Winter Sports Update: Week 7

Boys’ Basketball

The boys’ basketball team defeated Rockhurst high school 62-50 on Friday night. The Lancers dominated the Hawklets right from the opening tip, hitting their first six shots and jumping out to 15-4 lead in the first quarter. Senior Vance Wentz had 10 points in the first quarter and finished with 16 points on the night.

“It was awesome to beat them, especially in their gym,” senior Connor McGannon said. “We just came out on fire.”

Sophomore Lucas Jones had another great performance 16 points and grabbed 14 rebounds. Not to go unnoticed, the consistent play of senior Zach Schneider guided the Lancers to the win. Schneider finished with 14 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists.

“We had to make sure to keep our energy up,” McGannon said. “I think that was the main reason why we came out so hot. We were focused the whole time and really fed off of each others energy and the crowds energy and kept that up throughout the whole game.”

The team was scheduled to play at Olathe Northwest on Tuesday, Jan. 29, but the game has been postponed to Feb. 16 due to the recent death of the Raven’s head coach Mike Grove daughter. The Lancer’s next game is at Lawrence on Friday, Feb. 1. at 7 p.m.

Girls’ Basketball

The team was able to walk away from their tournament in Topeka with positive results. East received the fifth place trophy in the tournament.

The Lancers struggled during their first game, losing to Maize High School 36-46. The team had a hard time getting to the basket and that resulted in turnovers. East did not have one player in double figures, with Emily Dodd leading the way with eight points.

The team bounced back after that game and beat two teams. The Lancers beat Northwest Wichita 53-44 and Junction City 38-26. Erin McGinley was named to the All-Tournament team.

The team faces their next opponent, Lawrence on Feb. 1 at 5:30 p.m.

Swimming

Last week, boys’ swim had their final regular season meet–the Topeka Invitational–in which they took second. The second place finish was a bit of a let down according to junior Ian Lee, but the team was down two of their best swimmers due to sickness– Brody Arveson and Alex Crampton.

Starting this week, some of the swimmers will begin tapering in practice in order to hopefully receive some of their fastest times for their first league meet at the end of this week.

“We hope to win a tenth straight year [at regionals this weekend] and bring the trophy back to East once more,” Lee said.

Wrestling

The Varsity and JV wrestling teams placed 6th in their dual tournament at Olathe North on Saturday against 16 other schools.

Senior Jack Mitchell had a standout performance, going 5-0 in his matches.

The team has had several injuries, including senior Jon Reuter who is now back on the mats. With the final stretch of Districts, League, Regionals and State, it’s important for the team to stay healthy.

“I think we have a strong team this year,” senior Alex May said. “we’ve just been plagued with a ton of injuries.”

The wrestlers are defending Districts champions, and will be competing against all other Shawnee Mission schools at East, Friday Feb. 1 after school.

Bowling

The girls varsity bowling team got their first taste of victory on the season last Thursday at a meet hosted by Shawnee Mission West at College Lanes. Shawnee Mission South was also in attendance where they took first place in the boys varsity, with the East boys team coming in second. The girls JV and Varsity both took first place, while on the boys side JV took their second first place finish on the season.

Both squads have meets on Wednesday and Thursday this week at Park Lanes and College Lanes.