Spring Sports Update: Week 1

Track and Field

The track and field team began the season fighting the snow. After the second snowfall, the team spent a Saturday morning shoveling the track to clear it for the week ahead.

The past two weeks the track team has began doing outdoor workouts, and time trials.

So far the team has completed the 1600 meter, 800 meter and 100 meter time trials, along with practicing for field events.

This years team is featuring returning seniors that have experience at the state level. For boys, distance runner seniors Carter Olander and Mitch Kaskie are four year letterman and will look to qualify for state. Olander was apart of the 4x800m relay team that placed third at state last year. Senior Troy Wilkins who was injured last year will return and compete in the 100m, 200m and 400m, and will be a likely state qualifier. Senior Devin Burton will lead the way in hurdling, having placed fourth in the 110m hurdles and 7th in the 300m hurdles last year.

On the girls’ side, the team is relatively young. For distance juniors Annie Kuklenski and Grace Quinlan will lead the way in the 400m and 800m. The girls’ team is also featuring nationally ranked and KU commit high jumper senior Grace Pickell who was a state champion last year. Senior Chloe Stratinger was a state qualifier in the 110m hurdles last year and will look to improve this year.

The first meet is the SME Quad, Wednesday, March 27 at East starting at 3:00 p.m.

For all time trial and meet results, visit http://track.smesports.org/

Boys’ Tennis

The boys’ tennis team has had to postpone their try-outs until after spring break due to the inclement weather.

They will be lead by returning four year varsity player, Jake Glazer. Glazer will start off the season with the number one spot on the team after Jackson O’Gorman-Bean graduated last year. Sophomore Brooks Kendall and junior Jamie McDonald are expected to be key players as well.

Boys’ Golf

The golf team had to postpone tryouts for two weeks due to the snow covering all of the local courses. They held their first tryout on Tuesday at Indian Hills Country Club with 22 players trying out for 16 spots.

Chase Hanna and Connor Knabe, who are both going to play in college will lead the team into this season hoping for to redeem themselves from a disappointing 3rd place finish last year. This year there are four seniors on the team with lots of experience in Hanna, Knabe, Evan Bloom and Connor Richardson.

Softball

Softball tryouts were held two weeks ago on the Feb. 25. Varsity and JV teams have been announced.

There are a few new things about this year’s team compared to last year’s team. Last year’s varsity assistant coach, Mike Keener, will be stepping up to take over as head coach. Junior varsity also expanded their coaching roster with Kristen Gustafson. Also, the large amount of new players this year means a lot of upperclassmen leadership and coaching is necessary to get everyone to be their best.

“I’m really excited for our assistant coach stepping up to coach varsity and I’m looking forward to a great season,” junior Savannah Bellem said.

Baseball

Due to the large amounts of snow, baseball tryouts were held in the gym and at Between the Lines, an indoor baseball field. Players found out what teams they made on March 7, but they are not officially set.

If the field is dry enough, the annual 100 inning game fundraiser will be Mar. 13 and 14. C-Team and junior varsity will play 50 shortened innings on Wednesday after school and junior varsity and varsity will play on Thursday.

“It’s fun because it’s a relaxed game of baseball,” senior Stephen Brophy said. “People donate money and I get to be with the team.”

The first week of practice was spent shoveling snow off of the fields.

“It took a few days to shovel a majority of the snow off the infield tarp and a few more days for the rest of it to melt off,” junior Colter Purdon said. “We finally got to take infield and outfield practice although the outfield was still completely covered.”

Girls’ Swimming

With tryouts the week of February 25, the lady lancer swim team is set with 27 Varsity members and 46 JV members. After their first place finish in state last year, seniors Meg Stanley, Sarah Freshnock, Riley Hunter, Elizabeth Bittiker, Tiernan Shank, Kailey Morash, and Paige Steiert, along with eight new freshmen are expected to take the title again.  The freshmen; Bonnie Longan, Chloe Stanford, Maddie Mann, Katie Vahle, Mary Booton, Sarah Allegri, and Taylor Sawalich take the place of the six 2012 graduating seniors.  The first meet will be held on Friday, March 29 against Shawnee Mission Northwest; the Lancers are expected to win.

“I’m looking forward to hanging out with the team and getting closer throughout the season,” senior Meg Stanley said. “I’m also looking forward to the work paying off and enjoying the success we will hopefully have as a team.”

Girls’ Soccer

The girl’s soccer team are set after tryouts ended Mar. 2. The ladies have eight seniors this year, two more than last year’s squad. These seniors include Addison Steiner, Alex Hilliard, Anna Colby, Sarah Spradling, Andrea Rutledge, Chloe Hubler, Emily Cooney, and Anna Sheridan. For Steiner and Colby, this is their fourth year on varsity. This will be Spradling and Hilliard’s third year on varsity. Hubler, Sheridan and Cooney were on the junior varsity team last year, but earned the occasional varsity minutes. This will be Rutledge’s first year on varsity.

Returning letter winners include seniors Steiner, Colby, Spradling and Hilliard. Juniors letter winners include Quincy Hendricks, Kelly Pidcoe, Victoria Sabates and AnnaMarie Oakley. Other juniors include Emily Dodd, Jessica Young and Ada Throckmorton. Sophomores with their first year on varsity are Emma Braasch. The team has three freshman this year, more than any other year before. These freshman include Adalaide Kline, Chloe Harrington and Georgia Weigel.

The annual blue-black scrimmage was scheduled for Tuesday, Mar. 12, but due to poor weather conditions it has been rescheduled to Thursday, Mar. 14.

Girls’ Lacrosse

Due to inclement weather, the women’s lacrosse team had their first practice 10 days after the start of spring sports. The first “practice”, consisted of shoveling the practice field at Broadmoor Park.

The team was able to get two practices in before their games on Sunday, March 10. The team played two quick 15 minute games but the games were not recorded or considered league play. They were instead played to give the new referees a chance to practice and show that they know all the rules to the game. The play was limited but it gave the team an idea of things to work on during practices.

Captains Addie Hotchkiss, India D’Ortona, and Jocelyn Worner are hoping to bring their team back up to par to previous seasons. The team managed to go from last place to fourth in their 2011 season and placed fifth last season.

The team is entering the season upperclassmen heavy with inexperienced players. There is not a single freshman on the team and a limited amount of sophomores. However, there are many experienced players from SM South, SM North, and Bishop Miege that will help step up. Senior Jocelyn Worner is out with a knee injury but is expected to return in the next six weeks.

The first game is on Friday, March 29. Girls who are interested in playing lacrosse still have time to join.

Boys’ Lacrosse

The lacrosse teams tryouts were postponed for two days but were held on Feb. 26. The tryouts were held at All American Indoor sports on the indoor soccer field with 60 players that tried, making the first freshman team in East history. The next two days of tryouts were held in an empty warehouse above the American Royale. After several days of practice in the Mission Valley MIddle School parking lot the team is now using the field and the postponed game against Lee’s Summit West is rescheduled for April 1.

“With 11 returning seniors, and some upperclassmen really stepping up their game there are high expectations for this year’s team,” senior Patrick Simmons said.