Hays High hosted the first of two home meets this season. The Indians will also host the Western Athletic Conference meet on February 9th. Tuesday saw five individuals and two relays finish in the top three.
Tanner Callis was second in the 200 yard freestyle and finished third in the 100 yard butterfly. Isaac Smith won the 200 yard individual relay by over three seconds. Chris Fuentes place third in the 100 yard freestyle. Johnny Fuller collected a third place finish in the 100 yard breast stroke.
The 200 yard and 400 yard freestyle relays for Hays finished second in each race. Both relays are comprised of Fuentes, Callis, Brett Bowels and Smith.
Hays will next travel to the meet hosted by Salina South on February 1st.
The Hays High Indians continued their way through the Western Athletic Conference on Friday night hosting Garden City. The two teams played to open the season at the Hays City Shootout with the Indians winning both games.
Girls Hays 50 – Garden City 35
Hays never trailed in the first half, using runs of 14-3 and 12-3 to build their lead as high as 14 points before half time. Garden City scored seven straight to end the first quarter to make the score 19-14, but that was as close as the Buffaloes would get for the rest of the half. The Indians held Garden City without a point until the 2:50 mark of the second quarter. Hays went to the locker room with a 33-22 lead at halftime.
Highlights
Garden City cut the Hays lead down to eight at 37-29 before Hays responded with a 9-2 run to push their lead up to 15 at the end of the third quarter 46-31. Each team scored four points in the fourth quarter with Hays High playing keep away for much of the eight minutes to walk away with a 50-35 victory. It was a similar score the first time the two teams met up with Hays winning 52-34.
Coach Kirk Maska
Hays was led by Savannah Schneider who scored 22 and was the only Indian in double figures. Hays improves to 5-3 and snaps a two game skid. The Indians are 1-2 in the Western Athletic Conference. Garden City falls to 3-7 and 0-3. The Buffaloes were led by the 12 points of Kyra Bellows.
Hays will be at home on Tuesday to play Dodge City. The games will feature only the girls teams as the Hays boys head to the Orange and Black Classic in Colby later in the week.
Boys Hays 58 – Garden City 49
Hays raced out to a 11-2 lead over the first five minutes of the game before going cold and not scoring for the remainder of the first quarter. Garden City scored the final five points to tighten the game to 11-7 after one quarter. Garden City turned those final five points into a 13-2 run that gave the Buffaloes their first lead of the game at 15-13. The lead was short lived as Cole Murphy buried a three pointer five second later. Hays would trail again at 17-16 but end the first half on a 14-5 run building a 30-22 half time lead.
Highlights
Hays started the third quarter on a 11-0 run to grab control of the ball game. Garden City was held scoreless for the first 5:34 of the third quarter and didn’t hit a field goal until their was 3:55 left in the third. Hays took advantage to build their lead up to a game high 20 at 45-25. Like in the first half, Garden City wasn’t going away with out a fight. The Buffaloes went on a 13-3 run to get back into the game with less than four minutes remaining. Garden City twice cut the lead down to six, missing a three pointer on the second opportunity. Hays hit just enough free throws to keep Garden City at arms length, winning 58-49.
Coach Rick Keltner
Tyrese Hill was the only Indian in double figures scoring 18 points and pulling down 11 rebounds, both career highs. Overall the nine different Indians scored. Hays improves to 7-1 on the season and 2-1 in conference play. Garden City loses for the first time in 2017 and falls to 3-7 and 2-1 in conference play.
The Hays High boys are off until Thursday when they travel to Colby for the Orange and Black Classic to play Falcon, Colorado at 3:00 in Colby High School.
Hays High returned to the road on Tuesday night to play rival Great Bend. For the girls it was a second meeting in the season, after Hays beat Great Bend in the third place game of the Hays City Shootout in December. It was the first of two meetings between the two boys teams.
Girls Great Bend 54 – Hays 41
Hays struggled to score in the first quarter scoring hitting just 2 of 12 shots and trailed 15-4 after the first eight minutes. Great Bend used runs of 7-2 and 8-0 in the first quarter to gain control. Hays cut the lead down to five by scoring the first six points of the second quarter only to have Great Bend once again take an 11 point lead. Great Bend at one point hit 11 consecutive free throws and finished the first half 13-20. Hays was just 4-12 from the free throw line and trailed 26-18.
Highlights
Hays cut the lead down to six at 26-20 on the first possession of the third quarter, but Great Bend answered with another 8-0 lead and built their lead to a high of 15 by the end of the third quarter at 39-24. Great Bend built their lead up to 18 with less than six minutes to go before Hays was able to cut it back down to 46-34. The Indians never got much closer as they fell 54-41 to Great Bend.
Coach Kirk Maska
The Panthers were 27-46 from the free throw line while Hays made just 9 of 21 attempts. Savannah Schneider led the way for the Indians with 10 points. Hays falls to 4-3 on the year and 0-2 in Western Athletic Conference play. Great Bend improves to 6-2 and have won five straight games. The Panthers are 3-0 in the WAC.
Boys Hays 51 – Great Bend 37
Hays hit four first quarter three pointers on their way to a nine point lead at 14-5. Great Bend scored the final five points of the quarter to tighten the game back up at 14-10 after the first quarter. Hays added three more three pointers in the second quarter building their lead up to 28-15 by half time. Claiborne Kyles hit four threes in the first half and Cole Murphy added three more.
Highlights
The Indians lead never shrunk under 11 rest of the night. Hays pushed their advantage to 20 early in the fourth quarter. Great Bend went on their best run of the night with 12-3 run over four minutes, but Hays hit three of their final four free throws and won 51-37.
Coach Rick Keltner
Hays put three in double figures with Claiborne Kyles leading the way with 14, hitting four three pointers. Cole Murphy added a career high 14, he also hit four three pointers. Tyrese Hill tied his career high with 12. Hays shot 50% in the victory and held Great Bend to 36%. The Indians improve to 6-1 and 1-1 in the Western Athletic Conference. Great Bend falls to 1-7 and 0-3.
The Hays High wrestling team took first place at the Topeka Seaman Invitation with a perfect dual record on Saturday. The Indians finished 5-0 on the day. Hays had five named to the all-tournament team including Kyle Casper at 138, Kreighton Meyers at 145, Conrad Vajnar at 152, Xavier Dandurand at 160, and Logan Schulte at 285. Each wrestler went 5-0 on the day. Team results are below.
Hays High and Liberal had their games delayed by a day when mother nature dumped snow on southwest Kansas Thursday night and Friday morning. The two met on Saturday with all four teams ranked. The Liberal girls entered the game #10 in Class 5A while the Hays girls entered the rankings at #10 in 4A-I right before Christmas break. The Liberal boys entered 2017
Girls Liberal 59 – Hays 44
Liberal scored the first seven points of the game as Hays tried to knock the rust off after not playing since December 13th. Liberal built their lead up to eight at 10-2 before the Indians answered back with eight straight over the final two minutes of the first quarter and first basket of the second quarter. The lead changed hands nine times in the second quarter and tied six more times. The teams entered the locker rooms at half time tied at 27 a piece.
Highlights
Hays took their biggest lead of the third quarter at 33-30 when Talyn Kleweno hit her first three pointer of the game. Liberal outscored Hays 15-7 rest of the quarter to build their lead to 42-37. Hays did not score in the fourth quarter until there was 2:22 left in the game. During that time Liberal scored twelve points, building their lead to 54-37. Hays would be outscored 32-17 in the second half, falling 59-44.
Coach Kirk Maska
Kallie Leiker led the Indians with 11 points. Jaycee Dale and Talyn Kleweno each added 10. Hays will be back on the road Tuesday to play conference leader Great Bend. The Indians fall to 4-2 on the season and 0-1 in the WAC. Liberal improves to 6-1 and 1-0.
Boys Liberal 70 – Hays 42
Hays showed little rust out of the winter break taking an early 9-3 lead on three pointers by three different players in Liberal. Hays built their lead up to seven at 14-7 with 1:30 left. Hays would score just 11 points the remainder of the half. Liberal went on a 22-2 run through the first four minutes of the second quarter. The Redskins built the lead as high as 18 at 39-21 before Hays scored the final four points of the quarter to trail at halftime 39-25.
Highlights
Things got worse for Hays in the third quarter being outscored 23-7 after being outscored 23-9 in the second quarter. Liberal pushed the lead as high has 32 at 62-30. With Hays trailing 62-32 entering the fourth quarter, the clock ran continuous outside of time outs and Hays fell 70-42.
Coach Rick Keltner
Claiborne Kyles scored 14 for the Indians while Liberal put five in double figures. Hays falls to 5-1 on the season and starts conference play at 0-1. Liberal improves to 7-0 and 1-0. Hays High is back on the road Tuesday in Great Bend.
The Hays High boys swimming team was in Manhattan for a meet on Wednesday. The Indians placed three individuals and two relays in the top five.
Isaac Smith dominated both the 50 yard freestyle and the 100 yard fly. Smith finished with a time of 23.73 seconds in the freestyle, second place was at 27.26. In the fly he recorded a time of 58:50 with second place finishing at 1:05:84.
Tanner Callis placed 4th in the 200 yard free style and Brett Bowels finishing 5th in the 100 yard free style.
Both the 200 yard freestyle relay and 400 yard freestyle relay placed fourth. Both teams were comprised of Tanner Callis, Brett Bowels, Scout Perryman, and Isaac Smith.
The swimming team is done with competition until January 5th when the attend the Salina South meet.
Tressa Becker’s journey to college soccer began at six years old when she started playing with the Hays Soccer Club. All the years of work came to pay off on Thursday when she signed a national letter of intent to play for Barton County Community College. Becker stepped into a leadership role both on and off the field during her junior season to go along with her soccer skills during practice and games. The package of skill and leadership is one of the reasons that former coach Jim Maska believes that Barton wanted Becker to be a part of their program.
Tressa Becker
Becker also found a comfort level with the head coach for the Cougars, which led to an easier decision when picking a school. Becker still has one more season though to complete for the Indians, one she knows will have a little less stress attached to it since her college decision has been made.
Hays High returned to action on Tuesday night versus Junction City after a one week layoff, their longest stretch without a game since games started December 1st.
Girls Hays 63 – Junction City 56
On the coldest week of December, the Hays High Lady Indians were also cold from the field making just two of their first ten shots. Junction City hit five of their first ten shots, including three three-pointers to take a six point lead on two different occasions. Hays did take a first quarter lead following a 8-1 run but trailed after the first quarter 18-16.
The Indians came to life in the second quarter scoring the first five points to take a 21-18 lead and never look back. The Indians used a 13-0 run mid-way through the quarter to build a 15 point lead and led 43-27 by halftime.
Highlights
Junction City returned to the first quarter form opening the third quarter on a 15-2 run to get back within three at 45-42. The Indians were able to build their lead back to five by the end of the third quarter 49-44. Hays led by nine twice in the fourth quarter, the last at 57-48. Junction City went on an 8-3 run to get the game back to three points at 59-56 with 1:01 remaining. Hays hit four of their six final free throws to hold on for the 63-56 win.
Coach Kirk Maska
Talyn Kleweno led all scoring with a career high 18. Savannah Schneider and Jaycee Dale each scored 13. Junction City put three in double figures, led by the 14 of Ally McKenzie. Hays moves to 4-1 on the season and is done until January, 6th on the girls side when they travel to Liberal. Junction City drops to 1-3.
Boys Hays 62 – Junction City 52
Both Hays and Junction City came out of the gates firing away to the tune of a 19-17 Blue Jay lead after the first quarter. Each team hit three shots from beyond the three point arc and neither team led by more than four in the first eight minutes. Hays opened up the game in the second quarter with a 13-0 run to go from trailing by two to leading 32-21. Hays led 35-27 at halftime using 6 of 8 three point shooting to sustain the lead. In the first half the game was tied four times and there were four more lead changes.
Highlights
Hays saw their lead cut down to one at 35-34 following seven straight points by Junction City to start the second half. Hays answered right back with seven of their own points and eventually pushed their lead up to 45-36 following the third quarter. Hays again pushed their lead to double figures going up 50-38 with 6:30 remaining in the game, but the Blue Jays came back with eight straight points cutting the lead down to 50-46 with less than three minutes remaining. Junction City would get no closer though as Hays High closed the game on a 12-6 run, hitting 8 of 9 free throws in the last 1:35.
Coach Rick Keltner
Hays moves to 5-0 on the season and travels to Colby on Friday. Tradgon McCrae scored a career high 17, ten coming in the fourth quarter, and was 8-10 from the free throw line. Shane Berens and Tyrese Hill each added 11 and Claiborne Kyles scored 10. Junction City was led by Lonnie Autry with 17, including five three pointers. Junction City falls to 2-2.
The Hays High Indians finished in tenth place at the Eagle Invitational in Colby, a dual wrestling tournament, this past weekend. Overall the Indians went 4-3. Xavier Dandurand was 7-0 over the two days at 160 pounds. Conrad Vajnar (152), Jonathan Springer (182), Brayden Dorzweiler (195), and Trey VanPelt (285) each went 6-1 for the Indians.
Colby defeated Hays High 36-33 Hays High defeated Phillipsburg 43-25 Hays High defeated Oberlin 48-30 Lexington, NE defeated Hays High 35-31 McPherson defeated Hays High 51-19 Hays High defeated Oakley 49-27 Hays High defeated Legend 44-33
The Hays High soccer team had three players named to the 4A All-State teams following the 2016 season. Ethan Nunnery was named to the 1st team. Zachary Wagner was placed on the 2nd team and Conner Staab is on the honorable mention list.
Andric McGill of McPherson and Pedro Alvaras of Bishop Miege were name the 4A co-offensive players of the year. Chandler Carey of Basehor-Linwood was named the 4A defensive player of the year. Trevor Kinch of Basehor-Linwood and West Gajan of Bishop Miege were the 4A co-goal keepers of the year. Nate Huppe of Bishop Miege was name the 4A coach of the year.
Former Indian head coach Saul Hernandez, who now coaches at Dodge City, was named the 6A coach of the year. The Red Demons Joshua Donjuan was the 6A co-offensive player of the year and Miguel Baca was the co-defensive player of the year. Dodge City had five named to the 6A first team and one to the second team. Garden City had one named to the second team and three to the honorable mention list.
Hays High was back on the basketball court 72 hours following the Hays City Shootout, to take on Pratt Tuesday night. The Hays High girls were coming off a third place showing to take on the #10 4A-D2 Lady Greenbacks. Both the boys teams entered the night ranked in their respective classes, Hays at #4 in 4A-D1 and Pratt at #2 in 4A-D2.
Girls Hays 53 – Pratt 33
Hays trailed only once on their way to an easy win on Tuesday night. Pratt scored two points on the first possession of the game, which was followed up by a 16-3 Hays High run. The Indians made their first six shots and all eight of their first half free throws to grab a 31-13 lead. Savannah Schneider scored the first 11 points for the Indians and tied a career high 19 with four minutes remaining in the second quarter. Hays High also turned up the pressure on the defensive side, forcing 22 first half turnovers.
Highlights
The Indians pushed their lead as high as 25 on two occasions in the third quarter outscoring Pratt 13-7 for a second consecutive quarter. Hays led by as many as 28 in the fourth quarter and won 53-33. The Indians forced 38 turnovers in the game. The Indians played 15 in the game with 11 scoring.
Coach Kirk Maska
Savannah Schneider was the only player in double figures, scoring a career high 23. The Lady Indians improve to 3-1 and play Junction City next Tuesday. Pratt falls to 0-2.
Boys Hays 79 – Pratt 71 OT
Hays and Pratt battled to a two point game at half time with the Greenbacks leading 28-26. Hays led by six at two different points of the first quarter and 15-11 after eight minutes. Pratt took their first lead at 16-5, but Hays answered back with a 9-2 run to build the lead back up to six. Pratt got on their best run of the first half outscoring Hays 10-0 leading their lead up 28-24. Shane Berens hit a put back shot at the buzzer to get Hays with in two at 28-26 at half time.
Highlights
Hays and Pratt remained close in the third quarter switching the lead seven times and having the scored tied three times. Hays trailed 40-39 after three quarters. Hays fell behind by seven at 53-46 with 4:20 remaining in the game. Hays cut into the lead with six straight points and then took the lead at 56-55 when Shane Berens made the first of two free throws, but Claiborne Kyles rebounded a miss on the second attempt and sank a three pointer with 2:20 remaining. The two teams swapped the lead three more times with Pratt building their lead to five with eighteen seconds remaining at 63-58. Collyn Kreutzer banked in a three pointer with six seconds left. After a Hays time out and foul, Pratt hit one of two free throws to leave the window open for the Indians. Kreuzter was fouled on a three point attempt with nine-hundredths of a second left. Kreuzter hit the first free throw, Pratt took a full timeout, and then he sank the final two attempts to tie the game at 64. Pratt did get off a desperation heave that rimmed out from three quarters court.
Pratt took the only lead in overtime at 67-64, but Hays answered with fourteen straight points swapping the lead for a fifteenth and final time. Hays outscored the Greenbacks 15-7 in overtime taking the 79-71 win.
Coach Rick Keltner
Noah Meyers for Pratt led all scoring with 25 and Samson Kohman added 18. Hays was led by Claiborne Kyles with 22, Collyn Kreutzer with 15, Tyrese Hill scored 11 and Shane Berens collected a double-double with 14 points and 14 rebounds. Hays is 4-0 on the season and returns to action in one week to take on Junction City. Pratt drops to 1-1.
Fort Hays complete the opening weekend of MIAA play in Pittsburg on Saturday looking to even their conference record following a three point loss to Missouri Southern on Thursday night.
Pittsburg State ran out of the gates, taking a 15-4 lead in the first four minutes of the game. Fort Hays found traction and tied the score at 17 following their own run of 13-2. The Tigers took the lead for the first time on a Trey O’Neil three pointer at 22-20, part of a 20-6 run that pushed the Fort Hays lead as high as 12. Pitt State got back within five before a pair of free throws right before half time put the Tigers up 42-35.
Highlights
Neither team found much in the first five minutes of the second half combining for four points, but Fort Hays was able to push their lead up to nine at 45-36. The Tigers pushed their lead up to twelve at 48-36. Pitt State answered with back to back three pointers to stay in contact. Fort Hays led rest of the way with the Gorillas getting within three one time at 60-57. The Tigers hit eight of their final eleven free throws in the final four minutes to win 72-67.
Coach Mark Johnson
The Tigers shoot 49% for the game and hit 7 of 11 three pointers. Fort Hays also made 19 of 26 free throws for 73%. Kyler Kinnamon led the way with 14 points. Rob Davis scored 13 and Brady Werth scored 10 for his first double figure game in a Tiger uniform. Fort Hays moves to 5-3 overall and 1-1 in the MIAA, they return home on Wednesday to play Washburn. Pittsburg State has lost six in a row and is 1-8 overall, 0-2 in conference play.
Fort Hays State finished their first MIAA road trip of the season in Pittsburg with the #4 Pittsburg State Gorillas on Saturday afternoon. #25 Fort Hays State was looking to win just their second ever road game against a nationally ranked opponent and looking to even their conference record after a loss at Missouri Southern on Thursday night.
Highlights
Fort Hays built a first quarter lead as high as six points at 17-11 before Pitt State went on a 20-2 run to end the first quarter and begin the second quarter. Pitt State pushed their lead as high as 12 at the end of the run. Fort Hays trailed by ten at half time and fourteen on two occasions in the third quarter. The Tigers then went on their best run of the game, outscoring the Gorillas 16-4 with the first shot of the fourth quarter at 52-40. Pitt State then scored the next nine points to regain control of the game and wins 70-56.
Coach Tony Hobson
Nikola Kacperska tied a career high with 19, including five three pointers. Emma Stroyan and Kacey Kennett each scored 10. Fort Hays shot just 28% in the game while Pittsburg State shot their season average 43%. Tigers has entered MIAA as the top field goal percentage team in the nation. The Tigers fall to 6-2 and 0-2 in the MIAA. They will return to action on Wednesday versus Washburn. Pittsburg State is 8-0, 2-0.
