Moments of the Year: Each of the 60 Wichita-area high schools’ greatest achievements

Every year, each Kansas high school has at least one moment of brilliance.

Here is a look back at those moments for each of the 60 schools in the greater Wichita area from the 2019-20 school year.

Andale: Football returns to championship glory

Andale didn’t allow even 100 points in the 2019 football season. Through 13 games, the Indians gave up 7.31 points per game. Andale beat Perry-Lecompton 35-7 to win its first state championship since 2014. The 2006 title-winning Indians were considered to be the best defense in school history. That team beat Paola by the same score in the title game but allowed 7.36 points per night.

Andover: Greatest hoops team in city history?

Andover didn’t lost a game in the 2019-20 season. The Trojans beat Blue Valley Southwest 60-59 in the Class 5A quarterfinals to go 23-0 before the tournament was called off. They needed to beat Kapaun in the semifinals to reach their first title game in school history.

Andover Central: ‘Rome at the buzzer

Although senior guard Xavier Bell was regarded as the unquestioned top player on the team, he didn’t take the final shot at undefeated Bishop Carroll in Andover Central’s sub-state championship game. The Jaguars needed a bucket to win and got it from senior Jerome Washington to beat 21-0 Carroll 61-59 and go back to state.

Arkansas City: Bulldogs football does it again

Last season, Ark City’s 2-6 football team entered the playoffs and shocked Kansas with a regional championship. The Bulldogs did it again in 2019. After another 2-6 regular season, they beat rival Winfield 13-3 to capture a second straight regional.

Augusta: No fluke on the court

For the first time since 2002-03, Augusta reached back-to-back state tournaments. In 2019, the Orioles reached the Class 4A state title game, and they had a chance again in 2020 after beating Ottawa 53-41 in the quarterfinal round. In the semifinals, Augusta was set to face Cinderella Rose Hill, a team the Orioles beat in the regular season.

Belle Plaine: Volleyball returns to state

The Dragons beat Hillsboro 26-24, 23-25, 25-20 in its Class 2A sub-state title match. At state, Belle Plaine dropped its first two matches but beat Jefferson County North 25-20, 25-20 in its third match.

Berean Academy: Warriors near cross country sweep

Berean was two points away from completing a sweep of the Class 1A boys and girls cross country championships. The boys won, holding off Axtell behind the efforts of freshman Andrew Janzen, sophomore Eli Nord, junior Gavin Tucker and others.

Bishop Carroll: 20-0 and a first City League title

The Eagles went 20-0 in the regular season. They won their midseason tournament in McPherson, their AVCTL/GWAL Challenge against Andover Central and most importantly claimed the first City League championship in school history.

Bluestem: Senior night special for basketball

The Lions didn’t have much to shout about in 2019-20, but in Bluestem’s final team sport victory of the school year, its boys and girls basketball teams swept Neodesha. The boys won 74-53 and the girls earned a 46-40 victory on senior night.

Buhler: Cross country history, and lots of it

Buhler entered the school year with one cross country title — boys or girls — in school history. The Crusaders left it with three as the boys beat Wamego behind the leadership of sophomore Tanner Lindahl. The girls crushed Baldwin as senior Emma Willison led the way for the Crusaders.

Burrton: 1 of 2 wins comes on senior night

Burrton is looking to find its footing in high school athletics, but its bright spot came on senior night for boys basketball as the Chargers beat Cunningham 44-42 for one of their two wins of the season.

Campus: Undefeated in highest classification

The Colts were perfect through the regular season, winning the AVCTL I title. They beat rival Derby in their sub-state championship and Manhattan 66-50 in their Class 6A quarterfinal to go 23-0. Campus would have played Blue Valley North in the semifinals for the right to go to its first title game since 1988.

Central Christian: The best football season yet

Hutchinson Central Christian had never reached a state semifinal before. Beating Thunder Ridge 64-60 in the sectional round, the Cougars made school history. They lost to eventual champion Osborne in the semifinals.

Cheney: First football semifinal for Cardinals

Cheney probably wasn’t considered the favorite to go to Scott City and reach its first state football semifinal in school history, but the Cardinals came back with a 38-7 victory. Cheney finshed the season 9-3 after going 2-7 in 2018.

Circle: Volleyball plays into Day 2 at state

The Thunderbirds reached the Class 4A semifinals for the first time in about a decade after beating Eudora and Independence; they finished third, beating Louisburg 18-25, 25-21, 26-24 in the third-place match.

Classical: Chan strikes lightning ... twice

Nathan Chan earned All-Metro honors last year; he was the first Classical athlete to do so. He did again in 2020 after finishing runner-up in the 200-yard individual medley and 100-yard breaststroke.

Clearwater: Indians stun 7-1 Hesston in playoffs

Clearwater hadn’t won a playoff game in five years before beating one of the best teams in Class 3A. The Indians topped Hesston, which was 7-1 at the time, 35-28 in the first round of the postseason. Clearwater finished 7-3.

Collegiate: Dick leads Spartans to semifinals

Collegiate returned to boys basketball glory in 2020. The Spartans beat Colby 58-46 to reach their first Class 3A semifinal since 2017. After the season, sophomore Gradey Dick was named the Gatorade Player of the Year in Kansas.

Conway Springs: Girls tennis finishes third

Conway Springs earned 27 team points to earn a third-place finish at the Class 3-2-1A girls tennis state tournament. The Cardinals held off Sterling for the honor of bringing home a trophy.

Derby: Back-to-back undefeated seasons

Derby hasn’t lost a football game since 2017. The Panthers set a Class 6A state record for points in a title game as they beat Olathe North 63-26 to secure back-to-back undefeated seasons.

Douglass: Sholander stars at 1st girls tournament

A regional semifinalist and state qualifier, freshman Payton Sholander was one of the best female wrestlers to come out of a small school in the sport’s inaugural season.

East: Boys soccer gets back to state

At 15-1-0 through the regular season, East was always a favorite to make it to state. The Aces beat Manhattan 2-1 in their regional final and Lawrence Free State in the quarterfinals to reach the final four, where they lost to Blue Valley West 3-2 on penalty kicks.

Eisenhower: A first for Ike boys soccer

Eisenhower’s boys soccer team has been building for years, and it hit another high point in 2019. The Tigers reached the final four after beating Great Bend in overtime in their regional final and McPherson 7-0 in the quarterfinals. They finished in third in Class 5A at 19-1-1.

El Dorado: Beating the best on Senior Night

Scheduling Rose Hill and Circle for Senior Night volleyball was a tough ask, but El Dorado came out the victor with 30-28, 25-12 and 25-16, 12-25, 25-11 wins. Rose Hill won state titles in 2016 and 2017, and Circle finished in third at state.

Flinthills: Volleyball captures league title

Flinthills’ lone South Central Border League title came in volleyball. The Mustangs finished the season 31-5 with a loss in the regional semifinals to Southern Coffey County.

Garden Plain: Owls pull sweep in state quarters

The Owls’ girls basketball team was going for its third straight Class 2A state championship in 2020. They were expected to reach the semifinals, and did with a 54-48 win over Sterling, but the boys’ 50-47 victory against Hoxie made it a sweep in the 2A quarterfinals.

Goddard: 6th straight wrestling championship

The streak keeps growing. Arkansas City won 11 straight wrestling championships, but Goddard is closing in with six in a row after holding off Blue Valley Southwest. The Lions had three state champions: Jason Henschel, Jerrdon Fisher and Trevor Dopps.

Halstead: Girls hoops team wins 1st state game

Halstead had never been to a girls basketball state tournament, but after winning its sub-state game, the Dragons made the most of it. They beat Scott City 45-42 in double overtime in what turned out to be the final game of the state tournaments across all classifications.

Haven: Boys avenge girls with sub-state title

The Haven boys were supposed to be good, but the girls were meant to be great. After the girls were knocked out of state tournament contention, the Wildcats boys team earned the No. 1 seed at state with a 55-46 win over one-loss Hesston.

Heights: 4 of Falcons’ starting 5 earn D-I offers

The 2019-20 Heights girls basketball team will go down as one of the most talented in Wichita history. Senior Taylor Jameson, who signed with George Mason, junior Laniah Randle and sophomores Zyanna Walker and Cayanna Stanley all earned Division I offers. The Falcons reached the Class 6A state tournament but fell 49-48 to Olathe East in the quarterfinals.

Hesston: Football gets off to 7-1 start

Few believed Hesston’s 2019 season would be one to remember. Instead, the Swathers started 4-0, dropped a game to rival Halstead and finished the regular season with three more wins to go 7-1 heading into the postseason.

Hutchinson: DelValle goes runner-up at state

Going 35-7, Izaiah DelValle was poised for a title run at state wrestling, and it carried him all the way to the championship match. DelValle lost to Dodge City’s Luke Barker 3-2 in the 152-pound match. He beat Barker at Hutchinson’s Class 6A regional a week earlier.

Hutchinson Trinity: OT hoops thriller vs. Inman

With only three home games left for the Hutch Trinity seniors, they made the most of their last shot against Inman. The Celtics won 46-43 in overtime on their way to a 13-7 regular season.

Independent: Defying odds with team swim title

With only six state qualifying swimmers, Independent needed to be almost perfect. The Panthers won their first boys swim state title in 2020, scoring a remarkable 273 team points. Independent became the smallest school to win a swim team title, boys or girls.

Inman: Improbably regional football championship

Inman had to drive more than four hours west to play a tough game. Elkhart entered 7-1, Inman 5-4. The Teutons returned home with a 43-13 victory and Class 1A regional championship.

Kapaun Mt. Carmel: Crusaders go 1-2 and take title

Kapaun won its first team title since 2011 this past season, and its headliners played each other in the Class 5A singles final. Junior Clara Whitaker beat sophomore Reagan Boleski 6-0, 6-0 for her third straight singles title. The Crusaders held off Salina South 32-29.

Kingman: Pearce reaches state singles semis

Only a junior, Hannah Pearce has another crack at a state championship after finishing fourth in Class 3-2-1A. She lost 6-0, 6-1 to KC Christian’s Lilly McNeill in the semifinals and went 20-7.

Maize: Back-to-back football semifinals

These are the glory days of Maize football, at least for now. The Eagles (10-2) reached their second straight Class 5A state semifinal in 2019, beating rival Maize South 28-0 in the quarterfinals. Over the past two seasons, Maize’s only losses have come against Wichita Northwest and Derby.

Maize South: Mavs somehow return to soccer final

Maize South had countless injuries and almost lost perhaps its best player to a seizure on the pitch. The Mavericks still managed to return to the Class 5A boys soccer state championship game for a second straight year with postseason wins over Newton, Kapaun, Andover Central and Shawnee Heights.

McPherson: Boys swimmers shock as runners-up

The 22-1 girls basketball semifinal team could have earned this honor, but the boys swim team’s runner-up finish was pretty amazing. The Bullpups won the AVCTL III-IV title and had three state championship swimmers, plus three others who finished in second.

Moundridge: A win over the defending state champs

Central Plains lost a lot from its 2018 8-Man Division I state-championship team, but Moundridge thumped the defending champs 56-8 for the Wildcats’ final win of the season in the seniors’ final home game.

Mulvane: Schanz is runner-up ... as a freshman

As a freshman, Kammie Schanz did something only two other girls in the Wichita area could: She reached a state championship match. Schanz went 30-3 this season before losing a 3-2 decision to Pratt’s Livia Swift. She earned All-Metro honors.

Newton: Treaster brothers reach wrestling finals

The third Treaster brother will be a force at Newton. Freshman 106-pounder Nick Treaster won his first state championship, beating Maize’s Nakaylen Shabazz 3-0. He shared in the final-match experience with his senior brother, Grant, who was going for his third title.

Nickerson: Moore caps illustrious career with title

Nichole Moore is potential future Olympian, but because girls wrestling didn’t exist as a KSHSAA sport before 2020, she didn’t have an official state championship. Her pin of Paola’s Kailyn Younger in the 116-pound title match earned her that honor in her final high school match.

North: Redskins win first girls wrestling crown

Wichita North hadn’t won a City League championship in any sport since 2013, but with its girls wrestling league title — the first of its kind — North made history. The Redskins had three individual league champions and a pair of All-Metro selections in Daileen French at 109 pounds, Rodah Benji at 123.

Northwest: Grizzlies return to Pittsburg

For the second straight year, Wichita Northwest went undefeated through 12 football games and reached the Class 5A state chamionship game in Pittsburg. This year, the Grizzlies met Mill Valley and lost 40-31. But Northwest was crowned City League champion and beat teams like Maize and Bishop Carroll in the postseason.

Norwich: Girls basketball gets to state

Norwich entered the postseason 16-3 behind the help of a lot of underclassmen. The Eagles beat Argonia 35-25 in their Class 1A regional final and topped Hutchinson Central Christian 50-41 in their sub-state matchup to reach state, where they lost 59-43 to Olpe in the quarterfinals.

Oxford: Sending seniors out with a win

Two seasons ago, Oxford lost to Udall 48-0. A year later, the Wildcats beat their rival for the first time since 2016, 46-20 on senior night.

Remington: Girls cross country wins regional title

Remington ran away with its only regional championship of the school year. The girls cross country team beat Ellsworth and the field by 15 points in Class 2A. Audrey Van Zelfden, Lucy Brown and Alli Willour finished in the top 10.

Rose Hill: Upsetting the No. 1 team at state

Rose Hill’s boys basketball team had been to state just once since 2006 heading into the season. But the Rockets beat Clearwater 52-49 in overtime to qualify for the Class 4A tournament and topped No. 1 and once-beaten Parsons 61-57 in the quarterfinals. It was their first state win in 14 years.

Salina Central: Boys bowlers bag a trophy

Salina Central had only one bowler crack the top 10 at the Mustangs’ Class 5-1A regional just a week before they brought home a state championship. Preston Miller, Chase Young and Keegan Gebhardt were all state placers as Central beat rival Salina South by 60 pins.

Salina South: Bowlers nearly complete a sweep

If not for 60 pins on the boys side, Salina South would have come home with a sweep at state bowling. The Cougars’ girls team beat Eisenhower by 47 pins as Aviana Ordonez finished runner-up and Mckenzie Billings and Nina Frees also earned state medals.

Sedgwick: Cardinals win league, regional crowns

After a weather delay forced a pause to their league championship football game, Sedgwick came back a day later to earn a 31-13 win over Ell-Saline. The Heart of American champions finished the season 10-1 with a regional championship and 21-10 quarterfinal loss to eventual runner-up Smith Center.

South: Karibo earns long-awaited championship

Malachi Karibo’s persona was one of the most admirable in City League history; everyone seemed to respect him and admire his work ethic. That paid off in 2020 with a state wrestling championship as he beat Mill Valley’s Brodie Scott 5-0 in the 170-pound final.

Southeast: Boys hoops goes 13-2 to finish season

Southeast, which finished in third in Class 6A the season before, sat 1-4 through five games this year. Instead of buckling, the defending City League champions won their midseason tournament at Valley Center and finished the season on a 13-1 run before falling in the sub-state championship game.

Trinity Academy: Knights reach boys soccer final

Trinity entered the Class 4-1A state championship game with a losing record — perhaps the most jarring fact of the 2019-20 school year. The Knights played 6A and 5A competition throughout the regular season, which sharpened them for the postseason. But they lost 3-1 to Bishop Miege in the state final.

Valley Center: Senior Night buzzer-beater

Valley Center had one home win in the past month leading up to Senior Night against Arkansas City. The Hornets won 54-51 on a buzzer-beating three-pointer from senior Mason Burns. It was his final shot at his high school gym, and the Hornets went on to reach a Class 5A sub-state championship game.

Wellington: Crusaders capture doubles title

Kylie Aufdengarten and Rylie Rusk were on the ropes after the first set but battled back in the Class 4A doubles final. They beat Collegiate’s Sallie Lair and Lily Conrad 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 to avenge their regional championship loss a week earlier.

West: Saunders goes unbeaten as a sophomore

Through two high school wrestling seasons, Quentin Saunders has lost just one match. He went 32-0 as a sophomore in 2020, winning his second state championship. He beat Derby’s Triston Wills 5-0 in the 182-pound title bout.

Winfield: Girls golf wins a state trophy

A week after crushing the Class 4A regional field by 36 strokes as a team, Winfield came home with a state trophy after finishing third. The Vikings were two strokes away over two days from finishing runners-up to Buhler. Junior Elly Bertholf finished sixth as an individual.

Hayden Barber

The Wichita Eagle

316-269-6760

Wichita Eagle preps reporter Hayden Barber brings the area updates on all high school sports while adding those hard-to-find human-interest stories on Wichita’s student-athletes.