HICKMAN KEWPIES
Athletics
Girls Basketball
GBB Tryouts
Monday, October 31st – Tuesday, November 1st
6:00am-8:15am
New Gym
Arrive at least 10 min early, Bring own water
Season outlook
Record from 2021 season (last season)
17-7
First winning season in 4 years
First top 10 ranking in the state in 4 years
Top Returning players
Sr. Ella Rogers, All-District, All-Conference 2nd team, second leading scorer, most made 3pters
Jr. Ashtyn Klusmeyer, All-District, All-Conference 1st team, leading scorer
SO. Jayla Griffith, started every game as a FR, averaged a 2 to 1 assist-to-turnover ratio, most steals
SO. Sy’Rae Stemmons, started every game as a FR, 2nd leading rebounder, received 1st D1 offer from SEMO this summer
Players to watch for
Jr. Lucy Elfrink – brings great toughness and energy to our team. Does the dirty work. When healthy, she is a force.
Sr. Addie Shultz—brings experience to our team. A post who can score it in the post or stretch out to the 3pt line.
Season outlook
Our GBB team brings back a lot of experience. We want to play an up-tempo style of offense and a disciplined, first-to-the-floor style of defense. We will rely heavily on our team chemistry to make our motion offense work. We have multiple girls who can score the ball which will make us tough for any opponent. We have added some tough games to the schedule this year and look forward to the competition.
Key games
Saturday, December 17th vs Chillicothe (Alumni Game)
Thursday, January 26th vs Rock Bridge
Tuesday, February 7th vs Westminster
Saturday, February 11th vs Nixa (Senior Day)
Monday, February 13th vs Cardinal Ritter
Friday, February 17th@Battle
Head Coaches- Send me a quote answering this question
What are the characteristics you look for in a student athlete?
I recently heard the question asked to coaches, “Do you have favorites?”. The simple answer is yes, coaches have favorites. However, it’s not for reasons that many think (scores the most points or something in similar nature). My favorite player is the one who shows up early to workouts, never makes excuses, is first to the floor for a loose ball, has a tireless work-ethic, plays for her teammates, is selfless, has a great attitude, gives great effort, has great energy, is focused, and is coachable—she is my FAVORITE player!
New faces on our coaching staff:
Head JV Coach: Chris Porter
While not a new face to Hickman, Coach Porter will be stepping into the role as our JV head coach. Coach Porter brings a lot of coaching experience to our program as well as someone who has built great relationships with our student-athletes. He is a positive person to be around and encompasses everything we want our student-athletes to model.
Assistant Varsity Coach: Mark Rogers
Mark is in his first year as an assistant with us. A recent graduate from Truman State where he had a four-year playing career, Mark brings knowledge from playing a similar motion style offense. He will be in charge of developing our post players.
Assistant Varsity Coach: Alexis Griffin
Alexis is in her first year as an assistant coach with us. She is a recent graduate from Mizzou where she spent four years as a manager for the women’s basketball program. She has been around women’s basketball at its highest level and understands the level of detail it takes to be successful. Alexis will be working with our guard players.
Assistant JV Coach: Sydni Boyd
Sydni is in her first year as an assistant coach with us. Sydni has a collegiate athletic background, having played lacrosse at Missouri Baptist. She has a passion for the game of basketball and will be great at mentoring our student-athletes.
Volunteer Assistant: Amy Hansen
A familiar face to Hickman GBB. Amy (Bolerjack) Hansen is a graduate of Hickman and was a part of two 2nd place state finishes in basketball. She was a standout athlete both on the basketball floor as well as the soccer field. She went on to play basketball at Wyoming University. She served the past two season as our JV head coach and will step into a volunteer role this season. We are fortunate to have Amy with us as she truly knows what it means to be a Kewpie!
Genice Fisher:
While we don’t have an official title for Genice, she is amazing and we love having her! You will see her at every game keeping stats for us.
Boys Basketball
Season outlook
Record from 2021 season (last season)
16-12
Top Returning players
Josiah Griffith
Jordan Richardson
Isaiah Bonaparte
Jimmy Townsend
Adam Calvert
Rodney McNeil
Langston Stroupe
Brock Camp
Rasaun Nichols
AJ Bussey
Kenny Jackson
Players to watch for
Literally all the players listed above. We are extremely blessed to have so many core guys returning this year with a great group of underclassmen competing for top ranks as well.
Season outlook
Our program looks to pick up where we left off last season. We play a faster paced game that focusses on sharing the ball and sharing the advantage. Not every outcome will be in our favor, but we can guarantee a great game regardless of who we play.
Key games
November 22nd – Home Game vs. Blue Springs (2022 District Championship rematch & Alumni Night)
December 17th – Norm Stewart Classic vs. Chaminade
January 11th – Home Game vs. Tolton
February 7th - @ Jefferson City
February 14th – Home game vs. Rock Bridge (Kewpies vs. Cancer Night)
February 23rd – Home game vs. Fort Zumwalt North (Senior Night)
Head Coaches- Send me a quote answering this question
What are the characteristics you look for in a student athlete?
“Hickman Men’s Basketball isn’t for everyone. We are in search of athletes that want to be a part of something bigger than themselves, are more concerned about the teams success than their own, and who are willing to be coachable. The coaches and players on this team will help hold you accountable to the goals you set, and the bond created by those within our program will last a lifetime.”
Wrestling
Boys Wrestling
5th in MSHSAA State Wrestling Tournament
10-4 Duel Record
4th out of 20 teams in Badger State Invite, Madison WI
2nd place in Carthage Duel Tournament
3rd place out of 24 Teams in Hickman Invitational
Wrestlers to Watch:
Hank Benter (Sophomore) State Champion 2022
Hayden Benter (Senior) State Champion 2022, State Qualifier 2020 & 2021
Cole Harrell (Senior) 4th place at State 2022, 2021 State Qualifier, 2020 6th place at State
Jacob Huggans (Senior) State Qualifier 2020, 2021
Mark Harrell (Senior) State Qualifier 2021
Boys are Currently ranked 4th in preseason poll.
Girls Wrestling
1-5 Duel Record
9th out of 20 teams in Badger State Invite, Madison WI
Wrestlers to watch:
Maria Porting Jackson
Bella Simmons
Kira Nichols
Hickman Wrestling is looking forward to another successful season. The Boys will be challenged throughout the year with tough tournaments in Kansas City, St. Louis and Carthage this season. The Girls will again enter the Wonder Woman tournament and have added another tough tournament in Eldon this year over the Holidays.
As a coach we look for kids that have mental and physical toughness to endure a long tough season.
We ask our Wrestlers to be GREAT in 3 AREAS
- Academics
- Athletics
- Social character/family and life choices.
Thank you to all that come and support the Hickman Wresters!
Coach Pieper
Girls Swim and Dive
Girl’s Swim and Dive:
- Any girls interested in the 2022-2023 Swim and Dive season, please fill out the google form (QR code on flyer)
- First practice is Monday, November 14th
- Please email Coach Taylor tbirsa@cpsk12.org with any questions
New Gate Ticket Prices/Guidelines
Varsity Basketball $7.00 Adults and $5.00 Students
Reserve Basketball $4.00 Everyone
Varsity Wrestling $5.00 Adults and $4.00 Students
Reserve Wrestling $4.00 Everyone
Reminder:
NO Student Backpack/Purses into games
NO Re-Entry into the games
All Middle School Students must be accompanied by and Adult
Reminder to all fans- BE RESPECTFUL and BE KIND!
DPO Student Section
The DPO student section is a staple at our sporting events. This fun and energetic group of students cheers on our Kewpies as they compete. The DPO is expected to behave in an manner that reflects positively on HHS and the Community.
Reminder to all fans- BE RESPECTFUL and BE KIND!
Attending sporting events is a privilege and will be taken away if there is inappropriate and/or unsportsmanlike language and/or behavior.
Go Kewps!
Football
- Coming off a big comeback win against Belleville West of Illinois, we are looking forward to our rematch against Rock Bridge in our first round of Districts.
- 5 Players had college visits this past weekend, with 6 more slated to attend college game days within the next two weeks!
- Proud of the players ability to continue to battle adversity and Smile On throughout the tougher spots of the season!
-CA
Boys Soccer
Boys Soccer:
Record is 15-7. We are the #2 seed in our district which starts play on Saturday, 10/29. We have been ranked in the top 20 each week since the polls were released on 9/26.
We have also had great individual success this year. Senior Leif Kammer is currently tied with his own record from last season for single season goals scored with a guarantee of two games to play. Junior Caleb Keenoy has also set the single-season assist record held by Lake Gott (2021). Senior Cash Schopflin could surpass Keenoy's current record as he is only 3 assists off Keenoy's mark. Hopefully lots of records to be broken in the next week!
Volleyball
We defeated Smith Cotton 3-0 in the first round of the district 5 tournament, then finished our season with a loss to Rock Bridge who went on to win the District 5 title. We finished our season with a record of 18-12-5, almost identical to our 2021 record of 18-13-5. We will lose 3 seniors from this year’s team, but the majority of our varsity team will be returning next year.
Softball
Season highlights: 5th place at the Jackson Tournament. The trip to Cape Girardeau… Extra innings win against Monroe City. Senior night win over Sedalia
We lost to District Champs Blue Springs South. 13-3 in 6 innings. Made a come back when we needed to to extend the game another inning. Super proud of my girls
Very proud to say I got to coach this group of young ladies!!!
Girls Tennis
Season highlights and summary:
Season record 15-3, finished runner-up in districts against Rock Bridge.
Freshman Sara Nenkov was the district champion in singles and moved on to state grabbing a 7th place medal finish.
Boys Swimming and Diving
Boy’s Swim and Dive just wrapped up 2 meets this past week:
- The boys finished 2nd at the CMAC Conference meet with 365 points along with 1x All Conference finish (1st place), 8x All Conference Consideration finishes (2nd place), and 2x Honorable Mentions (3rd place).
- At our second meet, Springfield Invite, the Kewpies finished 7th out of 24 teams with 115 points. We had 5 boys score points for Hickman individually (Filip Babic, Jack Hoien, Jax McCormick, Micah Ragsdell, and Scott Smale-Murillo) along with our 3 relays placing top 16. Not only were points scored, but the team had 13 new personal best times!!
- Our last meet of the regular season is November 2nd at Hickman where we will celebrate our seniors!
- The Class 2 State Meet will be held November 10-11th at the St. Peters Rec Plex in St. Louis
Cross Country
We have had a very busy last few weeks for cross country. Throughout the past few weeks, we have had many personal best times and great races. We started the month with a trip to Arkansas to compete at the Chile Pepper Festival. This was our first over night trip during the season! The next week we competed at the Kearney Invitational. The boys varsity team placed first! Last week, we competed in our first stand alone Conference meet. Both the girls and the boys placed 3rd as a team. We had 5 all-conference athletes: Ellie Eastman, Zoe O’Laughlin, Evan Hughes, Max Hogan, and Sean Keys. Our District meet is fast approaching. We will compete at Parkway Central on October 29th. Let’s finish strong Kewpies!
Girls Golf
Kewpie Lady Golfers ended their season at Districts on October 6th. Our number 1 & 2 Golfers Maggie Alexander and Elly Roos just missed the cut for State Qualifiers. The top 12 players qualified and they took 13th and 14th place out of 70 players. The season was a good success with our ladies placing in the top half of 3 tournaments with 15 to 21 schools. Elly Ross earned at CMAC honors.
Maggie and Elly both place in the top 15 in two tournaments that features 15 to 21 schools with more than 70 to 100 players.
Cheer
The Hickman Cheerleaders competed at the Missouri Cheerleading Coaches Association Regional Championship on 10/2/2022 at Lindenwood University in St. Louis. The team took 4th place in the 5A Small division and earned a bid to the State Championship in December. The competitive team members include:
Seniors: Malinda Jackson, Chloe Shelton, Kyndal Long, Ella Byergo, Lainey Reeves, Aniya Crum, Katherine Keely, Morgan White, Dejanai Johnson, Harper Zerrer, Abagail Webster, A'Taliya Bass, and Julia Gregory
Juniors: Alaina Kimmons, Alonna Nelson, Aiva Reese, and Kendall Roberts
Sophomores: Emma Parnell
and Freshmen: Evelyn Stewart, Lane'ya Sager, Reagan Lyman, and Paige Hovis
Adopt a Spot- campus clean up project
Hickman Sports and activities are participating in a new project to show some love to Hickman! The Adopt a Spot program targets MSHAA sports and activities to take the lead on keeping our building grounds looking their best.
With this program, each sport and activity will oversee an area in the property to keep free of trash and maintained.
The Adopt a Spot program will give team’s recognition through signage in their designated area outside on the grounds. Participating in this program will allow many opportunities for team and community building within each sport/activity. Clean ups can be done before or after practices or at designated times outside of practices. Parents and families can participate as well, allowing families to get to know one another and drawing more support together for our Kewpie family. During the off seasons, maintaining the assigned areas allow for that increased communication with your athletes/members and their families.
The Adopt a Spot program is the first in a series of actions HHS leadership and PTSA are undertaking to get the community of the school and the community at large to “show Hickman a little LOVE!” Our coaches and programs are an important step in this process. Hickman is a very historic building, and it deserves our love and care.
Area #1 - Baseball/Softball field, stands and parking lot - as well as grassy area behind the field to the track.
Girls Softball & Boys Baseball
Area #2- 2nd practice field (new turf field area) - all the way to the east fence.
Boys Soccer & Girls Soccer
Area #3- Football field, bleachers and under both home and away stands. Also, the concrete landing area by the balcony and grass area by the football locker room.
Football
Area #4 - Tennis Courts and stands and areas around the tennis courts.
Girls Tennis & Boys Tennis
Area #5 - East Student and faculty Parking Lot and fence line.
XC and Track and Field
Area #6 - Fine Arts Building and ground between fine arts and Hickman Building Proper, Meditation area and East Circle Drive.
Marching Band/Orchestra/Choir
Area #7 - Courtyard (faculty area inside the building).
Debate/Drama
Area #8 – North Circle Drive to the Building, area in front of Media Center Entrance, Grounds near the building on the East side of the HHS.
Spirit Squad (Cheer and Dance)
Area #9 – Lower west parking lot and fence line.
Boys Basketball
Area #10 and #11 – Upper west lot and fence line. West Entrance - front of building, concrete with lunch tables, bike rack area and circle drive where buses load and unload.
Girls Basketball
Volleyball
Area #12 – front pool parking and building line from providence rd. to the old gym and back of the pool area (grassy area) by generator and down to the blacktop by the parking lot/pavilion area.
Swim and Dive
Area #13 – Back gate drive/fence line and south side of the wrestling building area.
Girls & Boys Wrestling
Area # 14– Area in front of East circle drive- The meditation garden/path area .
Girls and Boys Golf
Missouri Sports Hall of Fame
Congratulations to former head coach Kent Fewell on his induction into the MO Sports Hall of Fame. Coach Fewell was instrumental in building the foundation for Kewpie baseball, winning championships, continues to be a great mentor and is always supporting! Well deserved Coach!
Hickman High School Girls Swimming Era 1979-1999
In Columbia, the girls swimming program at Hickman High School enjoyed one of the most successful eras of state history. From 1979 to 1999, the Kewpies finished among the top four teams at the state tournament some 15 times. They won state championships in 1991, 1995 and 1996. Hickman was the state runner-up nine times, and those years cover 1979, 1983, 1984, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1997, 1998 and 1999. They were third in 1982 and placed fourth in 1981, 1988 and 1989. Along the way, the program saw eight swimmers combine to win 13 individual state championships: Lisa Durham (50 freestyle in 1990), Lynn Dustin (100-yard butterfly, 1991), Lindsay Tekotte (100-yard butterfly, 1999), Julia Alexander (100-yard backstroke, 1995 & 1996), Kristen Johnson (100-yard breaststroke, 1984), Naomi Greenstone (100-yard breaststroke, 1992), Tiffany Bohon (1996-1999, 100-yard breaststroke), and Miki Bohon (1996 & 1999, 200 individual medley). The Kewpies also won eight state relay titles. That includes six in the 200 medley (1982, 1983, 1984, 1995, 1996), the 200 freestyle (1998) and the 400 freestyle (1990, 1996). The program was led by coach John Hamilton, who was at Hickman from 1977 to 2011.
How to best support your student athlete
Phases of Parenting an Athlete
Practice:
- Encourage commitment
- Proper nutrition
- Punctual
- Abdicate during practice
Before Game:
- Be calm by example
- Don’t play the role of the coach with playing advice
- Keep it light (Jokes, laughter)
- Avoid giving a pre-game scouting report
- Good meal and hydration
- Good rest
- Have fun
- “I love you”
During the game:
- Detach from results
- Keep a low profile
- Cheer for both teams
- Set an example of sportsmanship with refs and other parents
- Avoid being over protected
- Avoid being win focused
After the game:
- Detach from results
- Supportive
- Avoid creating a “fearful ride home” by analysis the game, players, coaching, refs, or
result.
- Don’t initiate a post-game talk. Players will initiate if they are interested.
- Good sportsmanship
- Good food and hydration
- “I love you”
Reference: T.C. North, Phd (Specializes in
confidence and mental toughness coaching for athletes and their parents,
high-performance coaching for motivated individuals)
Previous Hickman Athletics Newsletters
Newsletter 2 https://www.smore.com/z7es5
Newsletter 3 https://www.smore.com/g7uj4