Roll Call, still in its infancy, is opening its beautiful little baby eyes and looking at spring sports now, which means my little darling is going to be honoring the best of baseball, softball and track & field for the next three months or so.
So let’s get it started.
BASEBALL
TAYLOR HOUSE
Pittsburg State’s Taylor House might not be big (5-foot-9, 175 pounds), but dude packs a punch. Your MIAA hitter of the week went 9 for 14 in four games against Southwest Baptist last week, racking up a home run, two triples, seven RBIs and seven runs. Yeah … that might help his stats a little bit.
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RYAN SWANSON -- OUT
Ryan Swanson is out as the men’s basketball coach at Hutchinson Community College.
This one was coming from a long ways off. Player dissident. Locker room incidents. No control. I have to say … he ran this thing into the ground pretty quickly. They were picked to win the Jayhawk West the last two years he was there, and they finished second the first year and then tied for fifth this year. More importantly, they got beat in the second round of the playoffs both years.
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RAINEY NICKEL
So I’m back from my mid-week weekend. I went and saw “Notorious” — the Biggie biopic — Tuesday night at Northrock. I didn’t really like the way they glamorized his death and tried to make it seem like he resolved (amazingly) every conflict in his personal life right before he died. But when his mom says she wants to take his body back to Brooklyn after his funeral and somebody in the crowd plays Hypnotize … chills, dude.
But I digress.
Newman’s Rainey Nickel put on a show last week — a good enough performance to earn her Heartland Conference player of the week honors after the 5-foot-8 sophomore from Augusta hit for a career-high 28 points in a 74-61 win over Oklahoma Panhandle State last Thursday.
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EUGENE KINLAW
This just in — Hutchinson’s Eugene Kinlaw is the NJCAA national defensive player of the year.
Here’s the release from HCC sports honcho Steve Carpenter, and watch for an article in tomorrow’s Eagle on Kinlaw’s big award, the third straight year defensive honors have gone to a Jayhawk Conference player:
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CLIFF DIXON
This just in from the HCC athletic department, and it comes as a surprise because he’d been out for so long that it didn’t look like he was coming back. What this means? If Dixon can keep it together the Blue Dragons can consider themselves favorites in the West again. Dixon’s time away amounts to a four-game suspension if he’s allowed to play Saturday night against Central Nebraska, and Hutch doesn’t play again until Dec. 31. The 6-foot-10 post was averaging 15.9 points and 7.1 rebounds before he ran afoul of Coach Ryan Swanson.
Here’s the release (and by not commenting on this any further, did they ever comment on it in the first place?):
HCC MEN’S BASKETBALL TEAM REINSTATES CLIFF DIXON
HCC Sports Information
Friday, December 12, 2008
Hutchinson Community College men’s basketball coach Ryan Swanson announced on Friday night that sophomore forward Cliff Dixon (Suitland, MD) will be reinstated to the team for the second semester.
Dixon has been suspended since Nov. 19 for conduct detrimental to the team.
The HCC coaching staff will not comment on this personnel move any further.
CHASE KEAR (MIDDLE)
Here’s the link to the story that The Eagle’s Travis Heying wrote on Andale product and Hutchinson Community College pole vaulter Chase Kear and his near-death experience after a pole-vaulting accident:
http://www.kansas.com/news/story/612079.html
Props to Travis — this is really good stuff. And best to Chase in his continued recovery.
-TA (in the mountains)
There’s lots of stuff going on with our state colleges and jucos — thought I’d catch up with everybody in a Lutzian-style quick hits form. Had a couple of days off (which I thoroughly enjoyed) and filled it up with a WSU basketball game (thanks Carol and Charlie), the new Bond movie, lots of laundry and a round of golf. Not a bad mid-week weekend. I call it the I Am Legend shift.
Let’s roll it:
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There is no shortage of potent volleyball matches and great storylines headed into the weekend, with the Wasbhurn-Emporia State tilt Friday in Topeka getting top billing.
ARICA
Where to start with this one? Two top ten teams squaring off (Washburn is No. 9, ESU is No. 10)? The MIAA
ASHLEY
title on the line? Or the sister vs. sister battle between Emporia State All-American hitter Arica Shepard and twin sister Ashley, the top hitter for Washburn?
I’ll take ‘em all.
The Hornets are on a 19-match winning streak, and are 8-0 in MIAA play. They’ve never won an MIAA title. Washburn’s two conference losses were on the road to ranked opponents Truman State (No. 12) and Central Missouri (No. 14). I’m otherwise occupied, otherwise I’d be up the Turnpike to see this one. Go if you can and let me know about it. Will all of Rossville be there? I hope so.
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Hutchinson Community College volleyball coach Ronda Shirley hit a milestone Friday night with her 300th win. At Sunflower Slate, we’re all about milestones.
Ronda Shirley, HCC
Here’s the release from Hutchinson SID Steve Carpenter, a former sports writer:
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As a lot of you already know, former Hutchinson Community College basketball player and Wichitan Cortez Barnes died in a car accident Sunday in Texas.
Barnes was a City League great who tore it up on the court wherever he went — including two years for the Blue Dragons, where his name still dots the record book. Current HCC women’s coach John Ontjes was a teammate when Barnes played in Hutch, and has some nice words about his former teammate in this release from Steve Carpenter, HCC Sports Information Director:
Cortez Barnes (HCC photo)
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