Sports
LCHS preps for Mulvane, loaded Class 4A field
By Anthony Cook ACOOK@PARSONSSUN.COM When it comes to the state tournament, the best teams are rewarded by being placed as far away from each other as possible. That proved difficult when it came time for seeding in the Class 4A softball tournament this year. Eight teams will enter the Class 4A state tourney on Friday and one will be crowned champion Saturday afternoon. Of those eight, Labette County is the top seed thanks to a 23-0 record tha...
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LCHS, Parsons track and field qualify 17 for state
Seventeen local athletes qualified for state in 13 different events at the Girard-hosted Class 4A track and field regional Friday afternoon. Of the qualifiers, the distance runners in the boys and girls division stuck out. LCHS sophomore Michaela Ozier brought home a regional title in the 3200-meter run and positioned herself as the top runner in Class 4A entering Friday and Saturday's state track and field championships in Wichita. Ozier won ...
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LCHS coaches win COY awards
Two Labette County High School spring coaches have been named the Southeast Kansas League Coaches of the Year. LCHS softball coach, whose 23-0 softball team will travel to the Class 4A state tourney in Salina this weekend, was named the COY in softball. The Lady Grizzlies won their third SEK title in a row this spring and went undefeated in the SEK for the second-straight year. Coach Craig Hartman was named the SEK COY in boys' track and field...
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Parsons, St. Paul competes in state swimming
Four Parsons High School swimmers and three from the St. Paul High School swimming team competed in the Class 5-1A state swimming & diving championships in Topeka over the weekend. The Lady Vikings finished with four individual efforts in the top 25 individually in the 30-team field. Senior Reagan Argo competed in two freestyle events and placed 20th in the 200-yard free and 24th in the 50 free. Her teammate Shannon Dunlay also competed in the...
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Free physicals
Labette County High School will offer two sessions of free physicals this year. The first round of physicals will be on Friday for athletes interested in getting the physicals early for the 2012-13 school year. A July 27 session also is scheduled. The physicals will be administered from 6 to 8 p.m. in the LCHS cafeteria on both dates.
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Babe Ruth begins
The CST Storage Cardinals defeated the D&Z Royals Monday evening in 9- and 10-year-old Babe Ruth League action. The Cards scored three runs in the first inning and led 6-0 after 2 1/2 on the way to a 9-2 victory. Justin Sexton tripled and homered for the Cardinals while Dante Sexton added a triple. Landon Carson and Titus Feagan each singled. The Royals were led by Aiden Marks, Anthony Pousher and Logan Duroni, who all singled. The Cardinals s...
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Hornets earn trip to state
The Chetopa Hornets (17-5) qualified for their second state softball tournament in three years Wednesday with a 10-0 victory over Sedan in the Arma Class 2-1A regional finals. The Hornets will enter the Class 2-1A state tourney as the No. 7 seed and will take on No. 2 seed Brookville Ell-Saline (22-1) at 5 p.m. Friday in Emporia. The Hornets join Labette County High School softball and St. Paul High School baseball as the three local teams to ...
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Courtesy photo Labette County High School senior Kelsie Goins signs her letter of intent to play softball for Labette Community College. Goins is joined on the front row by mother and father Donna and Deland Goins. LCHS head coach Lori Green is shown on the back row and the Lady Grizzlies' 2012 Class 4A regional trophy is on display on the table. Goins is a four-year member of the Lady Grizzlies who have won three Southeast Kansas League titles in a row. Goins is a three-year starter for the team and was an all-SEK first team selection in 2011 at first base. This season, Goins is hitting .447 and has an on-base percentage of .517 and slugging percentage of .629. She also leads the team in steals with 13. Goins is also a member of the National Honor Society and was a Kansas Governor Scholar this year. The LCHS Lady Grizzlies enter this year's state softball tourney as the No. 1 seed with their 23-0 record. They'll take on Mulvane at 5 p.m. on Friday in Salina.
Goins signs with LCC Thursday

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Kelly named to 2012 Shrine Bowl
By Anthony Cook acook@parsonssun.com For the second year in a row, a Parsons Viking will be on hand at the annual Shrine Bowl. A big week got even bigger for Parsons High School senior Ivory Kelly when he found out Monday that he’d be jumping from an alternate to the 2012 Kansas Shrine Bowl to the East squad. “Coach (David) Pitts called me to his room Monday morning and said they’d sent an e-mail asking if I was interested,” said Kelly. The an...
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Area swimmers qualify for state
Swimmers from Parsons and St. Paul high schools will be going to the state tournaments, which start today. Two Parsons High School swimmers qualified for individual events at the state swimming tournament. Reagan Argo will swim in the 50 freestyle and 200 freestyle, and Shannon Dunlay will compete in the 100 freestyle and 200 freestyle. The team has also qualified in three relay events, but will compete in two. Argo, Dunlay, Sydney Markley and...
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Anthony Cook/Sun photo The 2012 Labette County High School softball team poses for a picture after winning its first region title since 2000 Wednesday evening in Girard. Labette County defeated rival Parsons 10-0 in the semis before taking out defending region champion and host Girard 6-0 in the finals. LCHS will compete in the Class 4A state tournament in Salina on Friday, May 25.
Labette County wins way to region, advances to state
By Anthony Cook acook@parsonssun.com GIRARD — The Lady Grizzlies got redemption. Twice. Labette County High School softball improved to 23-0 and exorcised demons from the 2010 and 2011 regional tournaments with two shutout victories Wednesday evening here. The victories put the finishing touches on an unbeaten regular season and regional to improve the Lady Grizzlies to 23-0 overall and more importantly give them a spot in the eight-team Class...
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Darkis qualifies for second state golf tournament
CHANUTE — Parsons High School golfer Gilvon Darkis qualified for the state tournament for the second time thanks to his sixth-place finish at the Class 4A golf regional hosted by Chanute Monday afternoon. Darkis shot a 42-41 — 83 to place sixth overall, eight strokes behind Kaden Macha of Iola, who won the event, and three strokes behind Conner Murrell of Coffeyville, who rounded out the top five. Darkis was the only local qualifier at the eve...
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Vikings fall 10-0 in regional opener
PITTSBURG — The Vikings’ season came to an end Monday afternoon as the Parsons High School baseball team fell to Baxter Springs 10-0 in six innings in the first round of Class 4A region play at the Pittsburg State University baseball diamond in Pittsburg. “Offensively, we just couldn’t get that hit we needed to get rolling. Defensively, we had a few miscues that led to big innings and that has been our Achille’s the entire season,” said PHS he...
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Erie golf earns trip to state tourney
ERIE — The Erie High School golf team secured a trip to the Class 3A golf tournament next week with a second-place finish at the Class 3A regional here Monday at the Prairie Ridge Golf Course. The top two teams and next five best individual scores not apart of those two teams qualified for the state tourney. Pittsburg-Colgan came away with a first-place finish with a team score of 318. The host Red Devils came in second with a 338 overall, six...
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PHS hoops camp will begin May 29
The 2012 Parsons Vikings basketball camps will take place from May 29 to June 1. Camps for beginners will last from 8 to 9:30 a.m. each day. First- through fifth-graders will be included in this age group. Sixth- through eighth-grade boys will camp from 9:30 to 11 a.m. each day, and high schoolers will camp from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and will camp until June 2. The camp will offer instruction and fundamentals of the game of basketball with a focus...
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Anthony Cook/Sun photo St. Paul High School senior Jamie Holding (left center) celebrates with teammates after a three-run home run in the bottom of the third inning against Uniontown Monday in Arma. The St. Paul Indians defeated Uniontown 13-0 in five innings before defeating host Northeast 4-0 in the final of the regional to advance to the state tournament, the first for the school's baseball program.
St. Paul baseball earns first trip to state
By Anthony Cook ACOOK@PARSONSSUN.COM The Indians punched their ticket to Emporia Monday. St. Paul High School baseball advanced to the Class 2-1A state tournament by rolling through the Northeast-hosted Class 2-1A regional Monday afternoon. With only four teams competing in the tourney, both the semis and finals took place in one day. St. Paul scored 17 runs of their own and didn’t allow the opposition to cross the home plate in two games. “Ou...
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Grizzlies defeat Chanute to set up rematch with Parsons
By Anthony Cook ACOOK@PARSONSSUN.COM The Lady Grizzlies have a chance at revenge. Labette County High School softball improved to 21-0 overall Monday evening in Altamont with a 6-1 victory over Chanute (7-14) in the first round of the Girard-hosted Class 4A regional. The No. 1-seeded Grizzlies scored four runs in the third inning to break a 0-0 tie with the Comets and answered Chanute's only run of the game in the top of the sixth with two of ...
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Anthony Cook/Sun photo Parsons High School's Tiara Smith (center) is sent home from PHS head softball coach Tom Schibi (left) while an errant throw gets away from the Columbus High School third baseman (right) in the 10th inning of Monday's game. The eventual score from Smith gave Parsons a 2-1 victory and helped Parsons advance to the Class 4A softball semifinals in Girard on Wednesday. They'll play unbeaten Labette County at 3 p.m. in Girard.
Parsons defeats Columbus in 10 to advance to regional semis
By Anthony Cook ACOOK@PARSONSSUN.COM It took the Vikings the equivalent of three and a half games, but they finally earned a victory over Columbus High School. It couldn't have come at a better time. Parsons pitcher Taylor Kemp and Columbus ace Brie Mogle held a pitching clinic Monday evening in the opening round of the Class 4A regional at the Labette Community College softball diamond in Parsons. In the end, it was the Vikings who advanced o...
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Chanute, Pittsburg share honors at SEK track meet
Iola hosted the 2012 Southeast Kansas League track and field meet Thursday. Pittsburg won the girl's title with a 145 total in points while Chanute was second with 106 points. Chanute did receive a first in the boys division though, gathering 125 points total. The Labette County High School girls came in sixth with 51 points while the boys were third with 84 points. Parsons was tied for seventh overall in the girls standings (22 points) and se...
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Courtesy photo The third-place Parsons High School tennis team is shown. The PHS boys tennis team edged Independence by half a point at this year's state tournament in Topeka on Saturday. PHS assistant Rhonda Baggs, PHS singles player Payton Hays, doubles players John Paul Hurley and Parker Robertson and PHS head coach Jane Posch are shown with their hardware Saturday in Topeka.
PHS tennis takes third at state
By Anthony Cook ACOOK@PARSONSSUN.COM The Parsons High School tennis team proved it deserved the lofty ranking it had all season. The Vikings of PHS came home with a third-place finish at this year's state tennis tournament held at the Kossover Tennis Facility in Topeka over the weekend, besting rival Independence by half a point. "We had been ranked in the top five in 4A all season," said PHS coach Jane Posch. "Initially our goal was to win th...
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