In the final standings of the World Company Cup, Free State defeated Lawrence High, 17-10, to retain the Cup for a third straight year.

Yet, in two of the city’s most high-profile sports – basketball and baseball – it was the Lions who got the last laugh.

What gives?

The answer is rather easy to come by if you talk to athletes and coaches at LHS.

“We don’t care about the regular season,” they say. “We don’t hang banners for the World Company Cup. We hang them for state titles. When the postseason rolls around, that’s when Lions step up.”

It sounds so simple; too simple, in fact. But it might be true.

Year after year, LHS prides itself on its rich tradition. Everyone knows about the LHS football dominance of the past, but people might not know how dominant the Lions have been in other sports, too. Volleyball often was ranked nationally, swimming enjoyed several seasons as a state powerhouse and track has done more than its share of damage, as well, winning seven team titles and 89 individual state titles in school history.

This column isn’t meant to be an all-out praise of Lawrence High. In its 11 seasons, Free State has seen similar success and has set the bar extremely high. By the time the Firebirds program has been around for several decades, it, too, should boast an impressive resume and deep tradition.

But for now the tradition lies near 19th and Louisiana. And it’s that tradition that allows LHS teams to produce the way boys basketball and baseball did this season.

“It’s the expectation from all those guys who came before us that we play for,” said LHS senior pitcher Tom Schuh last week at state. “We hear about it all the time, and it really becomes a part of you. We’re not playing for ourselves out here, we’re playing for the Lawrence High family and tradition.”

It might not be the right way for everyone, but tell me who you’d rather be: the Lawrence High baseball team, which finished 12-11 yet advanced to the state semifinals, or Olathe East, which finished 17-4 but lost in the first round of regionals and never even got the chance to play for a state title?

The Lawrence High basketball team that overcame a rough regular season, got hot at the right time and played in the state championship game, or the Leavenworth Pioneers, who finished 17-5 but lost to Lawrence in the first round of sub-state and never bounced a ball in the state tournament?

The choice seems pretty obvious to me.