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Written by Mark Dewar
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Friday, 12 March 2010 00:00 |
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Shawnee Mission South High School senior basketball player Will Spradling is The Sun’s Athlete of the Week.
 The 6-2 senior point guard and floor leader, a Kansas State basketball signee, fueled the Raiders’ first trip to the Class 6A state tournament since 2004. In so doing, he averaged 19.5 points, 6.1 rebounds and 5.7 assists per contest for SM South, which took a 17-5 season record and No. 3 seed into opening-round play at state Thursday at White Auditorium in Emporia.
In SM South's pair of sub-state victories to earn the trip west, Spradling scored 16 and 20 points, respectively. For the season, he is leading the Raiders’ in scoring, rebounding, assists, charges taken and free throw percentage.
“Will has put this team on his shoulders and been the leader all year,” first-year SM South coach Brett McFall said. “This is now an experienced squad that knows how to play off each other and take care of the basketball. They are really starting to see their hard work pay off.”
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Written by Mark Dewar
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Wednesday, 10 March 2010 00:00 |
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No one can pinpoint the precise moment this season when the Shawnee Mission East High School girls basketball squad morphed into a scene from a departure gate up at KCI.
 But facts are facts.
That 800-pound gorilla in the corner of the room is a thing called “urgency.”
The furry guy is deep into his stretching routine as the 19-3 and fouth-seeded Lancers step onto the court at Emporia’s White Auditorium at 4:45 p.m. today in the opening round of the Class 6A state tournament.
They take on Dodge City, the fifth seed, which sports an identical 19-3 record.
Whether this season for the SM East girls ultimately ends in a victorious midcourt clump Saturday or sometime earlier, rest assured someone prone to sentimentality will be on the third box of Kleenex by then.
“We don’t talk about that,” said sixth-year SM East coach Rick Rhoades said after his team handled SM North 51-46 Friday in the championship game of Tournament “A” of the SM Northwest Sub-state.
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Written by Mark Dewar
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Wednesday, 10 March 2010 00:00 |
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Especially given the large number of area state basketball tournament entrants this year - nine in all, spread over Class 6A, 5A and 3A - tournament storylines abound.
 Here is a quick brushstroke of a few of the headliners:
1) Can the Miege boys take the next step, and do so with a perfect record?
The Miege boys are on a quest for redemption and a perfect season after falling a year ago to Topeka’s Highland Park, which earned a third straight state crown, 54-52 on a buzzer-beater in last year’s title game.
2) Can Spradling cap a sparkling career with state glory on his first and only trip to state?
SM South, paced by senior and Kansas State University recruit Will Spradling, looks to make the debut trip of the lone area first-year coach making this sojourn, Brett McFall, a successful one.
3) Will Miege’s 2009 gridiron state title fuel the same in basketball?
Key Stags players Trevor Releford, the reigning All-Sun Boys Basketball Player of the Year; and Justin McCay, a University of Oklahoma football signee, joined their hoops contingent fresh off the Stags’ autumn 4A state football crown.
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Written by Mark Dewar
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Wednesday, 10 March 2010 00:00 |
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SM South bowler nabs third at state
Shawnee Mission South High School bowler Shelby Byrnes led the push among this year’s Sun Country entrants at the state competition in Wichita.
Byrnes rolled a 657 series on March 5 with a high game of 247 to capture third in the Class 6A girls portion of the event.
The Raiders girls finished in eighth place with 2,088 pins, right behind seventh-place SM West with 2,091.
Another Raiders performer, Adam Holmes, recorded a 705 series on March 4 to finish fourth among 6A boys.
The SM North boys were the top 6A team finisher in sixth place with 2,528 pins. SM South snagged eighth with 2,319.
In the 5-1A boys tournament, also on March 4, Bishop Miege’s Anthony Mitchell placed fourth with a 706 series.
St. James Academy garnered sixth in the team standings with 2,344.
AM 580 WIBW offers state live
For area fans who cannot make the trip to view the state basketball tournament of their choice in person this week, Topeka’s AM 580 WIBW carries a live broadcast each year that offers in-game updates from each of the state sites.
Also, kcteams.com plans to carry a live stream of the Class 6A boys and girls finals Saturday in Emporia should any Sun Country team advance.
MAYB hoops event set for April 24-25
Mid-America Youth Basketball offers a tournament in the Shawnee Mission area Saturday and Sunday, April 24 and 25, for boys and girls in the third through 12th grades.
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Written by Mark Dewar
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Wednesday, 10 March 2010 00:00 |
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Sun sports section
March 10, 2005
In a Q & A with Sun sports editor Mark Dewar titled, “Season keeps on spinning,” Kansas City Christian School junior basketball player Kristen Knoth talked about the key behind the 20-3 Panthers qualifying for the state tournament for the very first time.
KC Christian takes a No. 5 seed into the Class 3A state tournament in Hutchinson and will meet fourth-seed Hesston, also 20-3, in the opening round.
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Written by Mark Dewar
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Sunday, 07 March 2010 16:06 |
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What follows is a listing of high school state basketball tournament pairings and tipoff times later this week for All Sun Country schools, spread over Class 6A, 5A and 3A.
Class 6A
At Emporia, White Auditorium
Girls
Wednesday
First (quarterfinal) round
No. 1 Olathe South (21-1) vs. No. 8 Blue Valley (15-7), 3 p.m.
 No. 4 Dodge City (19-3) vs. No. 5 Shawnee Mission East (19-3), 4:45 p.m.
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Written by Mark Dewar
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Saturday, 06 March 2010 22:45 |
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Final state boys and girls bowling results
At Northrock Lanes, Wichita
Thursday, March 4
Boys
Class 6A
Team: 1. Maize, 2,747; 2. Goddard, 2,637; 3. Lawrence Free State, 2,604; 4. Olathe North, 2,587; 5. Lawrence, 2,560; 6. SM North, 2,528; 7. Topeka Washburn Rural, 2,455; 8. Shawnee Mission South, 2,319; 9. Wichita North, 2,265.
Individual results (Winner and Sun Country only)
Medalists
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Written by Mark Dewar
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Thursday, 04 March 2010 16:18 |
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Shawnee Mission South senior bowler Brock Likens is The Sun’s Athlete of the Week.
While celebrating his 18th birthday on Saturday, Feb. 27, the day of his team’s Class 6A regional at Mission Bowl in Olathe, Likens rolled a perfect 300 game as part of his 731 series that proved good for the day’s individual crown on the boys side.
 Likens outgunned runner-up Brian Perkins of Olathe East’s 690 series by 41 pins to earn the title.
The senior’s ascent through the bowling ranks to lead SM South at the regional certainly proved unconventional, to say the least.
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