Matthew Marcum during the 2021-22 Free State wrestling season.

Former Free State wrestlers Matthew Marcum and Eric Streeter have qualified for the NJCAA National Championships.

Marcum (197-pound weight class) and Streeter (149-pound weight class) graduated from Free State in 2023 as state champions with over 100 high school wins and joined the Labette Community College wrestling program. Labette won seven of eight duals this season in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference and finished fourth with 130.5 points during the NJCAA South Central District Championships.

Marcum won his weight class in the district championships. After a bye in the first round, Marcum pinned his quarterfinal opponent. He won with a technical fall in the semifinal match before winning with a medical forfeit in the championship.

Streeter started with a bye but lost his quarterfinal match in a 4-0 decision. He won his next two consolation matches with a 4-1 decision win and a technical fall to reach the consolation semifinals, which he lost in a 4-3 decision. In the fifth-place match, Streeter lost with a medical forfeit.

Marcum finished sixth last year in the 197-pound weight class in the 2024 NJCAA National Championships. This will be Streeter’s first time competing in the national championship.

The 2025 NJCAA National Championships will be held from March 7 to 8 in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

28 former Free State and Lawrence baseball players starting baseball season

The 2025 college baseball season has begun, and Free State and Lawrence have 28 former players who will suit up for a college team this season.

Three Lawrence natives will play Division I baseball. Maddox Burkitt, a Free State alumnus, plays for Kansas in his first year with the team after two at Johnson County Community College. Grant Cleavinger went to Lawrence and will play for Nebraska. This is his second year with the team after a year at Tulane. Fellow Chesty Lion Carlos Vasquez is in his second year at Western Kentucky. Last year was a medical redshirt for Vasquez.

At the Division II level, there are two representatives. Free State graduate David Stuart will pitch for Oklahoma Baptist, and Lawrence graduate Karson Green will play for Missouri Western as a catcher.

Senior outfielder Jack Stoll, a Lawrence graduate, is the lone Division III representative at Grinnell College.

Junior college is a popular route for baseball players, and most of the Division I or Division II baseball players from Lawrence or Free State started at the NJCAA level. This year, 11 alumni from the two high schools will have players at the junior college level.

Three Lawrence alumni — Austin Crawford, Sam Stoll and Brooks Jones — will attend Hutchinson Community College. Highland Community College will also have its own trio of Lawrence alumni: Kyan Guss, Connor Nowak, and Noah Kirk. Barton Community College will have former Firebirds Calvin Urish and Kyle Graves.

Three other Free State alumni will be at the junior college level. Catcher Tyler Jeffries is in his first year at Pratt Community College. Brady Kern will line up at outfield for his second season with Kansas City Kansas Community College, and Jackson Waggoner is a pitcher for Coffeyville Community College.

Seven of the 11 players who signed with NAIA schools signed with Baker University. From Lawrence High, John Green, Sutton Dye, Vaughn Wells and Tyson Grammer will be on the Baker baseball team. Free State alumni Gage Callaghan, Tyler Vigna and Cam Karlin join them. Two former Firebirds, Jase Grady and Michael Uhler, will be at Park University. Benedictine will have Free State’s Matt Gabriel and Lawrence’s Charlie Elsten.

Baldwin boys basketball defeats Eudora to move to 15-2 on the season

Baldwin’s boys basketball team got a 48-41 road win over Eudora on Monday, moving the Bulldogs’ record to 15-2 and 10-1 in the Frontier League.

The Bulldogs have the third-best record in the 4A East, behind only Rock Creek and Ottawa. Their 10-1 record is second in the Frontier League, behind only Ottawa.

Junior guard Cooper Carr leads the Bulldogs with 19.1 points per game and 3.9 assists per game. In the win over Eudora, Carr scored 21 points with six steals, five rebounds and four assists. Carr recently became the school’s all-time leader in assists despite only being a junior. After Carr are juniors Leo Schoenberger with 13.1 points per game and Colton Collum at 7.8 points per game. Schoenberger also leads the team in rebounds with 7.4 per game.

Baldwin has three games left in the season, including a home game against Ottawa on Friday, February 21. The Cyclones won 61-52 over the Bulldogs in their first matchup.

The Bulldogs finished 20-5 and fourth in the state tournament, losing to the eventual 4A state champions McPherson and third-place team Atchison.