Sports Round Up: Nov. 5

Football
On Oct. 26 the Lancer football team defeated Shawnee Mission North. This victory finished off their regular season with a record of 7-2 and tied them for second in the Sunflower League. They clinched their playoff spot with the win against North and will face the Olathe East Hawks in the first round of the playoffs on Nov. 2. In the two teams’ previous meeting, the Lancers won with a score of 41-21. The game will be played at CBAC, as opposed to the first game, which was played at South Stadium. The Hawks will have a few key players back for the game that they didn’t have in the first meeting. One of those key players is running back Hayden Frazier.

“[Olathe East] has a base philosophy and they believe in running the ball,” Sherman said. “They believe in the run game and they are very good at it.

After losing to the Lancers once this season, senior Sam Stewart believes the Hawks will have some revenge on their mind.

“[Olathe East] has gotten a lot better and they will have a little fire in them after we beat them,” Stewart said.

Gymnastics

The gymnastics team competed in the State competition on Oct. 20 and took seventh place. The team’s highest points scorer was junior Sarah Gillespie, but senior Emily Kaplan was the emotional leader.

“[Kaplan] is always really supportive and enthusiastic,” junior Taylor Bell said. “She encouraged us and was always positive.”

Compared to other years, the team was a little behind in their state placing. One difficulty they faced is that their coach, Chuck Lundblad, coaches both East and SM North gymnastics teams.

“We competed in two gyms, so [Lundblad] kind of had to run back and forth which was hard for him,” Bell said. “[Lundblad] said he was kind of disappointed in us because our goal was 100 points, and we only got 98.”

The team will have high expectations for next year, because they will all be returning except for Kaplan.

Volleyball

At sub-state, the volleyball team’s season ended when they lost to SM Northwest. The girls finished with a final match record of 12-23. Next season they will be losing three seniors: Elizabeth Arnold, Ashley Allegri and Anne Recker.

“Elizabeth and Ashley were great outside hitters for us and Anne is one of the best players we’ve had in years,” junior Savannah Bellem said.

The team lost three players throughout the season for various reasons. The girls were looking to defend their Sunflower League title, but having good team chemistry was something first-year coach Charles Cooper wanted to focus on because the team was young.

“This year we’ve focused on building a sisterhood and becoming closer,” Bellem said. “The girls quitting has been kind of a positive because with less people you can become closer.”

But with Bellem and five other varsity members returning next year, the girls will have senior leadership.

Cross Country

The girls’ and boys’ cross country teams finished sixth and seventh in regionals. Neither teams qualified for State, because they failed to finish in the top three. Junior Annie Kuklenski finished 22nd and sophomore Hannah Arnspiger finished 21st among other East runners. Despite coming up short this year, the girls are definitely looking forward to next year.

“This year taught us that we really need to step it up next year,” Kuklenski said. “[Working harder] includes summer running because it really does help towards the season.”

The top seniors the team will be losing are Alex Hillard, Tiernan Shank and Anna Colby. There are some strong freshman returning and junior Grace Quinlan is expected to have a big year next year. Injuries plagued Arnspiger and Quinlan throughout the year.

“It was tough for them to get back to a 100 percent throughout the year,” Kuklenski said. “[The injuries] just kind of changed things for them during the season.”

On the boys side, the top two runners, seniors Joe Bahr and Gavin Jorns did not place at regionals. According to Jorns, the season was more of a transition year. The team will lose Bahr and Jorns, but will return multiple sophomores, one junior and one freshman. Quinn Appletoft will be the lone junior returning, along with freshman Lance Ming and sophomores Peter Moriarty, Michael Thibodeau, George Miller, Will Moore, Cruz Gonzalez and Marshall Green.

“We are trying to build our team up,” Jorns said. “We are trying to help out the underclassmen for future years.”

Soccer

The boys’ soccer team won regionals for the first time since 2007 and for the second time under head coach Jamie Kelly. They defeated Blue Valley West 2-0 with goals by seniors Bryce McClanahan and Clint Dunn. The game was scoreless at half. The Lancers defense stood tall in the first half, facing a strong push by the Jaguars’ offense.

Eight minutes into the second half, the Lancers split the defense, and junior Noah Eidemiller found McClanahan on a long pass, and McClanahan placed it past the Jaguars’ goalkeeper.

“When [Bryce] scored it felt incredible,” Eidemiller said. “We had been trying to link up the entire year and it finally happened during the biggest game of the season.”

Dunn scored with less than a minute left in the game to seal it for the Lancers. He stole the ball from the Jaguar defense and slid it past the goalkeeper and into the back of the net.

“When [Dunn] scored, everybody just started jumping around and celebrating the win.” senior Garrett Raibble said. “I was ecstatic to know that we had done something that many teams had not done before.”

The team took on the Lawrence Lions in the quarterfinals. In their previous meeting, the Lancers defeated the Lions 6-1 thanks in part to a big performance by senior defender Matt Terry. Terry had three goals and was the key to the Lancers win.

“It was awesome to score not only my first goal of the season in the game, but get a hat trick too,” Terry said. “I’m definitely looking forward to playing them again.”

The Lancers beat the Lawrence Lions by a score of 1-0 on Oct. 30 at the Shawnee Mission Soccer Complex. The Lancers only goal came from senior Bryce McClannahan 14 minutes into the first half. The Lancers then played on Nov. 2 at CBAC.