The year featured many teams that came so close to the state semifinals

It was a year of transition in the community and a little bit of frustration for Liberty High athletics.

William Jewell College started its process of breaking away from the NAIA and taking the bold step of becoming an NCAA Division II institution.

On the field, it was a year of near-misses. Five teams made it to the state quarterfinals — one step away from the final four — only to lose each one.

It was fluid, and it was unpredictable. It was 2009.

Here are the top five stories from the year that was.

Brad Oyler steps down

Two years after winning the Class 5 state title, Liberty High’s girls basketball team was looking for a new leader.

Brad Oyler stepped down as head coach in March, capping one of the most successful coaching stints in the school’s history. In 11 years at Liberty, Oyler compiled a 213-92 record with six district titles, three state quarterfinal appearances and the 2007 state championship.

“I’ve had a great 11 years (at Liberty),” Oyler said. “I have had some fine young ladies that have come through over the years and wanted to play basketball. I will not only remember them but some of the games that we took part in. We have some great shared experiences on and off the court.”

In 21 seasons as head coach at Liberty, Savannah and Polo, Oyler has a career record of 391-172. Oyler’s 1998 Savannah team took second in Class 3A.

This year’s Liberty team finished 17-12. The Blue Jays beat St. Joseph Central to capture the district title and then got by Truman in sectional play before losing to Blue Springs in the state quarterfinals.

But it’s the 2007 team, led by seniors Kara Fleming and Heather Wansing, that eclipsed all expectations, ran the gauntlet of higher-ranked teams and came away with the state championship with a 56-46 victory against Hazelwood East.

“I think I’ll be able to sit back and reflect on some of the relationships I’ve developed over the years,” Oyler said.

“In a year or two, I’ll be able to see what doors are open for me and we’ll go from there.”

Jason Applegate takes second at state

Liberty High senior Jason Applegate almost made the most of a golden opportunity.

Advancing to the 145-pound Class 4 title match at the Missouri state wrestling meet due to an injury to his opponent, Applegate came so close to a state title.

Applegate had Holt’s Greg Amos on his back late in the match, but Amos was able to survive, holding on to win 16-11 at Mizzou Arena in Columbia in February.

Applegate, who finished the season 42-12, was Liberty’s only wrestler to place at state. “Jason has been steady all year,” said Liberty coach Mike Hammer. “He works hard. The thing he brought out at state was that he was aggressive. He adopted that style at state and surprised some people. It set everything up for him at state.

“It was so nice because he doesn’t cause any problems. He’s a 4.0 (grade point average) kid. He took it to another level.”

Amos was in control early before Applegate almost got a pin in the third period. Amos’ shoulders were flat on the mat for a split-second, but a pin wasn’t called.

“Jason had him on his back, and I talked to the referees and they said he was pinned for a second,” Hammer said. “He just needed a little more time. He was so close.

“They made the right call. Jason had him down and as soon as he did, I wanted him down. We didn’t get it. Amos fought it off, but we were almost there. It was the right call.”

William Jewell begins NCAA Division II     candidacy

William Jewell’s bold move to become an NCAA Division II school is well underway.

The Cardinals are in the first year of a three-year process of breaking away from the NAIA and jumped to the NCAA Division II level and changing the athletic landscape of the community.

In the very near future, Jewell will be competing with Northwest Missouri State University and all of the other MIAA schools for a different level of athlete.

The 2010-2011 year will be Jewell’s second candidacy year. In both of these seasons, Jewell will still be able to compete in the Heart of America Athletic Conference and for NAIA titles. The third year (2011-2012) will be Jewell’s provisional year, when the Cardinals cannot compete for NAIA or NCAA national championships.

Jewell also named a new athletic director in August. Darlene Bailey, who has spent more than 25 years administrating athletics at the NCAA Division I level and was an associate commissioner in the Western Athletic Conference, was selected to make the transition go as smoothly as possible.

“That piece of this position made it more intriguing,” Bailey said. “I won’t say that I wouldn’t have done it (without that piece) because I don’t know. I wasn’t in that position. I didn’t have that set of facts. The facts were that Jewell was definitely going to transition to Division II.

“We are doing it because it’s part of a strategic plan to position the college in a place overall that Jewell believes it wants to be as a premier liberal arts institution in the Midwest. How that all tied together was intriguing to me.”

Feldhaus third for a third time

With her third doubles partner, Liberty High senior Leslee Feldhaus picked up her third consecutive third-place finish at the Class 2 state tennis tournament in October.

Feldhaus and junior teammate Abby Fish tied for Liberty’s highest finish ever by a girls singles or doubles player by beating Marcia Klopf and Melinda McBratney of Eureka 6-3, 6-4 in the third-place match Saturday, Oct. 24, at Cooper Tennis Complex in Springfield.

Feldhaus and Fish beat Columbia Rock Bridge’s Sarah Heeter and Alice Mends 6-2, 6-1 in the quarterfinals before falling to St. Joseph Academy’s Katie Thome and Madeline Jolly 6-2, 6-2 in the semifinals.

“In the semifinal we were outmatched,” Davis said. “They are an incredibly talented doubles team. We lost in straight sets, but we played well.

“I think knowing that the other team was just better than them helped them avoid a letdown in the third-place match.”

Quarterfinal blues

Five Liberty High teams almost made it to the final four — only to lose in the state quarterfinals.

The Blue Jays’ boys basketball, girls soccer, volleyball, baseball and girls basketball teams were each a step away from playing in the state semifinals.

Liberty’s boys basketball team was pummeled by Grandview by 32 points in the regular season. It was a quite a different story in the Class 5 quarterfinals in March.

The teams went toe-to-toe with nothing decided until the final seconds. The Blue Jays had a shot to send the game into overtime, but senior Kevin Starr’s 3-point attempt from the deep left corner glanced off the backboard and fell harmlessly on the court, leaving Grandview to celebrate its 68-65 victory at the University of Central Missouri’s Multipurpose Building.

“I’m really proud of our team,” said Liberty coach Roger Stirtz. “We lost by 32 the last time, and it’s a one-possession game this time. One-possession games are tougher because you look back at if we would have boxed out here or executed a little better offensively there. That type of stuff. But I couldn’t be more proud of them.”

The Liberty girls soccer team was 15 minutes away from their first-ever state semifinal appearance, leading Lee’s Summit North 3-2 after sophomore Shea Groom’s scintillating third goal of the game.

But Liberty allowed three goals in the next 10 minutes, all by North players not named Morgan Marlborough, and lost 5-3 at the North Kansas City District Activities Complex at Staley High School in May.

Liberty’s baseball team also fell to Lee’s Summit North. The Blue Jays’ success in the regular season against the Broncos came from holding down their potent offensive attack. The Blue Jays swept North by allowing only eight runs in two games.

With a trip to the Class 4 semifinals on the line, North erupted, doubling their run total in one game. Liberty couldn’t keep up with the Broncos, who pounded out 15 hits and walked 11 times on their way to a 16-11 quarterfinal victory against the Blue Jays at Liberty High School in May.

“We just ran into a lot of hitters that were hitting fastballs in hitter’s counts,” said Liberty coach Kirk Bragg. “We had too many hitters’ counts. A lot of 3-1, 2-1 and 2-0 counts. Against a team that’s as powerful as Lee’s Summit North is, you are going to get hurt at some point.”

Liberty’s girls basketball team just ran up against a better opponent.

Blue Springs, a veteran team that plays five seniors extensively, handled the youthful Blue Jays, who started four sophomores and a freshman, in a relatively easy 59-40 victory in a Class 5 quarterfinal in March at the University of Central Missouri’s Multipurpose Building.

The Wildcats used an 18-4 second quarter to pull away from the Blue Jays.

Liberty High’s volleyball team was a few points away from making Blue Springs very nervous.

The Blue Jays, fresh off their first district title in the program’s history, were huge underdogs going into their match with the Wildcats in the Class 4 state quarterfinal match in October at Blue Springs South High. And in the first game, Liberty — the team with the .500 record — led 22-20 over its state-ranked opponent.

But a little sloppy play, a serve into the net and double contact on game point helped the Wildcats come back and win that game and then roll to the state semifinals with a 27-25, 25-10 victory against the Blue Jays.

“We were playing in the finals to go to state and I think there were some nerves there,” said Liberty coach April Rolf. “They were about to beat one of the top teams in the state and I think they got a little nervous about it.

“Had we made a better decision or a better play it would have been a different story.”