Fall Sports Update: Week 2

Boys’ Soccer

The boys’ soccer team showcased their talent on tuesday in their annual Blue Black scrimmage. Varsity dominated JV winning 5-1.

“It was weird having it be our last blue black scrimmage, but good to see what our team looked like in an actual game scenario,” senior Garrett Raibble said.

The Lancers first test is against Piper High, this upcoming Tuesday at Blue Valley District Athletic Center (BVDAC) in the KAMO Varsity Tournament.. The teams will face off at 4:30 on the turf field and will be looking to repeat after winning for the first time in school history last year.

Senior Jack Sernett is a gametime decision for this Tuesday after suffering a contusion to his ankle in the Blue Black game. The center back is a key to the defensive end of the Lancers.

“I’m hoping to get back as soon as possible,” Sernett said. “I had a severe contusion which messed up my growth plate. They also found an old fracture to my fibula but it’s nothing to severe and hopefully I can be back for our first game.”

Expectations are rocketing high for the Lancers. The team will be playing Piper for the first time in school history. The Lancers want to prove themselves and have a positive start to the season.

“All of our focus is on Piper right now,” senior Tyler Rathbun said. “We will worry about other games once they get here.”

Cross Country

Time Trials were held last Saturday at Shawnee Mission Park. Senior Joe Bahr led the boys’ side with 17:10 time. Senior Chipper Jorns, sophomores George Miller and Will Moore followed.

On the girls’ side junior Annie Kuklenski and sophomore Hannah Arnspiger had the best times with 16:35 and 16:36. Seniors Tiernan Shank, Jeri Freirich, Anna Colby and Alex Hilliard all qualified for varsity as well.

Coach Tricia Beaham believes the best is still yet to come for the Lancers.

“Like always we have a very large team but full of endless possibilities,” Beaham said. “Once race season begins, talent starts to surface and we are excited to see what this year’s group has to offer.”

The team begins the race season with it’s first official meet at Johnson County Community College tomorrow morning.

Football

The Lancers’ journey will begin today in their lancer day game against South. After a long summer of practice and lifting weights, the team is excited to prove themselves against their rival.

“We are all psyched for tonight,” senior Bucky Kessinger said. “We hate south, especially because they’ve been talking trash all week.”

The game is tonight at 7:00 at the North Stadium. Fans will get a chance to finally see the impact of senior Jordan Darling, a transfer student who has already committed to play next year at Kansas.

Defensively, the Lancers lost quite a few seniors. But the team is confident in what they have worked on this preseason.

“This year defensively we are much faster over all,” senior David Sosna said. “We have guys that can fly to the ball.”

The Lancers have great expectations this year. Last year the team had a disappointing loss in the second round of state to Olathe South, and with Coach Sherman returning, the team will be looking to make a run for the state title.

Girls’ Golf

The team has been hard at work to get ready for their first tournament which will be held on Wednesday, Sept. 5 at Deer Creek Golf Course. This tournament is not a part of the three-tournament Sunflower league, but serves as the alternate if one leg is canceled in the future.  At this tournament, the team will compete against the Shawnee Mission, Olathe and Topeka schools.

JV had their second tournament yesterday at Overland Park Golf Course on the South course. The team placed 8th out of 12.

“The tournament lasted for two and a half hours,” junior Mckenzie Swanson said. “I think that everyone did okay, but there is room for improvement.”

Girls’ Tennis

The girls took on Pembroke Hill yesterday in their first match. Five of the six girls won their singles matches against the Raiders- senior Elizabeth Wilcox,  junior Meredith Shackelford, and sophomores Stephanie Wilcox, Aiden Epstein, and Rebecca Faulkner.

“The top six girls usually practice on our own a lot,” Wilcox said.  “We don’t just practice with the team, we’ll go up to [East] and hit later at night.”

Practice in season is somewhat different than what the girls are doing now. The girls normally have two matches a week once they get into the thick of the season, because there is a limit of games they allowed to play. They also have multiple tournaments on weekends throughout the season.

“I’d say once state gets closer we will obviously become more serious,” Wilcox said.

The girls next match is Sept. 4 against Shawnee Mission West.

Gymnastics

The gymnastics team is preparing for their first meet, which is Thursday, Sept. 6. The gymnasts are checking their skill book, which shows how many points you can get for which skill; and they are working hard on putting together a routine for each event.

“Its hard to meet all the requirements,” sophomore Hannah Swanson said. “I have to check and recheck the book to see if I can add any new skills, and check the points for my currents skills.”

Coach Chuck Lundblad is trying to keep the girls on task, while struggling to find time to personally help every one of the gymnasts. He’s waiting for an assistant coach to finish with the paperwork to head into the gym and help out the large group of girls on the SM East and SM North teams.

“We are just finalizing routines right now,” Coach Lundblad said. “It’s the first meet so it’s almost like a pre-season meet in my mind.”

With three more practices and the Lancer Day Parade coming up, the girls are struggling to finish routines on time.

Maddie Roney, Jasmine Deng, and *Annik Slos are a few of the girls who look to be promising in the first meet and will hopefully add to the girls’ team score.

“Right now I’m just trying to get my routine together,” junior Madi Lage said. “I’m nervous for the meet but it’s always really fun.”

Volleyball

The past week, the varsity and junior varsity teams have faced the loss of four players– two from varsity, senior Audrey Hitchcock and junior Katie Knight, and two from JV, Audrey Danciger and Lola Hitchcock. The past week both teams have been working on adjusting to playing with those absences. Nobody has been moved up to replace them and as of now, head coach Charles Cooper plans to keep it that way until substate in October.

Thursday night, varsity played a Tri against BVNW and Olathe North High School. The Lady Lancers had an easy win against Olathe North, beating them in two quick sets. The girls struggled in their second match against BVNW and lost in three close sets.

“It was a really good moment for our team because we really came together and showed ourselves that we have what it takes to win league again this year,” senior Elizabeth Arnold said.

Next Thursday, the girls will face SMNW, Olathe East and Leavenworth at Leavenworth.