MANHATTAN, Kan. — The season came to an end for the Hutchinson Salthawk soccer team as they dropped a 9 – nil match to Manhattan in the quarterfinals of the class 6A south central regional.
Manhattan jumped out to a 2-0 lead at the half but scored several quick goals to start the second half to put the match out of reach. The Hawks end the season at 5-11-1.
[ By STEVE CARPENTER ]
[ BLUE DRAGON SPORTS INFORMATION ]
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — It will be a tough test for the Hutchinson Community College women’s soccer team as they face an old adversary in the opening round of the Region VI Tournament, which begins Thursday.
The Blue Dragons, the third seed from the Jayhawk West, will travel to Overland Park to meet the East No. 2 seed Johnson County Cavaliers at 1 p.m. The game will be played at the Scheels Overland Park Soccer Complex and not the Johnson County Soccer Complex. The Scheels Complex is located at 12700 Switzer Rd. in Overland Park.
Thursday’s meeting between Hutchinson and Johnson County will be the ninth postseason meeting and 20th overall matchup, the first since 2016.
With a new postseason format, the four Thursday winners will advance to the semifinals on Saturday at the sites of the highest remaining seeds. From there, the two semifinal winners automatically advance to the Plains District Tournament where the two Kansas teams will play the winners of the Region II (Oklahoma) and Region V (Texas) tournaments next week. That winner advances to the NJCAA National Tournament.
The winner of the Hutchinson-Johnson County game will meet the Barton/Neosho County winner. On the other half of the bracket, Jayhawk East champion Butler plays host to Dodge City and Cloud County will play host to Coffeyville.
Hutchinson (13-2-1) hits the postseason riding a five-game winning streak. The Blue Dragons defeated Cloud County in a wild rally with three goals in the final 15 minutes for a 4-3 win, denying the Thunderbirds the 2018 Jayhawk West title.
That streak and that victory over Cloud County put the Blue Dragons in the national rankings talk for the first time this season. The Blue Dragons are receiving votes in this week’s rankings.
Johnson County is 5-0-1 over its last six games, including a 4-1 victory over Butler on Oct. 15. The Cavaliers are 10-6-2 overall.
The Blue Dragons are 7-11-1 all-time against Johnson County, including 2-6 in Region VI Tournament play. The Cavaliers have won the last three matchups against Hutchinson.
2018 REGION VI WOMEN’S SOCCER TOURNAMENT
Opening Round – Thursday, October 25, 2018
Dodge City (9-8-1) at Butler (14-4), 7 p.m. in El Dorado
Coffeyville (10-6) at Cloud County (14-2), 1 p.m. in Concordia
Hutchinson (13-2-1) at Johnson County (10-6-2), 1 p.m. in Overland Park
Neosho County (10-9) at Barton (13-3-1), 2 p.m. in Great Bend
Semifinals – Saturday, October 27, 2018
Butler/Dodge City winner vs. Coffeyville/Cloud winner at highest seed
Hutch/Johnson winner vs. Neosho/Barton winner at highest seed
Two semi-finals winners advance to the Plains District Tournament on Nov. 2-3
Region VI highest seed vs. Region II Champion
Region VI lower seed vs. Region V Champion
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — As Reno County Commissioners and NextEra Energy continue to work on the proposed wind farm in the southern part of the county, a major company announced it entered into a power purchase agreement with NextEra in connection with the project.
Iron Mountain, a major storage and information management services company, announced the signing of a 15-year power purchase agreement for 145 megawatts of new wind energy from the Pretty Prairie Wind Farm. With this agreement, Iron Mountain expects to exceed 75 percent global renewable electricity usage in 2018 and move the company closer to its goal of 100 percent renewable power by 2050.
NextEra Energy Resources will build, own, and operate the Pretty Prairie project, with Iron Mountain purchasing a portion of the electricity it generates. When completed, Iron Mountain’s portion of the project will generate enough clean, renewable electricity to power the equivalent of 56,000 U.S. homes and will reduce fossil fuel emissions equivalent to removing more than 101,000 cars from the road annually, according to a release from Iron Mountain.
Reno County Commissioners are ready to enter into an agreement with NextEra for the project, which is forecast to begin operation in late 2019 or early 2020. The project has been met with mixed reaction in the county, but NextEra says — for the most part — it has been positive. Still, some area residents are asking for a six month moratorium to be considered. READ MORE
The project should create more than 250 jobs during construction and between 15-20 full-time jobs. Over its first 30 years in operation, the project will generate an estimated $50 million in payments to local landowners, as well as millions of dollars in additional tax revenue to the local community.
TOPEKA, Kan. — The Kansas Department of Health and Environment has rescinded a boil water advisory for the St. Joseph Catholic School in the small community of St. Joseph in far southeast Reno County.
The advisory was issued because the system at the school could not maintain the minimum required chlorine residual. Failure to maintain required chlorine residual levels could have put the school at risk for bacterial contamination. The school was put under the advisory last Thursday by the state.
Laboratory testing samples collected indicate no evidence of contamination and all other conditions that placed the system at risk of contamination have been resolved according to the KDHE.
[ By STEVE CARPENTER ]
[ BLUE DRAGON SPORTS INFORMATION ]
GREAT BEND, Kan. — The Hutchinson Community College volleyball team suffered one of its most painful losses this season, not only letting a 2-0 match lead slip away, but an 8-3 lead in the fifth set to the Barton Cougars.
The Blue Dragons struggled down the stretch and dropped a 17-25, 20-25, 25-19, 25-19, 17-15 Jayhawk West decision to the Cougars.
The Dragons fall to 16-15 overall and 10-5 in the Jayhawk. Barton improves to 19-14 overall and 9-5 in the Jayhawk West. The Cougars earned a season split with the Blue Dragons. Hutchinson’s final regular-season match will be Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. against Independence at the Sports Arena. Barton has two West matches remaining.
The Blue Dragons didn’t light things up offensively in the first two sets, but Hutch out-hit the Cougars .111-.027. Things turned around in the final three sets hitting only .075 with just two blocks after five in the first two sets. Barton’s attack percentage improved to .256 and had eight blocks.
The Blue Dragons had the early momentum in the fifth set in building an 8-3 lead prompting a Barton timeout. The Dragons had an overpass to go up 9-3, but misfired on the attack and Barton reeled off five-straight points to tie the set at 8-all. Cassidy Crites gave Hutch a 9-8 lead on a kill, but the Dragons found themselves down 13-10.
A kill by Eden Hiebert saved the first match point against and Delilah Vigil snuffed out a second. But the Blue Dragons committed a service error and attack error on the final two rallies to close out the match.
It’s the first time since 2011 that the Blue Dragons led a match 2-0 and lost the match. The Dragons are now 1-6 in five-set matches this season.
Elena Takova led the Blue Dragons with 14 kills on .120 hitting with 50 total attacks. Lexi Hogan hit .079 with 12 kills. Crites and Delilah Vigil were next with six kills each. The Dragons hit .097 for the match with 48 kills and 32 attack errors.
Crites had her 11th double-double of the season with 29 assists and 12 digs. Payton Gawith had her fourth double-double with 16 assists and 13 digs.
Libero Raychel Reed finished with 24 assists.
[ By STEVE CARPENTER ]
[ BLUE DRAGON SPORTS INFORMATION ]
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Hutchinson Community College women’s basketball team was picked second in the Jayhawk West Predicted Order of Finish, released on Monday by the conference office.
The conference’s preseason rankings are a vote of the league’s coaches.
Defending conference and Region VI champion Seward County was the preseason No. 1 pick, followed by Hutchison, Garden City, Barton and Colby.
The Blue Dragons have five players back from a 27-7 season that ended in the opening round of the NJCAA Tournament after Hutch earned a tournament berth as an at-large team.
Five players are back from that team led by bookend forwards Jada Mickens and Dejanae Roebuck. Mickens averaged 13.5 points and 8.6 rebounds. Roebuck averaged 13.0 points and 9.1 rebounds.
Sara Cramer, Hutch’s top 3-point threat from last season, is also back. She averaged 8.4 points and shot 39 percent from long distance. Bradshaw averaged 5.8 points and 3.9 assists as the point guard. Reserve guard Kelsey Brett averaged 4.7 points and shot 40 percent from long range.
The Jayhawk Conference reverts back to two divisions in 2018-19 with the addition of Northwest Tech. Butler once again moves to the east side of the conference. The league season will consist of 19 games with the West teams playing each other home and road and the other division only once.
The Blue Dragons will open the 2018-19 season on Nov. 1 at 6:30 p.m. against the Bethany College JV.
2019 JAYHAWK WEST WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH
1. Seward County
2. Hutchinson
3. Garden City
4. Barton
5. Colby
6. Pratt
7. Dodge City
8. Northwest Tech
[ By STEVE CARPENTER ]
[ BLUE DRAGON SPORTS INFORMATION ]
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — For the sixth-consecutive season, the Hutchinson Community College men’s basketball team is the preseason choice to win a Jayhawk Conference championship.
The league’s annual Preseason Predicted Order of Finish — a vote of the league’s coaches — was released by the league office on Monday.
The Jayhawk Conference reverts back to two divisions in 2018-19 with the addition of Northwest Tech. Butler once again moves to the east side of the conference. The league season will consist of 19 games with the West teams playing each other home and road and the other division only once.
The top five choices in the 2019 Jayhawk West title chase are Hutchinson, Barton, Seward County, Garden City and Colby.
Hutchinson went 29-7 last season and advanced to the second round of the 2018 NJCAA Tournament.
The Blue Dragons have 12 freshmen and one sophomore transfer to join forwards James Rojas and Rheaquone Taylor, the only returning players from last season.
Rojas averaged 10.6 points and 4.9 rebounds. Taylor averaged 6.6 points and 5.0 rebounds. Guard Sequan Singleton was a redshirt last season.
The Blue Dragons open the 2018-19 season at home against Northeast Nebraska and NEO on Nov. 2 and 3, respectively.
2019 JAYHAWK WEST MEN’S BASKETBALL
PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH
1. Hutchinson
2. Barton
3. Seward County
4. Garden City
5. Colby
6. Pratt
7. Dodge City
8. Northwest Tech
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Advance voting begins today in Reno County ahead of the Nov. 6 election.
Residents can now vote at the Reno County Annex during normal business hours.
Two satellite voting opportunities will also be available. One is Wednesday, Oct. 24, at Hutchinson Community College. The second is Thursday, Oct. 25, at Wesley Towers. Both will run from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.
The county will be open for advance voting Oct. 27 and Nov. 3 at the annex from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. The annex will also be open late for voting Oct. 30 until 7 p.m.
Advance voting will close Monday, Nov. 5, at noon. Mailed-out ballots must be returned by 7 p.m. Nov. 6 or be postmarked by that date.
As of the close of registration last week, Reno County had about 40,500 registered voters.
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — After their 45-7 win over Dodge City Saturday, the Blue Dragons get two weeks to heal up and prepare for their showdown with No. 2 Garden City.
During Monday’s press conference, head coach Rion Rhoades said the team’s job now is to stay the course and keep things at an even keel:
Back-to-back Jayhawk Conference offensive player of the week Dezmon Jackson tore up the Dodge City defense for 157 yards on 17 carries and two touchdowns. Jackson credited his success to his teammates giving him room to run:
Rhoades says his team is still dinged up a bit, but he hopes to have most everyone available by game time.
The Dragons (8-1, 6-0) play Garden City (7-0, 4-0) in Gowans Stadium at noon on Nov. 3.
The Broncbusters play at Coffeyville this weekend.
SOUTH HUTCHINSON, Kan. — A section of Red Rock Road between Olcott Road and Netherland Road is closed after one of two small bridges may have been damaged in the recent flooding.
Reno County Public Works says the bridge deck may have been lifted off its supports by high water. The extent of the damage is not known and the amount of time the road will be closed won’t be known until the bridge can be fully inspected.
The span is located one mile south and a half mile east of Sylvia.
