Marion baseball sets its sights on a state tournament berth

Written by Janae Rempel Tuesday, 02 April 2013 12:28

An experienced Marion baseball squad returns 12 letter-winners and seniors: front row (from left), Bret Voth, Dylan Seacat, Caleb Williams, Taylor Heidebrecht, Zach Robson; back row, Austin Pedersen, Ethan Hett, Grif Case, Zac Lewman, Jacob Baldwin, Luke Steele. Not pictured: Jacob Harper. Marion enters the 2013 baseball season having just missed qualifying for the state tournament last spring.

The Warriors finished second in the Heart of America League with a 10-2 record and were 17-6 overall. They ended the season as regional runners-up after a 3-0 loss to Sacred Heart.

Losing only four players to graduation the past two years, third-year coach Roger Schroeder said the experience on his roster will lead to good things this season.

“We return basically our entire roster,” he said. “We’ve got some things to improve on of course, but we’re going to be in good shape.”

Pitching and catching

The Warriors return 100 percent of their pitching staff and will look to the mound to fuel their success.

Two...

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New coach leads Tabor tennis

Written by Janae Rempel Tuesday, 02 April 2013 12:26

These six women will be in Tabor’s lineup this spring: (from left) Meredith Voran, Becky Faber, Katie Becker, Anna Friesen, Krista Schmidt. Not pictured: Karly Lindroth-Yates. With first-year coach John Ruder at the helm, the Tabor College tennis teams will look to build on last year’s season.

The Bluejay women finished second in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference with a 4-2 record and were 9-5 overall; the men finished third at 4-2 and were 8-8 overall.

Ruder brings 28 years of coaching experience to Tabor, his first collegiate job. Prior to moving to Kansas, Ruder led the tennis team at Denton Ryan High School in Texas.

“I always wanted to coach at a Christian college, so when I saw the opportunity to coach here, I really fell in love with the school and wanted to be here,” he said.

Women’s team

With only six players on the roster—three sophomores and three juniors—a key for the...

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Upperclassmen at core of Trojan baseball success

Written by Don Ratzlaff Tuesday, 02 April 2013 12:25

The Hillsboro baseball team will build on this foundation of seniors and letter-winners: front row (from left), Micah Allen, David Dick, Jordan Faul, Jakob Hanschu; back row, Cody Delk (out for the season), Kale Arnold, Nathan Unruh, Josh Davidson and Lucas Sinclair. Coach Doug Dick’s recipe for baseball success at Hillsboro this spring starts with a small but solid nucleus of experienced upperclassmen.

To that, he’ll add a healthy dose of moderately seasoned sophomores, then sprinkle in a couple of spicy first-year prospects.

By the end of the regular season, Dick hopes to savor a state-bound team following a less than satisfying 8-13 season a year ago.

“For whatever reason, we just didn’t get it all put together,” Dick said of 2012. “Obviously, when you’re used to going to state—three years in a row—and you end up 8-13, that’s not where you hope to finish.”

At the top

The critical ingredient will be Dick’s upperclassmen, which include seniors Lucas Sinclair, Kale...

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Hillsboro softball prepared to defend 3A state title

Written by Don Ratzlaff Tuesday, 02 April 2013 12:24

The defending state champion Hillsboro softball team will feature these returning letter-winners and seniors: front row (from left), Bradli Nowak, Allison Weber, Madison Klein, Julie Sinclair; back row, Kennedy Lucero, Emily Jost, Danae Bina, Erin Loewen, Tena Loewen.<p> For the first time in school history, a Hillsboro softball team began preseason practices carrying the mantle of “defending state champions.”

Guess what? It doesn’t make much difference, according to coach Stephanie Sinclair.

“Every year I feel we start over,” she said. “My husband sometimes has to remind me that we’re the defending state champions. I just want our kids to be good at what they’re doing.”

Gone are last year’s core of five seniors who contributed to four consecutive regional titles, and ultimately the state crown.

But the shelf this spring is hardly empty for Sinclair.

Leading the list of returning players is Danae Bina, who was selected as a first-team pick for both the Central Kansas League...

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HHS track looks to gold group to elevate team at large meets

Written by Don Ratzlaff Tuesday, 02 April 2013 12:21

The Hillsboro track and field team will have seven state qualifiers returning this spring. They are: front row (from left), Jordan Bez­dek, Emily Sechrist, Grant Knoll; back row, Shaq Thiessen, Josh Richert, Tyler Proffitt, Avery Franz. Even though overall numbers are down slightly, thanks to smaller classes, Hillsboro track and field coach Dennis Boldt believes he has enough quality athletes to make an impact at the large meets this season—including state.

“I definitely think when you have kids who can bring home gold medals—like Shaq Thiessen, Tyler Proffitt, Josh Richert, Emily Sechrist and Karen Leihy—you put yourself in an opportunity to do well in the big meets,” said Boldt, now in his 23rd year at the helm.

“If you have a supporting cast that can get those (lower) places, all of a sudden those points start adding up.”

State qualifiers

Forming the nucleus of this year’s team are seven returning state qualifiers.

Sechrist, a sophomore...

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