Two state titles by Trojan girls was memorable

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Hillsboro girls celebrate their sub-state victory over Hesston, earning them a berth in the Class 3A state tournament. The HHS girls won their six post-season games by an average of nearly 20 points on the way to the state title. Free Press

If success in athletics is measured by championships, the basketball and track programs for the girls at Hillsboro High School easily topped the list of highlights in the area sports world in 2007.

Led by a senior core of JuliAnne Chisholm, Tina Frick and Hannah Marsh, the Trojan girls finished at the top of the heat in Class 3A in both sports.

All three athletes signed letters to compete at Division I schools: Chisholm in volleyball at Kansas State, Frick in volleyball at Wichita State and Marsh in track at Wichita State.

Beyond those accomplishments, teams from the area high schools and from Tabor College had a lot of notable achievements to celebrate during the past 12 months, plus a few disappointments along the way.

January

Sterling College snapped the 16-game winning streak of the nationally ranked Tabor College women?s basketball team with a 70-53 victory.

Hillsboro lost to Riley County, 57-43, in the girls? championship game of the Trojan Classic. The HHS boys lost to Sunrise Academy, 66-59, in the battle for fifth place. Marion boys placed fourth and the girls eighth.

February

Tabor College announced the hiring of Mike Gottsch, a former player and a 1989 graduate, as its new head football coach. He would succeed Robert Ruebel, whose contract was not renewed after a tumultuous 2006 season.

The six state qualifiers from Hillsboro won four of 16 matches at the Class 3-2-1A state wrestling tournament in Hays. Nicholas Muller, Sean Leihy, Tyler Jones and Jacob Yoder each posted 1-2 records. Alex Jost was 0-2 as was Grady Stultz, who wrestled representing Goessel. John Barr went 2-2 for Marion while Cody Wildin, Dillon Wildin and Charlie Holub each went 0-2.

March

The Hillsboro girls routed Hesston 55-35 to win a Class 3A sub-state basketball title at Hesston and qualify for a berth in the state tournament. The win was the girls? first over Hesston since the 2001 sub-state finals. The Trojan boys, meanwhile, ended their season at 11-11 with a 67-48 loss in the semifinals to Southeast of Saline.

The Goessel boys qualified for the Class 1A state basketball tournament with a 46-37 win over Waverly in the sub-state finals.

Cheered on by fans attired in gold T-shirts, the Hillsboro girls? basketball team (23-3), coached by HHS principal Dale Honeck, rolled to a Class 3A state championship with lopsided wins over Neodesha (57-31), Garden Plain (54-39) and Sacred Heart (50-31).

The Goessel boys (23-5) placed fourth at the Class 1A state
tourn?ament in Hays, defeating Wallace County (65-54) before losing to South Gray (56-48) and Olpe (52-50).

The Tabor College women went 1-1 at the NAIA national basketball tournament in Sioux City, Iowa. The Bluejays, 26-6 for the season, lost to undefeated Indiana Wesleyan (61-44) after defeating Cardinal Stritch in the opening round (46-41).

Micah Ratzlaff, former standout player at Hillsboro High and Tabor College, was named the Bluejays? next head basketball coach. He would succeed Don Brubacher, who was head coach for 25 seasons.

Rusty Allen, Tabor women?s head coach, resigned after six seasons, two conference championships and three consecutive national-tournament appearances. Former assistant Shawn Winter was named to succeed Allen in the top job.

JuliAnne Chisholm scored 17 points and Tina Frick 12 for the Mid-Central Activities Associa?tion all-stars in the second annual challenge match against the Heart of America league. The MCAA girls won, 104-64, while the boys won, 86-84. Chisholm was named the outstanding player in the girls? game while Travis Hett of Marion won the honor for the boys? game with 15 points. Jason Hett of MHS scored 14 and Lucas Hamm of HHS added 13.

April

Andrew Topham, standout distance runner for Peabody-Burns, signed a letter of intent to run cross country and track at Southwestern College.

May

The girls? track teams from Marion and Hillsboro finished 1-2 at the MCAA league meet in Marion. The boys? teams placed second and fourth, respectively.

The golf teams from Hills?boro and Marion finished 1-2 at the Class 3A regional tournament in Hillsboro. Sophomore Elliott Soyez of HHS won his second straight regional title. The following week at state, Hillsboro and Marion finished in a three-way tie for third. Tie-breaking procedures gave Marion fourth place and Hills?boro fifth.

HHS sophomore Clay Shewey placed eighth in his first appearance at the Class 3-2-1A tennis tournament in Wichita.

The HHS softball team ended its season with a 3-0 loss to Southeast of Saline in the regional finals. It was the fifth loss to SES in five regional title matchups during the 10-year history of the HHS program. The Trojans finished 11-7 for the year.

The HHS baseball team lost to Hoisington, 16-6, in the semi?finals of the Class 3A regional tournament at Hoisington to finish its season with an 8-9 record.

The Hillsboro girls? track and field team won the Class 3A state championship in Wichita by nearly 15 points over its closest rival, Beloit. JuliAnne Chisholm completed a four-year sweep of the high-jump gold medal by clearing 5-feet, 8-inches. She placed second in the 100-meter and 300-meter hurdles and teamed with Hannah Marsh, Tina Frick and Tiffany Rooker to place second in the 4×400. Marsh won a gold medal and broke her own school record in the pole vault by clearing 10-3, and placed fourth in the long jump and 200 meters. Also scoring points for HHS were Chelsea Bebermeyer, sixth in the discus, and Dakota Kaufman, fourth in the triple jump.

The HHS boys track team finished in a three-way tie for ninth at state. Cody McMillen placed fifth and set a new HHS record in the 3,200 meters. Jacob Yoder placed fourth in the long jump, as did the 4×100 team of Yoder, Michael Suderman, Michael Tisdale and Ishmael Morris. Tyler Kaufman was sixth in the triple jump, Sean Leihy sixth in the 1,600 meters and Adam Dirks seventh in the javelin. The 4×400 team of Yoder, Leihy, Morris and Suder?man finished sixth.

The other state gold-medal winner from the area was Garrett Hiebert of Goessel, who won the Class 1A javelin. Marion?s Erin Carr took home silver medals in the 100, 200 and 4×100 to pace the Marion girls to a fourth-place team finish.

Brothers Brad and Matt Foth placed 1-2 at the annual Memorial Day demolition derby in Hillsboro.

John Sparks resigned as head baseball coach at Tabor College.

July

Chad Newhard was named head baseball coach at Tabor College and will be an instructor of physical education. He was an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Indiana Univer??sity- Pur??due University at Fort Wayne, Ind.

The 1963 state champion Durham Hornets basketball team was inducted into the Kansas Basketball Coaches Association hall of fame. The team went 26-0 on the way to the Class BB state title.

The Hillsboro American Legion baseball team ended its season with a 13-12 loss to Lyons in the Babe Ruth District IV tournament.

Martin de Boer, who played basketball at Tabor College in 2005, signed a contract to play professional ball with a team in the Netherlands.

Hillsboro High football standout Lucas Hamm played in the Kansas Shrine Bowl game in Hays. He and his West teammates throttled the East, 26-7

August

JuliAnne Chisholm scored seven points in the KBCA high school all-star game Aug. 1 in Topeka..

Jason Hamm, Hillsboro, won the $1,000 championship prize at the Marion County Fair demolition derby. He was followed by Matt Foth, Jesse Hamm, Scott Schultz and Brad Foth, all of Hillsboro.

October

The Hillsboro doubles team of Amanda Faber and Greta Wiebe ended the tennis season with a first-round loss at a loaded sub-state tournament.

Physical challenges led to a disappointing ninth-place team finished by the Hillsboro cross-country team at the Class 3A state race in Wamego. Hills?boro?s top two runners, Cody McMillen and Nicholas Mueller, both were bothered by physical maladies during the race. Also running for HHS were Johnny Christian, Nathan Vogel, Matthew Klenda, Brandon McMillen and Cody Blackketter.

Sacred Heart ended Hills?boro?s volleyball season by defeating the Trojans in the sub-state championship match at Southeast of Saline in two games. The Trojans won the MCAA league championship and finished the season with a 31-6 record.

November

Hillsboro?s football post-season ended Nov. 3 with a 35-26 loss to Conway Springs in a Class 3A regional championship game at Tabor?s Reimer Field. The Trojans, who finished with a 6-5 record, made it into bi-district play by being the runner-up in their district. They then defeated Sedgwick, 48-13, to make it to the regional championship.

JuliAnne Chisholm, former HHS standout, has been vying for a starting role as a freshman on the Kansas State University volleyball team.

The Tabor College football team finished its first season under new coach Mike Gottsch with a 1-9 record overall and an 0-8 mark in the KCAC.

The Tabor volleyball team ended its season with a loss to Kansas Wesleyan in the second round of the KCAC post-season tournament. Tabor finished 19-14 overall and 12-6 in the conference.

December

Wade Weibert, a standout on the 2005 HHS football team, has signed a letter of intent to play football at Kansas State Univer?sity next fall. Weibert was named an All-American offensive lineman following the national championship season this fall at Butler County Com?munity College. Weibert is the first HHS alum to play Division I football since Tim Wasemiller made the transition to Kansas State in the mid-1970s.

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