What to Watch for in Winter Sports

BOYS BASKETBALL

Player: Anderson Maddox

Beginning his third year on the boys varsity basketball team, senior Anderson Maddox is expected to be one of this year’s top players as a stretch four — a power forward who is utilized to score three-pointers and draw the opposition defense away from the basket — according to head coach Shawn Hair.

“I just think I bring a lot of experience to the team. I’ve been playing [on] varsity since I was a sophomore and I think I’ve just kind of developed a leadership role, not necessarily that I’m the best basketball player on the team, but we have a fairly young team with a lot of sophomores on it, so I can bring some leadership and guidance,” Maddox said.

DATES TO KNOW:

• Jan. 8: Game against rival SM South.
• Jan. 25: Game against rival Rockhurst.
• Feb. 27: First Sub-State game.

GIRLS BASKETBALL

Player: Jordan Yowell

Four-year varsity starter and senior Jordan Yowell will be spending her final season on the girls basketball team as point guard and co-captain, along with senior Taylor Fort. Head coach Lauren Lawrence expects Yowell to help regulate the speed of play this year, dictating when to slow the offense and speed up the defense.

“I think Jordan not only leads in terms of her playing abilities — she’s obviously a very strong player — but she’s also a good verbal leader … After a free throw or any dead ball, the girls will group together and talk about what they need to do as a whole, and it’s just obvious to us as coaches that she’s really stepped up into that leadership role,” Lawrence said.

DATES TO KNOW:

• Jan. 8: Game against rival SM South.
• Feb. 28: First Sub-State game.

BOYS SWIM/DIVE

Player: Sebastian Bruck

Senior Sebastian Bruck, a member of the state-winning 400 free relay last year, has swam on boys varsity state-winning team all four years. This year, Bruck hopes to break the school records in the 100 fly and the 200 IM, which is a race consisting of all four strokes. He is two and four seconds away from breaking those records respectively.

“I’ve been swimming for over 10 years. It’s the sport I ended up with and I’ve stuck with,” Bruck said. “I have a lot of experience and there are some swimmers on the team this year at least that have similar experience to me, but they’re freshmen now so they’re not quite there yet. I just have a lot of experience and know what I’m doing.”

DATES TO KNOW:

• Jan. 22: Topeka Invitational.
• Feb. 2: Sunflower League Meet.
• Feb. 16: State swim and dive finals.

WRESTLING

Player: Dane Erickson

Senior Dane Erickson is a four-year varsity wrestler and a returning state qualifier. Erickson placed at state his sophomore year, and hopes to be back on the podium at the end of the season.

“[Erickson]’s a team leader,” Head Coach Chip Ufford said. “I don’t necessarily pick captains, they just choose whether they’re going to lead or not, and Dane’s one of our leaders. [He leads by] example, he leads vocally. We look for him to do good things this year.” 

DATES TO KNOW:

• Jan. 11-12: Bobcat Classic tournament.
• Feb. 15 – Regional tournament.
• Feb. 22-23: State championship.

BOWLING

Player: Harrison Flanagan

Freshman Harrison Flanagan has started his first year on the bowling team as one of the highest scorers during tryouts — even scoring higher than some returning seniors according to head coach Fred Elliot. Flanagan has bowled with the Park Lanes league since 2014, and bowls an average of around 170 per game, and hopes that by the end of the season, he will be getting consistent 200s. Last year, the boys team had a team average of about 142 points, according to KSHS Bowling.

Pull quote: “[Flanagan]’s our freshman who’s been doing very, very well. He’s very competitive, he bowls in a league … Most kids don’t bowl in leagues, you have to be pretty competitive.” -head coach Fred Elliot

DATES TO KNOW:

• Jan. 9: First meet of the season.
• Feb. 7: Shawnee Mission tournament.
• March 1: State championship.