photo by: Carter Gaskins

Firebirds leap out of the dugout in celebration of a perfect game from Tatum Clopton on Monday, April 2019.

Much has been made about Tatum Clopton’s otherworldly start to the 2019 season.

The Free State sophomore tossed a perfect game and a complete game one-hitter through the first four outings. But the Firebirds, who are the defending 6A state champions, have now shown in back-to-back contests that they have plenty of offensive firepower as well.

It was out in full force during Free State’s 11-4 win over Olathe West Saturday afternoon at FSHS. The Firebirds (6-0) have now scored double-digit runs in consecutive games, and have done so four times to start the season.

“That doesn’t surprise me, I thought we weren’t hitting up to our capabilities,” FSHS head coach Lee Ice said. “I knew we were capable. Offensively, I know we can swing the bat a little bit.”

Plenty of players were responsible for Free State’s latest slugfest, too.

The Firebirds scored three runs in each of the first three innings to remove any doubt about the outcome early on. Sophomore Georgia Rea started things off with a leadoff triple, and was scored by freshman Jasmine Brixius one at-bat later. Freshman Maci Miles later came through with a two-run double.

Rea clubbed a two-run homer to left-center in the bottom of the second. Sophomore Sara Roszak added an RBI double. In the third, Brixius and senior outfielder Taylor Burks each added an RBI single. Clopton also scored a run on a sacrifice fly.

Freshman Kay Lee Richardson added a solo home run for good measure, meaning seven different FSHS players drove in at least one run against Olathe West.

“Up and down the lineup, I think we swing the bat extremely well,” Ice said. “I know we can pitch it, I know we can swing it. But how are we going to play defense? It was evident today, we made a mistake and they put a crooked number up.”

It proved to be more than enough run support for Clopton, who finished with 13 strikeouts in the win.

The Firebirds ended up scoring 26 runs in three games this week, and now have 53 total runs across their first six contests. FSHS will now face another three-game week, as it is slated to take on Shawnee Mission South, Shawnee Mission North and Lawrence High this week.

FSHS will travel to Shawnee Mission South at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Lions win another meet

Lawrence head coach Kent McDonald wanted to wait and see how his team did in the biggest meet to date.

After notching three wins in as many meets to start the season, the LHS swim and dive team kept the streak alive in its biggest challenge yet. Lawrence placed first in a 20-team meet at Olathe Invite on Friday, finishing with 331 points as a team.

Shawnee Mission East, the runner-up in the meet, scored 300 points. Blue Valley West claimed third with 292.5 points. Free State, meanwhile, finished in a tie for 13th with 80 points.

Lawrence won three of the 12 events en route to another first-place finish. Aubrey Fischer, Jaimie Abernathy, Carmen Braden and Madi Heckman won the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:42.98. Morgan Jones, Fischer, Heckman and Emily Guo clinched first in the 400-yard freestyle relay with a mark of 3:41.85.

Guo was the lone Lion to win an individual race, finishing first in the 100 butterfly with a time of 59.95.

But the Lions were right there in so many other events, which helped them pile up the points. Guo was a runner-up in the 200 individual medley, while Heckman placed second in both the 50 freestyle and the 100 freestyle. Jones placed third in the 200 freestyle and 500 freestyle.

Kasey Dunn led the way for Free State, finishing fourth in the 200 freestyle and fifth in the 100 butterfly.

Team scores: 1. LHS 331; 2. Shawnee Mission East 300; 3. Blue Valley West 292.5; 4. Shawnee Mission South 143; 5. Blue Valley North 135; 5. St. Thomas Aquinas 135; 7. Shawnee Mission Northwest 131; 8. Olathe North 125; 9. Blue Valley Southwest 124.5; 10. Olathe East 121; 11. Olathe Northwest 103; 12. Blue Valley 95; 13. Blue Valley NW 80; 13. Free State 80; 15. Manhattan 64; 16. Olathe South 63; 17. Leavenworth 2.

LHS/FSHS results

200 medley relay: 2. Maddie Dean, Emily Guo, Aubrey Fischer, Megan Drumm, LHS, 1:54.04; 15. Haleigh Dahl, Payton Krug, Kasey Dunn, Richa Joshi, FS, 2:03.84.

200 freestyle: 3. Morgan Jones, LHS, 2:01.79; 4. Kasey Dunn, FS, 2:01.95; 8. Jamie Abernathy, LHS, 2:05.90; 10. Carmen Braden, LHS, 2:07.35.

200 IM: 2. Emily Guo, LHS, 2:09.88; 5. Payton Krug, FS, 2:19.57; 10. Maddie Dean, LHS, 2:21.30; 11. Ali Jones, LHS, 2:21.82.

50 freestyle: 2. Madi Heckman, LHS, 25.54; 21. Brooke Wroten, LHS, 27.32; 30. Megan Drumm, LHS, 28.36.

Diving: 7. Eden Kingery, LHS, 334.80; 11. Monica Kimmel, FS, 307.95; 20. Tori Crockett, FS, 163.45.

100 butterfly: 1. Emily Guo, LHS, 58.95; 4. Aubrey Fischer, LHS, 1:01.13; 5. Kasey Dunn, FS, 1:01.81; 20. Nora Agah, FS, 1:10.29; 23. Megan Drumm, LHS, 1:12.08.

100 freestyle: 2. Madi Heckman, LHS, 54.76; 6. Jamie Abernathy, LHS, 57.22; 22. Brooke Wroten, LHS, 1:02.22; 27. Emma Day, FS, 1:03.77.

500 freestyle: 3. Morgan Jones, LHS, 5:24.83; 8. Carmen Braden, LHS, 5:37.75; 11. Iris Sherron, LHS, 5:48.23; 21. Nisa Kay Khosh, FS, 6:05.11; 22. Haleigh Dahl, FS, 6:05.71.

200 freestyle relay: 1. Aubrey Fisher, Jamie Abernathy, Carmen Braden, Madi Heckman, LHS, 1:42.98.

100 backstroke: 5. Maddie Dean, LHS, 1:03.06; 9. Iris Sherron, LHS, 1:05.35; 17. Jillian Wilson, LHS, 1:08.59; 25. Haleigh Dahl, FS, 1:13.69; 32. Anna Welton, FS, 1:16.15.

100 breaststroke: 9. Payton Krug, FS, 1:12.72; 14. Ali Jones, LHS, 1:14.49; 30. Emma Day, FS, 1:23.16; 33. Mara Manolescu, LHS, 1:24.15; 42. Richa Joshi, FS, 1:29.20; 46. Lisa Yang, LHS, 1:36.82.

400 freestyle relay: 1. Morgan Jones, Aubrey Fischer, Madi Heckman, Emily Guo, LHS, 3:41.85; 12. Kasey Dunn, Emma Day, Nora Agah, Payton Krug, FS, 4:06.43.

FSHS girls track takes fourth

Free State’s girls track and field team took fourth place at the Blue Valley Relays Friday night behind a nice balance of production. The boys team placed 10th in the 12-school event.

Arie’Auna Childress was the lone Firebird to win an event, finishing first in the triple jump competition with a leap of 39-03.25. Childress also claimed second in long jump with a mark of 17-07.00.

Liliana King-Wilson netted three medals, placing third in both the high jump and pole vault to go along with a fifth-place finish in the 300 hurdles. Haley Hippe finished fourth and sixth in discus and javelin, respectively. Julia Larkin finished seventh in the 3,200-meter run, while Katelin Hollinshed took eighth in shot put.

On the boys side, Charlie Johnson finished fifth in the 1,600-meter run and sixth in the 3,200-meter run.

Blue Valley Relays

Girls team scores: 1. Blue Valley 117; 2. BV West 92.5; 3. SM East 83; 4. Free State 67; 5. BV North 66; 6. BV Southwest 59; 6. St. Thomas Aquinas 59; 8. St. James 50; 9. SM Northwest 30; 10. SM North 28; 11. SM South 24.50; 12. BV Northwest 19.

Boys team scores: 1. SM East 93; 2. SM Northwest 79.5; 3. BV West 78; 4. St. James 77; 4. Blue Valley 77; 6. St. Thomas Aquinas 65.5; 7. Blue Valley North 58; 8. SM North 42; 8. SM South 42. 10. Free State 36; 11. BV Northwest 30; 12. BV Southwest 17.

FS girls results

1,600-meter run: 13. Ella Marshall, 5:55.49; 14. Makenzie Thomas, 5:59.63; 16. Emily Stone, 6:01.58.

3,200-meter run: 7. Julia Larkin, 12:04.79; 9. Erin Fagan, 12:15.11; 17. Erin Liston, 12:48.96.

300 hurdles: 5. Liliana King-Wilson, 50.99; 12. Caitlin McAndrew-Beckman, 53.33; 28. Katelin Hollinshed, 1:01.82.

High jump: 3. Liliana King-Wilson, 5-01.00; 4. Laila Robinson, 5-01.00

Pole Vault: 3. Liliana King-Wildon, 8-09.00; 10. Brooke Wright, 7-03.00.

Long jump: 2. Arie’Auna Childress, 17-07.00

Triple jump: 1. Arie’Auna Childress, 39-03.25.

Shot put: 8. Katelin Hollinshed, 29-07.00; 15. Hope Wheeler-Halsted, 25-02.50; 16. Sydnie Martins, 23-09.00.

Discus: 4. Haley Hippe, 101-07; 7. Kala Ewing, 97-01; 15. Hope Wheeler-Halstead, 68-04

Javelin: 6. Haley Hippe, 105.08; 12. Haylee Kern, 90-09; 18. Megan Cushing, 79-00

FSHS boys results

1,600-meter run: 5. Charlie Johnson, 4:39.67; 14. Christopher Stone, 4:52.02

3,200-meter run: 6. Charlie Johnson, 10:03.19; 12. John Loos, 10:27.33; 16. Dash Spears, 10:41.74

300-meter hurdles: 10. Cole Wenger, 44.99; 20. Cameron James, 46.55; 23. Yoav Gillath, 46.80; 24.18. Bryce Crough, 46.87

Shot put: Ried Plinsky, 38-10.7; 22. Will Byers, 36-07.50; 25. Nicholas Dow, 36-01.00.

Discus: 19. Devin Buck, 103-08; 21. Titus Birdashaw, 97-07; 22. Zach Rasys, 95-03

Javelin: 8. Zach Pitts, 135-02; 13. Kameron Lake, 129-11; 21. Will Byers, 117-09

LHS girls track wins meet

Lawrence’s girls track and field team registered a victory in the Topeka Relays Friday night with 190 points. The mark was 97 points more than runner-up Seaman. The boys team placed second with 115 points, finishing behind Seaman’s mark of 143 points.

The Lions won 11 events, including all three relays, to secure first in the girls competition. Chisom Ajekwu (shot put), Mariah Reed (high jump), Josie Hickerson (pole vault) and Bella Kirkwood (long jump) all netted first-place finishes in the field events. Hannah Stewart also won the 1,600-meter run and 800-meter run. Evann Serrate took first in the 400-meter run.

On the boys side, Bryce Tibke placed first in both the shot put and discus competition. AJ Powell secured first in javelin, while Chris McGee won triple jump. Dre Bridges placed first in the 200-meter run for LHS.

Seahawks suffer 4-0 loss

Injuries plagued the Bishop Seabury girls soccer team in a 4-0 loss to Maranatha Academy Friday.

Despite only being able to field nine players, the Seahawks showed plenty of toughness by keeping the score tied at 0-0 at the intermission. Bishop Seabury eventually ran out of steam, though, giving up four goals in the second half.

BSA will play host to Baldwin on Monday.

Veritas baseball gets back to .500

The Veritas baseball team went to Wichita four a four-game weekend at Eck Stadium, posting a 3-1 record.

VHS (5-5) split a doubleheader with Life Prep and Sunrise Christian Academy Saturday morning, losing to the former by a 12-10 margin and winning the latter meeting with a 5-2 victory. The Eagles also swept Wichita Homeschool in a doubleheader Saturday afternoon, notching a 17-7 win and a 13-10 victory.

Tucker Flory led the offensively with five hits in 13 at-bats, recording seven RBIs and one double. Reed Wilson delivered five RBIs on four hits. Bret Brownlee and Levi Hawkins each added three RBIs and three singles.

Wilson pitched in three games, including one start. He struck out eight batters and walked four, allowing three runs off two hits over five total innings. Will Bartkoski tossed six innings, allowing two runs off three hits to go along with seven strikeouts.