Spring Sports Update: Week 5

Boys Lacrosse:

The boys lacrosse team suffered a tough overtime loss to Rockhurst with a final score of 7-6. Junior Frank Esberg returned from his concussion and scored 4 goals in the first half but it wasn’t enough.

“We played well enough to win, but in the end it just wasn’t meant to be,” senior defender Patrick Simmons said.

On Saturday the Lancers beat a tough Lincoln team 7-3 and are focused on their game today, April 23, against Pembroke Hill.

Girls Lacrosse:

The girls lacrosse team recently took on Lee’s Summit North on Saturday, April 20 on the East turf. The varsity team lost 3-13 while the JV team only managed to lose by one at 6-7. The varsity team struggled with their defensive the most but were able to step it up in the JV game. The JV team held their ground until the very last minute when Lee’s Summit North was able to score one last time.

However, the girls are optimistic about their upcoming game today against Blue Valley High School at Blue Valley Northwest. The JV team will play first at 6:30 with Varsity following.

Girls Swimming:

The lady lancers beat Lawrence Free State last Tuesday, April 16 and finished out the week winning the Lancer Invitational Saturday and Sunday.

The two meets gave opportunities for many of the girls to qualify for state cuts. Junior Madeline Peters qualified for the 100 Fly. Freshman Sarah Allegri qualified for the 500 Freestyle. Junior Emily Minick qualified for the 100 Freestyle. Senior Meg Stanley qualified for the 100 Freestyle and the 100 Backstroke. Freshman Mary Booton qualified for the 200 IM.

Senior night will take place this Wednesday at home against SMS. The car wash will be this Saturday and will raise money for the team.

Boys’ Tennis:

The Lancers ran away with the JV Sunflower League title last week despite the poor weather conditions. Each of their eight competitors placed first as East dominated their competition

“We all played very well despite the cold weather,” senior Collin Jones said. “This is just one of our first steps to claim State.”

The boys will look to continue their good run with Rockhurst on Thursday and the Varsity Sunflower League Tournament on Friday.

Boys’ Golf:

The boys’ golf squad won again on Monday at Topeka Country Club shooting 10 over par 294 and winning by 13 strokes over Washburn Rural. Freshman Andy Spencer and Senior Chase Hanna both shot a winning 72, but Spencer won in a playoff to win individually. Senior Connor Knabe and junior John Sallaz both came into the clubhouse with a 75, counting as the team’s other two scores.

This is the third tournament in a row that the team has won and Knabe doesn’t think they will slow down.

“We still haven’t played our best as a team and we want to improve in a few areas before Sunflower League and Regionals,” Knabe said. “But I definitely think we will keep on winning.”

The team travels to Hutchison this weekend to play in the annual Hutchinson Invitational at Carey Park Golf Course.

Girls Soccer:

The girls’ soccer team had a relatively easy pair of games this past week, defeating Leavenworth on the road 9-0 on April 16. On April 18, the girls returned home to take on Olathe North and handley beat the Eagles 7-0.

The Leavenworth game proved to be a game of two halves, with the second being disappointing for the Lancers. With score 9-0 at half, the girls would only have to score one goal in the second half to end the game early on account of the mercy rule. But they were unable to put one in the back of the net in the entire second session.

The light week of games was helpful for some of the girls with nagging injuries who did not miss much in the two dominant wins.

Track and Field:

The track and field team had two meets this weekend. The JV and Varsity district meet was held on Tuesday at SM South. The Varsity runners that qualified for KU Relays did not compete Tuesday and traveled to Lawrence to compete all day Friday and Saturday.

The 400 meter runners had a great weekend at KU both individually and in relays. On the boys’ side, the 4×400 meter relays consisting of seniors Tommy McGillicuddy, Troy Wilkins, Sam Stewart and Carter Olander placed 8th overall. Wilkins also placed 5th individually in the 400 meter run.

Senior Devin Burton also had a good showing in the hurdles, placing 4th in the 300 meter intermediate hurdles.

On the girls’ side, the 4×400 meter relay consisting of sophomore Phoebe Aguiar, juniors Annie Kuklenski and Grace Quinlan, and senior Emma Vickers placed 4th overall. Vickers also placed individually in the 400 meter run at 6th overall.

The full varsity team will compete in the St. Thomas Aquinas meet this Friday. This is the last meet before the stretch of highly competitive meets to end the year which includes North Relays, League, Regionals and 6A State.

Softball:

Last Thursday’s game for the varsity team was rescheduled due to the rainy weather. On Saturday, the girls swept Olathe North, defeating them in both games.

“The second [game] was really exciting because we were down 7-2 and came back to win 12-8,” junior Anna Cook said.

Tuesday is the scheduled day for senior night, which Cook believes will most likely be cancelled due to weather. If senior night goes as scheduled, they will honor their four seniors CeCe Brooks, Dee Dee Guthrie, Kassey Hughes and Jennifer Sirna, followed by two games against SM North.

Baseball:

This past week the Lancers lost all three of their games against Olathe South, Rockhurst and Blue Valley West.

On Thursday and Friday they participated in the River City Classic at Hoglund Ballpark in Lawrence Kansas. They lost 0-12 to Rockhurst and 1-8 to BV West. Junior Trey Austin believes these losses resulted from errors in the field and poor hitting.

Senior third baseman Kalvin Murphy injured his shoulder and was out for the entire week, which has caused some changes in the lineup. Junior Colter Purdon broke his nose chasing a fly ball on Thursday, but has postponed surgery until the end of the season as not to miss any games.

Looking ahead, the Lancers play SM Northwest on Tuesday and Olathe East on Thursday. Senior night takes place on Friday against Blue Valley at the East field.

“I’ve been waiting to give it my all on senior night since I was a freshman,” senior Stephen Brophy said.