Sports
Shooting for fun(ds)
John Wolf, of Seligman, takes aim at a target during his 50-round shoot at the Southwest Shootout on Saturday at Southwest’s new trap field.
Rivalries rekindled by Big 8 restructure
The Cassville football team will rekindle Big 8 rivalries of yesteryear in its new schedule this season, which features a contest against each conference foe and one non-conference bout. Clay Weldy, Cassville football coach, said he's excited to play a Big 8 Conference slate consisting of Cassville, Aurora, East Newton, Lamar, Nevada, McDonald County, Monett, Mt.
Year in Photos — Cassville volleyball
Publisher’s note: Throughout the summer, the Cassville Democrat will feature the best unprinted photos from each team photographed during the 2023-2024 athletics seasons. — KT Cassville’s Taylor Kennedy plays a ball during action against McDonald County last season.
Exeter trap team takes conference
The Exeter High School trap team just finished the spring season and attended the Missouri State High School Clay Target League State event in Linn Creek. Team members include: Tanner Raney, Jeremiah Reed, Tristan Voyles, Star Xiong, Lily Stevenson, Trinity Atkinson, Brexton Bowman, Briley Hargus, Rain Xiong, Jacob Stevenson and Cooper Caddell. The team took first place in the conference. Individual awards for the boys went to Voyles, 4th place, and Raney 8th place. Individual awards for the girls went to Star Xiong, 1st place; Stevenson, 3rd place; and Atkinson, 10th place. Also receiving awards for shooting a perfect 25 targets without a miss were Raney, Reed and Voyles.
Shore hoops camps return to Cassville
Former Cassville basketball coach Chris Shore recently hosted a pair of basketball camps for girls an boys in grades 1-8 at the Family Life Center in Cassville.
Savage succeeds Coach V at Cassville
A Barry County native who returned to the area recently is taking over the Cassville softball program this fall, succeeding Coach Lori Videmschek and inheriting a Lady Wildcats team fresh off its first ever district championship. Jordan Savage, a 2012 Southwest graduate, attended and played baseball at Mineral Area Community College and Lindenwood-Belleville (Ill.), then student-taught at Purdy under Eagles Baseball Coach Joshua Hughes.
Year in Photos — Cassville softball
Throughout the summer, the Cassville Democrat will feature the best unprinted photos from each team photographed during the 2023-2024 athletics seasons. — KT .
Conference champs want to get back to state
There was nothing the Purdy senior softball players wanted more this year than to return to the Class 1 state tournament. Freshmen when the Lady Eagles won the state title in 2021, Purdy’s seniors this year came as close as they could to a state run, falling to Ash Grove, 4-3, on a walk-off in the district championship bout.
All together now
Cassville’s girls volleyball, softball, cross country, basketball, wrestling, soccer and track programs have come together this summer to stave off the July drop-off. While fall sports volleyball, softball and cross country continue training all summer for their sports, previously, all other sports mainly lifted weights through June, but athletes went their own way in July.
Year in Photos — Cassville boys soccer
Cassville senior Ashton Wheeler heads a ball on during a game against Logan-Rogersville last season. Wheeler scored 24 goals and assisted 12 in Cassville’s best season since at least 2007 at 15-8-1. Kyle Troutman/ktroutman@cassville- democrat.com
