Sports

Special to the Leader & Times

Liberal Wrestling Club traveled to Colorado to compete at the Eads Junior Olympic Tournament Saturday, March 1.

The tournament awarded two outstanding wrestler awards, an older age group and a younger age group. Receiving the older age group award was Liberal’s, Iovani Chavez.

Liberal Wrestling Club has never attended this tournament. They did not have a girls division so the girls were mixed in with the boys but that did not stop Liberal’s wrestlers.

EARL WATT

 • Leader & Times

For the eighth straight season, the Lady Redskins have opened the Class 6A playoffs with a win. The No. 4 seed Lady Redskins knocked off No. 13 Haysville Campus 72-24 to advance to the Sub-State championship.

Kylie Rhine drained an early three to start a scoring frenzy that included eight threes for the Lady Redskins on the night.

Zoey Torres landed a three later in the first quarter that gave the Lady Redskins a 19-2 lead, and sophomore Madysen Hammond ended the quarter with back-to-back threes that gave the Lady Redskins a 29-6 lead.

EARL WATT

    • Leader & Times

Upsets happen in postseason play, including No. 1 Great Bend losing to No. 16 Goddard Eisenhower in the first round of the Class 5A playoffs. But expecting the Redskins to pull off an upset over No. 2 Wichita Heights proved to be too big of a hill to climb, and the Redskins fell 72-25.

Liberal struggled throughout the first season under Brandt Rogers who is trying to build a winning culture for Liberal High School basketball.

That task proved to be a tough hill to climb after several previous losing seasons and seeing some players unwilling to stick with the program for the entire season.

4TH & GOAL, Earl Watt

This season was the first for the basketball shot clock in Kansas high school basketball, and when it is needed the most, it won’t be used.

At the beginning of the season it was determined that the shot clock would be used in Classes 5A and 6A and it would be optional for all classes below.

Some chose to use it. Some didn’t.