O'HARA SELECTING PLAYERS FOR ACADEMIC KNOWLEDGE BOWL

Preparing to improve on their second place varsity finish in the West Central Conference Academic Knowledge Bowl, and to defend their championships on the junior varsity and freshman levels, the 2010 teams are being formed at Archbishop O'Hara High School. _____ The only varsity player that was not a senior last year from the 2009 squad is Mike Berney. Andy Meyer, a member of the 2009 junior varsity team (along with Mike Berney) got varsity experience from the 2009 District Competition in which O'Hara were Runners-Up. _____ Two other junior varsity players who may have a chance to move up to the varsity level are Erin Lynch and Allison Seck. _____ Three sophomores from last year's freshman team that will have an opportunity to compete on a higher level are Kierra Jackson, George Morejon, and Jake Fortin. ____ The freshman team, as is the case every year, will be newly selected members. _____ The 2009 O'Hara varsity came in second to Saint Pius with Smith-Cotton taking third place in the Conference. _____ The O'Hara junior varsity teams won First Place for three consecutive years while the O'Hara freshman teams have taken top honors eight years in a row. Two of the JV championships and four of the freshman championships were by default when the other schools failed to field teams. _____ This year's competition is scheduled for March 13 in Sedalia at Smith-Cotton. ____ Brother Richard Geimer, room 414, has been the moderator of the O'Hara teams since 1999. The 2005 and 2008 varsity teams won First Place plaques.

Easy Wins for Celtics in Basketball

On January 12, the O'Hara boys basketball team traveled to Saint Pius X winning 62-43. A very slow start had the Celtics on top by an uncharacteristicly low score of 7-4 by the end of the first quarter. The Saint Pius Warriors actually inched ahead 14-11 partway into the second quarter. But then the Celtics scored nine unanswered points with Dominique Fields supplying five of them and O'Hara was not seriously challenged from then on. After the score reached 29-20 midway through the third quarter, the Celtics poured in eleven consecutive points involving five different players for a lead of twenty points. The Warriors were unable to cope with the Celtic full court pressure. Both teams matched scores of 21 apiece for the final quarter. Eleven O'Hara players spread out the scoring with Dominique Fields leading the way with 11 points. _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ On January 11, the O'Hara Celtics girls basketball team hosted the Warrensburg Tigers and won 51-17. The Lady Celtics defense held the Tigers to just two points in each of the first, third, and fourth quarters. Cameron Randle and Alex Smith with double figures accounted for 24 of the O'Hara points. Warrensburg's best showing was in the second quarter when they got three three-point shots and two free throws for 11 points, but that was matched by 20 points by the Celtics mostly from Cameron Randle and Hailey Houser.

O'HARA HOSTS WRESTLING TOURNAMENT

In spite of the winter storm, Archbishop O'Hara High School hosted a wrestling tournament on January 9. Four schools sent teams to compete: Raytown South, Christ Prep, Saint Mary's, and Rockhurst. ______ O'Hara's Jake Fortin, wrestling at 125 lbs, won all four of his matches to take first place. _____ Three other O'Hara wrestlers lost only one match each and ended up in second places. They were Jeremy Ambrose at 130 lbs, Louie Golden at 189 lbs, and Danny Adams at 103 lbs.

O'Hara Wins By Twenty: O'Hara 61 Rockhurst 41

The Rockhurst Hawklets scored six three-pointers against the O'Hara Celtics for 18 of their 41 points on January 8, but it wasn't enough as the home team lost 61-41. _____ For the first quarter, the game was fairly close with O'Hara up by four points. ____ A splurge of scoring in the second period pushed the game out of reach for a halftime score of 33-22 with O'Hara on top. _____ T. J. White and JeVon Lyle combined for 29 Celtic points as the deep O'Hara bench took care of the rest. _____ Rockhurst connected on only three free throws. _____ Going into the game, both teams had won over a tough common opponent Rock Bridge. Rockhurst won their game by four points but O'Hara needed a double overtime to win theirs by one point.

O'HARA BASKETBALL TEAM RANKED #2

On January 7, the sports staff of the KC Star announced the rankings of area boys basketball teams of Missouri Classes 4 and 5 and of Kansas 5A and 6A Classes. Included was O'Hara who in past years was included in the small schools category. _____ The O'Hara Celtics with a 10-1 record was ranked #2 behind Miege with a 4-0 record. Miege edged O'Hara by two points in the Hy-Vee Shootout when Jevon Lyle's three-point shot at the final buzzer missed. _____ On January 8, Miege was listed nationally #41 in the ESPN Rise Fab 50 rankings. ____ Kearney with a 10-0 record was third in the area rankings and two teams that had identical 10-1 records as O'Hara were ranked fifth (Rockhurst) and seventh (Raymore-Peculiar). _____ Undefeated teams with 5-0 records were Leavenworth (ranked fourth) and Olathe South (ranked sixth). _____ The other teams rounding out the top ten were #8 Raytown South 9-3, #9 Liberty 9-2, and #10 Blue Valley North 4-1.

Lady Celtics Begin New Year With 62-30 Win

On January 5, the O'Hara Lady Celtics hosted the Saint James Thunder and took a 62-30 decision. _____ Hailey Houser poured in 22 points, eight of which were O'Hara's first points of the third quarter after the Celtics achieved a 34-18 halftime score. _____ At 21-12, the Celtics jumped ahead in the first quarter erasing a 7-8 Thunder lead by putting in seven unanswered points. _____ Saint James was held to six points in the second quarter, eight points in the third quarter, and only four in the final quarter. _____ Cameron Randle had 12 points and Alex Smith had 10 points.

ALL-METRO VOLLEYBALL INVOLVES THREE O'HARA JUNIORS

From the Archbishop O'Hara High School Class 3 State Championship Team, three players were considered for the 2009 ALL-METRO TEAM. ______ All three are juniors in the announcement made on January 3, 2010. ______ Chosen to the FIRST TEAM was Victoria Hurtt who led the team in blocks, kills, and kill-efficiency statistics. She is a repeat All-Metro First Team player having been selected her sophomore year. This year she received the recognition for the top rated player for the State All-Region Team. _____ O'Hara's setter, Lindsey Hanaway, was named to the All-Metro SECOND TEAM, and middle-hitter Michala Boehm was an HONORABLE MENTION. _____ The O'Hara Celtics will have all three players back for next season.