Editor’s note: As the Lawrence fall sports seasons are ending, we’ll start to reflect on their seasons and possibly take a look at how they will look next year. Today we’ll tackle gymnastics, volleyball, girls golf and girls tennis. The breakdown for the cross country, boys soccer and football teams will come at the conclusion of the football seasons.

Free State High’s gymnastics team learned of the difficulties that come with trying to defend a state championship. But that didn’t stop the Firebirds from finding a way to win their second straight state title, and third championship in four years.

In the regular season, the Firebirds only won two meets, usually falling a few points behind Olathe East, who won the Sunflower League title.

“This year was a hard year, not placing above Olathe East yet since we competed against them,” FSHS and Lawrence High coach Brooke Kissinger said. “The girls worked so hard during those two weeks off (in between league and state) to gain that consistency that we needed and to pull it off was awesome.”

It was a banner finish for Free State seniors Grace Bartle, Carrie Howland and Haley Johnson, juniors Callie Hicks and Becca Moran, and sophomore Landon Prideaux.

For the seniors, Bartle repeated as champion on the floor and took fifth all-around, Johnson gave the team a huge lift on the beam (scoring a 9.075, placing 6th) and Howland was strong on the floor and vault.

Hicks, who was recruited by her teammates after not competing in gymnastics last year because of injuries, led the team throughout the year on the beam and bars. She competed in every event at state, and turned in key scores on the beam (8.75, 8th place), bars (9.025, 4th), and vault (9.2, 3rd).

“They definitely had a lot of teamwork today,” Kissinger said after they won state. “They knew that it was going to take the whole team to do it, and there’s a reason we have five girls on every event.”

Meanwhile, Lawrence High’s gymnastics team just never found its rhythm as a team. There were injuries at the beginning of the season, and the Lions fell short of qualifying for state as a team.

But there were still strong individual performances. Junior Ashley Ammann took eighth at state in the floor exercise and third at league. Jordyn Leon finished in the top-20 on the bars, while Heather Wisbey and Eliana Seidner both competed on the beam at state.

Next season, if the Firebirds have all of their non-seniors return, they’ll have Hicks, Moran and Prideaux from the varsity roster. They only had Morgan Rohe compete on the junior varsity at the LHS meets, so their chances at defending their title will take quite a hit.

The Lions lose two seniors — Wisbey and Elizabeth Harms — but otherwise have a bright future and should be able to make strides toward qualifying as a team at state next year.
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Free State’s volleyball team had plenty of ups and downs this season, but finished on a high note before losing in the sub-state finals to Olathe East, who wound up winning the Class 6A state championship.

The Firebirds started the year with a 4-8 record, then went 7-4 over the middle of the year, lost their next three matches — including a loss to Bishop Miege, which served as one of the low points of the season. Against Miege, they lost 25-7 in the third set and it led to a few players voicing their displeasure with how the season was going. Afterward, Free State had a 7-4 record to close the season.

“We need to give 110 percent effort all the time when we’re in practice,” Allie Knapp said after the loss to Miege. “When we’re on and off the court, we really need to be focused on this season and what is going on because we have, what, two weeks maybe or more left? We need to give our all in it, and we should have been giving it our all since Day One. I wish we really would have.”

The Firebirds lose four seniors — Paige Corcoran, Bayley Witcher-Goscha, Morgan Noll and Sydney Moreano –who all made a big impact offensively and defensively. But there’s a solid group of returners, with Naomi Hickman, Emma Barberena, Peyton Gannaway and Allison Knapp up front, Lauren Johnson and Gannaway at setter, and Erin Friedrichsen as a defensive specialist.

Lawrence High’s volleyball team was similar to Free State in that the Lions had several ups and downs this year. The difference was the Lions just didn’t finish the season on a strong point.

After the Joan Wells Tournament in early Oct., the Lions had an 11-14 record, and were starting to compete with some of the top teams in the state. But then, they couldn’t regain that success, and limped to a 2-11 record to finish the season.

The Lions will lose five seniors — Jensen Edwards, Keeli Billings, Marlee Bird, MaKayla Wagner and Cienna Sorell — but they return a strong core of varsity players including Caroline Dykes, Nez Iskandrani, and Kari Karnes at the net, Nico Kenney, Nicole Owens, and Katie Murrish as defensive specialists, and Kyleigh Severa and Laurel Bird as setters. With that group of returners, the Lions should be able to build success into next season.
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Free State’s girls golf team took 10th as a team at state, probably lower than they were hoping, but they completed a goal of qualifying as a team.

“Emily (Bermel) and I had kind of a serious talk right before regionals,” senior Karen Campbell said. “We felt an obligation to our team to get us all to state this year, which I thought was a huge accomplishment. Even if our team score for state isn’t incredible, it’s still awesome that we’re able to make it here and have a good time.”

The Firebirds were highlighted by seniors Bermel and Campbell. Bermel took 2nd in the league, and Campbell led the team at state with a 22nd place finish.

They are going to lose a big senior class consisting of Bermel, Campbell, Erin Meyers, Savannah Reeb and Sydney Buller, all of whom were on the state tournament team. Next year, they’re going to lean on sophomore Anne Goebel and some junior varsity golfers to lead, but it could be more of a rebuilding year in terms of the team’s success.

Lawrence High didn’t have enough golfers to field a team, and were left with only one individual, senior Bonnie Reinsch. She didn’t compete at regionals, and coach Kristen Samp admitted it was a tough year for her because she didn’t have anyone to push her in practice all year.
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At the beginning of the year, Lawrence High seniors Anna and Yelena Birt were still working on their chemistry, playing alongside each other in doubles for the first season in their high school tennis careers.

It was night and day compared to the end of the year, when the Birt twins took eighth at state. They highlighted the year for the Lions, as senior Kendall Pritchard, who took 9th in the Sunflower League at No. 1 singles, and junior Erin Ventura missed out on state by one match at regionals.

The Lions will lose some talented seniors, but they have a good group of underclassmen and their JV team had plenty of success throughout the season. The key will be finding someone to step up and headline the team, but they should be loaded with depth.

Free State coach Oather Strawderman’s goal at the beginning of the season wasn’t just to have some of his players qualify for state, but he wanted them in a good spot on the second day at state.

That’s exactly what senior Taylor Hawkins and junior Rachel Walters did, finishing 12th in doubles. Junior Caitlin Dodd and freshman Ali Dodd also made it to state, and just missed out on surviving to the second day.

“All year long our goal was to make it to the second day of state and with that in mind we had an incredibly successful season,” Strawderman said.

The Firebirds only had two seniors, Hawkins and Alyssa Raye, so they should be in a great position to have a few players qualify for the second day of state again next year.
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