photo by: Photo courtesy Layne Meyer

Free State girls golf team poses during the first day of the 2025 6A state girls golf tournament.

Baldwin places fourth in 4A state golf tournament; Free State and Eudora send golfers to state tournaments

Baldwin’s girls golf team placed fourth in the 4A state golf tournament at Carey Park Golf Course on Monday with a 366 team score.

Baldwin’s Peyton Wright placed fourth overall in the individual leaderboard. She shot an 85 in the first round but rebounded with a strong 76 in the second. Carson Chambers placed 20th, scoring a 177 across two rounds.

Jada Sansome (+43) and Charity Thompson (+46) placed 34th individually and 36th individually, respectively. Addy Scraper’s 199 put her 50th overall out of the 89 golfers at the 4A state tournament.

The Eudora Cardinals sent a team to the 4A tournament but didn’t place among the top six teams. Brooklynn Akers led the team by placing 18th with a 175 score. Marleigh Grant rounded out the individual top 25 by shooting a 178.

Brynn Deterding placed 55th overall with a 99 score in the first round. Lilly Wright and Josie Vogt also golfed for the first round, and scored a 102 and a 103, respectively. Leslie Cundiff shot a 116 in the first round and didn’t compete in the second.

Tonganoxie sent Paityn Van Middlesworth to the state tournament, and she finished 42nd with a 191 score. She improved by three strokes between the first and second round of the tournament.

For the 6A state tournament at Hesston Golf Course, Free State missed out on placing among the top six teams but had a golfer qualify for the second round. Laurel Stancil was the highest placer for the Firebirds, as she finished 42nd with a 185 score. Her best day came on Monday, when she shot a 90.

Claire Heinritz just missed out on reaching the second day of the tournament after shooting a 96 on the first day. Tola Jankowski finished six strokes behind Heinritz, while Mallory White shot a 109 and Haylee Graham shot a 110. Avery Lonnberg shot a 122 during her state tournament run.

Free State, Lawrence cross-country compete in Sunflower League meet; Firebird boys finish as runners-up

Free State and Lawrence ran on familiar grass during the Sunflower League cross-country meet on Saturday at Rim Rock Farm, as the Firebirds placed in the top four for both boys and girls.

The Free State boys finished as the runners-up, with a final score of 90 that only lagged behind Olathe Northwest. Nicholas Johnson led the Firebirds with a 17 minute, 3.46-second run, which was 14th-best in the race. Anderson Bateman placed 18th at 17:05.00, while Jonah Frye took 19th at 17:08.26.

Firebirds Jasper Hansen Terry placed 25th at 17:34.96, and Stevie Jackson finished 29th at 17:42.43. Kyle Sikes ran for 36th in 17:51.93, and Isaac Horner rounded out Free State’s runners with an 18:09.90 run that put him 58th overall.

The Lawrence boys placed sixth, with a total score of 159. Oliver Schwartz led the way for the team, running for sixth place at 16:47.39. He finished with an average mile time of 5:24.30. Logan Druen finished in the top 25 with a run of 17:28.37 that put him 22nd overall.

Garrett Rhea finished 44th at 18:00.91, and Riley Swart placed 47th at 18:04.17. Paul Radley rounded out the team’s top five with an 18:12.32 time that put him 56th overall. Conner Popp placed 65th at 18:28.41, and Mateo Klish finished as the team’s final scoring runner with an 18:55.14 run that put him 77th.

Free State’s girls took fourth in the league championship, scoring 89 points as a team. Taylor Hulcher led the team with a fifth-place finish at 19:38.86. Nadia Karapuda finished 17th with a 20:16.60 run, and Eloise Frye placed 21st at 20:38.52.

Grace Christline finished 31st at 21:22.02, and Julia Velasco placed 35th at 21:34.46. Amelia Brewer came two spots behind Velasco with a 21:42.63 time, and Mady Whitney rounded out the team’s top seven with a 22:22.74 run that put her 48th.

Lawrence had three Lions run in the girls championship, and Juliet Outka led them with a 23:14.14 time. Hayley Swart finished in 23:54.60, and Tessa Sanders ran in 25:50.02.

Free State, Lawrence compete in final Sunflower League gymnastics tournament

Gymnastics competed in its last Sunflower League meet in Lawrence on Oct. 11, with Free State placing fifth and Lawrence sixth.

The Firebirds finished the meet with a 99.325 team score, while the Lions scored 81.000 as a team. In the vault, Free State’s four gymnasts scored an 8.325 and above. Harper Huston led the team with an 8.850, and Cleo Trigg scored an 8.600. Emi Stone scored an 8.350, and Lucy Koch scored an 8.325.

Huston scored an 8.700 on the bars, which was seventh-best in the meet. Her best event was the floor routine, in which she scored a 9.375, which was the third-best score in the event during the meet. She also finished with a 9.000 on the beam.

Koch’s best event was the beam, with an 8.625 score. She had an 8.200 on the floor and a 6.700 in the bars. Trigg scored a 7.950 on the floor, a 7.875 on the beam and a 7.100 on the bars. Stone scored a 7.600 on the floor and a 7.250 on the beam.

For Lawrence, everyone on the team’s best event came in the vault. Jensen Wallace scored a team-best 8.450, and Naomi Klopfenstein and Becca Liljestrom both scored an 8.100 for the event. Wallace earned a 7.900 on the beam, while Klopfenstein scored a 7.200 and Liljestrom had a 7.00.

Wallace led the team in all four events, scoring a 7.900 on the floor, a 7.425 in the beam and a 5.700 on the bars. Klopfenstein was second on the team, finishing with a 7.200 on the floor, a 6.000 on the beam and a 5.350 on the bars. Liljestrom scored a 7.000 on the floor, a 5.225 on the beam and a 4.550 on the bars.

The final KSHSAA state gymnastics meet will take place on Saturday at Olathe East High School.