The Junction City High School Invitational wrestling tournament scheduled for Saturday ( Feb. 1 ) has been cancelled.

JCHS Athletic Director Matt Westerhaus provided that information. The Invitational will not be rescheduled.

Fifteen teams had been scheduled to compete in the Invitational.

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Westerhaus also reports the Junction City Lady Jay basketball team will not travel to Lawrence to compete in the seventh place game of the 2014 Firebird Winter Classic. Junction City had been scheduled to play at 10:30 a.m. Saturday ( Feb. 1 ), but the overnight snow led to a decision to keep the basketball team at home.

Westerhaus said he will try to reschedule the game, but at this point it’s not clear when or if that will be possible.

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The YMCA girls and coed youth basketball games scheduled for Saturday ( Feb. 1 ) have been cancelled. Games were scheduled at Junction City Middle School and at the Freshman Success Academy, but again…..those have been cancelled.

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The freshman boys basketball tournament at Chapman High School on Saturday ( Feb. 1 ) has been cancelled.  Chapman, Riley County, Abilene, and Junction City had been scheduled to send teams to play in the tournament.

The Highland Park Scots proved to much for the Junction City High School Blue Jays Friday night in Junction City 56-39.

Highland Park held the Blue Jays scoreless through the first quarter but in turn Junction City held the Scots to just 12 points. Junction City finally scored at the 6:40 mark in the 2nd quarter on a Tanner Lueker floater in the lane.

Lueker led the Blue Jays in scoring with 15 points.

Junction City fell to 4-8 on the season and will now go on the road for a two game stretch starting at Emporia next Tuesday.

The Junction City Lady Jays lost to Hutchinson 70-44 in the consolation semifinal round of the 2014 Firebird Winter Classic in Lawrence.

The game was tied 11-11 early, but the Salthawks ( 7-5 ) then gradually pulled away.

Lady Jay coach Nate Parks was asked what he liked best about his team’s performance. “I liked best that after we had some key people  foul out that we kept being positive and trying to work our way back into the game. ”

Junction City ( 3-9 ) will play in the seventh place consolation game in the tournament Saturday at 10:30 a.m. against Kansas City Sumner. The tournament is being held at Lawrence Free State High School.

 

Randall Zimmerman will return to the head coaching job for track and field at Junction City High School.

The announcement was contained in a press release from the school district.

Zimmerman has worked with the track and field program for 18 of his 20 years at JCHS, and served as head coach during the 2009, 2010, and 2011 seasons.  He is also the head football coach at Junction City High School.

Zimmerman’s hiring follows the resignation of Becky Steiger from the head track and field coaching job last July. Steiger continues to serve as the boys and girls head cross country coach at JCHS.

 

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – The Royals agreed to terms with left-hander Bruce Chen on one-year deal Thursday, giving them a veteran pitcher comfortable as a long reliever or in the starting rotation.

Kansas City had yet to announce the contract, which includes a mutual option for 2015.

The 36-year-old, one of the most popular players in the clubhouse, has spent the past five seasons in Kansas City. He’s coming off perhaps the finest year of his 15′-year career, going 9-4 with a 3.27 ERA while making 15 starts and 19 appearances out of the bullpen.

Chen will likely assume a similar role this season, providing a cushion in the event of an injury or if young starters such as Yordano Ventura aren’t ready out of spring training.

 

The Junction City High School Lady Jays fell in the opening round of the 2014 Firebird Winter Classic this Afternoon to Leavenworth 55-19.

The lady Jays only were able to score once in the first half going into halftime trailing 36-2. However the Lady Jays came out of halftime and made some adjustments. Junction City was only out-scored in the second half 19-17.

Nate Parks, Lady Jay Head Coach, explained that their efforts in the second half were important.

“We have to keep the confidence up because we could have let that just snowball and get it way out of reach. We just got to keep fighting all of the way through.”

The Lady Jays will play again Friday against the loser of Maize and Hutchinson. That game will tip-off at 3:00 p.m. Friday and can be heard on KJCK AM, The Talk of JC. That broadcast will begin at 2:45 p.m.

A near triple-duble from Leticia Romero and three other Wildcats in double figures provided Kansas State a second-half boost, as the Wildcats erased a five-point halftime deficit to defeat Oklahoma, 86-78 Wednesday night at Bramlage Coliseum.

According to K-Statesports.com the win for K-State ( 9-11, 3-6 Big 12 ) was the first over the Sooners since Jan. 31, 2004, halting a 13-game skid.

Romero finished with a game-high 23 points on 6-of-12 shooting, while adding 10 rebounds and nine assists.

OU fell to 13-8 overall and 4-4 in the Big 12.

The bench for Kansas State stepped up Tuesday night and helped carry the Wildcats to a 66-58 victory over Texas Tech.

Kansas State’s leading scorers didn’t have the touch Tuesday night. Marcus Foster went 0-8 from three point range. Shane Southwell finished with four points going 0-6 from three point range, and Thomas Gipson sat out nearly half of the second half in foul trouble and finished with 7 points.

Will Spradling led the Wildcats with 17 points, shooting 4-9 from the field and 7-8 from the free throw line. Spradling also sank two of the three 3-point shots the Wildcats had in the game. Nino Williams came off the bench and added 13 points shooting 5-7 from the field and a perfect 3-3 from the charity stripe. After the game Coach Weber said he though Spradling was more relaxed, “and trying to enjoy the last part of the season, his senior year.”Spradling echoed that, “I feel a lot more relaxed when I shoot. I felt like I was kind of rushing it, the floor. At the free throw line I’ve really slowed myself down and that’s helped out a lot.”

Texas Tech came out in the second half and cut into the Wildcats 12 point half time lead and with 7:16 to play got back within one 48-47, however a 6-0 run by K-State put the Wildcats back up seven 54-47 with 4:37 to play. K-State’s defense never let the Red Raider’s get back within four and K-State held out for the 66-58 victory.

Tubby Smith, Texas Tech Head Coach, said that it was K-State’s bench that impressed him, “They scored 25 points. I thought that they were very impressive. I thought (Omari) Lawrence and (Nino) Williams did a very good job. We knew they had a deep bench, and they utilized it very effectively.”

K-State moved to 15-6 on the season and 5-3 in the Big 12. They will now travel to West Virginia Saturday to take on the Mountaineers in a 12:30 p.m. tip.

Junction City High School senior Brett Magee finished first in the 200-yard Individual Medley, second in the 100-Freestyle, and was a part of the first place 200-yard Freestyle relay team at the Hays Invitational Swimming meet.

In the meet prior to that, at the Manhattan Invitational, Brett captured first place in the 50 and 100-yard Freestyle races.

In recognition of his performance, Brett Magee is the McDonald’s Athlete of the Week. He will receive a framed certificate, and recognition on display boards at the two McDonald’s Restaurants in Junction City, and on both KJCK AM, The Talk of JC, and online at JCPost.com.

A limited number of tickets will be made available to the public for the 2014 Phillips 66 Big 12 Men’s Basketball Championship. 

According to a release from the Big 12 each ticket includes all sessions for the four-day Championship, scheduled for March 12-15 at Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo.

Tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday, Feb. 7 at 10 a.m. online only at SprintCenter.com.   A special presale is scheduled for Sprint Center “Connection Newsletter’ subscribers on Thursday, Feb. 6 at 10 a.m.