Blue Jays Are Champions of Character

Liberty basketball players Christian Brinser and Sami Wynne were honored by the NAIA Friday night at the national basketball tournament in Municipal Auditorium. They were the representatives of LHS for the NAIA's Champions of Character program.

The NAIA Champions of Character program has established five core values that go well beyond the playing field to the daily decisions of our youth. These character values help young people — and those associated with their development — make good choices in all aspects of their life and reflect the true spirit of competition. The five core values of the program are Integrity, Respect, Responsibility, Sportsmanship, and Servant Leadership. Both Christian and Sami exemplify these core values perfectly.

"The Champions of Character was a really cool experience to be a part of. I was honored to be nominated by my coaches and I couldn't have done it without my teammates. I want to thank my parents for laying down a solid foundation for how I live my life," stated Brinser.

"Christian is a well deserving recipient of this honor. He is a terrific young man, with an excellent head on his shoulders. He'll have a great educational and athletic career at Missouri and a very bright future after that. He represented himself, his family, his team, his school, and his community like a champion. Our program is extremely proud of him, " remarked Coach Stirtz.

Former Blue Jay Earns All-American Status

Nick Larson, '07 graduate of LHS, earned a 2nd team All-American honor at William Jewell College this season. Larson, who averaged 19 ppg and 10 rpg, led the Cardinals to a 3rd place finish in the conference race and then onto a tournament title. He found success this season by getting catches where he's an effective scorer. In addition, with his great instincts for rebounding the basketball he posted career highs in points and rebounds.

"The Blue Jay program is very proud of Nick. He is very passionate about the game and that love for it makes him work very hard to obtain success. WJC is very fortunate to have him. I think Nick's best years of basketball are still ahead of him and if he continues to progress, there might be an opportunity for him to make money playing the game he enjoys so much. Blue Jay basketball congratulates Nick on his award-winning season," remarks Coach Stirtz.

Koon Claims All-State Honors

Denton Koon, Junior forward for the Blue Jays, has earned Class 5 All-State honors. The Missouri Basketball Coaches Association selected Denton after he averaged 16.3 points per game and 8.4 rebounds per game. The MBCA chose 15 players from across the state to be recognized. He made the All-Tournament teams at the Lebanon, William Jewell, and Liberty Tournaments. Denton was also selected First team All-Conference and All-District by conference and district coaches.

"This is an honor and I was fortunate to have such great coaches and teammates that helped put me in a position to be successful this season," stated Denton.

The Blue Jay program congratulates Denton on this tremendous honor and appreciates his efforts and the efforts of his teammates this season.

Jack Smith Wins Lifetime Achievement Award!

The Liberty Basketball Program is extremely proud to announce Jack Smith will be honored as the winner of the Tom Colwell Lifetime Acheivement Award presented by the Greater Kansas City Basketball Coaches Association. The awards banquet, scheduled for April 10th at the Independence Events Center, is part of the Missouri/Kansas All-Star games, DiRenna awards, and All-Academic teams. The Tom Colwell award is a 'who's who' of Kansas City basketball.

Here is a list of previous winners:

2009 Tom Goddard, longtime coach at Raytown; Administrator

2008 Walt Shublom, Wyandotte HS and KCKCC

2007 Jim Draper, Blue Valley and other area HS

2006 Lee Kariker, William Jewell College

2005 Norb Schmidt, longtime KC area coach

2004 Keith Lindsay, longtime KCK involvement in the sport of basketball

2003 Lafayette Norwood, JCCC

2002 Jim Gurley, SM South HS

Jack is a graduate of Liberty High School, Class of 1967. He is currently 63 years young and has been a manager of Liberty Athletics for 44 years. He helps the boys and girls basketball teams as a manager and is a ball boy for the football team. The past four years Jack has been a program assistant for the boys basketball program. His career highlights would include the boys state championship years of 1998 and 2001 and the girls state championship year of 2007. Jack works 4 days per week at Vocational Services Incorporated. For the past 44 years he has been a assistant warehouse director at the facility. Jack extends his appreciation to the Blue Jay coaching staffs, the Meeks family, the Miller family, Mr. Blue Jay Foster Sires, Jeff Billings, Marty Williams, sister Kathy and niece Melody.

You can check out a picture collage created by Jeff and Marty of KCSC Sports Photography at http://gallery.me.com/jeffreybillings#100975

The Blue Jay program would like to invite all Liberty fans to attend the banquet to support Jack. For details about the event, please contact Coach Stirtz at rostirtz@liberty.k12.mo.us or 736.6836 by April 2nd. It will be a great night to honor Jack! Go Jays!

Blue Jays Help Set Up For National Tourney

About 13 players from the Blue Jay basketball program traveled downtown to the Municipal Auditorium Monday morning to help prepare the arena for the NAIA National Tournament. Players were assigned duties such as hanging banners and posters, moving refreshments into the media rooms, organizing tournament supplies, and building basketball goals for the interactive kids zone. After their hard work was over, the NAIA treated the team to an awesome meal at Ponak's.
The first round of games begin today and will conclude tomorrow. The feature game will be Thursday night at 6:15pm as William Jewell takes on Concordia College, the #2 seed of the tourney. It's advertised as 'the toughest tournament in America' because teams have to win 5 games in 7 days. Make your plans now to go check out some great basketball action.

All-Conference Honors

Congratulations to Denton Koon who earned First Team All-Conference this season. Koon, who averaged 17 points per game and 9 rebounds per game, was the second leading vote getter. Tony Jones, of Ray-Pec, was the conference MVP.
Also representing the Blue Jays were JT Nixon, Bryan Adams, Marshon Norfleet, and Jordan Lewis. These players earned enough votes to be All-Conference Honorable Mention.
"With as tough of conference as we play in, it's a great accomplishment for our players to be recognized in this fashion. Each player has earned this honor with their hard work, determination, and support of the total team. We are proud of them, " stated Coach Stirtz.

Wepler Basketball Tourney

3rd ANNUAL BARRETT WEPLER BASKETBALL CLASSIC

The 3rd Annual Barrett Wepler Basketball Classic will take place Friday, March 19, through Sunday, March 21, at Liberty Junior High. The tournament will have separate brackets for boys and girls in grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and high school. The team fee is $175 with a three game guarantee. The purpose of the event is to honor and celebrate the memory of former Liberty Blue Jay basketball player Barrett Wepler. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Barrett Wepler Scholarship Fund. If you have any questions regarding the tournament, contact director Terry Barmann at 816-809-2953 or email barmann@nwmissouri.edu