The post-season part of Bulldog winter sports is here and Kearney athletes are ready to battle. Here’s your KPGZ Bulldog sports recap:

Boys Basketball

On Wednesday, February 22, the Varsity Boys Basketball team took on the Park Hill Trojans, a top 5 team in Kansas City, for their last regular season game. The Bulldogs came out with great energy hitting four 3’s in the 1st quarter. Kearney played great defensively in the first half and were able to take a 1-point lead into halftime 22-21.

Park Hill turned up the pressure in the 2nd half but the Bulldogs did not back down. The boys found themselves up 2 points with 8 seconds left. Kearney threw a baseball pass down the court that was intercepted by Park Hill. Park Hill drove to the basket with 6 seconds left in the game and missed the shot at the buzzer. Bulldogs win 60-58.

Davin Hanna led the way with 21 points, all in the 2nd half. Manny Linthacum finished with 15 points hitting five 3-pointers and Harvey Sayon finished with 14 points.

The Bulldogs are back in action on Wednesday, March 1, for District play vs Winnetonka at Winnetonka High School at 6PM.

Girls Basketball

The Varsity Girls Basketball team lost to Park Hill at home on Wednesday, February 22, in the final regular season game of the 2022-23 basketball season. The score was Park Hill 56, Kearney 43.

Addie Taylor hit 3 three-point field goals and led the Bulldogs with 14 points. Maddi Stevens went 6 of 6 from the free throw line scoring 9 points. Brooke Paalhar hit 3 threes finishing with 9 points as well. JoJo Kutch was the leading rebounder with 7 boards.

The Bulldogs finished with a 12-14 record. Districts begin on Thursday, March 2, at Smithville High School at 6:00 pm.

Girls Swim and Dive

The girls swim and dive team traveled to St. Louis last weekend to compete in the Class 1 State Meet. The Bulldogs had two relays and a diver compete. Out of the 50 teams that traveled to St. Louis for Class 1, the girls came home in 32nd place with just 3 entries.

*left to right - Anna Williams, Claire Woehrman, Jillian Bonderer, Ruby Dunn, Ava Gable, Malia Fairchild and Amelia Byers*

Dive: Anna Williams had her best meet of the season when it counted the most. The state meet is notorious for having strict judging so she needed to be at her best. Anna ended up taking 10th place in Class 1.

200 Freestyle Relay: The girls came into the weekend seeded in 30th place and moved up one spot to take 29th place. The team consisted of Ruby Dunn, Jillian Bonderer, Ava Gable, and Claire Woehrman

400 Freestyle Relay: The girls came into the weekend seeded in 31st. The girls swam a time that would have been fast enough for a 26th place finish, unfortunately they were disqualified due to a false start.

Girls Wrestling

The Bulldogs are ready to raise another banner. Kearney High School’s Girls Wrestling team earned their first-ever MSHSAA State Championship on Thursday, February 23, in Columbia. They claimed the Missouri title with 75.5 points, just edging out Brookfield.

All four of the Bulldogs’ state contenders ended up medaling:

Hailey Romero (Senior) – Second (170 Lbs)

Riley Walker (Freshman) – Fourth (105 Lbs)

Bailey Martin (Sophomore) – Third (110 Lbs)

Savannah McDowell (Junior) – Fourth (120 Lbs)

KPGZ Sports - Brian Watts contributed to this story