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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By Jacob Meikel A clash of two St. Joseph high school girls soccer programs saw the Central Indians take down Benton 4-1 on Monday. Out at “The Den” behind Bode Middle School, the Indians took full control of the contest from the start. Central minimized the amount of shot attempts from Benton while taking plenty
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By Jacob Meikel The trip to Bethany, Oklahoma was short lived for Missouri Western women’s basketball, as it fell in the first round of the NCAA Division II Central Region Tournament on Friday. The No. 2 seed in Western got its shot in the Big Dance after missing out in 2023. Even though the Griffs
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By Calvin Silvers Missouri Western athletics has been a pioneer in the MIAA when it comes to athletes, teams and coaches, and it’s once again paved a road of opportunity for student athletes in the conference. Griffon Lacrosse is the first of its kind, but with the sport gaining popularity in not only the Midwest
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By Calvin Silvers On Sunday, Northwest Missouri State men’s basketball was awarded an automatic bid into the 2024 NCAA Division II Tournament. The Bearcats, at 27-4 overall, earned the No. 2 seed in the Central Region. Since Minnesota State University gained the top seed in the region, Northwest will travel to Mankato, Minnesota, for the
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By Jacob Meikel Former Missouri Western Griffon and current NFL safety Jonathan Owens is staying in the NFC North by agreeing to a two-year deal with the Chicago Bears. Owens spent last season as a member of the Green Bay Packers. Owens’s snap count with Green Bay gradually increased over the course of the first
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By Jacob Meikel Missouri Western women’s basketball returns to the Big Dance as the No. 2 seed in the Central Region and will play Minnesota State this Friday in Bethany, Oklahoma. The Griffs learned of their seeding on Sunday night and erupted in cheers inside the Hall of Fame Room at Western during the NCAA
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By Riley Funk A former Missouri Western State University Griffon won for the first time on the PGA Tour in six years on Sunday. Brice Garnett took home the hardware on the fourth hole of a sudden-death playoff at the Puerto Rico Open against Erik Barnes. Garnett and Barnes sat at 19 under par at
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By Riley Funk Safety netting will be replaced and expanded at Phil Welch Stadium, with the hope of it being ready just in time for the summer baseball season. The project to replace the protective netting will cost approximately $115,000, according to city documents, and will be funded by the parks sales tax. The funding
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By Calvin Silvers It was semifinals’ play on Saturday in Kansas City, Missouri, for the MIAA Basketball Tournament, with eight teams fighting to land a spot in the championship game on Sunday afternoon. The first team to take the floor was the overall one seed on the women’s side, the Missouri Western Griffons. For the
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By Jacob Meikel Missouri Western men’s basketball’s run in the MIAA Tournament came to an end in the quarterfinal round at the hands of its upstate rival on Thursday. The third meeting of the season between the two rival programs concludes the season series with the largest margin of victory for Northwest over Western since
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By Calvin Silvers The MIAA Tournament quarterfinals began on Thursday, with the first contest of the day featuring the overall one seed, the Missouri Western Griffons and the ninth-seeded Emporia State Hornets. The first half both teams traded blows, but Western was able to create separation in the second half to pave way for a
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