CAPTION: The Hutchinson Community College women’s basketball team won the NJCAA Division I title with a 37-0 record. CREDIT STEVE CARPENTER/HUTCHCC ATHLETICS
By John Mesh
Sports in Kansas has been listing its top moments of 2024 on its Facebook page.
Many of the moments involve athletes or coaches in the Hutchinson Tribune sports coverage area.
• Hutchinson CC (37-0) is your undefeated 2024 NJCAA Women’s National Champion with a 88-80 OT victory over Northwest Florida State, giving them their first women’s title.
Hutch trailed by three with .07 seconds in regulation before being fouled on a three-point attempt by Hailey Jackson and making all three free throw shots to tie it and send it to overtime. One of the most incredible and clutch finishes you will ever see.
Nickerson native John Ontjes picked up his first title as head coach.
HutchCC had four Kansas HS players on the team — Madi Denison of Minneola, Bree Horyna of Liberal, Brynn McCormick of Cheney and Kiki Smith of Topeka. Smith was also the National Player of the Year.
• A lot can happen in a year from March of 2023 to March of 2024.
Kiki Smith was finishing up her all-state playing career at Topeka High in March of 2023.
In 2024, she’s a national champion and most valuable player of the national championship game for Hutchinson CC.
Smith had an incredible freshman season in leading the Blue Dragons to an undefeated national championship.
She received a full ride scholarship to Arkansas where she is currently a sophomore.
• Halstead volleyball is the 2024 3A State Champions. The Dragons finished the year 43-2 with a win over Nemaha Central in the championship.
Halstead is coached by Diana Schutte who picked up her 400th career win this year. It was the first-ever state title for Halstead in volleyball in a loaded class 3A.
• 4A State Golf Champion: Blaise Hoover, McPherson. He finished birdie eagle to win the championship by two shots as a senior last May and posted a two-day total of 1-under-par 139 (69-70).
Note: Hoover is a backup kicker/punter for the Hutchinson Community College football team, the 2024 NJCAA national champions.
• Hunter Jones (Nickerson High School) of Pittsburg State placed 2nd in the heptathlon at the NCAA Division II nationals and marked the second best score in D2 history(5783 points).
He also captured the outdoor national title in the spring in the decathlon and participated in the Olympic Trials.
• Legendary coach Steve Eck captured his seventh state championship as a head basketball coach and his first one at Kapaun-Mount Carmel.
Eck has 1,044 wins and 170 losses in his career entering this season for an incredible 86% win percentage.
Eck won six state titles at Wichita South in the 1980s and 1990s in 13 years with the program in 6A.
He also won two junior college national titles as head coach at Redlands (Okla.) and Hutchinson Community College. He also had a national runner up at Redlands.
Eck has seven state titles in 13 years as a boys high school basketball coach. He was 227-15 at Wichita South in 10 years.
He is a member of the Wichita Sports Hall of Fame, Wichita South Hall of Fame, Haven High School Hall of Fame, National Junior College Hall of Fame and was twice the National Junior College Coach of the Year.
Coach Eck is one of the best to ever do it. His seven titles are tied for third all-time, with the record held by Walter Shublom of Kansas City Wyandotte with 10.
• St. Thomas Aquinas’ Randy Dreiling picked up a state record 10th title as a head coach to capture the 2024 5A state championship over Hays. Dreiling is the SIK All Classes Coach of the year.
Dreiling won seven titles at Hutchinson and has now won three at STA. The Saints played the best schedule in the state and went 13-0.
Dreiling is a known program-builder over the years as he built the Hutchinson High School dynasty to seven state titles that when he inherited the program they were on a 26-game losing streak.
Aquinas also had zero titles before his arrival in football and now has three.
Dreiling’s son Nate Dreiling, who played for him at Hutchinson High School and became an All-American at Pittsburg State, is the head coach at Utah State University. He is the youngest FBS coach in the country at 33.