Overland Park ? Kansas University freshman Joe Dineen’s quest to honor the late Andre Maloney — a fellow KU football recruit and Sunflower League standout — included another memorable stop on Friday.Dineen, a recent Free State High grad who moved onto KU’s campus and began conditioning ...
Free State High’s boys soccer players won’t put a lot of stock into their team camp this week. It’s a long time until the season is underway and it’s primarily a chance to acclimate freshmen to the high school level. But there was still plenty of optimism when they talked about the ...
Perry-Lecompton High product Zach Linquist was named the Class 4A-II Player of the Year by the Kansas Association of Baseball Coaches. Linquist earned first-team honors as a closer, striking out 54 batters in only 31 innings with a 2.56 ERA. Perry-Lecompton pitcher Drew Scrimsher and Eudora ...
Free State High senior Hannah Shoemaker didn’t have much time to prepare for girls basketball camp this week. Last weekend, Shoemaker was busy finishing seventh in the discus at the state track and field meet in Wichita. By Monday, she was already back on the court with her teammates.Now that ...
College baseball players Garrett Cleavinger, Colin Toalson and Shane Willoughby all shared different versions of the same story last week, before the start of the NCAA Tournament. In their respective clubhouses and locker rooms at Oregon, Kansas and Youngstown State, each Lawrence product ...
J.D. Prochaska hasn’t had the baseball career he envisioned when he graduated from Free State High in 2012, but things are looking up for the former Firebirds pitcher. He recently signed to play Div. I ball at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.“I took a bunch of visits to ...
Free State High football coach Bob Lisher has seen his team practice twice this summer, and he’s feeling upbeat. Sure, the Firebirds lost plenty of starters and a lot of talent with last year’s senior class, but Lisher is confident they can remain a contender in the Sunflower League for ...
Wichita ? Free State High’s girls track and field team won a state championship and seniors Alexa Harmon-Thomas and Bailey Sullivan were back at the top of the medal podium. It was deja vu all over again on Saturday at Cessna Stadium. Harmon-Thomas won in the 100- and 300-meter hurdles for ...
Former high school baseball standouts from the city of Lawrence continued play in NCAA regionals on Saturday.Youngstown State freshman shortstop Shane Willoughby, a Lawrence High product, went 1-for-3 with an RBI as the Penguins staved off elimination with a 5-2 victory over Indiana State in ...
Wichita ? Matia Finley wasn’t happy with all of her throws in the discus Friday morning, but she was happy with the result. The Lawrence High junior won a Class 6A state championship in the discus for the second straight year at Cessna Stadium. Last year, Finley topped her twin sister, ...
All of the athletes on Free State High’s girls track and field team know they have a chance to repeat as state champions this weekend. They also prefer not to talk about it.The Firebirds don’t want to add any pressure by chatting about it or overthinking it, as their quest for a second ...
Free State senior distance runner Bailey Sullivan has never been shy to offer advice to her teammates. That was no different Wednesday when she was asked by two of her coaches to talk about her past experiences at the state track meet. Sullivan, who won a Class 6A state title in the 1,600 last ...
Topeka ? Lawrence High senior Narito Mendez had plenty of luck on the back nine Tuesday at the Class 6A state golf tournament. All of that luck disappeared in the front nine — his last nine holes. Mendez shot a 12-over par 83, tying for 43rd place at Topeka County Club. “He shoots 39 on the ...
In mid-April, Free State High sophomore Jack Flynn shot an 84 at the Topeka Country Club, taking 20th place in the tournament. He hopes his next round on the Topeka CC course is even better as he opens at hole 10 at 10:30 a.m. today in the Class 6A boys golf state tournament. Flynn is one of ...
In the final event of the Class 6A swimming and diving championships on Saturday, Free State’s 400-yard freestyle relay team trailed by more than two seconds when junior Courtney Caldwell jumped in the pool as the anchor leg. Caldwell sped past Shawnee Mission East and helped the relay team ...
Topeka ? Today is the day Free State High’s girls swimmers have waited for all season long — one they’ve talked about, thought about and swam for.Sure, every high school swimmer circles the date of the state championships on her calendar. But today means so much to the Firebirds because ...
Linebackers don’t become distance runners. They throw quarterbacks in the fall and weights in the spring.And then there is Stan Skwarlo, standout Free State High senior running back and linebacker in autumn, distance runner in the spring.Coming off a personal-best 4:25.11 in the 1,600 meters, ...
Free State High’s girls track and field team features three of the best hurdlers in the state — Kiara Clark, Gabbi Dabney and Alexa Harmon-Thomas. The trio left competitors in the dust at the Class 6A regional meet on Friday, sweeping the top three spots in the 100 hurdles and 300 hurdles. ...
Plenty of city baseball and softball players earned 2014 All-Sunflower League recognition. Lawrence High juniors Morgan Byrn, Kenzie Garvin and Jolona Shield were first-team selections from the league’s softball coaches. LHS sophomore Sophie Taylor was named the league’s Newcomer of the ...
Free State High’s girls swimming and diving team has grown accustomed to first-place finishes for the majority of its season, having won six meets convincingly. The Firebirds aspire to reach the top of the podium one last time this season, when they compete in the Class 6A state championships ...