Nobody in the Emporia sports scene makes national news like Emporia’s own Clint Bowyer.
The 2008 Nationwide champion earned the top sports story this year in Emporia, taking the Gazette’s top-story honor for the second straight year. Bowyer just beat out the infamous Cell Phone Game that saw possibly the play of the year in Emporia-area sports waved off.
Emporia High’s boys track and field team won its first state championship in school history in the spring, while the ESU softball and baseball teams went on historic runs that will not soon be forgotten.
This fall, the Emporia State volleyball team had its best season ever, while a football team down the road in Olpe nearly made history, making it all the way to the state title game before falling to traditional powerhouse Smith Center.
2008 was a year for records, streaks and champions in Emporia sports.
10. Blind Emporia Middle School student Charlie Wilks plays football
Charlie Wilks actually began playing for EMS as a seventh-grader, but it was during this year, as an eighth-grader, that he earned widespread recognition for playing the game he loves without the benefit of sight. Charlie, who had two surgeries to remove a tumor discovered at age 5 and was completely blind at age 6, was featured in a Gazette story in August and quickly became a favorite subject of television and newspaper reports throughout the state and region. National programs “Today” and “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” even expressed some interest in doing segments on the Vikings’ sightless nose guard. Charlie’s big fall included a team trip to Kansas City to meet members of the Chiefs and culminated in a shoot this month for “E:60,” an ESPN news magazine that will air a segment on Charlie this spring. Charlie doesn’t plan on stepping off the gridiron once he’s done with middle school — he has plans to try to play all the way to the pros, where he’d follow in the footsteps of his grandfather, former Chiefs offensive lineman Al Reynolds.
9. Emporia High boys basketball team reaches state semifinals
The Spartans arrived at their substate with just an 11-9 record, but blasted their two substate opponents, Wichita West and Arkansas City, by a combined 64 points to reserve a spot at the Class 5A state tournament in Topeka.
Once there, Emporia continued its roll in the first round, using 25 points from Caydrick Bloomquist and 18 from backcourt mate Taylor Euler to beat McPherson 75-62. But the run for the state crown ended the next day, as EHS couldn’t build on an early 7-0 lead against Bishop Carroll, losing 69-62. Bloomquist finished with 24 points but shot just 9-of-23 from the floor and 3-of-9 from 3-point range. Euler had 21 points on 6-of-11 shooting.
In the 5A third-place game, St. Thomas Aquinas clubbed Emporia 55-31, ending the Spartans’ season with a 14-11 mark. Bloomquist, finishing a decorated career, shot just 1-for-10 from the floor. Euler had 14 points. After the season, Bloomquist was selected second team All-State in Class 5A, and Euler earned an honorable mention.
8. ESU volleyball team has best season in school history
White Auditorium is known as one of the best Division II venues in the country to watch basketball. This year it became one of the best places to watch volleyball.
The Emporia State volleyball team had its best season in school history, finishing 34-4, winning its first MIAA title by two games, hosting its first regional — which drew an NCAA regional-best 6,649 during the seven matches — and making the regional championship for the first time.
The Hornets won their conference title against rival Washburn in front of the biggest crowd (2,432) in MIAA history and the most fans to watch a volleyball match this season.
Emporia State avenged a loss earlier in the season to Washburn and swept the Lady Blues at White Auditorium to clinch the conference title outright.
“It’s awesome,” Arica Shepard said after the match. “It’s something I’ve always wanted to accomplish since coming in here and just to do it, yeah, chills.”
Emporia State continued its storied season with two sweeps on the way to the regional championship. The Hornets’ opponent would be Truman. The Bulldogs had lost twice to the Hornets during the season, but they had ended the Hornets season for two straight years.
They did so again in 2008, winning in three games against a nervous Emporia State team.
“I’m going to remember this feeling,” Shepard said, “and hopefully not have to feel it again.”
MIAA coach of the year Bing Xu, who won his 100th match in 2008, returns a strong nucleus in 2009 with All-Americans Ting Liu and Shepard returning.
7. Olpe reaches
Class 2-1A state
championship game
During the entire regular season, an experienced Olpe team crushed opponents again and again, reaching the playoffs undefeated and with just one game decided by less than 40 points. With a schedule largely made up of outclassed southeast Kansas teams, it was worth wondering whether the Eagles could play with the best once they got to the Class 2-1A playoffs. Olpe answered that question emphatically and gave the town of 500-some-odd people a season they’ll remember for years.
After crushing Chase County 61-6 in round one, the Eagles put up a strong second half to break a 7-7 tie and win 28-7 at Pleasanton. The next week, they got two fourth-quarter TD passes from Matt Redeker to Cole Krueger to win at St. Marys 14-7. That set up a semifinal matchup against perennial powerhouse Pittsburg-Colgan back at Olpe, and the Eagles played a nearly perfect game, dismantling the Panthers 20-0 on a frigid night and setting off a streamer-laden on-field celebration. For the first time since 1976 — when they also beat Colgan in the semifinals — the Eagles had reached a state title game.
The magical season ended in the following week’s trip to Hays with a 48-19 loss to Smith Center — the Redmen’s fifth straight state title and state-record 67th straight win. But the Eagles had become the local football story of 2009, and names like Krueger, Redeker, Josh Klumpe, Bradley Argabright and coach Chris Schmidt are now firmly part of Olpe football lore.
6. ESU softball team
finishes as national
runner-up
In the last at-bat of her college career, April Huddleston reached out for a low, outside fastball and watched as her would-be, go-ahead home run sailed over the fence and the left-field foul pole.
The umpire ruled foul, and the Hornets fell to Humboldt State 1-0 in the National Championship.
“We’re literally 15 inches from winning that game,” ESU coach Kristi Bredbenner said after the game.
Instead, Emporia State had to settle for national runners-up. Not a bad ending to a season that didn’t look all that promising at one time.
The Hornets started the year 3-7, but they finished strong, winning the MIAA regular-season championship, the MIAA tournament championship, the North Central Regional championship and also advancing to their second national championship game in the last three years.
Emporia State easily advanced to the College World Series in Houston with a 9-1 run-rule victory over Winona State in the regional championship, thanks to two home runs by Miranda Campbell, including a grand slam.
The Hornets advanced to the National Championship with a 2-1, 13-inning victory over St. Edward’s.
“There’s not a better feeling. We’re in the national championship,” said Miranda Mahan, who had the game-winning hit. “A lot of people never thought we’d be here. It’s just awesome.”
Emporia State would fall two runs — or 15 inches — short of a National Championship, finishing 48-17.
“When you compare this team to that team that started off at the beginning of the year, we’re 10,000 times better,” Bredbenner said. “To make it as far as we did, you have to be proud of yourselves.
“It’s going to hurt a little bit, but when you look back, this is once-in-a-lifetime for a lot of teams.”
5. Emporia High boys track team wins
Class 5A state title
Anytime a program wins its first title, it’s going to be one of the year’s top stories. And the Emporia High boys track team did it with some drama tossed in.
The Spartans entered the last event of the state meet at Wichita’s Cessna Stadium tied with Bonner Springs at 68 points each. The final event was the 4x400 relay, and Bonner Springs didn’t have an entry. That meant that Emporia needed just a seventh-place finish out of eight teams in order to win the state title. The Spartans’ team of Taylor Euler, Jacob Davies, Tyler Tilton and Mark Kolmer — seeded seventh — pulled it off, with Kolmer holding off late last-leg charges from Schlagle and Kapaun Mt. Carmel to finish off a sixth-place showing.
Davies and Brandon Childs, both seniors, racked up 52 of the Spartans’ 70 points, with both winning two state titles. Davies won the 1,600-meter run, won a second straight 800-meter crown and finished third in the 400. Childs won the triple jump and high jump and finished third in the long jump. Caydrick Bloomquist’s second-place finish in the pole vault and Kolmer’s second-place showing in the javelin also helped the Spartans to the state crown — but in the end, it was those two crucial points from the 4x400 relay team that finished it off.
4. Emporia State
baseball team
wins 35 straight
Emporia State’s winning streak lasted 48 days and 35 games, including a 28-0 start to the MIAA season.
None of those games or days were more dramatic than win No. 35, a 10th-inning 10-9 victory on a walk-off home run by Keith Hernandez. Hernandez jumped into a dogpile at home plate and the Hornets jumped into the history books.
“I looked in here (the dugout) and saw everyone going nuts, and it felt even better,” Hernandez said after the team’s 35th straight win. “I couldn’t get around the bases fast enough.”
The winning streak would end 11 victories short of the Division II record against Central Missouri, 5-3, on April 25. The Hornets would never really recover. They lost three of four to Central Missouri and went 8-7 in the final three weeks of the season, losing to Nebraska-Omaha 17-14 to end their season in the Central Regional tournament.
“Honestly, I don’t even know what happened. We lost our swagger,” Hernandez said after the loss. “We never got that swagger back to where we should have been. You’ve got to play your best at the end, and I wish we would have went through this earlier, but that’s baseball.”
The Hornets finished the season with 50 wins and an MIAA regular-season championship with a team that included 14 seniors, including Hernandez, who won several National Player of the Year awards. The ESU senior class went 180-67, advanced to the Central Regional for four straight years and made the NCAA Division II College World Series in 2006 for the first time in school history.
And in 2008, of course, the Hornets went on a 35-game run that will not soon be forgotten.
3. Michelle Stueve becomes MIAA’s
all-time leading scorer
It was only appropriate that Michelle Stueve broke the MIAA scoring record on a night that was simple Stueve-esque at White Auditorium.
On Feb. 7, Stueve made four 3-pointers, scored 27 points, breaking Becky Reichard’s scoring record and leading her team to a 86-67 win over Northwest Missouri.
“I’ve played a lot of basketball, and I’ve never played with someone that scores like she can,” ESU guard Andrea Leiker said after Stueve broke the record.
Stueve received the game ball that night and was congratulated at mid-court by fans and teammates after breaking the record.
“I feel really honored to get it,” Stueve said. “There’s a lot of circumstances and a lot of things that have happened to put me in that situation, and I feel very fortunate. It’s kind of overwhelming.”
Stueve would go on to become Emporia State’s all-time leading scorer, finishing with 2,403 points. She’s 11th in NCAA Division II history and the only player in MIAA ever to score 2,200 points with 1,000 rebounds.
“Anybody that knows Michelle — that’s coaches, that’s teammates — any honor that comes her way, they’d say she deserves it,” ESU coach Brandon Schneider said. “Anybody that knows her knows her work ethic, not only in practice every day, but on her own in time that is not required. That’s what makes her special.”
2. The Cell Phone Game
It’s a shot that Andrew Davison is never going to forget. A game-winning half court heave to beat Northwest Missouri at home set off a euphoric celebration.
But minutes later, the greatest shot of Davison’s career was waved off by referee Tom Svehla. Svehla reviewed the video and illegally used a cell phone timer to determine Davison’s shot left his hand a tenth of a second too late. Since the red light on the basket could not be seen in the video, Svehla should have listened for the buzzer, which could be heard after the shot left Davison’s hand.
Emporia State would go on to lose 91-83 in overtime, but the controversy would not end there.
Svehla was suspended and Emporia State went on to appeal to the MIAA and NCAA that the ruling should be reversed, but while it was acknowledged that the shot should have counted, the Hornets were never credited with the win.
The Hornets were dejected after the loss, and they lost five straight. They never really recovered until the MIAA tournament, when they made a Cinderella run to the championship game as an eighth seed — only to lose again to Northwest Missouri.
“I don’t know if it was just because of that, but I think it started it,” Davison said earlier this month when asked about the ruling. “It’s crazy to think about what could have happened last year if maybe this didn’t happen.”
1. Clint Bowyer wins Nationwide title
For the second straight year, Emporia’s rising NASCAR star takes The Gazette’s top sports story honor.
A year after winning his first Nextel Cup race and finishing third in the Chase for the Championship, Clint Bowyer scored the first NASCAR circuit victory of his career by holding off rival Carl Edwards in the final Nationwide race of the season, the Ford 300 in Homestead, Fla.
After watching his lead dwindle in the final weeks of the Nationwide season, Bowyer needed to finish eighth or better at Homestead to hold off Edwards, and did so, clocking a fifth-place run that successfully offset Edwards’ victory in the race. Bowyer’s 21-point margin of victory was the fourth-smallest in the history of the Nationwide circuit.
Edwards had wrecked Bowyer’s car twice during the season and had cost the Emporia native, by Bowyer’s estimation, around 170 points. So there was extra satisfaction for Bowyer in edging Edwards for the title.
“To be able to beat Carl for the championship, it was cool,” he said. “Anytime you can beat an organization like Roush and a driver like Carl Edwards for a championship, you’ve earned it and you’ve worked hard. So, really cool to be able to beat those guys and be such a great team. It just shows you how strong we were all season long, and how great our team was.”
Bowyer won just one of the 35 Nationwide races but drove to the crown with consistency, finishing in the top 10 a total of 29 times. The day after capturing the Nationwide title, he wrapped up another successful season in the top NASCAR circuit, securing a fifth-place finish in the Sprint Cup series with a fifth-place run in the Ford 400.
Bowyer’s driving success continues to give Emporia its most prominent national sports exposure, and next season, he’ll try to continue his climb with new sponsor General Mills.
“We need to go and get General Mills their first win,” Bowyer said after the final races of the season. “That’s the first and foremost goal right out of the box. But aside from that, it’s making The Chase and having the chance to win another championship. That’s the goal from day one, and that’s what you’ve gotta head out to do.”
outdoorsman25 (anonymous) says...
Just wondering how blind middle schooler Charlie Wilks is not the top story of 2008? Not knocking on anyone elses top story but really?
December 31, 2008 at 1:30 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
admireed (anonymous) says...
Lefler winning her umteenth state field title did not make top ten. Hard to pick ten when so many good sports things happen in the area
December 31, 2008 at 4:45 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )