The Lancers defeated the Pembroke Hill Raiders 5-4 in sudden death overtime to win the Lacrosse Association of Kansas City metro title.

Pregame Show

Game

Watch the finals from the North Relays.

Want to know more about track from this year?  Read about staffer and track athlete Emma Pennington and her family’s legacy on the track here, as well as junior Grace Pickell’s record breaking high jump.   For more on the track team, check out the SME Track site.

Baseball-
The Lancers continued winning and improving this past week. They are staying strong with an overall record of 9-4, the Lancers are in second place overall in the Sunflower league. The Lancers are in 8th place in the state according to the Kansas Association of Baseball Coaches (KABC).
“We had a varsity game on Tuesday, we won 2-1 in nine innings,” sophomore varsity player Quinn Appletoft said. “We played great defense but our bats have coming around a little slow.”
The Lancers have a game on Friday against Blue Valley West. The team also has senior night on Saturday against Bishop Ward on the Shawnee Mission East field.

Boys’ Golf-
This Friday, the 27th, the Boys’ Golf team will compete in the Hutchinson Golf Tournament at Hutchinson Carey Park Golf Course. This is a one day tournament.
Next Thursday the Lancers will co-host an Invitational at St. Andrews Golf Course with eight other teams.

Girls’ Soccer-
Last Tuesday, the Varsity team beat SM South 2-0, making their record a current 5-game winning streak. Goals were scored by senior Kara Hines and junior Anna Colby.
“South is a huge rivalry, so it’s always fun to beat them,” Sophomore Quincy Hendricks said.
Tonight (Thursday) the Lady Lancers have a home game, breast cancer awareness themed, against Olathe Northwest at the SM Soccer Complex.
“Olathe Northwest is a really good team,” Hendricks said. “We beat them in overtime last year so it should be a really good game.”

Softball-
East handily beat SM Northwest this week in two games this Tuesday, 10-0 and 8-2. Their record is now 10-0, giving them the best start in team history. However, the competition is growing more intense. SME will face Olathe North tonight in a hard fight between two softball giants. The team has played solid ball all year, but they will need to step it up even more.
“We are aware that our schedule gets tougher, but we are excited because we know that this type of schedule will make us our best at the right part of the season,” said Senior Shannon McGinley. “Everyone wants to win and we are all aware of the increase in competition that is coming up.”

Baseball-
The Lancer varsity baseball team was able to improve on their record, moving up to 7-3. The Varsity team plays in Lawrence both today and tomorrow but not against Lawrence either day. The JV and C team play today against Olathe South.
“I think this team is good enough to win it all [state],” sophomore varsity player Quinn Appletoft said. “We have a good core of seniors that can carry us to state.”

Boys’ Golf-
The Boys’ Golf team competed in their first round of the Sunflower League tournament last Tuesday. A three round tournament, the Lancers came out of the first round in first place only standing one stroke ahead of Shawnee Mission Northwest.
Senior Conner Schrock lead the Lancers with a 73, 1 over par. He is placed second so far, next to SMNW’s Jackson Foth.
Next week, the Lancers will compete in the second round.

Girls’ Soccer-
Varsity won their game against Leavenworth last Tuesday, 10-0, implementing the mercy rule for the second time this season. Hoping to continue their winning streak, the girls will play Olathe North tonight (Thursday.)
“[The game against Leavenworth] was great, we played well as a team and it was good to score 10 goals against them,” Sophomore Kelly Pidcoe said.
Softball-
The team continued its run at perfection this week. East earned a victory and a shutout against Lawrence, winning 2-0. They went on to defeat Lawrence Free State 12-3. Pitching and defense has been a strength of the Lancers all year — they also shutout SM West 3-0 and won on Thursday 13-3. Despite their rigorous schedule, the girls continue to perform at a high level and are now 8-0.
“It feels great to be undefeated because it really shows that our hard work in practice is paying off in games,” said senior Shannon McGinley. “Our confidence is up and we are prepared to face our more difficult competition coming up at the end of the season.”

Lancer Goals

Katie Crawford- 3

Caroline Dodd- 2

Anna Colby- 2

Kelly Pidcoe-2

*One goal was counted as an own goal for the Pioneers as it bounced off one of their defenders and rolled into the goal.”

Baseball-
The Lancer baseball team has been able to continue their early season success. All three of the Lancer teams are above .500 with the Varsity team leading the way at 5-1, so far going undefeated during Sunflower League play. The JV and C team follow Varsity with records of 4-2 and 3-3 respectively.
“All of the teams play tonight and we had Varsity games on Wednesday,” sophomore varsity player Quinn Appletoft said. “The JV and C team both played on Monday.”

Boys’ Golf- 
Boys’ Golf is coming off of their worst performance of the year where they placed 4th, behind notables: Blue Valley North and Blue Valley West. Henry Simpson placed 4th overall. Next week the Lancers host the SME invite and begin Sunflower League.
“League is really important to us because it really prepares us for the postseason,” Senior Conner Schrock said. “We don’t want anything more than that.”

Girls’ Soccer-
Girls’ Varsity went 2-0 this week starting off with a win againstSM North 10-0 last Thursday, and Lawrence Free State the following Tuesday 2-1. This weekend they will head to St. Louis for the annual St. Louis Soccer Classic.

Jake Crandall | Harbinger Online

“[The game against SM North] was pretty easy,” Senior Anna Marken said. “We mercy-ruled them with 12 minutes left. They’re not very strong.”

Softball-
The team is still undefeated after two wins against SM South this week. Leading up to the double-header, Coach Vaughan had really pressed the importance of fundamentals and strength in the infield. After going over one week without playing, the Lancers were a little sluggish in their first game. Their pitch recognition and overall plate performance was slightly lacking, but they grinded out a 3-2 win. The second game was a whole other story. East made key adjustments and blew out South 13-0.
“We were patient at the plate when hitting,” said senior Morgan Satterlee. “It helped that we were controlled and adjusted to the pitching.”

Track:

Hiba Akhtar | Harbinger Online

Sprints/Hurdlers-

After last weeks Blue Valley Relays with the boys’ team getting fifth place and the girls’ team at sixth they are looking to better their times at this weeks SMWest meet. Last  week hurdler Devon Burton was the only runner to receive a first place medal running a 40.37 in the 300 meter hurdles. The boys’ 4×100 placed third with a team of Connor Rellihan, Clint Dunn, Sam Stewart and Joe Lewis. To finish off the meet the boys’ 4×400 placed second with a team or Joe Lewis, Clint Dunn, Jack Fay and Juan Ramos.

On the girls’ team senior Toni Aguiar placed second in the open 100 running a 12.96. While junior Chloe Stradinger placed third in the 300 meter hurdles running a 49.43. The girls’ 4×400 ran a 4:09.54 placing third with runners being Roni Aguiar, Emma Vickers, Grace Quinlan and Abby Dunn.

Long Distance-

Setting a new personal record for the second week in a row, the boys’ 4×800 placed 3rd with a time of 8:08.92. They placed behind 2nd place Blue Valley Northwest and 1st place Shawnee Mission Northwest — Northwest currently holds the fastest relay time in the state with a 7:58.56. The SME girls did not compete in the 4×800.

In the Distance Medley Relay (800, 400, 1200, 1600) the boys placed 2nd with a time of 10:52.88, while the girls took 3rd with a time of 13:19.54.

Both the boys’ and girls’ teams earned no points in the open 1600. Overall, the boys’ and girls’ teams placed 5th and 6th in the meet respectively.

Field Events-
The highlight of the Blue Valley Relays for the field events was the discovery of Christian Blessen as an up-and-comer in the javelin. Recognized for breaking his personal record twice in one meet, the first year sophomore received a star award for tremendous performance after the meet. Blessen took fourth place behind junior Nick Pirotte in the boys’ javelin with Myisha Heinen also placing fourth for the girls.

The squad earned no points through shot put, discus or pole vault, but made up for it with another strong performance by jumper Grace Pickell. Pickell took first in the girls’ high jump and fifth in the girls’ long jump. Alec Bartholomew continued the Lancers’ success in the high jump, taking third.

The talent show assembly hosted by pep club featured juniors Mason Pashia, Gardner Grantham, sophomore Morgan Twibell, freshman Akshay Denekar and the Varsity Lancer Dancers.

“The South meet was a lot closer,” Glazer said. “We didn’t have have our top varsity players but we still managed to win the meet.”

Next week the Lancers will be headed to Topeka on Monday and will play Saint Thomas Aquinas on Tuesday.

Baseball- 
The Lancer baseball team has had three baseball games this past week against Gardner Egerton, Blue Valley Southwest and Shawnee Mission Northwest. The Lancers lost to Northwest while beating Gardner Edgerton and Blue Valley Southwest. The Lancers started off their season 2-1. The Lancers beat Leavenworth at William Jewell college yesterday by a score of 6-1.

“The JV and C team have been working hard all week in practice and are working on getting prepared to play for their first games this saturday,” sophomore varsity player Quinn Appletoft said.

Boys’ Golf- 
The Boys’ Golf team competed last monday at Lionsgate Golf Course. The Lancers competed against 13 other teams with much of the best teams in the state present. In the one day tournament, the Lancers were victorious. Junior Connor Knabe shot a 72, placing second in the tournament.  Senior Conner Schrock had the worst round of his high school career shooting an 87. The Lancers have room for improvement for their next tournament with Conner Schrock, one of their top seniors, scoring an 87, well above his average.

“It was great to be able and come out early and get a win this year at a great course,” senior Henry Simpson said. “We played well but definitely not up to our full potential, can’t wait to get everyone going and see how we do once we reach our peak form.”

Girls’ Soccer- 
Early this week, junior Addison Steiner found out that she had torn her MCL and would be out for the rest of the season. Despite this and other injuries, the Lady Lancers were able to pick up a win against Lawrence High on Thursday night. The team hopes to get senior Katie Crawford back in the line-up next week. Crawford has been out with complications from mono and tendonitis. Next week, the team has games against Olathe East and Shawnee Mission North. The season is just getting started, and with Steiner’s injury, head coach Jamie Kelly is looking for some of his seniors to rise to the challenge.

“Because of the injury to Addison, now would be the time for other players like Katie Crawford and Bahar Barani to step up. Even though Addison was out last year for five games with a concussion, we were still able to win four of the five games. I’m just really expecting to see some new and returning players step up and show me what they can do,” said Kelly.

Softball- 
The Lancers opened the season on Tuesday with a double-header against Leavenworth. The team came away with two large victories, winning 17-0 and 11-1. First year Head Coach Vaughan stressed the importance of fundamentals during the first two weeks of practice — focusing on basic fielding and plate adjustments. The team entered their first games with strong core skills and easily defeated Leavenworth. East players feel confident after their convincing victories and are looking to build on this success by working as a team.

“We have great team chemistry, but we need to make sure we trust everyone to do their role, especially the players at new positions,” said senior Morgan Satterlee.

The team is looking strong as ever and hopes to extend its success throughout the season.

Track:

Sprints/Hurdlers- 
Both the boys’ and girls’ sprinters and hurdlers did well at the SME Quad on Tuesday. With both East teams winning the meet overall it couldn’t have been done without the points of the sprinters and hurdlers.

On the boys’ side in the 400 Meter Dash senior Joe Lewis and junior Juan Ramos were only milliseconds apart running a 51.91 and a 51.99 placing second and third respectively. The boys’ 1600 Sprint Medley took first place with a team of Connor Rellihan, Clint Dunn, Tucker Styrkowicz and Jake McCoy. Junior Devin Burton placed first in the 300 Meter Hurdles running a 41.49. Juniors Sam Stewart and Connor Rellihan ran their 200 Meter Dash finishing only two hundredths of a second apart running a 23.73 and 23.75 respectively. In the last event of the evening, the boys’ 4×400 Meter Relay the SME team took first with a team of Juan Ramos, Joe Lewis, Carter Olander and Clint Dunn.

The East girls’ team scored 94 points overall with second place only receiving 70.50. Chloe Stradinger placed first in both the 100 and 300 Meter Hurdles running a 16.57 and 49.68. Seniors Abby Dunn and Toni Aguiar both placed first in their events the 400 Meter Dash and 200 Meter Dash running a 1:00.69 and a 26.67 respectively. Lastly, the girls’ 4×400 Meter Relay won by a landslide running a 4:12.50 with a team of Toni Aguiar, Abby Dunn, Annie Kuklenski and Grace Quinlan.

Long Distance-
Boys’ and girls’ long distance had a strong showing at last Tuesday’s 54th annual Quad hosted by Shawnee Mission East. The girls’ 4×800 relay took third place while the boys’ relay took 1st with an 8:17.92, beating the second place team by almost 12 seconds.

In the mile, junior Mitch Kaskie took second place running a 4:38.80, this time was only 4 seconds off his personal best. Kaskie placed second behind Shawnee Mission West’s Jonah Heng who ran a blazing 4.26.18 (Heng placed 8th at this year’s state cross country meet).

Sophomores Grace Quinlan and Annie Kuklenski took first and second respectively in the open 800. On the boy’s side, Seniors Mitch Daniel, Blake Hill and Evan Nichols took second, third and fourth respectively.

The complete Quad results are posted on SME’s track website.

Field Events-
Grace Pickell broke the school record in the high jump with a 5 feet 8’ inch leap at the SME Quad on Tuesday. Several other field event athletes also earned points for the team. Alic Erpelding won pole vault, Ben Williams won the high jump and Bennett Uhl won the discus. Myisha Heinen and Nick Pirotte took second in the javelin. Field athletes that qualified will be competing in the SM South meet on Saturday.

Lacrosse- 
On Tuesday, the Lancers traveled out to Lee’s Summit North to face the Broncos on their home turf. While the Lancers were victorious by a score of 13-3, the team was not content with the score.  East had 43 shots on goal, and only scored 13 goals.  The highlight of the night was the Lancer defense, that allowed only 8 shots on goal, and 3 to hit the back of the net.  Tonight, East takes on Blue Valley West at home.  The Lancers beat the Jaguars in an earlier meeting at the Kansas City jamboree by the score of 4-3.  Tuesday’s victory moved the Lancers up to 2-0 overall, as well as 2-0 in league play.

Girls’ Lacrosse- 
Last Saturday, March 24th, the girls lacrosse team took on Lee Summit at SME. JV lost the game but Varsity won 12-6. Last Tuesday the 27th, the Varsity team beat Lee Summit West 9-4. The girls continue to practice at Franklin Park Monday and Wednesday from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m. and Tuesday and Thursday from 5:00 to 6:30 p.m.

“Since Varsity is 2-0 right now and JV is 1-1 I think we are doing really well as a team and we are definitely still progressing.” Senior Caroline Wooldridge said.

Girls’ Swim and Dive- 
Yesterday,  the girls swim and dive team took on the Blue Valley West Jaguars and the Bishop Miege Mustangs and the Blue Valley Tigers. Next week, half of the varsity team is swimming at the Olathe Northwest Invitational on April 6. The other half of the varsity team are traveling to the Wichita Northwest Invitational on April 7.

“I’m looking forward to our big meets at the end of the year, we work all season for league and state and we’re hoping that we can keep going for our 8th year consecutive league title. I’m nervous about state this year with new girls that originally didn’t swim are now on the team so there is more talent for us to compete with this year. We have been working even harder this year to do well at state.” Senior Hallie Beck

CURRENT 9th grade – http://www3.smsd.org/eVoice/?votingid=249 (Voting ID 9th grade – 249)

CURRENT 10th grade – http://www3.smsd.org/eVoice/?votingid=250 (Voting ID 10th grade – 250)

CURRENT 11th grade – http://www3.smsd.org/eVoice/?votingid=251 (Voting ID 11th grade – 251)

Haley Martin | Harbinger Online

“Things have gone smoothly, the volunteers have done great and the voters seem to understand the process,” said location organizer Theresa Segraves.

The caucus was held in place of a state primary, which was due to the fact the state legislature did not allocate any more for a primary.

“The counties this year have to run their own caucus because the legislature didn’t get us any money,” said Segraves. “We were able to raise money for this caucus through donations, and the Johnson County Republicans organized the event.”

While a primary is considered to be more ideal by many, Segraves said there are some positive aspects to holding a caucus.

“People go to primaries and they just go cast their vote, but in a caucus they’re more involved,” said Segraves. “You get to participate in discussion and talk to the candidates, it’s just a more involved way of doing things.”

The casted votes will be sent to the Johnson County Republican office to be counted, and results are expected by 5 p.m.

See an interview with the seniors and some of their parting thoughts as the season begins to draw to a close here.

Watch the Senior Night presentations here: