It's heating up

It's tough to figure out spring sports early in the season; bad weather and cancellations muddle up forecasts. That's why I took a break from the blog. At least that's what I keep telling myself.

Several important storylines have developed. The headliner is the Maize girls soccer team. Coach Nathan Wilkey in his fourth season at Maize has led the Eagles to an undefeated season entering its final week. Maize has not allowed a goal all season. For a team that didn't know who its goalkeeper would be at the beginning of the season, it's even more astounding. The two most intriguing lines to follow here are Wilkey and history. As men's soccer coach at Friends University where he achieving similar success, Wilkey is becoming a figurehead of Wichita soccer. He knows his stuff, recognizes talent and can bring it together, both in practice and recruiting. The other - history - pertains to the drought the Wichita area has experienced at state soccer. Never since girls state soccer began in 1993 has a team west of Topeka won a state title. Maize could do so this year, as they came close last year, losing 1-0 to Blue Valley North after giving up a goal 22 seconds in. Maize beat BV North 2-0 at the Titan Classic in late March.

Class 6A baseball is extremely competitive in the area this year. With Wichita North dropping its doubleheader to Goddard on Friday, even more teams are in the mix for hosting a regional. Campus, however, in a big surprise to all but the Colts, is in the driver's seat for the top overall seed in the area. Having swept Goddard earlier in the year, Campus has just one loss going into its doubleheader at McPherson. Those games are for the AVCTL II crown, though Campus' real focus is to win in order to get the top regionals seed. North plays Heights and Northwest, another 6A contender with four losses, to secure the city title. Northwest also plays Maize, another team with three losses hoping to host a regional, on Friday. The entire order could be mixed up from where it is now by the end of the week. Goddard, with one more game against Bishop Carroll, has three losses and should host with a win against Carroll. Goddard swept Maize earlier in the year and took a single game from Northwest.