WRITER: David Rodish

Free State's Thompson places 7th at Kansas Junior Amateur golf tournament, kicking off summer tournament season

Henry Thompson hadn’t played the course at the Kansas Junior Amateur golf tournament before. Once he went through a practice round the day before, he felt good about his chances. Thompson turned in a top-10 performance last week. He finished the three-day tournament -2, seventh among 113 golfers. He shot a 68 on the first day, a 72 on the second day and a 70 on the third day. “My game has been feeling good ...

Senior spotlight: LHS running back Edwards ready to carry heavy load on offense

Tahj Edwards was excited when he met his new football coach, Jason Thoren, and heard how the new offense would focus heavily on the run game. Edwards, a running back for Lawrence, is gearing up for a final season with the Lions and wants to show colleges what he is capable of. With football camps hosted by universities this summer followed by a senior season in which he’ll be the featured back in a run-heavy ...

Former LHS boys and girls tennis coach takes old job after being an assistant at De Soto

For the second time in his tennis coaching career, Stephen Hudson will become Lawrence High School’s next boys and girls tennis coach. Hudson took over the job at Lawrence High in 2006 before leaving after the 2010 school year. Hudson continued to coach in different capacities around De Soto. He was the assistant coach at De Soto High School while working on the school’s staff. Now he’s back after the ...

Rising junior at Lawrence High has been building her soccer referee career with tournaments around the country

Initially, Emerson Sloop was in it for the doughnuts. Sloop first became interested in refereeing soccer games at around 12 years old when she saw that the referees got doughnuts after soccer tournaments she played in. Almost five years later, Sloop has around 2,500 games under her belt as a referee and has traveled across the country for large soccer tournaments at various levels and age groups. Becoming a ...

Senior spotlight: Free State's Fulscher's continued playmaking and shooting development to lead girls basketball program

For the last three years, the Free State girls basketball team has had a trial by fire as young players stepped into prominent roles against tough competition. Rising senior Addie Fulscher is one of those Firebirds, and she has risen to the challenge each year. Since she arrived, Fulscher has played an important role for the Firebirds both on and off the court. She’s been a leading scorer and playmaker, ...

Lawrence senior thrower surpasses season goal with state meet appearance

Jah’ir Johnson’s goal for the spring track and field season was pretty simple: Don’t stay on junior varsity. Johnson, a senior who started at linebacker for the Lawrence football team, had spent his spring throwing shot put for the Lions track and field team, but most of his experience came at the JV level. For his final season of high school competition, he wanted to be on varsity. “I struggled at ...