Both Larned teams beat Kinsley for their first games on December fifth! The girls beat Kinsley 44-14 and the guys won 43-28. After Larned won these games, the lowest place they could get in the tournament was fourth place. Then, they both played again on Friday for a chance to make it to the championship game. The girls battled against the Bucklin Red Aces, but they lost 47-51. The boys played the Reno City Sabers and lost.
On Saturday the tournament resumed with teams battling for their placings. Larned girls lost a hard fought battle against the St. John Tigers 37-54. This had the Lady Indians finishing out the tournament with fourth place! In the girls’ bracket, Hoisington won first place for the third year in a row.
Also on Saturday, the Larned boys lost to St. John 40-47. The boys also finished in fourth place, and in the boys’ bracket South Central won first place this year.
Throughout the tournament, there must be concessions for the students and parents attending. The concession stands throughout the week of the tournament are always a great money maker for Larned High School’s clubs and organizations. NHS, the golf team, the softball team, and the yearbook staff were all clubs or teams that helped out in the concession stand over the week. Different clubs and sports teams volunteer their time to help serve customers throughout the week, and the organizations get to keep the profits to put towards their team gear or expenses.
One middle school class, Community Connections, sold homemade candy throughout the entirety of the tournament! The students decide amongst themselves which of the students work each day, and they decide as a class how much to charge for the different types of candy. Once they have crunched the numbers, they sell the candy to the spectators after school. The students pick a different charity to donate their profits to each year. Last year, they decided to purchase items that were needed at nursing homes and they donated those items to Diversicare of Larned.
Each year Larned hosts the tournament and the entire town benefits from it, from businesses to spectators to the athletes. For the athletes, we hope that they gain valuable knowledge and get to see what work they will need to put in for the coming seasonto be successful. We wish the Larned Indian Basketball teams good luck in their future games this season, and we are proud that the Keady Tournament went so well this year, maybe next year the Larned Indians will come out with a first place finish!
