Lawrence High senior Skylar Drum (18) protects the ball from Shawnee Mission North's Madison Koller (13) on Tuesday, May 9, 2017 at LHS.

The University of Central Missouri, an NCAA Div. II school that competes in the MIAA, fields eight women’s teams and seven men’s squads.

I reviewed the rosters of all 15 teams and found they have one thing in common: Not a single athlete from Lawrence, just 90 miles west of Warrensburg, Mo.

Next season, Central Missouri will have two athletes from Lawrence who are in the final stages of terrific careers. Lawrence High senior Skylar Drum scored 17 goals for the Lions girls soccer team last season, has 15 this year and is coming off back-to-back hat tricks, a rare feat in any league.

Michael Sinks, former LHS baseball player, is wrapping up his second season at Barton County Community College. He recently broke the school record for doubles, then for hits, setting the record, fittingly enough, on a double. Shortly after that, Sinks was named Barton County’s male athlete of the year.

Lawrence High's Michael Sinks takes a swing against Leavenworth on Thursday April 30, 2015, at LHS.

A leadoff hitter and second baseman, Sinks is batting .427 with 28 stolen bases with 74 runs and 57 RBIs in 58 games.

“We think she can be really, really, really good when it’s all said and done,” Central Missouri soccer coach Lewis Theobald said of Drum.

He must know talent when he sees it. An eight-time MIAA coach of the year, Theobald has coached the Jennies to a 172-27-18 record.

Theobald first saw Drum playing club soccer.

“We saw her play in the back and no one was getting past her,” Theobald said. “Every time we saw her play, people weren’t getting past her.”

Those precise words could just as accurately describe her playing basketball. Theobald recruited Drum to play forward.

“Certain players have a natural instinct for putting the ball in the net,” Theobald said. “She has it. A lot. Sometimes you can spend a lot of time with an athlete trying to teach that and if they don’t have that instinct, it never comes.”

Central Missouri baseball coach Kyle Crooks, also reached by phone, called Theobald, “the greatest recruiter in the history of women’s soccer.”

Unlike Theobald, Crooks has recruited several baseball players from Lawrence. Crooks also obviously knows how to judge talent. The Mules have gone 105-53 in his three seasons at the helm.

“We’re incredibly excited to have Michael,” Crookes said. “We knew him out of high school and have followed him pretty closely. We’re excited to see him play every day and perform the way he’s performing.”

It will be interesting to track the careers of two Lions, one a Mule, the other a Jenny, in Warrensburg.