MHS girls will work to fill void created by graduation

Written by John Giffin Tuesday, 30 November 2010 17:16

Marion girls’ coach Randy Savage will look to five varsity veterans to lead his team this year: (from left) Donna Cady, Sarah Guetersloh, Whitney Gordon, Erin Meierhoff. Not pictured: Emily Hett. This season, Randy Savage will face a challenge he hasn’t had as Marion girls’ basketball coach. The challenge of playing a season without Julia Zeiner, Lindsay Hett, Kayley Heerey, Bridget Lundy and Kristen Steinborn.

Taking the helm before their sophomore season, Savage and those five girls embarked on a three-year journey that ended 10 points shy of the Class 3A state title in Hutchinson last March.

Those longtime teammates had surpassed the goal they set in junior high of reaching the state playoffs. Being the state runner-up is the best finish ever for a Marion basketball team.

MHS finished 2009-10 19-6 overall and 7-4 in the Mid-Central Activities Association, which was good for fifth place.

With those girls moving on...

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HHS boys will rebuild with tough defense

Written by Don Ratzlaff Tuesday, 30 November 2010 17:15

Working to reboot the Hillsboro boys’ program this winter are these six seniors and letter-winners: (from left): Ben Bebermeyer, Jarod Hamm, Grant Shewey, Jesse Allen, Luke Moore, Caleb Hilliard. You can’t blame Hillsboro boys’ coach Darrel Knoll for keeping his eyes fixed on the year ahead. The year past was pretty ugly. Not only did Knoll endure his first losing season in 21 years at HHS, the Trojans, at 1-20, finished with the lowest winning percentage of any Trojan team since the start of record keeping in 1925.

“Last year’s team is gone as far as I’m concerned,” Knoll said. “We are focusing hard on developing a good team chemistry and an attitude that’s going to be a winning attitude. Our goal is to be the best we can be, realizing that we have everything to prove.”

Knoll intends to reboot the boys’ program by focusing on hard work and defense.

“We’re taking the approach that we have to work...

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Trojan girls will use depth to fuel success

Written by Don Ratzlaff Tuesday, 30 November 2010 17:14

This group of seniors and letter-winners returns from last season’s state-qualifying team at Hillsboro: (from left) Becky Faber, Allie Faul, Elise Heyen, Emma Heyen, Tena Loewen, Callie Serene. To lose the post player and point guard from a state-qualifying team is challenging enough. When they’re both all-league performers, the void feels even bigger.

Despite the graduation of standouts Dakota Kaufman and Candace Weinbrenner, Hillsboro coach Nathan Hiebert is upbeat about this year’s squad.

“We lost our top assist person, our top rebounder and our top scorer—now it’s just having it come from a different spot,” Hiebert said. “This year we’ve got a lot of girls that can bring a lot of different positives to our team. We’ve been rotating 14 girls in practice.

“I’m excited because we have girls with talent in a lot of different areas,” he added. “But I’m not going to say how many games we’re...

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Wrestlers ‘losing’ to fill weight-class lineup

Written by Don Ratzlaff Tuesday, 30 November 2010 17:14

This group of seniors and returning letter-winners will lead the Hillsboro wrestling team this season. From left: Brett Mueller, Matthew Wiebe, Justin King, Diego Castillo, Nodari Lomidze, Dylan Delk, Darren Mueller, Daniel Kenney, Aaron Bina. Hillsboro wrestling coach Scott O’Hare says a little losing now will increase his team’s chances of winning later.

By “losing,” he’s referring to weight reduction.

“We’ve got some kids working pretty hard to get some weight off so they can compete in a lower weight class,” O’Hare said. “We probably won’t be there by our first matches, but I’m hoping by Christmas we might be close to filling all but two weight classes.”

That’s a pretty good outcome considering a full lineup has 14 weight classes and O’Hare’s total roster numbers 15 athletes.

“My numbers are down a little bit overall,” he said. “I’d like to be getting closer to that 20 range because the more we have in the (practice) room, the...

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