March 31, 2023 Collegian

Opinion

Mason Poepperling reveals a newfound respect for country music

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Braedon Martin dishes out some anger towards one specific TikTok Page 3

Preview of the HutchCC Spring Musical “Rent”

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Students speak out

SportsBlue Dragon golf on the hunt for another threepeat Page 6

Members of HutchCC’s GSA speak out against the national rise in anti-LGBTQIA+ sentiments

By Lynn Spahr Staff Writer

In recent years, the hate towards the LGBT+ community has risen, often with a focus on transgender individuals. This year alone, numerous bills attacking the rights of trans people have been proposed across the country. One of the more recent bills coming out of Tennessee restricting drag shows uses vague language that could apply to every day trans people.

While nothing has been passed in Kansas yet, the atmosphere of hate has an effect. According to Janelle Voth, the G.S.A. sponsor at Hutchinson Community College, “The college has to make some decisions with the knowledge that reflects the possible law changes.”

These decisions could make building a safe and understanding community more difficult, but that won’t stop Voth.

“We are trying to do what we can to make this college the place where everyone can thrive despite the challenges,” Voth said.

Voth, who also works in the HutchCC business office, hopes to educate people on building a safe community.

Faculty and staff aren’t the

only ones paying attention.

Quinn Lowrey and Kourtney Stoppel, HutchCC sophomores, both have concerns about the laws being proposed in many states and what they mean for them and their peers.

“I … worry about safety, especially among transgender women. I’m worried the anti-trans laws may invoke negativity and give those with prejudice against the trans community reason to commit transgressions against us,” Lowrey said.

Their concerns aren’t unfounded. These laws could inspire the hateful to be more bold.

“For example, I’m pretty sure that some of the folks on the floor think that I’m a trans woman when I’m AFAB (assigned female at birth) and have been avoiding me like the plague because of it, making transphobic comments, stepping out of the bathroom immediately after entering it if I’m just washing my hands in there … and I’m not even actually transgender,” Stoppel said.

Concerns about the legislation and its effects aren’t where the emotions end. Seeing constant hatred and violence toward

You’re late!

one’s community is bound to inspire many strong feelings.

“I’m furious that this is still going on,” Stoppel said. “I hate that we have to claw tooth and nail for any amount of rights … people shouldn’t have to fight to have basic hu-

But not too late for grad app

man rights to their own bodies.

Fury is a common response to one’s rights being challenged and violated while one’s voice is ignored. But fury is only one response.

“It makes me sad to see the lives of many transgender

As the year comes to a close, many students have to prepare for graduation from Hutchinson Community College, even if their college journey is still far from over. And one of the most important things they must do before they graduate from HutchCC is turn in their graduation application.

Katherine Eberly, HutchCC’s degree audit specialist says the graduation application, “Allows them (students) to have a degree potentially posted … we don’t just automatically post it. So a student has to apply for graduation in order for us to know, ‘yes, this student’s at that point where they’re meeting all the requirements, and yes, they do want that credential posted’. So it is the most important part of it. So that’s what starts the whole process for students.”

Eberly is the one who has to make data entries into the system, and make sure that both students and advisors have done everything they need to do for a student to graduate.

She encourages students to reach out to their advisors as soon as possible to make sure they’re on course for graduation.

“We would like for students to work with their advisors because we want advisors to do the checking, and making sure that students have the requirements,” Eberly said. “The application can actually be found on the website, on the records page, but a lot of students, I think, what happens is that it’s going to be initiated by either them asking their advisor or their advisor is going to be sending that application saying, ‘hey, we’re at this time. You need to fill this out’. My hope is that students are asking their advisors if their advisors aren’t reaching out to

men, women, and children diminished, and it hurts as a member of the community that there are people so prejudiced,” Lowrey said. The constant hate is causing pain in

By Connor Keating Staff Writer See Grad, Page

them.”

Another importance of the application is the graduation ceremony, specifically the commencement program. The deadline for that was March 20, however, they are happy to take applications after that. Eberly says that the risk of turning in applications late is that students may not get their name in the commencement program, since the marketing department needs those names in by the beginning of April.

“We also have to get information to our marketing department much earlier than what people probably realize,” Eberly said. “So we have to get that information next week. Monday is the cut off for that, for student’s information in the program. Cause the actual program itself, the physical program booklet you get at the ceremony, that takes some time for marketing to put together, that takes some time to be printed, so that’s why we like to have as many applications as possible in March so that we can get ready for that.”

Another event that has already passed is the time to get cap and gowns, however the Parker Student Union still has boxes and boxes of gowns for any procrastination loving students.

“They can get that (their cap and gown) here in records. We have students now that are kind of trickling in. They’re welcome to come into our office anytime we’re open,” Eberly said. “Sometimes students are at the McPherson or Newton locations and we can send gowns there, and they can always reach out to us. Sometimes students will have a friend pick it up or a family member or something like that.

So we’ll work with them, and if they

“Students in our GSA (Gender Sexuality Alliance) wrote all the different terminology they could think of around a flag made of their hand prints. #harkertogs” by Dowbiggin is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-nc/2.0/?ref=openverse.

Photo by Danae Moser/Collegian Hutchinson Community College graduate Red Bridges plays their bassoon at the 2022 commencement at the Sports Arena.

5

The end is near: Finish strong Blue Dragons

It’s almost April, which means we are closing in on the last month of classes.

There are less than 30 school days left of sitting in class, taking tests, and stressing over assignments.

For many of you, you’re about to graduate, and either continue your education or finally begin your career in the field you’ve been working toward during your time at Hutchinson Community College.

For some students, the next few months still hold a lot of unknowns. You came to HutchCC to take a few classes, and maybe earn a degree, but hadn’t yet set your mind on a specific path beyond that, and that’s OK. That is completely normal and those big decisions will come in due time.

Only you can be the one to decide where you go and what you do from here. There can be a million outside voices trying to convince you of what path to take, but not a single one of those matters more than your own.

That being said, finish this semester strong and make yourself and those who love you proud.

For the Collegian Editorial Board

OK, boomer.

Is country music actually awesome?

Brace yourself dear reader. I’m about to do something I’ve never done before: I’m about to praise country music.

When I was 10-years old and starting to become cognitively aware of what music was, it was 2013 and country music was arguably bigger than it had ever been. I was hearing country music on the radio more often, and it became my favorite genre for a while, to the point where no other genres mattered to me. Unfortunately for me, 2013 was also arguably the worst year for country music. 2013 was the year that the biggest names in country music were Florida Georgia Line, Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean, Blake Shelton, Sam Hunt, Hunter Hayes, and Cole Swindell. In other words, this was the ‘Bro Country era’: upbeat, mid-to-high tempo music with heavy pop influences and lyrics about attractive young women, copious amounts of alcohol consumption,

partying and pickup trucks. Exclusively in that order.

Don’t get me wrong, there was good country music during this time, but radio sure as hell wasn’t playing the good stuff. They were playing the popular stuff. Thankfully, in the middle of eighth grade, one of my friends introduced me to Green Day, and ever since then pop punk/alternative was the genre that took over my life. Bands and artists like Fall Out Boy, Blink-182, Sum 41, Paramore, Good Charlotte, Weezer, and, later on, Machine Gun Kelly, Mod Sun, Youngblud, Linkin Park and Korn became my music of course, and I rarely gave country music another thought again. When I did give country music a thought, it was never a positive one.

So, what changed? Why am I writing this column about country music when I haven’t liked it for years? Well, over spring break, my family and I took a

trip to Denver, and on the way there, I started listening to the ‘Song vs Song’ podcast hosted by Todd Nathanson and Alina Morgan. In an episode from Oct. 14, 2020, they put “Cruise” by Florida Georgia Line against “Dirt Road Anthem” by Jason Aldean. Both of these songs were nostalgic for me because both of those songs were in heavy rotation for me when I was in my country phase. Listening to the hostsalong with guest host Grady Smith, a country music YouTuber - talk about both of these songs got me reminiscing about how much I used to love country music. It also made me wonder if country music had gotten any better. Like a guy stalking his ex-girlfriend on social media years after the break up, I decided to check on country music to see if it had improved itself by listening to the ‘Country Rising’ playlist on Tidal. Listening to a few songs, I had a massive realization: I didn’t hate what I was listening to. Every song didn’t sound the same. It was no longer all about girls, trucks, beer and jeans. It was diverse and interesting and really awesome. Does this make me a true-blue country music fan now? Am I gonna have to trade in my Blink-182 and Korn t-shirts for flannel button ups? My red Converse for brown boots? My black beanie for a 10-gallon stetson? My Corolla for a Tacoma?

Not quite. You see, aside from the fact that pop - punk and alternative music will always have my whole heart - my favorite type of country music is the type that doesn’t sound like traditional country music. Don’t get me wrong, there are exceptions (Chris Stapleton for example), but during my dive into country music, the songs that stood out the most to me were ones that took inspiration from other music genres. The first song I heard that made me realize country music is actually really awesome now was “Cottonmouth” by country newcomer Rvshvd (pronounced Rashad), which features the lead singer of Ice Nine Kills, a heavy metal band. It’s an absolutely killer combination of country and hard rock,

with one of the best choruses I’ve ever heard in any song.

The other type of country music I like is country music with hip-hop influences. I know this may be the bane of the existence of many “true” country fans, and it can sound cringe when it’s done badly, but when it’s done well, it’s done really well. The best examples of this come from Morgan Wallens’ new album “One Thing At A Time”. Tracks like “Ain’t That Some”, “I Wrote The Book”, “Sunrise”, “You Proof”, “180 (Lifestyle)”, “Neon Star”, and “Thinkin Bout Me” were the most captivating and fun to listen to. There are some great traditional country songs on that album too, but the ones I just listed are the best in my opinion.

I could honestly keep going. I didn’t even get into how Jelly Roll is doing some of the most exciting things in country music right now, or how I even found songs from people like Luke Bryan and Florida Georgia Line that I liked even though I still don’t really like them as artists. But for the sake of time, I’m going to refrain myself.

What I’d like to say in closing is this - if you’re the type of country music traditionalist who is disgusted by my opinions on the genre, I understand.

But for me, if taking influences from other genres is what gets people like me interested in country music, where’s the problem?

Country music needs to evolve, and I’m proud of it for taking the time for self improvement.

Mason Poepperling is a Buhler sophomore studying Journalism.

the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, religion, age, military status, sexual orientation, or any other protected category under federal, state, or local law, or by college policy.

For inquiries regarding the non-discrimination policies contact: Christopher Lau, Coordinator of Equity & Compliance 1300 N. Plum Hutchinson, KS 67501 (620) 665-3500 equity@hutchcc.edu (www.hutchcc.edu/equity)

Cartoon by Briana Payne/Collegian

Columnist

Mason Poepperling

Gamers haven’t gatekept anything

This week, I happened to be scrolling through TikTok and discovered something that really upset me. It was a TikTok reflecting on the recent finale of HBO Max’s “The Last Of Us”. It read “Dear Gamers, I have a bone to pick with you. Why didn’t you tell us that games have incredible plots and character development? This whole time I’ve been thinking you were playing Mario Kart. Now, as I watch The Last Of Us show, I’m realizing

that you’ve been gatekeeping some of the best stories in modern history What should we play? We’ll do whatever you tell us. Sincerely,Abook reader.”

That seems pretty innocent, right? You may ask yourself, “Braedon, why does that upset you? That’s someone expressing an interest in one of your passions, you should be happy.”

Well here’s the thing. The tone is absolutely conde

scending as hell. I’d love to recommend good story games to people, when they don’t come to us pretending like every game we play has been for stupid little babies.

Braedon Martin

Seriously, like if you can sit there and pretend we’re the bad guys because you thought every game we touch is “Fortnite”. It’s frankly an insult. Not to mention, “The Last Of Us” is (hot take) not even a tremdous story There are other stories out there that are fantastic. Games like “Out

er Wilds”, “Hollow Knight”, and “Hades” with infinitely better stories of life, loss, and entropy. “The Last of Us” is a decent telling of the moral gray of a man in the apocalypse, sure, but it’s also a failing of proper use of video games as an artform. TLoU is a movie game, a game more focused on cinematography and cutscenes than interactive storytelling.

All of that is getting beyond the point here. Gamers have (for the most part) never kept our passions, in fact we are always trying to bring more people in. It’s ridiculous to play the victim when you yourself are the reason you have “missed out” on the greatest art form since the written book. Moron.

Braedon Martin is a Hutchinson sophomore studying journalism. he is the Collegian’s Opinion Page Editor and Managing Editor for Design.

65 million years and few good dinosaurs

For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved dinosaurs, and not just ‘Oh, I think dinosaurs are cool.’ No, no, no. I mean, I am actively following paleontology news and I’m up to date on whatever the heck is going on with Spinosaurus.

Of course though, I also love dinosaur movies, and I’ve seen a lot. I’ve seen the good like “Jurassic Park”, the bad like “Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom”, and the obscure like “Legend of Dinosaurs and Monster Birds”.

So when I saw a new big budget dinosaur film, not connected to the “Jurassic Park” franchise, and being worked on by the people who’ve made an actually decent monster thriller, “A Quiet Place” was coming out, I was pretty excited.

The plot of “65” is that aliens crash land on Earth during the age of the dinosaurs.

Now before you start shouting “spoiler alert” just know that this neat little twist is not only spoiled in the trailer, not only spoiled subtly by the title, and not only spoiled by the poster’s tagline, but the title card within the first few minutes of the film literally says “65” and then under that ‘million years ago visitors crash landed on Earth’ so thanks for spoiling your “Planet of the Apes” esc twist movie, but I’ll get back to that.

Anyways, there are only two survivors of the crash, the pilot and a little girl, unfortunately the two are unable to communicate with each other, but have to work together to get through the dinosaur infested jungle to reach an escape pod and get off Earth before the meteor strikes.

So back to the wasted potential of the twist, whatthe-heck movie?! The twist was right there, perfectly laid out in front of them, heck all they had to do was take out the subtitle in the title card, change the trailer, the films tagline, maybe the name a little or have 65 apply to something else, that’s it! Do that and you’d have a solid little twist.

Now is the twist itself fairly obvious, sure, but I don’t think most would realize the characters are

meant to be aliens and not humans and might just assume the dinosaurs are alien dinosaurs, wouldn’t be the first time in sci-fi. It’s really just the meteor that’d lead someone to realize they were on earth, but no, all of that wasn’t obvious enough so they spell it out for you right out of the gate.

So they wasted a potential twist, but how’s the story and characters?

Well the characters are definitely the best part of the film. The dynamic between the two is nice and enjoyable to watch. There are some cheesy scenes but for the most part their stuff is pretty good, however, there is one specific instance where one character lies to the other, and when the truth is revealed the one gets mad at the other for a little bit, and then it’s immediately all okay. Aside from that little bit of rushed subplot, their stuff is pretty decent.

Unfortunately it’s not enough to get through the story which consists of the characters slowly walking from one action sequence to the next.

“Jurassic World Dominion” also had a similar problem where after a while it just felt like the characters were moving from one one-off dinosaur encounter to the next, except instead of fighting giant grasshoppers between the dinosaur scenes, “65” instead fills its down time with walking… honestly still more entertaining that “Jurassic World Dominion” though.

But when there is action how is it?

Well … the action is fine I guess, serviceable. Nothing special, just ‘guy shooting dinosaurs with gun and girl getting attacked by dinosaurs,’ standard stuff.

As I’ve already stated I’ve seen a lot of dinosaur movies but “65” has hands down the ugliest dinosaurs I have ever seen! And this film doesn’t have the low budget or outdated effects excuse, this is a 2023 film with a 45 million dollar budget.

First of all the dinosaurs are not accurate, but I don’t think that’s the end all be all of dinosaur design quality, but here it’s really bad, and they aren’t able to make up for inaccuracies because the dinosaurs are just flat out ugly. The skin is shrunk tight to the hips,

the Velociraptor-like dinosaurs’ wrists are twisted wrong, eyes are put in odd places, and a lot of the dinosaurs are just fake.

Fake dinosaurs can work, I think “Terra Nova” did it well back in the day, but here they are just ugly and weird and not explained. By the end you’re left with more questions than answers.

And there’s also the fact that this ecosystem is seemingly made of entirely carnivores whose preferred prey item is people, even if there’s two giant carcasses in front of them. There is only one maybe herbivore in the entire film and it’s a weird Ankylosaurus with a T-Rex head so I have no idea what that was supposed to be.

So over all, awful dinosaurs. They look stupid, they act stupid, they suck. It feels like the designer said, “yeah i know what a dinosaur looks like” and then proceeded to draw them from memory with zero references.

One compliment I’ll give the film is that the alien tech is neat, it looks weird and alien but it’s believable … which makes me feel like they put more effort into that than the dinosaurs.

“65” may have a decent little character dynamic between the protagonists, but unfortunately it’s not enough to save the film from its wasted potential, lackluster action scenes, terrible dinosaurs, and a whole lot of walking.

I give this film four Dsungaripterus with their eyes in their nasal cavity out of 10.

This‘Godzilla’ destroys expectations

Just when it seems like there is nothing worth watching in theaters, Fathom Events once again descends upon us to provide us all with an actually good movie, that of course being either an old classic, a foreign film, or both. In this case, I got the chance to watch “Godzilla X Mothra X Mechagodzilla: Tokyo SOS” on the big screen.

“Godzilla: Tokyo SOS” is a direct follow up to the Godzilla film prior, “Godzilla X Mechagodzilla”.

(See the Dec. 2 paper for that review)

The plot is that Godzilla is still at large and Japan’s Mechagodzilla named Kiryu is still in disarray, and one day, Mothra along with her twin fairies appear before an old man named Mr. Chujo and his nephew Yoshito and grandson Shun.

The fairies then tell them that Mechagodzilla needs to be dumped into the sea since they used the original Godzilla’s bones to make it and that’s a no go. Fortunately Yoshito is a mechanic for Mechagodzilla, but he doesn’t agree that he should be dumped into the sea. So, there’s a decent amount of drama between the different characters. Some believe Mechagodzilla needs to be scrapped, others say that he at least needs to kill Godzilla. When Godzilla does show up so does Mothra to fight him, but when that isn’t going well Mechagodzilla is called in to help out leading to a massive final battle.

So there’s a lot going on in the story and it can seem a little overwhelming as it’s basically a sequel to the original “Godzilla”, “Mothra”, “Godzilla X Mechagodzilla”, and then throw on “Space Amoeba” for good measure, but I wouldn’t say that those films need to be watched to understand this one aside from maybe “GXMG”. “To-

kyo SOS” does a good enough job recapping the parts of those films that are important efficiently.

Does the story work? Kind of. It’s interesting and the theme of putting down weapons of mass destruction is pretty clear. The biggest issue I’d say is with the characters.

Coming off of the previous film which had one of the strongest protagonists in a Godzilla film, our protagonist here, Yoshito, can seem a little bland, and a lot of the other characters end up falling into being stock characters. Old man who turns out to be right, kid who shouts the monster’s name, mean rival, love interest, noble leader figure, it’s all there.

The character’s do not ruin the film and really aren’t

that bad. They get the job done, but it is a noticeable downgrade coming off of “Godzilla X Mechagodzilla”.

What is an improvement over its predecessor is the action and effects.

The second half of “Tokyo SOS” is almost entirely monster action. You may be surprised to hear this, but when most other Godzilla films do this, it sucks. Usually the plot gets shoved to the side, characters are forgotten, and the fight drags out for way too long.

Here, though, it’s well spaced out and the characters are given interesting stuff to do that provides a break from the action without ruining the film’s momentum.

When we do get giant monster action, it’s glorious. “Godzilla: Tokyo SOS” is one of, if not, the best looking Godzilla film. It’s a beautiful display of practical effects.

There is some CGI here and there, but unlike a lot of the other Godzilla films at the time, it’s rarely ever noticeable, and the underwater shots of the CGI Godzilla looks great.

The fighting itself is awesome, I love it when they have the balls to rip and tear apart props and here they don’t hold back. Mothra in particular gets absolutely brutalized. Another thing that really helps the fights are the building destruction scenes. The monsters are constantly pushing each other through skyscrapers and CGI can never come close to the awesomeness of a miniature building being destroyed.

There’s also a nice mix of physical and beam combat, something the Godzilla series can struggle with sometimes, but here the balance is perfect.

The film is also bolstered by another beautiful score, but come on, every Godzilla film has a great soundtrack, except “Godzilla vs. Kong”.

So yeah, while “Godzilla: Tokyo SOS” may not be one of the all time best Godzilla films, it’s still a very fun one and definitely one of the easier ones for a modern movie goer to watch since you guys care so much about effects.

I give this film eight dead carcasses of “that turtle from ‘Space Amoeba’ out of 10.

Columnist

Columnist

Connor Keating

Connor Keating is a Halstead sophomore in general studies.

Connor Keating is a Halstead sophomore in general studies.

Columnist

Connor Keating

NFL player returns to Hutchinson

Former Blue Dragon Jerry Jacobs, now playing for the Lions, spends day with B&G Club

GSA

• Continued from Page 1

so many ways. The ill-informed legislation and hate-fueled actions have potential to harm every member of the community, not just trans people.

Personal beliefs or opinions aside, people are getting hurt. A community is under attack, and that is never okay. It never has been. It never will be.

“The fights against the LGBT are not new or unexpected,” Voth said, “we will continue the fight.”

Photos by Danae Moser/Collegian

(Above left) Jerry Jacobs encourages some swimmers at the Hutchinson YMCA during his visit to Hutchinson on March 9-10. (Above right) Jacobs plays basketball with members of the Boys and Girls Club. (Below) Jacobs gives a talk after playing basketball with members of the Boys and Girls Club.

Self still plans on Hutch visit

By Lizzie Kipp

Editor

Since joining the University of Kansas in 2003, men’s basketball head coach Bill Self has led the Jayhawks to countless victories on the court.

This season, however, had the coach facing some new obstacles.

Self has been on the sidelines for much of March due to complications regarding his health.

Right before the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City, Mo., Self underwent a standard heart procedure - more specifically a heart catheterization to treat blocked arteries. Initial reports stating Self suffered a heart attack were incorrect.

His operation forced the Jayhawks to continue their pursuit of another NCAA championship without him. The Jayhawks, who have won six national championships, including four NCAA Tournaments and two under Self in 2008 and 2022, ended up losing in the Big 12 championship game to Texas, and then to Arkansas in the

Grad

• Continued from Page 1

have any questions they can just let us know.”

Some students may wonder if the application is needed for students that are graduating, but not attending the ceremony? It is, and even though the

second round of the NCAA Tournament with Self not coaching.

On top of that, Self is scheduled to speak at the upcoming Dillon Lecture Series on April 18. However, in light of his new health concerns, will he still make an appearance at the Sports Arena?

Fear not, Jayhawk fans. Becky Rogers, the Dillon Lecture Series Coordinator, assures that the head coach will be present.

“Based on recent conversations with his representatives, plans continue to move forward,” she said.

Self is expected to make a full recovery and is expected to be back in the game soon.

Rogers acknowledged the large number of KU basketball fans in the Hutchinson community and expressed excitement about the upcoming lecture.

“With the success Coach Self and Kansas basketball have consistently achieved, we feel certain there will be strong interest among the community to hear his message.”

date for that has passed, they are still accepting applications.

“It is not maybe as crucial if a student is not participating in the ceremony if they turn it in, in a couple weeks. Usually it’s not as big of a deal for them if their name is not in the program, but of course we want to put as many in there as possible,” Eberly said. “We will take it (graduation applications) until we can’t.”

Theatre Department brings ‘Rent’ to the campus

By Paige Asberry Staff Writer

As spring rolls around, so does the time for Hutchinson Community College’s theatre department to perform its spring play.

This year, the theater department is working hard to put on the pop/ rock opera “Rent”, written by Jonathan Larson.

“Rent” is among the only shows that Larson wrote before dying at age 36, and deals heavily with the issues that were prevalent in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. The show itself is set during the AIDS epidemic, and some very heavy issues are addressed.

The show’s director, HutchCC’s director of theatre Diedre Mattox, said that “Rent” was not easy to perform.

“It’s got some challenging content in it,” Maddox said. “The entire play is set against the

backdrop of the AIDS epidemic … LGBTQ themes figure prominently, and it’s not a show that I would say is for children.”

So if the show isn’t advisable for children, why would the theater department choose it?

Mattox said the show was requested by several students, and she “likes doing shows that students want to be involved in.”

The other reason this show was chosen is because it was time to put on another big rock show. The theater tries to alternate a traditional musical and a pop show every year, meaning that last year’s performance of Brigadoon left the door open for a big rock show.

Mattox said that this is one of the most difficult shows they’ve done.

“It’s a rock opera, which means that it’s almost completely sung

through, and there’s very little spoken dialogue,” Mattox said. “And even the spoken dialogue is underscored by music, so it’s song to song to song to song for about two-and-a-half hours.”

Even though it’s a difficult, time-consuming, frustrating show, everyone involved with the production has positive memories from working on it.

Samantha Moore, a Wichita freshman, is a stand-in stage manager, and runner for Shane Dawson and Diedre Mattox. She said that her favorite part of working on the tech side of the show is “problem solving, and the feeling of accomplishment and pride going out in the house and seeing how well things are coming together.”

“Rent” premieres at 7 p.m. Friday.

stage

Online

Wertz wonders

Athlete of the week (Mar 19-25)

Aspen Goetz, Softball

By Carly Thompson Staff Writer

The Hutchinson Community College softball team is 27-4 overall, 15-1 in the Jayhawk Conference, alone in first place and ranked No. 13 in the NJCAA.

A unique approach in terms of pitching staff may have some direct correlation with the success of the team. The Blue Dragons began utilizing a starter, middle relief, and closer combination to keep hitters on their toes.

Riley Wertz, a sophomore from Maize, is the closing pitcher for the Blue Dragons. Wertz has a 1.72 ERA, 14 career saves, and 213 strikeouts. She has set a career record for the KJCCC and was named pitcher of the week twice.

“With Riley’s speed and movement, she is very hard to make adjustments on when you might only see her one time,” Blue Dragons coach Jaime Rose said.

Wertz said loves her role as the closing pitcher, which is unique in softball, where many pitchers will pitch the entire game. She has never solely been a closing pitcher on her previous teams and has enjoyed the opportunity in this new role. Wertz keeps a

Blue Dragons’ closer one of most dominant pitchers in country Hutchinson starts conference slate with victory

determined mindset every time she gets on the mound as well as a confident swagger.

“Honestly, you have to have the mindset of ‘I know what I can do and you can’t touch me,’” Wertz said.

Wertz said the key to being a closing pitcher is going into the game ready to shut down the opposing team for good.

“My goal is never to strike out every batter, because you can’t go in with that mindset. You have to go in with the mindset

of ‘I’m going to get these outs and finish this game for my teammates because we all deserve this win,’” Wertz said.

Wertz said she wanted to give a big thank you to her teammates, coaches, and parents for helping her get to this point in her career.

“I truly wouldn’t be where I am without the support of my girls, and I’m super excited to finish out this season and potentially break even more records,” Wertz said.

Golf going for three-peat

last two golf national championships and a threepeat seems to be on the brain. Louis Galvin, who is a freshman from Ireland, said he thinks a threepeat is attainable.

“I 100% think we have the ability to win nationals,” Galvin said.

By Sam Ojeda Sports Editor

The Hutchinson Community College men’s golf team is gearing up for another spring season, high expectations remain, and the Blue Dragons have been working hard to prepare for the challenges that lie ahead.

The team’s roster is made up of a mix of experienced players and talented newcomers. Leading the way for the Blue Dragons is sophomore Dominic Clemons, a sophomore from England, as well as Wellington sophomore Blake Saffell.

Saffell said he is confident about the squad this year, as the Blue Dragons look for a third straight NJCAA Division 1 national championship.

“I feel like we have a really solid group with an unlimited amount of competitiveness,” Saffell said.

The Blue Dragons are setting high expectations for themselves.

“I expect big things,” Saffell said, “I think we have an opportunity to win another national title.”

HutchCC’s golf team have won the

The Blue Dragons, ranked No. 1, also welcomes several talented freshmen including Galvin, Alex Lindstrom, and Marco Anderson. The Blue Dragons will face tough competition this season, including conference rivals such as Dodge City and Barton. The team is also looking forward to competing in several tournaments, including the Shocker Invitational and the Jayhawk Conference Championship.

The Blue Dragons started their season this last week in the first Jayhawk Conference tournament. After day one HutchCC led by two strokes. At the completion of round two after round two. They ended the final round tied with Dodge City CC after the tournament was over. Blake Saffell won the tournament with a score of 68 in the final round. He entered the last day of the tournament tied for second. After an amazing final round, he finished five strokes ahead of second place. Galvin finished tied for sixth with Lindstrom. Both were at two strokes over par. Clemons finished 11th.

A three-peat seems achievable for

Baseball

All dates are doubleheaders unless noted

Feb. 11, Southeast Nebraska, W 8-5, W 10-7

Feb. 13, at SOUTHEAST NEBRASKA, W 8-4, L 4-5

Feb. 17, at Temple, Texas (one game), L 2-7

Feb. 18, at Hill, Texas (one game), W 8-1

Feb. 19, at McLennan, Texas (one game), L 5-6

Feb. 21, TABOR JV, W 12-1, W 10-0

Feb. 23, at Rose State, Okla. L 13-7; W 5-2

Feb. 25, at Rose State, Okla, L 9-6

Feb. 28, at Northern Oklahoma-Enid (one game), L 12-9

March 1, COFFEYVILLE, W 8-7; W 8-2

March 4 at Coffeyville, L 8-1, L 5-4

March 9, DODGE CITY, L 13-7, W 10-1

March 11, at Dodge City, L 7-2, L 1-0

March 16, at Pratt, W 11-9, W 16-12

March 18, PRATT, W 11-4, W 13-3

March 23, SEWARD COUNTY, W 4-2, L 13-3

March 25, at Seward County, L 8-7 L 11-5

March 30, at Butler, 1 p.m.

April 1, BUTLER, 1 P.M.

The Week: Goetz had a week for ages going 11 for 16 with two doubles, four home runs, and 17 RBIs in leading the Blue Dragons to four wins against Seward County and Pratt.

Goetz

In the first game against Seward, Goetz had a program record 10 RBIs and three homers.

This Season: Goetz, who went to Rose Hill, is batting .471 with nine home runs and 47 RBIs for the Jayhawk West-leading Blue Dragons.

championship squad, the Blue Dragons expect to see themselves atop leaderboards all season.

Results from Jayhawk tournament No. 1

April 6, CLOUD COUNTY, 1 p.m.

April 8, at Cloud County, 1 p.m.

April 11, at Northern Oklahoma-Tonkawa (one game), 2 p.m.

April 13, COWLEY, 1 p.m.

April 15, at Cowley, 1 p.m.

April 17, STERLING JV (one game), 4 p.m.

April 20, at Garden City, 1 p.m.

April 22, GARDEN CITY, 1 p.m.

April 24, at Sterling JV (one game), 2 p.m.

Dragon schedules. All home games, events in caps.

Photo by Billy Watson/HutchCC Sports Information Riley Wertz pitches for the softball team in a game earlier this season. Wertz leads the team in earned run average and saves.

HutchCC golf this year. After a strong start to conference play and a lot of returners from last season’s national

Photo by Billy Watson/HutchCC Sports Information Blake Saffell chips a shot onto the green duirng last weeks tournament in Manhattan. Saffell won the tournament with a final round score of 68.