Soaring
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Athletics
Looking Back With Thankfulness by Lance Quessenberry, Athletic Director
Like most everyone, I find myself looking back at the past year with thankfulness for God’s guidance and direction through all the up and downs. 2020 was like no other year and was Lance Quessenberry especially hard on athletic programs across the nation. Some programs shut down completely and athletes lost the opportunity to participate at all different levels. For SCA, our fall programs faced uncertainty each week and the possibility of opponents cancelling existed at every moment. It was a mental strain on everyone involved. One quote summed up what our coaches and athletes experienced this fall, “We are facing two opponents every time we schedule a competition: the actual opponent and COVID.” The virus did take some opportunities from our teams, but in the end, we were able to reschedule or replace many of those cancelled competitions. Along those lines, I’d like to share the actual statistics from the fall semester for our originally scheduled high school and junior high competitions… • Total number of scheduled competitions: 252 • Total number of competitions played: 217 • Percentage of competitions completed: 86%
Of the 252 scheduled competitions, 131 were varsity competitions. Of that 131 varsity competitions, 115 were completed. Of the sixteen varsity competitions that were cancelled, we were able to find different opponents to fill eight of those cancelled dates. Also, since the start of fall, 25 junior high and high school teams have represented SCA in competition. Of those 25 teams, three have had to be quarantined. Of the 35 competitions cancelled, 16 came from those three teams during their quarantine period. The remaining 19 cancelled competitions were due to our scheduled opponent being quarantined. With all the information flying around, this will hopefully help everyone know how things went for SCA Athletics this fall semester. We feel very blessed to have been able to give our athletes the opportunity to participate in athletics and have some amazing stories of how God worked in so many seemingly impossible situations. Along with God’s direction and miracle working power, some amazing coaches, players, parents, maintenance workers, game workers, administrators, and board members made all of this happen. Our Athletic Department is forever grateful for all of you and your help. Thank you for all you have done in the fall of 2020 — it was a period of time we will not soon forget.
Varsity Girls’ Golf has Record Season at State Tournament by Gary Breshears, Varsity Head Girls’ Golf Coach
Varsity Girls’ Golf represented well throughout the season as at least one athlete earned a medal in every tournament in which they participated. In three tournaments, multiple athletes medaled for the team. Postseason began with a sixth place finish at the district tournament where 15 schools competed. All players showed nice progress during the season and improved significantly from last year. Junior Lilli Stallings had an outstanding year for SCA. She was a medalist in every tournament throughout the season. At the district tournament, she finished in fourth place which qualified her for the Class 1 State Tournament for the second year in a row. The tournament was held at Paradise Point Golf Course in Smithville on October 19 & 20. She completed round one in 1st place and held a one-shot lead going into the next round on the second day. After a difficult second round, she finished in 3rd place, which is the best finish by any golfer in school history. The team is young with no seniors graduating this year. Next season Junior Lilli Stallings competed in the Class 1 State holds a lot of promise for the girls, and they look forward to more success Golf tournament where she placed third. This is the highest finish for any SCA golfer. on the course.
