Higginsville Advance

The Boys and Girls Cross Country teams are running hard this fall and have already been to meets at Columbia, and Grain Valley. The Boys roster includes: Clay Aversman, Colt Bayless, Cru Bell, Bentley Clock, Dilon Elliott, Owinn Elliot, Alex Fisk, Kingston Frauenhoffer, William Parks, Bryson Smith, Liam Thompson, and Jonathan Young. The varsity members return some depth and experience and should have some fun this season. The Lady Huskers return depth as well and according to projections online (that factor times already submitted in past events) they should have a super solid season, even though the girl’s district could once again basically be called the state tournament as three of the toughest schools are in it, including Lexington, (defending state champion), Higginsville, (3rd in state) and West Platte (who took 2nd in state last year). The Lady Husker roster is small but mighty and includes: Ella Amos, Clara Copenhaver, Harper Hayes, Kyamila, Huseynov, Violet Joyner, Tenley Pessetto, and BG Tyler. Both squads had good numbers running the streets of Higginsville this summer in off season conditioning, and as always Head Coach Colby Brand’s Huskers will gear up at the end of the fall for that final push for a conference crown, and getting as many runners to state as possible.

Husker Volleyball has big goals this season, as they should, having had a remarkable run last year, which included a conference championship, and reaching the Elite Eight. This year’s squad looks to keep the momentum going, and after a successful summer campaign all signs are pointing that way, even despite a tough weekend in St. Joe recently. The team saw some solid competition up north, and this level will only help things down the road. Going back to this summer the team faced teams from out of state with impressive volleyball resumes, and held their own and then some. Recently Coach Kinsey Harms had this to say about a few things: “St. Joseph 2026 Pony Express Girls High School Volleyball State Preview Classic. It was a really great experience. We hope to continue to go to that in the future”. She added: “We played Liberty Mountain View and Sullivan on Friday night.

Head Coach Jim Stoner is short on numbers this year but is already seeing success early on. The number one player for the Lady Huskers is a familiar one to coach Stoner as daughter Ada holds down the top spot for the 2nd year in a row. Stoner, a junior played Softball her freshman year before moving over to tennis. She quickly adapted well to the court, and also anchors the number one doubles spot with her partner Danika Richardson, the number 2 player. Number three is Alle Cunningham who put a lot of work in this summer taking lessons in the city, number 4 is Erma Strait, followed by 5 and 6, Katelyn Davis and #6 Nevaeh Lile. Strait, Davis, and Lile won 6-0 over their respective opponents in match one, a part of 9 wins on the day at love (or 6-0), which Coach Stoner believes might be a first of any of his teams. The Lady Huskers will be a contender come conference time, and will look to keep getting better every day, and see how far they can get come post season time.

A familiar last name is pacing the third base side coaches box for the Lady Husker Softball program. Kylie Figg takes over as the new head coach in Husker Country, replacing Kaisee Lovercamp in that role. If the name sounds familiar one needs only to remember back a few years ago when Mrs. Figg’s husband, alum Landon Figg was the head baseball coach, (and an assistant basketball coach for Jim Stoner). Of course, father in law, David Figg was the C-1 Superintendent of schools as well for many years.

By Dan Rumsey Head Coach Steve Cook is entering his 20th season as the Husker’s head football coach. The Huskers are looking to bounce back from a 3 and 8 season last year, however in the five seasons prior to that the program was a combined 53 and 9 overall with several district championships, and a state semifinal. Prior to that, the Huskers had reached two state championship games under Coach Cook.

Huskers vs St Paul 9-3-26 The Huskers played at home against St Paul Lutheran (Concordia) and won 3-0. Scores 25-23, 25-18 and 25-17. Highlights included Lillian Joyner with 7 kills on the night. Addison Frerking, Claire Frank and Joyner added two serving aces each. Defensive came through with several blocks and Makenna Riekhof added 21 digs with Averie Pippin adding 11 more.