2014 Sports Preview

2 • Wednesday, September 3, 2014 www.lamardemocrat.com Lamar Democrat, Lamar, MO

LAMAR SCHEDULESLamar Football

September 5, Monett High School, V, 7 p.m.; September 8, at Monett High School, JV, 6 p.m.; September 8, Monett High School, 9th Grade, 6 p.m.; September 12, at Cass-ville High School, V, 7 p.m.; September 15, Cassville High School, JV, 6 p.m.; September 15, at Cassville High School, 9th, 6 p.m.; September 19, Butler High School - Home-coming, V, 7 p.m.; September 22, at Butler High School, JV, 6 p.m.; September 26, at Mc-Donald County High School, V, 7 p.m.; September 29, Mc-Donald County High School, JV, 6 p.m.; September 29, at McDonald County High School, 9th Grade, 5:30 p.m.; October 3, East Newton High School, V, 7 p.m.; October 6, at East Newton High School, JV, 6 p.m. October 10, Aurora High School - Sr. Night, V, 7 p.m. October 13, at Aurora High School, JV, 6 p.m.; Octo-ber 17, at Carl Junction High School, V, 7 p.m.; October 24, Opponent TBA, Varsity, Lo-cation TBA, 7 p.m.

Lamar SwimmingSeptember 6, Ozarks Invi-

tational, V, Away, 1 p.m.; Sep-tember 13, Monett Invitation-al, V, Away, 1 p.m.; September 18, Seymour Invitational, V, Away, 4:30 p.m.; September 20, Webb City Invitational, V, Away, 1 p.m.; September 26, Carthage Invitational, V, Away, 4:30 p.m.; October 3, Joplin Invitational (MSSU), V, Away, 4:30 p.m.; October

7, Webb City Dual, V, Away, 4:30 p.m.; October 16, Joplin Dual (MSSU), V, Away, 4:30 p.m.; October 18, Springfield Dual, V, Away, 1:30 p.m.; October 30, SWMO Cham-pionships-Prelims (Central), V, Away, 5 p.m.; November 1, SWMO Campinship Final, V, Away, 1 p.m.; November 14-15, MSHSAA Champion-ships, V, Away, TBA.

Lamar Cross CountrySeptember 4, at El Dorado

Springs, V/JV, 4 p.m.; Sep-tember 16, at Monett High School, V/JV, 4 p.m.; Septem-ber 23, at Nixa High School, V/JV, 4 p.m.; September 27, at East Newton High School, V/JV, Time TBA; September 30, Lamar Invitational, V/JV, 4 p.m.; October 4, at Jef-ferson City Invitational, V/JV, Time TBA; October 9, at Carl Junction High School, V/JV, 4 p.m.; October 13, at Cassville High School, V/JV, 4 p.m.; October 18, at Humans-ville High School, V/JV, Time TBA; October ?, Big 8 Con-ference Meet, V/JV, Home, 4 p.m.; November 1, District Cross Country Meet, V, Lo-cation TBA, Time TBA; No-vember 8, State Cross Coun-try Meet, V, Away, TBA.

Lamar TennisSeptember 5, at Pittsburg

High School, V/JV, 4:30 p.m.; September 8, at Mt. Vernon High School, V/JV, 4:30 p.m.; September 12, at Carl Junc-tion High School, V/JV, 4:30 p.m.; September 15, College Heights Christian, V/JV, 4:30

p.m.; September 16, Nevada High School, V/JV, 4:30 p.m.; September 23, at Missouri State University, V, Time TBA; September 30, Pittsburg High School, V/JV, 4:30 p.m.; October 3, Big 8 Conference Tournament, V, Away, Time TBA; October 6-10, Districts, V, Away, Time TBA.

Lamar VolleyballSeptember 4, Pierce City

High School, JV/V, 6 p.m.; September 6, at Branson In-vitational Tournament, V, Time TBA; September 8, at Greenfield High School, V/JV, 6 p.m.; September 11, El Dorado Springs High School,

JV/V, 6 p.m.; September 15, at Adrian High School, JV/V, 6 p.m.; September 20, Lamar Invitational Tournament, V/JV, Time TBA; September 22, Rich Hill High School, JV/V, 6 p.m.; September 25, at East Newton High School, JV/V, 6 p.m.; September 29, Sarcoxie High School, JV/V, 6 p.m.; September 30, Carl Junction High School, JV/V, 6 p.m.; October 2, at Mt. Vernon High School, JV/V, 6 p.m.; October 4, at Neosho Invitational Tournament, V, Time TBA; October 4, at Jas-per Invitational Tournament, JV, Time TBA; October 6,

at McDonald County High School, JV/V, 6 p.m.; October 7, Aurora High School, JV/V, 6 p.m.; October 9, at Cassville High School, JV/V, 6 p.m.; October 14, Seneca High

School, JV/V, 6 p.m.; October 16, at Monett High School, JV/V, 6 p.m.; October 20-23, Districts, V, Away, Time TBA.

PLAZAPLAZATheatreTheatre107 W 11TH ST. | LAMAR, MO

417-682-6843

BARCOBARCODrive-In TheatreDrive-In Theatre

57 SE 25TH LANE | LAMAR, MO417-682-2434

see SCHEDULES, page 9

Lamar Democrat, Lamar, MO www.lamardemocrat.com Wednesday, September 3, 2014 • 3

It's not about sustaining things for Tigers, its about buildingBy CHRIS MORROW

If you went to bed one night 10 years ago and woke up today, you would certainly be amazed by the changes that have taken place while you were out. If you were a fan of Lamar Tiger football and some-one gave you a rundown of the last half dozen years, it might be enough to knock you out again.

High school football has always been important to Lamar. For decades fans stood by their team in the lean years and enjoyed the all too rare moments when the Tigers fielded competi-tive teams. In the best of times it meant a district title or two, often followed by a heartbreaking playoff loss. In years before the playoffs, it meant winning more than you lost. And that has happened a lot

over the years, the Tigers have had some good foot-ball teams, but they usu-ally fell short of the prize. If you woke up today and were told that the Tigers, after two deep playoff runs in 2009 and 2010, followed with three straight Class 2 state championships, well, that might be harder to get your head around than this whole reality TV thing or the social networking craze. And we don't even want to start talking about cell phone technology . . .

Scott Bailey has been at the helm of this transition from mediocrity to dy-nasty and when asked if he ever takes a second (liter-ally just a second) to con-sider how far things have come, his answer comes quick and concise - "No!" And in that response lies the key - in order to build it you have to keep look-

ing forward and no matter how many titles you win, the process of building it never ends.

When asked how he thinks this year's team will deal with the pressure that comes with success, Bailey said, "We all feel it (pres-sure) and we all would much rather be involved with a program that was expected to be successful than the alternative. The one thing we have stressed to this team is that there is no such thing as "sustain-ing a program." If that is what we are trying to ac-complish, we will become less successful and prob-ably not even know it is happening until it's too late to do anything about fixing it. We have to find ways to improve, not sustain, our football program."

Just like every team in recent years, this one will

have to rely on players to step up and fill the void left by graduating seniors. The 2014 class was by any mea-sure, loaded with talent. It will be hard to replace, but Bailey is already seeing positive signs.

"Graduating as large and talented a class as we did everyone expected to see a noticeable drop in our strength and speed totals during summer max outs, but it didn't happen. Our strength and speed num-bers remained pretty con-sistent with prior years," he said.

And although the Tigers lost an experienced group to graduation, they also bring back a roster full of players with a wealth of valuable experience.

"With each year that we can get to the playoffs and play extra games our kids get that much more expe-rience. This group of se-niors has been a part of 45 football games in their first three years of high school. That is a lot of extra snaps in practice and in games," he said.

Last season the Tigers (14-1) amassed an insane 883 points in 15 games (59 points per game). That left them just short of the na-tional scoring record. Last year the Tiger defense was

impressive as well, but this year Bailey thinks his de-fense may be able to bring a little more speed to the table.

Defensively the Tigers will feature across the front, defensive ends Tren-ton Mooney and Dylon Robertson. Mooney is a 6-foot-6 255 pound se-nior while Robertson is a 6-foot-1 210 pound senior. Junior Thomas Mayfield (5-9 185) will back them up. Senior Angus Sprenkle (5-11 270) and sophomore Will Jeffries (5-10 220) will play defensive tackle. The nose guard will be senior Clayton Buzzard (6-2 250). Senior John Rice (6-4 285) will also see a lot of time there. James White (5-6 175), a sophomore, may also get some reps at nose guard.

Senior Johnny Brooks (6-1 190) will start at the strong side linebacker. The middle backer will be ju-nior Jed Stahl (6-foot 180). The weak side backer will be a combination of junior Todd Morrow (5-11 190) and sophomore Tanner Phipps (5-8 155).

Cornerbacks include senior Colton Divine (5-10 160) and senior Lakin Hardman (5-9 155), along with sophomores Luke Hardman (5-10 160) and

Anthony Wilkerson (5-9 160). Joining them in the defensive secondary are senior safeties Brett Mc-Donald (6-2 210) and Ben Kluhsman (6-1 185). Ju-nior Daniel Brisbin (6-foot 160) and sophomore Matt Whyman (6-foot 160) will also see some time at safety.

Offensively Danny Em-bry, a 5-foot-10 185 pound junior, will start at left wing. The right wing po-sition will be manned by Wilkerson and Luke Hard-man. Senior Tripp Tucker (5-9 170) returns as a start-er in the backfield. He was one of the Tigers two quar-terbacks in their simul-taneous two quarterback formation. Joining him this fall is senior Derek Henderson (5-9 160). Bai-ley says Whyman may get some reps there too.

The left tight end is ju-nior Rylee Cunningham (6-foot 230), with Kluhs-man backing him up. The right tight end is Mooney, with Robertson also seeing action there. The left tackle is senior John Rice (6-4 285), with junior Chase Mclane (5-10 220) also seeing some time there. The left guard is senior Riley Williams (5-10 220) and Jeffries. The center is junior Keegan Duncan (6-foot 190). The right guard is senior Clayton Buz-zard (6-2 250), with junior Stanley Hurt (5-10 220) behind him on the depth chart. The right tackle is Sprenkle.

Handling the kicking and punting duties is Morrow, who Bailey says is one of the best around.

Not only are a lot of ex-perienced players return-

LAMAR

see BUILDING, page 9


Lady Tigers to implement new philosophy

By CHRIS MORROW

The Lamar Lady Tiger volleyball team improved from a 5-17-2 season two years ago to a 14-13-3 sea-son last fall. Coach Ann Landrum hopes that a new philosophy called Gold Medal Squared will help her talented group achieve an even greater amount of success in 2014.

"It's a whole new ap-proach to the game. It ef-fects the way we teach the fundamentals and the way we use our players," said

Landrum, who noted that the Gold Medal Squared methodology is used by many successful major college programs and na-tional teams.

She says that in addition to her group being good athletes they are smart, which has allowed them to pick up this new approach and implement it.

"These kids don't just play the game, they want to really understand the game. A lot of teams around here are going this way and we felt like

it was time. They're really picking it up quick," said Landrum, whose team is led by one senior, Ma-rissa Polodna, a 5-foot-7 outside hitter with a lot of varsity experience.

A handful of juniors will make up the bulk of the varsity roster, most of which come in having started at least one year and for several, two. Mid-dle hitter Shelby Haskins (5-9) was a starter last year, as was setter Haley Lan-drum (5-5). Zoie Mincks (5-8) plays setter and out-side hitter. Kinley Lehman (5-6) returns to patrol the middle of the net, while Kelsey Taffner (5-7) will play up front. Megan Mc-

Mains (5-4) will likely serve as the team's libero. Chelsea Schiltz (5-5) will play outside hitter.

Freshman Katelyn Mooney (5-8) rounds out the varsity roster accord-ing to Landrum, when she spoke to the Democrat a week into preseason work-outs. The sophomores on the team and the other freshmen are all talented volleyball players who will help round out the junior varsity team.

"This is a really good group and they're hungry. They want to get better, they want to have success and they're not putting limits on themselves," said Landrum, who noted that

they hold each other ac-countable and that keeps the team working hard in practice.

"It's not just volleyball, in all sports it's a good time to be a female athlete at Lamar High School and there's room for everyone to have success and get the support that they need. The community has been extremely supportive of us," said Landrum, whose assistant coach is John Moore.

"I love these kids. I love how hard they work and how they take care of each other. They've set some high standards for them-selves and it's going to be a fun season," she said.

LAMAR

Lamar junior setter Zoie Mincks puts the ball up for a teammate to hit.

The Lamar Lady Tigers are working hard to implement a new style of play for 2014. Coach Ann Landrum and her team are excited about the possibili-ties in 2014.


Lady Tigers to be youngBy CHRIS MORROW

The Lamar Lady Tiger tennis team took its lumps last season with a very in-experienced group and al-though they will be young again this year, several of

them have a lot of varsity experience under their belts.

David Ferlo enters his 15th season as the team's coach.

"We had a lot of fresh-men playing varsity last

year and now they are sophomores, so they're still going against juniors and seniors for the most part, but they should be better," said Ferlo, whose team won't have a senior this fall. The lone junior is Grace Compton.

"Grace is very quiet, but she's still a good leader. She leads by example," he said.

Sophomores Grace Dunlap, Kelli Sheat, Brooklyn Davey and Elly Swartz all played varsity last year as freshmen. In-coming freshman Morgan Brisbin is expected to play varsity alongside them

this fall.The team rounds out

with sophomore Kayla Mayfield, who is new to the program, and fresh-men Ani Crockett and El-lie Lodestein.

"With 10, this is the smallest number I've had in my years here. We usu-ally have at least 15," said Ferlo, who is urging them to stick with it because all the experience they're gaining will pay off.

"When you've got small numbers, you get a lot of one-on-one attention and you get more reps and more time in drills and it's showing," he said in mid August. "I'm seeing improvement day to day. They're a good group that works very hard."

He added, "If they do stay with it, in a year or two instead of taking lumps, we'll be the ones giving them out."

LAMAR

Lamar junior Grace Compton

works out during August.

The Lady Tigers are working

hard for a strong 2014 campaign.


LAMARLady Tigers to rebuild after best season in program history

By CHRIS MORROW

The Lamar Lady Tiger softball team put together a magical season in 2013, winning a Class 2 sectional title and finishing with a program best 25-4 record. In order for the 2014 ver-sion to spread a little mag-ic, they'll have to play a little different style of ball.

Last year's team was led

by Emmie Robertson, a three time all-state pitcher who racked up over 1,000 strike outs in her career. She and five other seniors graduated.

"You can't replace what Emmie did for us, but that doesn't mean that we can't win some ball games," said coach Tim Timmons.

"We're just going to have to play defense and those games we won 1-0 or 2-1 last year will probably be 5-4 games this year. We'll have to score some runs."

Despite the loss of several key hitters, the Lady Tigers do return a number of ex-perienced players and the offense should be strong. Sophomore Cassidy Beem earned all state honors last

year behind the plate. She finished the season with a batting average over .600. This year she will try her hand at pitching.

"Right now we're work-ing a number of girls on the mound because in softball pitching plays even bigger than it does in baseball. Pitching is key," said Tim-mons, who is also taking a look at two other sopho-mores, Olivia Fanning and Kaitlyn Hill. Fanning also plays third base and Hill catches when Beem isn't behind the dish. Senior Hannah Francis is also get-ting a look on the mound.

The Lady Tigers outfield will be a strength. All three players are returning start-ers with Brynn Fanning in left, Ryan O'Sullivan in center and Erica Cleveland in right. O'Sullivan will likely be a top of the order hitter.

"If we can get runners on base, I think we'll get them in," said Timmons, whose aggressive style of base running puts pressure on opposing defenses. "We've just got to put the ball in

play."With less experienced

pitchers on the mound this fall, the Lady Tigers infield defense will be tested. Tim-mons is confident they'll be up to the challenge.

"Defensively we'll be alright. If our pitchers can keep the ball down and keep the ball on the ground, I think we'll be okay," he said.

Junior Kaitlyn Graves, a former varsity outfielder, is competing with Jackie Ne-her for playing time at first base. Second will likely be manned by either sopho-more Michaela Brown or senior Isabella Hagin. Bai-ley Starmer, a three year starter, returns at short-stop. Olivia Fanning will likely get the nod at third.

As if a rebuilding project wasn't tricky enough, sig-nificant upheaval occurred in the softball world in the past year. A decision by the Missouri High School Ac-tivities Association to allow teams to compete for post-season championships in the spring caused a num-ber of schools across Mis-

souri to move their softball programs to the spring. La-mar opted to remain play-ing in the fall, so that they could continue to compete in the Big 8 Conference and not cause disruption in other programs. The end result for Lamar is that the vast majority of the Class 2 schools they faced are no longer playing in the fall.

"Us and El Dorado Springs are the only schools in our district who are still playing in the fall. Our schedule looks com-pletely different than it did last year. We're going to be playing a majority of Class 3 and Class 4 schools this year," Timmons said. The

Tigers are the only Class 2 school in the Big 8.

He notes that his team may take a few lumps early, but playing good compe-tition should help them improve and by the time they reach postseason play, where they will face schools their own size, they should be much improved.

"We want to get better every day and if what I've seen early in practices is any indication, these kids have the work ethic and willingness to do what it takes to get better. They keep working as hard as they're working now and they're going to win some ball games," he said.

Lamar's Jada Burwell throws the ball across the infield after fielding a ground ball.


Runners primed for another terrific seasonBy CHRIS MORROW

After a Class 2 state championship in 2012, the Lamar Tiger cross coun-try team came back with a strong season in 2013, but fell a little short of their goals. With every varsity

runner back this fall, they have their sights set on an-other championship run.

"We just had an off day at districts last year," said coach Rodney Baldridge, whose runners didn't qualify as a team. Howev-er, three runners qualified

as individuals and Kaden Overstreet came home with top honors.

Overstreet, a senior this year, finished second in the state with a 17:11 as a sophomore. Last fall he beat out 167 other runners for first place with a time of 16:35. Fellow senior Zane Hull earned all state honors as well, with a 19th place finish and a time of 17:22. Junior Nicholas Ray finished 15th, also earning all state (the top 25 are all state) with a time of 17:07.

This fall Allen Pollard returns to the team as the group's other senior run-ner. Other juniors who are expected to run at the var-sity level include Peyton Bailey and Chase Moore. The varsity includes the program's top seven run-ners. Others who are ex-pected to compete for a varsity spot include sopho-mores Jesse Compton, a varsity runner from a year ago, fellow sophomore Jas-per Messner and freshmen Mark Venable, Garrett Morey and Parker King.

There are 15 runners out

at the high school level, the most of any team Bal-dridge has coached in his long tenure.

The team's depth should add to improved results for the program as a whole.

"Anytime you have com-petition for the six through eight spots it helps every-one improve. They all want to run varsity so they push each other to get better," said Baldridge, who says that the team has no short-age of leaders at the top.

"A coach can only have so many days of contact with the runners, so when I couldn't be there the se-niors stepped in over the summer, making sure ev-eryone was getting in the kind of shape they need to be in. Their leadership is instrumental in how much our younger kids have im-proved," he said, also men-tioning Ray's leadership qualities.

The Tigers have some lofty goals and they aren't ashamed to admit it. They want to repeat as Big 8 Conference champs for the fourth consecutive season.

They also want to regain the district title and earn another state champion-ship. According to Bal-dridge, their work ethic in preseason practices in-dicates that they have ev-ery possibility of reaching those goals.

On the girls' side, after having only four runners last year, they now have a large enough team again

to compete as a team in meets. Last season as a sophomore, Kaelyn Stur-gell earned her second trip to state despite battling some nagging injuries. She finished 57th with a time of 22:16. As a freshman she took 35th. Baldridge says she is healthy again and looking good heading

LAMAR

Members of the Lamar Lady Tiger cross country team have a good time and yet work very hard to prepare for another successful season.

see RUNNERS, page 8


LAMAR

Lamar junior Nicholas Ray leads a pack of cross country runners in a short sprint. There's a lot more to a successful cross country season than just running road miles.

into her junior season. Senior Josie Kaderly,

who was a key member of 2012's state qualifying team, returns as does Har-ley Hunt, who was new to the program last year and gained valuable experi-ence. Juniors Morgan King and Kaily Rienert are first year runners. Freshman Jensen Worsley rounds out the team.

Baldridge says that with several inexperienced run-ners, team goals haven't been discussed much early

in the year. He says the pri-mary team goal is to im-prove and he thinks that if the Lady Tigers continue to work as hard as they have been, they too could be eying some post season success this fall.

"We're very excited about the season. This is a re-ally good group," said Bal-dridge.

The Tigers home meet will be Tuesday, Sept. 30. The Tigers will also host the Big 8 Conference meet on October 20.

Runners, continued from page 7


LAMARing, Bailey brings back a coaching staff that is often overlooked but whose val-ue can't be overstated.

"Every organization, doesn't have to be a sports

team, that can put together a solid group of people and keep them in place for an extended period of time has a chance to be suc-cessful long term. One of

the biggest differences in our football program over many of the past football coaching staffs is that for the most part all of us have been here since 2006, many times turning down other offers in order to stay," said Bailey.

He went on, "Another difference is in the level of communication and cooperation between all the coaches at our school. There is hardly a day that Coach (Dale) Patton (the athletic director), Coach (Joel) Bradin (boys bas-

ketball coach), Coach (Rodney) Baldridge (track and cross country), Coach (Thad) Lundine (baseball) and I aren't talking about some way to improve our athletic programs. That level of team work has not always been the case around here."

Football coaches include: Defensive coordinator Thad Lundine, Brett Pet-tibon, Steven Bailey, Glen Cox, Iver Johnson, Eric England, Rick Piper, Rich-ard Grishow and Dale Pat-ton.

The only thing the Ti-gers didn't achieve in 2013 was a Big 8 Conference championship. Lamar is the smallest school in the league and they just missed winning the title last year when Carl Junction pulled out a victory on the last play of the game at Thomas M. O'Sullivan Stadium on a trick play.

"Lamar has not won a conference championship outright since 1932. We have not had a piece of the conference champion-ship since 2003. Getting to

the top of our conference doesn't happen often. We have had our chances the past few years, but have not succeeded. The up side of that scenario is that our kids didn't dwell on it and allow a failure to win our conference negatively ef-fect the rest of our season. I think that speaks highly of the character of our kids," said Bailey.

If the Tigers are to win a conference title in 2014, it won't come easy, but rest assured, it will be a goal.

Building, continued from page 3

Schedules, continued from page 2

Lamar SoftballSeptember 8, at Marion C.

Early High School, V/JV, 5 p.m.; September 9, Monett

High School, V/JV, 5 p.m.; September 12-14, at Seneca Softball Tournament, V, Time TBA; September 15, El Do-rado Springs High School,

V/JV, 5 p.m.; September 16, at East Newton High School, V/JV, 5 p.m.; September 20, at El Dorado Springs Invita-tional, V, Time TBA; Septem-ber 22, McDonald County High School, V/JV, 5 p.m.; September 23, at Aurora High School, V/JV, 5 p.m.; Septem-ber 25, Fair Play High School, V/JV, 5 p.m.; September 26-

27, at Pleasant Hope Tourna-ment, V, TBA; September 29, at Montrose High School, V/JV, 4:30 p.m.; September 30, Seneca High School, V/JV, 5 p.m.; October 2, Cassville High School, V/JV, 5 p.m.; October 6, at Carl Junction High School, V/JV, 5 p.m.; October 9-12, Districts, V, Location TBA, Time TBA.


Bulldogs looking to improve as season progressesBy CHRIS MORROW

LIBERAL-The Liberal Bulldogs improved from

a winless season in 2012 to a 2-8 campaign last fall under new coach Jason Ramirez. If the Bulldogs

are going to see that kind of improvement again this fall, an inexperienced group will have to step up.

Last spring 11 seniors graduated, leaving the pro-gram without much var-sity experience. Ramirez says that his group may take some lumps early, but he hopes that as the sea-son goes along and these young players get valuable playing time, they will put themselves in a position to compete for postseason play.

The Bulldogs feature five seniors including two of played last year, Parker Norman, a 5-10 190 pound offensive and defensive lineman and Chayce Johnson a 6-foot 225 pound offensive line-

man and linebacker. Kolton Bunny (6-foot, 165), Logan Curry (6-1, 175) and Jimmy Smith (5-8, 180) are new to the program. Bunny plays receiver and linebacker, while Curry is a receiver and cornerback. Jimmy Smith plays running back and linebacker.

Several juniors will be looked to for produc-tion. Levi Littlefield (5-5, 150) moves from run-ning back to quarterback. He also plays defensive back. Gabe McIntire (6-1, 165) plays receiver and linebacker. Tim Roby (6-1, 170) will play receiver and defensive back. Chris Peterson (6-1, 295) will

LAMAR/LIBERALGroup of four to battle bigger schools

By CHRIS MORROW

It takes four to have a re-lay team and Lamar Tiger swim coach Bennett Tabor has four good ones.

"We had six last year, but we can do what we need to with four," said Tabor during preseason practic-es. He brings back senior William Tennal who he says swims a strong breast stroke and he wouldn't be surprised to see him fin-

ishing in the top three in that event and possibly others this fall.

The Tigers other senior is Trenton Maberry, who in the past was a member of the Lamar Tiger Shark swim team, which swims over the summer. He then took a few years off, but re-turned to the Tiger Sharks this summer and is round-ing into shape for this fall's competition.

"I think by mid-season

he'll be in the kind of shape to really have some success. He's working very hard," said Tabor.

The team's lone junior is Hunter Vos, who had dual citizenship as a US citizen and a citizen of the Neth-erlands. He swam for his European team in the past and the Tigers last fall and returns this year and like the others, Tabor sees big things for him.

"He's bigger and stron-

ger and he just missed going to state last year in the free. I can see him go-ing in the 50 free and the 500 free," said Tabor, who is impressed with Vos' ver-satility.

The final member of the team is sophomore Kole-ton Mahurin, who returns from a good season as a freshman.

"He's a very diligent swimmer and he's will-ing to step in wherever we need him. I could see him having a lot of success in the 200 IM," said Tabor, who has two team man-agers to help him keep things running smoothly, Nichol Sinnett and Karsen Hull.

"We had six last year and we finished ahead of a lot of bigger schools at meets," said Tabor, " I think we can do it again."

Koleton Mahurin swims the fly.

Liberal's Josh Caswell dives and brings in a pass early in preseason practice. The Bulldogs are hop-ing to improve on last year's season.

Senior Trenton Maberry will be a welcomed addition to theLamar Tiger swimteam in 2014.

Lamar seniorWilliam Tennal

swims the breast

stroke.

see BULLDOGS, page 14


LOCKWOOD/GREENFIELDTigers working toward another strong campaign

By CHRIS MORROW

LOCKWOOD-It's hard to consistently field a win-ner in Class 1 high school football, but Lockwood's Clay Lasater has done just that. He says the key is a supportive community.

"They trust us (the

coaches) to take their kids and push them and we've had hard working kids and supportive parents and that has allowed us to have consistency in our program. The key is con-sistency. The kids know what we expect and un-derstand our system," said

Lasater.The Tigers

are coming off a 7-4 sea-son in 2013. They lost in the playoffs to Marionville. Although they gradu-ated only six players off last year's team, those six were key players. This year they return only three seniors and one of them, DJ Bell, is coming off shoulder sur-gery and his status is un-clear.

The other two are a pair of wide re-ceivers who play corner-back on de-

fense. Thomas Eggerman (6-foot-3 180 pounds) and Noah Sowell (5-11 175) both started last year and will be two of junior quar-terback Ben Schnelle's primary targets. Schnelle, a 6-foot-5 190 pound ju-nior, turned in a strong season a year ago and is back under center for the Tigers. He also starts at strong safety.

Junior Cody St. John (6-foot 160) will start at tight end and see some time at defensive end. His twin brother Casey plays receiver and cornerback. Vance Coble (6-2 240) saw a lot of action last year on the offensive and defensive lines.

Caleb Robertson (5-10

165) returns to anchor the offensive line at center. He also plays defensive end. Eric Oeltjen (5-10 160) plays guard and lineback-er. Nolan Sparkman (5-11 175) will play on the offen-sive and defensive lines. Parker Berona ( 5-8 155) was a starter on the offen-sive line last year. Robert Raymond (5-9 160) plays linebacker and guard.

Three sophomores will step in at the running back position. Kyle Boldin (6-0 190), Ethan Bates (6-1 230) and Logan Reed (5-8 150) will be the Tigers threats out of the back-field. Lasater is looking to three other sophomores to make an impact at the var-sity level. Skyler Neill (5-9 220) plays on the line, as does Dalton Manke (6-1

185). Brady Waters (6-3 150) plays wide receiver.

"We're looking at filling several spots on the of-fensive line and so that's been a concern for us, but we have some kids who are stepping up. I've been impressed with how hard they are working. Our skill position players are

Lockwood junior quarterback Ben Schnelle finds running room during a preseason workout. Clay Lasater's Tigers are looking to put together another strong season this fall.

see STRONG, page 14

Wildcats to rely on quicknessBy CHRIS MORROW

GREENFIELD-New head coach Steve Cole and his team won't be the biggest team in the Spring River Valley Con-ference if measured in

the size of the athletes or in number of bodies, but he hopes that quickness and intensity will make up for what they may lack in size and numbers.

"No one should be able to out athlete us," he said,

adding, "And they're going to have a lot of fun trying to catch us."

The Wildcats are only 15 strong and most of them are skilled position players.

"We are going to see

Greenfield assistant coach Lee Coleman gets into the action as he tries to elude members of the team during a conditioning portion of a recent practice. Each member of the defense had to get a hand on Coleman be-fore the drill was complete. As evidenced by the smiles, practicing in se-vere heat can be made to be fun if the right drills are chosen.

see QUICKNESS, page 14


LOCKWOOD/GREENFIELDLady Tigers to have experienced group

By CHRIS MORROW

LOCKWOOD-With seven seniors and five who are returning starters back, the Lockwood Lady Tigers looked primed for success in 2014.

Last season the team fin-ished with a record around .500, but coach Jamie Ros-chevitz says that the group has lofty goals this fall.

"As sophomores, this group who are seniors were part of a team that won the conference and the district and they want to do that again and

they're working very hard to get there," she said.

Alexis Byrnes returns as the team's setter. The 5-foot-5 senior started the last three seasons. "It's re-ally a big thing to have a setter with this kind of ex-perience. She keeps every-body under control," said Roschevitz, who is enter-ing her fourth season as the team's coach.

Jessica Nentrup and Emily Backs are a pair of 5-foot-8 outside hitters who also started last sea-son. Olivia Finley (6-foot) returns to patrol the mid-

dle of the net. Ashley Rorman (5-9) also re-turns. She played right side last year.

The Lockwood Lady Tigers work hard during a preseason practice.

Williams steps in to lead Lady Wildcats

By CHRIS MORROW

GREENFIELD-After three years as an assistant coach, Sara Williams will be leading the Greenfield Lady Wildcat program this fall and she has a versatile and athletic group at her disposal.

The Lady Wildcats will be led by three seniors, all of which return with a great deal of var-sity experience. At 5-foot-10, senior middle hitter Cassidy Brown will be a force in the center of the net. Robin Fare (5-10) was a setter last year, but she is versatile enough to play all over the court. Karsen Sims (5-6) was the team's libe-ro last year but she too is ver-satile and may play a variety of positions.

"Our seniors are athletic and they are showing good lead-ership potential," said Williams.

Greenfield'sKatie Marshall passes the ballduring a recentpractice as ateammate looks on.

see GROUP, page 13 see LEAD, page 13


The team's other two seniors are Jolean Hackey (5-5) and Ariel Hagemas-ter (5-3). Roschevitz ex-pects them to contribute as defensive specialists.

"All seven of our seniors are very good leaders and that's a big key if we're to do the things we want to do," she said.

Junior Kelsey Mein (5-9) is a versatile player who will fill in. Sophomore Olivia Nentrup (5-4) will

likely serve as the team's libero. Freshman Mariah Coose (6-foot) is also ex-pected to make an impact at the varsity level.

"In addition to being a very quick athletic group that can jump well, these girls are also very smart; excellent student athletes. They work hard and they know the game," she said.

LOCKWOOD/GREENFIELD

www.SandHCountry.com

S. Hwy. 97 & Hwy. A Lockwood, MO 65682417-232-4700

Good Luck!

Group, continued from page 12Joining the group is

junior middle hitter Ka-tie Marshall who was a key player on last year's team. At 5-foot-10, she also provides height.

A couple of sopho-mores have also secured spots on the varsity ros-ter. Macy Wilson (5-6)

saw some action last year and is expected to see time this fall as the team's setter. Taylor Burns (5-8) played a little varsity last year and she is another athlete whose position isn't nailed down yet, but Williams ex-pects her to make an im-pact. Three or four other

players are vying for the final varsity spots.

"This group talks really well. I think communica-tion is one of the big keys to being successful in vol-leyball," said Williams, who noted that this group plans to compete with the stron-ger programs in the Spring River Valley Conference this fall.

"We're going to have to

work on our serve receiv-ing and improve in that area to be as good as we can, but from what I've seen the girls are prepared to put in the time and ef-fort to get better there and be as good as they can be," she said.

"This is a really enjoy-able group to coach. We're looking forward to a fun season," she said.

Lead, continued from page 12

Liberal FootballSeptember 5, McAuley, V, 7 p.m.; Sep-

tember 12, at Sarcoxie,V, 7 p.m.; Septem-ber 19, Jasper, V, 7 p.m.; September 26, at Miller, V, 7 p.m.; October 3, Greenfield, V, 7 p.m.; October 10, at Diamond, V, 7 p.m.; October 17, Rich Hill High School, V, 7 p.m.; October 23, District Tourna-ment, V, 7 p.m.

Liberal VolleyballSeptember 4, at Nevada, V/JV, 6 p.m.;

September 6, at Frontenac/Colgan Pool Play Tournament, V, TBA; September 8, at Golden City, V/JV, 6 p.m.; September 9, at Jasper, V/JV, 6 p.m.; September 11, Sheldon, V/JV, 6 p.m.; September 15, at Joplin, McAuley High School, V/JV, 6 p.m.; September 16, at Diamond, V/JV, 6 p.m.; September 20, at Lamar Invita-tional Tournament, V/JV, TBA; Septem-ber 22, El Dorado Springs, V/JV, 6 p.m.; September 23, Lockwood, V/JV, 6 p.m.; September 25, at Joplin, Thomas Jeffer-son High School, V/JV, 6 p.m.; Septem-ber 30, Miller, V/JV, 6 p.m.; October 2, at Joplin, College Heights Christian Acad-emy, V/JV, 6 p.m.; October 4, at Jasper Volleyball Tournament, JV, TBA; Octo-ber 7, Pierce City, V/JV, 6 p.m.; October 9, at Greenfield, V/JV, 6 p.m.; October 13, at Rich Hill, Var/J.V., 6 p.m.; October 14, Sarcoxie, Var/J.V., 6 p.m.; October 20-21, at Rich Hill District Volleyball, Varsity,TBA.________________________

Jasper FootballSeptember 5, 7 p.m., at Pierce City;

September 12, 7 p.m., Miller with Ever-ton; September 19, 7 p.m., at Liberal with Bronaugh; September 26, 7 p.m., at Stockton; October 3, 7 p.m., McAuley Catholic; October 10, 7 p.m., Greenfield; October 17, 7 p.m., at Lockwood with Golden City.

Jasper VolleyballSeptember 4, 7:30 p.m., at Rich Hill,

JV; September 9, 7:30 p.m., Liberal, JV; September 11, 6 p.m., Verona, JV; Sep-tember 13, Time TBA, FHS/SMC Invi-tational Tournament, at Frontenac, KS, V; September 15, 7:30 p.m., at Everton, JV; September 16, 7:30 p.m., Sarcoxie, JV; September 18, 7:30 p.m., Bronaugh, JV; September 20, Time TBA, Lamar In-vitational Tournament, at Lamar, V; Sep-tember 23, 7:30 p.m., at Greenfield, JV; September 25, 7:30 p.m., College Heights Christian, JV; September 27, Time TBA, Jasper Invitational Tournament, at Jas-per, V; September 30, 7:30 p.m., at Gold-en City, JV; October 2, 6 p.m., Pierce City, JV; October 7, 7:30 a.m., Miller, JV; Octo-ber 9, 7:30 p.m., at Diamond, JV; October 14, 7:30 p.m., at Lockwood, JV; October 16, 7:30 p.m., Thomas Jefferson Indepen-dent, JV.

Jasper Cross Country ScheduleSeptember 6, Time TBA, at Neosho,

Girls Varsity; September 11, Time TBA, at Carthage, Girls Varsity; September 20, Time TBA, at Missouri Southern Invitational (Joplin, MO), Girls Varsity; September 27, Time TBA, at East New-ton, Girls Varsity; September 30, Time TBA, at Lamar, Girls Varsity; October 9, Time TBA, at Carl Junction, Girls Varsi-ty; October 16, Time TBA, at Southwest (Washburn), Girls Varsity; October 21, Time TBA, at Diamond, Girls Varsity.________________________

Lockwood FootballSeptember 5, at Greenfield, 7 p.m.;

September 12, McAuley @ MSSU, 7 p.m.; September 19, Diamond Homecoming, 7 p.m.; September 26, at Pierce City, 7 p.m.; October 3, at Sarcoxie, 7 p.m.; October 10, Miller, 7 p.m.; October 17, Jasper Sr. Night, 7 p.m.; October 24, Districts TBA, 7 p.m.; October 31, Districts TBA, 7 p.m.; November 7, Districts TBA, 7 p.m.

Lockwood VolleyballSeptember 6, El Dorado, 6 p.m.; Sep-

tember 6, at Verona Tournament, TBA; September 9, Miller, 6 p.m.; September 11, Ash Grove, 6 p.m.; September 16, Golden City, 6 p.m.; September 18, at Sarcoxie, 6 p.m.; September 20, Strafford Tournament, Away, TBA; September 23, at Liberal, 6 p.m.; September 25, at Pur-dy, 6 p.m.; September 30, Greenfield, 6 p.m.; October 2, at McAuley Catholic, 6 p.m.; October 4, at Neosho Tournament, TBA; October 9, at Pierce City, 6 p.m.; October 13, Stockton, 6 p.m.; October 14, Jasper Sr. Night, 6 p.m.; October 16, at Diamond, 6 p.m.; October 20, District Tournament, Away, TBA. ________________________

Greenfield FootballSeptember 5, 7 p.m., at Lockwood; Sep-

tember 12, 7 p.m., Archie; September 19, 7 p.m., at Sarcoxie; September 26, 7 p.m., at McAuley Catholic (Joplin); October 3, 7 p.m., at Liberal; October 10, 7 p.m., at Jasper; October 17, Time TBA, Corner-stone (Joplin); October 17, 7 p.m., Dia-mond.

Greenfield Volleyball September 4, 6 p.m., at Stockton; Sep-

tember 8, 6 p.m., at Lamar, JV; September 9, 6 p.m., at Golden City, JV; September 16, 6 p.m., at Miller, JV; September 18, 6 p.m., at Marionville, JV; September 20, Time TBA, Greenfield Varisty Volley-ball Tourn., V; September 23, 7:30 p.m., Jasper, JV; September 27, Time TBA, at Jasper Invitational Tournament, V; Sep-tember 29, 6 p.m., Thomas Jefferson Independent; September 30, 7 p.m., at Lockwood, JV; October 2, 6 p.m., Dia-mond; October 6, 6 p.m., at Verona, JV; October 6, 6 p.m., at Verona; October 7, 6 p.m., at Sarcoxie, JV; October 9, 6 p.m., Liberal; October 13, 6 p.m., College Heights Christian; October 16, 6 p.m., at Pierce City, JV.

LIBERAL, JASPER, LOCKWOOD & GREENFIELD SCHEDULES


some teams who are big-ger than us up front, but we're going to be in shape and we're going to do some things with tempo and de-fensively that we think will put us in a good position to win football games," said Cole, who comes in after coaching at Glendale High School in Springfield. He also coached at Southwest Baptist University in Boli-var and was a student as-sistant at the University of Arkansas. He is a graduate of Mansfield High School in Arkansas.

Though not blessed with a lot of bodies, the Wildcats are blessed with a strong core of seniors including Coleman Whitaker who stands 6-foot-4 and weighs 180 pounds. He finished sixth in the state last spring in the 400 meter dash. Cole hopes to take advantage of his speed by moving him from the offensive line to wide receiver. He will play defensive end as well. Bookending the defensive line is another senior, Carl Mason (6-3 200). He will play tight end on offense.

Senior Austin Irwin (5-9 150) will get a chance to prove himself under cen-ter this year, after serving as the back-up quarterback in the past. Cole has been impressed with the strides he's made early in work-outs. He will play corner-back on defense. Hunter Montez (6-1 170) is an-other big target at wide re-ceiver and he too will play in the secondary. Dylan Noad, the team's other se-nior, stands 6-foot-1 170 and also plays receiver and defensive back.

Sophomore Jeritt Esposi-to (6-2 190) will be asked to prove his versatility as he will see action both on the offensive line and at running back. He plays linebacker as well. Col-lin Allen (5-10 180), an-other sophomore, will be the team's center and play linebacker. Roy Beeson (5-11 200) plays offensive and defensive line.

Cole has been impressed with freshman Charles Servoss (5-10 165) and ex-pects to see him get a lot of carries at running back. He will play linebacker as well. Another freshman, Daw-son Wimer (5-10 205),

will play on both sides of

going to be our strength, but nothing happens without good line play," said Lasater, who had 32 on his roster a week into preseason workouts.

Defensively the line-backing corps is the area that will need some ath-

letes to step up and fill the void. "I'm comfortable with what we have on the defensive line and in the secondary," said Lasater. Back to run the defense is coordinator Mike Pittsen-barger, who is in his sev-enth season.

The Tigers went 5-2 in the Spring River Valley Conference last year. This edition of the team wants to put up another strong season and continue the

tradition of good football at Lockwood High School and Lasater says the play-ers are working hard to make that a reality.

LOCKWOOD/GREENFIELD

Incoming Greenfield head coach Steven Cole talks with members of his team during a preseason workout.

Strong, continued from page 11

Quickness, continued from page 11

Bulldogs, continued from page 10help anchor the offensive and defensive lines. Zach Johnson (5-6, 155) brings versatility, playing a va-riety of positions in the defensive backfield and at linebacker.

Sophomore Parker Rose (5-8, 210) will play on the offensive line. Freshmen Jacob Dermott, Dalton Davis and Austin Johnson

are also going to see var-sity playing time. Johnson (5-6 165) starts on the of-fensive line and Dermott (5-6 130) plays corner-back. Davis plays line-backer and tight end.

Graduating a large class of seniors means that kids who perhaps hadn't been looked to for leadership in the past have to step into

that role."The seniors are making

sure that they hold each other accountable and we have some juniors who are stepping up to be leaders too," said Ramirez, whose team is captained by Nor-man, Chase Johnson, Bunny and Littlefield.

Ramirez teaches his players to set their goals

high. They hope to grow as the season progresses and be playing their best football when the district slate rolls around.

"And we want to win more games than we did last year," said Ramirez. "They did a good amount of work in the offseason and this group has good attitudes."

see QUICKNESS, page 15


the line, as will sophomore Josh Cantrell (6-0 260). Jon Blinkensop (5-9 170) will play offensive line and

linebacker.When asked about the

team's work ethic, Cole raved about the off season

weightlifting and speed work the kids put in.

"It speaks volumes about leadership. Our seniors made sure everyone was accountable for being there and putting in the work," he said, noting that on av-erage each player gained 100 pounds of added weight lifted from the start of the program until the end in the three core lifts, bench press, squat and power clean.

"We lifted five days a week and it paid off. We got a lot stronger."

The SRVC is always tough, but Cole is hopeful.

"The key for us will be stopping the run defen-sively and spreading teams out and playing up-tempo on offense. We want to win our home games and be in our road games with a chance to win them. We're excited for the season to get started," he said.

Lady Bulldogs bring back experiencedgroup with high expectations

By CHRIS MORROW

LIBERAL-After advancing to the Class 1 state sectional round where they lost to Jasper last fall, Becky Lowry returns a deep group of athletes, many of whom have a good deal of varsity experience.

"The seniors on this team have been to state. We spend a lot of time reminding them how that felt and how they have to keep their focus if they're going to go fur-ther than they did last year," said Lowry,

whose team finished 16-14 a year ago and won a district championship.

They will be led by five seniors."They have been good leaders so far and

we'll need that to continue," she said.Brittany Ayers, a 5-foot-8 hitter, moves

from the outside to the middle this fall. Shaylee Stanley (5-8) was also a starter last year. She returns to set in the Lady Bulldogs two setter attack. Kennedy Kir-by (5-9) was also a key starter last year and she returns to patrol the middle of

the net. McKenna Higgins (5-7) was also a starter last year and is back to lead the offense from the right side. Maddie Linsteadt (5-6) steps into the second setter role this fall.

Junior Haley Page (5-5) will be the team's libero.

Sophomores Alexys Barton (5-6) and Makayla Fry (5-5) will chip in at out-side hitter. Freshmen Carly Spencer (5-10), Kaylee Daniels (5-5) and Jaci Coleman (5-4) are also expected to make an impact at the varsity level.

"We have a very athletic team but we have height too, which is something that is rare for us," said Lowry. "For us the key will be communication when we're struggling and that happens to all teams at times. We have to keep our mental toughness in those moments because we have the physical tools."

She said that sometimes the players don't realize just how talented they are.

"We can go very far if we can play with confidence. This is a terrific group, they just need to realize how good they are and then play up to their ability," she said.

LIBERAL

Liberal junior Haley Page passes the ball to a teammate during preseason workouts. The Lady Bulldogs are hoping for another successful campaign in 2014.

Quickness, continued from page 14


JASPERLady Eagles looking to make history

By CHRIS MORROW

JASPER-The Jasper Lady Eagles have their sites set on school history this fall. After reaching the Elite Eight a year ago, fourth year coach Daniel Os-borne says his team wants to go even further in 2014 and if they do, they will achieve a level of success that no Jasper volleyball team has yet reached.

The Lady Eagles won their district and section-al last year before losing to Osceola in the Class 1 quarterfinal. They gradu-ated four seniors from last year's team and return a veteran group this fall.

Senior Kenedy Chaligoj, a 5-foot-7 outside hitter, was a starter last year and

Osborne refers to her as one of his, "go-to players." Her classmate, Chandra Howard (5-6), is also an outside hitter and Os-borne expects her to be a clutch performer this year. Addison Gastel (5-7) is a serving specialist. Ashley Porter (5-6) is another outside hitter.

The rest of the varsity roster is made up of ju-niors, many of which have a lot of varsity experience. Audra Etcheson (5-4) re-turns as one of the team's setters. Bri Cawyer (5-6) is back to patrol the middle of the net. Elizabeth Ma-neval (5-6) plays outside hitter and also started last year. Keylee McCutcheon (5-6) plays middle hit-ter. Regan Misth (5-1) is a setter. The team's libero is

5-foot Kortlin Garvin.Osborne told the Dem-

ocrat during preseason practices that the team was working very hard in anticipation of the start of the season.

"This team is motivat-ed. They have the mental strength and they have the talent. Last year was one of four times that a Jasper team has gone to the quar-terfinal. This group wants to be the first team to go further than that. They have the mindset to do it. They know what it feels like to have success," said Osborne, who is assisted by Sylvia Evans.

"They work well as a team and we're all excited to get the season started," he said.

Preparing for the season means a lot of conditioning. Here members of the Jasper Lady Eagles volleyball team work hard to make sure they are in the kind of shape they need to be in to succeed.

The Jasper Eagles are coming off a terrific playoff season in 2013. Here members of the team work during a hot August preseason practice.

Eagles coming off 11-1 seasonBy CHRIS MORROW

JASPER-The Jasper Ea-gles put together their best season in decades in 2013 and coach Richie Adkins says they are taking a sim-ple approach as they look to repeat as Spring River Valley Conference champs this fall.

"They came in during the off season and picked up where they left off. We just try to keep things con-sistent and take it one day at a time," said Adkins, whose team went 11-1 last year and cruised through the regular season unde-feated. That was the first time a Jasper team posted an undefeated regular sea-son since 1965 and the conference title was the

program's first since 1979.The Eagles graduated

eight seniors off of last year's team, but return six this year including several with a lot of varsity experi-ence.

Kyle Ghumm (5-foot-10 240 pounds) returns at center, where he has started since his fresh-man season. "We love hav-ing a guy up there who has done it as long and as well as he has," said Ad-kins. "Kyle knows what to do, he keeps those guys lined up properly and we haven't had problems with the center-quarterback ex-change."

Another four year starter up front is Chet Corle (6-2 225) who plays tackle. He also plays defensive end.

Matt Stump (6-foot

165) saw some action at quarterback last year, but primarily played running back. He'll be under center this fall and also play line-backer. Jordan Rice (5-8 175) returns at running back and safety, where he started on both sides of the ball last year. Austin Gloodt (5-8 225) missed most of last year to a knee injury and Adkins says he's glad to have him back at guard and middle line-backer. Hayden Davis (5-7 145) plays wide receiver.

Junior bookends Blake Jeffries and Nick Adkins both stand 6-foot-3 and weigh 185 pounds. They play opposite each other at tight end and also at de-fensive end. Drew Schil-ling (6-2 235) returns at offensive and defensive

tackle. Tommy Lassiter (5-9 205) starts at line-backer and guard.

Sophomores TK Rober and Levi Brown should also make a varsity im-pact. Rober (5-7 135) will start at cornerback and Brown (5-11 150) will start at running back.

Adkins says that this team is focused.

"Our first goal is to win a conference championship. That's our goal every year. We set out to win a con-ference championship and we took a lot of pride in doing that last year. Then we want to be playing good football when we get into districts and see what happens," he said.

"This is a great group of kids, a lot of fun to work with," he added.


Eagles coming off terrific 2013By CHRIS MORROW

JASPER-The Jasper Ea-gles cross country run-ners turned in a memo-rable season last fall, with the girls team winning the district championship and several of the runners competing in the state

cross country meet. New coach Donna Davis hopes that her runners will pick up where they left off a year ago.

"Austin (Bunn) did a great job starting the pro-gram. He pretty much set it up and I just stepped in," said Davis, who add-

ed, "And it's been a lot of fun. They (the runners) are working extremely hard."

Unfortunately, in order for the Lady Eagles to defend their district title, they'll have to come up with one more runner. A team of five is required in order to compete for a team title and two weeks into preseason practice, they only had four. Of those four, three were in-tegral pieces to last year's success. Seniors Monica Steeves and Cameron Stump finished 35th and 44th respectively at state. Sophomore Grace Gaza-way also returns after fin-ishing 75th at state as a freshman. New to the pro-gram is sophomore Hailey Reynolds.

Sophomore Hayden Howard finished 69th in

the state's biggest race last year as a freshman. He is the only male member of the Eagles this fall.

"They got a week off when school let out for the summer and then they went right back to

running. They've been running since the begin-ning of June. They are a highly motivated group," said Davis.

The Eagles will get their season started September 6, at Neosho.

"We're thankful that so far everyone has been healthy. We've had great support from the parents and the community and we're hoping for another successful season," said Davis.

JASPER/GOLDEN CITY

Lady Eagles looking to breaknew ground

By CHRIS MORROW

GOLDEN CITY-Third year Golden City volley-

ball coach Jimmy Hillman has been asking those around the program about teams of the past and the

1984 team appears to be the only one to reach dou-ble digits in wins. They nearly got there in his first

season with nine. This year they plan to rack up

see BREAK, page 18

Jasper cross country coach Donna Davis talks with senior members of her team, Monica Steeves and Kamry Stump.


Lady Wildcats looked primed for another good run

By CHRIS MORROW

BRONAUGH-The Bro-naugh Lady Wildcats graduated three seniors off of a 15-11 team last year, but expectations are still high heading into 2014.

James Frank takes over the program as the head coach and he'll be looking to two seniors to provide leadership. Martell Moore, a 5-foot-8 outside hitter, was a key member of last year's team, as was Lora Shaw, a 5-foot-10 middle hitter.

"Lora has a broken wrist right now and it will be a few weeks until we'll have her back, but she still comes to practice and

does what she can with one hand. That shows the kind of leader she is," said Frank. On Moore he said, "She is also a good leader and an exceptional ath-lete."

A handful of juniors will be asked to step in and make an impact. Becca Schedler (5-foot) was a de-fensive specialist last year, but this year she will move to setter. Amanda Raper (5-10) started last year and she returns in the middle of the net. Lindsey Reedy (5-9) is another middle hitter on a team that will give opponents fits with its height. The tallest player is sophomore Katey Rider, who stands 6-foot-1 and is

a good enough athlete to play both middle and out-side hitter.

Sophomores Kailey Har-rell (5-5) and Mandy Mur-phy (5-8) will also be key. The team has two fresh-men who will likely see varsity time, Esther Nich-ols (5-6) and Becca Raper (5-6).

"We are optimistic about the season. Early on we'll have to rely on some of our younger players more until we get healthy and get some kids eligible who weren't able to start practice early enough to be ready to play when the season starts, but that will get them some expe-rience," said Frank, who

noted that several of the other schools in the confer-ence grad-uated good players.

"We should be able to compete in our confer-ence," he said, add-ing, "The important thing for us will be to work hard and keep getting better throughout the season."

BRONAUGH/GOLDEN CITYBronaugh senior Mar-tell Moore was a key player in last year’s success. She returns this year to help lead a Wildcat team with high as-pirations. Here she bumps the ball over the net as Becca Schnedler and coach James Frank look on.

Bronaugh Volleyball ScheduleSeptember 4, 5:30 p.m.,

Miami at Amoret; Sep-tember 9, 5:30 p.m., McAuley Catholic; Sep-tember 13, Time TBA, TJ Invitational at Joplin, Var-sity; September 15, 5:30 p.m., at Hume; Septem-ber 16, 5:30 p.m., Miami; September 18, 6 p.m., at Jasper; September 23, 5 p.m., Ballard; September 25, 6 p.m., Golden City;

September 30, 5:30 p.m., Hume; October 2, 5 p.m., Northeast Vernon Coun-ty at Walker; October 9, 5 p.m., Northeast Ver-non County; October 11, Time TBA, GVVC Con-ference at Walker, Varsity; October 13, 5:30 p.m., at NE Arma, Chetopa (Tri-Meet); October 14, 5:30 p.m., Sheldon; October 16, 6 p.m., at Sarcoxie.

some wins."We want to do some-

thing that hasn't been done around here in a long time," said Hillman, who feels he has the group to do it.

Junior Cassie Tubaugh (5-foot-4) missed last season after a knee injury over the summer sidelined her. As a freshman she was

second team All Spring River Valley and second team All District. She returns at the important setter position. Senior Shayna Brazeal (5-foot-6) was a move-in last fall and had to sit out as a result. Hillman was enthusiastic about what see BREAK, page 19

Break, continued from page 17


she brings to the program."She's a terrific hitter

and will be one of our few players who will play all the way around. She's got as much athleticism as any girl who's played sports at Golden City for a long

time," said Hillman.Senior Britney Norrod

(5-foot) is a varsity return-er who plays back row. The team's other senior is Georgette Brubaker, a 5-foot-7 hitter.

Junior Selina Dunlap

(5-4) filled in at setter last year in Tubaugh's absence. This year she returns to her natural position as a hitter. "She's going to help us a lot there," said Hill-man.

Junior Tierra Irwin is a

hard working back row specialist.

Sophomores Bailey Moore (5-5) and Kaitland Force (5-11) will also be key varsity contributors with Moore playing back row and Force playing middle hitter.

"Bailey is a very good defensive player and Kait-land is a rock in the mid-dle for us," said Hillman.

Freshman Taylor Beerly will help out at the varsity level.

"She's a gifted athlete who can jump out of the gym and at 5-7 she gives us some height. She's working hard to be the player we need her to be," said Hillman.

Overall numbers are at their peak in Hillman's short tenure, with 14 play-ers on the roster, includ-ing a pair of foreign ex-change students (whose

names weren't available at press time) and freshmen Brooklyn Woodworth and Lena Brewer.

"I always try not to get too attached to the se-niors that I coach because I know they're going to graduate and go on, but

it's hard not to with these three seniors because they're such good leaders. They're fun to work with and with their leadership, I think we might do some things that haven't been done around here in a long time," said Hillman.

GOLDEN CITY

Golden City's Georgette Brubaker passed the ball to a teammate, while Bailey Moore looks on during a preseason workout.

Golden City Volleyball ScheduleSeptember 6, at Vero-

na Tournament, Varsity, TBA; September 8, Lib-eral, JV/V, 6 p.m.; Septem-ber 9, Greenfield, JV/V, 6 p.m.; September 16, at Lockwood, JV/V, 6 p.m.; September 18, Everton, JV/V, 6 p.m.; September 20, at Greenfield Tour-nament, Varsity, TBA; September 23, at College Heights, JV/V, 6 p.m.; Sep-tember 25, at Bronaugh, JV/V, 6 p.m.; September

27, at Jasper Tournament, Varsity, TBA; September 29, Joplin McAuley, JV/V, 6 p.m.; September 30, Jas-per, JV/V, 6 p.m.; October 2, at Miller, JV/V, 6 p.m.; October 7, at Diamond, JV/V, 6 p.m.; October 9, at Sarcoxie, JV/V, 6 p.m.; October 13, at Thomas Jef-ferson, JV/V, 6 p.m.; Octo-ber 14, Pierce City, JV/V, 6 p.m.; October 20-21, Location TBA, Districts, Varsity, TBA.

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Sheldon Volleyball ScheduleSeptember 5, 5:30

p.m., at Northeast Ver-non County; September 8, 5:30 p.m., Miami, JV; September 11, 6 p.m., at Liberal, JV; September 13, Time TBA, Thomas Jeffer-son Invitational at Joplin, V; September 15, 6 p.m., Thomas Jefferson; Sep-tember 18, 6 p.m., Rich Hill; September 19, 5:30 p.m., Hume; September

26, 5 p.m., Northeast Ver-non County; October 3, 5 p.m., at Hume; October 7, 5 p.m., Ballard; Octo-ber 11, Time TBA, Con-ference Tournament at Northeast Vernon Coun-ty, V; October 13, 5 p.m., at Miami, JV; October 14, 5 p.m., at Bronaugh; Oc-tober 20-22, Time TBA, District Tournament, Lo-cation TBA.

SHELDONLady Panthers young but experienced

By CHRIS MORROW

SHELDON-Lady Pan-ther volleyball coach Lisha Lamb will have a young team in 2014, but they will largely be an experienced group.

After a rebuilding cam-paign in her rookie season, Lamb saw only two seniors graduate and this year's team does not have a se-nior. What they do have is a strong core of juniors and sophomores who started last year.

Lindsey Turner and Dani Hibbetts are a pair of out-

side hitters who stand 5-foot-8 and 5-foot-6 re-spectively. The team's other junior is 5-foot-6 setter Lo-gan Lamb. All three started last year. This year they will be looked to for leadership.

"They are good at en-couraging the other play-ers," said Lamb.

A pair of sophomores, Carly Claflin (5-7) and Sa-brina Nance (5-3) both saw varsity action in 2013. Claf-lin is a setter and Nance a defensive specialist.

Three freshmen round out the roster. Brenna Al-

len (5-8) plays back row and outside hitter. Alycia Baney (5-6) and Leah Bog-

art (5-5) are both defensive specialists.

Lamb says the team's pri-

mary goal this season is to play aggressively and to ex-hibit good teamwork.

"They are hard workers and we're all excited about the season," said Lamb.

Members of the Sheldon Lady Panthers volleyball team work hard to get ready for the season.

2014 Sports Preview

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