The 2024 Berean Academy Fall Sports Season saw the Warriors succeed tremendously on the field, course, and court. One hundred sixteen student-athletes competed in either boys’ and girls’ cross country, boys’ soccer, and girls’ volleyball in high school or junior high. Each team had its highlights.
High School Cross-Country
The running Warriors, led by Lewis Wiebe, completed a successful season. Berean competed in six regular-season meets in preparation for the Heart of America League Meet and the KSHSAA 2A Regional Meet.
The annual Berean Cross Country Invitational hosted at Harvey County East Lake highlighted the regular season. Berean finished second in the girls’ race, just one point behind Augusta and five points ahead of third-place Remington. Ivey Busenitz was the top individual finisher for the Warriors in sixth place. Berean Academy won the boys’ race, finishing 26 points ahead of second-place Augusta. Jeremiah Briscoe was the top individual finisher for Berean, finishing in third place.
Two weeks later, the Warriors returned to Harvey County East Lake as Berean hosted the 2024 Heart of America League Meet to begin the postseason competition. The girls’ team was bested by Remington on this afternoon, finishing in second by five points. Ivy Busentiz was once again the top finisher for Berean, finishing in fourth place. On the boys’ side, Jeremiah Briscoe was the top individual finisher for Berean in fourth place, while the boys’ team finished as the HOA League runner-up.
Nine days after the HOA League Meet, the Warriors competed in the KSHSAA 2A Regional Meet at Marion. The girls’ team beat Remington for the second time in the season, winning the meet by eight points over the Broncos and qualifying for the KSHSAA 2A State Meet. Ivy Busenitz was the top finisher for Berean in sixth place. The boys’ team also qualified for the KSHSAA 2A State Meet by finishing as the runner-up, seven points behind Hutchinson Trinity Catholic High School. Jeremiah Briscoe led the Warriors by finishing second place overall at the meet.
Drama unfolded at the 2024 KSHSAA 2A State Meet held in Wamego as the Warriors fought cold, muddy, rainy, wet conditions in their quest for a State championship. At the end of the girls’ race, Berean tied atop the team scoreboard at the end of the meet with Remington 108-108. The tie-breaker favored Remington, and Berean finished as the 2024 KSHSAA 2A State Runner-Up. Addelyn Turpin was the top finisher for the Warriors, finishing in 22nd place.
Berean brought home team hardware in the boys’ 2024 KSHSAA 2A State Meet, finishing in third place. Central Heights ran away with the State Championship, with all five of their scoring runners finishing in the top 15 scoring runners. Jeremiah Briscoe highlighted the day for the Warriors, finishing as a State Medalist in eighth place with a time of 17:35.37. Fellow HOA member Hutchinson Trinity Catholic High School secured second place in the meet.
High School Boys’ Soccer
Under the direction of Head Coach Russ Busenitz, the 2024 boys’ soccer team found success in 2024. The team opened the 2024 season on the road, taking on the Thunderbirds of Circle High School in Towanda. The team came away with an 8-0 victory. In their home opener on September 3, the Warriors were victorious against Augusta 1-0.
The biannual Kansas City trip for the Warriors was a tough road trip. Berean could not find the back of the net during the trip, going 0-2 over the weekend. However, Berean shook off the offensive drought the following week in a 6-3 home victory over the Wichita Homeschool Warriors.
Berean then faced the most brutal two-game stretch of the schedule: hosting eventual State Champion Wichita Trinity Academy and then traveling to eventual State Runner-Up Rose Hill. The Warriors lost a heartbreaker to Trinity, falling 3-2 in the second overtime of the match. Berean could not overcome the emotions of a tough loss in the quick turnaround travel to Rose Hill, falling 7-0 to the Rockets.
Over the next eight games, Berean won six and lost two. The two losses came to the Classical School of Wichita and Wichita West High School. Victories were over Hesston, Wichita Defenders twice, Wichita Homeschool, Great Bend, and Buhler. This set up a final regular-season match against Classical with the KSHSAA Regional Hosting rights on the line.
Berean needed either a victory or a tie to earn the right to host postseason matches through regional play. The game was played at Stryker Sports Complex, Classical's home field. The match entered overtime tied 0-0. Junior goalkeeper Nolan Sweazy was tested multiple times throughout the match but was able to conserve the clean sheet and secure a 0-0 tie.
In the first KSHSAA 4-1A Regional competition round, the Warriors drew a rematch against Circle High School. In Elbing, the Warriors overcame a strong wind that gusted up to 49 miles per hour during the match to advance with a 4-0 victory. The victory set up a match-up against Independence High School in Elbing for the Regional Championship and a trip to the State Tournament. Having home-field advantage was a significant factor as the Warriors took advantage of their narrow field to contain a fast Independence squad and win the Regional Championship with a 1-0 victory.
The Warriors' trip to the State Tournament saw them draw a rematch with Wichita Trinity Academy in Wichita to open the tournament. Berean battled hard but could not overcome the offensive onslaught of the eventual State Champion, falling 5-2 in the season's final match.
Berean finished the season with an overall record of 11-7-1, 9-6-1 in the regular season. Senior Titus Veer (midfield) was named to the KHSSCA Boys’ Soccer All-State Second Team while senior Logan Sweazy (goalkeeper), sophomore Mason Balzer (forward), and sophomore Jace Unruh (midfield) were named KHSSCA Boys’ Soccer All-State Honorable Mention.
High School Volleyball
Coach Kristin Wiebe (Coach K) and the Warrior Volleyball Team had a successful season, advancing out of KSHSAA 2A Regional play and competing in KSHSAA 2A Sub-State.
Berean got off to a hot start early in the season, going 10-5 through its first 15 games. That run included a third-place finish at the Centre Volleyball Tournament. Following the hot start, the Warriors cooled off, going 6-11 in their next 17 contest. This cool streak included a stint where Berean had an eight-game losing streak.
Coach K and the team were able to make adjustments, going 7-2 over their next nine games before facing a demanding end-of-season schedule against three state-caliber teams, two of which would qualify for the state tournament. The Warriors battled but went 0-4 to end the regular season and head to regional play.
The Warriors drew the third seed in the four-team regional, traveling to Inman to take on Inman, Wabaunsee, and Solomon. In the opening game of the regional round-robin, Berean defeated Wabanunsee 25-21, 25-9. In their second game, Berean had to face top-seeded Inman. The Warriors fell in that match 15-25, 18-25. In the final match of the round-robin, Berean faced Solomon, winning 25-17, 25-18. Berean finished as the Regional Runner-Up and qualified for Sub-State.
Berean was sent to Valley Heights High School for the Sub-State, single-elimination tournament to play Herinton in the first round. Unfortunately, Berean could not overcome a slow start in the second set and lost the match 23-25, 16-25 to end its season.
Berean finished the season 19-21. Junior Adrienne Mullins was named to the All-Heart of America League Second Team, while junior Fionna Morgan was named All-Heart of America League Honorable Mention.
Junior High Recap
Berean student-athletes competed in cross country, volleyball, and soccer at the junior high school level. Eight athletes competed in cross country, 19 in volleyball, and 19 in soccer.
At the Heart of America League Cross Country Meet, Eliza Briscoe finished second in the girls’ seventh-grade race, while Georgia Wiebe finished fifth in the same race. Caleb Harder was the top Warrior finisher on the boys’ side, finishing fifth in the eighth-grade race.
The Warrior Volleyball Team improved tremendously throughout the season. The team was 3-15-1 for the year. A highlight of the season was their victory over the Classical School of Wichita in an HOA League match.
Soccer saw tremendous success as the Warriors went 8-1-2 in the year. Additionally, the team won the Berean Soccer Festival at the end of the year.
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