The Pride Online

Swimmer competes in State semi-finals

sgubina — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:02:34 +0000

Junior Taylor Spencer competed in the 100 butterfly semi-finals for the girls swim team on Friday, February 17, at the rec-plex in St. Charles.
According to Spencer, she was accompanied by supportive teammates and friends at the competition at St. Charles.
“Courtney Bomberger came up with us and she hung out with me before I swam. And then Amanda Doerhoff showed up as well, and she was so nice, she made me some gigantic posters,” said Spencer.

According to coach Megan Sassenrath, Spencer placed 24th out of approximately 40 swimmers, and Spencer had a great performance despite the pressure and stayed focused.
“I got 24th place. So I didn’t quite qualify to make it back to finals, but it was still cool. I got a 1:01.52. Not quite my fastest but not far off,” said Spencer.
Although Spencer did not quite make it to the next level, she was still proud of her time.

Boys’ basketball to finish up regular season

Kayt Dahn — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 23:53:24 +0000

While couples were on their Valentine’s Day dates, the boys’ varsity basketball team was busy defeating Excelsior Springs 57-37. The boys over all are now 15-8.
The wildcats will wrap-up their regular season tonight at Grain Valley.
“We have a chance of sharing a conference title with Grain Valley if we beat them tomorrow,” said assistant coach Abe Lewis
Districts will begin Monday February 20 and goes through February 25.

Harrisonville hosts show choir competition

vbostic — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 15:56:43 +0000

This past Saturday the Harrisonville music department hosted the Harrisonville Show Choir Invitational. Students from Music Makers and Forefront, along with concert choir students and staff members, worked as hosts for part of, or for the whole day. Their responsibilities consisted of hosting the individual choirs, working the concessions stand and back stage, and gate duties.

According to music director, Kip Mathew, there are benefits to hosting a competition.

“[The competition] promotes Harrisonville and the school district as well as serving as a fantastic fundraiser for the Blue Note Boosters,” said Mathew.

The choirs that made up the six final spots were from three schools. Two choirs from Pleasant Hill High School, two from Oak Park High School, and two form Rock Bridge High School.

“Pleasant Hill won the Grand Champion in the closest scoring I’ve ever seen. It was a remarkable competition,” said Mathew.

The Wildcat Chorale from Harrisonville Middle School, Music Makers, and Forefront performed during the competition, but their shows were exhibitions.

Wrestling sends eight to State

Kayt Dahn — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 15:20:06 +0000

This past weekend the wrestling team took second at districts, and for the first time ever will be sending eight to State.

Seniors Travis Britz and Joe Hunter both placed first this weekend. Freshman Ty Cochran placed second, senior Marcus Roberg placed third, and while seniors Tyler Wood and Jarrick Fitzgerald, sophomore Joe Schlechter, and freshman Jericho Harris placed fourth.

“I think we have the potential to do some great things, now is the time of the year where the hard work will pay off,” said wrestling coach Andrew Rives.

Harris agrees.

“I think we’ll do pretty well. We’ve learned each other’s boundaries, we’ve grown together as a team, and that will help us push together to get the team trophy,” said Harris.

Besides wanting the best for the team, the wrestlers are also hoping to do their personal best.

“[I think I’ll] do good because I’ve worked hard for 11 to 12 years. I didn’t work hard for nothing,” said Wood.

Though the season is coming to an end the team is excited to go together.

“I’m looking forward to spending the last couple days with the team as a wrestler,” said Britz.

The wrestlers will leave this Wednesday afternoon to start on their state journeys.

“People should come down and support us to cheer us on,” said Schlechter.

State will be held this Thursday, Friday and Saturday at the Hearnes Center in Columbia, MO.

Girls’ swim team concludes successful season, one member qualifies for state

sgubina — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 20:49:59 +0000

The HHS girls’ swim team competed in the ILC Conference Invitational on February 9 and 10, at Center high school. The team competed against schools such as St. Teresa’s and St. Pius. On Thursday, February 9, three relay teams qualified to come back to the Invitational on Friday. Those teams consisted of freshman Miriam Lokits, juniors Madison Hurd, Kailey Huston, Courtney Lemmer, Courtney Bomberger, and Taylor Spencer, and seniors Mary Baer and Rebekah Lokits.

Besides doing well in the relays, Spencer was the only one to qualify for the state competition with a time of 101.26, with 103.09 needed to qualify.

“I honestly didn’t realize I had made it at first, because there was a girl in my heat who started faster than me, and throughout the race I kept seeing someone out of the corner of my eye so I thought she was beating me. And then as soon as I finished, Ii looked up at the scoreboard and saw Courtney Bomberger standing behind my block, and she was ecstatic,” said Spencer.

Lokits was proud of Spencer’s performance.

“Taylor is a really talented athlete and she achieved what she has through hard work and dedication, I am really proud of her and I look up to her as a role model, not just with sports, but the way she portrays herself as well,” said Lokits.

Lokits also added that overall, this swim season was very successful, and that the girls learned a lot of new skills and became closer as a team with the help of coach Megan Sassenrath.

Sassenrath will continue to coach Spencer in one-on-one practice throughout this week, to prepare for state. According to Spencer, she will be working on starts and turns to make better time.

The state competition will be held on Friday, February 17, at the St. Charles (St. Peters) Rec-Plex. The top 16 girls will qualify to move on to the final competition, on Saturday, February 18.

Boys Varsity basketball to play on Friday, February 10

sgubina — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 01:59:11 +0000

The boys Varsity basketball team beat Odessa 64-36 this Tuesday, February seventh, and Monday they beat Clinton at the buzzer with a score of 57-56.

“I believe the team is playing well. We have been up and down because we are playing without some of our better players due to injury and sickness, but we have won the past two games, including beating Clinton,” said coach Abe Lewis.

The next game will be held at HHS, on February 10, against Oak Grove. It will begin at 7 p.m., in the main gym. Coronation will take place during the half time of the Varsity game. The district tournament will begin on Monday, February 20.

Wrestling team prepares for Districts

sgubina — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:32:14 +0000

The wrestling team is preparing for their Districts meet, which will be held Friday and Saturday at Clinton. The competition will begin at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, and will feature 14 different schools.Coach Eric DeVenney is hopeful that the boys will live up to their potential.

“The kids have trained hard all year. I really hope they perform to their capabilities and that we have a successful weekend,” said DeVenney.

Senior Travis Britz feels the team’s main competition is Pleasant Hill and Buffalo; however, he is confident in his team’s abilities.

“We need to focus and not do anything stupid,” said Britz.

The boys’ performance at the meet will determine whether they will move on to the state meet. They are currently ranked fifth in the state.

Swim prepares for ILC Conference

Kayt Dahn — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:50:17 +0000

As the end of the season is near, the girls’ swim team prepares for the last meets of the season by taking it easy, according to coach Megan Sassenrath.
“We have begun tapering, so we’ve cut our yardage down significantly last week and this week to rest the girls’ muscles for fast swims at conference. We’ve been working on a lot of short sprints, and this week we’ll be focusing on starts, turns, and finishes too,” said Sassenrath.
Although the girls have been resting during sets at practice for the upcoming meets, Freshman Hannah Bennett has not been slacking.
“She has shown tons of improvement in practice and the last few meets, especially in the 100 breaststroke,” said Sassenrath.
Freshmen are not the only ones stepping up for the team; seniors Mary Baer and Rebekah Lokits have been great leaders this year. According to Sassenrath they started organizing pasta dinners the nights before meets, which has been really great for the team.
The ILC Conference preliminaries are Thursday, February 9, and finals are Friday, February 10, at Kansas City Central High School.

Winter Homecoming spirit appears throughout the school

Kayt Dahn — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:18:50 +0000

This week HHS is getting in spirit for Winter Homecoming this Friday, February 10.

The spirit days are as follow: Monday- Sexy Tractor Day, Tuesday- Down on the Farm, Wednesday- Should’ve Been a Cowboy, Thursday- Fish’n Flannel, and Friday- Barefoot Blue Jean Night.

This year’s candidates are seniors, Mary Baer and Joe Hunter, Stephanee Davidson and Collin Shelton, Alyssa Strong and Eric Whaley, Taylor Croy and Cal Neill, Sydney Kroenke and Tim Roemer, and Emily Tracey and Tyler Friedrich.

The shopping cart parade for the candidates will be held Friday morning at 7:40 am. and will be followed by the pep assembly. The dance will be held at 8 pm in the MPR, apparel is suggested formal (no one will be turned away for dress). Tickets can be bought during lunch hours or at the door.

Wrestlers take third place at MRVC tournament

afisher — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 19:50:55 +0000

Last Friday, the wrestling team succeeded in earning third place at the MRVC tournament, with 323.5 points.
According to assistant coach Andrew Rives, seniors Travis Britz, 285, Joe Hunter, 152, and Tyler Wood, 138, have stood out on the team.
Wood and Hunter both placed second in their weight classes while Britz earned first in his. Senior Marcus Roberg, 195, and sophomore Joe Schlechter, 220, also earned second in their classes.
“All of [the wrestlers] are doing great,” said Rives.
Head coach Eric Devenney hopes that the team will build off of their achievement.
“It was a great day; I’m very proud of their efforts,” said Devenney. “I hope they continue to work hard.”
The teams next match, against Excelsior Springs, will be held at home tonight at 6 pm.