Kansas high school spring sports: Five boys to watch

The Kansas high school spring sports season is in full swing. With state championship events just more than a month away, here are five male athletes to keep an eye on during the rest of the spring.

Tanner Green, Olathe South, senior

Entering his final high school track and field season, Green already has a pair of Kansas Class 6A state titles under his belt and appears to be in a good position to add more.

Green is the defending state champion in the 400-meter dash with a time of 48.55 seconds. The previous year, he won the 200-meter dash in 22.40 seconds.

Green is currently ranked first in the state in the 400-meter dash with a time of 49.15 seconds. He is ranked second in the state and first in Class 6A with a 200-meter time of 21.93 seconds.

James Henderson, Blue Valley West, senior

Henderson, The Star’s 2014 All-Metro boys golfer of the year, was only a tie-break away from winning the Kansas Class 6A state championship last season. So it’s no surprise he has come back with a vengeance.

Henderson won the Eastern Kansas League title last season and is already in the lead again after shooting a 68 in the first segement of the three-part league meet. It matched his season-best score from last year and gave him a 4-stroke advantage against Blue Valley North’s Jake Goldman in the league race.

Riley Pint, St. Thomas Aquinas, junior

St. Thomas Aquinas has won seven straight baseball games to start the season and their ace, Riley Pint, is a big factor.

Pint, a right-hander and Louisiana State commit, is off to another solid start, allowing just one hit and two walks in his first 14 innings. In that same time, he has notched 14 strikeouts for a 0.00 ERA and 3-0 record. Offensively, he has a .333 batting average with eight RBIs for the undefeated Saints.

He went 8-0 with a 2.58 ERA and 59 strikeouts in 57 innings last year.

Jack Santilli, SM East, junior

To win three straight boys tennis state titles, a team has to have depth.

The Shawnee Mission East Lancers certainly do.

The biggest example is Santilli, who came off a doubles state championship his freshman year to play second fiddle to Kansas Class 6A individual state champion Brooks Kendall in singles last season.

Each of Santilli’s four losses last year came against top-three finishers from Kansas and Missouri, with two against Kendall.

He spent the first part of this season finishing up with his club team, but is transitioning back to the Lancers this week.

Brett White, senior and Jonathan Lowe, junior, Blue Valley Northwest

White may have lost his Kansas Class 6A state champion doubles partner, but the talent did not drop as he picked up Lowe from the state tournament’s third-place team.

The two are coming off a title at the Pembroke Hill Doubles Invitational last weekend, where they defeated the defending state champions from Rockhurst, as well as teams from Blue Valley North and Pembroke Hill. They won eight of the nine matches they played.

Led by White and Lowe, the Huskies are ranked first in the Kansas Coaches Association’s state poll for the fourth straight week.

This story was originally published April 14, 2015 at 6:27 PM with the headline "Kansas high school spring sports: Five boys to watch."