WKLL Basketball Tournament
by Cody Pearce
January 22, 2010
On Jan. 11th and 12th, twenty teams from ten different schools gathered in Sharon Springs, KS to show their prowess in the WKLL basketball Tournament. On Monday and Tuesday, games were at Sharon Springs High School and Elementary School. Schools present were: Grinnell-Wheatland, Dighton, Weskan, Healy, Triplains, Golden Plains, Brewster, Cheylin, Greeley County, and Wallace County.
The Monday games were just to place teams in the bracket. On the boys’ side, Wheatland-Grinnell (2-5) defeated Dighton (1-6) & Healy (1-6) defeated Weskan (2-6). On the girls’ side, Golden Plains (3-4) defeated Cheylin (2-5) & Dighton (3-4) defeated Healy (0-7).
So, Tuesday, the matchups were set. Boys had Wallace County (3-3) defeating Golden Plains (2-5), Brewster (4-3) defeating Cheylin (2-5), Grinnell-Wheatland (3-5) defeating Triplains (5-2), & Greeley County (6-1) defeating Healy (1-7).
In the girls’ bracket, Weskan (6-2) won over Golden Plains (3-5), Wheatland-Grinnell (4-3) was victorious over Brewster (4-3), Wallace County (3-3) beat out Triplains (4-3), & Greeley County (5-2) defeated Dighton (3-5).
The tournament took a three-day break in which we gathered more information about what it takes (and makes) to be a referee in these games.
According to Mr. Delbert Schmidt, Principal/Athletic Director (AD) of Wallace County High School, a referee makes around $70 a night for a two-game varsity outing, $35 for each game worked. In our area, there are around a dozen reffing teams available each weekend. A surprising number of refs come locally, including a few from places like Weskan and Tribune. A referee does not usually require formal school to become an official, but there is a clinic co-hosted by the North-West Kansas League and the Western Kansas Liberty League. Otherwise, you will need to pass a test to give you certification to officiate varsity matches.
Again on Friday afternoon, teams arrived around to start playing out the third-round matches. The Greeley Co. boys (7-1) took on the Brewster squad (4-4) and won that game to move on to the finals. The Wallace Co. (4-3) team moved past Wheatland-Grinnell (2-6) to earn the second spot in the finals. On the other side of the bracket, Golden Plains (3-5) defeated Triplains (5-3) and Cheylin (3-5) won over Healy (1-7).
The girls’ championship was set after Weskan (7-2) took Grinnell-Wheatland (4-4) and Greeley Co. (6-2) made it past Wallace Co. (3-4). The backside of the bracket included Brewster (4-3) beating Golden Plains (3-6) and Dighton (4-5) defeating Triplains (4-4).
So, finally, Saturday came and the resolution games began. Early in the day for the girls, Healy (1-7) had a 9th-place win, defeating Cheylin (2-6). Later, Golden Plains (4-6) defeated Triplains (4-5) for 7th-place, and the 3rd-place game featured Wallace Co. (4-4) defeating Grinnell-Wheatland (4-5). In the championship, both teams fought hard, but Weskan (8-2) won over Greeley Co. (6-3).
The boys had some good games, with Weskan (3-6) winning the 9th-place game against Dighton (1-7), Triplains (6-3) defeating Healy (1-8), and Cheylin (4-5) beating Golden Plains (3-6) for 5th-place. 3rd-place went to Grinnell-Wheatland (3-6), who beat Brewster (4-5). In the boys’ championship game, Wallace Co. (4-4) fell to Greeley Co. (8-1) to round out the night.
In light of all this basketball, the relationships and commerce throughout the league are very important parts of our tournament. Mr. Ken Bockwinkel said, “the league as a whole is much different now than it was 15 years ago because of the Internet and social networking programs like MySpace and Facebook. Before these innovations, students rarely ventured out of their own hometowns to find friends, and they would almost never associate with students from “that school”. Today it’s different. The students are friends with students from many other communities, and I think I have seen the positive results on the field and on the court.” He went on the say that “they can play a heated game on the court and still be friends once the game is over.” Said like a true Western Kansan.
