Looking back

The first six months of 2012 have already provided sports fans in Crawford County enough good — even great — stories for an entire year and we have six months left on the calendar.

Today, we take a look back at some of the best stories in high school athletics before we head into the next six months.

Feel-good stories rarely come more feel good than Frontenac baseball: a team who, through some difficult personal times, bonded together like a band of brothers and played some consistently solid baseball through a 24-2 season.

Pitching, defense and timely hitting combined to help Frontenac win its first league title in school history and claim its second consecutive regional title. The Raiders became the first team since 1996 (also Frontenac) to deny St. Mary’s Colgan a state tournament appearance.

At the Class 3A state tournament in Manhattan, those championship-winning elements remained strong and combined with raw emotion and the loudest cheering section in the stands to form a dynamic team which defeated Silver Lake, Humboldt and Wellsville for the state championship, the first state title in baseball in school history.

Colgan gave Frontenac one of its two losses on the season during an epic doubleheader at JayCee Ballpark.

This hard-earned split (a 3-2 win in the first game of the doubleheader) with Frontenac gave Colgan head coach Mike Watt career win No. 500. (Note: Coach Watt does not count byes into his overall win total.)

Over his 27-year career as head baseball coach at Colgan, the Panthers have won 12 state championships, made 24 state tournament appearances and won 15 Crawford-Neosho-Cherokee League titles.

The Pittsburg baseball team caught fire during the right time of the season, peaking during Southeast Kansas League play and riding pitching and improved defense into the Class 4A state tournament.

Pittsburg gave retiring head coach Mike Wilbert a nice present: its first state baseball tournament appearance since 2008.

Pittsburg finished in a three-way tie with Independence and Iola for the SEK League crown — the first known three-way tie in SEK baseball history, ironic since Iola played its last season in the league.

Colgan softball qualified for the Class 3A state tournament on the individual performance of Morgan Gilmore during regionals.

In a quarterfinal game at Cheryl Stice Field, Gilmore bashed a three-run walk-off home run against Galena. In the regional final against Humboldt, Gilmore approached a state record for strikeouts in a seven-inning game with 19 strikeouts and hit a two-run homer which helped Colgan to a 5-3 win.

On its road to Manhattan, Colgan knocked off No. 2 seed Frontenac (previously one loss) in the semis and No. 1 seed Humboldt (previously undefeated) in the final.
Pittsburg track athlete Lauren Ouderkirk finished her distinguished high school career with a Class 4A state title in the 300-meter hurdles. Ouderkirk won in 44.80 seconds, outracing previous state champion Tayler Soucie of Osawatomie to the finish line (Soucie won the 100 hurdles in 2011).

Colgan senior golfer Austin Barone finished his prep career with four state medals, placing top 10 all four years of high school: fifth as a freshman at Bishop Seabury (80), eighth as a sophomore at Colgan (82), tied for seventh as a junior (84) and seventh as a senior (82). According to Colgan golf coach Luke Wachter, Barone is the only Colgan golfer to perform this feat.

Pittsburg tennis player Brandon Smith earned a SEK League title his senior year — in No. 2 singles, complementing his No. 2 doubles title he shared with Sean Perkins during their junior year.

Delving back into winter sports, Pittsburg wrestling claimed its second consecutive undefeated SEK League title, its first-ever regional title and placed fourth at the Class 4A state tournament, its highest team finish in school history and just one spot removed from a team plaque.

Aaron Seybold became the first wrestler in the 32-year history of the high school wrestling program to win two state titles and Broc Bennett won his first state title, making Broc and his older brother Beau the first brothers to win state titles for PHS.

On top of that, head coach Scott Rieck won Kansas Class 4A Wrestling Coach of the Year for his guidance of Pittsburg wrestling.

Speaking of guidance in high school coaching, Colgan head coach Wayne Cichon earned career victory No. 500 when the Panthers defeated the Frontenac Raiders 57-42 on Frontenac Homecoming. Cichon and the Panthers have won five state basketball titles.

The Panthers made their first appearance in the Class 3A state tournament after years of dominance in 2A. Colgan defeated Frontenac, Riverton (in four overtimes) and Galena to qualify for Hutchinson.

The Northeast Vikings came one game short of their first state tournament appearance since 1974 and won their first Three Rivers League boys basketball title — first since 2001 and only third overall.

On the girls side, the Girard Trojans, the Frontenac Raiders and the Pittsburg Purple Dragons all gave their fans reasons to be excited for the present and the future of each basketball program.

Despite facing adversity from before the first tip of the season, Girard was the only girls basketball team in the county to qualify for the state tourney.

Girard lost its 50-game CNC League winning streak, its 38-game home winning streak and its four-year dominance of the Wilson County Classic but peaked at the right time of the season and defeated Independence, Pittsburg and Parsons for a trip to Salina.

Frontenac ended that 50-game winning streak for Girard en route to its first CNC title since 2003. The Raiders won their second consecutive Lancer Classic title and had an 18-game winning streak between its only two losses.

Pittsburg improved 12 wins under first-year head coach Kim Peterson and the Purple Dragons won the Wilson County Classic during Tournament Week, mostly relying on the strength of its forwards and centers inside.