O'HARA MATH CONTEST

PRESENTATION OUTSCORES OUR LADY OF PEACE AND SAINT PETER'S IN THE O'HARA MATH CONTEST On March 28th, with a strong eighth grade team, Presentation School in Lee's Summit score a total of 527 points in the annual O'Hara Math Contest to take first place. Our Lady of Peace School came in second with 471 points and Saint Peter's was third with 399 points. Other schools competing were Christ the King, Saint Regis, Saint Elizabeth, and Holy Cross, but not all of the schools fielded complete teams. Remarkably, the eighth graders from Presentation took all five places. Katherine Surmeier (99) was first followed by Clare Banderas (78), Lindsey Beachner (77), Ian Sierks (76), and Mary Brage (72). In the seventh grade competition, the top two places were Sean Ordowski (108) and Heather Cigas (105) both from Saint Elizabeth School. Ben Kirse (100) from Our Lady of Peace School was third. Tying for fourth place with a score of 97 were Alex Higenbotham from Presentation and Madeline Knopke from Saint Elizabeth, and fifth place was awarded to Brett Kies from Saint Regis. Brady Bird (97) was the top sixth grader from Saint Peter's followed by Armando Mesa (95) from Holy Cross School. Connor Lynch from Presentation scored 93 for third place. With a score of 92, both Kelsey Leathers from Our Lady of Peace and Patrick Bauman from Saint Peter's shared fourth place. Nick Hirner (90) from Saint Peter's took fifth.

Underclassman Retreat

O’HARA UNDERCLASSMEN HAVE A RETREAT DAY Wearing the School Uniform or blue jeans with Campus Ministry t-shirt and athletic shoes, the freshman, sophomore, and junior classes at Archbishop O’Hara High School shared a retreat day in place of regular classes on March 26th. The seniors were off. The day started with an 8:15 Mass at St. John Francis Regis church. Lunch consisted of bringing one from home or purchasing Little Caesar’s Pizza from the Celtic Café. The junior class were involved in a variety of service projects. The freshmen’s day included a trip to Union Station for the Pope John Paul II exhibit. It was also composed of activities in small and large groups, a Reconciliation Service and opportunities for confessions, and listening to two guest speakers. The sophomores were involved in Culture Close-up and also traveled to Union Station for the Pope John Paul II exhibit. They had activities in small and large groups, a Reconciliation Service and the opportunity for confession. Meanwhile the seniors who were not participating in the retreat as a class helped in some of the retreat activities or were working on senior projects. Some were on a private retreat entitled Kairos. Mary Pat Storms, campus minister and coordinator of the retreat said, “Why are we doing this? Retreats give us time away from our usual schedules to reflect and act in ways that help us grow closer in our relationships with God and our neighbors.”

B A S E B A L L

On a very windy day, the O'Hara Celtics fell to the Raytown Blue Jays 6-1 in the first round of the Raytown Schools Tournament. Joey Tucker got O'Hara on the scoreboard with a ground out to score Chuck Preston. It was the Celtics' only run of the game. Sophomore Cullen Rowland started the game for the Celtics allowing only one earned run over four innings. and struck out six batters. Aaron Mitchell came in relief and registered three strikeouts ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Celtic Baseball team defeated the Oak Grove Panthers the next day by the score of 11-5. The Celtics went up 2-0 on a homerun by Aaron Mitchell in the first inning. However the Panthers answered with five runs. Trailing 5-2 in the top of the third the Celtics rallied to take a 6-5 lead on four consecutive singles by Aaron Mitchell, Chuck Preston, Joey Tucker and Jake Slocum. A two run homer by Aaron Stubblefield added insurance runs in the top of the fourth. Senior Vince Saviano relieved pitcher Jake Slocum in the second inning and had four shutout innings to preserve the win stiking out six along the way. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fort Osage tied O'Hara in the third game 5-5. Both teams had identical 1-1-1 records but Fort Osage moved on in the tournament's competition having a better run-spread for the tie breaker. Aaron Stubblefield was O'Hara's starting pitcher and gave up one first inning run but allowed no hits. Fort Osage increased their lead to 3-0 in the third inning but O'Hara came back with two runs. Travis Peter's hit brought in the RBI's. The Celtics surged ahead in the fifth inning. Vince Saviano, Cullen Rowland, Aaron Stubblefield, and Joe Tucker got clean hits with Rowland getting one RBI and Tucker producing two. As time was running out, Fort Osage managed to bring the score to a tie. As a tournament game the outcome was governed by a time limit.

CMSU winners

From O'Hara High School, Kayla McGee won the long jump event and Max Storms won the 3200 meter run in the indoor relays at CMSU on March 23rd.

O'Hara Varsity Take 2nd Place in Knowledge Bowl

In defense of their First Place finish in 2008, the O'Hara varsity Academic Knowldege Bowl team had to settle for second place in the West Central Conference, losing out to the host team Saint Pius X by a 200-170 score. The two teams were tied at the end of the first quarter but O'Hara pulled ahead by 10 at halftime and maintained that lead into the fourth quarter. However, the questions fell in favor of the Saint Pius squad in the final period and the Warriors rallied to win. Smith-Cotton Sedalia was a distant third. Clinton, Center, and Warrensburg are the other Conference schools. The varsity team included captain Max Storms, Joe Pepple, Mike Lynch, Kim, Jones, Lindsey Davis, Joe Volz, and Trevor Krasowsky along with Mike Berney who was added to the team after the announcement that the junior varsity and freshman teams would not be opposed in the defense of their 2008 championships. Max Storms was the only returning varsity player from the 2008 championship team. Next year, Mike Berney, a junior, will be the only returning varsity player from this year's runner-up team. In the competition, Max Storms answered the most toss-up questions. He had 18 with his closest opponent Chris Ross from Saint Pius answering 11. The next highest answered 6.

JV & FROSH ACADEMIC KNOWLEDGE BOWL

O'Hara High School got word in a letter dated March 6th that their junior varsity and their freshman squads would be unopposed in the oncoming West Central Conference Meet scheduled for Saturday March 14th. In a communication from Peter Bonello from Saint Pius X, O'Hara was informed that there would be a varsity competition only. This is the second year in a row that O'Hara's junor varsity and freshman teams take their Championships by default. Bonello stated, "I would love to have JV and freshman parallel tournaments as before." He went on to remark, "these have been poorly attended in the past year." Meanwhile the varsity competition will have a round-robin format. The questions this year are from Bill Luce of Show-Me Questions.

SHIRE SHINES

Sarah Shire, a 2006 graduate from Archbishop O'Hara High School, now a junior at Missouri University, was selected as Big 12 Gymnast of the Week on March 10th. She accomplished this in Ypsilani, Michigan at the Eagle Invitational. It was her fifth time this season and her eighth overall. Her father was a teacher at O'Hara High School several years ago.

ACADEMIC KNOWLEDGE BOWL

O'HARA TO DEFEND WCC KNOWLEDGE BOWL On March 14th, Archbishop O'Hara High School will be defending its West Central Conference Knowledge Bowl Championship on the varsity, junior varsity, and freshman levels at Saint Pius X High School. Max Storms is the only returning varsity member from last year's varsity squad. He will be joined by six seniors who were members of the JV Championship team from last year. These include Joe Pepple, Joe Volz, Mike Lynch, Trevor Krasowsky, Lindsey Davis and Kim Jones. This year, the junior varsity players are junior Mike Berney (captain), and sophomores Allison Seck, Andy Meyer, and Erin Lynch. Winners of the freshman division for the last eight years, this year's freshman team will try to make it nine in a row and is made up of George Morejon, Amanda Steele, Kierra Jackson, and Jake Fortin. Besides O'Hara and Saint Pius, the teams of the Conference are Center, Smith-Cotton, Clinton, and Warrensburg. Brother Richard Geimer is the O'Hara moderator and is in his tenth year.