The Omaha-World Herald's first prep volleyball ratings are out. Omaha Marian is rated No. 1 in Class A while Grand Island Senior High checks in at No. 8
Defending champ Lincoln Pius X is tops in Class B. Grand Island Northwest is fourth and Aurora fifth.
Columbus Scotus leads C-1 with Central City seventh.
Grand Island Central Catholic and Ravenna are 1-2 in Class C-2. That is a reflection of the strength of the GICC program, because the Crusaders lost a bunch of players to graduation.
Fremont Bergan leads D-1 with Ansley rated sixth.
Falls City leads D-2. A strong Hampton team is second with Elba ninth.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Prince of a guy
You have to give K-State coach Ron Prince this: He is always interesting.
Last week when the offense didn't perform well in practice, he made the players run stairs. But Prince not only made the players run stairs, he made the offensive assistants run as well. Maybe it will all work out for Prince and the Wildcats, but I have to wonder about this latest development.
Assistant coaches need to be respected by the players just as the head coach does. They don't have to always like the coaches, but they need to respect them. Making the assistants run the stairs puts them on the same level as the players. That might make the players like the assistants, but it doesn't help any in the respect area.
In any event, it will be interesting to see how the K-State season shakes out. If things go south, Prince may give us a lot more to talk about.
Last week when the offense didn't perform well in practice, he made the players run stairs. But Prince not only made the players run stairs, he made the offensive assistants run as well. Maybe it will all work out for Prince and the Wildcats, but I have to wonder about this latest development.
Assistant coaches need to be respected by the players just as the head coach does. They don't have to always like the coaches, but they need to respect them. Making the assistants run the stairs puts them on the same level as the players. That might make the players like the assistants, but it doesn't help any in the respect area.
In any event, it will be interesting to see how the K-State season shakes out. If things go south, Prince may give us a lot more to talk about.
Saturday, August 25, 2007
State basketball changes
The NSAA voted Friday to make some changes in the start times for the state basketball tournaments. The first- and second-round games will start at 9 a.m. instead of 9:30 a.m. The championship games on Saturday will again begin at 9:30 a.m.
For the first two days of the tournaments, games will start at 9 a.m., 10:45 a.m., 2 p.m., 3:45 p.m., 7 p.m. and 8:45 p.m. The time changes may lead into a switch in 2009 to where each class has its own venue for the first two rounds of the tournament.
The board also approved adding a Class B state baseball tournament next year. The top 26 teams in enrollment will be in Class A and the remainder in Class B. This year, the Class B field will be 16 teams. There will be six districts in Class A with two wildcard teams and four districts in Class B with four wildcards.
Also, soccer districts will start the earliest ever on April 28. The state tournament will start on a Wednesday with six matches the first four days of the tournament. The girls state championship will be on the following Monday with the boys on Tuesday.
For the first two days of the tournaments, games will start at 9 a.m., 10:45 a.m., 2 p.m., 3:45 p.m., 7 p.m. and 8:45 p.m. The time changes may lead into a switch in 2009 to where each class has its own venue for the first two rounds of the tournament.
The board also approved adding a Class B state baseball tournament next year. The top 26 teams in enrollment will be in Class A and the remainder in Class B. This year, the Class B field will be 16 teams. There will be six districts in Class A with two wildcard teams and four districts in Class B with four wildcards.
Also, soccer districts will start the earliest ever on April 28. The state tournament will start on a Wednesday with six matches the first four days of the tournament. The girls state championship will be on the following Monday with the boys on Tuesday.
Friday, August 24, 2007
Prep volleyball around the corner
The prep volleyball season is less than a week away. All four Grand Island schools are now making their final preparations for their opening matches.
The Islanders, coming off a 31-3 season that saw them advance all the way to the Class A championship match before falling to power house Bellevue West. Coach Bill Root won't have the same power up front with the loss of Ann Armes, Jeri Walkowiak and Kelsey Werner, but he says he thinks he will have a faster team that can dig a lot of balls.
GINW has qualified for six straight Class B state tournaments and is looking to make it seven in a row. The Vikings suffered significant losses to graduation with seven seniors leaving the program, but there shouldn't be a big drop off this year. Senior Brittany Asche is a dynamic player despite being just 5-7. Junior Jenna Rouzee will play setter in the back and middle in the front. Why not? She's 6-1 now.
Central Catholic moved back to Class C-2 this year and should be able to make a run at another state title. The Crusaders have Tali Fredrickson, one of the top players in the area and state, back to anchor both the offense and defense. They also have what coach Sharon Zavala says is her most talented freshman class in her 30-plus years of coaching.
Heartland Lutheran won eight matches last year and would like to improve upon that if possible. The Red Hornets have a new head coach in Jamie Burmeister. The big news for Heartland Lutheran is that Ezarah Williams returns after a long battle with a knee injury and appears to be ready to go. Williams, if healthy, could be a dynamic type of player at the Class D-1 level.
The Islanders, coming off a 31-3 season that saw them advance all the way to the Class A championship match before falling to power house Bellevue West. Coach Bill Root won't have the same power up front with the loss of Ann Armes, Jeri Walkowiak and Kelsey Werner, but he says he thinks he will have a faster team that can dig a lot of balls.
GINW has qualified for six straight Class B state tournaments and is looking to make it seven in a row. The Vikings suffered significant losses to graduation with seven seniors leaving the program, but there shouldn't be a big drop off this year. Senior Brittany Asche is a dynamic player despite being just 5-7. Junior Jenna Rouzee will play setter in the back and middle in the front. Why not? She's 6-1 now.
Central Catholic moved back to Class C-2 this year and should be able to make a run at another state title. The Crusaders have Tali Fredrickson, one of the top players in the area and state, back to anchor both the offense and defense. They also have what coach Sharon Zavala says is her most talented freshman class in her 30-plus years of coaching.
Heartland Lutheran won eight matches last year and would like to improve upon that if possible. The Red Hornets have a new head coach in Jamie Burmeister. The big news for Heartland Lutheran is that Ezarah Williams returns after a long battle with a knee injury and appears to be ready to go. Williams, if healthy, could be a dynamic type of player at the Class D-1 level.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Tinkering with the CWS
Word came today that the NCAA is once again tinkering with the format of the College World Series in Omaha. The plan now is to start one day later on a Saturday and not begin the best-of-three championship series until the second Monday of the tournament.
While I suppose it's always natural to dislike change, you have to wonder why the NCAA would want to mess with something that has been as popular and successful as the CWS has been in Omaha. It would seem that the possibility of having no games the second weekend of the tournament could potentially kill the momentum of the event.
I'm sure there are plenty of good reasons why the changes are being made (besides ESPN told them to do it), but when the NCAA is involved, you almost always know that it's more about dollars than sense.
While I suppose it's always natural to dislike change, you have to wonder why the NCAA would want to mess with something that has been as popular and successful as the CWS has been in Omaha. It would seem that the possibility of having no games the second weekend of the tournament could potentially kill the momentum of the event.
I'm sure there are plenty of good reasons why the changes are being made (besides ESPN told them to do it), but when the NCAA is involved, you almost always know that it's more about dollars than sense.
Monday, August 6, 2007
NSAA enrollment
The NSAA enrollment figures for the 2007-08 school hear are interesting. Grand Island (1,473) is the 11th largest school in the state. The top 10 are all from the Omaha area: Omaha Central (2087), Millard North (1844), Omaha Northwest (1644), Millard South (1596), Creighton Prep (1582), Omaha North (1579), Omaha South (1565), Omaha Westside (1549), Omaha Burke (1529), Millard West (1506).
Kearney, the defending Class A state football champion, is 21st (1098). Bellevue West, the defending volleyball champion is 18th (1153).
With two relatively new schools in Lincoln (North Star and Southwest), the athletic talent in Lincoln has been split up. Lincoln Southwest is the largest school in the city (1431) and it stands 12th overall.
The smallest school in the state? That would be Arthur County with an NSAA enrollment of 23. McPherson County is next smallest (26) while Keya Paha County has 30. Loup County is fourth from the smallest with 31.
Kearney, the defending Class A state football champion, is 21st (1098). Bellevue West, the defending volleyball champion is 18th (1153).
With two relatively new schools in Lincoln (North Star and Southwest), the athletic talent in Lincoln has been split up. Lincoln Southwest is the largest school in the city (1431) and it stands 12th overall.
The smallest school in the state? That would be Arthur County with an NSAA enrollment of 23. McPherson County is next smallest (26) while Keya Paha County has 30. Loup County is fourth from the smallest with 31.
Friday, August 3, 2007
Welcome to the Independent Sports Team blog
This blog will feature posts from the dynamite sports team of Terry Douglass, Bob Hamar and Dale Miller. We'll be posting our thoughts on local sports - everything from high school football to bowling so thank you for stopping by and please feel free to comment!
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