Spring Sports
A peek into the new season of spring sports.
April 22, 2019
Track and Field
The Olathe North track and field started their season February 25th and had their first meet almost a month later at Olathe District Activity Center.
Students join track for many different reasons. “I joined track because I grew up running with my mom who was also a runner. I’ve ran since 6th grade and joined a competitive track team in 7th grade,” stated Freshman Kaylee Tobaben.
Lots of team members do both track and cross country. “I joined track since I did cross country. I wanted to continue running long distance because I enjoyed it.” said Senior Brian Beach. Although the coaches change most of the members stay the same.
“My favorite memory from track is when I medaled at state my sophomore year,” Beach exclaimed. He has gone to state for cross country and track through his high school career. He runs the mile, two mile, and the 4×800. “I like the two mile the best because I’m the best at it and it’s at night” said Beach.
“One of my favorite parts of track is when I beat my personal record for Javelin last year,” stated Junior Gage Hiebert. This is his 3rd year in track and he joined to have fun with his friends and to get better at throwing Javelin. “My favorite part of practices is when I get to do full run throughs for throwing to get better,” said Hiebert.
The team doesn’t just run around the track for hours at practice, they train in many other ways. “Some of my favorite parts of practice is our saturday practices and long runs on the trails,” exclaimed Tobaben. Most of the team doesn’t enjoy long workouts they have. Junior Halsey Osciak and Freshman Kaylee Taboben both said their least favorite part of track was “the long workouts”.
For an average meet, the team leaves around 1:00pm and field events start around 3. “We get there and some of the team warms up,” said Osciak, “then I take some time off and prepare mentally.” Meets can be as long as four hours but events can take only take around 10-15 minutes so the team has a lot of time hang around.
“When we get to the meet, I’ll normally mess around with my friends for a little, get serious and throw for my event,” stated Hiebert, “My event only takes around 10 minutes and then I have to wait for the rest of the team.” Some of the team members gets done close to the beginning giving them time to hang out and cheer on their fellow team mates.
Meets are different for all types of runners and throwers. “The throwers go first so I watch them and then I warm up for my event,” exclaimed Tobaben, “after I run my event I’ll go cheer on the rest of the team.”
The team works hard every year to try and become better from the previous year. With the team going to state the past couple years, even more pressure has been put on the team to do their very best. “The feeling of winning a race feels great. You feel a lot less tired at the end of a race if you know you have a chance of winning,” said Beach. The team’s season isn’t over yet and they will keep working hard to get to state.
Boys Golf
The Varsity team started off their season earlier than Junior Varsity in late March at Lake Quivira. “I prepare for a tournament by getting there an hour early and practicing before hand,” said Freshman Patrick Neal. The varsity team only has eight tournaments this year but will hopefully have more if they make it to regionals or state.
The first junior varsity boys golf tournament was located at Prairie highlands. It began at an early 8am on a Tuesday, April 2nd. “Most of my favorite memories of golf come from the JV tournaments last year,” exclaimed Sophomore Logan Arnold.
Some of the students joined because they grew up doing it. “I’ve played golf even since I was a little boy. I had a little plastic club I would use and would practice more and more growing up,” exclaimed Sophomore Jacob Layman. Layman joined his freshman year and is already on varsity. He got the exciting opportunity to go to regionals last year.
Most people think golf is long and boring but the boys have a lot of fun on the green. “One of my favorite memories from last year was when Trent Collins got hit in the back of the head with a club when another player was taking a practice swing,” explained Senior Mason Askew.
The boys practice almost everyday for two-three hours at Falcon Ridge. “Practice starts at 3:30 to give us time to drive there, then we’ll hit on the driving range and putt,” Stated Askew, “Sometimes we’ll play 9 holes as a team”. Ones of the team’s favorite practices was when they got to play at Topgolf.
Most of the team said their least favorite part of practice is putting. Neal said, “I don’t mind putting but I can’t do it for a long period of time.” Other than that the team enjoys themselves at practice. “I love practice because I get to hang out with the guys and talk to them while playing,” exclaimed Askew.
Girls Soccer
The Olathe North girls soccer team, led by head coach Craig Gerfen, is currently ranked 32nd in the state and the season is still young. They started their season off strong with a 5-1 win against cross town rivals Olathe South.
This score margin was impressive for an opener, and it set the tone for the season.The next game was also a victory, defeating Shawnee Mission Northwest 1- 0. The next two games unfortunately ended in tough sunflower league losses against Olathe West and Olathe East.
For the most part, the scoring is distributed fairly evenly amongst offensive players. Grace McConnell had two goals in the first game and other notable scorers include Hannah Sterling and Shandon Carr.
As far as the team chemistry is concerned, Felicia Honeyman noted its effectiveness: “It’s pretty good, better than most years!”
The last few losses has put this chemistry to the test, but practices have been better for it, and the team will no doubt bounce back.
The Lady eagles are busy preparing for a big out of town tournament in Iowa that will take place the last weekend in April. They will be playing teams from Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota, etc. The competition will push the team to play their best. This is the first time that the girls soccer team has had an opportunity like this and they are very excited.
“I love our coaches at North.” Felicia Georgiou commented on how incredible the player-coach relationships are on the Olathe North girls soccer team. “Our coaches care about us so much, they put all of our needs before theirs.” The coach’s ability to make school season soccer just as enjoyable and competitive as offseason club ball keeps girls in the program and fosters a healthy atmosphere.
The team goals for the ladies going forward is to win regionals and make all of their hard work pay off in a tangible way. Additionally, the girls would love to be Sunflower league champions, bringing attention to a program that deserves it just as much as any other.
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