By Dean Backes
MaxPreps.com
A month after former Olathe South football coach Mark Littrell left the Kansas preps ranks to join former Olathe North football coach Gene Wier at Richland (Texas), the Falcons have found his replacement.
Belton (Mo.) football coach Jeff Gourley will take over the Falcon post after leading Belton to the Class 5 state championship game last fall. In eight seasons with the Pirates, Gourley compiled a 47-40 record, including a 36-20 mark over the last five seasons.
Both Olathe South and Belton were 9-4 a season ago.
Boys Basketball: Wilson Takes Head Basketball Post at Ell-Saline
Seven years after getting out of head coaching on the high school level, Doug Wilson is back in the saddle.
Wilson gave up the title of head coach in 2001 when he and his wife, Cary, left Bucklin for Salina so she could follow her dream of coaching at the collegiate level at Kansas Wesleyan.
Now Cary is coaching the girls basketball team at Bennington and Dent has taken over the reigns of the Ell-Saline boys basketball program starting in the 2008-09 season.
“I was looking for something in this area and had some other offers, but wanted to be close to my family,” Dent, who was a Minneapolis assistant before taking the Cardinal position, told the Salina Journal. “When the Ell-Saline position came open, I had a lot of interest in it.
“I knew a little about Ell-Saline because we (Minneapolis) played them this year. They were super young, and I know one of their middle school classes is pretty strong.”
Dent takes over a Cardinal program that finished the 2007-08 season with a 2-19 record.
Ell-Saline returns plenty of varsity experience from a year ago. Freshmen and sophomores led the Cardinals in scoring in 15 of 22 games this past season.
Boys Golf: Dent Ends Career at State Golf Meet
Heading into the 2008 golf season, Maize boys golf coach Larry Dent’s teams had qualified for the Kansas 6A state golf tournament in eight of the last nine years. So, it is fitting that he ended his career vying for a state title.
The Eagles kept the tradition alive by winning the 6A regional at Consolver Golf Course in Wichita with a team score of 320. Dent will coach his final meet at Shadow Glen Golf Course in Olathe Monday.
“It was all about perseverance. I told the kids to stay in there and try to make par,” Dent told the Wichita Eagle. “The kids did well, and they’re a good group.”
Dent, who is stepping aside as Maize golf coach after 23 seasons, had three players finish in the top 10 individually. Josh Dennis led the way with a 78. Trevor Johanson and Josh Cork followed with scores of 79 and 80, respectively.
Dodge City and Goddard also found there way into the state tournament with team scores of 329 and 331, respectively.
Softball: Udall Rallies to Make Sixth-Straight State Tournament
For Jack Kistler and his Udall softball team the road to the Class 2-1 A State Tournament wasn’t all fun and games. In fact, it was downright scary.
Trailing 1-0, the Eagles rallied for a 2-1 win late in the contest.
“It was getting critical,” Kistler told the Winfield Daily Courier. “There were a lot of lumps in our throats.”
Senior Sydney Aldrich started the streak-saving rally by drilling a two-base base hit. After stealing third base, Aldrich scored on a Keely Smith single. Smith then scored the winning run from third base on a play to first base following an Eagle bunt.
“The kids came through,” Kistler told the Daily Courier. “They came from behind. There were some key hits, and it was overall a very good team effort.”
Consistent Manhattan Secures Regional Golf Championship
Four Manhattan golfers shot anywhere from 75 to 77 in helping the Indians win a regional golf title at MacDonald Golf Course in Wichita. The Indians finished seven strokes better than Washburn Rural’s 310 team score.
1-2-3 Finish Carries Emporia to Regional Title
Emporia golfers swept the top three spots at the Emporia 5A Regional golf tournament at Municipal Golf Course Monday.
Bren Fisher led the charge and won medalist honors with his 76. Fletcher Harper fired a 78 for the individual runner-up spot. The two Spartan golfers were the only competitors to finish under 80. Eric Reimer finished third with a score of 80 for Emporia.
“We started out a little slow and definitely had higher expectations than how we started out,” Fisher told the Topeka Capital Journal about Emporia’s slow start to the season despite returning all but one member from last season’s runner-up team. “But after we didn’t do so well at league as a team, I feel like we’ve realized that we really need to step it up. We’re starting to come around as a team finally.”
