Lancers lead after two rounds of Sunflower League girls golf tournament
Shawnee Mission East High School girls golf coach Ermanno Ritschl has reason to be optimistic after the first two rounds of the Sunflower League girls golf championships.
First, he has four of the top 10 individual scorers, with the Lancers’ Jessica Parker leading the way. She has a combined score of 165 through two rounds and is 6 strokes ahead of Olathe Northwest’s Chloe Krause. Parker has been SM East’s top performer the last three weeks and is averaging an 82 for 18 holes.
Secondly, and perhaps most important, SM East has a commanding 76-stroke lead in the team standings after dropping its team total to 331 on Tuesday at the Lawrence Invitational. Olathe Northwest is in second, followed by SM Northwest, Lawrence Free State, SM South, Olathe South, Olathe East, Leavenworth and SM North. Lawrence, Olathe North and SM West did not field teams.
“We’ve been very fortunate and I’m very pleased that we are leading by such a large score,” Ritschl said. “We go in cycles and some of the teams are on the down cycle trying to get back into the race. I think we are catching everyone in a down cycle and maintaining.”
Ritschl said the he expects Washburn Rural to be Shawnee Mission East’s top competition at the Kansas Class 6A state golf tournament. The two schools matched up fairly well in Lawrence. SM East finished in second place at the Lawrence Invitational, just 5 strokes behind Washburn Rural.
“Hopefully, with a little luck and us peaking at the right time, if they stumble we could be in a position to be very competitive for a state title,” Ritschl said.
Gymnast to compete in World Championships
Maddie Desch, a junior at St. Thomas Aquinas, was named to a seven-member U.S. gymnastics women’s team that will compete in the 2014 World Championships. The competition is scheduled for Oct. 3-12 in Nanning, China.
This will be her second national team appearance in two months, having recently concluded the 2014 Senior Pan American Championships. That event ran from Aug. 27 through Sept. 1 in Toronto.
Desch lives in Blue Springs and trains with GAGE.
AVCA Player of Week
Blue Valley Northwest High School senior outside hitter Adeline Ellis on Monday was selected CBS MaxPreps and American Volleyball Coaches Association player of the week in Kansas.
In five matches from Sept. 22-28, Ellis recorded 51 kills, 24 digs, eight ages and three blocks for the Huskies. BV Northwest had a 15-4 record through Thursday.
MIAA volleyball award
Blue Valley West High School graduate Natalie Bates was named MIAA Volleyball Specialist of the Week after helping Washburn win three matches last week.
She averaged 10.67 assists and 3.44 digs per set and recorded two double-doubles, with 37 assists and 11 digs against Fort Hays State and 11 digs and 33 assists against No. 16 Central Missouri.
Bates, who is a 5-foot-7 sophomore setter, led the offense to a .241 attack percentage and a .384 set percentage.
This story was originally published October 2, 2014 at 8:12 PM with the headline "Lancers lead after two rounds of Sunflower League girls golf tournament."