Fredonia High School’s football jamboree scheduled for next week is canceled.

The jamboree was scheduled for Friday, August 28^th in Baldwin but because of circumstances involving the Baldwin football field it has been canceled.

Fredonia’s Black and Gold Scrimmage remains scheduled for Thursday, August 27, at home. District officials say they continue to monitor the forecast because of the ongoing high temperatures. Any changes to the scrimmage schedule will be announced.

The Kansas Jayhawks women's soccer team suffered its first loss of the season Thursday night, falling to No. 19 Ohio State in a top-20 matchup. 

The Jayhawks are coming off a Sweet 16 appearance in last year's NCAA Tournament, and third-year head coach Nate Lie is looking to take the program even further in his third season. 

Kansas entered Thursday's match 2-0 and ranked 12th nationally before traveling to Columbus to take on the Buckeyes. 

Ohio State scored a late first-half goal that held up in a shutout victory over Kansas. Lie's teams have gone 19-7-2 on the road over the past three seasons, and he says depth will be an important factor as the season moves forward. 

Kansas will continue its trip through Ohio Sunday, traveling to Kent State to take on the Golden Flashes as the Jayhawks look to bounce back.

The Independence Bulldogs are nearing the end of their first full week of practice, with head coach Kendall Fiscus and his team scheduled for another session this Friday at 7. 

Fiscus is entering his fourth season as Independence's head coach after coming to the program from Phillipsburg, bringing plenty of experience to a Bulldogs team still searching for its first winning season under his direction. 

Fiscus says the Bulldogs have solid numbers heading into the season and will have their largest senior class since he took over the program. 

Along with that senior group, Fiscus says Independence has a versatile group of athletes capable of making an impact at multiple positions across the field. 

Size may not be the Bulldogs' biggest advantage, particularly up front, but Fiscus will look to that versatility and experience to help Independence overcome any deficiencies along the line. 

Caney Valley head coach Criss Davis is entering his fourth decade at the helm of the Bullpups, coming off a 2025 season that saw Caney Valley finish 9-2 with just one regular-season loss. 

Davis has consistently produced competitive teams throughout his tenure, with the Bullpups not recording a losing season since 2003. 

One of the biggest takeaways from Caney Valley's first week of practice was the number of athletes ready to compete for playing time. Davis says the Bullpups have plenty of players looking to contribute to an already deep roster. 

Caney Valley also returns a large portion of last year's team, with several players already familiar with Davis' system and expectations. Davis says that experience should benefit the Bullpups as they work toward another successful season. 

With plenty of returning talent, Caney Valley will look to replicate last year's success and make another trip to the playoffs as one of the area's top teams. 

The West Elk Patriots are already into their second week of practice, as head coach Ian Denton and his team continue adjusting to the heat while working toward full pads. 

Denton is entering his second season at the helm after taking over for longtime head coach Chris Haag, who led the Patriots for 25 years before hanging up his whistle following the 2024 season. 

West Elk will have just three seniors on its roster this season, and while the Patriots may not have as much size as they did a year ago, Denton says this year's group makes up for it with athleticism and experience.

The Patriots will be a younger team this season, but Denton is looking forward to seeing what his skill players can bring to the field, and says he believes several are ready to take the next step. 
 

West Elk will complete its second full week of practice Friday as the Patriots look to bounce back from a 2-and-7 season in 2025.

The Kansas Jayhawks are entering their third week of fall practice, with head coach Lance Leipold and his team preparing for their 2026 season opener against Long Island on September 4. 
 

Kansas will once again look to establish a strong ground game, with transfers Dylan Edwards, Yasin Willis and Jalen Dupree joining the backfield this season. 

Leipold says he's encouraged to see the group getting back to full health after injuries impacted the Jayhawks' running backs throughout the 2025 season. 

Edwards, Willis and Dupree arrive at Kansas from Colorado, Syracuse and Kansas State, respectively, giving the Jayhawks a variety of threats in the backfield. Leipold says each player brings something different to the group. 

Edwards and Willis were both named to the preseason Doak Walker Award watch list, putting two Kansas running backs among the players to watch as the college football season approaches.

The Sedan Blue Devils are wrapping up their fourth practice of the season, with head coach Mick Holt and his players turning to morning practices as they work to beat the summer heat. 

Holt brings more than three decades of high school coaching experience to the Blue Devils, with time spent coaching football, softball and basketball. This fall, his focus is on getting Sedan ready for another football season. 

Sedan finished 4-and-5 last year and won three of its final four regular-season games. Holt says his seniors will play an important role as the Blue Devils look to break through after several middle-of-the-pack seasons. 

Sedan has a long tradition of success, and Holt says he can see the hunger within his senior class as the Blue Devils look to avoid another first-round playoff exit. 
 

Sedan will also have a familiar rivalry to look forward to this season when the Blue Devils take on West Elk. Holt and Patriots head coach Ian Denton are both looking forward to the matchup later this fall.

The Coffeyville Community College Red Ravens enter the 2026 season ranked eighth in the NJCAA preseason national poll, with third-year head coach Nick Dobler looking to build on a successful first two seasons. 
 

Dobler is 16-and-6 during his time at Coffeyville, leading the Red Ravens to a share of the KJCCC title in his first season before finishing second in the conference last year. 

Coffeyville has seen some turnover on its coaching staff from year to year, but Dobler says his players have bought into the new faces joining the program. 
 

The Red Ravens will also face a significant test early in the season, with their first home game coming against defending NJCAA Division I champion Iowa Western. The Reivers defeated Hutchinson 28-10 in last year's national championship game, and Dobler says Coffeyville will need to be ready from the opening whistle. 

Before that matchup, Coffeyville will open the season on the road against Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College on August 29. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Labette County head coach Bradley Argabright and the Grizzlies are looking to build on an impressive 2025 season, one that saw the program make its first-ever appearance in the state semifinals. 

Labette County finished 9-and-3 last season and rolled through much of its competition before its postseason run came to an end against Bishop Miege, falling 37-7 in the state semifinals. 

The Grizzlies will lean on their senior class this fall, with 13 fourth-year players returning after 18 seniors suited up for Labette County a season ago. Argabright says that experience will be important as the team works to replace several key contributors. 

Argabright also says his skill players have the ability to continue playing at an elite level in Class 4A, giving the Grizzlies an opportunity to make another deep postseason run. 

Labette County may have lost a significant portion of last year's roster, but returning players and continuity within the program can help the Grizzlies fill those voids.

Head coach Lucas Lanning and the Fredonia Yellowjackets completed their second full day of practice Tuesday afternoon as teams across the area continue preparing for the upcoming high school football season. 
 

Fredonia is looking to put last season behind it after managing just one victory during an eight-game regular season. With the Yellowjackets' first game now roughly two and a half weeks away, Lanning and his team are focused on making the most of the time they have before the season begins. 
 

Lanning says the team's strength will come along the offensive and defensive lines, where Fredonia has a combination of experience and depth. 
 

The Yellowjackets will also enter the 2026 season with a new system on offense, defense and special teams. Lanning says the changes will help the team continue to improve and compete at a higher level. 

Fredonia will wrap up its first week of practice on Friday, with the Yellowjackets taking what they've learned into the weekend as they continue preparing for the start of the season.

The Neodesha Bluestreaks have their first week of practice underway, as head coach Nathan West and his team begin preparations for the upcoming season. 

Neodesha finished 5-and-4 last season after starting the year 4-and-1, but the Bluestreaks stumbled down the stretch, dropping three of their final four games. 

That finish isn't expected to carry over into this season, and Nathan West says Neodesha is returning a deep group of seniors who have been key pieces of the program since their freshman year. 
 

West also says his players can make an impact at the high school level, while creating opportunities to continue their football careers at the next stage. 
 

Neodesha will look to build on its strong start from a year ago, while putting together a more consistent finish throughout the season.

The Erie Red Devils have their first practice of the season in the books, as head coach David Pitts and his team took the field for the first time Monday afternoon, working around the torrid heat. 

Erie had a slow finish to last season, and the Red Devils are looking to get off to a stronger start this year. Coach David Pitts says several underclassmen were forced to step up in recent seasons and are now taking on bigger roles. 

Erie enters the season with a younger core of players, but Pitts says there’s still plenty of energy and excitement surrounding the program, especially as the Red Devils make the move to eight-man football this fall. 

Erie will continue its first week of practice throughout the week, alternating between outdoor and indoor training sessions depending on the temperature.

A new gridiron campaign is just a few weeks away in Cherryvale, and head coach Harry Hester and his Chargers enter the 2026 season looking to improve on last year's 5-4 record. 

Cherryvale closed the 2025 regular season with a three-game winning streak, beating its final three opponents by an average of three touchdowns. However, the Chargers fell to Riverton in their opening playoff game, ending an encouraging season. 

Hester is entering his 14th year at Cherryvale, his 19th as a head coach and his 24th year in coaching. He brings more than two decades of experience to a program seeking its first playoff win since 2013. 

The Chargers return nine starters this season, five on offense and four on defense, while several newcomers will look to make an immediate impact in the trenches on both sides of the ball. With a mix of experience and new faces, Cherryvale will look to take the next step in 2026.

A local high school baseball coach is working to get extra eyes on high school baseball and softball players in the area.

Midwest Diamond Academy Founder Will Owens says asking himself the question of what can I do to help grow the sport led to the creation of the academy. Owens says later this month they're hosting a showcase area high school softball players.

There are 42 softball players from around the area who will be featured in the showcase. The seven colleges that will be in attendance include Coffeyville Community College, Missouri Southern, Oklahoma Wesleyan, Southwestern College, Southwestern Christian University, NEO and Neosho Community College.

Coffeyville Community College is picked to finish second in the KJCCC football standings this season.

The Red Ravens receive 38 points and one first-place vote in the conference’s preseason coaches poll. Five-time defending champion Hutchinson takes the top spot with 48 points and the other six first-place votes.  Coffeyville has gone 16-and-6 overall and 10-and-2 in conference play during Nick Dobler’s first two seasons as head coach. That stretch includes a share of the 2024 conference championship and a second-place finish last season.

Garden City is picked third, followed by Butler, Dodge City, Independence and Highland. All seven conference teams will play at least 10 games this season through scheduling agreements with Northeastern Oklahoma A&M and the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference.  The Red Ravens open the season on Saturday, August 29th at 7:00pm in Miami, Oklahoma taking on NEO.

The Coffeyville Community College men’s soccer team is the NJCAA Academic Team of the Year.

The Red Ravens posted a 3.85 team GPA during the 2025-2026 academic year, which was the highest among NJCAA men’s soccer programs. Head coach Steve Harrison says the recognition reflects the players’ commitment to succeeding both on the field and in the classroom.

The CCC women’s soccer team also earned national recognition, finishing 10^th in its academic team rankings. CCC also had 126 student-athletes receive KJCCC All-Academic honors for maintaining a cumulative GPA of at least 3.5. That is the second-highest total among the conference’s 20 member schools.

A student from southeast Kansas earns top honors at the USA High School Clay Target League National Championship.

Casyn Johnson of Cedar Vale-Dexter High School took third place in the boys' individual championship. Kansas was also represented in the top 10 by Mason Mains of Chaparral High School in Anthony.

Athletes and teams representing 469 high schools from across the nation participated in the 2026 USA High School Clay Target League National Championship, held at the Michigan Trapshooting Association in Mason, Michigan, July 8th–12th. The event featured nearly 3,000 athletes competing in team and individual qualifying events. 

Labette County was well represented as the East beat the West 14-7 in the 2026 Shrine Bowl.

The Grizzlies had two players who made impacts on the defensive side of the ball with Mikel Reed and Kegan Bates and Coach Bradley Argabright coaching the defensive backs.  Bates says they appreciate the support of the community.

Bates says he enjoyed the opportunity play with Reed in this game.  There were five other players from SEK schools including Parsons, Chanute, Pittsburg and St. Mary's Colgan. Reed says all the players bonded quickly.  Bates finished the game with three tackles and Reed with a pass break up.

The Labette County High School football head coach is gearing up to coach in the shrine bowl this weekend.

Coach Bradley Argabright is coming off a 9-3 season and a trip to the 4A State Semifinal. He says it means a lot to represent Southeast Kansas.  Coach Argabright, who is coming off his first season as a head football coach, says the experience he's gotten this week has been invaluable.

Coach Argabright says there are seven state championships combined across the coaching staff. The rest of the East coach staff includes coaches from Wellsville, Shawnee Mission Northwest, Basehor-Linwood, Sante Fe Trail, Osage City and Rossville. Coach Argabright will be coach the defensive backs in Saturday's game.

Fredonia High School selects their next head football coach.

The Yellowjakets named Cherryvale Native Lucas Lanning as their next head football coach. He brings experience at both the high school and college levels. He played football at Independence Community College before finishing his collegiate career at McPherson College, where he earned a degree in recreation. Lanning's coaching career includes stops at Washington High School in Kansas City, Atchison High School, Highland Community College, Bishop LeBlond Catholic High School in Missouri, St. Joseph Truman Middle School, and most recently Cherryvale High School, where he served as defensive backs coach and special teams coordinator.

Fredonia says Lanning is committed to developing student-athletes both on and off the field, emphasizing success in the classroom alongside success in athletics. Lanning and his wife, Whitney, have two daughters and say they are excited to join the Fredonia community. Lanning takes over for former Yellowjackets head coach, Marc Svaty, who took the head coaching job in Liberal.

The NJCAA’s Jayhawk Conference named its baseball Gold Glove award winners yesterday. The award honors the best defensive player at each position in the conference.

Coffeyville Community College had one ballplayer on the list, sophomore second baseman Ethan Foley. This spring, Foley made only 5 errors in 193 total fielding chances, which makes for a 97% fielding percentage.

Neosho County also had a player named to the Jayhawk League Gold Glove team. It’s their sophomore outfielder, Cutter Colvert. He is one of just three players in the entire conference to record a perfect fielding percentage this year, converting 54-of-54 chances.

With the high school sports season in the rearview mirror, local softball players have been recognized with all-conference honors.

In the SEK League, our local softball honorees include Labette County’s Keelie Good, making the first team. She’s joined by Braelyn Mitchell of Parsons with a .520 batting average. IHS had Rylan Swearingen named to the All-SEK second team.

And in the Tri-Valley League, Caney Valley had two selections. Freshman Charli Bush and senior Bryleigh Rigdon were named to the All-League team from the Bullpups.

Cherryvale softball had two players selected: sophomore Addy Boss and junior Harmony John. From Neodesha, the Tri-Valley League honored two freshmen: Hadly Carpenter and Annalee Winters.

And Fredonia softball had a couple of honorable mentions on the all-conference team. Those were junior Kennedy Divietro and sophomore Piper Shinkle.

An old Big 12 rivalry will be renewed this weekend on college baseball’s biggest stage.

Yesterday in Atlanta, the Oklahoma Sooners shocked the country by knocking off #2 Georgia Tech for the second straight time to win the regional championship.

OU found themselves down 7-3 in the 7th inning. They scored the tying run in the ninth inning, and in the 10th, Dayton Tockey sent a home run to center field to walk it off.

It’s Oklahoma’s first regional title since 2022. Their opponent will be none other than KU, which won its regional in Lawrence on Sunday, marking its first-ever regional title.

Oklahoma and Kansas will duke it out in Lawrence starting on Friday for a best-of-3 series to determine who goes to the College World Series in Omaha.

The SEK Conference has named its 2026 high school baseball honorees. Listed below are the selections from each local school, along with their season statistics according to AmyoSport Baseball.

Independence

SEK Player of the Year: Sr. Kamen Sprague (.431, 12 doubles, 2 HR, 27 RBI) (46.1 IP, 1.06 ERA, 43K)

SEK First-Team: Sr. Spencer Crain (.431, 16 RBI, 16BB/3K, 19 SB) (16 IP, 3.06 ERA, 19K)

SEK Second-Team: Sr. Brock Sanders (.329, 22 RBI, 15BB/5K)

Sr. Kellen Lanning (.409, 14 RBI, 16 SB)

Field Kindley

First-Team: Sr. Ryley Robson (.360, 10 RBI, 4 SB) (27.2 IP, 8.35 ERA, 17K)

Second-Team: Sr. Jaxin Hershey (.326, 5 RBI, 5 SB) (24.2 IP, 5.96 ERA, 28K)

Chanute

First-Team: Sr. Brady Alonzo (.382, 10 doubles, 3 triples, 2 HR, 16 RBI) (25.2 IP, 4.64 ERA, 23K)

Sr. Jacob Thompson (.347, 4 triples, 10 RBI, 16 SB) (39.2 IP, 5.29 ERA, 30K)

Jr. Karter Naff (.258, 12 RBI, 7 SB) (15.2IP, 6.70 ERA, 7K)

Labette County

First-Team: Jr. Kam Good (.339, 14 RBI) (2.1 IP, 6.00 ERA)

Second-Team: Sr. Colton Ghering (.328, 5 doubles, 13 RBI) (9.1 IP, 6.75 ERA)

So. Mason Morris (.218, 12 RBI) (29.1 IP, 4.06 ERA, 38K)

Parsons

Second-Team: Sr. Connor Largent (.500, 8 RBI, 12 SB) (18.1 IP, 9.55 ERA, 19K)

Photo Courtesy: Parsons High School Facebook

The 2026 spring high school sports season in Kansas is now in the books.

It concluded with the state track and field meet, which was held in Wichita over the weekend.

Our local schools fared pretty well. Field Kindley finished 20th in 4A for boys, and 15th for girls. Nado senior and future Red Raven Erin Lopez won bronze in the state girls' 100-meter dash and silver in the 200-meter dash.

For the Field Kindley boys, K’Shon Feeling was third in the long jump.

Labette County took home some gold medals. Jamaal Jackson won the state championship in the 400-meter dash in 49.13 seconds. Keegan Stritzke won the shot put, with a throw of 55-3 feet. Labette’s boys team finished 9th.

They were actually tied with Chanute. Both of the Comets medals came in relays: silver in the boys 4x800 and bronze in the girls 4x400.

Parsons finished top-10 in the 4A girls standings. The Lady Vikings brought home two gold medals. Braelyn Hinman-Mitchell is the state champion in the javelin throw with a throw of 140-7 feet. Ayanna Robertson, as a sophomore, won the triple jump with a measurement of 37-8 feet.

Parsons boys earned a silver, that was Brelin Summers in the 110-meter hurdles.

In 3A, Caney Valley finished 11th in the boys and 29th in the girls standings. Three medals in all for the Bullpups at state, all belonging to Simeon Sanchez. He took bronze in the 800-meter run, silver in the 1600-meter run, and bronze in the boys' 3200-meter run.

Finally, Sedan took home a gold medal in 1A. Riley Hubert won the girls high jump, with a mark of 5-4 feet.