Photo by Carly Pearson
Top Sports Stories of 2007: Nos. 5-1
It’s simple, really.
When a local story makes national headlines, there’s generally not a whole lot of drama that goes into naming the top local sports story of the year. So when Emporia native Clint Bowyer won his first race on the Nextel Cup circuit, the truth is it was going to be tough for any other story to beat it for Story of the Year honors.
But then, of course, whenever a Emporia State victory over Washburn happens — no matter the sport — it’s always going to be big news in Emporia.
Add in a pair of State titles by the Emporia High cross country team and a season-defining victory from the Spartan football team, and picking this year’s top local sports story suddenly became not as clear-cut.
Still, while the next five stories all captivated Emporia when they happened, only one could be named the Story of the Year for 2007.
5. Emporia State volleyball sweeps No. 4 Washburn
Arica Shepard said with such a big crowd in White Auditorium, the Emporia State volleyball players wanted to put on a show.
They ended up doing just that against their biggest rivals.
The Hornets dominated No. 4 Washburn in a 30-28, 34-32, 34-32 sweep on Oct. 30.
ESU’s signature win of 2007 came in front of a raucous crowd of 1,024, which was a new school record. It also gave the Lady Blues just their second loss of the season, ending WU’s 27-match win streak.
Shepard, whose sister is on the Washburn volleyball roster, had 21 kills, while Megan Koster had 18.
ESU’s win also was made more significant considering all that was going on with coach Bing Xu.
The night before, Xu had been in the hospital while his wife — assistant coach Ping Wang — delivered the couple’s second child, Jade.
The next day, with a hospital bracelet still on his wrist, he watched his team pull off one of the biggest wins in team history.
A team trainer called Wang in the hospital with updates during the match.
Xu said he talked to his wife after the victory. She was so happy that she was crying.
4. ESU women’s basketball beats Washburn in nationally televised game
The hype was there from the outset.
For months, the Emporia State-Washburn matchup was being circled on calendars, as CSTV’s cameras were coming to White Auditorium to broadcast the game to a national audience.
The game turned out to be all ESU fans could have asked for.
The Lady Hornets rallied from a 16-point second-half deficit, coming back to defeat No. 3 Washburn 74-67 on Feb. 17.
The victory also halted ESU’s two-game losing streak.
ESU showed jitters from the outset, as Michelle Stueve had no first-half points and Washburn made seven of its first 13 3-pointers as the Lady Blues went ahead, 40-24, with 19 minutes left.
Stueve would bring her team back.
Helped on by a crowd of 4,642 that seemed determined to not let ESU lose, Stueve scored 11 straight points during one stretch, cutting the Washburn lead to 45-42.
Andrea Leiker’s three-point play gave ESU a 68-67 advantage with 4:58 left, and Cassondra Boston iced it with a 3-pointer with 1:33 left to give ESU a four-point cushion.
Boston had 20 points to lead ESU, while Stueve had 18 — all coming in the second half.
The attendance was the third-largest in school history.
“Our fans, I think, are the best in the country,” ESU coach Brandon Schneider said. “They’re phenomenal. When there’s a big-time game, they show up.”
3. Emporia High boys cross country team, Michaela Reynolds win State titles
Heading into the Class 5A State meet in Lawrence on Oct. 27, no team from the state of Kansas had beaten the Emporia High boys cross country team.
The Spartans weren’t about to let it happen in the last and biggest meet of the year.
The top-ranked Emporia High boys performed just as they had all season long, dominating the Class 5A meet by placing all five scorers in the top 25 to win the team title by 22 points over defending champion St. Thomas Aquinas.
After four straight runner-up finishes at the State meet, the Emporia High boys finally won the program’s fifth State title.
“We’d been talking about this since this time last year, right after we got out of the chute at the finish,” senior Jacob Davies said. “It’s a big thing. It feels great that all of our hard work paid off.”
Davies led the Spartans with a second-place finish, followed by Asher Delmott in fifth, Lance Sadler in 17th, Mike Robinson in 21st and Tyler Anliker in 25th.
In a feel-good story, EHS senior Michaela Reynolds won the girls individual title after a injury-filled junior season kept her from defending the State title she won as a sophomore.
Reynolds, who dominated the 4-kilometer race from the half-mile point on, finished more than a minute ahead of the second-place finisher, St. Thomas Aquinas’ Ashley Washburn.
“It feels so good,” Reynolds said after the race. “I’ve been really patient and have had to wait a long time to finally get back to this point, but I’m really excited now that I have. I’m really happy.”
2. Emporia High football beats Junction City, qualifies for State
No one — not the fans in the stands, not the opposing team, not the people in the press box — believed the Emporia High football team could pull this one off.
No one except the Emporia High players and coaches.
Few gave the Emporia High football team any chance of going on the road and defeating unbeaten and third-ranked Junction City in the final game of District play, and when the Spartans fell behind 33-15 in the third quarter, the naysayers appeared to be correct.
No one could have seen what happened next.
Emporia High scored three unanswered touchdowns — two by running back Edd Noonan and one on a blocked punt by Mark Kolmer that Harrison Stone returned for a score — to come from behind to defeat Junction City, 34-33, and earn a trip to the Class 6A State playoffs, the school’s first playoff appearance since 2002.
“I’m just speechless. I can’t believe we won,” EHS coach Bill Lowe said afterward. “I can’t describe the feeling. I’m just so proud of our kids for their effort. They never quit.”
Noonan was the Spartans’ workhorse against the Blue Jays, rushing a whopping 43 times for 206 yards and two TDs while playing every snap on defense at linebacker and on special teams. For his efforts, Noonan was voted as the U.S. Army Iron Man of the Week.
“I’m tired,” he said following the game, “but it’s well worth it.”
Unfortunately for the Spartans, Noonan was injured in the second quarter of Emporia’s first-round State playoff game against Wichita Southeast, and Emporia could never recover, losing 42-34.
1. Clint Bowyer wins 1st Nextel Cup race, finishes 3rd in Cup standings
Clint Bowyer and Athena Barber arrive for the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series auto racing awards ceremony in New York, Friday, Nov. 30, 2007.
Lucky for Clint Bowyer and his fans, the lasting image from his 2007 season will not be of him sliding across the finish line on his hood — sparks flying all around — at arguably NASCAR’s biggest race, the Daytona 500.
No, the Emporia native saved his best for last.
After running consistently enough all season long to squeeze his way into NASCAR’s Chase for the Nextel Cup — despite many considering him not worthy of a Chase position because he had never won a Nextel Cup race — Bowyer silenced all his critics and elated his fans in Emporia and across the nation with a dominating victory at the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sept. 16.
In the first race of the Chase, Bowyer led 222 of 300 laps to defeat Jeff Gordon by 6 seconds. In his two years on the Nextel Cup circuit, Bowyer had led just 196 laps total.
“I’m so happy — to finally achieve everything you’ve worked your whole life for,” Bowyer said after his victory. “To come into victory lane after racing against the best of the best in the lead division in all of motorsports is something pretty special.”
The victory catapulted Bowyer up the Nextel Cup standings. He entered the 12-driver Chase in 12th place and was the only driver in the Chase without a victory. After his breakthrough win, Bowyer rocketed himself to third in the standings.
“Making the Chase, it’s a very prestigious thing to be a part of, but we really didn’t think our season would be complete without winning a race,” Bowyer said. “We’ve done that, and it’s so cool to be able to win and beat the best of the best — the best drivers in the world.”
After his win, Bowyer became the talk of the NASCAR world. The New York Times did a feature on him. His face regularly appeared in the pages of Sports Illustrated.
Everyone in NASCAR knew the former dirt-track racer from small-town Kansas, and the driver considered to be the “forgotten one” on the Nextel Cup circuit was now the talk of the town.
Bowyer very nearly picked up the second victory of his career a few weeks later at the track where it would be most special to him — Kansas Speedway.
On a rain-soaked day, Greg Biffle was awarded the victory over Bowyer in a darkness-shortened race at Kansas Speedway despite the appearance that Biffle ran out of gas before he crossed the finish line while the race was under caution. Bowyer crossed the finish line in first after he and Jimmie Johnson passed Biffle, but NASCAR awarded the victory to Biffle despite calls that he was not able to maintain pace car speed.
Though Bowyer went the rest of the Chase without another victory, he still finished third in the standings behind the winner, Johnson, and Gordon, leaving many fans even more eager to see what he has in store for 2008.
Best of the Rest
• Emporia High football team beats Manhattan for the first time since 1999
• Emporia State baseball team wins the MIAA Tournament over Central Missouri
• Emporia High girls basketball team comes back from 15-point halftime deficit to beat Bishop Carroll in Sub-State
• Olpe girls cross country team wins Class 1A State title; Sharon Zeller takes individual championship
• Emporia High volleyball team qualifies for State Tournament
• Emporia High girls 4x400 team wins State title
• Jacob Davies wins 800-meter title at State
• Olpe boys basketball team comes back from 24-point deficit to defeat Madison
• Jonel Rossbach earns three All-America honors
• Emporia State softball team wins MIAA Championship, advances to NCAA Regional finals
• Emporia High wrestlers re-capture Centennial League title
• Both Emporia State men’s and women’s tennis teams reach NCAA Tournament
• Emporia High boys golf team places second at State
• Barry Muninger wins City Golf Championship on one-hole playoff
• Emporia State baseball coach Bob Fornelli turns down Central Missouri head coaching job
• Emporia State’s Megan Davison breaks MIAA home run record
• Emporia disc goflers Jake Newell and Eric McCabe finish well in national competitions
• Emporia High soccer team begins season 6-0 en route to breakout year
Comments
We allow registered users to post comments on this Web site. To learn more about our posting policies please read our User Poster Agreement Policy.
Posted by soccerguru (anonymous) on December 29, 2007 at 9:45 p.m. (Suggest removal)
ONCE AGAIN THE EHS SOCCER PROGRAM WAS LEFT OUT EVEN OUT OF THE BEST OF THE REST.
HMMMMMMM THIS THOSE NOT SOUND GOOD MAYBE IT IS TRUE WHAT PEOPLE SAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
TOO MANY NON-WHITES ON THE TEAM!!!!!!!!!!!! SHAME ON YOU
Posted by mashford (Michael Ashford) on December 29, 2007 at 11:16 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Soccerguru,
I will apologize for neglecting to mention the EHS soccer team as one of the top stories this year. The squad had an outstanding season that certainly merited mentioning. I have added their story to the end of the Best of the Rest.
What I will not do is allow you to insinuate that I left the EHS team out for racial reasons. Shame on you for turning this into a racial discussion instead of what it really was: an oversight.
If you have a problem with our coverage, I ask you to contact me personally. My office number is 342-4841 ext. 207.
Michael Ashford
Sports editor
Posted by gregorymed (anonymous) on December 30, 2007 at 9:44 a.m. (Suggest removal)
What about ESU football teams worst defeat in 40 years at Pitt State 62-0 with President Lane watching?????? Is there any fair reporting in the gazette....or only happy faces?????
Posted by mashford (Michael Ashford) on December 30, 2007 at 10:18 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Gregorymed:
Please see Friday's Gazette for Nos. 10-6. The ESU football season is outlined there.
Posted by emporialifer (anonymous) on December 30, 2007 at 4:12 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Congratulations to all the athletes. By the looks of this list, there is a lot to be proud of. The community appreciates the time and commitment you put into your performances. Thank you.
Posted by gregorymed (anonymous) on December 31, 2007 at 9:06 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Mr. Ashford,
Thank you for the reference but isn't the bigger story how the ESU football program went from the NCAA playoffs in 2003 to 4 straight losing seasons and a 40 year beat down to end this season? Could there possibly be a problem other than coaches that should be exposed??????
Posted by Hillbilly (anonymous) on December 31, 2007 at 9:55 a.m. (Suggest removal)
whine-whine-whine-
maybe you all need to go see a NASCAR race, be around good, old down to earth folks, who have fun, yea, they probably drink a little, may not be as educated as you may think that you are, may have a few more older cars than you, and probably, just my opinion, probably don't give a damn about soccer. might ever have a grease rag at home, or a little grease under their nails, and will probably be a Dale Jr. fan. So, come on guys and girls, stop whining about who wasn't talked about or whining if your kid really did get his bu$$ wiped in some soccer game or other sport and their name or team wasn't mentioned. Take them to a real sport this summer, left turn, left turn, left turn,, ain't it great!! Clint Bowyer, you have put Emporia Kansas on TV "EVERY" weekend, Thank you for being one of us down to earth ol' Kansas boys, and good luck, and keep it 'right side up' this year !!!!!
Posted by soccerguru (anonymous) on January 1, 2008 at 9:10 p.m. (Suggest removal)
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL MIDDLESCHOOL, EHS, ESU ATHLETES AND EMPORIA RESIDENTS THAT COMPETE PROFESSIONALLY FOR AN OUTSTANDING YEAR IN SPORTS IN 2007
ITS BASKETBALL SEASON NOW LETS SUPPORT THE TEAM
THE GAZETTE SHOULD PUBLISH THE SCHEDULES FOR ALL THE BASKETBALL TEAM THAT WAY WE KNOW WHEN ALL THE SCHOOLS ARE PLAYING
Posted by luv1another (anonymous) on January 3, 2008 at 2:49 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I find it amazing that one of our own Emporian's Linsdey Hollond, was nationally recognized for her rodeo feats; National High School Poles Champion, International High School Poles Champion, Kansas State High School Poles Champion, and Kansas High School All Around Cow-Girl and not mentioned in the article.Maybe Lindsey does not have the right last name to get mentioned in the achievements.
Post a comment
We allow registered users to post comments on this Web site. Our goal with this feature is to encourage thoughtful discussions about the news stories. Using the comment feature to make random attacks on people is not acceptable. Emporiagazette.com neither endorses nor guarantees the accuracy of any user contribution. Responsibility for what is posted or contributed to this site is the sole responsibility of each user. To learn more about our posting policies please read our User Poster Agreement Policy.
(Requires free registration.)