Soaring to Nationals

The Liberty Belles won the Division 5 State Champion title after moving up a class this year

by Ally Schniepp, Sports Editor

The Belles competed in Division 5 Precision Jazz and Division 5 Pom at the state competition this year. Because of Liberty’s size increase, the Belles were moved from Division 4, a smaller division, into Division 5, which puts them with bigger schools. The Belles took first place in Jazz and first place in Pom, but were not expecting to win the title of state champs.

“When they announced second place and we knew we won it was so hard to keep our excitement bottled,” senior Molly Marino said. “When they called us it was amazing. We were all screaming and tears of joy were coming from everyone’s eyes!”

The dancers showed up every day and put in hard work for game days and their competitions. At their other competitions this season, they won first in Jazz around the board, winning the choreography award at two out of three. They won first in Pom twice, but lost to Holt by half a point and got second. In the Game Day portion, they also won first twice and second once.

“I’m so proud of our team, especially this season,” senior Bella Bahr said. “The biggest challenge was moving up a division because we had no idea what was in store.” Bahr has competed at State for all four years of her high school career and has won the title of State Champions three out of four times.

“I can fully say I am so proud of the legacy being left behind,” Bahr said. “Seeing all of the hard work payoff and dancing every day with my best friends is a feeling I will miss, but I cannot wait to support the team for years to come in the future.”

This year’s title didn’t come to the team just because of the outstanding talent of the dancers, but because of the hardwork and dedication they put in every day at practice.

“It is so amazing to win and have people see that all of the crazy stuff we do is worth it,” Marino said. “We work so hard all the time and sometimes with sports like us it goes unnoticed. I love the feeling knowing that all the work we put in was worth it.”

The morning practices, conditioning, and every game day proves the hard work these dancers put in and how much they deserve their title of Division 5 State Champions.

NDA Battle

Jazz: 1st Pom: 1st and Choreography Award Game Day: 1st

FZN Invitational

Jazz: 1st Pom: 2nd Game Day: 1st

Mehlville Invitational

Jazz: 1st and Choreography Award Pom: 1st Game Day: 2nd Overall highest scoring Division 5

photo provided by @LHSBelles Twitter The Belles with their awards after winning the State title.

Senior Jaden Betton is one of the only players in the boys basketball program to play on varsity all four years of his high school career. His hard work and dedication to this program is why Betton broke the school record for most steals in Liberty history. “I’m going down in history. My name will be on that leaderboard and that’s very big,” Betton said. “Really just playing and leaving it all out there on the court with my teammates is how I got there.” Practicing hard in the offseason, getting up shots whenever he could, and training everyday brought him this award and is a big reason why the boy’s program went 16-9 this season. “The leadership role that I take on means everything to me. I love it,” Betton said about his relationship with his teammates. Another outcome of his dedication to basketball is Betton’s relationship with Coach Sodemann. Over the past four seasons, Betton and Sodemann built a connection that pushed Betton to work harder. “For my coach to honor me, my relationship with him is everything to me, so to get that award from him and share it with my teammates was a huge honor,” Betton said.

photos by Sruthi Ramesh, Cody Cushing, Monica Reyes, and Emily Barnett

Savannah Kruse has come back to her alma mater to coach both C team and JV for the girls basketball program. Kruse’s positivity and belief in each of her players to do their best every day is why she has made such an impact on the program as a coach already. “My confidence went up a lot when I started being coached by her,” JV and varsity player freshman Kennedi Brower said. “She makes me feel like I’m doing my best and reaching my full potential.” “I love them, and the fact that they love me back is even better,” Kruse said. With Kruse’s knowledge of basketball and her positive and genuine personality, the girls she’s coaching have started loving practice and the environment they get to come to after school. Kruse’s first coaching year at her former high school has been one for the books. With her experience being a player in the program before a coach makes the difference to have someone who is trying to help her players get better, the same way she had years before them. “They’re all positive with me and I am positive with them. They’re positive with each other,” Kruse said. “I really couldn’t have asked for a better first go around, and it makes me want to do it forever.” Kruse continues to leave her mark on the program at Liberty as a coach and will forever leave a mark on the girls she is coaching. As long as Coach Kruse is on the court coaching, she plans to continue helping players get better each and every day. Caroline Ward is one of Liberty’s four female wrestlers and one of six wrestlers who went to the state wrestling meet in Columbia. She went 1-2 for the weekend. Her favorite part of the season was her win at districts. She won her first match in the state competition in her respective weight class. Ward is a junior in her first year of wrestling and plans to come back for her senior year. Ward is a dual sport athlete participating in wrestling and volleyball. Ward thinks that playing volleyball has helped her in wrestling. She was the only female wrestler from Liberty to go to the State Tournament. She hopes to place in next year’s state tournament. Ward is very happy with her first year of wrestling and says that she can only get better in the offseason in preparation for next season. When asked about her opinion of her season, Ward said, “I feel really good, but feel that I just need to focus on getting better for next year.” Sports | lhstoday.org design by: A. Schniepp & C. Cushing 15