(Editor’s note: This is the second of two parts of Sports in Review 2010.)
July
3 — Neil Crane is a Hall of Famer. Along with a throng of others, Crane of Iola was inducted into The College of Emporia Athletic Hall of Fame. After two years of junior college, Crane competed for two years for the Fighting Presbies in football, basketball and baseball. He then re-turned in 1967 to coach in all three sports at the college which closed in 1974.
14 — Kyler Thompson, a 2010 Iola High graduate, received a telephone call a week ago. It was from Hayden High School’s head football coach Bill Arnold. Arnold is the head coach for the East squad of the 2010 Kansas Shrine Bowl All-Star Football Game. Arnold called to ask Thompson to play in the 37th annual all-star game. Thompson is the first Iola High player to play in a Kansas Shrine Bowl since 1989. Larry John Kress was selected that season. According to Shrine Bowl website records, Tim Sinclair (1987) and Mike Taylor (1985) were the only other IHS players selected to play in the Shrine Bowl.
Thompson joins Crest High’s Micah Smith on the East squad. The East squad reports to Shrine Bowl training camp at Emporia State University on July 23.
26 — Throw out the excessive heat and the thunderstorm, and the 2010 SEK Swim League champion-ships went smoothly. With about two hours of competition left, Iola had to send everyone home Saturday because of the storm. All were back at Iola Municipal Pool at 9 a.m. Sunday to finish up the league meet. Officially, there were 435 swimmers, ages 4 to 18, competing in the SEK league meet.
31 — Tapanga Turner is not a newcomer to recreational shooting. At the tender age of 9 she shot her first deer. For five years, Turner has been an avid hunter. Then came a new opportunity for a different shooting sport. And trapshooting is loving the 14-year-old soon-to-be freshman at Marmaton Valley High School in Moran. Since March, Turner has made strides in her new sport, winning division shoots.
August
3 — Allen County Fair Rodeo celebrates is 25th run at the fair but it is in its third year as a United Rodeo Association (URA) rodeo.
It also is sanctioned by the Missouri Rodeo Cowboy Association (MRCA). The two-night rodeo goes at the Lyle Dreher Roughrider Arena on the fairgrounds in Riverside Park. The arena was renamed after one of Allen County Fair Board members, Lyle Dreher, who spearheaded bringing a rodeo to the fair.
5 — The 25th Annual Allen County Fair Rodeo drew only 950 fans for the two-night event on the fair- grounds at Riverside Park. That was one of the lowest, if not the lowest, attendance marks for the rodeo. Allen County had 183 entries in nine events.
6 — Bill Peeper is a history teacher. Although he is getting to know the history of Iola High School Mustang basketball, it’s a clean slate for the 2010-2011 Mustang basketball team under their new head coach.
13 — Tapanga Turner competed in the 2010 Grand American World Trapshooting Championships in Sparta, Ill. Turner said she did “fairly well,” breaking 896 of 1,000 targets for the week of shooting. Turner, 14, has been shooting competitively since March.
14 — Lyle Kern brings pickleball to Iola. The new sport has elements of badminton, tennis and ping pong. It is played with a small plastic ball and wooden paddles on a court similar to a tennis court.
18 — It was Senior Day at Allen County Country Club. And it was Friday the 13th, which was a lucky day for two area golfers.
George Levans hit a hole-in-one on the course’s No. 9 hole. He used a 7 iron to ace the 145-yard hole. Two hours later, Paul Friskel did the same thing. Friskel pulled his 7 iron to tee off and hit the ball 145 yards for a hole-in-one on No. 9. Witnesses to the two aces were the same also — Dave Cescon, Loren Bartlett and Jim Cole.
23 — The Iola Open golf tournament was held Aug. 21-22. Rounds were played at Allen County Country Club and Cedarbrook Golf Club. The Iola Open was presented by Allen County Country Club and Cedarbrook Golf and Fitness. Plans are to have it as an annual event in mid- August. The tournament was sponsored by Twin Motors Ford, PSI Insurance and O’Reilly Auto Parts.
24 — Anwar Perry admits he wanted to be a head basketball coach. And yes, he had his eye on Allen County Community College.
“One day. I mean I never thought it would come like this. I enjoyed being assistant coach under Mike (Hayes),” Perry said, a week after being named interim head coach for 2010-2011.
Mike Hayes, who finished his 15th season as Red Devil head coach last year, decided to resign from his basketball coaching position two weeks ago. Hayes remains as a business instructor at ACCC and the head golf coach.
31 — Turkey habitat is wildlife habitat. Bob Walden and Don Erbert are members of the National Wild Turkey Federation. Neither Allen County land- owner was interested in developing a local chapter of NWTF. But a new idea developed by NWTF presented at the national convention in February piqued Walden and Erbert’s interest — a seminar on habitat.
The National Wild Tur-key Federation announced the formation of its first ever upland gamebird chapter. The Kansas First Upland Pioneers Chapter was created in Iola on Aug. 18 by more than two dozen conservation-minded individuals who decided the best way to improve quail populations and upland habitat was to form the NWTF chapter focused on upland gamebirds.
September
4 — INDEPENDENCE — No one saw this one coming.
Iola High’s Mustangs posted 51 points on the scoreboard in their 2010 season opener. And they lost.
Independence High’s Bulldogs got the upper hand early. The score belonged to the hosting Bulldogs but the game was a shared endeavor. It is was one for the record books.
The Bulldogs claimed a 61-51 win in Southeast Kansas League play. The teams set a new SEK record for most combined points in a game. The 112 points eclipsed last year’s 104 — Coffeyville 63, Parsons 41. Also Iola’s 51 points set two SEK records. It is the most points scored in defeat — 42 by Independence against Coffeyville in 2007.
And 51 points is the most points allowed in victory. The old mark was 46 scored by Burlington against Cha-nute in 1994.
13 — Pittsburg High’s Purple Dragons were in their fourth straight Iola High Invitational championship match. The previous three years, they had to settle for second.
Not in 2010. The Purple Dragons defeated two-time defending champion An-derson County High’s Lady Bulldogs 18-25, 25-16, 25-21. Pittsburg is one of only four teams that have won the IHS Invitational in its 20-year run.
Anderson County won the tournament for the first 13 years. Iola broke through for a three-year run. La-bette County won in 2007, then the Lady Bulldogs added titles 14 and 15 the past two years.
Labette County defeated Burlington 25-23, 25-18 for third place.
Iola High’s Fillies and the Humboldt High Lady Cubs did not make it out of pool play Saturday.
16 — Reading was as much a part of Paul Shirley’s life growing up as was basketball in the small Kansas community of Meriden, northeast of Topeka.
Shirley began his basketball career on a gravel driveway and high school courts. He played basketball for Jefferson West High School, then went to Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. “Can I Keep My Jersey?” is a look at his professional basketball career with 11 teams in five countries over four years. Shirley is one of 17 authors and illustrators featured in the 2010 Iola Family Reading Festival.
October
4 — CHANUTE — Hallie Wolf and Jasmine Bannister won their play-in matches as Iola High’s Nos. 2 and 1 singles players, respectively. Wolf finished seventh in the No. 2 singles division of the 2010 Southeast Kansas League tennis tournament. Bannister won the play-in match, then lost three straight in the No. 1 singles division. Both are seniors.
6 — Not a year has gone by and Tapanga Turner already is breaking targets and turning heads. Turner began competing in trapshooting in February. In August, the 14-year-old LaHarpe girl shot in the Grand American World Trapshooting Championships in Sparta, Ill. Last week, Turner “dominated” the sub-junior division of the 2010 Missouri Fall Handicap in Linn Creek, Mo. Even after missing two of her events because of food poisoning, Turner claimed the high all-around award buckle for the division.
15 — PARSONS — Iola High’s Mustangs run well at Big Hill Reservoir. Roman Yocham runs well in the Southeast Kansas League cross country meet. Going into the 2010 SEK meet hosted by Parsons at Big Hill, Yocham was the defending varsity champion. Yocham had finished third in 2008, which was the highest finish for an Iola High freshman in the SEK race.
Yocham defended his title, winning the boys’ varsity 5K race in 17 minutes, 27 seconds. Yocham led the Mustangs to a second straight second-place finish in the SEK meet.
20 — Sabrena McAnulty of Uniontown and Emily Baker and Margie Hartwig of Yates Center competed in the 2010 Kansas Class 3-2-1A State Girls Golf Tournament.
21 — On their night and in their final home match, sophomores Andrea Miller and Nicole Rockhold had a great night on the Allen County Community College volleyball court. Miller matched her uniform number from the service line. She served for 13 points and had five ace serves, which matches her classmate’s uniform number. Miller delivered 10 kills at the net and two assisted blocks. Rockhold, who leads the team in kills, pounded down nine in the 25-16, 25-20, 25-17 win over visiting Cottey College of Nevada, Mo.
29 — Marcus Sullivan, Iola High senior tailback, got loose on the third play of the game. He raced 58 yards for the touchdown. What started out so promising turned into the sixth winless season in Iola High football history. Prairie View High’s Buffalos beat Iola 34-6. The Mustangs ended up 0-9. The last time an Iola football team went 0-9 was in 2003 under Dean Taylor.
Iola went 0-6-3 in 1965, 0-8-1 in 1963 and had 0-9 seasons in 1962 and 1956.
November
1 — WAMEGO — In only his second state cross country race, Crest High’s Dustin Davis-Jones captured his first state medal at the 2010 Kansas Class 4-3-2-1A State Cross Country Meet. He was the lone medal winner from the area in three classifications.
HAYS — Unforced errors and lack of focus were problem areas all season for Southern Coffey County High’s Lady Titans. They thought they had gotten past those areas when they won their Kansas Class 1A substate volleyball title.
But unforced errors and lack of focus reared their ugly heads again as the Lady Titans played in the 2010 Kansas Class 1A State Volleyball Tournament. They lost all three pool matches.
3 — Crest High’s Lancers came up with big plays to claim a 52-36 win in the 2010 Kansas Eight Man Division I playoffs. The Lancers beat Cedar Vale/Dexter to go 9-1, winning a bi-district title and advancing to a regional game.
8 — Crest High’s Lancers lost 54-40 to Lebo High’s Wolves in Kansas Eight-Man Division I regional football playoffs.
11 — Adam Kauth, Iola High freshman, won the 14-15-year-old boys’ competition at the NFL Punt, Pass & Kick sectional contest in October. His combined distance for the three events was 344 feet, 11 inches.
13 — Iola High’s only Southeast Kansas League champion in fall sports was a repeat title holder. Junior Roman Yocham claimed All-SEK honors by winning the 2010 SEK cross country boys’ 5K race in October.
The IHS cross country runners reeled in league honors — four on the boys’ side and two on the girls’ side — at the league meet at Parsons. Freshman Trent Latta earned first team honors while junior Christian Kauth and senior Dylan Lower were honorable mention. Junior Sydney Owens and senior Leah Weir earned all-SEK honorable mention for the Fillies.
SEK coaches named the 2010 All-SEK football and volleyball teams earlier this week. The Iola High Mustangs had three players receive honors while the IHS Fillies had one volleyball player selected.
Junior Jerrik Sigg earned All-SEK first-team honors in football while senior Charles Apt was named to the second team and senior Marcus Sullivan earned honorable mention. Junior Kendra Taiclet received second-team All-SEK volleyball honors.
20 — Nicole Rockhold increased her kill ratio. That was good news for Allen County Community College’s volleyball team. Rockhold admitted to the Register that receiving All-Jayhawk Conference and All-Region VI, Division II honors was reward for “my hard work. It’s nice to know someone recognized that I worked to improve my game.” Rockhold, a 5-8 sophomore outside hitter from Oskaloosa, led the Red Devils in kills with 589 this season. That translated into 4.75 kills per set and that statistic led NJCAA Division II volleyball.
December
4— Iola High Fillies’ head coach Becky Carlson is a firm believer in playing solid defense. Sometimes the offense is hard to come by but defense should be played well no matter what. The Fillies stayed close to host Osawatomie High’s Lady Trojans with their defense. When shots weren’t falling in the first half, the Fillies relied on their defense. And at the end, the offense came and the defense delivered the victory.
The Fillies won their 2010-2011 season opener 39-33 at Osawatomie.
Carlson really didn’t want to talk about the milestone she reached as a head coach the Fillies victory. It was her 400th career coaching win.
It was, as it always is with Carlson, about the players.
6— CANEY — Twenty-two match wins and seven medalists equals third-place team trophy. Iola High’s Mustangs made school wrestling history in capturing their first team trophy. The three-year-old program took third at the 37th Annual KAN-OKLA Classic Wrestling Tournament at Caney Valley High School.
16 — More than 50 ACCC student-athletes weren’t competing on a court, field or track last week. They were Christmas shopping and wrapping presents for others. The Allen County athletic teams found a way to give back to the community which supports them each year at games. Teams decided how many children they could “adopt” by purchasing presents. They didn’t just give money; they also chose the gifts from wish lists for 25 foster children.
NOTE: In Tuesday’s first half of the review, Iola High’s Ryan Weir’s name got shifted down between two ads on the page. Weir was the runner who was on all four Southeast Kansas League champion 4×800-meter relay teams for the Mustangs.
