Conference all-sports races have new leaders

There are two new Suburban Conference all-sports leaders as the result of the high school winter sports season.

Liberty remains the Big Seven leader and Lee’s Summit West in the Middle Six. But Park Hill has replaced Park Hill South in the Big Six and Kearney had overtaken Staley in the Small Six.

Liberty’s only winter title was in girls basketball. But the Blue Jays remain the leader with 31.5 points. Blue Springs is second with 39 followed by Lee’s Summit North (44.5), Blue Springs South (54), Lee’s Summit (57.5), Raymore-Peculiar (62.5) and St. Joseph Central (75).

Titles in boys basketball and wrestling, a second in girls swimming and a third in girls basketball enabled Park Hill to claim the Big Six lead with 25.5 points.

Park Hill South, with a sixth -place finish in girls basketball proving costly, has 30.5 points and is followed by Truman (41.5), Oak Park (51.5), Winnetonka (56.5) and William Chrisman (58).

Lee’s Summit West remains the runaway Middle Six leader with 20.5 points. The Titans claimed titles in girls swimming and wrestling to go with six championships last fall.

North Kansas City is second with 42.5 points followed by Raytown (47), Belton (49.5), Fort Osage (55.5) and Raytown South (58).

Kearney prevailed in wrestling and tied for first in boys basketball and was second in girls swimming to take over the Small Six lead with 25.5 points. Staley is right behind with 26. The Falcons’ only title came in girls swimming. Third-place finishes in girls basketball and wrestling and a fifth in boys basketball dropped Staley behind Kearney.

Platte County has 38, Grandview and Hickman Mills have 58 each and Ruskin is at 67.5.

A first-place finish in a sport is worth one point, two for second and so on.

Finishes this spring in baseball, girls soccer, boys and girls track and boys golf and tennis will determine the all-sports champions.

EIGHTEEN IS ENOUGH: Talk about intimidation.

The Blue Springs High School girls basketball team faced the Springfield Kickapoo Chiefs in the Class 5 state semifinals last weekend – and faced seemingly every citizen of Springfield, Mo.

“We looked up and saw a lot of yellow in the stands,” said Wildcats forward Cee Cee Burris. “But that was all right because we had our cheering section, too.”

In a scenario that can only happen in the exciting world of prep sports, 18 purple-and-gold clad Wildcat fans shouted down hundreds and hundreds of Chiefs fans in Blue Springs’ 52-41 semifinal victory.

There were 18 Wildcat fans there, including Darrian Miller, The Examiner’s Football Offensive Player of the Year, and baskeball/football standout Jordan Nubine and a host of other students sitting directly across from the Wildcats bench.

Head boys cross country and track and field coach Joe Cusack also was there, leading the cheers and having the time of his life.

“We had a great little cheering section,” said Cusack, who joins Truman’s Denise Craig as two of the area’s most enthusiastic coaches. “We had a lot of fans sitting throughout the stands, but our cheering section made some noise, didn’t it?”

Cusack and the rest of the 18 set the tone for the game. Every time the town of Springfield got into the action, Cusack countered with a special Wildcats cheer.

“Joe’s just one of those great teachers and coaches who enjoys being around the kids,” Blue Springs activities director Tom Round said. “He had as much fun as anyone at state. And he got those kids fired up. He got everyone fired up.”

Now, Cusack has turned his attention to the Wildcats track and field team.

“We’re looking good in practice, I’m pretty excited about the season,” Cusack said. “We’re going to be a young team, but we have some great senior leaders.”

WE’RE NO. 2: The Blue Springs girls basketball team finished second in Class 5 at the Final Four for the second year in a row. The Wildcats football and volleyball teams also finished second at state.

“The girls really wanted to be the first team in the history of the school to finish first at state,” Wildcats activities director Tom Round said, “but we’re proud of all they accomplished.

“It’s been kind of unusual to finish second in football, volleyball and girls basketball – they would have all loved to have won state titles – but I think those sports, along with swimming and wrestling, just prove that Blue Springs has some great young athletes and great coaching staffs.”