|
by Lisa Henderson
Have you ever wondered how athletes excel in multiple sports?
Trip Hiller, senior, knows just how that feels as he transitions from the football field to the wrestling mat.
While wrestling is his favorite sport, he finds playing football easier, Hiller said.
“Wrestling is harder because the match is six minutes of intensity while in football there are breaks between the action,” he said.
Hiller believes the hardest part about transitioning from football to wrestling is losing the extra weight.
He does this by running more at the end of football season.
The running also helps to build his endurance.
Marquis Addison, senior, and Chris Wright, sophomore, also participate in multiple sports at school.
Addison thinks the toughest part of transitioning is the differences in the kind of athleticism needed for football and basketball.
“The physicality between the sports differs. In football, you have to get off the line quickly but basketball requires more endurance and fluidity.”
Wright plays football, baseball and wrestling. Like Addison, he also agrees the physical aspect is different for each sport.
“Being in shape for one sport does not make you in shape for another,” Wright said.
Amanda Browning, senior, has just recently started bowling in addition to playing soccer.
She has found that transitioning between the two sports is not all that difficult for her because she plays and practices soccer year round, including during bowling season.
“Bowling doesn’t require as much athletic ability as soccer does; it’s more of a strategic sport,” she said.
Excelling in multiple sports requires a lot of hard work as well as natural athletic ability. All of the athletes plan to
continue playing at least one of their sports in the future. Next year, Addison will play basketball at Missouri Southern, Hiller will wrestle for the Naval Academy, and Browning will play soccer at Marysville University.
by Colin Karr
7,358,400 minutes. That is the amount of time that Taryn Huibsch, senior, has competed as a gymnast for McKracken’s Gymnastics.
Huibsch has been competing ever since she was 3 years old because her parents first put her in the sport.
At first, gymnastics was just something for Huibsch to do when she was little, but as she grew up with it, it became a passion that she’s been involved in ever since.
Today, Huibsch has been to the National Judges Cup competition and six times to the regional competition for USA Gymnastics Region 3.
This year, Huibsch scored in the top 10 at the USA Gymnastics regional for Region 3, which earned her a spot in the National Invitational Tournament May 8-9 in Dallas, Texas. Huibsch will be competing in the vault, bars, beam and floor events.
Huibsch has certainly been able to push ahead with gusto, despite numerous injuries that she has suffered due to gymnastics.
She has broken both ankles twice, torn one ankle tendon, broken a foot, and her wrists, and this year, she even had major surgery on her arm.
Despite all these injuries and surgeries, Huibsch keeps pushing through.
When asked what motivates her to keep going, she simply replied, “I just love the sport.”
Huibsch’s future plans for her life include going to California State University where she will continue to compete in gymnastics.
by Brad Schultz
Because the teams which finish worst in the NFL season get to draft highest the next season, the teams who finish with bad seasons normally do not stay bad for long.
However, this is not the case with the Chiefs. Since 2005, the Chiefs have made the playoffs just once and drafted
in the top-5 for three consecutive years.
In the 2008 draft, they drafted defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey from LSU, who looks to be just like Ryan Sims, another DT the Chiefs drafted No. 6. Sims played five years for the Chiefs and finished with 54 tackles and five sacks.
Dorsey, in his two full years, has recorded just two sacks, despite the fact that he changed to defensive end, a position that gets more opportunities for sacks.
Tyson Jackson, another defensive lineman from LSU, was the Chiefs No. 3 pick in the 2009 draft. Jackson finished his rookie season with a whopping 38 tackles and zero sacks.
To make matters worse, Brian Orakpo, another defensive end, was drafted after Jackson and had 50 tackles and 11 sacks. Brian Cushing, who was taken 12 spots after Jackson, won the defensive rookie of the year after getting 145 tackles, four sacks and four interceptions.
The lack of quality players drafted by the Chiefs is the solely reason that they continually finish amongst the bottom-feeders of the league.
However, in the 2010 draft, the Chiefs took safety Eric Berry, whom most experts call the most pro-ready prospect in the entire draft. Plus, the last defensive back they drafted out of Tennessee was Jerome Woods, who was extremely successful on the field. The selection of Berry can only help the Chiefs maligned defense.
by Kara Tompkins
“Boys golf is not the tightest knit team,” according to John Ink, junior and varsity player.
However the team took fourth place in the May 3 Shawnee Mission East tournament.
The next tournament is May 12 at Lawrence High School at 8 a.m..
The team has fun at practice but is not necessarily the best of friends just because of the wide variety of guys on the team.
“I am third or fourth man and am always competing with John Ink, Luke Hougland, Tyler Ray and Jared Hynek for a higher place,” John Plankers, junior and varsity player, said
Senior, Tyler Kopatich, varsity player, is the number one golfer. Both Ink and Plankers say, “He deserves it because he works hard and is very good.”
The junior varsity team and varsity teams are both made up of six players each.
For the two months that the season lasts, the boys practice almost every day, whether it be on their own or with the team.
“We pretty much practice at least five or six days a week, so we get a lot better throughout the whole season,” Ink said.
In addition to golfing with the team, most players golf with their families on the weekends as well.
“Sometimes I go out and play 18 [holes] with my dad over the weekend,” Plankers said.
Ink said that he enjoys golfing so much because he knows that he can play it for a long time into the future.
by Tess Hart
The softball team is headed for regionals with a 15-4 record and their eyes on a bid to the state tournament.
This year’s group of girls is full of powerful bats and young pitching. They did something no one else has done: they broke Olathe Northwest’s, last year’s state champions, 39-game winning streak. With a strong pitching performance by Kahli Barrett, sophomore and a solid defense with no errors in the game, the Falcons won against the Ravens 2-0.
“Our biggest strength as a team is our defense. On are our base running and getting our hits all together in a rally, instead of them being spread randomly throughout the game,” Katie Henning, senior, said.
Last season, the team won their regionals and advanced to state, where they lost their first game against Washburn Rural. This year’s state tournament will be held at the University or Kansas’s Arocha ballpark.
“In regionals I expect us to play well as a team like we did against Northwest and make it through to state,” Alex Hugo, sophomore, said.
This year’s team has four seniors: Henning, catcher; Lauren Dorsey, first base; Bre McCraken, second base; and Amy Allen, shortstop. They have been a huge part of the success this team has had. Henning and Dorsey are consistent in the lineup while Allen and McCraken back up the pitcher, filling the middle infield on defense.
Hugo has been the lead off batter all season and has been a factor in the team’s spirit. Emily Vance, junior, has also been a leader for the team at third base, almost always contributing with a hit when needed.
“The team has done so many things past years have failed to do. They have really grown together this year and should be strong competition in regionals,” Mike Allen, head varsity coach, said.
|
