Time Out Winter Sports

TIME OUTWINTER SPORTS | DECEMBER 2012

METTLE FOR MEDALSRAY-PEC WRESTLING TEAM LOOKING TO BATTLE AT STATE

ALSO INSIDE: BELTON GIRLS’ BASKETBALL LOOKING TO REBOUND FROM LAST SEASON | 8HARRISONVILLE BOYS’ BASKETBALL HOPING FOR CONFERENCE TITLE | 11

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Friday, December 7, 2012 THE DEMOCRAT MISSOURIAN

TIME OUT INDEXRAYMORE-PECULIAR 3-6ARCHIE 6BELTON 7-8DREXEL 9HARRISONVILLE 10-12MIDWAY 12PLEASANT HILL 13-14SHERWOOD 14-15

ALL PHOTOGRAPHY, STORIES BY

STEPHANIE YEAGLE

Raymore-Peculiar junior wrestler Carter Mackender, left, and senior wrestler Dustin McElroy are both hoping for state medals this season, plus a successful year for their Panther team.

ON THE COVER

Head Coach: Scott JermainAssistant Coaches: Dan Miller, Brett Schmitt, Dallas Lybarger and Leroy Asbury.Last year’s record and season finish: 9-17, 2-8 in Suburban Big Six Conference.Projected starters: Senior 6’4” guard/forward Tim Estell, senior 5’10” guard Kasan Williams, junior 6’1” guard Austin Murkin, sophomore 6’5” guard Ben Harris, junior 6’2” guard Jason Wilson and sophomore 6’7” center Ben Brenizer.Key Newcomers: Sophomore 6’5” forward Jason Chambers, junior 5’11” guard Mario Holman, junior 5’11” guard Keith Sueltz, junior 5’9” guard Marcus Zweifel and sophomore 6’4” forward Ethan Harris.Head coach’s comments: This year is about as unpredictable as any year we’ve had. We expect to be better, but we also expect every team in our conference to have improvement from last year. Our biggest question is how fast our young and inexperienced players can adjust to the rigorous schedule. I do like our players’ commitment to hard work and preparation in the off season. I believe this team will be able to play various paces so to best suite our chances of beating our opponents. As you can see from the players listed, depth is a strength of the Panthers, but unfortunately, that depth will not come until later in the year due to inexperience and young players. We’ve focused a lot of our preparation on being a tough team. So, we hope we’ll be able to win some games this upcoming season.

RAY-PEC BOYS’ BASKETBALL


RAYMORE-PECULIAR PANTHERS

Grappling to the top

The Raymore-Peculiar wrestling team knows they have a ways to go.

“We are not the Blue Springs or the Park Hills of the world,” Raymore-Peculiar head coach Brett Barbarick said. “We are not there yet. But we are definitely trying to do things at the high school level, middle school level and youth level to bring us back to where we were at one time.”

And it all starts by building on a previous season.

“I think that this season is going to go much better,” junior Carter Mackender said. “There is more accountability in the room now. We are more responsible. We have a couple of good freshman. I’m excited to see how they do this year at our lower weights, at 106 and 113. I think we are growing. I think our team is getting better substantially each year.”

Barbarick agrees, saying that the team has started this season right where they left off last year.

“I had really smart kids last year that worked really hard,” he said. “And our kids that have returned have really built on that.”

The Panthers will rely on Mackender (220) and senior Dustin McElroy (152) to lead the team. Mackender took sixth place in state last season in a weight class that graduated 14 of the top 16 finalists.

“Placing in top six and then having everyone else I know graduate, it’s kind of mandatory expectation of placing high,” Mackender said. “It gives me a really good shot of placing high, but it makes it almost disappointing to medal at even sixth place again this year.”

So it puts a lot of pressure on Mackender, but Barbarick is

BY STEPHANIE [email protected]

The Raymore-Peculiar wrestling team grapples in practice.

confident that he can handle it.“He has always had the physical

attributes, he just had to grow into his own body and learn the techniques to wrestle through some situations,” Barbarick said. “He’s always been the kid that could just boss the other kids around could do what he wants. But when you are 15 years old and wrestling 17 and 18 year olds, you have to wrestle more than just be able to throw them around.”

In fact, Mackender is so good, according to Barbarick, that there is no other wrestler on the Raymore-Peculiar team that can match him, not even the heavyweights. Barbarick himself and assistant coach John Heinemann have to practice wrestling him every day.

“There is no one in our room that can hold their own and beat him,” Barbarick

said. “We are definitely expecting some interesting things out of Carter.”

McElroy is a two-time state qualifier, but hasn’t medaled yet, a goal he has set for himself his senior year.

“It would mean a lot,” McElroy said. “I’ve been doing this pretty much my whole life. To not have placed yet is pretty disappointing, so I would really like to place.”

Barbarick thinks that this year might be McElroy’s year.

“He’s always been able to do the moves, it’s just the size of the kids he was wrestling,” he said. “He couldn’t do it because of a physical mismatch. But he has matured now. He’s slick. He has good moves.”

But before state in mid-February, the Panthers first have to face some stiff opponents, including Blue Springs and

Ray-Pec wrestling team looking to new heights

Park Hill.“We really haven’t been able to

compete with them score-wise, but I’m really hoping at least to be able to close the gap on them,” Barbarick said. “There is no way if you ask what the big duals are that you can lave out the two best teams in the state in that category. Hopefully we can prep and get rested for those guys when the time comes.”

Barbarick also mentioned that the team looks forward to wrestling Lee’s Summit West, which will be their last dual of the season. The dual matters, even though they aren’t in the same conference, because the two teams are in the same district.

Plus, Raymore-Peculiar competes in the Winnetonka Tournament, a contest that Mackender is excited about.

“My freshman year I got third,” Mackender said. “But last year I was out with a concussion. It’s a pretty tough tournament, so I’m looking forward to going to that one again.”

Barbarick also mentioned the Leavenworth Tournament, which features good Kansas schools and the Harrisonville Holiday Tournament.

“We are the biggest school there, but they have a bunch of teams, like one from Wisconsin and Oklahoma,” he said. “And all the stud lower class teams are there, like Kirksville, the perennial Class 2 state champions. It’s a fun one to be a part of.”

But by the end of the season, Barbarick just hopes that Panthers come out an even better team than they started.

“Every day we want to get better,” he said. “It sounds really cliché, but you can make huge strides. Our kids are going to change physically. I want us to look better in a singlet at the end of the season. I want us to wrestle better. You want to win conference, you want to win district, and you want to win state. Those are major goals you want to set for the whole program. But right now, we are going to focus on teaching the basic techniques and learning to get better and learning from our mistakes.”


Head Coach: Matt Majors, second yearAssistant Coaches: Katie DowdenLast year’s record and season finish: The girls had a great finish to their season last year. Several injuries at the end of the year proved costly for an attempt to qualify for state. We did have a foreign exchange student qualify in the 500-yard freestyle.Key Newcomers: We have several freshmen coming on our team this year who are very talented. This talent added to the return-ing girls is very promising.Challenges we may have this season: As with every year it will be to stay healthy. With incorporating dry land exercises, we hope to prevent some of the injuries we had last year.Biggest games to watch this season: COMO Invite, KC Classic, Independence Invite and NKC Invite.Head coach’s comments: I am very pleased with the girls we have out this year. They have all committed to the idea that since we are a smaller team we must work as a team to achieve our goals this year. I think we will have some strong competitors and looking forward to a successful season.

RAY-PEC GIRLS’ SWIMMING

Head Coach: Brett Barbarick, fifth yearAssistant Coaches: John Heinemann, Drew Shaul, Bobby Herrick and Kendall Burke.Last year’s record and season finish: 4-8, third in the conference, junior Carter Mackender placed sixth at state; junior Mac Diaz placed sixth at state two years ago, Dustin McElroy two-time state qualifier and Gabe Martinez two-time state qualifier.Projected starters: It’s hard to say right now.Key Newcomers: Really our newcomer is freshman Miles Robinson. There are a couple others, but they haven’t won a varsity spot yet.Challenges we may have this season: We are being moved to the middle of the state for districts this year, it’s going to be different and a new challenge for us. Throughout the year, Blue Springs and Park Hill are the measuring sticks of Class 4 wrestling. Our rivals are Belton and Lee’s Summit West as far as proximity goes. LSW is in the same boat of being moved to the middle of the state with us for districts.Biggest games to watch this season: The four duals mentioned above and the Winnetonka Tournament is a good hard tourna-ment.Head coach’s comments: Carter Mackender returns for his junior season trying to improve off a sixth place finish. Dustin McElroy has stepped up this year so far and wrestled all summer. We have a bunch of under classmen who could be a full time varsity wrestler for the first time, and our season as a team is going to depend on how hard they work and how much they grow from the first practice to their last match.

RAY-PEC WRESTLING

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Head Coach: Brad GainesAssistant Coaches: Kim Kruse and Casey White.Last year’s record and season finish: 11-16, 0-10 in Suburban Big Six Conference, district semifinals.Projected starters: Senior 5’7” guard Alyssa Jannsen, senior 5’9” forward Sydney Martinez, senior 5’11” forward Bridgette Sap-pington, senior 5’7” forward/guard Rose Stamper, senior 5’7” forward/guard Shelly McClendon, and junior 6’1” center Suzie Lottie.Key Newcomers: Freshman 5’11” guard/forward Megan Maher, freshman 5’8” guard Taylor Koper and freshman 5’10” forward Toni Martin.Challenges we may have this season: Gone from last year’s team is All-League and All-District point guard Robraneque McGowin. There is no doubt her presence on the floor will be missed in the season ahead as she now pursues her post high school career at Moberly Junior College. But, the 2012-2013 version of Pan-thers do not lack in leadership and experience; returning are four young ladies who started a majority of the season last year. Along with those starter are McClendon and Lottie to add more depth to the squad. It is the addition of Maher, Koper and other freshman teammates that have the future looking brighter. The Panthers will look to share the load of ball handling among these two youngsters and the senior laden squad of returnees. Look for the squad to have balanced scoring and walk out different starting lineups on any given night. A true strength of the squad should be better balance.Biggest games to watch this season: We begin our season with the Winnetonka Basketball Classic where Kearney, Smithville and North Kansas City loom as quality opponents. The Kearney Invitational Tournament offers us a chance to see some qual-ity teams from the northern Missouri area and we again will make the trip to Nevada to play some of the best teams from the southern part of the state. The team will look to bring home hardware in each of these tourneys.Head coach’s comments: The Panthers are looking to improve in both overall and league records over the recent past years. Yet to win a conference game in the Big Six Suburban Conference; the Panthers will look to improve on that this season. Over the past three seasons, the overall record of the Lady Panthers has shown gradual improvement and this year hopes to see that trend continue. The Lady Panthers also hope to be very com-petitive in the early season tournaments hosted by Winnetonka and Kearney. The team slogan “Panthers on the Rise” is truly a belief on where this program is headed.

RAY-PEC GIRLS’ BASKETBALL

Head Coach: Troy Schulte, first yearAssistant Coaches: Charlie PlattnerLast year’s record and season finish: 25-3, district and conference champi-ons.Projected starters: Senior guard Stefani Simms, junior guard Jordan Schulte, sophomore guard Taylor Plattner, senior forward Kaily Kurzweil and senior forward Mallory Wiskur.Challenges we may have this season: We lost two seniors (Abby Shipley and Kendyl Thomas) to graduation who were four year starters and 1,000 career point scorers along with another senior (Alycia Fisher) who was an integral part to the success the program has had over the past four years. Our challenge will be not replacing those players, because their contributions are irreplaceable. We will look for kids to step up and find ways they contribute to us to make our season a success. We will need to show great execution in our offensive sets and be fundamental in our offense to score points.Biggest games to watch this season: : I think we will play in a lot of big games this year due to the strength of our schedule and the WEMO Conference will be much improved this year. Midway, Rich Hill, Adrian, Drexel and Osceola will be big games for us in conference as they will each present us different challenges. We also start off with Nevada who will be extremely talented and play Lamar along with Holden.Head coach’s comments: All of the projected starters will be relied on heav-ily to produce for the team this year. Sam Ogden, Leslie Iseman and Mary Kurzweil will also need to contribute positive minutes for us to be successful. Our depth will be a concern this year. I do have a quality group of kids out for basketball this year and they have been working hard and been extremely receptive to doing things in practice to get better.

ARCHIE GIRLS’ BASKETBALL

Head Coach: Preston Shipley, second yearAssistant Coaches: Brad WestLast year’s record and season finish: 16-11,5-2 in WEMO confer-ence for third place.Projected starters: Seniors Jimmy Blundell, Austin Hill, Austin Reynolds and Josh Cantrell; juniors Boston Dickerson and Ceasar Swigart; sophomores Toby Gibson, Austin Shipley and Trent Schindler.Challenges we may have this season: Lack of experience. We have to prove ourselves at this level. Most of our team will be playing varsity for the first time.Head coach’s comments: We have a great group of young men who show up every day and practice very hard. We have some speed and quickness.

ARCHIE BOYS’ BASKETBALL

ARCHIE WHIRLWINDS


Head Coach: Greg Martin, 5th year Assistant Coaches: Erik Ahlquist, Zak Elgin, Jason Vaughn and Jason Hudson.Last year’s record and season finish: 12-14 overall; 5-7 in Mid-7 Conference (fourth place)Projected starters: Senior forward Caleb Padgett, senior guard Ben Long, junior forward Lewis Wilkins, sophomore guard Louis McKamey and sophomore forward Christian Asaeli.Key Newcomers: Guard Nicolas PhillippChallenges we may have this season: We will be undersized on most nights. So overcoming our lack of size will be a big challenge.Biggest games to watch this season: The biggest game is always the next one on the schedule, so Winnetonka at their place to start the season. And they have a very good team coming back from last year, with a new coach, so everybody should be pretty fired up. Raymore-Peculiar is our cross-town rival, which usually creates a fun environment for us and fans. The games have been lopsided in favor of Ray-Pec the last few years, so we are looking forward to a making it a competitive, entertaining game for our fans. Fort Osage appears to be a favorite in our conference and we always seem to have some good matchups with them. Head coach’s comments: This team has a good core group of guys who want to be leaders and have big expectations for the season. They want to be good and have been putting the time in the gym to get better. Some of the players have taken a starting role, but nothing has been settled. There is good competition within the team for playing time, and that is making everybody better. You get the sense that this is a group of guys that will really come together and will accept nothing short of a successful season.

BELTON BOYS’ BASKETBALL

Head Coach: Jeff Davis, 29 yearsAssistant Coaches: Nate Butler, Dustin Brewer and Jason Bird. Dustin Brewer is a former three-time state champion and former three-time college All-American.Projected starters: Clayton Fenzl, Brian Sanders, Robbi Jones, Caleb Chevalier, Clay Stine, Austin Goin, Jacob Miller, Lucas Vil-laverde, Grant Whitney, John Hiltner, Tyler Gorman, Austin Hol-loway, Caleb Keesler, Joe Bedwell, Brandon Mckinney, Annane Silvers and Andruw Goin all figure to start at sometime this year.Key Newcomers: Freshman John Hiltner and senior Austin Holloway are newcomers who look to be valuable additions to the program.Challenges we may have this season: Health is always a challenge. Our district is the toughest in the state of Missouri, with five of the top 10 state finishers coming back.Biggest games to watch this season: Oak Park are perennial state placers and are now in our conference.Head coach’s comments: We have been blessed with incredibly talented young athletes. Staff is pushing our athletes to peak gradu-ally during the season. My staff is loaded with former state medal-ists and champions. They bring lots of knowledge and experience into the room. We feel like if the athletes continue to work hard they will have a rewarding season.

BELTON WRESTLING

BELTON PIRATES


Head Coach: Brad Batchelder, first yearAssistant Coaches: Whitney Loe and Ann Kathol.Last year’s record and season finish: 1-25Returning Players: Senior Ashley Cole, junior post Tranisha Smith, junior post Haley McConville, junior guard Jada Bates and sophomore guard Amanda Whitney.Key Newcomers: Junior guard Joy Price, junior guard Hope Alsup and fresh-man guard Molly Chevalier.Challenges we may have this season: We have to compete every day and in every game. It is going to be a challenge for us to learn how to win. Once we do that, I am excited about this group of girls and I really believe we can shock some people this season. Outside of that, the girls and I will be getting used to how each other works, so that always takes some time.Biggest games to watch this season: Being new to Belton and this team, all of these games are big to me. I know the girls have marked certain games on the schedule, but we are ready to compete every night.Head coach’s comments: I was excited to accept this new challenge, but the work that these girls have put in and the desire they have shown to start this season makes me even more excited. They are working hard for each other and working well together. A coach cannot ask for more out of their players.

BELTON GIRLS’ BASKETBALLHead Coach: Martijn Keltner, fifth yearAssistant Coaches: Becca Jarred and Shelly Pollock.Last year’s record and season finish: Fourth place at Suburban Confer-ence White Division, Katie Giacone – state qualifier 50-yard freestyle.Projected starters: Seniors Amelia Mullins, Alexis Finley, Andrea Maldo-nado, Rachel Mears, Adiaha Taylor and Jackie Herron; juniors Katie Giacone, Haley Marconett, Hally Nelson, Rachel Hoffman and Jill Chumlea.Key Newcomers: Junior Paige Howard; freshmen Danielle Sanders, Allie Floyd, Elizabeth Smith and Aubrie Vaughn.Challenges we may have this season: We only return 14 girls that have scored at varsity conference. We will need to develop better depth in all our events.Biggest games to watch this season: Anytime we swim against Raymore-Peculiar.Head coach’s comments: This is the largest team we have had out in my five years here, and our new additions have come in with some good work habits and already shown tremendous improvement in just three days. We are hoping to qualify a relay for state this year so we can take more girls to experience that level of competition.

BELTON GIRLS’ SWIMMING

BELTON PIRATESNew coach, new attitude

With last year’s 1-25 record looming over their heads, the Belton girls’ basketball team is ready to shake it off and start fresh.

What better way to do that with a brand new head coach?

Enter former Archie head girls’ basketball coach Brad Batchelder.

“The way I want us to play and the way we played in the past are different, so we are teaching a lot of new things and really breaking in a lot of things, so it’s a lot of new information,” Batchelder said. “It’s a whole new defense, a new way to dribble the ball, a new way to shoot, new offenses to run and a new set of plays. So putting all that stuff together at once can be a little bit overwhelming, but they have taken it in stride.”

Junior Jada Bates agrees, saying

the team has a new and better attitude about the upcoming season.

“It’s going really good,” Bates said. “We have more dedication. We want to do better than last year.”

The Lady Pirates are working hard, constantly trying to improve and asking Batchelder what they can do to be better.

“It’s not me going to them, it’s them coming to me,” Batchelder said. “And for a team that was 1-25 last year, that’s not something you can really expect as a coach. They have really shown that they want to take steps in the right direction and really get better.”

“I think it’s already turning around,” senior Ashley Cole added.

The main goal Batchelder has set for his team is to play winning basketball, whether it leads to wins, or not.

“I just want them to play competitive games, push each other in practice and play winning basketball,”


The Belton girls’ basketball team scrimmages as head coach Brad Batchelder, standing in back, watches.

Belton girls’ basketball ready for season

he said. “…They are getting there. It’s impressive how far they have come in two weeks.”

The team has also set some goals for themselves.

“To stay positive, don’t give up on ourselves and keep competing,” Cole said.

This is Batchelder’s second head coaching job, and Belton, a Class 5 school, is a bit different than Archie, a Class 2 school.

“You have more girls to choose from,” Batchelder said. “I’ve never had a team that has had two dominate post players. I’ve never played two post players on the floor at the same time, which is something we will do this year. It’s a different culture. It’s fun to be a part of and hopefully get turned around.”

Batchelder was the head coach at Archie for five seasons, but has ties to the Belton community. His father graduated from Belton High School and he has family that lives in the area.

“I’m excited,” he said. “…It’s fun to come here and help build the program up to where we want it to be.”


Head Coach: Jimmie Gentry, second yearAssistant Coaches: Billy JohnstonLast year’s record and season finish: 9-14Projected starters: Senior Jacklynn Williams, sophomore Lauryn Campbell, freshman Jacy Bolton, junior Adison Barnhart, senior Skyler Lancaster and junior Sydney Seba.Key Newcomers: Freshmen Jacy Bolton and Allison Jacobs.Challenges we may have this season: We are low in numbers. Therefore it is difficult to get enough junior varsity time in and making sure that everyone stays healthy.Biggest games to watch this season: WEMO conference tournament.Head coach’s comments: Our conference should be very balanced this year. So far the girls have been working really hard.

DREXEL GIRLS’ BASKETBALL

Head Coach: Dennis Bolton, 14th yearAssistant Coaches: BryAnn MiddletonLast year’s record and season finish: 26-5, tied for first in WEMO conference, second at state.Projected starters: 6’4” senior CJ Bolton, 6’0” senior Trevor Cool-ey, 5’9” senior Cody Russell, 6’4” junior Javyn Johnston, 6’0” senior Daniel Roberts, 6’3” senior Trevor Stewart, 6’2” junior Brandon Thomas, 6’3” junior Hunter Lindsey, 5’10” sophomore Tyler Allen, 5’8” sophomore Jacob Antley and 5’10” sophomore London Collins.Challenges we may have this season: Weaknesses will be staying focused on getting better everyday, playing present and prepar-ing to play right here, right now.Head coach’s comments: Strengths this year should be experi-ence, size and quickness. We will run multiple motion and zone offenses – looking to score mainly in transition. We run primarily man to man defense but will throw in a little match up zone.

DREXEL BOYS’ BASKETBALL

DREXEL BOBCATS


HARRISONVILLE WILDCATS

Head Coach: Todd Mercer, seventh yearAssistant Coaches: Frankie Jackson, Jon Benson and Matt Hague.Last year’s record and season finish: 17-10Projected starters: Junior 5’7” guard Luke Cooper, junior 6’4” forward Matt Prindle, senior 6’0” guard Jake Gibbs, junior 6’0” guard Mason Saffels, senior 6’5” forward Zach Davidson, senior 5’8” guard Jackson Ruddell, junior 5’11” guard Kenny Baker, junior 6’0” guard Jon Koch, junior 6’5” forward Brock Kliewer, sophomore 6’5” forward Brice Renner and senior 6’5” center Bryant Kanies.Challenges we may have this season: We must rebound and defend better.Biggest games to watch this season: Conference games, our home opener Dec. 11 against Shawnee Mission East and districts.Head coach’s comments: We are excited about the upcoming season. Our sched-ule will be very demanding, but will help us come conference and district time. We will have great competition for spots and we fell our depth should be a strength.

HARRISONVILLE BOYS’ BASKETBALL

Head Coach: Mark Rorvig, third yearAssistant Coaches: Joe Rohlfing and Andrea Eagle.Last year’s record and season finish: 18-8, second in conference and district semifinals.Projected starters: Junior guard Brianna Kendrick, junior guard Bayli Galeassi, junior guard Samantha Bowers, senior forward Anisa Alexander and sophomore center Mikaila Stackhouse.Key Newcomers: Mackenzie Hocker and Haley Parker.Challenges we may have this season: 1.) How we mesh together as a team. New faces in new places can always be interesting. My hope is that we continue to get better in this area as the season progresses. 2.) Scoring consistently. We have some girls that can score, but we haven’t always been able to do so as a team consistently. If we run our offense efficiently, we should be alright, but that remains to be seen.Biggest games to watch this season: I think most of the girls always look forward to playing Pleasant Hill. They are easily the favorite in both our conference and district this year and both regular season games should be a good test for our girls. I also think that Grain Valley will be a really good team this year in our conference. Those games will tell us a lot about ourselves.Head coach’s comments: I think we will be a really strong team defensively. We have some long, athletic girls, and we will try to use that to our advantage on both the of-fensive and defensive end. However, I still feel our season can go one of a couple of ways. If we come together as a team and find ways to consistently score, I think we can be pretty successful. If we don’t find a way to be successful in those two areas, we could struggle this year.

HARRISONVILLE GIRLS’ BASKETBALL

Head Coach: Eric DeVenney, 13 yearsAssistant Coaches: Andrew Rives, David Sanders, Thomas Meeks, Paul Kreimeyer and Jim Campbell.Last year’s record and season finish: 14-8, third in conference, second in districts, third in state. State qualifiers: Jericho Harris, Ty Cochran, Tyler Wood, Joe Hunter, Jarrick Fitzgearlds, Marcus Roberg, Joe Schlechter, Travis Britz. State medals: Britz – second, Hunter – third, Schlechter – fourth, Co-chran – sixth and Roberg – sixth.Projected starters: Returning Starters: Jericho Har-ris, David Barnett, Logan Whiting, Ty Cochran, Kyle Hix, Walter Eastwood, Anthony Franco, Brance Neal, James Pesek, Aaron Rampani, Joe Schlech-ter, and Ben Spencer.Challenges we may have this season: We graduated eight seniors from last year. We have several un-derclassmen that will have an opportunity to step into the lineup and make an impact. Biggest games to watch this season: The MRVC is loaded with talent again. Oak Grove is the pre-season number one ranked team in the state. Our dual with Pleasant Hill is always close.Head coach’s comments: The Harrisonville wrestling team begins the 2012 – 2013 season with high goals of continued success. The Wildcats finished 2012 with eight state qualifiers, brought home five state medalist and a third place trophy in the Class 2 state championships. The team returns two state medalists and one other qualifier. Joe Schlechter and Ty Cochran return after placing fourth and sixth in state at 220 and 126 respectively. Jericho Harris also returns after qualifying for state at 106. Senior leaders for the Wildcats are Logan Whiting, Aaron Rampani, Caleb Coltrin and Walter Eastwood. Oth-er returning wrestlers that started last year include David Barnett, Ben Spencer, Kyle Hix, Anthony Franco, Brance Neal and James Pesek. After having a great run last year we are looking to continue the program’s success and finish in the top five at the state tournament. We will have a full lineup and believe we will be competitive at every weight class. We have great leadership from our upper classmen and expect to see our underclass-men step up and contribute.

HARRISONVILLE WRESTLING


Just getting started

Pretty much every season, the Harrisonville boys’ basketball team starts practice missing half of its varsity team.

The reason is because the Wildcats have such a successful football program and multi-talented athletes that play many sports. But missing some of their varsity players doesn’t stop Harrisonville from seeing a successful season ahead of them.

“We have had some really good practices,” Harrisonville head coach Todd Mercer said. “We have a couple of kids injured and we are trying to get them through that. Practices are going good and we are working hard. It’s a good problem to have. We are kinda used to it around here.”

So with some strong juniors leading the practices, the team is working on their up-tempo, fast break offense.

“We don’t have everyone here, but with the people we have, everyone is working hard,” junior Luke Cooper said. “We are doing the best we can with the people we have. As far as gelling, it’s hard to do without the whole team, but every day, I feel like everyone is getting better in the gym.”

But like Cooper mentions, it’s still tough on the team missing some of the key players.

“It’s hard to do some drills without them here,” junior Matt Prindle said. “We only have a handful of kids here to do things, so we can improve before the start of the season. Once we get them here, we will get a lot better though.”

That doesn’t stop the Wildcats working “getting in better basketball shape,” according to senior Jacob Gibbs, or setting goals.

“This year, we definitely want to try to win conference and make it out of districts,” junior Jon Koch said. ‘Last year, we lost to Grandview


Harrisonville boys’ basketball players, from left, Jon Koch, Luke Cooper, Jacob Gibbs and Matt Prindle are ready to lead their team to a successful season.

Late start doesn’t bother Wildcat basketball team

in districts. It was a fight. We want to make it out of districts this year and hopefully make it farther than that.”

“State championship,” Cooper interjected.

“I said make it farther,” Koch added. “That’s our main goal.”

Harrisonville hopes to take back the Missouri River Valley West conference title, which they lost last year after clinching it two years in a row. But first, they have a tough schedule to get past, including their home opener against Shawnee Mission East, several tournaments, plus their conference opponents.

We are looking forward to it,” Mercer said. “We have a lot of kids back from last year’s group, so we are excited about that.”

Some of those kids include senior leader Gibbs, who the team will be looking to for leadership, ball handling and scoring.

“I think he is one of our best defenders,” Mercer added.

Also the team will look to Prindle, a good shooter that has improved defensively.

“We really want him to focus on rebounding and he will posting up some,” Mercer said. “We will be looking for a lot of different things out of him.

Plus, starter and point guard Cooper, who the team relies on to play a lot of minutes and Koch, who Mercer looks to play more time this season.

“Jon is a great shooter and hopefully he can improve defensively,” he said.

“And we will have five or six or seven more, I’d say, coming from football,” Mercer said. “We should have good depth.”

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Head Coach: Megan Mannell, second yearAssistant Coaches: State qualifier, Taylor Spencer in 100 butterfly, time 1:01.26. Dual meet record: 4-6, ninth in Small Schools Invi-tational, sixth in Independent League Conference.Projected starters: Senior Taylor Spencer, butterfly and freestyle, senior Courtney Lemmer, breaststroke and freestyle and senior Courtney Bomberger, backstroke and freestyle.Key Newcomers: Freshmen Cassidy Anderson and Micaela Ed-wards and senior Madelene Larsen.Challenges we may have this season: A busy schedule of meets in January will present its challenges for the girls, who will have to recover quickly in order to keep dropping time in their events.Biggest games to watch this season: : Dec. 11, Jan. 22 and Jan. 24 against rival team Warrensburg. Independent League Champion-ship Feb. 7-8Head coach’s comments: This season will be a big one for our seniors – there are six this year who have swam for a number of years, including Hannah Baggenstoss, Courtney Bomberger, Madison Hurd, Kailey Huston, Courtney Lemmer and Taylor Spencer. The girls are working hard and looking to set many per-sonal best times this season. Spencer is aiming to have another great performance at the state meet this year.

HARRISONVILLE GIRLS’ SWIMMING

Head Coach: Brett Burchett, fourth yearAssistant Coaches: Adam MarkleyLast year’s record and season finish: 11-15, Finished sixth in the WEMO conference.Projected starters: Senior 6’5” post Christian Cromer, junior 6’2” wing Peyton Semsch, junior 6’3” post Mason Irvin, senior 6’3” wing Chris Bynum, sophomore 6’0” guard Tyler Wright and sophomore 6’2” guard Clay Dahman. All will be competing for starting positions.Key Newcomers: Bynum, Dahman, Wright, along with junior 6’3” post Sean Defeo and junior 5’9” guard Nate Fisher will be stepping up from the junior varsity team last year to play key roles for the varsity team this year. Challenges we may have this season: Replacing our backcourt from last year’s team. We graduated two guards off and we lost what would have been our starting point guard senior Dylan Wise to an injury that occurred during football. We have to have some younger guys step up to fill their shoes. Biggest games to watch this season: Every game is important but the conference games seem to mean a little bit more with the rivalry aspects. The WEMO, Archie, and our own Midway tournament are always tough competition. Head coach’s comments: We have a solid group of kids with a good attitude that will play hard every night. We have good size with good depth in the front court. We return our leading scorer and rebounder in Peyton Semsch. I think we will be a strong, physical team that will rebound well. If we can develop our back court players and take care of the ball, we should be a very competitive team.

MIDWAY BOYS’ BASKETBALL

Head Coach: Chad Dean, 11 yearsAssistant Coaches: Mary CromerLast year’s record and season finish: We finished 17-10 and finished third in the WEMO Conference behind Archie and Rich Hill.Projected starters: Senior point guard Cady Wright, senior forward Kathleen Yoakum, senior post Kateri Yoakum, junior guard Jodi Rhodes and sopho-more post Lanie Mills.Key Newcomers: Sophomore guard Emily Aksamit and sophomore post Mariah Keeney.Challenges we may have this season: One thing we seem to struggle with is staying consistent. We need to be able to show up and give our best ef-fort every time we step on the floor. With our experience on the court and senior leadership, I look for us to fix that this season.Biggest games to watch this season: I feel that Archie and Rich Hill are the teams to beat in the WEMO this season so we would love to show up and have a good game on those nights. Both are on the road so we will have to play well.Head coach’s comments: We are very excited about this season. We have a great group of seniors leading the team. Kathleen Yoakum and Cady Wright are without a doubt two of the best, if not the best, guards in the conference. We are getting senior Kateri Yoakum back inside after losing her to shoulder surgery last season. We also have a strong sophomore group that saw lots of court time last season that will contribute as well. We should be able to get up and down the floor well and with only losing one starter from last season to graduation, we should be able to pick-up where we left of last season. We had some real success this summer and several players stepped up and played well. It should be a fun year for Midway girls’ basketball.

MIDWAY GIRLS’ BASKETBALL

MIDWAY VIKINGS

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PLEASANT HILL ROOSTERS

Head Coach: Ryan Messinger, seventh yearAssistant Coaches: Wayne Van Dine, Kyle Reeves and Dustin Mounce.Last year’s record and season finish: 17-9, 7-3 in MRVC West conference for second place.Projected starters: Senior forward Brad Smith, senior guard Dillan Findley, senior guard Matt Townsend, senior guard Nick Shore and junior guard Josh Shewmaker.Key Newcomers: Senior forward Christian Martin, senior forward Brandon Uebele, junior forward Austin Yount, sophomore guard Justin Orpin and sophomore forward Trent Gilbert.Challenges we may have this season: Our biggest challenge is going to be rebounding on both ends, our guards are going to have to do a great job at blocking out. The guards will have to play bigger than they are and really scrap and give us a few extra opportunities on the offensive boards as well. Also the development of our first year varsity players will be key to our depth.Biggest games to watch this season: Nov. 27 vs. Smithville, Dec. 26-29 at the William Jewell Holiday Tournament, Jan. 7-12 Pleasant Hill Invitational, Feb. 1 at Harrisonville and Feb. 22 vs. Harrisonville.Head coach’s comments: We are excited about our team. We have a good mix of talented and versatile guards and our fourth year starter, forward Brad Smith. Brad is already the all-time leading rebounder at Pleasant Hill High School and has 992 career points. Josh Shewmaker is our other re-turning starter and had a very solid sophomore season, being named sec-ond team all-conference. We also have five other seniors, Matt Townsend, Nick Shore, Christian Martin, Dillan Findley and Brandon Uebele, playing big roles this year; they all have been solid players in our program through-out their careers. The development of some of our sophomores will really help our depth and improvement throughout the season. We know that our conference seems to get stronger every year and our schedule will be very challenging but we are looking forward to competing every night.

PLEASANT HILL BOYS’ BASKETBALL

Head Coach: Jim Underwood, fourth yearAssistant Coaches: Matt Klein and Wes Thompson.Last year’s record and season finish: 25-4,10-0 in MRVC West conference, fifth in state.Projected starters: Seniors Kindred Wesemann and Mallory Miller; juniors Kristin Orpin, Emily McKee and Heather Hughes; sophomores Kai Wese-mann, Rachel Schick, Courtney Fountain, Sarah Hoke, Susanna Goodell-Fields, Olivia Woodruff, Kaylene Bramwell and Bailey Fidler.Challenges we may have this season: We will be young and our schedule is as tough as any Class 4 public school. We will have to accept that we may take some lumps, but that it will help us later. We are going to “Eat the Frog” early and benefit later hopefully.Biggest games to watch this season: We have been invited to play in the Norm Stewart Challenge Dec. 1 in Columbia where we will face Helias. We are competing in the Blue Springs/Blue Springs South Tournament in December as well. We play at Blue Springs on Feb 2, 2013. We face Har-risonville at the end of January and as our last game in February.Head coach’s comments: We are young and I think we are talented, but talent will not win games. We hope to be much tougher at the end of the year and compete for our conference title. Then, if we are lucky, play in some big games in districts and beyond.

PLEASANT HILL GIRLS’ BASKETBALL


Head Coach: Jeff Wyatt, third yearAssistant Coaches: Ryan Bird, George Creason, Tom Gasper and Steve Leslie.Last year’s record and season finish: 4-5 dual record, 0-5 MRVC West Conference, ninth place; Tully Byrne, Class 2 state champion at heavyweight, Brigham West, Class 2 fifth place at 152.Projected starters: 106 – freshman Kaler Selvin; 113 – junior Brandon Bray, 120 – freshman Cole Baker, 126 – freshman Olen Brattin, 132 – freshman Cole Sul-livan, 138 – junior Dylan Lewis, 145 – junior Brady Franklin, 160 – sophomore Kolin Rogers, 170 – senior Jacob Randle or junior Jesse Powell, 182 – junior Kace Beattie or junior Zach Neary, 195 – junior Cole Reeves, 220 – senior Devin Richey, heavy-weight – senior Josh Lukenbill or junior Pete Taala.Key Newcomers: Freshmen Olen Brattin and Cole Sullivan will challenge for a varsity spot. Junior Delainey Taala was injured most of last season, but if healthy will chal-lenge for a varsity spotChallenges we may have this season: Our challenge this year will be in our schedule. I can’t imagine too many Class 2 schools that wrestle the level of competition that we do. We wrestle against at least six Class 4 schools and at least that many Class 3 schools. We will wrestle Blue Springs who is nationally ranked 32nd, Staley, Lee’s Summit West, Fort Osage and Liberty the second weekend in December. We have strengthened our schedule by adding the Kearney Duals. We won’t have any wres-tler that has not been battle tested by districts and state and that is the way I want it. Biggest games to watch this season: Steve Leslie Invitational, Staley Duals, Harrison-ville Invitational, MRVC Tournament, Kearney Duals, Odessa Tournament, districts and state.Head coach’s comments: Expectations are high after a good off-season where many Rooster wrestlers competed in freestyle/Greco tournaments and went to team camp. The senior class is small so we will see quite a few juniors and freshmen in the line-up. Our numbers are good with over 40 guys out for the high school team and almost 40 in middle school. The load of the experience falls to the junior class and they are hungry to step up. Despite losing all of our state tournament points to graduation, this year’s team will be more competitive top to bottom. We will move up the ladder in the MRVC this year. We are stronger and will wrestle in better position. This year’s team will be more competitive and will be competing at a higher level.

PLEASANT HILL WRESTLING

Head Coach: Mike Baker, third yearAssistant Coaches: Ryan RectorLast year’s record and season finish: 20-6, second place in conference, sec-ond place in districts.Projected starters: Freshman guard Jon Miles, senior guard Brett Eddle-man, senior guard Cody Wade, junior forward Zach Matson and sopho-more forward Brandon Lindsey.Key Newcomers: Senior guard EJ Wilson, senior forward Kaleb Wieden-mann, junior guard Tyler Sorrell, freshman guard Jon Miles and senior forward Austin Atkin.Challenges we may have this season: We lost five seniors from last years 20-6 team. We have a lot of new faces and the challenge will be developing chemistry and defining roles early in the season with the newcomers we have.Biggest games to watch this season: I think the next game we play will be the biggest games to watch this season. Every game will be big for us.Head coach’s comments: We will face new challenges this year. We are coming off a 20-6 campaign and we lost five seniors. We lost our point guard, our leading scorer and several key players off the bench who were essential to last year’s success. We do bring back two three-year starters in returning all-conference and all-district players Cody Wade and Brett Eddleman. We bring back two players who started at one time or another in Zach Matson and Brandon Lindsey. We have toughened our schedule up a bit this year in adding the Sacred Heart Tournament where we will see two class four teams in Grain Valley and Marshall. We are also in the always tough Harrisonville Tournament with several bigger schools. We also added Osceola, Skyline and Windsor to our schedule. Combine those additions to the always tough Crossroads Conference schedule and we will have to be playing well at all times. Our success with this schedule depends on how well our old faces, combine with our new faces and how quickly they develop chemistry and unity.

SHERWOOD BOYS’ BASKETBALL

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Head Coach: Jesse Richardson, second yearAssistant Coaches: Liane Hager Last year’s record and season finish: 18-7, lost in second round of dis-tricts and Britney Atkin named all-district.Projected starters: Senior shooting guard Courtney Hall senior point guard Kristen Searcy, senior power forward Kristen Gibbs, senior power forward Britney Atkin, sophomore shooting guard Kirsten Smith and junior power forward Whitney Winter.Key Newcomers: Freshman shooting guard Kaylee Adams, freshman point guard Brecklyn Mainard and senior point guard Ashley Hay-worth.Challenges we may have this season: The biggest challenge we will have is staying focused during a long season. This is something that we stress everyday, we have a great group and they have bought into the system. All they have to do is stick together. “Team family.”Biggest games to watch this season: El Dorado Springs Nov. 20, Butler Feb. 2, Harrisonville Holiday Tournament.Head coach’s comments: I have a group of girls that plays great togeth-er freshman year and up. Their chemistry is great and they have all bought in! They know that this season is a long season and there will be ups and downs; that will be the deciding factor on us this year how we handle those situations. We have a much more difficult schedule this year and the girls know that. We all look forward to this year.

SHERWOOD GIRLS’ BASKETBALLHead Coach: Jim Gurney, 11th year Last year’s record and season finish: No returning qualifiersKey Newcomers: Hunter Davis (145), Dalton Bush (106), Alex Vestal (152), Landon Howard (220) and Isaac Miller (160).Challenges we may have this season: Like most years, we have several young, inexperienced wrestlers. They have great poten-tial, but will have to work very hard to catch up with their more experienced opponents.Biggest games to watch this season: Adrian and Butler are always great rivals for us. They are both solid programs, and it is our goal to compete with, and hopefully beat, one or both of them.Head coach’s comments: So far, things are going really well. Our numbers are up from last year. We currently have 19 kids on our roster. There are several weight classes where the wrestle-offs should be very competitive. We have a good returning core of wrestlers and I feel like the new ones to our roster should fit in nicely and complement them very well. It will be nice to have a nearly full line up this year. I’m as excited about this year as I have been in quite some time!

SHERWOOD WRESTLING

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