AVCTL IV Moments of the Year: How these Wichita-area high schools inspired communities
.png "Andale track and field (top left), Mulvane’s Hunter Dye (top right), Rose Hill’s Emily Adler (bottom left) and Collegiate’s Max Wheeler (bottom right)")
Teams in AVCTL IV were made for the big spark during the 2018-19 school year.
Headline-grabbing feats and amazing stretches of play and competition made for some of the top moments from the league.
And here they are.
City League Moments of the Year
Andale does it again with track double
For the second time in three years, Andale is king and queen of Kansas high school track.
The Indians swept the Class 4A state meet with a pair of state championships, repeating what they did in 2017. Andale pulled in four individual state championships, five runners-up and 10 other top four finishes.
The girls program dominated the state meet from the beginning with champions Katelyn Fairchild (javelin), Jacy Anderson (discus) and Jaden Eck (pole vault). The boys needed to make a third-day comeback on Kansas City Piper thanks in part to pole vault champion Ty McPhail.
Coach Tyler Ryan was named the girls All-Metro Coach of the Year taking over for Wichita area track coaching legend Greg Smarsh. Both of Andale’s Athletes of the Year competed in track and field.
Clearwater star cleans house to state wrestling title
Clearwater had one moment atop the Kansas sports world in the 2018-19 school year, and Darryl Rylant provided it.
Competing in the Class 4A 145-pound bracket, Clearwater’s Male Athlete of the Year bruised and nearly cruised to his second state wrestling championship in his high school career. In the title bout, he beat Frontenac senior Mason Jameson by a 4-1 decision. No other match in Rylant’s path was decided by decision.
Rylant finished his senior year with a 46-1 record. He placed in the top three each of his high school years and could go down as the greatest wrestler in Clearwater history.
Collegiate gets crown back with tennis championship
Coming into the 2019 boys tennis season, one of the biggest questions around the Collegiate team was in regard to 2018.
Last year, the Spartans fell short of a state championship with questions of why and how after having the individual state champion and third-place doubles team. This season, the Spartans’ depth kicked in as they got back to the top of boys tennis with their 23rd title.
Collegiate was headlined with doubles champions senior Max Wheeler (Collegiate’s Male Athlete of the Year) and sophomore Luke Swan and bolstered with singles players sophomore Grant Ramsey and Charlie Dunne along with the No. 2 doubles team of seniors Mike Feng and Josh Fernandez.
Mulvane captures magic in baseball postseason
Mulvane baseball’s run to the Class 4A state semifinals kept coming back to one question.
“How?”
The Wildcats captured a bit of magic starting in the first round of the postseason, beating AVCTL IV rival Andale/Garden Plain in the regional semifinal. Mulvane entered as the No. 13 seed in Class 4A West and went on to beat Clay Center to get to state.
Mulvane doubled down at state, beating Trinity Academy, one of Wichita’s top teams, in the state quarterfinals before falling to eventual champion Nickerson on a walkoff.
Rose Hill streaks to softball semifinals
Rose Hill was 4-4 and facing an uphill climb if it wanted to get to state.
After 12 straight wins, the Rockets were two wins away from capturing their first state championship since 1993. Rose Hill put together one of the most outstanding runs in Kansas softball, ending in the state semifinals to AVCTL IV rival Andale/Garden Plain with a 3-1 loss.
During the regular season, the Rockets lost to the Indians 19-6 over two games. The 3-1 loss showed just how much improvement they made. They did it all without a first or second team All-State selection, but senior Emily Adler was named Rose Hill’s Female Athlete of the Year.
Wellington wills to regional football championship
Two years ago, Wellington didn’t win a game. Fast forward to 2019, the Crusaders were one of the final eight teams in Class 4A.
Wellington beat Buhler 14-7 to capture its first regional football title in recent history and finished its season 8-3 with a 28-14 home loss to eventual 4A runner-up Goddard in the state sectionals.
Under coach Zane Aguilar, Wellington has turned into one of the worst teams in the Wichita area to one of its best. Grey Hatfield, Braden Struble, Isaac Hilt and De’Andre Washington (Wellington’s Male Athlete of the Year) were all named to the Class 4A second team All-State.
This story was originally published July 5, 2019 at 3:31 PM.