High School Sports

Nevada's Owen Swearingen scored a pair of birdies and a tie for 41st place out of a field of 52 at the American Junior Golf Association's Hale Irwin tournament this week on the Walnut Creek Golf Preserve in Westminster, Colo. Fresh off his second-place finish in the MSHSAA Class 3 state championship, the incoming Nevada High School senior shot a combined 54-hole score of 239 (+23), highlighted by a birdie on the second hole he played (the par-4 no. ...

BRONAUGH — Boys and girls basketball teams from five area high schools participated in the inaugural Wildcat Shootout Friday inside the gymnasium of host Bronaugh. Scrimmages between Bronaugh, Hume, Lockwood, Exeter, and Northeast (Arma) took place from 8 a.m. ...

The Missouri Sports Hall of Fame named Nevada High School senior swimmer Ben Hines, junior golfer Owen Swearingen, and junior tennis player Evan Rea as finalists for this year’s Sports Commission Awards. At a ceremony to take place between 6-8:15 p.m. Tuesday, June 22, at the Ozark Empire Fairgrounds, the multiple-time MSHSAA Class 1 state champion Hines — who will swim for the University of Alabama starting in the fall — Swearingen — who placed second at the Class 3 state golf tournament this past spring — and Rea — who qualified for the Class 1 state tennis championship — will be in the running along with five other athletes in their respective sports for the awards, which honor the top high schoolers in southwest Missouri athletics...

Nevada golfer Emree Cameron finished in the middle of the pack — tied for it, in fact — at the American Junior Golf Association’s Shreveport Junior Championship tournament this week in Shreveport. Cameron, who qualified for the event after playing last week in the Westrock Coffee Junior Championship (her first AJGA event), shot a combined three-round score of 229 (13-over-par) at the Southern Trace Country Club. It was good enough for a tie with Lucy Smith for 13th place out of a field of 26...

After shooting a 73 (+1) to win the qualifier of the Westrock Coffee Junior Championship at the Hot Springs Country Club in Arkansas, earning her first appearance in an American Junior Golf Association Open, Nevada’s Emree Cameron tied for 18th in the tournament this past weekend with a three-round score of 237 (+21)...

When David Hawks was a student at Nevada High School, he always took the long way to the wrestling room. He could have cut through Wynn Gymnasium, of course, but that was where John McNeley, the boys head hoops coach at the time, was conducting his practices...

Coaches in the Golden Valley Vernon County Conference recently released their all-conference baseball teams, highlighted by four Hume Hornets making the first team. Logan Brooks, Peyton McFrederick, Blake Steuck, and Beriah Morrison, all from Hume, made first-team all-conference. They were joined by Bronaugh’s Gavin Cox, Sheldon’s Isaac Hall, and Montrose’s Owen Westhusing, Dawson Fennewald, and Connor Leonard...

Voters in the Missouri High School Fastpitch Coaches Association recently named Hume's Kennidi Harris and Makinzi Harris to their second-team All-Class 1 softball team. This spring, the Harrises and the rest of the Lady Hornets won their first district championship in program history...

The only problem with competing in three different field events at state track is, you may not have much time to prepare for the other two if you win the first one. For Nevada High School junior Lilly Hart, it was a good problem to have. “Unfortunately, winning the high jump kind of sunk the rest of her day. ...

Athletes, parents, and coaches of the Nevada High School track and field team met Wednesday afternoon at Radio Springs Park for dinner and awards to commemorate the 2021 season — which will wrap up Friday at the MSHSAA Class 1 championship in Jefferson City...

Incoming Nevada High School freshman Emree Cameron shot a 1-over-par 73 to lead all 24 girls golfers in the qualifying round of the American Junior Golf Association's Westrock Coffee Junior Championship Thursday on the Arlington Course of the Hot Springs Country Club in Arkansas...

Baseball coaches in both the Big 8 West Conference and the Class 4 District 12 tournament this week revealed their selections for the All-Conference and All-District teams — with several Nevada High School Tigers making the cut. First-team All-District honors went to NHS sophomore Case Sanderson, junior Eli Cheaney, and senior Blake Pryor. Senior Elijah Nadurata and junior Logan Marquardt were named second-team All-District...

Sheldon High School’s Kim Colbert got her first experience of state track Saturday in Jefferson City. After placing second at the Class 1 Sectional 5 meet in Sarcoxie the week before, the sophomore speedster was one of 16 qualifiers for the MSHSAA Class 1 girls 300-meter hurdle race, an event for which she repeatedly set the new school record during the season — most recently at sectionals with a time of 50.50 seconds...

Members of the Missouri High School Fastpitch Coaches Association this week revealed their all-region teams for the 2021 season — with the Class 1 District 6 champion Hume Lady Hornets well-represented: First Team All-Region: Kennidi Harris, senior pitcher...

CAMDENTON — For Nevada High School’s Lilly Hart, this year's state track and field meet in Jefferson City turned out to be just a hop, skip, and jump away. The junior leaper placed third in each of her three field events at the Class 4 Sectional 3 meet Saturday at Bob Shore Stadium — the high jump, triple jump, and long jump — qualifying her to join seven of her teammates at the MSHSAA Class 4 Championship Friday in the capital...

SPRINGFIELD — If Nevada High School junior Evan Rea had any expectations going into his first trip to the state singles tennis tournament on Friday, they were violated almost immediately — and only compounded from there. First, it rained. That meant, instead of playing outside on any of the seemingly countless pristine courts of the Cooper Tennis Complex, the MSHSAA Class 1 tournament was moved indoors, where Rea had never played a match before...

Retired Nevada R-5 Athletic Director and teacher Kevin McKinley presented this year's spring athletic awards on Friday, highlighted by senior Logan Applegate earning this year's Roger Kennedy Award — given annually to a male athlete who embodies unselfishness, sportsmanship, and love and respect of his fellow athletes, coaches, teachers, and youngsters...

The Golden Valley Vernon County Conference may have only had two softball teams participate this year, but that did not stop its coaches from honoring the players on those squads deserving of all-conference recognition. Coaches from Northeast Vernon County and Hume High School selected the following players to their all-GVVCC team:...

JOPLIN — If you’re ever at a baseball game without the benefit of a scoreboard, the easiest way to identify the winning team is by observing which dugout seems to be having the most fun. When the game is a district championship, though, and the venue is state-of-the-art Joe Becker Stadium, the victor is only going to be more obvious...

If Evan Rea is to wear the crown in Class 1 singles tennis, he’ll first have to defeat a King. Coming off MSHSAA Class 1 District 12 and Sectional 6 championships — both of which he won in straight sets — the Nevada High School junior is slated to face Barstow junior Richard King to open the Class 1 state tennis championship at 2 p.m. Friday in Springfield...

Coaches of the six teams in the Class 1 District 6 baseball tournament released their all-district teams, with area schools Bronaugh, Hume, and Sheldon well-represented. On the first team: Hume's Logan Brooks and Sheldon's Isaac Hall. Second team: Bronaugh's Gavin Cox and Kyle Harrell, as well as Hume's Peyton McFrederick, Blake Steuck, Beriah Morrison, and Bryson Morrison...

Nevada High School junior Owen Swearingen matched his opening-round score of 76 (+4) in the second round of the MSHSAA Class 3 state golf tournament Tuesday at the Crown Pointe Golf Club in Farmington — and was rewarded for his steady play with second place...

Old news: Kim Colbert once again broke her own school record in the 300-meter hurdles. New news: she's going to state because of it. The Sheldon High School sophomore qualified for the MSHSAA Class 1 track and field state championship this weekend in Jefferson City with a second-place time of 50.50 seconds in her specialty event (for which she set and re-set a new school-best mark repeatedly this season) at the Class 1 Sectional 5 meet Saturday in Sarcoxie...

CARL JUNCTION — After trying but failing to win the Big 8 Conference championship, the Nevada High School girls track and field team switched up its strategy for the Class 4 District 6 meet Saturday at Bulldog Stadium. Instead of trying to win every event — and in turn the team standings — the Lady Tigers just tried to earn as many top-four finishes as possible, in order to qualify as many athletes for sectionals as they can...

Nevada High School head golf coach Brian Leonard is in charge of running this year’s MSHSAA Class 3 boys golf tournament, so he had to man the clubhouse during first-round action Monday at the Crown Pointe Golf Club in Farmington. Fortunately, it did not take long for him to hear an update on how NHS junior Owen Swearingen was performing out on the links...

A change of venue and two-day wait proved ineffective in throwing the Nevada High School baseball team off its game. After their semifinal match was rained out Saturday and moved from Seneca to Joe Becker Stadium in Joplin, the no. 1-seeded Tigers took care of no. 5 East Newton 8-0 Monday to advance to the Class 4 District 12 championship...

LOCKWOOD — There is a science to coaching high school baseball. You have to find the right chemistry in your lineup. You’re always experimenting with the pitching rotation. And more often than not, the results never match your hypothesis. For Bronaugh skipper Fred Lundien, he felt like he was in the lab for the entire 2021 season, and though his Wildcats were bounced from the Class 1 District 6 tournament Friday, he knows, like any good scientist, that the solution — in this case, to turning his baseball team into a contender — is just waiting to be discovered.. ...

An earlier start time to the Class 1 Sectional 6 boys individual tennis tournament Friday in Mt. Vernon had no effect on Nevada High School junior Evan Rea — unless you count the one game he lost in his second set. Other than that, the star singles player breezed by Mt. Vernon's Chase Strong in straight sets, 6-0 and 6-1, to advance to the Class 1 state tournament next week in Springfield...

The Sheldon High School baseball team concluded its season Friday in Lockwood, suffering a 16-1 loss at the hands of McCauley Catholic in the opening round of the Class 1 District 6 tournament. The Panthers, who were the no. 6 seed in the bracket, finished their season 0-9...

Nevada High School junior Owen Swearingen will be among the first groups to tee off at the MSHSAA Class 3 golf tournament Monday in Farmington. The Class 3 District 3 champion will share an 8:09 a.m. tee time on hole no. 1 of the Crown Pointe Golf Club with Bishop LeBlond's Patrick Johnston and Kirksville's John Boyer...

The Nevada High School baseball team provided some late-inning drama in its regular-season finale Wednesday at Pittsburg, but a couple of twist endings by the umpires ultimately resulted in a 5-3 victory for the Purple Dragons. After taking a 1-0 lead in the first inning on a Case Sanderson triple and Blake Pryor single, the Tigers (18-6) failed to score again until the top of the seventh — at which point they trailed 5-1...

Hume High School’s first trip to the MSHSAA Class 1 state softball tournament ended Wednesday with a 10-2 defeat at the hands of multiple-time district champion Purdy. The lopsided-looking score does not tell the whole story, though, as this game was scoreless until the sixth inning...

The head coaches of the six teams in the MSHSAA Class 1 District 6 softball tournament revealed their selections for the all-district team, which included seven players alone from the champion Lady Hornets. Hume's Kennidi Harris was one of three pitchers selected, along with Liberal/Bronaugh's Kyla Porter and Jasper's Grace Osborne...

For any Nevada High School baseball fans who have been unable to watch a game this season, Tuesday’s regular season home finale against Harrisonville featured a little bit of everything the Tigers have displayed on the diamond in 2021. Pitching was solid...

Although its top player isn’t done yet, the Nevada High School boys tennis team’s season came to an end in the Class 1 District 12 tournament Monday at Harrisonville. The Tigers picked up a pair of wins — one in singles, one in doubles — but the Wildcats won the necessary five matches to advance to the next round to face Bolivar...

The Sheldon High School track and field team qualified for sectionals two athletes in five events Saturday at the Class 1 District 5 meet in Bolivar. Junior Madison Garren placed second and set a new personal record in the 3,200-meter run with a time of 13 minutes, 41 seconds — and also took second in the 1,600 (6:13) and fourth in the 400 (1:07, a new school record)...

The Sheldon High School baseball team lost 17-2 at Hume Tuesday to close out its regular season. The Panthers (0-8) will be the no. 6 seed in the Class 1 District 6 tournament, where they will face no. 3 McAuley Catholic at 3:30 p.m. Friday in Lockwood...

SPRINGFIELD — The weather conditions at the Class 3 District 3 boys golf tournament Monday on the Bill & Payne Stewart Golf Course may have been less than ideal, but for Nevada High School junior Owen Swearingen, the final result could not have been any better...

The Nevada High School baseball team put up 15 runs over the first two innings, and eventually won 16-3 in five, in its final game of Big 8 West action Friday at Cassville. The lopsided victory improved the Tigers' record to 17-5 overall and 5-1 in the conference...

BOLIVAR — Evan Rea’s Friday started with a cut on his finger. It ended with a medal in his hands. In between, the Nevada High School junior and no. 1 seed at the Class 1 District 12 individual tennis tournament endured several questionable line calls and even a necessary change of shoes, but ultimately cruised past Bolivar’s Seth Martin on his home court and Harrisonville’s Nathan Barnett and Aden Dutter — the former on the campus of Southwest Baptist University, the latter back at Bolivar Middle School, but all in straight sets — to claim his first district singles championship, and the first for a Tigers netter in well over a decade.. ...

"Winning a district title was a goal we had set for ourselves four years ago with my now seniors," stated Hume head softball coach Kayla Gander, whose squad earned the program's first-ever district title Thursday with an 11-4 win over Jasper. "Coming away with the win was an extraordinary accomplishment for not only our team but our school and support system. ...

They may not have beaten the same two Springfield Catholic players who defeated them earlier this season, but Nevada High School no. 1 doubles partners Andrew La Near and Evan Rea were still able to avenge one of their only losses of the year Wednesday at the Big 8 Conference tennis tournament in Springfield — and brought home first-place medals for it, too...

Following back-to-back road losses to out-of-conference foes El Dorado Springs and Fort Scott, a home tilt against Big 8 West rival McDonald County with a chance to clinch the conference crown seemed like just what the Nevada High School baseball team needed to get back to its winning ways...

Before Thursday’s dual against Stockton, it had been at least 20 years since the Nevada High School boys golf team hosted a match at the Nevada Country Club. If the results from the team’s nine-hole round were any indication, the Tigers might be hoping it becomes a new annual tradition to play there...

Drew Beachler won gold in the long jump, and the Lady Tigers finished runner-up as a team, to highlight Nevada High School’s day at the Big 8 Conference track and field meet Wednesday in Monett. Nevada left with medals in eight events total, led by sophomore long-jumper Beachler, whose leap of 6.53 meters (or 21 feet, 5 inches) earned him a first-place medal and first-team all-conference honors...

The no. 4 seed Liberal High School softball team, with its co-op contributors from Bronaugh, crushed no. 5 Northeast Vernon County 21-1 in the first round of Class 1 District 6 play Wednesday in Jasper. Later in the day, though, the Lady Bulldogs'/Lady Wildcats' season ended with a 4-1 defeat at the hands of top-seeded Hume — which beat Jasper 11-4 in the championship on Thursday...

The Sheldon High School baseball team lost 20-4 Monday at Fair Play. Panthers head coach Jacob Well stated afterward that the team improved at the plate but struggled to throw strikes — and as a result fell to 0-6 on the season. Sheldon will travel to Miami on Wednesday...

LAMAR — The Nevada Middle School eighth-grade girls capped off their impressive track and field season with a first-place team finish at the Big 8 Conference meet Saturday inside Thomas M. O’Sullivan Stadium. With competitors in nearly every event, the Lady Tigers were led by gold medal-winning performances from Averi Dawn in the 1,600-meter run (6 minutes, 23 seconds); Peyton Eaton, Alison Olson, Caylee Holcomb, and Ella Heathman in the 4x100-meter relay (55.99 seconds); and Eaton, Olson, Holcomb, and Hailey Hearting in the 4x200 (1:57).. ...

If the Nevada High School boys tennis team was lacking any confidence heading into its conference and district tournaments later this week, Monday’s home dual against Clinton may have provided the boost the Tigers needed. Nevada picked up its second team win of the season with a 9-0 sweep over the Cardinals, ending its regular season on a high note before heading to the Big 8 Conference tournament Wednesday in Springfield...