Girls’ Tennis
The Lady Lancers varsity tennis team has remained undefeated so far this season. The varsity team is made up of six girls — seniors Olivia Sneed and Meredith Shackleford, juniors Stephanie Wilcox and Elizabeth Barnickel, sophomore Aidan Epstein and freshman Joie Freirich.
“We’re doing well,” Shackelford said. “We’ve won every tournament so far and we’re undefeated which is what we expected and we expect to continue to do well.”
The team recently placed first in the Sunflower League Championship held at Leavenworth High School on Oct. 3. They scored 36 out of the 40 points possible. They also placed first in Districts on Oct. 5, which was held at all of the Shawnee Mission Schools.
“I can’t even tell you how many times in a row we have won [league],” head coach Sue Chipman said. “We’re a good strong team and we are just kind of rolling along right now.”
The team now will start to prepare for the state championship. This year, state will be held at Wichita High School on Oct. 18 and 19. Last year the team won first place at state.
According to Chipman, the team is in a very good position this year for state. She hopes to get all of the East participants entered into the tournament, and bring home another first place trophy.
To view the upcoming schedule of girls’ tennis, click here.
Moment of the Week:
With the Lancers down 21-22 to Olathe Northwest and 3 seconds left on the clock, quarterback Christian Blessen lined up to throw a hail mary for the win.
Several Northwest defenders were in the end zone, while only a couple East receivers were. The ball was tipped by a Northwest defender, and junior Alec Dean came through the back of the end zone and caught the ball as the clock ran out.
Dean held the ball up for the referee to see, and it was a touchdown. The East student section stormed the field to celebrate the last second Lancer Day victory.
Athlete of the Week: John Arnspiger
Q: How did you do at Rim Rock?
A: I got 77 place out of 235. I was the second best freshman out of everybody there and I got first place for East. I also got first for East at the Greg Wilson Classic, which was the first meet of the year. Rim Rock was a really hard course because it was hilly and it had rained just before we ran so certain parts of it were really slick — a few people got trampled on. It was a fun and beautiful run.
Q: How is the team doing?
A: I feel like as long as we stay in a pack, we can go to state, but then again our team has not gone to state for a long time. We run in a pack so we can get used to running with each other. People don’t want to fall back because they want to stay with the team.
Q: How are you preparing for state?
A: I am just doing what the coaches tell me like doing the workouts and taking an ice bath. It feels good that I am a freshman runner because I feel like I have athletic powers that most people don’t have.
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