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Written by David Wolman
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Wednesday, 10 March 2010 08:00 |
Longtime Prairie View volleyball coach Diana Oborny first took notice of Kaitlin Jones’ skills at the 2004 Class 4A state tournament. Prairie View never faced Andover, a team on which Jones played as an outside hitter. But Oborny, as a casual observer, was eager to witness the talent of the other teams participating in the tournament.
Jones, a junior at the time, surely impressed Oborny. Andover entered state as the lowest seed, and was also the lowest seed in its substate tournament. Records don’t mean anything come time for postseason play. Andover can attest as the Trojans went on to capture the state title. Jones’ skills were part of the reason for their success.
“She had a quick arm swing and a knack for getting to the ball to hit it,” Oborny said. “Some hitters cannot attack a ball if it is not in their ‘sweet spot.’ Kaitlin didn’t care, she would find a way to attack.”
Little did Oborny know that Jones would be on her future staff at Prairie View.
Last fall, fresh off graduating from Pittsburg State University, Jones took a position with Prairie View as an assistant coach, in addition to getting hired as a second-grade teacher at Fontana Elementary School. Following Oborny’s retirement from coaching last fall, Jones was approved as the Buffalos’ new head varsity coach. Oborny coached for 31 years at Prairie View, leading the Buffalos to three appearances in the state tournament.
“It will not be easy to replace someone such as coach Oborny,” Jones said. “She has quite a bit of coaching experience. She has such a big heart and great drive when it comes to volleyball, sports and life. Her shoes will be tough to fill.”
Jones has previous experience coaching a couple of club volleyball and a few recreation basketball teams during high school, but no where near the amount of experience Oborny has. Being able to watch Oborny oversee her Prairie View team is something for which Jones is extremely grateful.
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Written by David Wolman
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Wednesday, 10 March 2010 08:00 |
OSWEGO, Kan. — The obstacles were piling up for the Jayhawk-Linn girls’ basketball team during Thursday’s Class 2A substate tournament semifinal.
First, three of the starters had already picked up their fourth fouls. More importantly, the team was facing a 13-point deficit to Oswego on its home court entering what could be their final quarter of its season.
Looking to rid his players’ minds of those facts, Jayhawk-Linn coach Charlie Beckman injected a bit of confidence into his squad between the third and fourth quarters. He said he believed the team had the capability to overcome the large deficit.
“I told them that we have to forget about those things and play well and make a run, and that we did,” he said.
Implementing a press defense, Jayhawk-Linn forced Oswego into committing one in the game’s final minute. After tying the game at 50, the Jayhawks had an opportunity to go ahead late, but missed three short shots, and Oswego held on for a 57-56 victory. Jayhawk-Linn finished the season 15-7.
“It was a pretty impressive comeback,” Beckman said. “We got the ball inside in the post late, but the shots didn’t fall.”
Foul trouble started to add up in a hurry for Jayhawk-Linn. Senior point guard Meriel Long picked up two fouls in the first 90 seconds of the contest. Amory Miller, also a senior, picked up two quick fouls at one point in the first half. Taylor Dawson, another senior, collected three fouls. That forced the Jayhawk trio to be relegated to the bench for at least some portion of the half.
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Written by David Wolman
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Wednesday, 10 March 2010 08:00 |
JD Johnson had his mind set on attending Kansas State University for quite some time. He had already visited the biology department and was impressed with their facilities and exercise sports program. It was just a matter of counting down the months until he packed up his belongings and moved to Manhattan.
That is, until four weeks ago. 
An official visit to Ottawa University changed all of that.
Johnson had previously been involved with school activities at Ottawa. He participated in Christian ministry camps and had always a strong liking to the football team, already having attended several games. So when he made his visit in February, he was already familiar with his surroundings. It certainly was an added bonus that the football and track and field programs were interested in his services.
Perhaps one of the most convincing reasons — Ottawa was close to home.
All of those reasons made it a no-brainer for the Central Heights senior to sign his letter of intent with Ottawa on March 3 in a signing in the school’s library.
“Everything I was interested in was right there close to home,” said an ecstatic Johnson. “I figured Ottawa had the same classes as K-State.”
The only bummer for Johnson was Ottawa didn’t offer a wrestling program, a sport which he excelled at Central Heights. An opportunity to be a two-sport collegiate athlete in football and track and football teams for the Ottawa Braves is something he wouldn’t turn down.
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Written by David Wolman
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Wednesday, 10 March 2010 08:00 |
Cody Hoskins couldn’t turn down the opportunity to play collegiate football with his older brother. 
Hoskins, an offensive lineman, certainly has linebacker Taylor Edging, Hoskins’ brother, to thank for receiving interest by the Baker University coaching staff.
Edging brought a highlight tape of Hoskins playing football to the Baker staff a year ago. After watching the tape, Baker knew they had to go out and recruit Hoskins.
“He’s a good football player,” said Baker offensive line/strength coach Miguel Regalado. “Usually when good football players bring other players to you, you always want to look at them right away. He’s competitive, he’s aggressive. If they’re related, you’ve got to figure they didn’t fall too far from the tree. That’s a big reason we looked at him.”
The reunion on the gridiron is now official as Hoskins signed his letter of intent with Baker on March 2 in a signing ceremony inside the library at Central Heights High School.
“He found Baker,” Hoskins said. “Luckily I got the opportunity to come here and play with him.”
Hoskins got an opportunity to watch his older brother play at Baker last fall. He left with a great impression with the product on the field. When he went for his official visit recently, he was not only impressed with the character of Baker’s players, but their coaching staff.
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Written by David Wolman
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Wednesday, 10 March 2010 08:00 |
EUREKA, Kan. — Prior to the season, when the Central Heights boys’ basketball team set its list of goals to achieve, one of them was winning all three Class 3A substate tournament games.
After easily defeating Eureka in last week’s opening round, top-seeded Central Heights put itself in a good position to make it two straight wins Thursday.
One quarter was all that separated the Vikings and an appearance in the Class 3A substate tournament championship. Central Heights staked to an eight-point lead over Council Grove after three quarters in Thursday’s tournament semifinal game and looked to maintain that margin so it could be playing two days later for a berth in the state tournament.
However, all of those aspirations went up in smoke in the fourth quarter, when Council Grove went on a 17-6 run to defeat the top-seeded Vikings 44-41 and end a successful season under first-year coach Rusty Cannady.
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