Lawrence-Nelson kicked off 2021-2022 School Year August 17

It’s August . . .

It’s Hot . . .

It’s Humid . . .

Yup . . . it’s time for school to start.

The L-N School, and a number of other schools in the area began school for the 2021-2022 school year on Tuesday, Aug. 17.

We hope to have more information on enrollment next week.

However . . . those students who elected to participate in the fall athletic extra-curricular activities have already been busy. Practice and football, volleyball and cross country have been on-going for a week now. A brief rundown of the students enjoying a return to the sports follows:

After the 20-21 seasons being disrupted drastically by the COVID-19 pandemic, everyone is hoping for a return to some kind of a normal season.

Football: Coach Brian Blevins welcomes a team of football players numbering 30 students. The team hopes to rebound from last season that was impacted heavily by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Although the number of students is encouraging, the team has only two seniors to lean on for leadership. The lower three classes have large numbers, however, and the junior class did earn a lot of playing time last season. They are expecting a lot from all upper classmen.

The first game of the season is a home game against High Plains Community School Friday, Aug. 27 in Lawrence.

Students on the football team are:

Seniors: Jacob Swift and Wyatt Brockman

Juniors: Toby Kotinek, Tyson Kotinek, Krayton Kucera, Keaton Mazour, Trev Mueller, Emilo Pano, Erik Wheeland, Devyn Zikmund, Wyatt Hajny, Chad Holcomb and Evan Jacobitz

Sophomores: Bayln Bargen, Roy Davidson, Nathan Elledge, Connor Janda, Jacob Kathman, A J Koehler, Rocky Miller, Nolan Ostdiek and Clay Williams

Freshmen: Carson Vaughn, Aidan Zikmund, William Schaeffer, Carter Griffis, Sawyer Cox, Riley Cannaday, Cody Brockman and Wyatt Baker

Volleyball: There are 19 girls on the volleyball roster this year. The increase in numbers were welcomed by a new coach for the Lady Raiders in the person of Nolan Kawata who is a first year teacher for the L-N school.

The girls will also be looking for an improved over a pandemic affected 2020-21 season. Last season the girls faced the pandemic in addition to replacing the entire team from the year before.

Four seniors and two juniors will provide much of the leadership this season as they begin to rebound from last year.

The girls begin with a “Jamboree” game on Aug. 24 at Kenesaw. The game does count for the formal schedule results. The season actually starts on Saturday, Aug. 28 with the Axtell Tournament with a pair of games.

The 2021-22 roster will include the following:

Seniors: Kylie Beard, Emma Epley, Aleah Heikkinen and Elsa Jorgensen

Juniors: Emily Troudt and Katelyn Mazour.

Sophomores: Sydney Biltoft, Bailey Ceder, Jessica Sole, Claire Himmelberg and Riley Funk

Freshmen: Josie Hajny, Emily Jacobitz, Valentina Koehler, Addison McCloskey, Kara Menke, Hanna Skinner, Onja Meyers and Brooklyn Combs.

Cross Country: Two experienced seniors from Lawrence-Nelson will join their partners from Sandy Creek this year. They are Logan Menke and Theo Kathman.

Menke experienced the State Meet last season.

Randi Fox is the coach for the team which is a Co-op team with Sandy Creek.