Sports
Neosho County wrestler finds success going west
This past weekend, the NCCC wrestling team traveled out west to face #7 ranked Colby CC on Friday and then compete in the Fort Hays State Open the following day. According to Coach Wayne Petterson, this turned out to be a good experience for the young team as the competition level was not disappointing. On Friday, after the six-hour drive to Colby, the Panthers defeated Colby 26-24. Neosho played the strategy game well, weighing in extra wres...
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Chanute girls start season with 44-29 loss
Brian McDowell Sports Editor LOUISBURG — “It was the first game and we looked like it was our first game in the first half.” This is how first-year Chanute girls basketball Coach Dustin Fox summed up his team’s 44-29 loss to the Baldwin Bulldogs on the first night of the season-opening Louisburg Tournament on Monday night. Baldwin sprang out to an early lead in the game that they never let go of, doubling Chanute’s scoring in the first half. ...
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Comets lose to Baldwin in OT
Brian McDowell Sports Editor LOUISBURG —The Chanute boys basketball team came within two mere points of starting its season off with an overtime victory in the first night of the Louisburg tournament on Monday. Down by seven points at halftime to the Baldwin Bulldogs, the Comets fought their way back to tie the game at 47, forcing an extra four-minute overtime in which they fell 59-57. The overtime period was a topsy-turvy back and forth emot...
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Official results for wrestling’s home opener
Chanute started its wrestling season last Wednesday with a 52-30 victory over Fredonia. Seven Chanute wrestlers made their varsity debuts that night. Coach Andy Albright said that, overall, it was a fun night in front of Chanute’s home crowd. Among the winners for the Comets were Adam Cole, who Albright said was an exciting kid to watch wrestle. “He is always looking to score points,” Albright said. Also, in the 126 weight class, Lane Umbarge...
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St. Paul battling injuries to build bench
Anthony Cook Sports Editor The St. Paul High School boys basketball team will piece together a team this year, and likely a very competitive one. But the Indians will look a bit different than what Coach Brian Carlson envisioned at the start of the school year. Due to a handful of injuries suffered during football, the team will be forced to tinker with the lineup. “Riley O’Brien (junior) is out for the year with a torn ACL suffered during fo...
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Young St. Paul girls team eyes more success
Anthony Cook Parsons Sun Sports Editor It will be the start of a new era for St. Paul High School girls basketball this season. After three-straight Three Rivers League titles, a trip to state and fourth-place finish in 2009-2010 and a few undefeated regular seasons — the Indians are without two of the top contributors to that run this year due to graduation. But there’s enough carry over that this team may once again contend for a TRL crown....
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New Humboldt girls coach vows improvement
Brian McDowell Sports Editor The Humboldt Cubs girls basketball team only had one win last year. However, this season, the team has a new coach who is vowing to improve that. According to Coach Sherry Nelson, the Cubs’ goal this year is to finish around an even .500. “We have been working on fundamentals,” Nelson said, “starting over and just working on their knowledge.” Among the skills that the coach has been emphasizing are free throws and...
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Panthers men roar back with 92-55 victory
Brian McDowell Sports Editor After losing to the host school at a tournament in Pratt this weekend, the NCCC Panthers men’s basketball team roared back for a resounding 92-55 victory over the JV squad from Ottawa University. “Tonight was one of those nights we wanted to bounce back, wanted to play well, wanted to execute and do the things that we normally do,” Neosho County Coach Jeremy Coombs said, “so it’s a pretty good night.” The Panthers...
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Erie girls team gaining experience
Brian McDowell Sports Editor Brianna Volmer has high expectations for her third year as the head coach of the Erie Red Devils girls basketball team “I’m expecting my kids to come in and work hard every night and really compete,” Volmer said. She aims to put Erie in the position, every game out, to compete with anybody, no matter who it is. “If it’s the higher end of our league or anyone else, if it’s 4A, it really doesn’t matter,” Volmer sai...
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Humboldt boys adjust attitude
Brian McDowell Sports Editor Coach David Taylor thinks that his Humboldt Cubs boys basketball team can be a lot more competitive this year than last year’s squad that finished 6-15. He feels that the team’s attitude and work ethic has improved since then. Taylor said that if this continues, the Cubs could at least double their win total from last season, and maybe even win a little more than that. “I’ve been real pleased with how they’ve done...
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Walters takes over as coach of Erie boys
Brian McDowell Sports Editor Even though this is Jim Walters’s first year as head coach of the Erie Red Devils boys basketball team, he has a long history with the community. Walters grew up in Erie, graduated from high school there in 1971, and taught in the school system for a long time. He also coached the school’s girls basketball team in the eighties and nineties. He retired from coaching so he could enjoy watching his sons’ games when ...
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New A-M girls coach starts with ‘baby steps’
Brian McDowell Sports Editor Kynda Faythe, the first-year head coach of Altoona Midway’s girls basketball team, does not want the members of her team to say that they want to win the state championship this year. “That’s not going to happen,” Faythe said. “You’re not going to climb Mount Everest the first time you decide to go hiking.” However, she acknowledges that in sports, anything is possible and crazy things happen all the time. Still, ...
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A-M boys to make up for lack of height with speed
Brian McDowell Sports Editor Even though there’s only one player over six-foot tall on the roster. Altoona-Midway boys basketball Coach Eric Busteed is optimistic that the team can improve on last year’s 3-18 record this season. “We have a lot of guys back,” Busteed said. “We’re not going to have a whole lot of height, but I’m expecting that these kids are competitive, and they’re pretty hungry right now. I’m expecting some big things. I thin...
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Last minute free throws cost the Panthers in Pratt
PRATT — Free throws made by Pratt in the last two minutes of the game cost the NCCC Panthers men’s team a victory in the match-up on Friday. The Panthers visited the school to participate in the annual Thanksgiving Tournament, and, acording to Coach Jeremy Coombs, his team just flat didn’t come to play. “The guys overlooked Pratt knowing they are a team that will finish in the bottom of the west and that we were by far the more talented team...
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Comet girls under new leadership
Brian McDowell Sports Editor First-year Chanute girls basketball coach Dustin Fox expects a lot of players on his team to get a significant amount of playing time this year. “We’re going to play 9, 10, and 11 kids some games,” Fox said. “With the style that we play, it’s kind of a necessity, but I also have kids that can play. When you can go that deep, you’re crazy not to. We can hopefully wear some teams down.“ Darian Rubow is back on the t...
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CHS boys a work in progress
Brian McDowell Sports Editor Chanute boys basketball coach Max Ruark has seen some good things from observing practices of his team so far, despite a practice schedule that has been interrupted by a bomb threat and holiday travel disruptions. “It’s still early and things are still developing, but I think things are moving along as well. I’ve got an idea of who’s in some of our top groups, and we’ve given some guys the opportunity to just go o...
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Mason Turner wins 44th national title in Tulsa
Young Chanute wrestlers Jaymez and Mason Turner competed at the Cliff Keen Kickoff Classic national tournament last weekend in Tulsa, Okla. After five attempts at winning this prestigious youth wrestling event, Mason finally came away with a win. He wrestled in 12 and under, in a bracket with 31 other wrestlers. James Turner, Mason’s Dad, said Mason definitely had his head in the game. “I could see in Mason’s eyes that he was not going to be ...
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Four local riders capture Jr. Ranch Rodeo crown
Brian McDowell Sports Editor SHAW — Four local boys are making noise on the rodeo circuit. The Beachner Cattle rodeo team consists of 16-year-ld Erie High school student Ty Wiler, St. Paul students Cody and Caden Kendall, and Sage Hall who goes to Marmaton Valley. Hall said that his favorite part of doing rodeos was winning, something this team experienced a lot this year. The boys teamed up to garner first place buckles at the Jr. Ranch Rode...
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NCCC’s Vesta second at Lindenwood Open
The Neosho wrestling team competed in the Lindenwood Open tournament in St. Charles, Mo., on Saturday. Again leading the way for the Panthers was Manhattan native Jeff Vesta at 125, who pinned three opponents and majored another on his way to the finals, which included a very solid win/pin over the University of Iowa back up in the semi-finals. In the championship finals, Vesta then squared off against two time finalist and 2010 NCAA National...
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Panthers fall to Murray State
TISHOMINGO, Okla. — The NCCC Panthers women’s basketball team lost a road matchup with Murray State 84-50 on Saturday. Neosho County Coach Kelley Newton said the bright spot was how his team responded in the second half. The halftime score was 45-18 and the Panthers scored 32 points in the second. According to Newton, the play of Ashley King has been a bright spot the last two games. “As a team we still struggle with scoring the ball and we...
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