Sports
Chanute golf season ends at Regionals
EL DORADO — The season ended on Monday for Chanute’s boys golf team, at Regionals at the Prairie Trails Country Club in El Dorado. The Comets placed 10th at the event with a total team score of 377. Only the top three teams at the Regional tournament qualify for State, which meant that Wichita-Collegiate, Iola and Trinity Academy will be representing this Regional at the State event. “Although we didn’t play quite to our capabilities, there w...
full story
NCCC baseball pulls to one win away from World Series return
Brian McDowell Sports Editor WICHITA — The NCCC baseball team won its first three games of this weekend’s NJCAA Central District Tournament in Wichita. After putting themselves on the winning side of the bracket with a Friday morning 4-2 victory over Fort Scott, the Panthers took on the Kansas City Kansas Blue Devils on Saturday afternoon and came away with a 5-0 shutout victory. This put the Panthers in a winner’s bracket championship showdo...
full story
Mental mistakes cost Comet baseball in last regular season games
Brian McDowell Sports Editor The same things plagued the Chanute baseball team in its last regular season doubleheader of the season against Fort Scott on Friday night that have plagued the team all season. “It’s the mental approach to the game,” first-year Head Coach Josh Messer said. He pointed to the first game, which the Comets lost 6-1, in which Fort Scott won the game on a series of Comet errors. “We can’t do that against a good team an...
full story
Chanute softball ends regular season second in SEK
Brian McDowell Sports Editor Before their softball season started, the Chanute Lady Comets were picked in a pre-season coach’s poll to finish fourth in the conference. Last year, Chanute finished sixth in SEK play. On Friday night, the softball squad was competing with Fort Scott for first. Chanute fell in these last regular-season games 10-4 and 4-0. The team’s record is now 10-8. Still, the team’s coach Maria Hernandez was expressing pride ...
full story
Comet golf wraps up regular season in Winfield
In its last golf tournament of the year before Regionals, the Chanute boys golf team finished in 12th place in Winfield last Thursday. The golf team scored a total of 387. This tournament featured a few SEK teams and many schools from around the Wichita area. The Winfield tourney was won by Bishop Carroll with a 314. Brady Roush and Troy Reaves tied for 50th at this tournament with each scoring 95 on the course. Freshman Dylan Funk was right ...
full story
Regional brackets released for Comet baseball and softball
The Chanute varsity baseball and softball match-ups scheduled for Thursday against Fort Scott were postponed until today at 4:30 p.m. at Santa Fe Park. Meanwhile, regional assignments were released for both squads. Chanute’s Santa Fe Park is hosting the softball regionals this year, which will give the Lady Comets home advantage in the games they play. The softball squad will be seeded fifth, and will start regional play with a rematch again...
full story
Murry and Panthers excited about third consecutive Wichita playoff
Brian McDowell Sports Editor For the third season in a row, the NCCC baseball team has qualified for the NJCAA Region VI Super Regional in Wichita. These playoffs will start at 10 a.m. this morning at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium in Wichita with a match-up against Fort Scott. The Panthers are the only team in this year’s tournament that has been to the event for three years in a row. The winner of this event earns a trip to the NJCAA World Series...
full story
Panthers pitcher Johnson will prove key to playoff success
Brian McDowell Sports Editor NCCC Coach Steve Murry cites starting pitcher Jake Johnson as one of the players on the Panthers who has grown up the most this year. “Jake had six inning success a lot of the time,” Murry said, “but when that seventh inning came, it might have become too big for him at that stage of his career. So, he failed a couple of times in the seventh inning.” Murry considers the last couple of innings in any game to be th...
full story
Panthers returner Ewing ready for Wichita
Brian McDowell Sports Editor NCCC rightfielder Robbe Ewing was a part of last year’s Panthers squad that won the Region VI Super-Final in Wichita to qualify for the NJCAA World Series. This year, he makes his return to the event as one of the team’s leading hitters. “I’ve obvious been there and done that before,” Ewing said, “and that knocks out the nervousness. When we get there and step off the bus, I know what to expect, as far as the stad...
full story
Lady Comets only allow four hits in doubleheader sweep
Brian McDowell Sports Editor Weather delays gave Chanute’s softball team almost two weeks off after two tough losses to Baxter Springs. However, the squad’s return to the field proved worth the wait on Tuesday afternoon, as the Lady Comets scored 15-0 and 13-1 victories over Coffeyville. Coach Maria Hernandez said that when Baxter Springs started that doubleheader by scoring nine runs in the first inning, that demonstrated to her that her tea...
full story
Chanute volleyball Coach Petersen hosting summer camps
CHS volleyball coach Gail Petersen, who has guided the Comets to the State tournament for the last two years, will be conducting a volleyball camp for girls this summer. The camps will cover basic volleyball skills and will feature personal instruction from Petersen. The coach has registration sheets available at local schools and at the Chanute Recreation office and she has passed some out at Royster and to the 5th graders at Chanute Elem...
full story
Comet baseball splits with Coffeyville
Brian McDowell Sports Editor While watching two of his players stage a footrace along the base path of the field at Santa Fe Park after the Chanute baseball team’s Tuesday night weather-delayed game against Coffeyville, coach Josh Messer wistfully joked, “I wish we had this much spirit when we were playing the second game.” The nightcap game, battling against tough pitching from Coffeyville, was rough on Chanute hitters. The Comets lost this ...
full story
Chanute golf swings into fifth at home tourney
Chanute boys golf coach Bill Woodard praised the Comets for having played better as a team the last couple of times out. “Maybe as the weather continues to improve so will our ability to score well,” Woodard said. The Comets scored fifth place at the golf tournament it hosted at Quarry Stone on Monday, scoring a total of 354 strokes. This was one point behind fourth place Coffeyville. Independence won this event with 329. Chanute is currently...
full story
NCCC track makes an impact at Region VI championship
Brian McDowell Sports editor Athletes on this year’s NCCC track and field team are forging a new legacy of success and shattering several long-standing school records. This was made clear at the Region VI track and field championships last weekend in Great Bend, where Panther athletes battled against cold weather to make a big impact. SHERAE BATES - A freshman from the St. Louis area, Bates has broken school records in 10 events so far as a P...
full story
Season ends at Regionals for Chanute tennis team
Shifting line-ups, youth and inexperience indicated that this would be a season of struggles for the Chanute varsity boys tennis team. However, the singles and doubles players on the Comets squad fought hard through the season, gaining valuable court experience, and pushing Chanute firmly into the middle of the SEK pack. The team’s season ended sooner than its players wanted it to, at the Regionals event in Independence on Friday. The team’s ...
full story
Varsity baseball and softball to play Coffeyville later today
The varsity baseball and softball games that were scheduled to be played here in Chanute on Monday against Coffeyville were again postponed until today at 4:30 p.m. These contests were originally scheduled for Thursday, May 2, but were postponed by stormy weather. Now, these games are set to made up this afternoon, with the baseball team playing at Katy Park and the softball team at Santa Fe Park.
full story
BMDN_050713ncccbaseball.jpg
Dodge City playoff victories sending Panthers to Wichita
Brian McDowell Sports Editor The NCCC baseball team has had to overcome many obstacles this season, dealing with everything from youth and inexperience to injuries to key players. The Panthers have had to deal with severe weather and resulting schedule changes. However, the Panthers have proved highly capable of rising up and meeting all challenges. Their ability to roll with the punches will be rewarded this weekend, when, for the third year...
full story
Chanute basketball coaches hosting summer camps
The basketball coaches at Chanute High School will be holding their youth basketball camps at the beginning of June. These camps, led by coaches Max Ruark and Dustin Fox, will focus on fundamentals and give kids ideas on how to go improve their games beyond their time at camp. The high school’s boys and girls coaches are combining the grade school camp this year. Fox, the coach of the Comets girls team, will also be running middle school and...
full story
Weather shifts spring sport schedules
As it has done throughout this spring sports season, weather has caused some changes in the schedules of events for CHS varsity teams. First, the Comets’ regional tennis event at Riverside Park in Independence will now finish on Monday. This event was originally scheduled for May 2 and 3. Because of snow and rain on Thursday, the event was pushed to Friday and today. Friday’s matches went on as scheduled, but because of low temperatures, pa...
full story
Two victories by second-place Llamas help Comets secure fourth in Neody
NEODESHA — Two victories by number two singles player Pedro Llamas gave the Chanute tennis team a boost, and helped the Comets finish fourth at the Neodesha tennis tournament on Tuesday afternoon. Llamas finished second at this event, which was the Comets’ last regular season tournament. Because of forecasted bad weather in the area on Thursday, the team’s regionals event will start on Friday morning after a coaches’ seeding meeting at 10 a....
full story