Varsity Kansas - The Blog

by joanna

I went to the City League track meet (purely as a spectator), where did you go? I want updates, people. I’m not in the office, so I don’t know what happened at the AV-CTL Division I meet or any other track meets. I don’t know who won the Maize-Northwest baseball or softball game. Tell me!

I was at the CL track meet for about two hours, watching only the prelims. I was hanging with my three boys, getting some water at the concession stand when a woman said, “So you’re not being a sportswriter, but you’re watching kids?” I know she was just looking to start a conversation. Really, I do. But I do have another job — it’s actually my main job — as a mom. So I wasn’t watching kids, I was being a mom.

Anyway, I love to watch track meets. They’re so laid back, there’s always action and the athletes are in the stands. Where else does that happen? And the coaches are laid back, too. I always tease Southeast boys coach Carl Taylor about the fact that he doesn’t smile much during basketball season — I tease because I can and it’s fun and he gets annoyed with me (hee, hee) — anyway, at track, he’s just out there chillin’, eating his burger and talking.

Saw Steve Eck out at the track meet. He was there watching East’s Jawanza Poland in the hurdles. Poland is going to Cowley. Eck and I had a conversation - the longest we’ve ever had — and I find out he’s a reader of this blog. Of course the conversation turned to whether he recruited at South or not. Frankly, I’m bored with all this recruiting talk on this blog and around. Someone, anyone, prove it to me, talk to me on the record, don’t worry about burning bridges and talk to me about it. Give me a parent or a former athlete who will talk about it, then we can have a serious discussion about it. Anyway, it was nice seeing Eck there. I’m sure that I’ll see him a lot more during basketball season.

I watched the hurdles prelims and two girls took hard falls during their races, one from Heights, one from South. What impressed me so much was that not only did they get up and finish their races, they busted their tails and finished strong and were some of the top finishers. As I told my sons, those are tough kids whose whole goal is to succeed. Impressive.

Saw Southeast’s Keith Hayes run the hurdles for the first time. Wow, the guy is just so smooth and he looks like he’s jumping over those hurdles like I would jump over a piece of paper on the ground. He and Heights sprinter Audacia Moore just blew away their competition in the prelims. They’ve got skills. I know, I’m the first to see it.

As I was leaving, I talked to Carl Taylor, who just so happens to be one of my mom’s favorite coaches. My mom is hilarious because she could be watching a 9 year old team playing and not know a single kid on the team and still cheer and clap and get upset at a bad call. But she loves Taylor. I’m a big fan, too.

Here’s one reason why — he said he doesn’t read the blog (WHAT!) but had gone on to read what was on about “why athletes don’t qualify” or whatever I titled it. He said I shouldn’t have mentioned Adonis Gantt, because then it made it personal. On one level I disagree with him because I said with all the discussion of Gantt not qualifying, it was a good time to vett the issue. But I do agree with him that it put the spotlight on Gantt, in what I consider an innocent way because this is what we do in this business — we write about what is timely and show how it is timely. On the other hand, I think it’s a good conversation regardless of whether I mention a specific player — or timeliness.

On to where I wasn’t — I see that 6A tennis semis will be dominated by the KC area. Again. Goddard does have a doubles team in, though. 5A isn’t looking good for the area, either. Only a McPherson doubles team and Hutchinson doubles team are our closest area competitors still in it. 4A has Smoky Valley’s Chase Dippel, then there’s a Hesston, and Andover Central doubles teams.

3-2-1A is a different story. Ryan Norman, Independent will play Mitchell Kibbe, Conway  Springs and Collegiate and Conway Springs face each other in both doubles semifinals. Hello.

All right, enough about where I was and what I was interested in. Where were you? What did you do?

Were you cleaning for that graduation party or did you get out on this beautiful night and see some competition? Or are you sitting here right now like me and watching the NBA (I feel pitiful)

…is Florida bound. The Andover High Shot Put standout will be taking his act to Gainesville next season.

I don’t know much about track and field here in the state of Kansas, but I do know that if he’s going to the SEC he’s got to be pretty darn good.

So big ups to Mr. Postin. Hope you’ve got that “gator chomp” down.

by joanna

So regional Class 6A and 5A baseball and softball pairings come out on Saturday, as will soccer regionals.

I had a conversation with North assistant Randy Griffitts — a guy I’ve known for an awful long time, who was a correspondent for us, who was one of our favorites because he’d cover anything and do it well — anyway, we chatted about the possible way the 6A regional involving North baseball could pan out.

As it sits right now — with the best info I have — Goddard is 17-3, Maize is 16-3, Northwest is 15-4 (Maize and Northwest play tonight), Campus is 15-3 (plays a doubleheader with Junction City tonight), North 16-4, Heights 13-7, Derby 7-11, Dodge City 6-11, Garden City 6-12, East 6-13, South 4-13, Southeast 2-17.

OK, Goddard finished its season with a win over Carroll on Thursday, so it’s the No. 1 seed right now. So what happens if the rain hits tonight and no more games are played (regional seedings are Saturday morning)? We would be looking at Goddard as the 1 seed, Maize 2, Campus 3, North 4 and Northwest 5 (based on winning percentage because one less game)

What could really make things interesting is if Northwest beats Maize and Campus splits with Junction City. That would mean Northwest, Maize, Campus and North are all 16-4. Hello, coin flip for seeds 2 through 5.

I’m loving this! Drama, intrigue. Anyway. It’s an interesting way to end the season and will make for two good regionals next week.

by joanna

So I want to know, where will you be today and Saturday?

Will you head to the River Festival parade (will you buy a button)?

Or will you go to the Maize-Northwest softball game? Or the Maize-Northwest baseball game? Or the City League track meet at Heights or the AV-CTL Division I track meet at Goddard?

Me? I have no idea. I thought about checking out the track meet at Heights or the parade. I guess it depends on the weather. Trucking around three boys 5 and under, I have no intention of doing it in crappy conditions.

How about you? Is there somewhere else you’d rather be? Fill me in.

by joanna

It didn’t take Northwest long to find a replacement for boys basketball coach Eric Hofer-Holdeman, who resigned after the season. That’s probably because Northwest didn’t have to look too far.

Athletic director J. Means said this morning that assistant Chris Collins is the Grizzlies’ new coach.

I personally like the hire. Chris is a good guy — he used to work at The Eagle back in the day — and he seems to have a similar manner as Holdeman. Pretty laid back.

When I talked to J. Means, I asked him about a couple rumors that I want to put to rest now. The first is, Northwest girls coach Jerrod Handy didn’t apply for the job. Means said that he heard the rumor so much from interested coaches who were wondering if they should even apply, so he went to Handy to ask him if he was applying. Nope.

The second rumor is concerning Jerry Gerber, who didn’t apply for the job, either. Gerber, a longtime coach at Garden Plain, was Handy’s assistant this past season. When I heard the rumor he was applying, I didn’t believe it. I mean why would Gerber come back and be a head coach at a much larger school than he’d been at previously? It just didn’t make sense.

by joanna

Goddard soccer coach Scott Harder sent me this video below of a recent track clinic (April 29) at the high school that the girls soccer team and the track team put on for the Special Olympics athletes. He said they’re planning a volleyball clinic in the fall along with their usual soccer clinic.

It’s a nice video and, as Harder said, it’s nice to see high school athletes doing right. Here you go — special-olympics-spring-2008.wmv

by joanna

As we start to wrap up various sports — tennis is finished this weekend — it sure seems like the days and weeks are going by much faster.

I’ve been typing in area regional pairings for softball (Jonathan has baseball) and I was intrigued by this regional at Udall — Monday—Moundridge (15-5) vs. Oxford (12-3), time TBA. Tuesday—Semifinals: Moundridge-Oxford vs. Udall (17-1), 3 p.m.; Sterling (16-4) vs. Inman (18-2), 4:45. Championship at 6:30.

Yep, there’s not enough teams to have more than one semifinal game. Isn’t that crazy? Then I looked closer and look at those teams — 15-5, 12-3, 17-1, 16-4, 18-2. Oh. My. God. Talk about a loaded regional. I rank this one right up there with the one at Douglass, where Andover Central, Mulvane, Rose Hill and Clearwater all are at. Finals in that regional are Tuesday night.

Speaking of pairings, soccer pairings will be out on Saturday. We plan to run them on Sunday. Surprise, surprise — Maize will be a 1 seed. Shocking, I know.

And more on soccer — Goddard forward Whitney Berry is up to 38 goals on the season, with 10 assists. She’s more than a star. She’s a stud.

And even more on soccer — Anyone else surprised by the 5-0 victory that Kapaun had over Northwest last night? I’m not surprised by the win — I expected Kapaun to win — but 5-0? That’s a healthy margin.

And speaking of a healthy margin of victory — um, Northwest baseball 15, North 0. What the heck happened there? That’s a shellacking. So North clinches the City League title with a win over Heights, then gets thumped. OK, so the game was meaningless in the CL, it affects the regional pairings. Last week North was 15-1, but lost two to Goddard and now to Northwest. So North goes from a 1 seed to a 5 seed. Northwest is a potential 4 seed. Not a good situation.

And speaking of how fast this season has gone (anyone sick of my “speaking ofs” yet? I am. But I’m doing it to be annoying. Comment on that!) I think I’m done writing softball notes. Next week is regionals so we’ll have plenty of coverage of many teams to consider. I’m disappointed because I still haven’t written about Newton’s softball team or the fact that Carroll’s Stephanie Harshberger is going from  the school where her mom is the principal (talk about a tough life, there) to play at Newman where her dad is the coach.

And speaking of comments (I did up above), I’ve finally closed the Independent softball post to commenters. It was about to clse anyway, and frankly, it was getting old. Talk about rehashing and hashing and rehashing and hashing. Or something like that. Boy, talk about an innocent post turning into hatred and loyalty. Weird mix.

By the way, I loved CM Scott’s comment on Stan Pulliam’s funeral on “We’ve lost another coach” Very heartfelt.

State tennis is this weekend and I do believe that 3-2-1A will be the one to watch — although here in the Wichita area we have three sites to watch in Goddard (6A), Riverside (5A) and 3-2-1A (WSU). Don’t you just know the Kansas City folks are annoyed? These are three quality sites, though. Anyway, back to 3-2-1A, there are four teams with a shot to win it all — Claflin, Conway Springs, Collegiate and Independent, even though the Panthers only have a doubles team and a singles player, both could win titles.

I grew up playing baseball. Started at the age of five and played until I was 18. The team names and uniforms changed quite often for the most part, however one thing always stayed the same - high socks.

Basically everyone in our little league played with high socks. It wasn’t the law, but one of those things  that you just did.

I don’t know what happened, but now players wear their pants like jeans except without the sagging. Seriously, in all of the baseball games I’ve been the majority of the players have worn their pants down to their cleats. I didn’t even really notice it until I visited McPherson oops, I mean Mc-Phur-son  because as I was told a couple of times yesterday there is no fear in McPherson. Most of the Bullpups were rocking the uni’s the old skool way and it was a refreshing sight to see.

And while I’m talking about McPherson, head coach Gordon Peck looks like a skipper. Not a coach, not a manager, but he could be described simply as a skipper. Haven’t figured out it what it is. Don’t know if it’s because he looks like hes a seasoned vet over on the third base line or the way he carries himself. But it’s something.

by joanna

(updated May 7 from a reader — if they’re wrong or you have something new, add on!)

Just got an e-mail from a reader who was wondering about softball standings and records. We’d love to run softball standings, but we need to get them from coaches. It sounds easier than it is in reality to compile the standings — case in point, most of the coaches I talk to don’t know their records.

But this reader passed along a grouping of 6A records for baseball and softball (with winning percentage for postseason seeding purposes). Feel free to add any that you know of.

Baseball
Goddard 16-3, Maize 16-3, Campus 15-3, Northwest 15-3, North 15-4, Heights 13-7, Dodge City 6-10, Garden City 6-12, East 6-13, Derby 4-10, South 4-13, Southeast 2-16
Softball
Heights 17-2, Goddard 16-2, Northwest 16-2, Maize 13-3, Dodge City 10-6, South 8-6, Derby 7-9, Garden City 6-12, North 6-12, East 4-14, Campus 3-15, Southeast 0-18

by joanna

You’ve probably heard by now that Stan Pulliam, the former basketball coach of Campus and Valley Center, has died — here’s Jonathan’s story. His son, Kip, is the Heights girls coach. He was 65.

There’s been so many coaches and family members of coaches die recently — Hanston football coach Jerry Slaton, the father-in-law of Southeast athletic director and track coach Mark Lamb, the father of Collegiate tennis coach Dave Hawley, now Stan Pulliam.

Please accept my condolences to all who have lost a loved one.