This Week In Rocket Varsity Sports

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Great Season For Lady Rockets

by Cooper Bates

The Lady's season went well and had great improvement. New head coach Shelby Kaba made a huge impact on the team. Last season the Lady Rockets were knocked out in the Regional Championship game, but this season he led them to the final four. Sadly, they lost both games of the final four tournament. The ladies had a record of 13-5-1. They took on McPherson at Stryker Sports Complex on May 25th for the Finals Round. Unfortunately, the Rockets lost 2-1 while playing a good game. The Lady Rockets grew to be a very strong and put-together team and they practiced hard daily. This is the third year that the Lady Rockets have made it to the Regional Finals. Head Coach Shelby Kaba said this about the lady's season, “This season was a remarkable journey. Reaching the state championships for the first time in 12 years, with a record of 13-5-1, is a testament to this team's heart and resilience. Overcoming a challenging path to state, we scored 59 goals while conceding only 18. Though the journey ended short of the ultimate prize, I'm incredibly proud of what we accomplished. With nearly everyone returning and a talented freshman class joining us, the future is bright. We'll be back next year, even stronger and hungrier”. The girls will be looking forward to the 2025 season and another run at a state title.

Track Closes Out Sucessful Season

by Eden Gregg

Rose Hill track had a successful season for both the boys’ and girls’ teams. The team included a total of 10 seniors this year. A special farewell to all the Track Seniors who participated in track this year. Brodyn Ford, Connor Wallis, Anthen Arheart, Alexa Marshall, Lanie Page, and Lexi Wooten participated in track at Rose Hill all four years of high school; Jace Evans, Ethan Brooks, and Ryelle Woods participated for three years and Clara Nuno participated for just this season. Lanie Page stated, “Being able to be a part of the track team throughout my past four years has been nothing short of an amazing experience. I took for granted being able to compete with my friends for the past four years but they have all taught me so much and have made me a better person. Track means so much to me and I'm so grateful to have been able to been a part of such a great atmosphere.” Track ended their 2024 season by qualifying 17 athletes for the State Meet at Wichita State University. The girls placed in the top three at four of their meets this season. They placed 1st at Belle Plaine with a total of 177 points, 2nd at Pratt with a total of 77 points, 2nd at Clearwater with a total of 105 points, and they placed 2nd at the AVCTL Division IV at Wellington with a total of 108.5 points. The Boys placed in the top three at one meet this year which was at Belle Plaine placing 3rd with a total of 94 points. Looking back on the season, Head Coach Brandon Barger stated, “We had a great season looking back at when we lost a lot of our points from last season. Our numbers were not as I had hoped, but we competed in almost every meet that we had. The girls had a really good season and should build from it in the next year! We will find some girls to fill in the spots that we are in need of and it should be a great season. The boys just didn’t have depth in each event. Hopefully we can fix that next year. This year’s seniors were really great in regards to their competitive spirit and experience. They will be missed.” With another successful season in the books, the underclassmen are already looking forward to next season.

Bitter-Sweet Baseball

by Cameron Mock

The 2024 Rocket baseball season was an overall good season with some extreme ups and rough lows. This team of boys broke a baseball playoff dry spell, put a game in the history books, and did some pretty remarkable things over the course of the season. We started the season off 4-0 when we hit a rough patch against Circle getting swept at home after being out hit on our own turf. The Rockets would somewhat get back on track with a sweep of Wichita Southeast at home, but a split against Augusta would have the Rockets at 7-3 halfway through the season. There would be an embarrassing loss to Andale that would split the night against the Indians and after two rough games at the McPherson Quad this Rocket team had the realization that this team has some work to do. The dry spell would continue to haunt the Rockets as another swept double header at home to Collegiate would leave the Rockets 8-8 on the season desperate for a turnaround. There would be a turnaround as the Rockets would sweep Winfield, Clearwater, and win a solo game against Douglass. Unfortunately, the regular season would finish on a sour note after getting swept by Buhler. The Rockets would finish the season 13-10 with a trip to McPherson for regionals. The predictions going into McPherson is that this Rocket team would be blown out against Larned, and even if they were to succeed against Larned, they would have to get past the back-to-back state champions in McPherson. As an underdog, the Rockets would only allow two hits against Larned in a 8-2 victory, but we would still have one more name to take to make it to the state tournament. In the rematch of the back-to-back state champs, the Rockets would out hit McPherson on their own field and with great pitching racking up 13 strikeouts; the Rockets would be Regional Champions after a 3-1 victory. With a seven-year dry spell being broken and a ticket punched to Salina, the Rockets would face the #2 seed Abilene Cowboys. Unfortunately, the Rockets would struggle to get the bats going in Salina, losing to the Cowboys 5-1 finishing the season at 15-11 with a top eight placement and a Regional Championship. Pitching for the Rockets started off struggling but really picked it up after the halfway point of the season, First Team All-League Pitcher Colton Roberts would have 47.2 innings with a 3-4 record, Roberts would rack up 72 strikeouts, with a 2.497 ERA. Second Team All-League Pitcher Cameron Mock would have 41.1 innings with a 7-2 record; I would have 44 strikeouts, and a 2.879 ERA; I would also enter the Rose Hill history books as the first pitcher in Rocket history to throw a perfect game as I went five flawless innings against Clearwater in a run rule win. Cooper Nace would be the Rocket closer for the season pitching 22.1 innings with six saves. Nace would have 29 strikeouts with a 2.194 ERA. Honorable Mention Pitcher Peirce Kehle would throw 20.1 innings with a 2-2 record, Kehle would have 25 strikeouts, and a 2.066 ERA. The Rocket bats would go through their phases, but overall, the Rocket lineup finished decent. First Team All-League and State Outfielder Scotty Carr would have himself a great hitting season with a .431 batting average, .512 on base percentage, and a .538 slugging percentage, Carr would just tear pitchers up at the plate finishing with 14 RBI’s, 11 base on balls, 24 singles, two doubles, a triple, and a home run. Carr was a leader in the Rocket lineup. First Team All-League First Baseman and Second Team All-State Designated Hitter Cooper Nace would also be on a tear at the plate with a .379 batting average, .402 on base percentage, and a .471 slugging percentage, Nace would finish the season with 33 hits, 20 RBI’s, and seven stolen bases. First Team All-League Designated Hitter Colton Roberts would be a key piece at the DH spot, with a .325 batting average, .393 on base percentage, and a .412 slugging percentage, Roberts would have 26 hits on the season, and a team leading 22 RBI’s. This Rocket team was solid with many All-League placements; this team was really something special. Even through all the ups and downs of this season, I think I can speak for all the seniors when I say there isn’t a better group of boys to spend a last high school baseball season with.

The Last Pitch

by Genevieve Browning

The Lady Rockets softball season has come to an end with a record of 7-16. It was a bit of a switch up compared to last year's record of 17-5. The girls sadly failed to win at Regionals this year. Last year they won their first game at Regionals but got shut down by Andale in the second round. The team this year had four returning seniors: Reese Goetz, Paige Green, Payton Jackson and Dakota Bryer. This will not be the last year that Reese Goetz plays softball as she has committed to two years at Hutchinson Community College. Goetz had good things to say about this year’s team, “I’m going to miss playing with these girls. Even though our season didn’t end well, it was fun getting to play with them.” Paige Green was the only senior pitcher for this year with a pitch count of 1,262 during the 14 games she pitched. She also led the team in homeruns with five out of the team’s seven total homeruns. The other two were hit by Payton Jackson and Kenzie Minks. Even though Paige Green had the most home runs this season, she did not have the best batting average. Kaidence Humann actually came out on top with a batting average of .394. She was followed closely behind by Reese Goetz with an average of .378. Other than the seniors the Rose Hill softball team will have twelve returning players for next year. The coaches will have players to help improve over the next season of Rocket Softball. Overall, it was a bit of a disappointing season with a 7-16 record, but the underclassman will be looking for improvement in 2025.

Rockets Send One To State

by Landon McDonald

We finished this season with Avery Tagtow placing 72nd at the state tournament in McPherson. Tagtow was able to go to state and play and has his mind set to do the same next year. This sadly brings our season to an end. We showed signs of improvement all season long with numbers progressively getting smaller and smaller. I asked Coach Browning about his thoughts on this 2024 season, and he said, “I thought this season was a successful one. If you had told me that we would have won a tournament and then had top-five finishes in two other tournaments, I would have taken it - no doubt about it. With five of six varsity golfers returning next year, plus some talented newcomers expected to join us, I feel like the future is extremely bright." I will be ready and I am sure the other guys will be as we look to make lots of improvements next season.

Closing The Lanes

by Genevieve Browning

The 2024 season was a fresh start for the members of the Rose Hill girls swim team. They started off with a new Head Coach, Tori Kaiser. They also had seven total swimmers this year compared to the five they had last year. They had three returning members in Whitney Roach, Josie Belden, and Katelyn Vanmeerback. Josie Belden was the only graduating senior for the team and had this to say about the season this year, “The season went good; it definitely could’ve gone better but there is always room for improvement. My coach and teammates definitely made it a memorable senior season.” Overall, the girls showed a lot of improvement throughout the season with their highest finish being in their final meet. They placed 6th at the AVCTL meet at Buhler. They stayed pretty consistent during the season, mostly placing between 8th and 10th place. Even with the low finishes the girls showed a passion for swimming and an ability to work with other swimmers. Coach Kaiser stated, “For the 2024 girls swim season, we had new personal records, laughs, some tears, and of course A LOT of swimming. This year’s team had a wonderful camaraderie, especially when we teamed up with Circle! All the girls really made the season enjoyable and memorable! The season went very well with the girls working hard and showing up!” Even though this season is over, the returning swimmers will be looking forward to next year. Coach Kaiser will be able to work on improving the girls from this year and come back with even better results. Coach Kaiser has high hopes for next year’s season as she stated, “As for the future for the swim team, I’m excited to have Circle back with us to swim and grow our team! We can’t wait to have most of the team come back next year and hopefully a few more!” Altogether, it was a season of memories and growth for our lady swimmers. With all of the returning swimmers it will be exciting to see their improvement next year.