EXCELSIOR SPRINGS – This week, the athletic facilities at Excelsior Springs High School are unoccupied. As mandated by the Missouri State High School Activities Association, the first week of August is the dead week before fall sports practices begin. The week caps a summer that brought optional workouts and open workouts for student-athletes to prepare for the fall. Officially, fall sports practices kick off Aug. 9. Excelsior Springs will field varsity teams in football, volleyball, softball, boys soccer, boys and girls cross country, girls tennis and girls golf. Mark Faubion will lead the football program as the Tigers look to improve on last season’s 3-5 record with an abundance of talent returning. Kathryn Beile’s volleyball team looks to put last season’s 4-12 campaign in the rearview mirror. Megan Rawie enters her third season of coaching softball. The Tigers won 15 games in her first year, then finished 7-12...