Lawrence High School students representing their winter sports from left are, diver Izaiah Bowie, sr., girls basketball senior Alexis Boyd, senior wrestler Alan Clothier and senior boys basketball player Justin Roberts.

As the temperature drops outside, the calendar moves only closer to the start of the winter sports season at Lawrence High.

Some teams return plenty of familiar faces who helped their teams to success last season, and others are hoping newcomers can adjust to the varsity level.

Here is a look at all of the Lions’ winter sports programs:

Boys basketball

After earning a spot in the Class 6A state championship game last year, Lawrence High’s boys basketball team will feature a new look this season.

Three starters from last year’s team are gone after helping the Lions to a 23-2 record and a Sunflower League title. But the Lions will return first-team All-Sunflower League point guard Justin Roberts and senior center Price Morgan. Senior guard Anthony Harvey, senior forward Fred Brou, junior forward Kobe Buffalomeat and junior guard Jackson Mallory also return from last year’s varsity rotation.

Roberts, who tore a ligament in his knee in April, was cleared for play before the team’s first day of tryouts last week.

“We should be able to lean on our seniors, but we like the attitude and work ethic of our entire team,” seventh-year coach Mike Lewis said.

With Morgan, Brou and Buffalomeat, Lewis said the Lions could play a little bigger than they have in previous seasons.

LHS opens the season with five straight road games, starting at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 4 at Emporia.

Girls basketball

After learning how to play under a new coach in a new system last season, Lawrence’s girls basketball team hopes to make big strides this winter.

“We will be super young and we play in the toughest league in the state,” second-year coach Jeff Dickson said. “We have to replace the dynamic leadership of (graduated senior) Marissa Pope and those are huge shoes to fill, but we have multiple kids stepping up to each take a bit of that load.”

The Lions, who finished with a 7-14 record last year, return seniors Alexis Boyd, Emma Bentzinger and Gracie Reinsch, juniors Skylar Drum and Olivia Lemus, and sophomores E’lease Stafford, Asia Goodwin and Talima Harjo.

Freshmen Chisom Ajekwu and Hannah Stewart are also expected to contribute valuable minutes this season.

The Lions will travel to Emporia in their season-opener at 6 p.m. on Dec. 4.

Boys swimming

Lawrence’s boys swimming and diving team returns nearly every swimmer who helped the Lions finish fifth in the Sunflower League and 11th at state last season.

The Lions will be led by Stephen Johnson, Alex Heckman, Isaac Springe, Chase Odgers, Patrick Oblon, Jack Ryan and Matt Ramaley, along with diver Izaiah Bowie. Johnson took second at state in the 500 freestyle last season and sixth in the 200 freestyle.

“We only lost one scorer from league and state last year,” 10th-year coach Kent McDonald said. “We have a lot of swimmers with experience who are swimming better now than last year.”

The Lions will be without any experienced first-year swimmers this season, but McDonald said he hoped diver Anton Martinez de Velasco and swimmer Garrett Prescott can help the Lions.

“The new guys we have will need to pick up swimming technique and get into shape quickly if they are going to have an impact this season,” McDonald said.

The Lions will begin the season in the Free State quadrangular at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Wrestling

Last year, Lawrence High’s wrestling team featured a varsity lineup full of underclassmen who were learning how to wrestle at the varsity level.

Now a year older, the Lions are hoping all of that experience from last season will pay off. Some of the top returners include Ja’Relle Dye, Tucker Wilson, Santino Gee, Jay Cheatham, Cade Burghart, Kevin Nichols and Alan Clothier.

At 182 pounds, Clothier is ranked as the top wrestler in his weight class this preseason by the Kansas Wrestling Coaches Association. He took third place at state last year, posting a 42-1 record.

Wilson enters the season ranked No. 4 at 160 pounds.

“I’m really excited for this year,” coach Pat Naughton said. “We were so young last year that it was all just brand new experiences. Now we have a little bit more fire underneath us and they want to do more. That’s the one thing that’s nice about it. They’re just eager to learn. Hopefully we’re going to build on that.”

LHS starts on Dec. 5 in the Leavenworth Tournament at 9 a.m.