Winter Sports Recap: A look into the results of the season

Boys Basketball:

The boys basketball team lost in the first round of KSHSAA 6A playoffs against Blue Valley on March 4, bringing their season to an end, 40-48. According to coach Shawn Hair, the team had the inability to hit shots, but held the team to only 48 points, playing great defensively. 

Hair found that the team had a lot of confidence going into state, especially after senior Nick Arensberg’s four buzzer beater shots, but last night he was challenged by Blue Valley’s aggressive players. 

“It was just a physical game, there were a lot of fouls called,” Hair said. “The players were really physical with him, and to Nick’s credit he handled it great.”

Even with the team’s stop-and-go season, their shooting percentage this season averaged 50-52%, but last night they made 15 of 41 shots from the court, averaging 36% — due to the fact that the team couldn’t make any three pointers. 

As for junior varsity, junior Keaton Arnett believed that their overall season was not bad by any means, losing six out of 18 games, but expected the team to have better team chemistry. 

“[Having new players on the team] probably hurt the team a little bit, based on how we played together,” Arnett said. “We had turnovers because of it, and not knowing what someone was going to do.”

Girls Basketball:

The girls varsity basketball team is currently ranked 64th in the state, after ending their season 14-11. While senior Sydney Crane said that the girls had been struggling with communication on the court, she believes they were playing better than they have in previous years. 

“I don’t really think we are playing as a team,” Crane said. “And sometimes we lose the game before we even play it, [because of] who we are playing.”

Despite miscommunications, the girls were excited to beat Olathe West, the number one team in the league 52-40 on Feb. 25. This win was definitely the team’s proudest moment according to Crane, and put them in the right mindset going into playoffs. 

The team went into playoffs with a three game winning streak, putting their record at 14-10. However, they lost 21-38 to Olathe South in their first game of substate on March 3, ending their season. Crane felt confident going into the game after her team’s previous wins, but the team’s 17 point loss came as a surprise to Crane.

When Coach Lauren Lawrence subbed in all the seniors for the last four minutes of the game, Crane knew it was their last time playing together. Crane described the seniors’ final moments on the court to be very emotional, due to the fact that everyone in that gym knew it would be their last game. 

As for girls junior varsity, the team won twice as many games as they lost, with a winning record of 12-6. 

This season, according to junior varsity player Maisie Sheets, was something to celebrate about, seeing as they beat their biggest opponent, Bishop Miege, by two points — which was impressive due to the fact that they had a height advantage over East players.

Bowling:

Girls varsity bowling began the season with more losses than they’d liked, losing consistently to Shawnee Mission South, but were capable of beating them at regionals by 174 pins. Senior Eva Hill, who bowled her first year on varsity for East, said that the team’s wins increased as the season progressed. Having never bowled before tryouts, Hill didn’t expect to make the team, but was pleasantly surprised when she heard she’d be bowling varsity.

“It’s been really nice, even as a senior,” Hill said. “I’ve gotten to meet new people and it’s something I wouldn’t have otherwise done.”

On Feb. 20, East competed against nine different schools at regionals, placing sixth overall. However, the team didn’t qualify for state, because they weren’t in the top three. Looking back at the season, Hill enjoyed all the funny timer pictures and messing around with her coach in addition to more serious moments including competing in regionals for the chance to going to state. 

Boys Swim

This year boys swim placed third at state for the second year in a row. One of the highlights from the season included beating Blue Valley North, their biggest opponent.

Swim tryouts were in mid-November, with the season officially starting on Nov. 18. Since then, the boys team had been training and getting into shape to prepare for the state meet.

The first few weeks included the boys picking up their pace and progressing into harder sets. For the first two months, the swimmers were coached on proper race techniques and increased swim speed. According to sophomore Bo Kimmel, when January hit, the team went into overload — training harder to work towards the bigger meets. 

On Feb. 2, the boys placed second at the Sunflower League meet, the first time in 16 years that East didn’t place first. League and state are the two biggest swim meets of the year, so a top-three placing at league provided a good outlook for the state meet according to Kimmel.

After their week-long taper — which is time spent recovering so the boys can regain their full energy before a big meet — the team was ready for state. Although they placed third for the second year in a row, they beat their biggest competitor, Blue Valley North, by just five points. 

Overall the season was successful due to the entire team’s effort at state and the individual swimmers’ performances at the meets according to Kimmel.