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Program, building Clemens ready for next challenge

Ken Clemens knows a thing or two about turning around a downtrodden high school football program. Now he has the task of starting one from scratch.

Two years ago, Clemens took the wheel of one of the Kansas City area’s biggest laughingstocks,  Winnetonka, a program that had won only three of 30 games in the three seasons before his arrival. By the time he left, Clemens had turned the Griffins into a legitimate playoff contender, leading his rebuilt squad to a 15-9 record and two regional playoff wins in back-to-back postseason appearances.

Clemens hopes to build similar success with the football program at Liberty North.

T.J. Goeglein hasn’t had to spend a lot of extra time on introductions.

Despite stepping in as the new head coach of the Liberty North High School wrestling program, Goeglein has already established relationships with a number of his athletes. He took care of that while working with the Liberty Junior High wrestling program the past three years.

“We’ve gotten off to a good start this summer,” Goeglein said. “We’ve put in summer training and had a good week of camp, but we have plenty of challenges in front of us.”

Jacqueline Denny has always been the outdoors type.

Nothing has ever shied her away from her love of competition. Not even the daunting task of triathlons.

“I’ve always enjoyed athletics,” Denny said. “I just had to find a sport that was right for me.”

Every high school athlete has aspirations of playing at the NCAA Division I level, and Kevin Starr is no exception.

After exploring all his options a year ago, Starr made the decision to put his D-I aspirations on hold. Instead, he opted to go the junior college route. It turned out not to be a bad idea.

The Liberty High School graduate (’09) and former Blue Jay standout made the decision to join Iowa Western Community College in Council Bluffs, Iowa. This spring, the Reivers posted a 51-12 record and captured the school’s first National Junior College Athletic Association national title.

Chalk up a few more national honors for the Blue Jays. After turning in a memorable state championship season this past spring, the Liberty High School girls soccer team is still reaping the benefits.

Liberty (22-3 final record) finished as the No. 6 team in the country in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America’s final national poll that was released this summer. As noted by the Liberty Tribune at the completion of the season, the Jays ended the campaign ranked No. 14 in the ESPN RISE Fab 50 national poll.

Senior-to-be Kaysie Clark was named as a PARADE Magazine High School Soccer All-American. Clark, was one of only a dozen midfielders to be honored, along with Lee’s Summit’s Mandy Laddish.

Shea Groom, another Liberty senior-to-be, was selected as the Gatorade Missouri Girls Soccer Player of the Year in May. Clark and Groom hooked up with their high school teammates Kelsey Goff and Delaney Kiely to become Kansas State Cup Champions with the KCFC Intensity club program this summer.

— Chris Geinosky

Presence of area high school programs give sport hope of bright future

Lynn Gipson hoped to be a little busier. Thunderstorms didn’t help anything during the Summer Spectacular two weeks ago at the Kansas City Trapshooters Association. Rain aside, the manager at KCTA has still seen a slight decline in participation recently, a trend that held true at his four-day registered event earlier this month at Smithville Lake.

Area shooter Provow aims to stay on top of his game

Most old-timers don’t celebrate their 75th birthdays at the trap range. Then again, Norman Provow is far from the average 75-year-old.

Walking through the parking lot at the Kansas City Trapshooters Association, I knew there was no turning back. It was too late to change my mind now.

Meet Liberty North’s Coaching Staff: Boys Soccer and Boys Tennis

Life’s full of tough decisions. Recently, Art Smith had to make one of his toughest.

Meet Liberty North’s Coaching Staff: Boys and Girls Swimming and Diving

To say Todd Harvey has this whole starting-a-new-program thing down pat would be an understatement.