By Calvin Silvers The college basketball scene on both the men’s and women’s side has been prominent not only in the MIAA Conference, but the entirety of Division II here locally, as both Northwest Missouri State and Missouri Western have been powerhouses. On the men’s side, Northwest was led by Ben McCollum, the first five-time
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By Calvin Silvers In the offseason, the Kansas City Royals mentioned they wanted to compete in 2024, which referred to winning games late in the year, energizing an entire city, and look to be in the running for the American League crown. Of course, fans may have rolled their eyes when hearing this, as the
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By Calvin Silvers The Kansas City Chiefs took one step closer to the football season this week, as “Phase One” of the offseason training program officially got underway. This phase allows for voluntary team meetings in addition to organized strength and conditioning workouts. The Chiefs will once again conduct this portion of the program, which
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By Calvin Silvers Phil Welch Stadium was prettied up after some weather damage from Tuesday’s storm, and the sun shone on the diamond for the Pony Express High School Baseball Tournament semifinal matchup between the Benton Cardinals and Smithville Warriors. Despite a slow start, the Cardinals used the back half of innings to find their
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By Jacob Meikel Lafayette senior Jackson Perkins’s competitive drive helped earn him All-American status in Virginia last week. Perkins came out of the National High School Coaches Association Wrestling Tournament in Virginia Beach with a 6th place finish in the 182 lb weight class, adding to his already impressive resume. Perkins was crowned a state
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By Jacob Meikel Missouri Western State University has found its new women’s basketball coach, bringing in Ashton Feldhaus, who will lead the program in her first head coaching job. The former Eckerd College associate head coach was named the 10th head coach in program history on Monday after five seasons in St. Petersburg, Florida. The
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By Jacob Meikel The Red Division of the first-ever Walkoff Wood Bat Co. High School Wood Bat Tournament was dominated by one team, and it’s the team that has asserted itself as the best in St. Joseph this season. The Benton Cardinals capped off the championship of the Red Division with a 8-2 win over
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By Calvin Silvers On Saturday, news broke from the campus of Northwest Missouri State, as the University and Director of Athletics Andy Peterson has selected Matt Keeley as the 21st head men’s basketball coach in program history. “I’m very confident in bringing Coach Keeley on board to lead our men’s basketball program,” Peterson said in
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By Calvin Silvers The past two weeks have been busy for Northwest Missouri State and Drake University basketball, as former Bearcat coach Ben McCollum announced he would make the jump from Division II to Division I in taking the Bulldogs’ head coaching job. McCollum has now figured who his assistant will be, and it’s a
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By Calvin Silvers The Mid-Buchanan baseball team is off to a hot start for the spring baseball season, as they jumped out to an impressive 10-1 overall record, including an 8-game win streak in that span. Almost eclipsing their total season wins from last year already, the team is feeling confident, but the second half
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By Jacob Meikel East Buchanan baseball didn’t let its loss to Lafayette on Monday linger into its Tuesday contest with St. Joseph Christian. Tuesday proved to be a blissful conclusion of the short St. Joseph tour for East Buch, as the Lions had no answer for the Bulldog offense, resulting in a 7-3 win for
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By Calvin Silvers The past two weeks may have seemed unreal for Northwest Missouri State basketball fans, as legendary head coach Ben McCollum recently announced he’d be leaving the Division II program to make the jump to Division 1 at Drake University. On Tuesday, everything was finalized as the university held a press conference introducing
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By Jacob Meikel Aside from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Chiefs running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire has only known one other place as home, and that’s Kansas City. The former first round pick has embraced his time in the Midwest, doing all necessary growth as a young adult during his time in the region. When he spoke with
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By Jacob Meikel Missouri Western softball was shown why it’s tough to knock off the best team in the MIAA after the Hillcats of Rogers State outlast Western in both doubleheader games on Saturday. Both games one and two went the distance, and game one even stretched to extra innings as both aces on the
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By Calvin Silvers On Thursday the MIAA Conference announced that eight former student-athletes, two former coaches and one former administrator will be inducted into the MIAA Hall of Fame, Class of 2024. Two of those former eight student-athletes played their collegiate careers at Missouri Western, and are representing the Griffons on a big stage. The
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By Calvin Silvers On Monday, Northwest Missouri State University men’s basketball coach Ben McCollum announced he would be leaving the Bearcat program and locating back to his home state of Iowa, where he’ll take over the Drake Bulldogs. McCollum, 42, will begin his journey at the Division I level in the Missouri Valley Conference. His
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By Calvin Silvers The sun is shining, the weather isn’t freezing cold, and the days are becoming longer, which means spring is here. It also means it’s a special time of the year where college football spring practices will kick off, and that rings true for the Missouri Western Griffons. However, one athlete won’t be
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By Jacob Meikel Four-time national championship head coach Ben McCollum is headed to the Division I ranks after 15 seasons at Northwest Missouri State University. McCollum will become the next head coach for Drake men’s basketball of the Missouri Valley Conference. The Bulldogs are coming off of a 28-7 season, in which they were an
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By Calvin Silvers Downtown St. Joseph has been busy this week, as the 2024 NCAA Division II Women’s Basketball Championships continue in the Civic Arena, as the Elite Eight was wrapped up on Monday, and the Final Four was played on Wednesday. We’re now down to two remaining teams in the two-seeded Texas Woman’s University
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By Jacob Meikel The Savannah Savages took care of business against Lafayette on Wednesday at Phil Welch Stadium, improving their undefeated record to 6-0 after a 14-1 win over the Fighting Irish. The Savages didn’t take long to assert themselves as the more dominant team in Wednesday’s contest, scoring three runs in the top of
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By Riley Funk If a $20 million bond issue passes Tuesday, grass may be greener for local student-athletes — artificially. Voters have the opportunity to bring artificial turf fields to Benton, Central and Lafayette high schools as part of a bond issue on the ballot on Tuesday, April 2. Dave Lau, athletic director at Central
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By Riley Funk If a $20 million bond issue passes Tuesday, grass may be greener for local student-athletes — artificially. Voters have the opportunity to bring artificial turf fields to Benton, Central and Lafayette high schools as part of a bond issue on the ballot on Tuesday, April 2. Dave Lau, athletic director at Central
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By Calvin Silvers The 2024 NCAA Division II Women’s Elite Eight continues this week, with teams all across the United States coming to St. Joseph to battle for the most prestigious title in Division II basketball, a national championship. The tournament tipped off with the Elite Eight on Monday, and the biggest headline came from
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By Calvin Silvers On Monday, Missouri Western State University announced the departure of women’s head basketball coach Candi Whitaker, as she’ll become the main woman in charge of the University of North Alabama women’s basketball program, an NCAA Division I institution in Florence, Alabama. The end of the Whitaker era in St. Joseph will begin
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By Jacob Meikel The recent struggles continue for Missouri Western baseball after a series loss to Newman on Saturday. The 11-1 loss to Newman on Saturday made it 2-8 for Western in its last 10 games, a slump the Griffons haven’t seen all season long. Games one and two of the series Friday and Saturday
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By Jacob Meikel Two former teammates from Tennessee went their separate ways after high school, playing basketball at different universities and different levels. But when an opportunity to share the court arose years later, the duo found themselves both donning black and gold. Tennessee natives Reese Glover and Julius Dixon didn’t attend the same high
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By Calvin Silvers On Tuesday, Central High School made history, playing its first boys volleyball contest under the Indians’ name against Grain Valley. While it was a 3-0 sweep of the Indians, the team was thankful for the opportunity to host a boys team. On Thursday, more history was made for Central as its volleyball
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By Jacob Meikel A Lafayette senior put pen to paper on Thursday morning to sign his National Letter of Intent that will continue his wrestling career at the college level. Jackson Perkins will join the wrestling program at Benedictine College after signing his NLI while joined by his family and his head coach Josh Walters
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By Jacob Meikel One of the most successful Division II men’s basketball coaches will be inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame later this year. It was announced on Wednesday that Northwest Missouri State men’s basketball head coach Ben McCollum and 15 other individuals and teams will be inducted into the hall of fame
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By Calvin Silvers The transition to spring sporting events at the high school level is nearly complete, as the girls soccer season officially got underway for Mid-Buchanan, who hosted the Excelsior Springs Lady Tigers. Despite two quick goals from the two teams combined to start, it would slow down and the Dragons’ started the season
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