By Anvil Welch
awelch@joplinglobe.com
Darian Kelly helped the Girard High School boys basketball team amass 81 wins in four seasons.
Plus, the Trojans, 81-19 overall, finished second in the Kansas Class 4A Tournament the last two seasons. They were third in 2006-07. They piled up a 31-1 record in the CNC League with the last three teams 8-0.
The fact that Girard didn’t return from Salina with a championship in any of those years is the rub, of course.
That still gnaws at the 6-foot-2 Kelly. But The Globe’s Player of the Year for 2008-09 doesn’t have much time to replay another runner-up finish.
Kelly is a football player, he said. He arrived in Lawrence last week to start preparing for his freshman season at the University of Kansas.
“We’re running and lifting,” Kelly said. “But I can’t lift because I’m coming off shoulder surgery. All I’ve been doing basically is running ... and lots of it. I’ve lost 5-7 pounds.”
Kelly, who said his weight in basketball was about 190, said he’s rooming with freshman offensive lineman Riley Spencer of Hesston.
“We ran out of time,” Kelly said of the Trojans’ 53-48 loss to Basehor-Linwood for supremacy this season at Salina.
“I thought from Day 1 we had what it took to win a state title,” Kelly said. “It was a matter of doing it. But I didn’t believe we had enough hustle until we had a sense of urgency.
“We picked the wrong time to not come out ready to play,” Kelly said.
Kelly wasn’t selling Basehor-Linwood short, either.
“They were very balanced,” he said of the Bobcats. “We couldn’t concentrate on one or two players. They were disciplined and did a good job of running their offense.”
Kelly, a running back-free safety for the Trojans, agreed that basketball could be a remnant of the past.
“It’s finished,” he said. “I’m a safety in football, right now. Basketball will be something I miss.”
Kelly, although he missed several games in basketball as a junior, finished with 1,241 career points. He was a four-year stalwart for Zach Martin and Rod Wescott (the final campaign).
Kelly’s parents, in a sense, have shown him the way.
Dad Anthony played basketball at Fort Scott Community College and Pittsburg State. Mom — the former Jennifer Miller of Uniontown — played basketball, softball and volleyball at Fort Scott.
Sports
June 16, 2009
Darian Kelly named player of year
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Outlaws open season Thursday on the road
Chris Oldner takes a cut during the Joplin Outlaws practice Tuesday afternoon. The Outlaws open their season on Thursday night at Rossville and play seven road games before their home opener on June 5.
The Joplin Outlaws and new coach Rob Vessell have set some lofty goals for the 2012 baseball season.
Continued ... - Heat take 2-0 lead into Boston in East finals
- McIlroy recovers from rugged start for 71
- Former equipment manager sues Rams
- Stanton’s homers fuel Marlins’ surge in May
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- Pittsburg State Sports
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- Vengels sixth in heptathlon; PSU picks up two seventh-place finishes
- Ethan Cordray signs with Pittsburg State
- Lions, Gorillas begin competition in outdoor track and field championship
- Three finalists named for PSU head baseball coach position
- Lions qualify 10, PSU 15 for Division II outdoor track meet
- Missouri Southern Sports
- High School Sports
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Area athletes turn shine at state meet
Webb City's Jarvis Jones takes sixth in the 200.
- Cleo Elbert steps down at Thomas Jefferson
- Frontenac wins first state baseball title
- Joplin's Jeremy Lynn takes fifth at state tennis
- Frontenac advances at state baseball
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