Wichita Collegiate’s domination in Scholars Bowl is impossible to ignore.
The Spartans have won the past five Class 3A state championships as well as two straight 4A titles in 2017 and 2018 before moving back down to 3A in 2019. In all, Collegiate has nine state championships in the past 10 years.
Yet Hesston coach Patrice LeFevre knew her team couldn’t concern itself with Collegiate’s rich history when the Swathers met up with the Spartans in last week’s Class 3A regional at Bluestem. Particularly after losing 75-30 to Collegiate in pool play.
“They are formidable and we’ve known that for some time,” Lefevre said. “Before everything, we had a talk with the kids and just told them to do their best. We know what they’re like. We’d competed with them already and we know their strategy pieces. They like to buzz in a lot. They like to interrupt a lot. We just had to be prepared, think on our feet and try. There was nothing to lose.”
With nothing to lose, Hesston didn’t. Once the final round began, however, the Swathers were on top of their game.
They opened the final round with a convincing 60-20 win over Wichita Trinity Academy, last year’s state runner-up program. Hesston then dominated Halstead 90-20 in the second round.
Hesston got a close call in the third round against Southeast of Saline, tied going into the final question before Galbreath-LeFevre’s son, Colin, answered the last question correctly to give the Swathers a 50-40 win. After beating Cheney 80-10, Hesston got a rematch with Collegiate in the final round of finals – just as it did a year ago.
The Swathers were also 4-0 in finals going into the last match, but couldn’t knock off the Spartans. This time around, they took control of the match early and kept it, eventually taking a 70-20 win.
“It was exhilarating, it was exciting – we couldn’t’ believe it,” LeFevre said. “They’re such a tough team and have won state how many years in a row? Had they been our first round, I’m not sure how it would have gone. It might have been a little different talk with them. But we’d watched them and we knew that win or lose, we were going to qualify for state so we just said, ‘Do your best and have fun with it.’
“They really gelled as a team and were really good at communicating with each other. They were really cohesive that night and that really helped us succeed the way we did.”
The regional title was the first for the program since 2017. Hesston qualified for state last year, finishing fifth as a team.
Only seniors Ethan Thompson and Ryan Diller returned from that squad this year. Both anchored the regional team along with senior foreign exchange student Johannes Hadde, LeFevre (a junior) and sophomores Tim van Bergeijk and Isaac Swartzendruber, the latter serving as the alternate.
However, when Hesston ventures to Saturday’s state tournament at Collegiate, the Swather squad will have a much different look to it.
Diller, van Bergeijk and Swartzendruber all have opted to compete at a robotics tournament in Nebraska this weekend. In their place, senior Nathan Bollinger and sophomore Glen Birdsell will replace Diller and van Bergeijk in the lineup with sophomore Jack Sharp serving as the alternate instead of Swartzendruber. All three have been on the varsity squad at some point this season.
“It’s been a little hard because we were really excited for this team, so there’s some heartache because three of them chose to do robotics,” LeFevre said. “We’ve been trying to overcome that this week, but we still have a really good team and a really good chance. We just need to focus on us as a state team now. This is the team that will carry us through state. It will be a little different, but they’re out to do well.”
The battle for this year’s title could be wide open with Collegiate the lone returner from last year’s top four finishers. Runner-up Wichita Trinity Academy and fourth-place finisher Royal Valley didn’t qualify this year while third-place Maur Hill-Mt. Academy dropped down to Class 2A this season.
Even though Collegiate went just 3-2 in the finals round, also losing to Halstead, the Spartans likely will be considered the favorites at state this weekend. And that allows Hesston to perhaps embrace the underdog role once again.
“We have nothing to lose and getting this far is the most important thing,” LeFevre said. “Yeah, I’d like to do well and I’d like to be fifth or higher this year. This is the time to relish that you made it this far and no matter what we’re still the top in the state. I’m sure Collegiate will be out for blood. Pete (DeVries, Collegiate coach) is a great coach and is competitive like me and I’m sure they’ve been practicing and he’s got tips for them, too.
“To beat them was a really great feeling and if we can do it again, fantastic. If we don’t we’ve proven ourselves already.”
Seven teams overall are back from a year ago in 3A, however. Ellsworth is the only repeat regional champion from a year ago. The Bearcats finished 4-1 in the regional finals at Larned, edging out Phillipsburg, Nickerson and Southwestern Heights, which all finished 3-2.
A qualifier a year ago, Prairie View went 5-0 in the finals at Girard to capture the regional title. New qualifier Nemaha Central also went 4-1 in winning its regional title at St. Marys, just ahead of Silver Lake and Sabetha, which each went 3-2.
While Collegiate will look for a bit of revenge to try to keep its title streak going a handful of other 2023 state champions will be looking to add to championship streaks of their own.
Sacred Heart has won the last two Class 2A state titles and put itself in position for a three-peat in winning its regional at Lincoln. It wasn’t easy for the Knights, however.
After going 7-0 in pool play, Sacred Heart dropped a 40-30 decision to Moundridge early in the finals. But the Knights won out to finish 4-1, tied with Moundridge and Hutchinson Trinity. Going to a point differential margin tiebreaker to determine the champion, Sacred Heart beat Trinity 60-40 to finish at plus-10 while Trinity also finished at plus-10 after beating Moundridge 60-30. The head-to-head win gave Sacred Heart the title.
Sacred Heart was joined as regional champions by Maur Hill-Mt. Academy, TMP-Marian and West Elk. Maur Hill tied Lyndon in the finals at Maur Hill, but won the title based on a 70-30 win over the Tigers, while West Elk also went 4-1 in the finals at Berean Academy, tied with Wichita Independent, but took the title with a 60-30 win over the the Panthers. TMP went 5-0 in the finals at Sublette.
A similar scenario to Sacred Heart’s championship played out in Class 5A where defending state champion St. James Academy and 2023 runner-up De Soto found themselves locked in a battle with Shawnee Heights at the St. James regional. The Thunder dominated their pool with a 7-0 record, including an 80-40 win over Heights, which tied Lansing and Blue Valley Southwest with 5-2 marks but earned a berth in the finals based on margin of victory tiebreaker. De Soto, meanwhile, won its pool with a 6-1 mark.
The margin of victory tiebreaker came into play again in the finals and once again Heights benefited from it. The T-Birds, St. James and De Soto each went 4-1 in the finals with St. James losing to De Soto, which lost to Heights, which lost to St. James.
But a 60-40 win by the T-Birds over De Soto proved big in the tiebreaker. Heights lost to St. James by only a 60-50 count and De Soto beat St. James 65-60, leaving the T-Birds with a plus-10 margin to a plus-5 for the Thunder and minus-15 for De Soto in the three-way tiebreaker.
Andover Central took the title at the Salina Central regional, going 5-0 with a 60-50 win over Bishop Carroll giving the Jaguars the regional title over the Golden Eagles, who finished 4-1.
Wichita East also had to sweat out a three-way tiebreaker to win its Class 6A regional at Derby. The Blue Aces were tied with Wichita Northwest and Derby after each went 4-1 in the finals. But a dominant 130-10 win by East over Derby was more than enough to give the Blue Aces the point-differential tiebreaker.
Perhaps the wildest tiebreaker, however, came at the 4A regional at Eudora where the host Cardinals, Bishop Miege, Wamego and Louisburg all finished with a 3-2 mark in the finals round. Miege and Louisburg each went 2-1 against the other three teams they were tied with and Miege’s 60-20 win over Louisburg gave the Stags the regional title with Louisburg taking second.
Hodgeman County is the only other team besides Sacred Heart, St. James and Collegiate looking to defend its 2023 title. The Longhorns have won the past two Class 1A Division I state titles but like St. James and Collegiate, go back for the three-peat without a regional title in hand.
After finishing third in its pool to barely make the finals, Hodgeman County finished tied with Elkhart at 4-1 in the finals, taking second via a 50-20 loss to the Wildcats.
State runner-up a year ago, Rock Hills captured one of the other three regional titles, taking first at the Oberlin regional. The Grizzlies went 5-0 in their final round.
Clifton-Clyde and Wichita Central Christian captured the other two regional crowns. Clifton-Clyde went 4-1 in its final round at Blue Valley-Randolph but didn’t need a tiebreaker with Centralia second at 3-2. Central Christian won its own regional, going 5-0 in the finals.
There will be new champions crowned in Class 6A, 4A and 1A Division II after 2023 champions Blue Valley North (6A), Rock Creek (5A) and Rolla (1A II) failed to qualify for state this year.
Washburn Rural joined Wichita East as a 6A regional champion, its 4-1 finals record at Olathe Northwest holding up against three teams – Mill Valley, Free State and Olathe Northwest – who finished tied at 3-2.
Augusta joined Miege in claiming a Class 4A regional title. The Orioles went 4-1 in the finals at Mulvane, edging Pratt and Rose Hill, each of whom finished 3-2.
In Class 1A Division II, 2023 state runner-up Hutchinson Central Christian will look to take the vacated throne after winning its regional at Cunningham. The Cougars went 4-1 in the finals, finishing just ahead of 3-2 Bucklin and Cunningham.
Beloit-St. John’s, Centre and Wallace County captured the other regional titles. St. John’s wet 10-0 on the day to dominate its home regional, while Centre won a head-to-head tiebreaker with St. Paul for the regional crown at Southern Coffey, a 70-15 win deciding the title. Wallace County won the Western Plains regional.
In addition to Wichita Collegiate hosting the Class 3A tournament, the 6A meet will be held at Wichita East, the 5A meet at Hutchinson, 4A meet at McPherson, 2A meet at Moundridge, 1A Division I meet at Frankfort and the 1A Division II meet at Hutchinson Central Christian.