SAVANNAH — On paper, even though they’ve been in a slump of late, the Chillicothe High School basketball Hornets were expected to have more than enough to handle a Savannah Savages squad that possessed only two wins in 18 outings when they met in Midland Empire Conference play last Friday.
TINA — Championship games which were similar in the macro sense, yet quite different at the micro scale, marked the conclusion of the 2023 Carroll-Livingston Activity Association high school basketball tournament at Tina-Avalon School last Saturday. With the top two seeds in each division squaring off – including the regular-season boys’ co-champions going at it, Braymer’s regular-season champion girls out-scored foul-hampered Higbee 21-16 in the last quarter to squeeze out a 47-43 triumph in the first of the two title games.
WENTZVILLE — Although her two teammates and classmates fell tantalizingly short by one step, Chillicothe High School Lady Hornets sophomore Yoo Jung Lee made an indelible mark on the 5-years-old CHS girls’ wrestling program’s history last Saturday when she earned second place in the Class 1 District 2 tournament and thereby qualified for next week’s state tournament. By winning each of her first two bouts in the 120-pounds weight division in commanding fashion – one by fall and the other by 13-0 major decision, Lee completed her journey to state competition and CHS history, becoming the first-ever Lady Hornet to advance to the state tourney.
TINA — A brief weather/ postponement threat sidestepped a week ago today, the 2023 Carroll- Livingston Activity Association Tournament produced a couple of overtime games along its 7-days journey, but, by and large, followed anticipation. Looking back at how – with the exception of the championship contests (see story on page B1) the tourney played out, in reverse chronological order: THIRD-PLACE GAMES As anticipated, Mendon: Northwestern’s boys grabbed the trophy in their division Saturday, while host Tina-Avalon, which likely would have been seeded third or higher had it not lost since-returned senior guard Regan Crowe to injury for most of January, won Friday’s game.
Led by a pair of highly-state-ranked veterans in the heavier weights and with several lighter hopefuls, Chillicothe High School’s wrestling Hornets roll down to Excelsior Springs this Friday and Saturday in quest of advancing to next Wednesday’s and Thursday’s Class 2 state tournament at Columbia. CHS head coach Chad Smith, himself essentially fully immersed in his post again after a heart attack during the season-opening tournament and subsequent quadruple-bypass surgery the following week, won’t quite have a full 14men lineup to put on the district-tourney mats, but it won’t miss by much.
In a game postponed in mid-December, due to illnesses among Macon’s coaching staff, the MHS Tigerettes came down with severe case of the offensive chills about four minutes into the visit to Chillicothe for the make-up game last Wednesday. By the time the medicine their coaching staff administered, the game was beyond recovery.
Closing in on a statistical state record with, effectively, one hurdle to clear to “run the table” during their 202223 regular season, the Meadville High School basketball Lady Eagles hosted Class 2 stateranked Schuyler County Monday at the beginning of the closing week of the regular campaign, while also looking ahead to hosting the Class 1 District 12 tournament next week as the postseason commences. Last week, the MHS girls advanced to 24-0 with a showdown, 4943 road victory over the top-ranked (by the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association) Class 2 team in the state, previously- undefeated St.
with Wehrle State Record Fish Caught Missouri fishing got off to a great start on Jan. 15 when Travis Uebinger of Auxvasse reeled in a whopper blue sucker from the Osage River that was subsequently certified as a new state record for that species.
With a chance to solidify their spot in the chase for this season’s Midland Empire Conference championship, the Chillicothe High School basketball Hornets battled back and forth from the start into the middle of the fourth quarter with the visiting St. Joseph: Benton Cardinals in front of a jam-packed CHS gym last Friday.
Recently I sat down with Boys Basketball Player Griff Bonderer and Girls Basketball Player Jessica Reeter. Both are decorated athletes here at CHS. I asked them both about their younger days in the sport as well as their respective journeys. Jessica and Griff both recently hit 1,000 points in their high school careers. This is a huge accomplishment for both of them, and a historic one as well. There have only been ten boys in the team’s (not including Griff) history to reach 1,000 points; for the girls, Jessica marks the 11th girl to score 1,000 points for the Lady Hornets.