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Sports
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Written by David Wolman
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Wednesday, 14 July 2010 08:00 |
The expectation that returning players on the Central Heights volleyball team would quickly pick up on the drills coach Kelli Brown heaped on them during last week’s team camp was one she thought they would have no problem doing, and they came well prepared.  Marissa Cox and Katelin Horstick are two 6-foot middle-hitters Brown will be counting on this fall to deliver big hit after big hit. They already had plenty of volleyball experience to fall back on this summer, as both have been playing on a club team for the past month and recently traveled to Reno, Nev., to compete in a tournament. They haven’t been the lone Vikings to take the court this summer, as several others have attended collegiate camps to hone their skills. All of that playing time certainly has made Brown’s job easier. The time the Vikings have put on the court this summer is proof of the high expectations they have for themselves for the fall high school season. It’s been eight long months since Central Heights stepped off the court at the Bicentennial Center in Salina, where the Vikings lost the third-place match by 1 point to Kismet-Southwestern Heights. After winning all three games in pool play on the first day of the two-day tournament, Central Heights lost its final two matches, including in the semifinals, where it lost several points on an official’s error; it was ruled that Central Heights was out of rotation several points earlier. |
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Sports
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Written by David Wolman
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Wednesday, 16 June 2010 08:00 |
Enthusiasm for summer boys’ basketball for Central Heights has been spreading around the school for quite some time. It was a topic that was even brought up at times this past season.
“Throughout the season, the kids were still asking if we were going to do the summer leagues,” said second-year coach Rusty Cannady. “They would ask, ‘Are we going to practice on Monday nights?’” 
Longtime coach Buddy Welch ran a summer league for many years in which his players would participate in games against other schools. When he retired as Viking head coach in 2009 after serving 28 years at the helm, Cannady looked to continue running those summer leagues. But one thing Cannady didn’t take into account was timing.
When Cannady held a team meeting in early May 2009 to announce practice would be held Monday nights and games every Wednesday in June, that notice came a little bit too late as a majority of the squad was out either working a job, playing other sports or on vacation. Only eight Vikings showed up for summer basketball.
Cannady made sure he gave his players more advanced notice this year. Just before spring break in March, he held a team meeting to announce his plans for the summer.
“I told them, ‘I’m letting you know, the whole month of June, Monday nights and Wednesday nights are basketball nights,’” he said. “‘If you have baseball on Tuesdays, Thursdays, have weekend tournaments, that’s fine. If you do have baseball practice on Monday, the open gym, individual team skills things are voluntary. If you have a family obligation, that’s fine. That gym is open to make yourself better.’ They scheduled everything so they could fit summer league basketball into their schedules on Wednesdays.”
That advance notice certainly helped his players as Cannady has about 20 Vikings out for basketball, a statistic that’s made him happy. After losing eight seniors to graduation, he anticipated about the same number of players would show up as last summer, but when Central Heights held its first practice May 31, 16 players reported. Two days later, two more players showed up for the squad’s first summer league games at Waverly. Mixed into that group are three players who didn’t play basketball as sophomores last season and 13 freshmen who intend to play hoops this coming winter.
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Sports
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Written by David Wolman
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Wednesday, 16 June 2010 08:00 |
Skye Mills figured to be a big key to the success of the Central Heights baseball team this spring. He was just one of three returning starters from a Viking squad which lost a majority of its playing experience to graduation in 2009, a group of seniors which had advanced to the Class 3A state tournament each of the previous three seasons. 
Not one to do a lot of talking, he let his arm and bat speak volumes.
It wasn’t just Pioneer League coaches who recognized his talents (he was named all-league first-team at pitcher and in the outfield), but also coaches around the state. Mills recently was named an all-Class 3A first-team selection in the outfield and a second-team selection at pitcher by the Kansas Baseball Coaches Association.
His numbers certainly backed up his production.
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Sports
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Written by David Wolman
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Wednesday, 02 June 2010 08:00 |
Lynn Percy has seen the Central Heights softball team rise to new heights under her watch as head coach, as the squad has advanced to the Class 3A regional tournament championship each of the past two seasons. But with her son entering the seventh grade this fall, she wanted to spend more time watching him compete in athletics.
Percy made that desire official when she recently handed her resignation to the Central Heights USD 288 Board of Education.
“It stinks, but my son comes first,” she said.
Percy watched the Vikings show tremendous improvement each of the past two seasons, posting a 33-9 record over that span, which included a Pioneer League regular-season title in 2009. Osage City pitcher Carly Spicer proved to be the lone roadblock that separated Central Heights from the state tournament as she posted two shutouts in each of the past two regional tournament championships.
Kent Schulte will take over the helm after serving the past two seasons as an assistant coach. He had previously served as the inaugural head coach from 1997 to 1999.
Schulte will have an abundance of experience to lean on in the 2011 season as the Vikings will return all but two starters — Casey and Shelby Droddy. |
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Sports
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Written by David Wolman
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Wednesday, 26 May 2010 08:00 |
OSAGE CITY — The Central Heights softball team had state tournament aspirations coming into this season. After all, the Vikings were fresh off an appearance in the Class 3A regional tournament championship and returned a large contingent of its roster. 
Posting a 4-0 shutout over Northern Heights in Monday’s quarterfinal and a 3-0 win over Burlington in Tuesday’s semifinal, Central Heights needed just one more victory to punch its ticket to the state tournament in Manhattan.
Osage City junior pitcher Carly Spicer, however, proved to be a thorn in Central Heights’ side. For the second consecutive season, Spicer derailed the Vikings’ plans for a state tournament appearance. And just like in 2009, she didn’t allow a run to cross the plate, recording 11 strikeouts in a 6-0 Indian victory in Tuesday’s regional championship.
“She always pitches well,” Central Heights coach Lynn Percy said of Spicer. “I will say we hit off her better this year than last. We had opportunities, but couldn’t get it done. It wasn’t lack of trying, it just didn’t happen.”
Central Heights (19-4) had an opportunity to jump on Osage City before the Indians ever stepped up to the plate. Spicer’s counterpart on the mound, Karly Schulte, also a junior, made contact with a two-out triple in the top of the first, but she was left stranded. Katelin Horstick recorded the other lone Viking hit in the contest with a two-out single in the fourth.
Schulte found herself in a tight spot in the bottom half of the first, as the first three Indian batters reached base, but she bounced back to retire the next three batters she faced, allowing only one run — a sacrifice fly — to score.
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