Sports

The Varsity Blazers ended their season with a 52-59 loss at #3 ranked (16-4) Olathe West. The team battled and started finding their identity as the season progressed; including close losses to several teams still playing this weekend to go to the state tournament. The players started to buy into roles and style of play to really compete against the better teams in the league.

Man, talk about an emotional rollercoaster of a weekend. Ups and downs for girls, ups and downs for boys. However, we are all proud of our guys and their finishes at the state tournament. We brought 10 boys down to the tournament where nine won at least one match. five of our qualifiers were seniors which means we return wifth five wrestlers who have won a match at state going into next year, which is great momentum in early tournaments. After a great first round, the quarterfinals and semifi-nals were not the kindest to the Blazers as all qualifiers ended up on the backside headed into day two. We knew that we had to do some damage to bring home medals like we wanted. Everyone except Ty and Alonzo had to win two matches in a row on Saturday to earn a medal. We ended up dropping three more wrestlers in that opening round, leaving six left for medals as we headed into the “blood round” aptly named for it being an intense round of either medal or go home. We went an amazing 4/4 in the blood round medaling all six of the remaining wrestlers. Therron Meade, Kasen Smith, and Roman Clouse all earned their first state medals during this round. Overall, I think it was a good tournament as we finished 9th in team standings and reached a school record six medalists. Three of which return to us next season. Ty Hammers was our highest placer taking 3rd place! A special shoutout to the managers for all the hard work they put in this season as they are truly irreplaceable, and Bobbi Smith who helped put food together for all of our wrestlers for every tournament and match day during the season! Without the support of the Blazer community, this year wouldn’t have been as successful.

USD 231 is closing schools for Wednesday, Feb. 15 in order to allow their students, families and staffs to enjoy the Chiefs Superbowl LVII victory win, celebration and parade in downtown Kansas City.

Behind standout performances from seniors Shelby Davis and Kaira Mannio, the Gardner Edgerton High School girls wrestling claimed a 45-36 home dual win against Spring Hill on GEHS Senior Night at Gardner Edgerton High School Gymnasium Friday evening.

The Gardner Edgerton High School boys basketball team delivered a dominating defensive performance in the 2nd half Friday night, as the Trailblazers drubbed visiting Shawnee Mission North, 5528, at Gardner Edgerton High School Gymnasium.

The Lady Blazers Varsity basketball team sitting at 4-4 kicked off there first round matchup against host school, El Dorado at the annual El Dorado invitational tournament in El Dorado, KS this past Thursday. Gardner came in as the 3 seed and really put it to the Lady Wildcats from El Dorado on their home court. Jumping out to 18-1 first quarter lead sparked by a suffocating defense. In the interest of preserving the starters, the bench played almost the entire second half, holding serve and taking a 22-5 lead into the half. The starters came back to extend the lead 39-12 at the end of the third and finishing off the game with a final of 46-16. Landri Schaffer led the Lady Balzers with 23 points, 7 steals, and 3 assists on 9/19 shooting and 4/7 behind the arc. Addisen Ratley chipped in 9 and Aaliyah Moss with 8.