Kansas: Kapfer leaves behind trail of success

Following coaching career that spanned nearly three decades, Shawnee Heights volleyball coach steps away.

Thumbnail image of this articles writer: Dean Backes
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May 7, 2010, 12:00am
As she steps away from the head coaching duties she has held for nearly three decades, Shawnee Heights (Tecumseh) volleyball coach Kerry Kapfer leaves behind a trail of post season success and players moving on to the collegiate ranks.

During her stay with the Thunderbirds, Kapfer posted 705 match wins and 12 trips to the state volleyball tournament, including a pair of state championships and a host of second, third and fourth place finishes.

“I know that I have had over 30 girls that have gone on to play collegiately, and I think that’s kind of cool,” Kapfer told the Topeka Capital Journal. “I think it’s very cool that we have had two Kansas Gatorade Players of the Year here for volleyball, in Danielle McHenry and Stefine Pease. That’s certainly not about me, but quite an honor for our school and our program.

“Another thing I think is really neat is that we’ve had a lot of our kids that are coaching volleyball now and I think that is one of the most rewarding things, to think that kids have a great experience and they want to go out and share their love of sport with other kids.”

Kapfer, who has also coached Shawnee Heights’ basketball for 10 seasons and track for 22 years, will also cut her teaching duties in half.

Recruiting News

Wyandotte (Kansas City) senior Trinity Hall signed a letter-of-intent to continue playing basketball at the University of Missouri at Kansas City next season.

The 6-foot-7 forward averaged 21 points, 7 rebounds and a couple of blocked shots for the 7-14 Bulldogs last winter. A 92-79 loss to Gardner-Edgerton ended Hall’s senior season in the first round of the Bishop Miege Class 5A Sub-State basketball tournament.

Hall was a two-time first team All-Kansas City Kansas League selection and was a finalist for Player of the Year honors in 2010.

“The recruiting process is a lot of pressure for me,” Hall told the Kansas City Kansan. “All the coaches try to talk a good game and sell me on their school. UMKC had a lot of good things about it.”

Going, Going, Going – Long Gone

St. James Academy (Lenexa) junior slugger Nick Deichler belted two home runs for the Thunder in a 6-5 eight inning win over Spring Hill in the title contest of last weekend’s Butch Foster Memorial Baseball Classic at Community America Ballpark.

Deichler’s second round tripper of the game, which tied the game in the sixth inning, was estimated to travel about 570-feet.

“I realized it left the park, but I didn’t know far it had gone,” Deichler told the Kansas City Star. “Running around the bases, though, it was a pretty emotional moment, especially to tie (the score in) the championship game. I was pretty psyched about it, and the whole team was fired up.”

Pitching Gems

* Lansing pitcher Makenzie Rome tossed a perfect game in the opening contest of a 10-0, 3-0 sweep of Bishop Ward last week. Rome was credited with recording nine strikeouts as she retired 15 straight batters in Game 1. She also scored the final run to secure the shutout.

“I really liked that, it was a good end to the game…” Rome told the Leavenworth Times. “I wanted to do really well because I knew this was really important to (the seniors)… What really worked today was my curveball. And they just couldn’t touch the outside pitch, so that’s what helped me a lot.”

* Katie Ricklefs pitched Jefferson West (Meriden) to a 10-0 five inning win over Hiawatha. During her performance, Ricklefs threw perfection. The sophomore struck out seven batters, while retiring 15 straight hitters. Ricklefs was 6-0 following the opening game win in the 10-0, 11-0 sweep of the Red Hawks.

* Royal Valley (Hoyt) pitcher Ashley Ribelin threw a no-hitter in the opening game of a 2-0, 4-0 sweep of Hiawatha. Then she tossed a two-hitter in the nightcap, striking out 22 batters in the two contests collectively.

* Adam Giacalone appears to be in a zone. The Shawnee Mission Northwest ace struck out 11 batters and retired 18 straight hitters to post his second perfect game in about two weeks in a 10-0 win over Leavenworth. The Cougars are 12-2 on the year following an 8-0 night cap win.

Record Breakers

* Erica Brand broke Shawnee Mission Northwest’s school record in the discus with a throw of 154-feet, 6-inches. She then completed the sweep of the throws by whipping the shot put 41-3 3/4 at the Seaman Relays.

Cougar teammate Lisa Imgrund followed suit winning the two-mile run with a school mark of 10:54.69. Her time is the fastest in the state this season.

* South (Shawnee Mission) thrower Johannes Swanepoel broke the Raider school record with the nation’s top throw of 215-8 1/2 to that point in the season at the Kansas Relays in April. Since that early season performance the Raider had slipped to sixth in the U.S. standings.

Last weekend Swanepoel reasserted himself as one of the nation’s top javelin throwers following a huge fling of 231-11 at the Seaman Relays. Not only did his latest performance lengthen his school record, but it broke the Kansas state mark. Swanepoel’s performance ranks second in the nation in 2010, and fifth all-time in the U.S.

Tecumseh-Shawnee Heights thrower Iain Trimble set the old mark in 2007 with a toss of 229-7.

Up and Coming

Next Thursday the five team Western Athletic Conference track and field meet gets under way at Dodge City High School. Dodge City, Garden City, Great Bend, Hays and Liberal are set to go head-to-head for league bragging rights.

Blue Valley North’s Jack Sock has never lost a high school tennis match in 50 tries. This weekend he will try to keep it that way, as the Kansas regional tennis tournaments get under way. A year ago the Mustangs won the Class 6A team title.

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