SOCCER SCOOP Inside scoop on the soccer season
High School Sports Feed Student steps into the social media, spotlighting high school athletics
The Shawnee Heights Athletics page is an Instagram profile that started out as an idea to highlight game day graphics for each sport and make stories with voting poles for athletes of the season. This Instagram account was independently started by senior Camden Granado. Granado wanted to highlight student athletes and to learn about social media. “I want to do something similar in the future and I feel like this is a good stepping stone. I saw a bunch of other schools with an athletics page or something similar and I just thought it would be fun,” Granado said. The Shawnee Heights athletics Instagram page first started out in Jan. 2024 with a post about Shawnee Heights playing De Soto, which only has five likes. The page has amassed around 1,000 followers. Granado believes the athletics page has improved his graphic design skills over time. “I’ve definitely improved. I think the first design I ever made was on Google drawings. It was for the men’s soccer game and it was honestly bad. I think it was a schedule graphic for soccer. I feel like now, I’ve definitely made more realistic graphics,” Granado said. Granado talked about the most rewarding part of running the page. “The most rewarding part honestly is seeing people enjoy it and coming up and talking to me about it, because it’s fun. Whenever they come up to talk to me about it, I enjoy it,” Granado said. Granado has done voting for athlete of the season, head coach spotlights, graphics for athletes who signed with colleges and so much more. The popularity of the page ended up in Granado starting a podcast to play fun games with the athletes. For the podcast, Granado recruited fellow senior Evan Manrose to be a co-host for the podcast. Manrose agreed to be a co-host because of how fun of an opportunity it was. “It’s just a fun opportunity to get involved with the school and just to talk about athletics and all my friends there and how they’re doing well in sports,” Manrose said. On the podcast, Granado is the more serious host while Manrose is the one who adds color to the podcast. Manrose described how this dynamic has helped him and Granado develop great chemistry from the podcast. “It’s like bread and butter if I’m being honest. We really got a good connection going. We like to joke with each other on and off the podcast and good communication. We both flow well together I’d say,” Manrose said. Granado has talked about how the podcast has been very rewarding, because of seeing how many people have enjoyed the content. Manrose also stated how he enjoys talking with the athletes on the podcast. “Keep them engaging. I’d say I try to relate as much as you can with the athletes,” Manrose said. “It’s good to ask them questions about what they do or why they do it or how they do it and just keep them connected, and keep a conversation flowing about them without them realizing you’re kind of hammering down on them.” One athlete who was on the podcast, senior Shylee Harrington described how the podcast helps highlight athletes in a variety of sports. “I think it really highlights our athletes, because so many different people from different sports have been there and it definitely highlights them and you get to know about their sport,” Harrington said.
Junior Nina Bolanos dribbles the ball in a game against Lawrence High School. The Birds lost 3-0. Photo by Nick Prater
Girls soccer is always a good subject to mention when it comes to the spring season. The team always does really well, they haven’t been under .500 in the team’s history. Last year was no different with them going 10-6. Last year senior Lailah Benz led the team in points with 49, right behind her was Izzy Van Fleet with 40. This year the team is expected to keep the streak going with Coach Simons saying “Our motto this season is nobody out works us.” This is good to hear because they have some tough matchups this season being Washburn Rural, and
Desoto. They both did really well last season. There are a total of 5 returning seniors on the team this year who are ready to lead by example and help get the upcoming players ready for the season and future seasons. Seniors include Carlee Bolanos, Makenzie Mertel, Sarah VanHouse, Emma Rambo and Hadley Sanchez. The coaching staff consists of Head Coach Nic Si- mons, Assistant Coach Mitch Spade and Statistician Tyler Bur- ton. This year Coach Simons hopes to win 10 or more games with the ultimate goal being to win league and go to state.
*Designs courtesy of Instagram account Shawnee Heights Athletics
18 | SH Athletics Written and designed by Caleb Franke
Written and designed by Jaden Krystofosky-Ryckert Girls Soccer | 19
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