With the hot days of summer beating down and new sports stories still around the corner, it gives us time to look back at what can only be called “The Surprise Year” in Wildcat sports. {{more:[Read more]}}
The word ?surprising? was used as a descriptor in a number of sports stories throughout the year (and please excuse me as I overuse this word in the following stories).top story were the #1 repeat LadyKats soccer team …
Of course, the top story of the year in sports was the second consecutive state title claimed by the LadyKat soccer team who went 27-2, 8-0 this year, outscoring opponents 160-14, rolling through district play and the playoffs undefeated for the second year in a row and helping to capture the first two state titles for the Texas 4A girls soccer conference. Read more at KHS Team of the Year.While you can never play down the phenomenal skill, effort and work it takes to accomplish the LadyKats’ feat , it was not a total surprise when it happened.there were three surprise teams this year …
Looking beyond Kennedale’s Team of the Year, there were three sports surprises last year worth noting. Along with the LadyKats state dominanting performance, these three Kennedale teams added significantly to Kennedale?s reputation as a sports power house
We will look back at these surprises with several stories to follow, but first, we have to give a shout out to the Kennedale Lady Kat Volleyball team of 2015 for their strong performance.
Kats’ volleyball knew they were going to return big …
It was not a surprise that they won another district title this past year. The year before, they had shared a co-championship with Godley. Everyone, including themselves, knew they were going to return big and they did. Kennedale, who placed as high as #7 in the TGCA state 4A polls, ended the season at 30-14 with a 10-0 district record. It is one the few undefeated district season?s in Lady Kat history. They went on to placed 10 players on the 7-4A All-District team, taking top honors as MVP, Hitter, Setter, Blocker and Server plus two slots on 1st Team and three on 2nd Team, as well as, District 7-4A Coach of the Year.
Two years in, Head Coach Jennifer Patterson has set a high bar for her team?s performance and they have responded. Standouts last year included seniors Kendra Vondra (MVP), Maggie Pyles (All-District Hitter) and Darby Smith (1st Team All-District) but on a underclass laden team last year, this year should be equally as good. More on this year?s team later …
the fast four earned a 2nd and 3rd at state …
Another team that did well this past year was the Laky Kats track team, thanks to the performances of Sarah Drummond (Sr), Julia Mosley (Jr), Lucy Benson (Jr) and Alexis Brown (Fr). The four girls earned a 2nd and 3rd place at the state meet in two relay events and gave the team a 4th place finish in women’s Class 4A track.and then there were the Power Cats …
Competing against 83 other teams at the state 4A powerlifting meet, the KHS team finished 9th with one team member capturing gold for the second year in a row. Justin Lindsay (Jr) earned his second gold in the 114 lbs division while setting a new state record with a combine lift of 1020 lbs.But,these were not the surprising performances of 2016.
Next up: the first surprising team of 2015-16.
Comments are closed.