Catherine "CJ" Heim Passes Away

    Catherine Heim, 94, passed away May 23, 2019.   She was married to John C. Heim and they operated a construction company until he passed away.  She worked as a health aide for USD 321 schools.  Her complete obituary can be read at:
http://piperfuneralhome.com/obituaries/catherine-jo-cj-heim/

Rossville Dominates In 100 M

Rossville senior Trevor Johnson knew that he and sophomore Woodrow Rezac could put together a strong performance at state in the 2A boys 100-meter dash.

In fact, Johnson floated that suggestion to his teammate long before state.

“When we started training this year, I told him that I was going to win it and I wanted him right behind me,” Johnson said.

That’s exactly how things turned out at Cessna Stadium, with Johnson winning in 11.02 seconds and Rezac finishing second in 11.20.

“We’ve been pushing each other all year long trying to get first and second, and it’s nice that we finally reached that goal,” Johnson said. “I get my name up on the wall (as a state champ) and I’m waiting on him to do it next year.”

Rezac easily surpassed the very modest goal he set entering the race.

“To be honest, I didn’t want to get last,” he said. “I knew I was pretty close to Trevor and I tried to beat him. I didn’t, but second’s second and I’m not going to argue.”

Rezac picked up a state title and Johnson got his second gold later in the day when the Bulldawgs teamed with senior Benjamin Price and sophomore Tyree Sowers to win the 400 relay in 43.98.

Patricia Pletcher Passes Away

    With heavy hearts, at the age of 79, we announce the death of Patricia L. Pletcher (Rossville, Kansas), born in Camdenton, Missouri, who passed away on May 23, 2019.
    She was loved and cherished by many people including : her parents, Harry F. Cooper and Nettie A. Tillison Cooper; her husband Robert; her children, John F. Pletcher, Brand Pletcher (Nancy) of Keene, Ron Pletcher (Tricia) of Keene, Robert Pletcher Jr. of Keene and Jeannie Masters (J. B.); her daughter-in-law Dee Pletcher of Harrisburg, OR; her sister Ann Willcut of Camdenton, MO.   She was also cherished by 8 grandchildren and 6 great-grandchildren.
    A Celebration of Life Service will be held Saturday, May 25, 2019 at Wabaunsee County Fire District No. 5 firehouse from 6:00-8:00 P.M., 23324 K- 99 Hwy., Lake Wabaunsee. Memorial contributions may be made to Midland Hospice and sent in care of Piper Funeral Home, 714 Maple Street, St. Marys, Kansas 66536. To read a full obituary or leave online condolences go to www.piperfuneralhome.com.

Streit & Gillum At 2A State Track

Girls Team Results:

The Rossville girls track team came in 34th of 43 teams with only two qualifiers from the regional. 
Julia Streit came in 6th in the 3200 M Run per official standings,  but had the identical time as # 5.

3,200m run—1. Wagner, KC Christian, 11:31.49. 2. H.Giefer, Trego, 11:44.38. 3. Diercks, Hoxie, 12:13.65. 4. S.Giefer, Trego, 12:18.89. 5. Hammeke, Ellinwood, 12:28.59. 6. Streit, Rossville, 12:28.59. 7. Peterson, Stanton County, 12:38.30. 8. Brown, Remington, 12:51.20

Briar Gillum placed 8th in the shot put.

Still Time To Attend All-School Reunion

There is still time to make reservations for the RHS Reunion, Dinner and Scholarship Presentation. It will be Saturday, June 1st at the Dekat Parish Hall with social hour at 4:00 and catered dinner at 6:00. Call 785 584 6080 with questions.

Rossville Third At State

From the Capital-Journal:
    Rossville saw its hopes of capturing the Class 2-1A state baseball title end with a 9-4 loss to Marion in the semifinals. But the Bulldawgs bounced back in a big way, beating Humboldt 19-3 for third.
    “I am proud of our kids for the improvement that we made,” Rossville coach Eammon Bradley said. “We played good baseball with the exception of one inning versus Marion. It is challenging to lose the semifinal game and have to play a consolation game after that. It showed that we were the mentally tougher team to rebound from a crushing loss and get a big win against Humboldt.”
    Rossville led 1-0 early against Marion, but saw the Warriors erupt for seven runs in the second inning to take control. Aiden Garcia and Bo Reeves each drove in two runs for the Bulldawgs.
    Rossville led just 4-3 after two innings in the consolation game before blowing out the Cubs. The Bulldawgs scored seven times in the third and finished the Cubs off with a six-run fifth.
Reevdes, Cody Dyche and McGwyre Leathers each drove in three runs and Kaleb Badura had three hits, two RBIs and scored four runs. Ten different Bulldawgs had hits in the blowout.
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CLASS 2-1A BASEBALL  CONSOLATION FINAL
ROSSVILLE 19, HUMBOLDT 3
Rossville   1 3 7 2 6 X X     19    16   1
Humboldt  1 2 0 0 0 X X       3     7    3
Balch and Brown. Aikins, Barnett (3), Murrow (6) and Elder. WP — Balch. LP — Aikins.
2B — Rossville: Garcia; Humboldt: Elder, Goodner.

STATE SEMIFINAL  
MARION 9, ROSSVILLE 4
Rossville    1 0 0 0 1 2 0       4  7  4
Marion       0 7 0 1 1 0 X      9  9  3
Brockamp, Catron (2) and Brown. Tracy, Mercer (6) and Zinn. WP — Tracy. LP — Brockamp.
2B — Marion: Stringer. 3B — Marion: Lanning.

Trevor Johnson At State

Rossville’s TREVOR JOHNSON has the top 2A boys’ time in the 100 (10.84) and 200 (22.57)  meter dashes, but only won the 100 at regionals, edging teammate WOODROW REZAC.    Trevor will be gunning for a State Championship May 24, 25 to end his high school career.  

Dawgs Advance In State Tourney

From the Capital-Journal:
GREAT BEND — Down four runs, the Rossville Bulldawgs found the offense they needed in the last two innings, aided by Sedgwick Cardinal errors, to claim a 5-4 win Thursday in the quarterfinals of the Class 2-1A state baseball tournament at the Great Bend Sports Complex.

Rossville sophomore Bo Reeves drove in the tying run with two outs in the top of the seventh. The winning run scored on an error. Each team managed just one earned run for the game.

Rossville (15-8) faces Marion in Friday’s second semifinal, set to start 35 minutes after the 10 a.m. game.

Sedgwick ends the season 15-3.

Reeves went four innings plus four batters in the fifth, allowing one earned run on one hit with six walks and eight strikeouts.

Aiden Garcia finished the game for the win, allowing a hit, a walk and four strikeouts.

Nolan Crumrine took the loss, allowing one earned run on seven hits with a walk and eight strikeouts.

Derek Balch was 2 for 3 hitting for Rossville, the only player with more than one hit.

An error and walk in the bottom of the second inning set up a two-run double for Sedgwick’s Colton Smith.

Rossville put runners at second and third base with no outs in the top of the fourth inning. A pair of ground-outs to second baseman Hooper Schroeder and a pop fly to Crumrine ended the threat.

Rossville stranded a total of six runners in the first four innings.

Sedgwick opened the bottom of the fifth with a walk and a hit batter. Smith then grounded into a two-base error to score a run. Another walk loaded the bases and forced a pitching change.

Trey Bright singled to score another run. A pair of infield fly balls and a strikeout ended the threat.

Rossville opened the top of the sixth with a single, an error and a hit batter to load the bases. A run scored on a wild pitch. Tagen Kippes grounded out to score a second run. Kaleb Badura followed with an RBI single, but was then picked off. A strikeout ended the inning.

Aiden Garcia opened the top of the seventh with an infield single. Mcgwyre Leathers followed with a double. After two strikeouts, Reeves then singled to tie the game. An error on the play allowed another run to score.

Sedgwick got a walk with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, but a strikeout ended the game.

ROSSVILLE 5, SEDGWICK 4

Rossville   0000032—5  7  2

Sedgwick  2000200—4  2  4

Reeves, Garcia (W) 5 and Brown; Crumrine (L) and Lacey.

Dawg Baseball A Surprise

From the Capital-Journal:

ROSSVILLE — After posting back-to-back seasons that not only saw his Rossville baseball team post just a total of seven wins but also get outscored by 100 or more runs each of those seasons, one might not have expected Bulldawg coach Eammon Bradley to look at his 2019 squad and think of it as a potential state qualifier.

But he did.

“The freshman group we had last year, there were some bright spots there, especially pitching,” Bradley said. “And I thought the kids that are freshmen now, we had an indication of the talent we were getting. And there was progress from the older guys.

“Two summers ago, it was butt-kickings all over the place and there were no signs of, ‘Hey we could be pretty good next year.’ Last summer, there were moments against teams that were older than we were that we were not only competitive but beating those teams. We thought give it another year and we’ll see what might happen. There’s the possibility we could be pretty good.”

Rossville made good on Bradley’s convictions last week when it captured the Class 2-1A regional title at Wabaunsee. Not only did the Bulldawgs win the regional, they dominated it.

Going in as the No. 3 seed, the Bulldawgs outscored their three regional foes 42-0, including an eye-opening 20-0 win over one-loss and perennial state qualifier Mission Valley in the championship game.

Rossville (14-8) will be the No. 6 seed at this week’s Class 2-1A state tournament at the Great Bend Sports Complext, opening tournament play at 5:45 p.m. Thursday against No. 3 seed Sedgwick (15-2).

“That was probably more surprising than anything,” Bradley said of the manner in which his team earned its state berth. “I knew dropping down to 2A, there would be a shot. I knew we’d be young, but there was talent here. We pictured there being a shot at the beginning, but the way did it was a little surprising.”

Making its first state appearance since 2006, Rossville didn’t waste any time serving notice that a breakthrough season could be in the works. In the season opener, the Bulldawgs knocked off defending Mid-East League champion Riley County with a 6-2 win.

The loss was the only defeat the Falcons suffered in league play in the regular season.

From there, Rossville rode a little bit of a roller-coaster. The Bulldawgs, who start six sophomores and freshmen, swept Wabaunsee, but were swept by Silver Lake. Most of their doubleheaders ended with splits.

The up-and-down nature of the season was anything but frustrating for the Bulldawgs.

“The back-and-forth splitting of doubleheaders was an improvement,” Bradley said. “The psyche wasn’t ‘We can’t get a sweep.’ It was more ‘We’re getting wins.’ And we were getting wins against good teams. I think it was a big positive and it wasn’t that difficult to make it a big positive because it was such an improvement over the last two years.”

In addition to knocking off Riley County, the Bulldawgs managed splits with 3A state qualifiers Rossville and Sabetha and also with ranked 4A Anderson County.

The key victory was the win over Sabetha, last year’s Class 3A state champion. Rossville trailed 9-7 going into the bottom of the seventh, but came up with three runs to win in walk-off fashion.

“There were multiple moments for us, moments that were really scattered out,” Bradley said. “But I don’t think it really clicked until the Sabetha win. That was a little different because it was pretty exciting how it happened. That moment was probably the one because now you haven’t done it just once, you’ve done it multiple times against good teams. And even the games we were losing were tight. We kind of realized we weren’t a fluke, we were a pretty good team.”

Pitching and defense have been Rossville’s strong suits all season with only one team scoring double-digits against the Bulldawgs all season, Rock Creek in a 10-7 win late in the season. Those traits held true in regional play as Rossville rode pitchers Bo Reeves (5-2, 0.61 ERA), Aiden Garcia (3-5, 2.39) and Eddie Brockamp (1-0, 3.65) to three straight shutouts.

But Bradley said the biggest difference in the dominant regional run was the Bulldawgs’ offense. Starting with a season-ending sweep of Olpe, Rossville has improved its team batting average by roughly 40 points in five games.

“The development at the plate was big,” he said. “We’ve been good pitching and defensively all year. Teams have struggled putting up runs on us and that’s been true all season. But it wasn’t until regionals where we got pretty consistent run production and started swinging the bat better.”

Now the Bulldawgs hope to ride the momentum to another postseason run in Great Bend.

“We’ll see,” he said. “It’s been practicing inside and a week since we’ve played so you don’t know how you’ll come out and play on that first day. I’d like to say we have momentum ... but I don’t know what to expect. But I think we’ve proven we’re capable.”

Click on image to enlarge

2019 Regional Champs

Sharon Davis Memorial Service

    The graveside memorial services for Sharon I. Davis Pierce will be at 11:00 A.M. Saturday, May 25, 2019 at the Rossville Christian Church due to the weather.

2A Regional Track & Field

Women - Class 2A - Team Rankings - 18 Events Scored
1) Jefferson County North 112
2) Blue Rapids-Valley Hts   64
3) KC Christian                    60
4) Wabaunsee                       56
5) Jackson Heights               51
6) Shawnee-Maranatha        42
7) Rossville                          38
8) Richmond-Central Hts     33
9) Eskridge-Mission Valley 23
10) Oskaloosa                      21
10) Olathe-Heritage Christian  21
12) Lyndon                          11
13) Horton                           10
14) McLouth                         9
15) Atchison                         6
16) Lawrence-Bishop Seabury  1

Top Five performances were turned in by:
Julia Streit             3200 M        3rd
    "      "                 1600 M        4th
Kaytlin Dohrman  100  M Hur  5th
Jordan Bittner         100 M Hur  4th
     "         "               300 M Hur 3rd
Jaycee Fiedler         400 M         4th
Briar Gillum           Shot Put      1st

Men - Class 2A - Team Rankings - 18 Events Scored
1) Jackson Heights                 86
2) KC Christian                      69
3) Shawnee-Maranatha          68
4) Jefferson County North     62
5) McLouth                            45
6) Rossville                            44
7) Richmond-Central Hts       41
8) Atchison County                37
8) Horton                                37
10) Wabaunsee                       28
11) Lawrence-Bishop Seabury 20
12) Olathe-Heritage Christian  9
13) Blue Rapids-Valley Hts      6
14) Eskridge-Mission Valley    4
15) Lyndon             

Top Five performances were turned in by:

Trevor Johnson       100 M       1st
     "         "               200 M       3rd
Goodnow Rezac     100 M       2nd
     "             "          200 M       2nd
Boys 4 x 100 Relay                  1st

Linda Downie Passes Away

Linda Downie, 80, of Topeka, passed away Friday, May 17, 2019.

She was born March 11, 1939, in Willard, Kansas, the daughter of Ralph and Geraldine (Frieson) Pitts. She graduated from Eskridge High School in 1957.

Linda married Darrell Downie on August 20, 1960 in Miami, Oklahoma.

Linda attended cosmetology school in 1971 and had her own beauty salon in her home. She enjoyed gardening, ranching, quilting and cooking. 

Survivors include her husband, Darrell Downie; son, Bryan (Paula) Downie; daughter, Jodie (Zach) Allen, son, Jared (Beth) Downie; three grandchildren; four great-grandchildren and two sisters, Shirley Henderson and Nancy (Monty) Mercer. 

She was preceded in death by her parents; brother, Ralph Pitts, Jr.

Family will greet friends from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm on Tuesday, May 22, 2019 at Parker-Price Cremations, Funerals & Receptions, 245 NW Independence Ave. Topeka, KS.   To share a memory of Linda or leave a message for her family, please click the Share Memories button pn the Parker Price web site--https://www.parkerpricefh.com/Obituary/172037/Linda-Downie/Topeka-KS

A graveside service will be at 11:00 am, Wednesday, May 22, 2019 at the Prairie Home Cemetery, NW 35th & Menoken Rd., Topeka.

RHS Top Ten Senior Scholars

    Rossville High School announced the Top 10 Seniors of the Class of 2019 at graduation exercises on Sunday, May 19, 2019. The following seniors were recognized for their academic accomplishments: Alexander Archer, Derek Balch, Jordan Bittner, MaKenzie Decklar, Dylan Ditch , Kaytlin Dohrman, Caila Hill, Stacey Keithline, Cheyenne Reese, and Ava Stipp.

RHS Top Scholar Awards

RHS VALEDICTORIAN/SALUTATORIAN AWARDS

    Rossville High School announced their top scholars at graduation on May 19, 2019.  Pictured from left are Valedictorians Jordan Bittner and Caila Hill and Salutatorian Kaytlin Dohrman.