Sports are defined by moments.
Whether it be an entire series of events, a single act of athletic prowess or a unnoticed occurrence away from the action, moments in the realm of the sports world can stay with us for a lifetime.
The high school sports season that just concluded had its moments. Good and bad moments. Happy and sad moments. Breathtaking and painful moments.
For the past 10 or so months, as high school sports flowed from football and volleyball to wrestling and basketball to baseball and track, the area has provided us all with a wealth of moments to remember.
I have had the pleasure of watching the vast majority of them, and my job gets exponentially easier when those little moments arrive.
Sometimes they can be forced, but when a good moment happens, you can bet its the lead story in the next day’s paper.
And so it is with pleasure that I present to you my top five high school sports moments from the past season, starting with No. 5 and working down to the most blood-pumping, goosebump-inducing, can’t-help-but-smile moment of the year.
No. 5
One of the more-gutsy and most-determined performances I have ever witnessed came from a 119-pound athlete on his sport’s biggest stage — and it was hardly noticed by the thousands of fans in attendance.
Many might not think much when they hear Emporia High’s Sal Tovar finished fourth at the State wrestling tournament back in February. But had the fans known what Tovar had to go through to simply get that far, there is no doubt they would have paid attention.
After nearly having his shoulder completely dislocated in the second round of the tournament in the Friday portion of the meet, Tovar shed any concerns — and the sling he was advised to wear — to win three matches on Saturday to advance to the third-place bout.
Though he lost his final match, seeing Tovar wrestle through the pain — even though his opponents knew his weakness and tried to exploit it — was inspiring.
Watching an exhausted and pained Tovar walk off the mat after his final match was enough to make any spectator stand up and applaud.
I just wish more people would have noticed.
No. 4
Writers, much like the teams they cover, yearn to get to championship games.
The Super Bowl. The Final Four. The World Series.
At the high school level, State championship games are the equivalent, which is why the Waverly football team’s ridiculous (in a good way) performance in the 8-Man Division I title game this past season makes it on this list.
The Bulldogs absolutely dismantled Jetmore in the title game in Newton, 58-20, and it wasn’t even that close.
It was a pleasure to stand on the field with the Bulldogs as they accepted their second-straight State championship trophy moments after they had completed a perfect 13-0 season in which they outscored their opponents by an average of 53-18.
The 2006 Waverly football team was one of the truly great teams in Kansas high school football history. They personified dominance.
While they might not be household names or Division-I signees, Waverly players like Dentin Chapman, Casey Church, Matt Coursen, Dakota Foster and Heath Redding, among numerous others, came together to form one of the most dominant football teams I have ever seen, and it was a thrill to watch them raise their trophy yet again.
No. 3
Let’s be honest, the entire Emporia High football season in 2006 was one big ball of memories.
But perhaps the most poignant moment of the season came after it was over.
The Spartans had their best season in years, finishing with a 6-3 record after posting back-to-back 1-8 campaigns. The six wins all were filled with highlights, while the three losses all featured heartbreaking drama.
Following Emporia’s season-ending 24-12 victory over Junction City, as the stands cleared out and the bug swarmed the lights above the field, the EHS seniors to whom much of the credit for the Spartans’ breakout year was due ventured out onto the turf at Welch Stadium as teammates one last time.
It really was one of the more touching scenes I’ve ever been around.
They joked around, they reminisced, they talked about what lie ahead. They were a group of guys who had just done all they could to make their school, their parents, their fans and their hometown proud, and they accomplished that and more.
As the Spartans’ motto this season went, this year’s senior class truly was a “Band of Brothers.”
No. 2
Perhaps the best quote I heard all season came from Emporia High’s Rachael Bachman moments after the Lady Spartans’ basketball game against Bishop Carroll in the first round of Sub-State.
With most of her teammates hugging each other with tears in their eyes, Bachman looked around, smiled and said, “Why are we all crying? We just won!”
Indeed, in what had to be one of the greatest second-half comebacks in school history, the Lady Spartans went into Carroll’s “Concrete Dungeon” gym, fell behind 32-17 at halftime, went on a 21-8 run in the third quarter and then proceeded to pull out a 55-53 victory over the Lady Eagles.
The emotions of the victory proved to be too much for most of the Lady Spartans, and the tears flowed afterward.
Emporia got the win despite playing downright bad in the first half and without two of its court leaders — Jessica Muckenthaler had to go to the hospital after taking an elbow to the face and Lexi Hileman tore a ligament in her knee during Emporia’s second-half surge. The Lady Spartans also had to fend off the memory of a season before when Carroll took a 35-8 lead into halftime on its way to a Sub-State victory over EHS.
The fight and determination to never quit defined the 2006 Emporia High girls basketball team, and there was no better example of that than the victory over Carroll.
So can you blame them for shedding a few tears over it?
No. 1
Anyone who knows me knows I have a soft spot in my heart for runners.
Since I come from a running background, I naturally connect with the athletes who use nothing but the physical tools they have come by naturally to contend in their chosen sphere of competition.
My top sports moment from the past year actually was one of the last events of the high school sports season. But it was so memorable that it planted itself at the top of my list as soon as it happened.
My No. 1 moment from this year: Emporia High senior Layne Moore’s incredible performance as the anchor of the EHS girls’ State title-winning 4x400 relay squad.
When Moore took the baton from Lindy Arndt as the last leg of the relay, the Lady Spartans were in third by a large margin. I remember thinking at the time, “Layne will probably have to run one of the best races she’s ever had to even make this close.”
Wouldn’t you know it, that’s exactly what she did.
In a most-improbable comeback, Moore caught up with the race leaders, Gardner-Edgerton and St. Thomas Aquinas, with about 100 meters left in the race.
From there, it was all elementary. Layne Moore ran — fast.
She blew past Gardner’s Julia Scott with about 30 meters left and crossed the line in first place with a huge smile on her face and her fists in the air.
Her split time of 55.70 seconds would have equaled the State meet record in the 400 and set a new school record, which she had already broken earlier in the day.
It was a jaw-dropping performance the likes of which I might never see again.
Athletes of Moore’s capabilities are rare, and I was lucky to have seen her on display for at least one season.
Thankfully, sports’ little moments will continue even after she moves on.