Sports
Gold for doubles, silver for singles for Chanute tennis in Coffeyville
COFFEYVILLE — The Chanute tennis team kept it in the family at a tournament appearance in Coffeyville on Tuesday. Sisters Madison and Rebecca Wendt occupied the singles spots for the team and each was able to win a silver medal. Both of the school’s doubles teams won gold medals at the event. “This was a good day for us and a good preparation for what lies ahead with League and Regionals,” Coach Mike De La Torre said. Senior Madison Wendt, re...
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Comets outswing SEK competition in Pittsburg
PITTSBURG — The Chanute girls golf team swung into third place at a tournament at Crestwood golf course in Pittsburg on Tuesday afternoon, largely on the strength of a fourth place overall finish by senior Danae Decker. This was the final SEK tournament of the year for the Comets, and helped the team to secure a league championship this season. “The girls continue to play solid golf as we wind down towards the end of the regular season,” Coa...
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How to save a goal: Merrill’s net skills have kept the Panthers in games
Brian McDowell Sports Editor After one of her team’s soccer games, it doesn’t do much good to ask NCCC goalie Haylee Merrill how many saves she had during the match-up. The sophomore will have no idea. She doesn’t keep track of those type of measurements for her performance in the net. “Somebody keeps stats or something, but I haven’t looked at them,” Merill said. If she did view her statistics from this year, Merrill would know that 50 saves...
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Chanute JV tennis closes out season in second
The Chanute JV tennis team finished out its season with a second place finish at the tournament that it hosted on Monday. Coach Max Ruark was pleased with the way the season went for the squad, which won every tournament it participated in except for this one, which was won by a strong Independence team. The team’s number one and two singles players, Jaymi Lawrence and Jenny Angleton, both ended up in second place on Monday. The doubles team ...
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Mixed results for freshman Comets volleyball in Parsons
Chanute’s freshman volleyball team traveled to Parsons on Saturday for tournament, and gained victories over both Parsons (26-24, 25-13) and Oswego (25-6, 25-19), but fell to Independence (18-25, 22-25) and Fort Scott (25-21, 25-27, 11-15). According to coach Tracy Walker, the Comets started out well against Parsons, playing with teamwork and determination. They went on to do the same with Oswego, but after a break found themselves sluggish...
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Busy week ahead for Comets volleyball
This will be a busy week for the undefeated Chanute volleyball team. On Thursday, the Comets will be hosting its home opener, featuring Coffeyville and a tough Pittsburg squad that gave Chanute a serious challenge when the teams met up last week. Chanute fans are encouraged to wear pink to the game, as the team will use this event to promote breast cancer awareness. Then, on Saturday, the team will be hosting the Chanute Invitational volleyb...
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Chanute cross country runs in Rim Rock
Brian McDowell Sports Editor LAWRENCE — In the grueling sport of cross country, plenty of competitors finish the race with tears in their eyes of either pain or joy. Running many miles over rough terrain in all kinds of weather tends to bring an athlete’s emotions to the surface. However, in her first year competing in the difficult sport, Chanute freshman Talia Ramsey doesn’t openly exhibit this type of behavior. Quickly emerging as one of C...
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Royster squads fall to Iola rivals
In their third game of the 2012 football campaign, the Royster Rockets hosted Iola last Thursday, but were unable to come up with a win. The seventh grade team fell behind early 8-0 as Iola used a no-huddle offense to mount a quick drive and score with 5:02 left in the first quarter. The Rockets answered back as Gage Leedy returned the ensuing kick to the Iola 47-yard line. Jake Fiscus then dashed and weaved between would be tacklers for a 45...
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Chanute tennis shuffles varsity lineup at Parsons meet
PARSONS — With both of its regular senior singles players unavailable due to injury, the Chanute girls tennis team participated in a tournament in Parsons on Thursday. According to coach Mike De La Torre, the team knew going in that this would be a difficult meet, with tough teams from both Parsons and Independence in it. Playing in the place of injured Madison Wendt, Shelby Stair was put in the difficult spot of being in the varsity team’s n...
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Special teams mistakes cost Comets in five-point heartbreaker
Brian McDowell Sports Editor One thing that Chanute football coach Don Simmons was proud of in his team’s Friday night match-up with the Pittsburg Purple Dragons last night was the Comets never quit fighting. “We could have quit when we were down 13, or down 11 at the half, but we kept fighting, we kept hanging in there, and giving ourselves a chance,” Simmons said to his players on the field after their 26-21 loss. The Comets never had a le...
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St. Paul runs past Colony-Crest
ST. PAUL — The St. Paul Indians are taking the underdog role to heart. They improved to 3-0 on the season at home Friday night with a 50-40 victory over high-powered Colony-Crest. “We have been the underdogs all three games,” said Coach Doug Tuck. “Nobody expected us to win. It shows how hard the kids have worked.” With less than two minutes in the half, St. Paul took a 22-20 lead on an 18-yard run by quarterback Riley Diskin and a two-point...
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17-0 Chanute volleyball starts league play with win
Brian McDowell Sports Editor ALTAMONT — Most high school volleyball league games operate in the triangular format, three teams in three games, where every squad involved gets to face two challengers. However, this year, with teams like Columbus and Iola bolting from the SEK at the end of last, putting together meetings in this format has proved to be a bit of a challenge for some teams. This is how the undefeated Chanute Blue Comets wound up ...
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Chanute golf one stroke away from Fredonia victory
Brian McDowell Sports Editor The Chanute girls golf team came one mere stroke away from first place at a tournament in Fredonia on Thursday afternoon. Top-five performances by golfers Abbe Funk, Nikki Clark and Danae Decker propelled the Comets to second place in the Fredonia Invitational. The Comets had a total score of 191, while the traditionally solid golf program of Caney Valley won the event with 190. “They’ve had many good teams in the...
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Cubs’ passing game clicks against Oswego
HUMBOLDT — The only thing that went wrong for the Humboldt football team Friday night was an opening 90-yard kickoff return by Oswego. The Cubs bounced back with 26 first quarter points and powered to a 50-6 victory. Nathan Whitcomb threw for 388 yards on 20-for-30 completions. The Cub quarterback threw for five touchdowns and capped off the night with a 55-yard interception return for a score. Tanner McNutt was on the scoring end of three to...
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Chanute girls run for third in Iola cross country meet
Junior Jocelyn McMillen-Hale’s return to competing for the Chanute cross country team highlighted the Comets’ participation in the Doc Stiles Invitational meet on Tuesday afternoon in Iola. McMillen-Hale, who missed a couple of weeks of competition for the team with a shin injury, came in 13th place at the Iola event, with a time of 17:05 on the course around Allen County Community College. Senior Melissa Adkins finished right behind McMillen...
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Royster football splits with Coffeyville
In the home opener of Royster football for the 2012 season on Sept. 13, the Rockets played host to Coffeyville. In the opening 7th grade game, Coffeyville got off to an early 16-0 lead using its speed and taking advantage of a mishandled punt attempt by Royster that gave Coffeyville the ball on the Royster 3-yard line. But the Rockets would battle back. Sprung by a great down field block by wide receiver Jack Richard, Jake Fiscus rambled 45 y...
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Panthers volleyball wins three at weekend tourney
The Neosho County Panthers traveled to Marshalltown, Iowa for a weekend tournament, and finished the weekend 3-1 with their lone loss coming to #10 ranked Des Moines Area Community College. Yuleika Jimenez was a force for the Panthers as the freshman outside hitter tallied 58 kills over the four-game tournament, including an impressive 17 kills in the final game of the weekend. Neosho 3, NIACC 0 Neosho defeated NIACC 27-25, 25-17, and 25-22. ...
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NCCC men victorious in Johnson County
The NCCC soccer men’s soccer continues to be on a roll, as the Panthers traveled to Johnson County on Wednesday night and won their match-up 2-1. This victory brings their overall record to 5-1-1 and 1-0-1 in conference play. Goals were scored by Jose Diaz and Celestino Espinoza, with both goals being assisted by Ari Velasquez. “This was a big win for us on the road,” Coach Steven Harrison said. “Our guys played hard and earned this victory.”...
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NCCC’s Vestring named NJCAA Player of the Week
Logan Vestring, a forward for the NCCC soccer team, was named Men’s Soccer Player of the Week, by the NJCAA. Vestring, who hails from Wichita, was singled out by the association for his offensive prowess, which has powered the Panthers to a 4-1-1 record so far this season. Vestring has two three-goal hat tricks in games so far this year, and has been ranked one of the nation’s leading goal-scorers. Vestring will look to continue this success ...
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Howell and Chanute’s defense prepared to pounce on Pittsburg
Brian McDowell Sports Editor Although they may look smaller than comparable players on other teams, the defense of the Chanute Blue Comets has been remarkably effective over the squad’s last two games, holding SEK opponents to extremely low yardage and allowing no points. (Labette County’s net rushing and passing yardage was 0 and Parsons’ was 10 yards). A key part of this defensive attack is senior Cody Howell, whose role on the defensive li...
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