Sports

‘A GOOD CHALLENGE’ Excelsior Springs will be given “a good challenge” next season in varsity baseball, interim coach Cody Vaughn predicted June 22.

Aiden O’Dell and Dantin McBee are back playing tennis again. Following the end of the Excelsior Springs high school boys tennis season, O’Dell and McBee each took a break from the sport, they said.

Metropolitan Community College (MCC)-Maple Woods might have three members of Excelsior Springs’ 2026 Class 4 state championship baseball team on its roster next season.

I’m not as apathetic as I thought. The “Tartan Army” has convinced me of that.

Ananya Carrel and Olivia Deere got in some more offseason prep work last week for Excelsior Springs’ varsity girls tennis season. Carrel and Deere, who’ll each start their senior year this fall, participated in a high school team camp June 8-12.

Kaelan Bedford finished his high school baseball career at Excelsior Springs as a Class 4 state champion. He’s about to begin his college baseball career with a national champion.

New Excelsior Springs varsity boys basketball coach Doug Burnett and his Tigers got out of town for a few days this week. The Tigers were slated to conclude a two-day shootout Thursday at Warrensburg, hosted by the University of Central Missouri (UCM).

My apathy as a sports fan is growing. A few years ago, after decades of a sometimes passionate, sometimes apathetic, sometimes contemptuous relationship with Major League Baseball, I finally decided I no longer cared about that level of hardball.

Upperclassman Owen O’Dell and his Excelsior Springs varsity boys basketball teammates are spending their offseason getting to know Doug Burnett, their new coach. A graduate of Park Hill South High School, Burnett has held various head and assistant coaching jobs.

Excelsior Springs has a string of third- and fourthplace finishes at state competition in baseball. Now, the high school has a first-place finish.