview10 September 3, 2010

by mike Gilmore

BUSHTON - Quivira Heights High School head football coach John Phelan didn’t want to risk having a preseason season this year, because of his season opener. There’s too much at stake. “I didn’t want to risk it, with the number of play-ers that we have out,” he said. “It’s always a good game, every time we play. This year will make it interesting, there is a twist to it.” Phelan, who will wrap up 11 years as football coach at QHHS this year, was speaking of the Cla-flin Wildcats. The Thun-derbirds open the season Sept. 3 in Claflin in what will be the schools’ final game in opposition. Next year, they combine under the banner of USD No. 112.

by mike Gilmore

BUSHTON -- For Quivira Heights head volleyball coach Brittney Tenbrink, this season will be bittersweet. After nine years as head coach of the Lady Thun-derbirds, she will be turn-ing in her blue-and-whites for a color she doesn’t even know yet - USD No. 112, the T-birds’ consoli-dation with Claflin next year, hasn’t yet decided on either colors or a mascot. “I’ve been here for nine years,” said Tenbrink, who came to Bushton by way of Fort Hays State Univer-sity, graduating in 1998, and Sylvan Grove High School. “I’m a Thunder-bird to the core.” Over the years, Ten-brink has posted a 203-60 overall record at QH. The Lady T-birds took first in the Class 1A State tourna-ment in 2007 after placing second in 2006. That’s the bitter part.

Phelan will suit up 18 players for this year’s team. “We don’t want to play (the game) up too big, but it is,” he added. Over three decades, the Thunderbirds have actually squared off less than a dozen times, due to enrollment and Cla-flin’s moves from eight-man to 11-man and back again. Phelan is himself a QHHS graduate, play-ing under then-coach Leonard Gales at quarter-back the year following Gales’ state-winning tilt. He returns actually as a second-year coach, adding to a previous stint that ran from 1989-1998. He re-members, though, meeting the Wildcats three or four times during that period. “They were always pretty good,” he said. This year, both sides will be playing for Central

Prairie League and overall bragging rights in the Eight Man II Division. Phelan notes that his purple rivals better not discount his boys in blue, returning five starters and eight lettermen from last season’s 10-3, state runners-up squad. Last year, the T-Birds lost only twice heading into the state playoffs, before blanking Havi-land 46-0. They then posted a 42-6 beaking of previously-unbeaten CPL rival Otis-Bison in regional action. QH then clawed Victoria 42-20 in sub-state. Hanover finally stopped the soaring T-Birds in Newton at state with a 66-36 win. “Our overall skill posi-tions will be pretty good,” he mused. “We must de-velop a couple of linemen, but we should be very competitive in our district

The 2010 Quivira Heights football team features (front row) Jordan Trevino, Brent Jezek, Gunner Phelan, Taylor Siemsen, Lucas Bosquez; (second row) Bryce Staub, Nick Schepmann, Mike Cox, Benjamin Swanson, manager Danielle Stewart; (third row) manager Brady Woodmansee, Jacon Woodmansee, Joe Barton, Tan-ner Wolf, Roy Turner, manager Colton Lumpkins;, (fourth row) Nathan Young, Tom Habiger, Austin Trammell, Chris Woolf; and (back row) coach Kyle Kaiser, head coach John Phelan, coach Dustin Robinson.

The sweet part is that the Lady T-Birds will have one last chance go all out this season - it may be a little more difficult this year, because the 2007 Class 1A state championss won’t have any Phelans on the court, and they will be a little younger, shorter and lighter. “There are a select number of teams that I absolutely do not want to lose to this season,” she said. “I’ve been telling the girls that. I don’t know how far it will go, but I will tell them that as long as I can.” A tall order, consider-ing the T-Birds open the season in Claflin against the always-tough Lady Wildcats, and perennial powerhouse St. John on Sept. 1. They will first meet St. John, -- “always someone we want to beat” - an Burrton in Burrton. In 2007, the year they

went 42-4, they lost to St. John during the season three times, and once in postseason pool play. They will always play to win, but this year they will also play not to lose. “We are going to be a defensive team this year,” she said. “Our tallest player is 5-8, and our best hitter is 5-6. Out of our top six, three are returning starters - we will be con-centrating on not making any defensive mistakes - looking to our opponents to make them.” Last year, QHHS went 29-14 graduating a good crop of seniors. Tenbrink will be looking to setter senior Kate Zink to lead the team, noting she will be the center of their of-fense. “I would have liked to run two setters this year, bur right now, I only have one. “We will be a little young and inexperi-enced, so we will have to put things in during the season.”

Quivira Heights Football team looking to be very competitiveand in the playoffs. The Thunderbirds begin their assault with a very effective one-back set on offense, that allows a lot

of room to air out the foot-ball. “We like to spread the field,” he said, noting that their top graduating

receiver Jacob Ingam last year was a league leader at 77 catches. Their one-back is solid at 6-2, 215.

The 2010 Quivira Heights High School volleyball team features (front row): Danielle Stewart, Miranda Burton, Kinsey Phelan; (middle row) Alicia Grover, Alanna Burris, Lindsey Woodmansee, Katelyn Zink, Stacey Behnke; (back row) Faith Orth, Julee McAtee, Rebecca Stewart, Jayde Beck, Brooke Burton. Team members not pictured are Benti Thier and Samantha Nelson.

Quivira Heights volleyball team will be ‘defensive’

by mike Gilmore

CLAFLIN - For 28 seasons now, Claflin High School girls’ tennis coach Gary Bittner has had ten-nis teams bringing home honors for the Wildcats from the Class 1A State Tennis Tournament. This year, he gets one more shot. We’re supposed to have a combined team this year, but no one from Quivira Heights signed up,” Bitt-ner said, of the schools’ impending consolidation slated for the 2011-2012 school year. “I’ve got 11 players out, all Claflin kids, and three with state tournament experience.” Among those 11, several have state tournament experience. Five of the

11 are seniors, including senior netter Allie Hipp. Hipp returns at No. 1 singles for the Lady Wild-cats, coming off a 25-11 record and a seventh-place finish at state last season. Hipp takes over for the graduated Kandi Hickel, who wound up with a 20-11 season record.Backing Hipp up at No. 2 will be Miranda Gaddis, also a senior. At No. 1 doubles will be seniors Margon Hekele and Norel Kirmer, who partnered up after Court-ney Liebl dropped out for surgery. “We are going to miss Courtney, she was a good addition to the team,” Bittner said. “But Hekele and Kirmer are a nice team, too. Last year,

Kirmer posted a 19-9 re-cord taking over for Liebl, and the pair combined for a 27-8 tally and a seventh-place state finish. Younger sisters can play tennis, too, and sopho-mores Katie Hipp and Janie Hekele will team up at No. 2 doubles this year. “We have a nice team this year,” Bittner added. “We have 12 varsity meets with 11 players pushing to fill out our schedule. We might be spread a little thin, but it’s great that the girls will be playing a lot of tennis.” And playing to win. “We’re going to play with a purpose this year,” Bittner noted. “We have a strong tennis tradition, the girls know that, and we’re playing to win.”

The 2010 Claflin High School tennis team features (front row) Aubrey Kempke, Janae Hekele, Katie Hipp, Aubrey Alcorn, Karli Beck; (back row) Head Coach Gary Bittner, Norel Kirmer, Morgan Hekele, Miranda Gaddis, Allie Hipp, Megan Schlochtermeier, assistant coach Joan Klug; Not pictured is Alice Radenberg.

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2010 Fall SportS previewSeptember 3, 2010 11

Quivira Heights Cross Country Coach Christie Brungardt (middle) joins Thunderbird runners Ty Heitschmidt (left) and returning state qualifier Tanner Dahlke. Not pictured, team member Joshua Whiterock.

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While the ramifications were not as great as the recent college football’s makeover, what played out the past year will have long lasting affects on many Kansas High Schools. A new school year is upon us and so too will be a bevy of new leagues that have been formed. The Mid-States Ac-tivities Association, for starters, in no longer. It consisted of Ulysses, Scott City, Pratt, Hoisington, TMP and Larned. The league has been around many years dating back to the 80s. Hoisington, Rus-sell, Nickerson and Lyons were at one time members of the league.

Larned and TMP stuck together and have meshed with Ellinwood and Hois-ington to form the new Mid-Central Activities Association (MCAA). The now old MCAA, formed less than 10-years ago, was vacated by several schools that helped formed that new confer-ence. Halstead, Haven, Hesston, Hillsboro, Lyons, Nickerson, Smoky Valley and Sterling – all former MCAA members – have joined Pratt and King-man in forming the new Central Kansas League (CKL). Kingman opted out of the multi-divisional Ark Valley-Chisholm Trail League to join the new league. Ulysses, Scott City,

Holcomb, Hugoton, Colby and Goodland have joined forces to make up the new Greater West Activities Conference (GWAA). Holcomb and Hugoton were members of the Hi-Plains League while Goodland and Colby ran in the Northwest Kansas League. Colby and Good-land had been members of the NWKL for 75-years. Got all that? Good. Reasons for the shift of schools and new leagues forming? Travel costs, shrinking school enroll-ment, more balanced competitive leagues, and schools dropping from one classification to another to name just a few issues which caused the change. There is always a ‘travel costs’ issue that is brought up by schools and the Kansas State High School Activities Association. So? It will be a might ironic during the 2010 football season, as Larned High will play a 4A playoff game at Hugoton and Ul-ysses. Holcomb will travel to Larned for a district game. Travel time, my friends, for those games will not be close to an hours drive.

And just for good fod-der, LHS travels to Beloit for a non-conference game this year. It will be a long Friday, and evening, for the traveling LHS Indians for that game. Kansas’ ever changing high school landscape will still see many schools unifying and new leagues forming in the years to come. Many are worried about the formation of the new four-team Mid-Central Activities Association that includes Larned, TMP, Hoisington and Ellinwood. Don’t worry because the league will at-tract new members in the years to come. You can never foresee the future but I have an interesting idea for our own back-yard high school supper conference. It would have to be broken down into divisions but here is my best guess for teams: Larned, TMP, Hoisington, Ellinwood, Great Bend, Hays High, Dodge City, Lyons, Ster-ling, Russell, LaCrosse, Pawnee Heights, Jetmore, Otis-Bison, Quivira Heights, Stafford, Macks-ville, St. John, Kinsley, Victoria and Ellsworth. Hey. It was just a thought!

Satterlee. Any could even-tually crack double digits on the state tournament leaderboard. The Lady Indians, mean-while, have Katie Seeman, who as a junior is most likely to move to the top

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Early fall football, cross country, soccer and field hockey practices are conducted in very hot and humid weather in many parts of the United States. Due to the equipment and uniform needed in foot-ball, most of the heat problems have been associated with football. Heatstrokes can be prevent if the proper precau-tions are taken. During hot weather conditions the athlete is subject to the following: HEAT CRAMPS – Painful cramps involving abdomi-nal muscles and extremities caused by intense, prolonged exercise in the heat and deple-tion of salt and water due to profuse sweating. HEAT SYNCOPE – Weak-ness fatigue and fainting due to loss of salt and water in sweat and exercise in the heat. Predisposes to heat stroke. HEAT EXHAUSTION (WATER DEPLETION) – Excessive weight loss, reduced sweating, elevated skin and core body temperature, exces-sive thirst, weakness, headache and sometimes unconscious-ness. HEAT EXHAUSTION (SALT DEPLETION) – Exhaustion, nausea, vomiting, muscle cramps, and dizziness due to profuse sweating and inadequate replacement of body salts. HEAT STROKE – An acute medical emergency related to thermoregulatory failure. As-sociated with nausea, seizures, disorientation, and possible unconsciousness or coma. It may occur suddenly without being preceded by any other clinical signs. The individual is usually unconscious with a high body temperature and a hot dry skin (heat stroke victims, contrary to popular belief, may sweat profusely). It is believed that the above-mentioned heat stress problems can be controlled provided certain precautions are taken. The following practices and precautions are recommended: 1. Each athlete should have a physical examination with a medical history when first entering a program and an annual health history update. History of previous heat illness and type of training activi-ties before organized practice begins should be included. State High School Associa-tions recommendations should be followed. 2. It is clear that top physi-cal performance can only be achieved by an athlete who is in top physical condition. Lack of physical fitness impairs the performance of an athlete who participates in high tempera-tures. Coaches should know the PHYSICAL CONDITION of their athletes and set prac-tice schedules accordingly. 3. Along with physical conditioning the factor of acclimatization to heat is im-portant. Acclimatization is the process of becoming adjusted to heat and it is essential to provide for GRADUAL AC-CLIMATIZATION TO HOT WEATHER. It is necessary for an athlete to exercise in the heat if he/she is to become ac-climatized to it. It is suggested that a graduated physical conditioning program be used and that 80% acclimatization can be expected to occur after the first 7-10 days. Final stages of acclimatization to heat are marked by increased sweating and reduced salt concentration

in the sweat. 4. The old idea that water should be withheld from ath-letes during workouts has NO SCIENTIFIC FOUNDATION. The most important safeguard to the health of the athlete is the replacement of water. Water must be on the field and readily available to the athletes at all times. It is recommended that a minimum 10-minute water break be scheduled for every twenty minutes of heavy exercise in the heat. Athletes should rest in a shaded area during the break. WATER SHOULD BE AVAIL-ABLE IN UNLIMITED QUANTITIES. Check and be sure athletes are drinking the water. Cold water is prefer-able. Drinking water before practice or games has also been found to aid performance in heat. Replacement by thirst alone is inadequate. Salt should be replaced daily. Modest salt-ing of foods after practice or games will accomplish this purpose. Salt tablets are not recommended. ATTEN-TION MUST BE DIRECTED TO REPLACING WATER –FLUID REPLACEMENT IS ESSENTIAL. 5. Know both the tempera-ture and Humidity. The greater the humidity the more difficult it is for the body to cool itself. 6. Cooling by evaporation is proportional to the area of the skin exposed. In extremely hot and humid weather reduce the amount of clothing covering the body as much as possible. NEVER USE RUBBERIZED CLOTHING. 7. Athletes should weigh each day before and after prac-tice and WEIGHT CHARTS CHECKED. Generally a 3 percent weight loss through sweating is safe and over a 3 percent weight loss is in the danger zone. Over a 3 percent weight loss the athlete should not be allowed to practice in hot and humid conditions.

New leagues for 2010

spot. Kayla Langdon, also a junior, will have to step up as well. And such is the sich: The state split 4A from the pack into its own bracket in 2008, and the Lady Indians are riding on a bubble, waiting to see which class title they will be going after on Oct. 18. If they move up, (and it’s extremely likely they will) they will face a host of new competition, including Russell, which will be tough. But not the Lady Cardinals, who, unfortunately, will have to make paybacks during the regular season. Best believe, though, they will try.

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Friday, august 24, 2012 2012 Fall sports previewthe ellinwood leader &hoisington dispatch 7

Manka leads new HHS harrier squadBy Mike GilMore

One senior, one junior and a quartet of freshmen make of the 2012 edition of the Hoisington High School cross country squad this year.

Shannon Manka, junior, returns to the course with senior Peter Mc-Cool and freshmen Kylie Craford, Rylie Koester, Terrance Croslin and Gregory Conaway, reports HHS

coach Krisa Ubelaker, now in her fourth season coaching the harriers.

“I have a whole new squad this year and I am excited for the possi-bilities,” Ubelaker said. “They are a good group of athletes who have the potential to do well.”

The HHS harriers open the season at home over the Labor Day weekend, at the Josh Emerson Invi-tational Saturday at 9 a.m.

Hoisington Cross Country Coach Krisa Ubelaker (far right) will have a small squad in 2012 with just six runners out for the team. (photo by Karen Van Brimmer)

New faces dominate Lady Cardinals net squadBy Mike GilMore

Hoisington High School girls’ tennis coach Kerry Mooney has a lot of new faces on the courts this sea-son.

“I have seven new

players this year,” said Mooney, as the Lady Cards traveled to Russell for season-opening junior varsity tournaments on Aug. 23 and Aug. 28. Junior Erica Swager joins six

incoming freshmen to the squad: Melissa Stout; Devan Donovan; Kylie Broeder; Kay-leigh Bitter; and Emily Hammond.

“With so many new players we are

very inexperienced at this point,” Mooney noted. “I’m looking for improvement each day and hopefully by the end of the season we have put everything together.”

Four players return to the team, led by ju-nior Deiah Curtis, who qualified for Class 3A state last season paired with senior Shannon Lacey in doubles with a 12-12 record. Seniors Katy Barrett and Kayla Reisner, and sopho-more Jessica Schauf also return.

The Lady Cards varsity opens the sea-son at Larned with the Larned Round Robin Aug. 30 at 3 p.m.

Hoisington cross county(home meets in CAPS)

Sept. 1 JOSH EMERSON INVITE, 9 a.m.Sept. 6 at Hesston Invite, 4 p.m.Sept. 13 at Hays High Invite, 3:45 p.m.Sept. 20 LARNED INVITATIONAL, 4 p.m.Sept. 27 at Ness City Invite, 4 p.m.Oct. 4 at Sterling Invite, 4 p.m.Oct 11 HOISINGTON -- MCAA, 4 p.m.

Hoisington cross county(home meets in CAPS)

Aug. 30 at Larned Round Robin, 3 p.m.Sept. 4 HOISINGTON INVITATIONAL, 3 p.m.Sept. 8 at St. John Invitational, 9 a.m.Sept. 18 at Central Plains Inv-itational, 3 p.m.Sept. 20 at Russell Varsity Invite, 1 p.m.Sept. 25 at Ellsworth Varsity Quad, 3 p.m.Sept. 27 at Ellinwood -- MCAA, 3 p.m.

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By Mike GilMore

The Hoisington Cardinals are senior-laden this year, with a host of returning league accolades from last year’s 5-4 season atop the Mid-Central Activities Association. Three of the Cardinals’ wins last year were against MCAA op-ponents, and second-year coach Jason Ingram expects the Cards to hold the top spot again this year.

“Our team has a great group of se-niors leading the way with a lot of playing experience,” Ingram said. “We have another year under our belt with the new offense and look for great things to happen.”

Along with quar-terback Derrick Kaiser lost to gradu-ation, the Cards will be looking to expe-rience rather than numbers to fill holes in the roster. Among the top players lost is offensive all-stater Brady Moore, who is now playing for the Hutchinson Com-munity College team that is expected to finish second in the Jayhawk Conference this fall; and running back Cody Batt, who will be suiting up with the Dodge City Community College Conquistadors.

The Cards have six returning start-ers on offense, with some ready replace-ments to fill open positions from grad-uation.

Heading the list is Hagen Hanzlick, a 5-10, 190-pound senior at quarter-back, taking over for graduated Kaiser.

Last year, Han-zlick divided his time between backup QB, tailback and defensive linebacker, earning underclass-man Most Valuable Player for the Cards and First Team All-MCAA honors at running back along the way. Hanzlick posted 1,463 yards last year at tailback with a 6.45 yards-per-carry average, for a total 14 touch-downs. Hanzlick’s best game was the Cards’ 34-7 win over Lyons, in which he scored five TDS and rolled up 298 yards.

As a passer, Hanzlick posted 116 yards for a 12.9 per game average, completing eight of 21 passes with two interceptions. Han-zlick also returns on defense at strong safety, recording 33 tackles last season.

Hanzlick’s senior-dom-inated back-field includes 5-8, 160

running back Chance Demel and 5-9, 170 Chris Jonas. Also at running back is 6-0, 200 junior Avery Ur-ban, who honed his skills over the sum-mer by participating in the New England Patriots’ super com-bine at Kansas City and in Foxboro.

Among the receiv-ing corps is senior Cody Stetler, a 6-8, 235 all-MCAA first-teamer at tight end. Stetler’s added reach enabled him to snag a team-leading 16 catches with four touchdowns last season, averaging 12.69 yards for a total 203. Stetler also returns as the Cardi-nals’ kicker. Stetler is joined by senior wide receivers Jacob Durrett (6-3. 175) and Jeffrey Kaiser (5-10, 170).

Anchoring the of-fensive line is senior 6-0, 210 guard Cay-ton Janousek, who garnered all-MCAA first-team honors last season as a junior. Senior Cody Richter returns as a 5-9, 210 center; senior Payton Bullard (6-1, 210) is also at guard and senior Trevor Wil-liams (5-11, 230) is at tackle. Junior Darin Poland (6-2, 225) is expected to fill the other tackle position.

Eight starters return on defense. While several of the seniors will be ex-pected to play both ways (Urban, Bul-lard and Janousek all garnered all-MCAA honors last season and return as lin-backers) there are some notable ad-ditions on defense. Senior Zach Sanders (5-10, 160) returns at linebacker, and soph-omore Nolan Mc-Curry (5-6, 150) is expected to pair up with Demel at cor-nerback. Sophomore Seth Owen, at 6-2, 265, is also expected to see time at defen-sive tackle.

“Our depth is going to be our one

hindering problem,” said Ingram. “Our roster is not thick enough to maintain

a solid 3A group of young men, so inju-ries could severely hinder this team.”

Friday, august 24, 2012 2012 Fall sports preview the ellinwood leader &hoisington dispatch8

Seniors fill Hoisington Cardinals’ slim grid roster

Second-year Cardinal Coach Jason Ingram leads his squad in drills at an early practice. Hoisington opens the season against Great Bend on August 31. (photo by Karen Van Brimmer)

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By Mike GilMoreHi! NeiGHBor SportSI started writing sports

in the fall of 1982.It wasn’t supposed to

be a lifetime gig; I was working at the Fort Hays State University Leader newspaper as a general assignment reporter and columnist, but the sports

editor’s job was open and it paid $500 a semester.

Looking back on three decades of prep sports, I have to say that it has been a good run so far. I came to the Golden Belt area straight from Hays, and was introduced really quickly to Barton County sports as county sports-writer for the Great Bend Tribune.

One of my first introductions was Hois-ington High School golf coach Bruce Cooper. While many coaches have come and gone at various schools since in the past three decades, Coop is still out on the links, and I have to add that time has treated him a whole lot better than it has me.

Coop’s teams, over the years, have benefited from some pretty good performers. Katrina Custer, for example. The teams from 1982-85. Some of that might be considered ancient his-tory, but as senior circuit golfer Lee Trevino said, “I’ll never quit playing; the clubs don’t know how old I am. The older I get, the better I used to be.”

Not to say that Coop hasn’t ever been surprised out on the course. Last year, for example. Senior daughter Blakelee, who has kept Coop wearing two hats for the past four years, was having trouble with the wind at Emporia. The coach hat always covers the dad hat in these

instances, but Coop was concerned. In the mean-time, his other players were burning up the links. Second place at state.

So, when this season rolled around, Coop was thinking he had a solid four. Well, this is high school golf, where anything can happen, and often does. Coop is build-ing up a team around two solid players. He can do it. He’s done it before.

That brings us around to volleyball. Anybody who has covered sports in Kansas is familiar with the name Bingesser. Bingessers in volleyball. Bingessers in football. Bingessers in track. I think that “Bingesser” is German for “coach.”

The latest edition, new to Hoisington, Jon, told me that he “fell into volleyball.” His dad was a football coach, his mother coached volleyball. When he was younger, his dad found out that young Jon was hard to handle on the football field – open spaces, you know. So he went to the gym with Mom. A gym has walls. So Bingesser the college

student goes to Pittsburg State – we won’t talk too much about the Goril-las; I’m a Fort Hays grad – and hooks up with a Northeast (Arma) club that he guides to a 32-6 record in 2010.

I was in a similar situ-ation, growing up. Dad was always out at the football field in the fall or the track in the spring. So, Mom set me under-neath the piano while she practiced. I was a music major in high school. Many times I’ve wished that Mom had played tennis.

As to tennis, HHS coach Kerry Mooney’s clubs have suffered from the “revolving door” syn-drome in the past several years. This year, he has a half-dozen freshmen on the courts. That does in-voke good feelings when one thinks down the road.

Down the road brings us to football. The Cardi-nals will be playing prob-ably their grittiest rival in the Great Bend Panthers, for the Cards’ home season opener. Hopefully, Hagen Hanzlick and the rest of the Cards’ spread

offense will escape the injury table as the season progresses.

Also in football, down the road, the Central Plains Oilers have been spending more time in the training room than Coach Chris Steiner would like; his 2012 squad has been picked as a team to watch in the Central Prairie League, but there’s nine games in front of post-season.

Back the other way, the Otis-Bison Cougars are once again launch-ing a postseason bid, this time with senior Dylan Wissman carrying the ball. Thunder Ridge was a thorn in the Cougars’ paw last year, but a tenet of a Starr program is that there will be plenty of marks in the win column.

That’s all for this week. I hear that the state activities associa-tion is meeting to change the state’s classification program. Hopefully, an expansion to seven competitive classes will reduce the range in the too-wide Class 4A.

The bell is ringing; I’ve got to run.

By Mike GilMoreSenior circuit golfer

Lee Trevino, known for his humor as well as his short game, wouldn’t let a little thing like being struck by lightning keep him away from the golf course.

“I adore the game of golf,” Trevino said. “I’ll never retire.”

Hoisington High School girls’ golf coach Bruce Coo-per, who is entering his 33rd season at the helm of the school’s golf program, can take a page from Trevino’s book.

Three decades of coach-ing experience led Cooper, heading to Class 3A state at Emporia Municipal last season, to tell his wife that a fifth- or a seventh-place team finish would make him happy.

His team, however, had

other ideas. Even while se-nior daughter Blakelee was struggling with the wind, his younger charges were burn-ing up the links. Junior Ash-ton Nickelson, who beat the wind around the course, tied for eighth place with back-to-back 49s and won the playoff in one hole. And at the bottom, was sophomore Hannah Wilborn, whose timely personal best counted toward the team total of 408 – for second place.

“It was way above expec-tations,” Cooper said after the meet. “That 408 was the lowest round we’ve had all season.”

As the 2012 season ap-proaches, Nickelson is back for her fourth links tour with the Lady Cards, while Wilborn will be making her third. That’s the nucleus that Cooper will be building his

team around as they head off for Nickerson in Aug. 28’s season opener.

Over the past four years, Cooper’s squads have enjoyed a steady stream of players moving up to take the place of graduating seniors. Even after Blake-lee’s graduation, Cooper was looking forward to a solid four heading into this fall’s slate.

It turns out, however, that there’s some rebuilding to do. “In the last four years, we’ve finished fourth, fourth, third and second at state, we were steadily moving up,” Cooper said. “I was confi-dent that we could finish top three this year.”

A broken foot and a transfer to the volleyball team among his seniors have changed expectations, but not the fundamental drive

of the team. “The girls that are out like the opportunity,” Cooper said, as spots in the top six have opened up.

“We’ve been working hard this last week on the range and the green, we actually put our first holes in today (Monday). Han-nah and Ashton have really shown a great work ethic, they were out practically every day over the summer.”

Competitively, the Lady Cards will be tested right out of the gate, as Class 3A state champ Syracuse is expected to be among the field at Nickerson.

After that, it’s Medicine Lodge, and the Dodge City Invitational. The Lady Cards won’t be playing at home until Sept. 24.

Still, after three decades of coaching, Coach Cooper is used to the process. “You

start them out, it takes three, four years to move them up, keep them going, keep them improving their scores. I keep a record of everybody’s scores so they can see their progress.”

A top-three state finish might be out of range this season, but there’s still a lot of golf to be played, he said. “And there’s a couple eighth-graders that have shown some promise,” he added.

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Lady Oiler spikers back for more of strong Central Prairie League

By Mike GilMoreCLAFLIN – Senior middle hitter

Jennifer Hitschmann returns to lead the Central Plains Lady Oilers through a solid Central Prairie League sched-ule toward postseason in 2012.

Last year, in the team’s inaugural season as a combination of Quivira Heights and Claflin players, the Lady Oilers banded together to finish 25-14 overall in a season that ended in the Class 2A sub-state quarterfinals at El-linwood, against Kiowa County.

Playing in a tough league toward a big postseason goal isn’t new to any of the Lady Oilers, who now have a season in green under their belt with second-year coach Brittney Tenbrink.

“Their expectations, I think, are different because they know what to expect this year,” Tenbrink said. “With everybody new, everybody didn’t know what to expect. They now know how practice is run – the conditioning – and so far, it’s going pretty good.”

Tenbrink has 20 players on the roster this season, which is down from the past but still a solid group to pick from, she said.

“We’re young this year,” Tenbrink said. “I have six seniors, with a couple starters returning.” Hitschmann, who played in the shadow of St. John’s

senior hitter Teresa Wade last season, will be part of the Lady Oiler force that renews the assault on the Lady Tigers’ grip on the Central Prairie League. Also returning in the Lady Oilers’ 6-2 set is junior setter Breanna Holmes, who also hits in rotation; and defensive specialist Jade Beck, Tenbrink said.

“I’m looking for some younger girls to step up,” Tenbrink added. “Our league (the CPL) is a competitive league, and St. John is always a big rival and a tough game. They will be strong this year, even without Teresa Wade, that’s just the way they play. It’s always fun to play them.”

Time in tournament play at Ells-worth, Russell and Hoisington will give the younger girls a chance to hone skills in preparation for postsea-son. Tenbrink will be looking at skill positions on Thursday when the Lady Oilers take to their home court against Wilson, Natoma and Chase in the season opener.

“It’s always good to start off at home, and see where you’re at, and see what you need to work on,” Ten-brink noted. “We’ll play some young girls this year, I’ve got a couple fresh-men that will probably be stepping up and playing a lot of varsity.”

By Mike GilMoreOTIS – First year

coach Sarah Gregory won’t make any preseason predictions, but she has set goals.

“A good goal for us is to be in the top four (of the Central Prairie League),” she said, as the Lady Cougars have eight return-ing varsity players out of 16 on this season’s roster. “We want to improve; we are looking at 22, 23 wins this season.”

The Lady Cougars, with senior all-leaguer and hitter Janel Tammen, last year were upended in the semifinals of their 1A sub-state by Dighton, to finish with a .500 record. Tammen, a 5-9 power hitter, has since traveled to Liberal to play basketball for the Seward County Lady Saints.

Gregory, who moves to the head coaching position after serving as a first-year assistant last year, notes that while players like

Tammen are a loss to the team, there are also those that move up.

“Tammen is a loss, but I have two seniors that have played on varsity since their sophomore year,” she said. One of them, senior Kim Pechanec, will serve as one of three co-captains and “my big, bad middle,” Gregory said.

“I’m really looking for my team captains to lead the team,” Gregory added. “I have a sophomore, ju-nior and senior (Pechanec) as captains. (Junior) Annie Kraisinger, she’s going to play my other middle. We’ve moved her from outside to middle and so far it’s been an amazing improvement.” Sopho-more Demi Bartonek will serve as setter and in a leadership role as well, Gregory noted.

Playing in the Central Prairie League and com-ing home with wins is difficult, especially when

teams like St. John, Vic-toria and Central Plains are perennial toughies. “I saw St. John play over the summer (without gradu-ated all-state hitter Teresa Wade) and they still look just the same,” Gregory said. “They always find people to step up.”

The Lady Cougars open the season Tuesday, Aug. 28 in Hays against Larned and La Crosse, then host Macksville and La Crosse two days later (Aug. 30) for their non-league home opener. Saturday, Sept. 8, the Lady Cougars will com-bine with La Crosse to host their O-B, La Crosse Invitational.

The Lady Cougars hope to get their wins from a large junior class that saw varsity time last season, with maybe less power but more finesse, Gregory said.

“One of our goals is just to improve every time out,” she noted.

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Bingesser takes reins of Lady Cardinals volleyball programBy Mike GilMore

The prospect of tak-ing over an established program, especially after a history-making season complete with a state championship match might be daunt-ing to some coaches.

Not to Jon Bing-esser.

Bingesser -- whose surname in Northeast Kansas circles is syn-onymous with “coach” -- thought the prospect of extending a long-standing winning tradi-tion would be “fun.”

Bingesser takes the reins of the Hoisington High School volleyball program after former coach Tina Johnson’s Lady Cardinals -- a team that included senior power hit-ters Savannah Rose and Mallory Flagor -- slammed into the school record books with a second-place finish to Hillsboro in last year’s Class 3A state tournament.

“I knew that the volleyball position was open,” said Bingesser, a Pittsburg State Uni-versity graduate, who already was achiev-ing success as a prep coach at the ripe age of 19. “It’s my first year teaching; I applied for fun. It’s actually my fifth year coaching volleyball and fourth year as head coach. I thought that with being from the Beloit area, being part of a well-established volleyball program would be a great opportunity.”

Bingesser, who grew up in a coaching family, headed up a Northeast High School program in Arma while still studying at Pitts-burg State. In 2010, the Lady Vikings went 32-6.

“I just kind of fell into volleyball,” Bingesser explained. “While I was at Pitts-

burg State, I got to know the coach really well, started coaching at 19. I found out real-ly quick that you have to grow up fast if you want to be successful. I want people to notice the things I do.

“I think I can bring that motivation, that drive, to an already-established program.”

The fact that the Lady Cardinals gradu-ated a host of talent out of the starting lineup doesn’t bother Bingesser, either.

“I know that with a senior-heavy class, there’s not as many opportunities for some of the younger girls,” Bingesser said. “Actu-ally, this year is going to be good for them, because they now have a chance to really shine and show off what they’re capable of. They’ve practiced against those girls for three years, they’re used to competition; they’ve just never been able to show that to anybody yet.”

While the power from last year’s team may have graduated, Bingesser hopes to impress with finesse.

“We don’t have that power bomber that most teams rely on, but I do believe that we have five hitters on the floor at all times,” Bingesser said. “We will rely on everybody rather than just one person. We’re a little quicker this year than we were last year.”

Bingesser does have two seniors and two juniors that will build up his starting six: seniors Mykela Riedl and Olivia Lowry and juniors Abbi Rziha and Ashley Lockwood.

Riedl, who earned Class 3A tournament team honors as a 5-3 junior libero, im-pressed Bingesser in

practice with her abil-ity to dig the ball back into play.

“In volleyball, there’s no solid six, because you get into the rotation and you get every girl in there,” Bingesser noted. “Mykela Riedl, li-bero from last year, she brings a lot to the team. She’s all over the court, she’s a good leader and being one of two seniors, she’s looked up to.

“She’s a digger; even today I hit a ball to her and I thought it might have been too hard, but she popped it up like it was nothing.”

Senior Olivia Lowry is the team’s server and will play right side. “She’s a communicator; I like having her on the court because she’s vocal,” Bingesser said. “She’s always calling out where the ball is go-ing, where the block-ers are. She is an asset with her voice.”

Abi Rziha also returns as a 5-4 set-ter. “Thankfully, she’s a junior,” Bingesser noted. “We want to keep her around. She’s got some of the best hands I’ve seen on a high school kid. She

is really smart about where to put the ball.

“It’s hard to develop as a hitter when you aren’t getting consis-tent sets,” Bingesser explained. “That’s a good deal for our hit-ters that are growing in power.”

Junior Ashley Lock-wood is moving up from the junior varsity that finished 32-1 last season, to middle hit-ter and blocker. “She’s really consistent in everything she does; she hits well and she passes well,” Bingesser said. “On most teams, with middles, when they get to the back row, they get subbed out. To have a middle that can play all the way around is a real good sign,” he said.

Bingesser is expect-ing good things out of the gate, traveling to Marion for the season-opening triangular with Smoky Valley. Marion is 10 minutes from Class 3A state champion Hillsboro, and Smoky Valley is 4A, but “I’m expect-ing to win, because we have a really solid team and a lot of depth,” Bingesser said. “I think we will be able to show what

we’re made of and we are going to surprise a lot of people who are expecting a rebuilding year.”

The Lady Cards then return home that next Thursday to host a Mid-Central Ac-tivities Association quad with Ellinwood, Larned and Thomas

More Prep.“I told the girls, I

don’t expect just to win, I expect a sweep,” Bingesser said. “We haven’t yet had a bad practice. These girls have been able to do so much.

“I coached at North-east (High at Arma in 2010) where we were state-ranked and went 32-6. Those girls couldn’t do some of the drills that these girls are doing here.”

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New Hoisington High School volleyball Coach Jon Bingesser instructs during an early practice. Bingesser’s Lady Cardinals return two key seniors and juniors from last year’s Class 3A State runner-up team. (photo by Karen Van Brimmer)

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Friday, august 24, 2012 2012 Fall sports previewthe ellinwood leader &hoisington dispatch 11

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tennis team will again feature a full roster. At least in 2012. With only eight players on the squad, four of them seniors, this year’s team has plenty of experience, but will be looking to use success to recruit more players in the future.

“We should be a fun team to follow,” said Coach Gary Bittner. “I think we will fill all four divisions with quality players. Their should

be pretty good competi-tion on our squad for the number two singles slot.”

Leading the way

at No. 1 singles is the senior duo of Katie Hipp and Janae Hekele. The pair posted a 29-7 record in 2011, finishing second at regionals en route to a third-place finish at State.

At No. 1 singles, sophomore Breanna Schartz returns after qualifying for state a year ago. As a freshman, she posted a 13-10 overall record, finishing fourth at regionals and picking up one of those wins at the state tournament.

The No. 2 doubles

team will feature another experienced team. Senior Aubrey Kempke teamed up with junior Karli Beck last year for an 11-9 record. As a junior-sophomore squad, the duo came up just short of the state tournament last year, losing the match that went have qualified them.

The No. 2 singles spot will be the most contentious position on the team. Senior Alice Radenberg will get the nod after picking up key singles experience a year ago, but sophomore McKenna Hammeke and freshman Ryanne Hekele will also by vying for playing time in that spot as the other two players that fill out the Central Plains roster.

The Lady Oilers begin the season on Aug. 28 at Ellsworth, and will stay in the area for the next two meets at Larned on Aug. 30, and at Hoising-ton on Sept. 4.

“There are some outstanding coaches and

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Friday, august 24, 2012 2012 Fall sports preview the ellinwood leader &hoisington dispatch12

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Oilers lose top four runners from successful 2011 seasonBy Mike Courson

Last year, Central Plains featured a new football team, but it the game was not new to its athletes from successful Claflin and Quivira Heights programs. The newly minted Oilers cruised through district play at a perfect 6-0, going on to become regional runner-up before falling to eventual state runner-up South Gray. Though several players from that 9-2 team have since graduated, several familiar names will still be on the field in 2012.

“We are coming off a successful first season for the new school, but we did lose 11 seniors off of that team that were all major contributors to our success,” said Coach Chris Steiner, back for his second year on the sideline. “Our younger kids did get a lot of playing time last year and we are returning six starters.”

The biggest absence will come in the backfield where the Oilers will be without their top four backs from a year ago. Benn Kirmer ran for 1,551 yards and 29 touchdowns last year—more than half of the team’s rushing total. Nick Schep-

mann, Skyler Turner, and Dylan Prosser combined for another 1,045 yards and 23 scores.

Quarterback Bryce Stein-er does return after putting together 800 yards of of-fense last year. The 5-foot-8, 165-pound senior was also a key defensive player, finishing third on the team with 89 tackles, and pick-ing off three passes from his defensive back position.

Junior Colton Zink (5-9, 183) returns as an offensive skill player at fullback, and brings back his kicking leg that earned him second

team all CPL honors last year. He also had 87 tackles on defense. Junior Chris Woolf (5-11, 196) will step into the tailback position and double as a linebacker where he finished with 19 tackles last season.

The offensive and defen-sive lines will feature three returning starters. Senior Kyler Schlochtermeier (5-10, 240) was a second-team all-league offensive lineman last year and added 49 tack-les on defense. Senior Joe Barton (6-4, 203) returns at tight end and defensive end where he recorded 67 tack-

les and 2.5 sacks last year. Junior Evan Liebl (6-0, 190) also returns to both lines. As a defensive end in 2011, he finished with 27 tackles and 1.5 sacks.

Several young Oil-ers have worked hard get ready for the season, led by junior Meritt Hammeke (5-6, 152) who will step into tailback, wide receiver, and defensive back roles, sophomores Layne Bieberle and Louis Leiker, who will be key defenders, and 5-11, 165-pound freshman Cody Price, who will make an impact on the offensive line

and at linebacker. “Our kids worked re-

ally hard in the off-season, and this year’s success will be based on how well our younger kids can step into starting roles to fill the void left by graduation,” said Steiner.

The tradition of winning extended to the junior high team as they went unde-feated last year. Steiner is expecting those new players to continue to excel at the high school level.

“We are excited to have them in the high school, and will expect them to make the adjustment to high school rather quickly,” he said.”

The Oilers kick-off the 2012 season at home against Stafford on Aug. 31.

2012 Oiler football team

Central Plains tennis

Aug. 28 @EllsworthAug. 30 @LarnedSept. 4 @HoisingtonSept. 6 @Smoky ValleySept. 8 @HesstonSept. 13 @NewtonSept. 18 HOMESept. 22 @WakeeneySept. 27 HOMEOct. 5 RegionalOct. 12 State

Lady Oilers return key players with State experience

Central Plains Football

Aug. 31 STAFFORDSept. 7 @Otis-BisonSept. 14 @St. JohnSept. 21 @VictoriaSept. 28 CANTON-GALVAOct. 5 PRETTY PRAIRIEOct. 12 @LincolnOct. 19 SOLOMONOct. 25 @Little River

The 2012 Lady Oiler tennis team is front row l to r: Ryanne Hickel and McKenna Hammeke. Middle row: Coach Joan Klug, Karli Beck, Alice Radenberg, Janae Hekele, and Coach Gary Bittner. Back row: Aubrey Kempke, Breanna Schartz, and Katie Hipp. (photos by Mike Courson)

Hipp and Hekele