Olathe North gymnastics walked away from its first meet this season unhappy with its performance in bars. The Eagles went back to the gym and committed themselves to improving in the event.
Amanda Harrington, who coaches all five Olathe high school gymnastics teams, said she gave Olathe North gymnasts a few areas to work on, but bars is generally the team's weakest event.
"We really try to focus on that one a lot more," Harrington said. "The top three scorers on bars really worked hard this week on improving their skills and just doing it better. All three improved, so that's awesome to see."
One of those competitors was Ella Margheim, a senior competing in high school gymnastics for the first team this season after switching over from club gymnastics. Margheim ended up improving her score by three-quarters of a point during the Shawnee Mission North meet on Sept. 11.
She won the all-around title in a competition that included 14 teams, the most of any meet this season.Of course, she also won the all-around title in the first meet. She even took first in the bars event that left her dissatisfied with her results.
Margheim has been so dominant to start her high school career, she's won every single event through the team's first four meets. That first bars routine is the only time Margheim scored under 9 points on an event this season. She finished with an 8.550, a mark that only Olathe Northwest freshman Emmerson Keller and Olathe West junior Alexis Purdy reached this season.
Harrington said Margheim's transition has been extremely smooth, but it still required her to tweak some of her routines and work on a few small things. Her results are a reflection of her work ethic.
"She's doing phenomenal," Harrington said. "She just works hard every single day."
The hard work of Margheim and her teammates has paid off with team success as well. Olathe North won each of the first four meets and scored at least 106.6 points. No other school has cracked the century mark.
Olathe West has been close on two different occasions, scoring 99.650 to take second at SM North and 99.200 at Olathe East on Sept. 16. The Hawks took first in the latter competition, which is the only event where they did not finish runner-up to Olathe North.
Purdy has been the Owls top gymnast, often finding herself landing right behind Margheim for all-around points. Purdy said the key for her and her teammates will be staying focused on getting better without trying to push themselves so hard that they might make mistakes.
"I think we're going to get better and better every meet," Purdy said. "I think we've had a good start and the only way now is up."
Olathe East has finished one step behind Olathe West throughout the season, including when the Hawks edged them by a tenth of a point at the Olathe District meet on Sept. 20.
The reigning state champions, Lawrence Free State, finished fourth in the Shawnee Mission North meet after edging out Shawnee Mission Northwest by 0.85 points. However, the Cougars have a higher season average and better top score.
SM Northwest earned the team's top mark with 97.350 points during the Olathe South meet on Sept. 14. The Firebirds best effort was a 95.000 finish when they took first place at the Emporia meet on Sept. 20.
Blue Valley West earn top finishes as Misemer gets back into swing of high school season
The end of September nears and the Blue Valley West girls golf team has still only seen its full roster compete in one event so far this season.
Still, the Jaguars finished the day golf as the Eastern Kansas League leader through the first leg, scoring a 334 to put themselves well ahead of Blue Valley Southwest at 358 and Blue Valley at 372. The team has also had the benefit of getting more reps for golfers other than three-time state champion Julia Misemer.
The senior sat out the Topeka West Girls Invitational on Sept. 20 after making her season debut five days earlier during the first round of the Eastern Kansas League tournament. Misemer shot a 67 to finish seven shots ahead of Blue Valley Southwest junior Hillary Currier.
Currier also benefited from Misemer's light schedule, taking first in both rounds of the Blue Valley Cup and tying for second in the Topeka West Girls Invitational.
But Misemer's teammates were the ones that banded together to win the Blue Valley Cup team title with a 720 two-day total, edging out Blue Valley Northwest's 723. Blue Valley West also took second during the invite at Western Hills Golf Club in Topeka with a score of 342 to Washburn Rural's 311.
Sophomore Mia Rodriguez took third overall in the Blue Valley Cup, finishing with a 164 total after her 85 in Round 2, the fifth-best score for the day. Junior Dahlia Gilmore landed two spots back with a 90 after scoring a 102 in the first round.
Juniors Claire Dchuarme and Jenny Kim stayed consistent across a three week gap between each day of the event. Both shot 94s to tie for 13th on the first day. Kim repeated her score while Ducharme improved by one stroke.
Blue Valley freshman Hadley Neese earned top marks for her team at those two events last week, taking sixth in Topeka with a 79 while finishing second behind Currier in the Blue Valley Cup with a two-day total of 163.
Blue Valley Northwest trailed the Jaguars by just two strokes heading into the second day, but the team finished with a 736 for third place. Senior Yeanna Moon took fourth with a 168 total. Junior Reagan Kauth finished fifth with a 173.
Olathe Northwest girls tennis stacking up trophies
Olathe Northwest girls tennis had a big week as the team narrowly won an invitational and dominated a round-robin quad against fellow Olathe squads.
Ravens sophomore Ella Novion took first in singles at the Olathe South Invitational, beating Blue Valley North freshman Shelby Smith 8-3 in the final on Sept. 18. Novion improved to 12-2 on the season. Her only losses came against Blue Valley Northwest junior Emily Chiasson and Barstow (Mo.) junior Sarena Biria during a Shawnee Mission East quad on Sept. 15 at Harmon Park.
Blue Valley seniors Sreelasya Mylavarapu and Christina Stone won the doubles bracket. They beat Olathe Northwest freshmen Riley Terhune and Hannah Carney 8-0 in the championship match. The Tigers duo is undefeated as a doubles team this season, combining for a 27-1 record with the only loss coming from Stone's Sept. 9 singles match with Blue Valley junior Joy Yan. Yan won 8-2.
Terhune and Carney started their high school career with a 1-4 record as they faced a tough slate of experienced duos, including in their second match of the season against Shawnee Mission East's two-time state doubles champions in Bryson Langford and Greta Stechschulte.
The young duo stuck with it to improve their record to 9-5 after they went 4-0 to win the doubles bracket during the Olathe City Championship on Sept. 20. Novion took first in singles as the Ravens won the team title as they went undefeated across four singles and four doubles flights to finish with 80 points. Olathe South took second with 44 points and Olathe East took third with 40 points.
Thomasson leads Riverton volleyball in dominant start to season
Riverton has been nearly unstoppable to start this volleyball season. The Rams are 20-1 with the only loss coming in a tournament final against a team the Rams had beat earlier in the day.
The Rams picked up two more wins on Sept. 21 with 2-0 sweeps against Girard and Columbus in a CNC triangular at Girard.
Junior Jacy Thomasson leads the way for Riverton with 246 kills through 43 sets. Thomasson also leads the team in aces with 50 and total blocks with 31. She's third on the team in digs with 91. A pair of sophomores edged her out in that category as Kayla Greer leads with 141 and Alivia Parker has 114.
Junior Morgan Compton keeps putting Thomasson in position to score as she leads the team with 385 assists. Next highest is Thomasson with 12.
The Rams will get a short break before the team's next CNC triangular with matchups against Galena and Chetopa on Sept. 30, followed by a tournament on Oct. 2.
Eudora boys soccer shakes off blowout loss, lead Frontier League
Boys soccer
Eudora boys soccer has already shown a lot of resilience this year even though the team has only lost one game so far.
The Cardinals started the season 5-0, which included a 3-1 victory over Spring Hill on Sept. 9 to take over the top spot in the Frontier League. But Eudora had to deal with losing for the first time just a few days later when they dropped a 10-0 match against Olathe Northwest on Sept. 13.
The Cardinals responded with their own 10-0 win against Paola just three days later.
After a 7-2 win against Maranatha Christian Academy on Sept. 20, Eudora sports a 7-1 record and a 31-7 scoring margin in their winning matches. The Cardinals will turn their attention to a 4 p.m. Sept. 23 road matchup with a Baldwin team that is currently 4-1.
Sophomore runners set pace for XC season, Olathe West leading the pack
Two weeks after the Olathe Twilight Invitational, the top finishes in those races are still the bar for cross country times this season.
Shawnee Mission North sophomore Micah Blomker cracked the 15-minute mark to win the boys race. Blomker set his personal record with a time of 14:57.00, finishing with an eight second lead over the runner-up, St. Thomas Aquinas senior Logan Seger.
Blue Valley Southwest finished in second place with 140 points, behind only Liberty North (Mo.) at 133. St. Thomas Aquinas took third with 141 points.
BVSW senior Drew Dombrosky led the Timberwolves by taking 16th with a time of 15:50.60. Aquinas had two more top 10 runners alongside Seger with senior Ashton Higgerson (4th, 15:25.60) and junior Colby King (10th, 15:32.40).
Olathe North sophomore Anjali Hocker Singh holds the top time for girls in Kansas cross country this season. Singh set her PR with 17:31.60 in the Olathe Twilight Invitational. Katie Schwartzkopf took second with her PR of 17:44.60.
Schwarzkopf followed up by winning the Baldwin Invitational girls race on Sept. 18 at Baldwin City Golf Course. Shawnee Mission East junior Grace Meyer took second with a time of 18:36.51.
The Olathe West girls dominated both the Olathe Twilight and Baldwin invites. In the latter event, the Owls scored 38 points with five runners in the top 12. Mill Valley girls took second with 102 points to finish ahead of Aquinas with 106 points.
Olathe West took the fourth through sixth spots. Sophomore Bree Newport finished with a time of 18:54.79, junior Charis Robinson in 19:08.33 and sophomore Kate Miller completed the race in 19:15.68. Junior Paige Baker took 11th with a time of 19:34.88 and junior Aubree Blackman finished one second behind her for 12th to keep the teams 1-5 split down to 41 seconds.
Mill Valley freshman Charlotte Caldwell joined her teammate Schwartzkopf in the top 10 with a time of 19:23.70.
Aquinas took third by getting their top five runners in the top 34, including three top-20 finishes from sophomore Sophia Spinello (14th, 19:51.83), senior Mareike Krebs (15th, 19:53.04) and freshman Anna DiCarlo (18th, 19:56.94).
Lawrence Free State senior Ben Shryock took first in the Baldwin Invitational boys race with a time of 15:57.42. Shawnee Mission East junior Wyatt Haughton finished as the runner-up with a time of 16:09.20.
The Olathe South boys took first as a team in Baldwin, edging out Mill Valley by a single point. Senior Matthew Tolman had the top finish for the Falcons with a time of 16:26.85 to take fourth. Junior Bennett Meoli joined him in the top 10, earning ninth with his time of 16:43.39.
Mill Valley had two top five spots with sophomore AJ Vega (3rd, 16:19.51) and senior Chase Schieber (5th, 16:32.67).