Here is the Louisburg Sports Zone Athlete of the Week for week seven of the fall sports season, sponsored by Dr. Laura’s Orthodontics.

NOAH COTTER, SENIOR, CROSS COUNTRY

Louisburg senior Noah Cotter has had a memorable season so far for the Wildcat cross country team and that continued last Thursday. At the Frontier League Invitational that was held at Lexington Lake Park in De Soto, Cotter finished with a league medal as he took ninth overall in 17 minutes and 57 seconds.

With that finish, Cotter earned All-Frontier League second team honors as he led the Wildcat boys’ team. So far this season, Cotter has earned medals in all seven meets and will try and make it eight in a row this Saturday at the Class 4A regional.

The athlete of the week award is announced every Wednesday morning during the fall season and the winner is selected by Louisburg Sports Zone with the help of nominations from coaches.

Previous winners:

Week 1: Declan Battle

Week 2: Megan Quinn

Week 3: Maddy Rhamy

Week 4: Emmett White

Week 5: Ashton Moore

Week 6: Madie Williams

Louisburg senior Noah Cotter stays with a Blue Valley Northwest runner Thursday during the Louisburg Invitational. Cotter was one of four Wildcat medalists on the day.

The Louisburg cross country team concluded its regular season Thursday and got to do so on its home course.

The Wildcats hosted the Louisburg Invitational at Lewis-Young Park in one final tune-up before their postseason schedule kicks into high gear. Louisburg was in good form as it ended up with four medals.

In the team standings, both the boys and girls squads finished in fourth place overall.

“It is always a good day when you can host a home meet,” Louisburg coach John Reece said. “The community did show up to support the runners, which was nice to see. Our course is deceivingly tough, but the runners did a great job.”

Jerynce Brings Plenty once again led the Wildcat runners. The Louisburg junior was up front throughout much of the race and finished third in 17 minutes and 17 seconds to a pair of Blue Valley Northwest runners.

Senior Noah Cotter ended his final Louisburg Invitational with a medal as well. Cotter finished ninth overall in 17:58.

“Jerynce ran a great race and yet again put himself in position to battle for the top spot, but just missed out to two great runners,” Reece said. “Noah found himself a little back, but made up ground during the race to garnish his last LHS Invitational medal.”

Freshmen Levi Cotter (19:02) and Truman Ellison (20:04) were next on the Wildcat team as they took 20th and 28th, respectively. Junior Ben Proctor (20:58) and freshman Spencer Mattison (21:49) were 38th and 45th.

On the girls side, the Wildcats earned a pair of medals and Maddy Rhamy led the way. The Louisburg senior was 14th overall in 23:32 and senior Lola Edwards was right behind her in 15th in 23:42.

“On the girls side of things, they keep competing well and Maddy and Lola continue to lead the group,” Reece said. “It was nice to see them medal in their last home meet. I’m sure it was bittersweet for all the seniors to run it one last time.”

Freshman Talen McMurray (26:05) and senior Erin Apple (26:17) finished 24th and 25th, respectively. Sophomore Lila Edwards took 27th in 27:06.

Louisburg will begin its postseason run this Thursday when the Wildcats travel to the Frontier League Invitational. Races begin at 4:30 p.m. at Lexington Lake Park in De Soto.

Louisburg junior Jerynce Brings Plenty won the Perry-Lecompton Invitational on Thursday in Topeka. His time was the second fastest in school history.

TOPEKA — Jerynce Brings Plenty has continued to make his way up the Louisburg High School cross country leaderboard all season, but on Thursday in Topeka, he made a big jump.

Brings Plenty ran a personal best time of 16 minutes and 35 seconds to win the Perry-Lecompton Invitational at Hummer Park. In the process, his finish was the second fastest time in school history.

“Jerynce ran great on Thursday,” Reece said. “He was in control of the race from the start. He made a move to break the lead pack up and never looked back. Jerynce was able to separate himself a bit later and held the lead for the rest of the race.”

Brings Plenty was one of nine medalists on the day for the Wildcats. The Louisburg girls captured five medals on their way to a third place team finish with 74 points, just three points behind Paola.

The Wildcat boys had four medalists and took fourth as a team.

Seniors Lola Edwards and Maddy Rhamy led the Wildcat girls as they each finished in the top 10. Edwards took seventh in 22:42 and Rhamy was 10th at 23:03.

“Lola has been running great,” Reece said. “She is a warrior and continues to improve and lead the team. Maddy is right there as well and we look for her to make big gains.”

Louisburg also had a pair of freshmen run their first varsity races and both came away with a medal. Freshmen Talen McMurray was 20th in 24:19 and Ella Bockelman took 25th in 24:50.

Senior Erin Apple rounded out the Wildcat medalists in 26th at 24:53.

“Talen and Ella really stepped it up when asked to run in the varsity race,” Reece said. “We have seen glimmers of what they can do and hope that their success will lead to more. 

“Now that our Homecoming Queen (Apple) is done with a busy week, we look for her to make a big move and take the freshman girls with her to close the gap between them and our front runners. Rowan (Yows) looks to be getting better from injury and will add even more to our team.”

On the boys side, senior Noah Cotter also finished in the top 10 along with Brings Plenty. Cotter was eighth in 17:41.

Freshmen Levi Cotter and Truman Ellison also came home with medals. Cotter was 26th in 19:55, while Ellison was 29th with a time of 19:59.

Junior Ben Proctor (21:40) and freshman Spencer Mattison (22:12) rounded out the Wildcat roster in 44th and 49th, respectively.

“The boys team continues to improve but we have a ways to go yet,” Reece said. “Hopefully all will come together at regionals and we make a bid for state as a team.”

Louisburg has one final regular season meet left and that is this Thursday when the Wildcats host the Louisburg Invitational. Races are set to begin at 4 p.m. at Lewis-Young Park.

The Louisburg boys cross country team won first place on Thursday at Prairie View. Members of the team (from left) are Spencer Mattison, Ben Proctor, Truman Ellison, Levi Cotter, Noah Cotter and Jerynce Brings Plenty.

LA CYGNE — Winning is always fun and the Louisburg cross country team had a lot of it Thursday at the Ramsey Invitational.

The Louisburg boys won the team title, while Jerynce Brings Plenty and Noah Cotter finished 1-2, respectively, to lead what was a very successful day for the Wildcats at Prairie View High School.

On the girls side, all four runners left with medals as the Wildcats continue to put together what is a successful season to date.

“Everyone had a good day,” Louisburg coach John Reece said. “Even though it was a smaller meet, the runners were competitive and ran well.”

It all started with Brings Plenty as the Louisburg junior crossed the finish line first to win the varsity boys race. Brings Plenty won with a time of 17 minutes and 38 seconds.

Senior Noah Cotter was right behind him as he finished second in 17:58 as the Wildcats earned the 1-2 finish. 

Louisburg also had another pair of top 10 medalists. Freshman Levi Cotter was fourth at 19:17, while freshman Truman Ellison was 10th in 19:43.

“It was great to see Jerynce win the race and for Noah to be there in second place at the end of the race was fantastic,” Reece said. “Levi ran a good race as well and moved up throughout the race to be fourth.”

Also on the boys side, junior Ben Proctor earned a medal and was 16th in 20:45. Freshman Spencer Mattison was 23rd in 21:54. The Wildcats won the team title with 22 points and Anderson County as second with 33.

As for the girls, senior Lola Edwards recorded her best finish of the season as she took fourth in 23:35. Senior Maddy Rhamy also recorded a top-10 finish in 24:16.

Fellow senior Erin Apple medaled 13th in 26:16 and sophomore Lila Edwards garnered her first varsity medal of the year in 19th in 30:18.

“On the girls side, we are still waiting to field a full team in the varsity race because of some injuries,” Reece said. “The four that ran the race, Lola, Maddy, Erin, and Lila did a great job. We hope to field at least five varsity runners this week at Perry-Lecompton.”

Louisburg will compete at the Perry-Lecompton Invitational at 5 p.m. this Thursday. The races will be held at Hummer Park in Topeka.

Jerynce Brings Plenty ran a personal best time of 16:50 to finish second on Thursday at the Wellsville Invitational. Louisburg earned four medals overall.

WELLSVILLE — It was another meet and another handful of medals for the Louisburg cross country team.

Louisburg brought home four medals Thursday from the Wellsville Invitational as the Wildcats continued to see improvement in what was their third meet of the season. 

Coming off a difficult race just five days prior at Wamego, Louisburg coach John Reece liked what he saw out of his runners.

“They did an awesome job at Wellsville,” Reece said. “After competing at Wamego and to race again on Thursday is tough. We work on different things within the race so it seems more like a workout/race than a true race.”

Jerynce Brings Plenty continues to improve on his strong junior campaign as he found himself toward the top of the pack once again. 

Brings Plenty ran a personal best time of 16 minutes and 50 seconds and finished second overall to Central Heights’ Cody Hammond, who ran a 16:37. Brings Plenty also led the boys team to a fourth place team finish with 93 points.

Senior Noah Cotter also found himself at the front of the pack as he medaled seventh overall in 17:31. Both Wildcat runners have medaled in all three meets of their meets to begin the season. 

“Jerynce had a very controlled first mile which allowed him to press the pace more later in the race, which is one of the strategies we’ve been working on,” Reece said. “Noah ran similarly and had a competitive race as well. They are really working well together and their races are showing their hard work.”

Seniors Maddy Rhamy and Lola Edwards led the four-member girls team as they each left Wellsville with a medal.

Rhamy battled her way through the pack to finish eighth overall in 22:23, while Edwards earned her first medal of the season as she took 21st in 23:42.

“Lola went for it from the start and was rewarded for her effort,” Reece said. “Since she did not run at Wamego, she had free reign to race from the gun and she did. Maddy worked on a controlled start like the boys and passed a ton of runners as she pressed the pass through the second and third miles. Best I could tell she went from about 30th to 8th during the race.”

Senior Erin Apple just missed out on the top 30 as she took 31st in 24:18, while Lila Edwards rounded out the girls’ team in 57th in 28:14.

On the boys side, freshmen Levi Cotter (20:15) and Truman Ellison (20:16) finished toward the middle of the pack as they finished 32nd and 33rd, respectively. 

Ben Proctor took 48th overall in 21:24 and Spencer Mattison was 61st in 22:12.

Louisburg will be back in action this Thursday as the Wildcats travel to the Prairie View Invitational. Races begin at 3:30 p.m.

Here is the Louisburg Sports Zone Athlete of the Week for week three of the fall sports season, sponsored by Dr. Laura’s Orthodontics.

MADDY RHAMY, SENIOR, CROSS COUNTRY

Louisburg senior Maddy Rhamy is off to a good start in her final cross country season as a Wildcat and that continued last Thursday when she competed in the Wellsville Invitational. Rhamy was one of four Wildcats to earn a medal on the day as she finished eighth overall to lead the girls team in 22 minutes and 23 seconds.

It was third consecutive medal to start the season for Rhamy as she also brought home hardware from Anderson County and Wamego. Rhamy is a returning two-time state medalist for Louisburg.

“It was another strong performance from Maddy,” Louisburg coach John Reece said. “She is truly leading the team at this point in the season.”

The athlete of the week award is announced every Wednesday morning during the fall season and the winner is selected by Louisburg Sports Zone with the help of nominations from coaches.

Previous winners:

Week 1: Declan Battle

Week 2: Megan Quinn

Louisburg senior Noah Cotter distances himself from the pack during a meet earlier this season. Cotter medaled 19th overall and moved to No. 7 on the school’s all-time leaderboard.

WAMEGO — The Louisburg cross country team went up against some of the best Class 4A — and beyond — had to offer Saturday at the Wamego Invitational.

The Wildcats earned three medals, and for the second straight week, Jerynce Brings Plenty, Noah Cotter and Maddy Rhamy each brought home hardware to show for it.

Louisburg competed on one of the tougher courses in the state at the Wamego Country Club, which is the site of the Class 4A state meet later this season. 

“I wouldn’t say they enjoy running one of the toughest courses in the state, as much as they embrace the experience in preparation for what we hope is a return trip to the state meet,” Louisburg coach John Reece said. 

The three Wildcat medalists each had strong performances and it started with Brings Plenty. The Louisburg junior finished 15th overall in 17 minutes, which moved him up to No. 5 on the school’s all-time leaderboard.

As for Cotter, the Louisburg senior was right behind him in 20th in 17:17 to lead the Wildcat boys team. That mark was good for the seventh fastest time on the Wildcat leaderboard.

“Jerynce and Noah are working well together this season,” Reece said. “Because of this, their performance at Wamego was impressive but not unexpected. Having two low sticks, fast runners so close to each other makes for great inner squad competition and it strengthens the team as well. Finishing 15th and 20th overall was awesome.”

On the girls side, Rhamy was just one of two Wildcat runners to compete, along with senior Erin Apple. Rhamy medaled 38th overall in 21:51, while Apple ran a 25:34 for 99th.

“Maddy is a competitor,” Reece said. “She is really stepping it up this year and posted one of her strongest times for Wamego, which will set her up for a strong run at returning there in October, hopefully with her team in tow.”

The rest of the Wildcat team also posted good times. 

Freshman Levi Cotter was third on the boys team in 66th overall in 19:02 and another freshman, Truman Ellison, was 73rd in in 19:14. Junior Ben Proctor (21:22) and freshman Spencer Mattison (21:32) took 113rd and 114th, respectively.

“We took some freshman runners to the meet as well and they really showed some promise,” Reece said. “Levi Cotter, Truman Ellison, and Spencer Mattison took on Wamego and showed they have what it is going to take when given the opportunity to race there again.”

Louisburg is back in action Thursday when it travels to the Wamego Invitational. Races are set to begin at 4 p.m.

Louisburg junior Jerynce Brings Plenty gets out to a good start Thursday during the Jerry Howarter Invitational at Garnett Country Club. Brings Plenty finished fourth overall.

GARNETT — The Louisburg cross country team brought home some hardware in its first competition of the season.

Louisburg earned three medals at the Jerry Howarter Invitational last Thursday at Garnett Country Club and did so by not having full squads on both the boys and girls side.

The Wildcats, who had some runners out with injuries, still made some noise as Jerynce Brings Plenty and Noah Cotter each had top 10 finishes to lead the boys. Senior Maddy Rhamy finished in the top 20 to pace the girls side.

“Everyone ran well at Anderson County,” Louisburg coach John Reece said. “The temps were not terrible, and there were some first race jitters, but it was a good meet.”

Brings Plenty had a strong showing in his season opener as the Louisburg junior finished fourth out of 73 runners in 17 minutes and 35 seconds.

Cotter was right behind him. The Louisburg senior finished sixth overall in 17:52 to give the Wildcats a strong start to their season.

“Jerynce and Noah ran great races,” Reece said. “Jerynce could do some special things this season and Noah is going to be right there with him. They will be a huge factor when it comes to postseason and team scoring.”

On the girls side, Rhamy led an injury-riddled girls team that featured just three runners. Still, the Louisburg senior competed against a very strong field as she took 19th in 23:31.

“Maddy ran a solid race,” Reece said. “Earning a medal is always a great way to start the season. I look for her to really step up this year and work hard for the team.”

Senior Lola Edwards was second on the team in 35th overall in 25:49 and senior Erin Apple was 46th in 27:20.

Freshman Truman Ellison was third on the boys team in 50th in 21:27 and junior Ben Proctor was 56th in 22:00.

The schedule gets a little tougher for Louisburg this Saturday as the Wildcats travel to the Wamego Invitational — a meet that brings some of the top teams across the state. It is also the home of the 4A state meet. Races begin at 9 a.m. at the Wamego Country Club.

Louisburg senior Emma Vohs will try for her third consecutive state medal this season as she is one of seven seniors on this year’s girls cross country team.

For the last six years, the Louisburg girls cross country team has ended its season as the Class 4A state meet in Wamego.

The Wildcats are primed to make it a seventh straight trip.

Louisburg returns most of its state team from a season ago, including four seniors in Emma Vohs, Lola Edwards, Maddy Rhamy and Erin Apple.

Add in fellow seniors Anna Poe, Maddie O’Keefe and Elizabeth George and the Wildcats feature an experienced roster.

“We do have an abundance of experience with the girls team,” Louisburg coach John Reece said. “We think the expectation of qualifying for state is always there. Because of our success in the past, the runners put pressure on themselves to continue to perform well come regionals and state.”

Vohs is one runner who has found a lot of success for the Wildcats. Vohs is a two-time state medalist, including a 10th place finish in 2022.

Rhamy and Edwards are also returning state medalists. Both runners medaled in 2020 and Rhamy medaled again in 2021, so the team has earned five state medals between them.

Four of those runners — Vohs, Rhamy, Edwards and Apple — were also a part of the Wildcats’ third place state team in 2020.

On the boys side, the Wildcats feature just one senior in Noah Cotter, who missed the state meet by one spot last season. Cotter will look to lead a young boys team along with junior Jerynce Brings Plenty.

Brings Plenty is coming off a pair of state medals last season in track, but missed most of his sophomore year in cross country due to an injury.

“The boys team is very young but very hard workers,” Reece said. “Jerynce and Noah have set a positive tone to start the season with their work ethic and leadership. Jerynce does look to build off of his track season and is looking to move up the leaderboard.”

As far as who will compete on the boys and girls varsity roster for the opening meet, Reece said there will be a lot of competition for those spots between now and the end of the year.

Reece is also believes there could be some freshmen that will impact the team as well.

“As far as varsity and junior varsity, it is always a work in progress/revolving door,” Reece said. “We will move runners up and down as needed, so that they can find success which will create a positive mindset. That will come in handy as we approach postseason. We also have a great freshman class and it will be exciting to watch them progress this year.”

Louisburg opens it season Thursday when it travels to Garnett for the Jerry Howarter Invitational. Races are set to begin at 3:30 p.m. with the middle school level.

The Wildcats will host their lone home competition on Oct. 5 at Lewis-Young Park.

Louisburg senior Wyatt Holland takes a handoff from backup quarterback Alex Saad during a practice last week.

Before the record setting heat and humidity that is currently smothering Louisburg and the surrounding areas came in, the Wildcat fall sports teams got in a solid first five days of practice last week.

The first day of practice opened the fall season on Aug. 15 as the Wildcat football, boys soccer, cross country and volleyball programs officially kicked off the season.

Participation numbers were up for most of the sports, while football, soccer and cross country had a good week’s worth of practice outdoors. With heat and humidity at record levels this week, all outdoor sports will be forced to hold practices early in the morning.

It was a successful season for all four teams last year and it started with the Wildcat football program as they ran through the Frontier League with an undefeated record and earned its first league title since 2018.

The Wildcats currently have 76 players out for football under second-year coach Drew Harding, which about 10 more than a year ago.

“First couple days of practice have been going well,” Harding said. “There is a lot of energy on the field during practice, which is great to have.  You can tell they are happy to be back playing football again.”

Harding kept his players busy over the summer to help prep them for the season. The Wildcats took part in several scrimmages, 7-on-7 and skill sessions, to go along with their normal team camp and weights.

“This allowed everyone to get on the same page and be ready to roll once we started practice in the fall,” Harding said. “The goal is that everything over the summer carries over and we can just continue to get better at what we do once the season starts.

“We want to continue to come together as a team and continue to build camaraderie. We also want to make sure we have the base schemes in all three phases installed and understood before we start putting in opponent specific plans. We want to see athletes compete and separate themselves from one another to show who is ready to play on Friday nights.”

The Louisburg volleyball program is coming off another state tournament run that saw the Wildcats finish fourth at the Class 4A tourney. That success brought a lot of interest as 39 players tried out, and 32 are currently rostered between the three teams.  

“The first three days of the season with tryouts were pretty great,” Louisburg coach Leanna Willer said. “Everyone came with positive attitudes and high energy to push through the challenges of tryouts. After the team was finalized, we got to work right away on Thursday. The energy in the gym is great, and everyone is aware of the high expectations we have for ourselves heading into the season. Both the girls and the coaches are excited to be back in the gym getting better every day.”

Wildcat volleyball also had a busy summer schedule the held a team camp to start, before competing in a summer league and held several open gyms in June and July. 

Varsity level players traveled to the University of Nebraska team camp and also competed a tournament in Andale.

“While summer is busy with all kinds of activities, vacations and summer jobs, we appreciate the time and effort all of the girls put in to dedicate themselves to the team and the sport of volleyball,” Willer said. “It also gives us coaches more time to get to know them heading into the season and to develop relationships earlier on so we can get right into volleyball here in August.

“During these first few weeks we hope to foster a culture of competition in our gym where the girls are all challenging each other every single day. We are all on the same page with where we want to be at the end of the season, so during these first few weeks we are focused on building a strong foundation that will help us get there with an emphasis on team bonding/connections, fundamentals, and conditioning.”

The Louisburg cross country team also had a big season last year, especially on the girls side. The Wildcat girls qualified for state and Emma Vohs left Wamego with a state medal.

As far as numbers go, the cross country group is a little down this year with 22, but they still have high aspirations again.

“The runners are excited for the season,” Louisburg coach John Reece said. “The girls team is planning for big things again this year and the ‘young’ boys team is looking great.”

Many of those runners have taken to the streets over the summer to get their work in as they prepare for another difficult slate of meets in 2023.

“We had a consistent group of both LHS and LMS runners all summer,” Reece said. “Because of the good turnout, we can get going on the harder workouts earlier in the season. 

“The beginning of the season always creates a challenge with runners being at different points of their base building. We look to build base for all and start working on racing skills and workouts as the weeks progress.”

The Louisburg soccer team will have some rebuilding to do this season as the Wildcats had to say goodbye to 15 seniors from a year ago.

There will certainly be several players to help fill the void as 41 athletes came out for soccer this fall.

“There’s been a huge precedent set with the program, and it’s definitely something that’s been instilled in the players for quite some time,” Louisburg coach Bobby Bovaird said. “Since I’ve joined the program, the junior and senior leaders have been outstanding at organizing summer workouts and activities for the team. It’s been great seeing that sort of self-motivation and leadership from them. We’ve had enough time together as a program over the summer that the first days of tryouts have been smooth as can be. Very little instruction needed, and the guys have been able to jump right in with what we’re asking from them.”

The Wildcats opened their summer hosting a youth camp and then went right in to summer workouts. Louisburg also held its annual team camp to go along with weights sessions.

“With only two returning starters from last year, we’re going to have some growing pains for sure,” Bovaird said. “The first couple of weeks will need to be spent getting in match shape and gelling as a team with so many players being in new positions or at a new level. We open our season with Leavenworth, who was our final regular season game last year. Back then, both varsity and JV had awesome games, but those were totally different teams. We’ll see how well we’ve reloaded for this year, but I’m feeling pretty good.”