True confessions: I never played competitive football with helmets and pads. Some of the touch- or flag-football games I played in were pretty competitive, albeit far less physically dangerous. However, this isn’t another column about the dangers of playing football, concussions, etc. Rather, the cause of my headache is the all-too-frequent stories about the behavior of football coaches. Ever since […]

Caleb Potucek punches in a touch down during the second quarter of the Lyons-HIllsboro varsity football game Friday night at Lyons. Karrie Rathbone LYONS- Score after score kept going up for the Trojans (1-1) it was hard to keep up in their game against Lyons last week. Hillsboro defeated Lyons, 42-0, which included a 22-0 start to end the first […]

All four Marion cross-country runners improved their season best times Thursday at Hesston’s Swather Special. Runners, separated by classification and gender, ran on a modified course as a result of rain. “It was a very solid meet for the Warrior runners,” coach Grant Thierolf said. “It is exciting watching them improve and competing for faster times and higher places.” Heidi […]

Jayden May dives for a dig during Set 1 with Hutchinson Trinity Tuesday. Janae Rempel/Free Press The Marion volleyball team went 2-3 at the Centre tournament Saturday, finishing fourth overall. The Warriors started the day with a pair of wins, defeating Centre, 25-22, 25-17, and Wichita Classical, 25-19, 28-26. But Marion ended the outing with three losses, beginning with a […]

Chase Stringer hurdles a Sterling defender to score a 1-yard touchdown run and give Marion an early, 8-0 lead. The Marion football team earned its first victory of the season by defeating Sterling Friday, 36-13. “We tried to spread the ball around, and everybody stepped up tonight and played better,” coach Shaun Craft said. “We challenged them all week.” Marion […]

After competing in their own invitational tournament, the Goessel Volleyball team is 7-2 and placed third in the Bluebird Tournament. In pool play they defeated Canton Galva in straight sets, 25-21 and 28-26. Then they beat Central Christian in straight sets, 25-20 and 25-14. Finally they left pool play undefeated beating Wichita Independent, 25-18 and 25-22. In the semi-finals lost […]

Peabody drops game to Little River Peabody was no match for the Little River juggernaut last week. Peabody fell 48-0 managing just 95 total yards of offense for the contest. Ro Weerts led the team in offense with 40-yards of rushing. Peabody gets back into action when they travel to Chase County on September 14 for a 7 p.m. kick-off. Hillsboro […]

Charlotte Silhan, 6, took second place on Sunday at the Pedal pull at the Kansas State Fair in Hutchinson. She will compete in Nationals in Mitchell, South Dakota on Saturday, Sept. 22. Charlotte failed to qualify for Nationals last year and has been training in order to go this year. “Charlotte was so disappointed last year she didn’t make it […]

Matt Spooner emerges from the cold water. He finished first in the swim and third overall. This was his first outdoor triathlon. Laura Paulus / Free Press The third annual Ready, Set, Tri triathlon was held on Saturday, Sept 8 at the Marion County Lake. The triathlon is hosted by Can Be Healthy Marion, a nonprofit organization dedicated to making […]

Cheyenne Bernhardt returns a serve during competition at the Hillsboro Invitational tennis meet on Tuesday. She and her doubles partner Kyla Isaac earned 2nd place in the #1 doubles division. Callie Bernhardt serves up a point in her second match during the Hillsboro Invitational tennis meet at the sports complex on Tuesday. She went on to take 2nd place in […]