Sports
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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Anthony Cook/Sun photo Parsons High School senior Wes Krull signs his letter of intent to compete in track and field next season at Johnson County Community College Monday morning at PHS. Krull is joined on the front row by mother Nancy Krull and father Mike Krull. PHS head track and field coach Eddie Kearns is shown on the back row. Krull is currently tied for the top mark in Class 4A with a 6-09 jump on April 20 at Columbus, the jump is one of the top three completed jumps in the state of Kansas this year and is also a PHS record.
Krull inks with Johnson County Monday

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Lady Grizzlies JV takes two from Parsons, drops two to Pitt
The season came to a close for the Labette County High School softball team Thursday when LCHS hosted Pittsburg in Altamont. The Grizzlies dropped a pair of games, losing the opener 9-3. The Purple Dragons played tough defense in game one and limited Labette from reaching base enough times to keep pace. Ashley Stalford led the way for LCHS with two singles while Darcy Cole, Kara Bogner and Bethany Holsinger added a hit each. The Grizzlies came...
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LCHS hoops camp
The 2012 Labette County boys and girls basketball camp will take place May 29 through June 1 at Harrison Gymnasium at Labette County High School in Altamont. A first- through third-grade session for boys and girls will last from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. each day followed by a fourth- through sixth-grade session for boys and girls from 10:30 a.m. to noon. A seventh- and eighth-grade session for boys and girls will last from noon until 1:30 p.m. The...
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LCHS memorial tourney coming June 9
The fifth annual Gavin Carson’s Memorial 3-on-3 Basketball Tourney will take place at 10 p.m. June 9 at Harrison Gymnasium at Labette County High School in Altamont. A fifth- and sixth-grade boys and girls division will be played at 10 p.m. along with a seventh- and eighth-grade boys and girls division on the other side of the court. At noon, the high school girls division will begin, and at 1 p.m. the high school boys division will start. Th...
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Iola takes top spot in SEK golf final standings; two LCHS golfers grab honorable mention spots
With the completion of the Fort Scott Invitational golf tourney on Tuesday, the Southeast Kansas League golf season came to an end. Four tournaments factored into the final team standings. Iola was the overall SEK champion this season, taking first with a team score of 1,337 total. IHS also had the top-placing individual golfer in Kaden Macha, who combined to shoot 309 total at the four tourneys, 10 strokes better than second-place Andrew Joy ...
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Red Devils place second at CNC meet in Miami
MIAMI, Okla. — The Erie High School golf team came away with second-place honors at the CNC League golf tourney at Peoria Ridge in Miami, Okla., on Wednesday. Pittsburg-Colgan claimed the league title with a score of 347, followed by Erie’s 361. Baxter Springs was third with a 394, Girard was fourth with a 417 and Frontenac (430) and Riverton (582) rounded out the scoring. Austin Barone of Colgan won the event by shooting a 77. Keaton Page of ...
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Grizzlies take fourth at Fort Scott golf invite
FORT SCOTT — Parsons and Labette County High School traveled to Fort Scott for the Fort Scott High School Invitational Tuesday. Braden Page of Labette County fired a 41-40 — 81 to place sixth, and Gilvon Darkis of Parsons shot a 39-43 — 82 to take seventh after winning a tie-breaker with Shane Walden of Iola. The match was the last competition on the Southeast Kansas League schedule. Final standings and all-league members will be included in t...
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Ray Nolting/Sun photo Parsons High School senior Ivory Kelly connects with a pitch in the first game of a doubleheader Tuesday against Independence. Independence won both games, which were the final regular season games for the Vikings.
Indy hands Parsons baseball two losses Tuesday

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Ray Nolting/Sun photo Parsons High School Lady Viking Sara Cruse connects on a pitch from the Independence pitcher and drilled it over the center field fence for a two-run homer in game one Tuesday at Independence. Parsons shut out Indy in the first game and lost the second game.
Parsons softball splits with Indy; ties with Bulldogs in league standings
INDEPENDENCE — The Lady Vikings saw both sides of the coin Tuesday evening. Parsons High School finished off a 13-7 regular season with a two-game split with Independence (14-6 overall, 10-6 SEK) on Tuesday in Indy. The Lady Vikings ran away with game one 8-0 before dropping game two 7-1. In the process, Parsons finished the SEK season at 10-6, joining Indy in at least a tie for third. Labette (16-0) is this year’s SEK league champ while Fort ...
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Labette completes unbeaten regular season Tuesday
PITTSBURG — The 2012 Lady Grizzlies joined the 2011 Lady Grizzlies Tuesday. The Labette County High School softball team put the finishing touches on an unbeaten Southeast Kansas League season by sweeping Pittsburg High School 12-0 and 10-0 Tuesday. The Grizzlies entered the doubleheader with the SEK titled already in hand, but made sure they matched their effort from 2011 with the sweep. Labette County took the series behind another stellar o...
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