Van Horn ready to start anew in sports

A new era begins Aug. 18 for Van Horn High School.
That’s when classes are scheduled to begin for the newest school in the Independence School District.
It will be interesting what the final enrollment figures are because many of Van Horn’s students from last year will attend the re-opened East High School.
It will seem odd to no longer cover Van Horn as a member of the Interscholastic League since its inception in the mid 1950s. For two years the school will be an independent. After that, who knows?
Suburban Conference schools compete in 16 sports. Van Horn competes in only 11 – football, volleyball, boys and girls cross country and boys soccer in the fall; boys and girls basketball in the winter; and boys and girls track and field, soccer and baseball in the spring.
Van Horn will be much better off as far as athletics are concerned. Facilities, in time, will be upgraded. The football field is a disaster because of years of neglect by the Kansas City School District.
Someday there may be an artificial turf field to allow Van Horn to play home football games. There may even be a track. The football scoreboard is an eyesore and has been inoperable for years.
In due time, Van Horn likely will field wrestling, swimming, golf, tennis and softball teams.
Van Horn faces a new and exciting era.
But I will miss the classy coaches at the school who have been transferred to East. They include Bonnie Piper, NarWarrior Mackey, Greg Smith, Mike Somodi and Aaron Daniels.
• Preseason fall sports practice begins Aug. 11 with opening events on Aug. 25, which includes the annual 24-school Greater Kansas City Suburban Softball Invitational at Adair Park.
St. Mary’s will be playing in the tournament for the first time after switching from a spring schedule to the fall. The Trojans are in the E Pool with Truman and Platte County. Staley, a new school in the North Kansas City District with no seniors, is in the G Pool with Blue Springs South and Raytown.
• Former Hickman Mills assistant Kevin Page is the new football coach at Raytown High School. He takes over for Ken Clemens, who is the new football coach at Winnetonka, replacing Roger Bell. Bell stepped down to become an assistant at the new Staley High School, which opens next month.
• Missouri Class 4 baseball state champion Ozark has finished fifth in the Midwest with a 25-5 record in the final USA Today regional rankings.
• Competition could be fierce for the starting quarterback job at Oaks Christian High School of Westlake Village, Calif. Vying for the job are sons of Hall of Famers. They are Nicholas Montana, the 6-foot-2 junior son of Joe Montana and sophomore Trevor Gretzky, the son of hockey great Wayne Gretzky.
Trey Smith, the son of actor Will Smith, is expected to be the starting wide receiver.
• High school softball pitchers keep getting better. Whitney Canion was 31-0 for Aledo (Texas) High School this spring. She allowed only two earned runs in 198 innings for an 0.07 ERA and struck out 383. She led the team to a 38-1-1 record, the Class 4A state championship and the No. 1 national ranking in the USA Today poll.