Rose Hill High School Athletics

Lady Rockets Finish Strong

by Zander Arheart

The Rocket runners did very well this year with the ladies really running hard. The Lady Rockets won five out of their eight meets. At the AVCTL Meet in Mulvane, the girls dominated by placing seven runners in the top eight. At the Regional Meet in Buhler, the girls placed all seven runners in the top 26 places to easily win the Regional Championship. In what was a bit of a disappointment to the girls, they finished in 9th place at the State Meet in Wamego but are already looking forward to improving on that finish next year. The men’s team tried hard this year with each of them running personal bests at a meet during the season and even having some finish in the top 10 like McKoy Corte at a few meets as well. The team motto this year that pushed everyone to their hardest was to “run hungry and taste victory”. I asked several runners what that meant to them and they said it was to want something so bad that they had to work for it every day until it just came to them. Coach Barger stated that “Our cross season was one of expectations. We accomplished so much and also didn’t end it the way we wanted to end it. Both the boys and girls are young enough to make a good run next year. It was fun to watch this group compete and be successful. Run Hungry and Taste Victory.” The girls’ team is looking forward to another strong season in 2022 as several of the varsity runners were underclassmen. Graduating seniors from the girls team include Jordyn Croft, Jenna MuCulloch, Hattie Mills, Haley Murray, and Alexia Struble. The boys’ team will also be losing three seniors to graduation including McCoy Korte, Kaleb Ross, and Carter Wagner.

Girls Have Winning Season

by Landon Rutledge

Coming into this year's volleyball season the Lady Rockets were ready to tear up this season after coming off of their 9-20 record in the 2020 season. The girls started off the season strong winning their first tournament of the season at Northwest and going on a 7-game winning streak. Unfortunately, the Rockets then fell into a 5-game losing streak playing against some really tough teams. The Rockets continued the season strong with some wins and some losses. Nonetheless they played to the best of their abilities at all times. They would go on to the substate tournament to face off against Rock Creek, who they beat with ease. For their second game of the sub-state tournament, the Rockets had to face off against the Andale Indians for their third time of the season; both teams played their hearts out but the Rockets ultimately fell short. They would finish their season with a record of 19-16 and say goodbye to their five seniors. Jillian Rockley stated, “I'm really proud of the growth we went through this season and the way we continued to work to better each other on and off of the court. I'm proud of our performance at substate and how we fought against Andale.” Another senior, Mia Kuehn, also said “We had a great season and the all-around chemistry made playing volleyball so much fun! The team is going to continue to grow with a lot of young talent.” Sydney LaKous said, “I think it was a great season and I wouldn't have wanted to spend my senior year of volleyball with any other group of girls.” Coach Mock stated, “I would say that this team had some great leaders on and off the court. They helped us grow into a team that I am very proud of. We played as a team and won as a team all year! That’s a big deal in the sport of volleyball. We ended 19-16 and 12 of our losses were to teams who went to state in their respective divisions. We built a great foundation with seven returning varsity players for next year. I am excited to continue to see growth in our athletes over the off season.” Overall, the Rockets had a great season and fought it out till the very end.

Growing Stronger Together

by Teagan Cobb

Although the season did not end how the Rocket Football team wanted, it was still a good season. The Rockets had a lot of young guys step up and fill in for injuries this year where it was needed. That courage is what is needed for the future of Rocket football and the boys took a great step towards next year and getting better. The Rockets began the season losing to state power Andale but then evened out their record at 1-1 the next week with a blowout win over Clearwater. However, the Rockets would lose the next four games to drop their record to 1-5. Two of the losses were very close games that easily could have been wins with a little bit of luck. The Rockets then closed out the regular season with wins over Winfield and Independence to improve to 3-5 going into the 1st round playoff game at Circle. Head coach Lee Weber stated, “I was extremely proud of this squad for being resilient through the season of bad bounces and injuries. While I feel like we should have had a better record and won several of our tight games, our team never gave up and battled all the way through the playoff loss to Circle. Our players should hold their head high being able to finish off with two good wins at the end of the season to higher ranked teams than us in 4A and also battling Circle until time ran out.” Defensive Coordinator David Penner said, “This football season presented itself with several challenges. I feel like we built a solid foundation for us to excel next year if we can continue to develop and build off of what we did this year. We need to put in work in this off season to make sure next year ends on a better note than this year did. We got a lot of younger kid reps this year which will hopefully allow those kids to be successful next year.” Coach Hill said, “I am proud of everyone this year that came out and played and appreciate their efforts this season. The season didn’t end as we expected but players had to battle through diversity and injury. There is a lot to learn from this season to carry on to the next year so in my eyes it was still a very productive season. Success is not always measured in wins and losses but is measured by the growth of the player and the team.” Although the seniors weren’t all there to finish the season because of injury, some guys that stood out this season were Keegan Beavers, Chase Green, Lane Gardner, and Jadon Green. These boys supported their team until the very last buzzer.

Heart Breaking End For Soccer

by Joshua Fisher

The Rockets started out strong with a breathtaking win against Coffeyville with a score of 2-1 in overtime. They then continued the winning streak until the difficult Goddard/Campus tournament where they went 1-2. Goalkeeper Temo Luna-Beruman, suffered a concussion saving a goal leading him to be sidelined for a few games. “This year the biggest problem we had this season was the injuries,” said Head Coach Jerry Treat. He was right as many more injuries started to occur for the Rockets. A couple of games later in the game vs Classical, center defender Teagan Cobb pulled his hip flexor and right back and Ethan Brooks suffered a concussion. Many more injuries started to pile up on them as the season went on. After all the injuries the Rockets sustained this year the team's morale was a little low but the Rockets pushed on. The Rockets won the Senior night game against Mulvane with a convincing 7-0 victory. The Rockets were preparing for a hard game at Buhler in the first game of Regionals having lost to the Crusaders 1-0 earlier in the season. However, the Crusaders again dealt the Rockets a heart breaking 1-0 defeat at Buhler in a hard-fought game in the first round of regionals. The game was tied 0-0 until the Crusaders finally scored in the 77th minute of the game. After an intense season the Rockets look forward to the years ahead. They are ready to build back up next year even stronger than before. The Rockets have 10 returning juniors and many sophomores and freshmen ready to play hard next year to make it back to state.

Time For Rebuilding

by Joshua Fisher

The Rocket Soccer team finished last year in 4th place at the state tournament after some costly injuries derailed their chances of winning a 3rd state championship in the last seven seasons. Going into the 2021 season, the Rockets will need to replace 8 of the 11 starters (Ethan Anderson, Charlie Black, Ethan Tucker, Drew Leck, Caden Dinkel, Timmy Hoopes, Zach Hoang, and Gavin Strawn) and 12 total seniors who graduated from last year’s team. The Rockets will need to do some rebuilding and to rebound for this next season. They have gained 8 new freshmen. There are high hopes for the returning Starters (Teagan Cobb, Andruw Weeks, and Temo Luna-Berumen) and Seniors Zander Arheart and Joshua Fisher as it will still be a strong team. The Rockets are working hard in preparation for their opening game at Coffeyville on September 27th.

Football Coming Back Strong

by Teagan Cobb

Head football coach Lee Weber will be beginning his 4th year guiding the Rocket’s program and will be looking to continue building on the success of last year's team. With a record of 6-4, the best record since 2011, the Rockets also went on to win their first playoff game since the 2011 state championship. Coach Weber's number one goal is to be 1-0 every game this year and the team believes that they have the potential to do it. The Rockets will be led by quarterback Lane Gardner along with 5 other offensive starters that are returning from the previous year. On the other hand, the Defense is looking just as strong if not stronger with 9 returners from the previous year. The team’s goal this year is to get better and have a better record than any years previous; they are hoping to make it deeper into the playoffs again this year. The key to get further this year is to be efficient and have ball control on offense. On defense they have to be the best tackling team and keep every team under two scores. The Rockets are looking strong and look forward to their first game against perennial state power Andale on September 3rd.

Running For State

by Zander Arheart

After coming off a great year of running with only a few seniors last year, the Rocket cross country team is looking forward to the many returning runners and quite a few new ones. The returners include seniors Carter Wagner, Jordyn Croft, Haley Murray, Jenna McCulloch, and Hattie Mills. Even more seniors joined this year including Hayden Forred, Kaleb Ross, and McCoy Korte. The juniors will be Dylan Henry, Elliot Herod, Carys Moore, Abigail Weidner, Kyrsten Lucent, and Savanna Crawford. Returning sophomores will be Logan Shropshire, and Alexa Marshall who placed 19th in state last year and helped the girls team place 6th at the State Meet.

Girls Looking For Strong Rebound

by Landon Rutledge

The Lady Rocket volleyball team is excited to get back to playing matches following the hectic 2020 Covid-19 season. The team is returning two starters from last year’s team in Jillian Rockley and Mia Kuehn. Other varsity contributors from last season returning include Dayleigh Barger and Mandi Heinz.The team will be bringing on many promising newcomers for the varsity team including Emily Wellenstein, Sydney LaKous, Jessa Lee, Paige Loeck, Reese Goetz, Payton Jackson, and Makayla Kiser. Coach Mock stated “We are hoping for a more normal season after the covid season we had last year”. New to the coaching staff this year is Chelsea Payne for the C-team. The Rockets will start off their 2021 season with a tournament Saturday, August 28th at Wichita North High School. They will not have their first home game until later in the season on October 5th.