Sports in Brief

EAST

Cheer coaches Mallory Gaunce, Meg Daughtery and Holly Schoonover have all announced that they will not be returning to coach the team next year due to personal reasons.

After coaching the team for seven years, English teacher Gaunce moved from coaching Varsity to JV to the Freshman team over the last three years in order to smoothly transition out of the role to focus on teaching.

“There is a lot of work that goes into running East’s program as it currently runs, especially being the only coach in the building,” Gaunce said. “ I love coaching and get so proud watching the girls when they do well, but I do feel as if the year-round schedule and time commitments during the school year take away from my ability to be an effective teacher.”

The school is currently working on hiring new coaches for the upcoming season before tryouts from March 25-28.

LOCAL

East girls and boys basketball seasons have ended after both teams lost in the sub-state round of the state tournament.

The girls varsity team competed against Olathe Northwest on Feb. 28, falling with a final score of 59-48, completing the season with a record of 12-9.

“We started off the game slow which got us down early, and we dug ourselves in a hole,” Sophomore point guard Reese Althouse said. “We fought until the end and started making a push for a comeback, but it was just too little too late. I was really proud of the way that the team never gave up, even when we were down.”

The boys varsity team fell to JC Harmon High School on March 1, with a final score of 75-55.  They ended the season with a record of 11-11.

Harmon was a tough opponent for the team, having gone undefeated at home the entire season. East shot worse than they had all season, making only 36 percent of shots from the field during the game, according to coach Shawn Hair. Even with the loss, Hair is still impressed with the boys’ season.

“We had a great season,” Hair said. “No one thought we would be very good, and we beat three teams that made it to the state tournament: SM South, Olathe North and Lawrence Free State.”

Both boys and girls state games will be held on Saturday, Mar. 9.

NATIONAL

The varsity dance team competed at NDA nationals in Orlando on Feb. 20-25, participating in three categories — jazz, kick and hip hop. The team made it to finals in all three dances, finishing with fifth place in kick, fourth place in jazz, and 13th in hip-hop.

Olathe Northwest High School won the large varsity team performance category, Rock Bridge High School  won the medium varsity category, and Sachem North High School won the small varsity category. East was competing in the large varsity category.

Preparing for the national competition was the East’s team’s main goal throughout the year, and this year they put in extra practice, by moving many of their daily 7 a.m. practices up to 6:30 a.m., according to head coach Bubba Close.

“This year in particular, we had extra extra rehearsals and worked on perfecting the dances and conditioning their bodies and minds for the intensity they would experience at nationals,” Close said.   

The team was up against tougher competition than in years past, with every team bringing their all, according to Close.

“I’m personally so proud of how hard we have worked this year, being more prepared than we’ve ever been going into nationals,” Senior and captain Olivia Caponecchi said. “The competition was very intense this year, but overall I think we still performed our best.”