Fall Sports Update: Week 8

Cross Country

The league meet at the Rimrock course on Saturday was postponed to Monday because of severe weather in Lawrence. Instead of being in the early hours of the day the meet will be schedule at 2 p.m.

The lancers will be looking to place in the top after both the girls’ and boys’ teams placed in the top five at the Haskell Invitational in Lawrence. On the boys’ side seniors Joe Bahr and Chipper Jorns placed in the top three for the lancers along with sophomore Will Moore. This was Jorns’ first race since he injured his knee.

Both juniors Annie Kuklenski and Hannah Arnspiger continued their stellar season for the girls’ team, who placed third overall, as they almost broke 16:30 times. “

This season has been great so far,” Kuklenski said. “We have all been doing a great job both at practices and at meets. We’d like to end the league season on a high note and place in a top spot.”

Tennis

The tennis season wrapped up this weekend with the State tournament. The competition was an absolute success for the Lady Lancers. The girls won the overall team title by 14 points over Blue Valley North. In singles, sophomore Elizabeth Barnickel snagged third place. In doubles, the team of senior Elizabeth Wilcox and sophomore Stephanie Wilcox beat the other Lancer team of junior Meredith Shackelford and freshman Aiden Epstein in two sets, 6-2 and 6-0.

This is the second year in row that Elizabeth Wilcox has won state in the doubles competition, however this year she took it with her sophomore sister Stephanie rather than graduate Mollie Cooper.

“It’s just as exciting [as last year].” Elizabeth Wilcox said. “And it’s great that I won with my sister and I’m glad we won as a team my senior year.”

Stephanie Wilcox will be in the same position next year with her sister graduating, and will have a new partner to help defend her title.

Football

After their 28-0 loss to Lawrence Free State on the road, a big game is just what the Lancers needed to keep their season on track. When senior Jordan Darling started the game with a 12 yard touchdown run followed by an 18 yard touchdown pass to junior Christian Blessen, it was clear that the Lancer’s previous loss was behind them.

Rellihan had a rather quiet game, however Darling was able to connect with Blessen a couple more times throughout game including another touchdown in the third quarter. The Cougar defensive line was unable to disrupt the Lancer offense and allowed two touchdowns from seniors Sam Stewart and Patrick Blackburn.

Darling rebounded after a dismal performance against the Firebirds and threw for 248 yards. SM Northwest’s lone touchdown came from a one yard run the fourth quarter by Clay Drouilliard.

The Lancers are now 6-1 on the season and 1-0 in district play and will take on a SM West team coming off a 58-0 shutout against SM North.

Girls’ Golf

After placing first at regionals, the Lady Lancers traveled to Wichita today to compete in the state tournament where they won first place, and Senior Anne Willman placed third overall. The team shot 343 and Willman individually shot a 78.

Gymnastics

The gymnasts had a busy week, with two meets in 4 days. The varsity team placed fourth at the Northwest Invitation on Wednesday while their Junior Varsity team placed third.

On Saturday the gymnasts competed in the Sunflower League meet at East. The gymnasts went for some of their new skills with minimal falls. Saturday was also senior night for Sara Bauman who has been on the team for three years, and Emily Kaplan, who has spent four years on the team.

The gymnasts placed 5th overall, but only had one girl on the podium for an individual award, Junior Madi Lage, placing 3rd on vault.

“It was really nerve-wracking, because all the teams were there,” Lage said. “ but we were really happy to get 5th place, it gets us excited for state.”

According to the team, this meet was important to know what to perfect in any of their routines for state. With one week to prepare for the last meet, everyone is focused on training.

“I need to work on endurance for my floor routine” Senior Emily Kaplan said.

Their state meet is next Saturday at Lawrence High School.

Boys’ Soccer

Last week the boys’ soccer continued their winning streak, defeating Shawnee Mission Northwest 1-0 and Shawnee Mission West 5-1 and improving their record to 13-1. Senior Tyler Rathbun had three goals against SMW, breaking head coach Jamie Kelly’s school scoring record of 17 goals.

This week the boys’ will clash with Olathe South on Tuesday, 7 p.m. at the Shawnee Mission Soccer Complex. The winner will take home the Sunflower League title. Last year under the same circumstances, the Lancers fell short to Olathe South and a repeat Sunflower League title in a 1-0 game.

The Lancers will be dealing with an injury plagued team, with senior center mid Andrew Manolo out for the season along with senior defender Jacob Lanan. Two other Lancers’ are injured but will return for the Olathe South game.

On Thursday, the Lancers will face another must win game against Blue Valley Northwest. BVNW knocked out the Lancers last year in the regional round of the state tournament 1-0. The game Thursday will decide who takes the number one seed going into the 2012 playoffs.

Volleyball

Last Thursday night varsity made the trip out to Blue Valley West to play BVW and Olathe South in a triangular. The team lost to BVW in two sets, but managed to get revenge on Olathe South for their loss earlier in the season and beat them in a heated three sets. This makes their overall record 3-14 overall and 2-5 in league.

“I think we played really well,” Senior Ashley Allegri said. “We were all happy we won against Olathe South.”