Fall Sports Update: Week 6

Cross Country

The Lancer Runner’s disappointing season continued at the Rimrock Invitational on Saturday with their boys’ C-Team placing higher than any of their other teams, at fifth place. Junior Annie Kuklenski ran the best time on the girls’ side with junior Hannah Arnspiger and senior Tiernan Shank finishing second and third on the team.

On the boys’ team, senior Joe Bahr ran the fastest time with a 16:45 but wasn’t able to medal. Junior Spencer Jones was the only boy to medal and and placed 12th in the C-Team race.

“Rimrock is the hardest course of the season,” Jones said. “The hills are extremely steep and it seems like every time you go down a hill there’s another just a few seconds later. I still treated it just like any other race and made sure to rest myself the night before and it paid off.”

The team will go on its annual Chicago trip this weekend and compete in the Loyola Lakefront Invitational on Saturday.

Girls’ Golf

The team competed in two tournaments this week. On Sept. 28, East held their Invitational at Meadowbrook Country Club where they placed third. Senior Anne Willman came in fourth place with a score of 76 (par 72), three back from Saint Thomas Aquinas’s senior Jordan Chael. Junior Jessica Young shot an 85 and came in seventh.

On Sept. 26, the team competed at Saint Thomas Aquinas’s tournament at Overland Park Golf Course. The event was played in a two-player team format (scramble, alternate shot, and best ball). The team came in second behind Saint Thomas Aquinas.

Next week the girls will compete in two tournaments that will count as the last two legs of the Sunflower League. On Oct. 1, they will play at Lawrence Country club and on Oct. 3, the lancers will compete at St. Andrew’s Golf Club.

Results at Meadowbrook Country Club:

Shawnee Mission East
4. Anne Willman 76
7. Jessica Young 85
9. Sophie Wetzler 88
T12. Annie Foster 91
T20. Kelley Tomlin 97
T31. Whitney Wendel 105

Girls’ Tennis

The girl’s tennis faced Shawnee Mission Northwest on Sept. 24 and swept all their matches against the Cougars. On Sept. 25, the girl’s showed little signs fatigue and won all but two matches against Blue Valley Northwest. The girl’s had an all-day Sunflower League tournament on Sept. 27.

Sophomore Elizabeth Barnickel finished first in the singles competition, with freshman Rebecca Faulkner placing second.  In doubles, senior Elizabeth Wilcox and sophomore Stephanie Wilcox won the first draw, and freshman Aiden Epstein and Junior Meredith Shackelford won the second draw. The Lancers also brought home the Sunflower League Tournament Title. Compared to normal meets, all-day tournaments are a little different.

“The bigger [all-day tournaments] are harder,” senior Elizabeth Wilcox said. “They have more schools like [Blue Valley North] and [Blue Valley Northwest] and their double teams are usually very good.”

The girl’s next matches are Regionals on Oct. 6.

Boys’ Soccer

This week the lancers traveled to Leavenworth on Tuesday, and ODAC to play Olathe North, beating both teams 10-0. The team improved their record to 9-1, and remains a top contender in the Sunflower League.

Next Tuesday, the Lancers will take on rival SM South, 7 p.m. at the SM Soccer Complex. The Lancers defeated South 4-0 last year, but two years ago lost shockingly 6-1 on their home turf. Along with that, as of Thursday, South is no longer a 6A classification school, and has been bumped to 5A. The Lancers will no longer have the chance to take on South in a playoff game, and for the 19 seniors this will be their last game ever against South. The team understands the the significance and importance of the rivalry.

“We know this will be our last game against South as seniors,” Rathbun said. “Playing South in general is enough motivation itself, being a hated rivalry, but that will give us even more hunger to beat them.”

South, who sits at 5-1 on the season, is also a contender for the Sunflower League. However, their playmaker from last year, senior David Leichtey now plays for Sporting Kansas City’s Academy, and can no longer compete in high school sports.

South will have their work cut out this week. The Lancers have scored 55 goals, conceded four and have eight shutouts in 10 games. The team can attack from all angles, with forward senior Tyler Rathbun, who has 13 goals so far, along with players such as seniors Bryce Mclanahan and Clint Dunn. Defensively, the Lancers are lead by senior captain Jack Sernett, and all around have solid support players from the starters and deep into the bench.

Football

Check out this week’s game preview here

Gymnastics

The gymnastics team took first place this Tuesday Sept. 25. Junior Sarah Gillaspie led the team, placing second in the all around, followed by juniors Madi Lage in third and Taylor Bell in fifth. “The meet went really well,” Lage said. “its our first big win in a long time, so we are all pretty excited.”

At practice the team is working even harder, conditioning and doing routine after routine to build up their stamina, in preparation for their next meet at SM Northwest on Oct. 10.

“We are all working on new skills for the next meet,” Lage said. “ It’s the last one before league and we want to make sure we’re ready.”

Volleyball

Varsity faced a tough loss last night at Olathe South. In their Triangular, they were beat by SMS in two sets and lost to Olathe South in three sets, setting their overall record to 2-10 and 2-4 in the Sunflower League.

“[SMS] was a hard game to lose,” Senior Elizabeth Arnold said. “We really wanted to beat South, but we play them again at the end of the season so we have another chance.”

The Lancers will travel to Lawrence High this Saturday for the Varsity Tournament.