Blue Springs soccer standout Hensley injured in loss to Liberty

Blue Springs sophomore Gabi Severns, right, battles for possession with a
Liberty player during Tuesday's home game. The Blue Jays won 5-0.

Bailey Hensley is one of the most important players to a team in not just the Suburban Big Six Conference, but possibly the entire Kansas City area.

So when the Blue Springs senior left Tuesday’s home game against Liberty with an ankle injury early in the first half after a collision with the Blue Jay goalkeeper, the Wildcats weren’t quite the same team.

And leave it to a team like Liberty, ranked No. 7 in the state, to take advantage, as they wound up with a 5-0 win.

           

“Unfortunately, it completely changes (the game),” Wildcats head coach Doug McLagan said of Hensley’s injury. “The game plan was to stay in as long as we could. In the second half we were going to open up and let her get into the offense but obviously, we didn’t get that far.”

Added freshman Shilah Rainey, “We’re going to have to learn because next year we won’t have her. We pushed ourselves but not as much as I guess you would if she were out there. She’s a big part of the team.”

Against a team like Liberty, McLagan said Hensley’s absence hurt not just because of her skill level, but maybe even more important is the experience she brings.

And that showed when the Blue Jays turned a 1-0 game late in the first half into a 3-0 lead at halftime with two goals in the final two minutes.

“Tonight what we lacked is we had three minutes left, it’s 1-0, and our soccer IQ and lack of experience led us to come into halftime down 3-0,” McLagan said. “We made a silly mistake at the top of our box and when that second goal goes in our heads go down and then the third one goes in a minute later.

“If Bailey is back there she’s smart enough to knock it 60 yards off the field, give them a throw-in and let the clock roll down. That’s the experience they’re picking up all year and is something they’ll get better at. It’s just unfortunate that Liberty made us pay for it.”

Blue Springs junior Lindsey Davis, middle, tries to gain possession while
being surrounded by a pair of Liberty players during Tuesday's game.

To go along with Liberty’s slew of skill players, they’re also one of the quickest teams in the area and its style of offense poses a unique challenge.

The Blue Jays players are frequently moving to different positions, which McLagan said is tough on a young team.

“We sort out who we’ve got and we have our formation, we know the players we’re picking up, but the problem with Liberty is they don’t stay in their positions,” he said. “Their forward comes back deep into the midfield, the midfield goes deep up front, the full back goes past the midfield, the midfield comes inside, so now my girls are wondering which way to go. And some of our players weren’t getting back so they’re covering two players.

“The problem is their mobility all over the field causes us to think more than we need to and you have to think fast. As young as you are it takes experience to pick that up quickly, so you lose half a yard, and with their speed, half a yard becomes five yards.”

The Blue Jays would go on to score the fourth goal of the game two minutes into the second half before Blue Springs started playing better. It wasn’t until a penalty kick in the 77th minute allowed Liberty to put the finishing touches on its win.

“We came out hard in the second half and stood with them,” Rainey said.

The Wildcats fell to 6-10-1 on the season and will finish the regular season Thursday at Blue Springs South, before then opening with the Jaguars again in district play Monday.

It’s unknown how long Hensley could be sidelined, but what McLagan does know is his team must stand up to the challenge.

“Can they fight back and show they can play without Bailey?” he said. “I think they came back tonight with the character to show they can fight. Now, can they do that Thursday and Monday against South? We’ll find out. That’s the big thing, the challenge – can you step up?”

Blue Springs South boys tennis too much for Wildcats in district semis

Blue Springs South's John Duffey hits a backhand volley during Tuesday's 5-1 win over Blue Springs in the Class 2,
District 14 semifinal match.

All eyes were on Blue Springs South’s Alec Barber during Tuesday’s Class 2, District 14 semifinal match with cross-town rival Blue Springs - him and Dan Noud were the only singles match left - and he wasn’t about to have a repeat of last week’s match with the Wildcats.

Barber was forced to retire due to an injury in his match with Dan Noud in South's 6-3 win last week and he couldn’t help but think about that Tuesday.

“Before I played every point I thought about how devastated I was that I had to opt out of that match last time,” Barber said. “I wanted to show everyone that I can win and that I have the ability.”

Barber didn’t disappoint, winning 7-5, 7-6 (7-5) as the Jaguars advanced to the district final with a 5-1 win, doing it once again without No. 1 player Chris Hammond, who was sick for the second time against Blue Springs.

“Tonight they proved themselves that if you put them out there they’ll compete,” South head coach Sheri Rehmer said. “Luckily, we’re deep enough. I have faith in our top nine guys.”

Blue Springs' No. 2 singles player Max Martell hits a forehand volley
during his singles Tuesday.

The second set of Barber’s match with Noud had plenty of ebbs and flows. He seemed in control and on his way to a win, taking a 4-1 lead.

But Noud clawed his way back, winning four straight games to take a 5-4 lead. Noud even had a chance to serve for the match but Barber won the game and managed to get the set to a tiebreaker, which was back and forth until he finally gained the edge.

“Honestly, I think last time (against Blue Springs) was bittersweet. I was happy for the team, but I felt like it was my fault that I wasn’t in the proper physical shape to endure a third set,” Barber said. “I wanted to take the last match and prove myself.

“I wasn’t going to let it go to a third set. I was going to play an offensive game (in the tiebreaker). I don’t like to drag matches out. I wanted to use what I had left for one last push.”

Blue Springs No. 6 singles player Andy Anderson hits a forehand in his
match against South's John Duffey. 

Rehmer said Barber’s mental game was key not just tonight, but she’s seen it steadily improve as of late.

"You have to have mental resolve to come back. There are so many different momentums in tennis,” she said. “He really wanted this match. And to do it with everyone watching was cool. The last few weeks he’s been more confident and mentally strong.”

Also earning wins for South were Paul Province (7-5, 6-0), Jared Martin (6-1, 4-6, 6-1), Brent Henderson (6-4, 6-3) and John Duffey (7-6 (9-7), 6-4).

Blue Springs’ lone win went to Max Martell (7-6 (7-4), 6-1).

“We had our chances,” Blue Springs head coach Jody McClain said. “We always have great points against South. It just didn’t go our way tonight.

“Dan’s match could have gone either way. I know he was tired but he played well.”

Blue Springs South's No. 5 singles player Brent
Henderson hits a forehand in his singles win
Tuesday.

McClain was also impressed with the way Andy Anderson played at No. 6, putting together a much better effort this time around against Duffey.

“That was some of the best I’ve seen Andy play,” McClain said. “Last time against (Duffey) he lost 1-6, 1-6 and tonight he went to a tiebreak in the first set and it was 4-6 in the other.”

The Wildcats finished their team season with a 6-8 record and will now prepare for individual and doubles districts Saturday.

“I’m proud of the guys, “McClain said. “Three guys stepped up to varsity for the first time this year. We had a good run. These kids were the best to work with.”

South (14-4) now sets its sights on another district title against Truman tomorrow at 4 p.m., and most likely will have to do it without Hammond.

“I honestly think, with Chris or not, we’ve proved ourselves,” Barber said. “No matter who we play we have a good shot. We’re all even in skills and mental toughness.”

Daily Scores

Both of today's baseball games were rained out, so all the other scores are in from tonight. Both area soccer teams picked up big wins and the Blue Springs boys tennis team advanced in district play. For full results and quotes check the tab for each school.

Conference track and field pictures

Photos are now posted from Friday night's Suburban Big Six Conference meet. Please follow the link below to see them all.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/77979516@N02/

As always, if you would like to order any photos, please contact me at stephen.bubalo@yahoo.com. Listed below are the prices.

5x7 - $7

8x10 - $10

11x14 - $15

Value package: 1 5x7 and 1 8x10 - $15

Seniors provide spark for Blue Springs boys track and field team in race to conference title

Members of the Blue Springs boys track and field team pour Gatorade on head
coach Joe Cusack in celebration of the teams conference title Friday night.

All season long Blue Springs boys track and field head coach Joe Cusack has heaped praise upon his seniors, and with his most prolific senior on the sidelines for all but one event during Friday’s Suburban Big Six Conference meet at Blue Springs South, they all needed to step up in a big way.

Mission accomplished.

The Wildcats needed every point they could get, edging Lee’s Summit North 171-163 for the conference title.

“Any time there was a set back someone else stepped up. We had some big-time second place finishes,” Cusack said. “All the seniors were great.”

Erron Holley was the leader of the seniors on this night with Deiondre Hall only doing the high jump, and Holley stepped up to the plate, winning both the 100- and 200-meter dashes. He earned a personal best time in the 200 at 22.04 seconds.

“Erron has been a leader all season,” Cusack said. “He didn’t win in the prelims but he wanted to make a statement in the finals.”

Added Holley, “I was scared more in the 200 since it’s a longer race and the guys with long strides pick back up on you. The Lee’s Summit North guy was picking up on me but I held him off.”

Holley was also part of the 400-meter relay team that took first with a time of 43.49. It also included senior contributor Cole Jones who helped fill in with Hall out.

“Cole Jones stepped up in the 4x100. He’s had a football injury linger this season but he’s been a class act dealing with it,” Cusack said.

Other senior standouts were Jacob Belke running in two relays, earning a point in the 400 and then running the 800 for the first time and taking third. Tyler Ray and David Johnson combined to score nine points in the discus, and even though Hall only did one event, he was still able to take second in the high jump for eight points.

Then, there were the distance runners.

Simon Belete, Stephen Mugeche and James Barnett were solid in the mile, taking third, fourth and sixth, respectively.

But it was the two-mile that put the Wildcats over the top in the second-to-last event, as the trio took first, second and third, in the same finishing order as the mile.

“It turned the meet. We were waiting for it,” Cusack said. “We knew those three guys were going to go to work on them. I’m proud of them. And they did a great job in the mile, too. They got 39 points in two events. They let me know all along they’d take care of it for us.”

It was truly a team win, as the Wildcats scored in every event and had seven events with multiple people finishing in the top 8.

“Everywhere you looked points kept coming in,” Cusack said.  

The other gold medal for Blue Springs went to junior Chris Clark in the 300 hurdles with a time of 40.04.

More key finishes went to Donte Watkins in the long jump (second), Carlos Davis in the shot put (second) with a 5 foot personal best, Eli Leavell (second) and Jacob Peister (third) in the triple jump and Danny Thompson (third) in the pole vault.

As Cusack looked back on the season to this point, he couldn’t help but be impressed with the team title and just not just due to the fact they did it with Hall’s absence in two field events, but because of how far the entire team has come since the beginning of the season.

“I saw a lot of potential but this team has far exceeded what I expected at the beginning of the season. This is a special group,” he said.

The Blue Springs South boys turned in a fourth-place performance with 83.50 points. They also had to deal with a major injury, as senior Ben Harvel hurt his hamstring during the prelims of the long jump and sat out two relays and the 300 hurdles.

“Our effort was fantastic,” South head coach Troy Harding said. “We had some things go wrong with Ben getting hurt. That was a crippling blow, but the guys responded like they needed to.”

Tyler Blair had one of two firsts for the Jaguars, winning the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 15.57.

“Last year my best was a 16.2 and this year I’m at a 15.2. I’m improving every meet. My hard work and patience is starting to pay off,” Blair said. “I was always nervous last year and I fell a lot. But this year I came in with so much confidence. Honestly, I credit a lot of that to Ben (Harvel). He provides so much motivation and he’s so helpful. Him and Hunter (Stoll) are great.”

Blair also took third in the 300 hurdles, which is what opened Harding’s eyes.

“It’s hard to say this but he’s been doing so well lately that I almost expected it,” Harding said of Blair’s win in the 110’s. “I was maybe more impressed with his 300. He hasn’t shown that in the 300. That was a big jump knocking almost two full seconds off.”

Sophomore Josh Watson won the other gold in the discus by throwing 151-4.

“That was huge. He’s made a lot of strides,” Harding said. “That’s the first time he’s won a big meet and it was a great time to do it.”

The 400- and 800-meter relays weren’t quite the same without Harvel, as they took second and fourth, respectively, although they still almost won the 400 in coming fifteen-hundredths of a second behind Blue Springs.

Stoll had a nice meet in the hurdles, taking second in the 300’s and third in the 110’s. Syrell Fuel took third in the high jump and Steven Sullivan was fifth in the 100 and 200. 

Balance helps Blue Springs girls track and field team to narrow conference title

Members of the Blue Springs girls track and field team celebrate upon hearing they won the Suburban Big Six Conference title Friday night at Blue Springs South High School.

The conference track and field meet is probably the most strategic meet of the season.

With each athlete allowed to participate in up to four events and teams able to qualify up to three per event, team depth is crucial, and it’s not unusual to see someone in an event they haven’t done all season just in an attempt to get some extra points.

That’s what the Blue Springs and Lee’s Summit North girls teams were doing Friday night in the Suburban Big Six Conference meet at Blue Springs South, with the Wildcats gaining a slight edge to take home the title, 197-185.50.

“It took every event today,” Wildcats head coach Jennifer Reeder said. “We showed a true team spirit today, and when some events didn’t go as planned other girls stepped up. We had multiple girls doing four events.”

The Wildcats finished with eight events in which they had three girls score in the top 8.

“We knew that in track and field that’s the game plan. We had to stick to it,” Reeder said. “To beat Lee’s Summit North you have to have three in every event because you know that’s what they’re going to have.”

Blue Springs finished the meet with eight firsts, led by freshman Gabby Hall with three, as she won the 100-meter dash, 200 and 400. The three gold medals earned her the Golden Spike Award for most points on the girls side of the meet.

“It’s hard to ask a freshman to win three events,” Reeder said. “She’s much older than a freshman when the gun goes off.”

The other Wildcat to earn multiple firsts was thrower Tyra Bickham who won the Rusty Hodge Award, which goes to the top thrower, by winning the shot put (41 feet, 8 inches) and the discus (126-10) with two personal best throws.

“I’m doing much better compared to last year,” Bickham said. “I was excited to come and compete again at conference. I’ve been peaking and I was waiting on that one to finally pop and it did today.”

Bickham has turned into the leader in both throwing events, taking over for standout Monet Jackson from a season ago.

“It’s cool that she got the Rusty Hodge Award after Monet got it last year. Monet was a great example for her on what it takes to be successful,” Reeder said. “It’s astounding the gains she makes each week. The sky is the limit for her. She’s one of the big dogs now.”

Tyonna Snow (long jump, 18-2 3/4) and Bri Starr (triple jump, 36-2) were the other two individual firsts, giving Blue Springs wins in four of the six field events.

“We come together and talk about how we need to get our points for the team,” Bickham said of the field event girls.

The 800-meter relay team also brought home gold for the Wildcats.

Other key top three finishes were Megan Wright taking second in the pole vault, Starr finishing second in the long jump, Snow coming in third in the 200, Shannon Danaher running to third in the 800 and Leelin Smith placing third in the discus.

The number of contributors was indicative of a conference champ, and a team that Reeder said has come together in recent weeks.

“This is the best team atmosphere since I’ve been coaching. This is a special team and they’ve come together when we’ve needed it,” she said. “It’s been building. Last week going to Kirkwood is a great trip as a team, and we were able to beat 18 other St. Louis schools.”

Blue Springs South had several solid finishes and took fourth with 84 points.

“We showed a total team effort. Everybody did better than their seed,” South head coach Ryan Unruh said. “This was a good builder for our program and our future. We’ve taken last place the last few years.”

Distance runner Samantha Nightingale was stellar as usual, setting meet records in the mile (5:02.07) and two-mile (11:06.99) to win both events. She even ran the 800 to add to the teams point total and took second.

“I told her the rest of the year should could run for herself but tonight was for the team,” Unruh said. “She knows the 800 isn’t her event and that she was going to suffer through the two-mile (afterward). It was selfless of her.”

The other individual standout for the Jaguars was Savanna Hoyle taking four seconds off her 300 hurdle time for third place and another second off her 100 hurdle time to finish in sixth.

“Hoyle wasn’t supposed to make the finals in either event. She had a great meet,” Unruh said.

In the relays, South edged Blue Springs by less than a second in the 1,600 and 400 events for second in both. The time of 49.96 in the 400 relay especially stood out to Unruh.

“We’ve been close to Blue Springs all year and we’ve been knocking on the door of breaking 50 seconds, so to take second and break 50 seconds was great. The kids were excited to race. Our exchanges were great,” he said.

Carlie Allen had the next-best individual finish for South, taking second in the discus with a throw of 102-8. Other top 5 finishes went to Makayla Moore finishing fifth in the 100, as did Brooke Stetzler in the 300 hurdles. 

Fast start lifts Blue Springs South baseball past Wildcats

Blue Springs South's Austin Holland makes contact with a pitch during Friday's game against Blue Springs. Holland
had a three-run homer and an RBI double in a 12-5 win.

The Blue Springs South baseball team exacted a little bit of revenge against cross-town rival Blue Springs Friday afternoon, earning a 12-5 win and improving to 17-5 on the season.

The Jaguars jumped out to a 7-0 lead after two innings.

“We hit the ball well,” South head coach Ben Baier said. “I told the hitters, ‘welcome back. It’s nice to see you again.’ Their pitcher threw a lot of off speed stuff and we stayed back on the ball and had some good swings.”

South scored four runs in the first thanks in part to RBI doubles from Colton Pogue and Austin Holland.

Holland struck again in the second with a three-run homer.

“He’s been hurt. Today was only his fourth game,” Baier said of Holland. “He’s a guy we’ve been wanting to see all year.”

Blue Springs had been getting good outings from its starting pitchers as of late, but Friday was a struggle for starter Jay Corwin.

“It was a tough first two innings. It’s hard to come back against a good ball club like them,” Wildcats head coach Marc Hines said. “They hit the ball well, and when they hit it, they hit it hard.”

The Wildcats did leave some runners on base throughout the game, including leaving the bases loaded twice.

But each time they were able to score some runs in an inning, South always came back with runs of its own.

“As the game went on we had runners in scoring position but couldn’t get the big hit,” Hines said. “At one point in the game we had five strikeouts looking, and we can’t do that.”

The Wildcats dropped to 12-8 on the year and 6-3 in conference, now tied with Liberty for first. South is one game back.