Boys Golf: The varsity team recently pulled out their second tournament win at the Lawrence Free State Invitational at the Eagle Bend golf course. The team has placed in the top three in all their tournaments this year, winning two and placing second and third in the other tournaments. This excludes the fifth place finish in the tournament that they played in last Tuesday.
“We have got off to a good start, but I don’t think we have peaked yet,” senior Andy Spencer said. “We have potential to get better throughout the year.”
This year, the team has younger players on varsity, with three sophomores in the current lineup.
“Sometimes [having a younger team] is better, because you don’t really know what to expect; you don’t have the expectations so there is no pressure,” sophomore Thomas Lugar said.
Lugar believes that the team is not playing their best right now, but everyone is trying to get a little bit better each day.
“We have the best player in the state [Spencer], and I think we will have three other guys push to get the score,” Lugar said.
The golfers headed out to Hutchinson this Tuesday to play the 25th ranked course in the nation, Prairie Dunes Country Club, for fun before the tournament. On Thursday, the varsity team plays Carey Park Golf Course. Earlier this week, the varsity team played the Topeka West Invitational at Topeka Country Club. The varsity team placed 5th as a team and their high individual, Andy Spencer, tied for 9th place individually.
Baseball: Since their 9-3 home loss to Rockhurst two weeks ago, the varsity team has bounced back and extended their home record to 5-1 on Tuesday. Standing at 12-3, East has sustained a 6.4 runs per game average, while holding their opponents to 3 per game. In five starts, senior Joey Wentz has been out of this world, nailing down a 0.00 ERA, surrendering two hits in 36 innings pitched. Juniors Luke Anderson and Zeb Vermillon continue to has buoy East’s +49 run differential this season, slugging three homers and maintaining an average over .300.
East travels to Sportsfield Park to face Leavenworth at 5:30 p.m tonight.
Girls’ Swimming: With an undefeated season, all varsity swimmers, including senior Mary Booton, shares a positive outlook for how they will place at state.
“We have really good energy and we all want to be there and we all want to work, so it will be a good season,” Booton said.
For the past few years, Lawrence Free State has been their biggest competitor. Though the Lancers fell short to Free State last year at the state meet by 25 points, East has already defeated them twice this season. East recently hosted their annual Lancer Invite meet where varsity swimmers who hadn’t gotten their state cuts yet pushed to reach the time they needed. In support of the younger swimmers, the upperclassmen let them wear their kneeskins to drop time and went to support them at the meet. Having the most competitors at state, the Lancers will have over 20 swimmers and divers competing. According to Booton, the girls are working hard to improve on their events.
“To improve, we have to work on racing skills and our mental toughness in order to finish races strong,” head coach Rob Cole said. “I know our girls can do it.”
Girls’ Soccer: This year, the girls’ soccer team is 6-1-1 in league and lost their one non-conference game.
“I feel we have done well,” varsity head coach Jamie Kelly said. “The two games we lost are to the first and second ranked teams in the entire state.”
The team is now working on improving their communication on the field and defending as a team. The team is working on integrating new players to fill in the spots of the three players injured for the remainder of the season.
“The team chemistry is really good,” senior captain Elizabeth Shook said. “We have a deeper team, not just one person stands out.”
Kelly and Shook both believe that this team has the capability to make it to state and even come out with the state title.
“I know that this team has the ability and work ethic to win against every team we will face,” Kelly said.
The team is continuously working their hardest at practice and during games in order to reach their goal of making it to state.