It’s the state track meet at Cessna Stadium, so I’m trying to video as many area winners as I can.

Good luck to all those competing.

Carroll’s Gage Garcia

Heights’ Jet Moreland

The infield during the state track meet.

Cheney’s Hunter Veith wins the Class 3A long jump

Hillsboro’s Tyler Proffitt won the Class 3A pole vault

Longtime track announcer Don Steffens is Joanna Chadwick’s guest on VarsityKansas’s Big Show, the last one of the season.

Northwest softball coach Merri Copeland joins Joanna Chadwick on the Big Show.

Southeast athletic director and track coach Mark Lamb joins Joanna Chadwick on the Big Show.

The season is winding down. Can you believe it?

So tell me, what stories have we  missed? Fill me via e-mail at jchadwick@wichitaeagle.com.

The rankings for this week, courtesy of the coaches association are below.

Overall

1. Olathe East, 2. Blue Valley, 3. SM East, 4. Aquinas, 5. BV North, 6. BV Northwest, 7. Olathe South, 8. Washburn Rural, 9. Maize, 10. SM West

Class 6A

1. Olathe East, 2. Blue Valley, 3. SM East, 4. BV North, 5. BV Northwest

Class 5A

1. Aquinas, 2. BV Southwest, 3. Mill Valley, 4. Kapaun, 5. SM South

Class 4-1A

1. Hayden, 2. Spring Hill, 3. Trinity, 4. Winfield, 5. Piper

Northeast

Class 6A

1. Olathe East, 2. Blue Valley, 3. SM East, 4. BV North, 5. BV Northwest

Class 5A

1. Aquinas, 2. BV Southwest, 3. Mill Valley, 4. SM South, 5. St. James

Class 4-1A

1. Spring Hill, 2. Piper, 3. DeSoto, 4. Bonner Springs, 5. Tonganoxie

Southwest

Class 6A

1. Maize, 2. Heights, 3. East, 4. Hutchinson, 5. Northwest

Class 5A

1. Kapaun , 2. Valley Center, 3. Carroll, 4. Andover Central, 5. Eisenhower

Class 4-1A

1. Hayden, 2. Trinity, 3. Winfield, 4. Buhler, 5. McPherson

Central

Class 6A

1. Washburn Rural, 2. Free State, 3. Junction City, 4. Manhattan, 5. Olathe Northwest

There are regionals still scheduled for today due to the rain last week, but state is this weekend.

Any stories, athletes, teams we should be focused on this week?

The final tennis rankings of the season, courtesy of the coaches association, are below.

]]> http://blogs.varsitykansas.com/blog/2013/05/06/final-2013-boys-tennis-rankings-5-6/feed/ 0 http://blogs.varsitykansas.com/blog/2013/04/28/2013-girls-soccer-rankings-4-28/ http://blogs.varsitykansas.com/blog/2013/04/28/2013-girls-soccer-rankings-4-28/#comments Sun, 28 Apr 2013 23:39:31 +0000 Joanna http://blogs.varsitykansas.com/?p=17230 By Joanna Chadwick

The girls soccer rankings are out, courtesy of the coaches association.

The end of the season is coming quickly, and I’m curious about your evaluations of the athletes you have seen. Who sticks out? On defense? In goal? At midfield? At forward?

Overall

1. Olathe East, 2. Blue Valley, 3. SM East, 4. Aquinas, 5. BV North, 6. BV Northwest, 7. Carroll, 8. Olathe South, 9. SM West, 10. Washburn Rural

Class 6A

1. Olathe East, 2. Blue Valley, 3. SM East, 4. BV North, 5. BV Northwest

Class 5A

1. Aquinas, 2. Carroll, 3. BV Southwest, 4. Mill Valley, 5. SM South

Class 4-1A

1. Hayden, 2. Spring Hill, 3. Trinity, 4. Winfield, 5. DeSoto

Northeast

Class 6A

1. Olathe East, 2. Blue Valley, 3. SM East, 4. BV North, 5. BV Northwest

Class 5A

1. Aquinas, 2. BV Southwest, 3. Mill Valley, 4. SM South, 5. St. James

Class 4-1A

1. Spring  Hill, 2. DeSoto, 3. Piper, 4. Bonner Springs, 5. Tonganoxie

Southwest

Class 6A

1. Maize, 2. East, 3. Heights, 4. Hutchinson, 5. Derby

Class 5A

1. Carroll, 2. Kapaun, 3. Valley Center, 4. Andover Central, 5. Goddard

Class 4-1A

1. Hayden, 2. Trinity, 3. Winfield, 4. Buhler, 5. McPherson

Central

Class 6A

1. Washburn Rural, 2. Junction City, 3. Free State, 4. Manhattan, 5. Olathe Northwest

This week’s soccer rankings are out, courtesy of the coaches association.

If you missed soccer notes from last week, check them out via VarsityKansas.com and The Wichita Eagle.

All Classes

1. Olathe East, 2. Blue Valley, 3. St. Thomas Aquinas, 4. SM East, 5. BV North, 6. BV Northwest, 7. Carroll, 8. Olathe South, 9. SM West, 10. Washburn Rural

Class 6A

1. Olathe East, 2. Blue Valley, 3. SM East, 4. BV North, 5. BV Northwest

5A

1. Aquinas, 2. Carroll, 3. BV Southwest, 4. Mill Valley, 5. Kapaun

4A

1. Hayden, 2. Spring Hill, 3. Winfield, 4. Trinity, 5. DeSoto

Northeast

Class 6A
1. Olathe East, 2. Blue Valley, 3. SM East, 4. BV North, 5. BV Northwest

Class 5A

1. Aquinas, 2. BV Southwest, 3. Mill Valley, 4. St. James, 5. Miege

Class 4-1A

1. Spring Hill, 2. DeSoto, 3. KC Piper, 4. Bonner Springs, 5. Tonganoxie

Southwest

Class 6A

1. Maize, 2. East, 3. Heights, 4. Hutchinson, 5. Derby

Class 5A

1. Carroll, 2. Kapaun, 3. Valley Center, 4. Andover Central, 5. Goddard

Class 4-1A

1. Hayden, 2. Trinity, 3. Winfield, 4. Buhler, 5. McPherson

Central

Class 6A

1. Washburn Rural, 2. Free State, 3. Junction City, 4. Manhattan, 5. Olathe Northwest

This week’s boys tennis rankings are out, courtesy of the coaches association.

Check out the story on the Collegiate tennis tournament, via VarsityKansas.com and the Wichita Eagle. http://www.varsitykansas.com/2013/04/20/48626/hayden-brothers-battle-in-singles.html

If you missed it, check out my story on Independent’s Jake Norman.

Who has been a surprise for you this season?

]]> http://blogs.varsitykansas.com/blog/2013/04/22/2013-boys-tennis-rankings-4-22/feed/ 0 http://blogs.varsitykansas.com/blog/2013/04/16/south-hires-chuck-gunter-as-its-boys-basketball-coach/ http://blogs.varsitykansas.com/blog/2013/04/16/south-hires-chuck-gunter-as-its-boys-basketball-coach/#comments Tue, 16 Apr 2013 18:04:25 +0000 Joanna http://blogs.varsitykansas.com/?p=17219 By Joanna Chadwick

South has hired Chuck Gunter as its boys basketball coach. He replaces Kendall Hope, who resigned after one season. The Titans were 2-19 under Hope.

“I’m glad to get the opportunity to coach high school ball,” said Gunter, 35. “I’ve been coaching AAU ball for a while, and I want to make the most of this opportunity and try to help these young men become ready for college.”

Gunter, who has coached AAU for 14 years and is a 1996 Southeast grad, takes over a program that has had little stability. He is South’s eighth coach in nine seasons. The last time South, which has won 15 games in the last five seasons, had a winning record was under Deon Allen in 2007-08 when the Titans went 15-7.

“The best thing I can do is pray to God that everything will work out and turn the program around, step by step,” Gunter said. “I want to try to get some stabilization with the kids, get them to think of each other as friends and not as enemies with each other. I think they kind of competed on the court instead of competing for each other.”

Gunter, who is a security guard at Sowers Middle School, was named as a likely assistant coach to new West coach Carl Taylor, but then he was hired at South. Gunter also was on the staff of Chris Brown, who was hired in the spring of 2012 but then let go later that summer.

South last went to state in 1999-2000 in coach Chris Davis’ second season. He coached South for eight seasons and was 55-96. Then Deon Allen was there for 2 years, 22-22. Ty White one year, 3-18; Steve Lilly 1 year, 2-19, Demarcco Owens 2 years, 8-34. Brown was hired after Owens was let go in the spring of 2012..