Category: KCKCC

McKinstry steps down as KCKCC women’s basketball coach

Two-time national champion returning to his alma mater, Oak Park High School

Coach Joe McKinstry, who led the KCKCC women’s basketball team to two national championships, is moving on to becoming girls’ basketball coach and campus supervisor at Oak Park high School. (File photo from KCKCC)
Coach Joe McKinstry talked with the KCKCC women’s basketball team during the championship run. (KCKCC photo)

by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC sports information director

The most successful women’s basketball coach in Kansas City Kansas Community College history is returning to his high school alma mater.

Pending North Kansas City School District Board approval, Joe McKinstry, who led KCKCC to two NJCAA Division II national championships in his six years at the college, has announced that he has resigned to become girls’ basketball coach and campus supervisor at Oak Park, the high school from which he graduated in 1999.

In six years at KCKCC, McKinstry compiled a record of 151-42, a winning percentage of .783. He won the national championship in his first season in 2016 and again in 2019, steamrolling the field in both tournaments. He took the Blue Devils back to the national tournament for a third time this season in what may have been his best coaching job considering the lack of experience on the team.

McKinstry will not leave the cupboard bear. Ten of the Blue Devils’ 12-member squad will be returning. Only losses will be All-Jayhawk selections Aliyah Valentine and Hannah Valentine.
The Blue Devils finished 21-4 in 2021 with two of the losses in the national tournament and two to No. 1 ranked Johnson County, which finished second in the nation.

Calling it a “great opportunity,” McKinstry said several factors went into his decision, not the least of which will be the chance to spend more time with his wife and four daughters.

“That’s a huge part of it,” McKinstry said. “No recruiting, a shorter season, no long trips. The opportunity at Oak Park also gives me something new and a challenge that will be exciting and keep me motivated on the professional. I’ve been real fortunate here (at KCKCC) and accomplished a lot but outside of my own pressure and determination, I had no real incentive to stay here and continue.”

Returning to his former high school was also a factor.

“Oak Park came at me hard and as an alum they made me feel I was the person they wanted to fill the position and get the program going in the right direction,” he said. “Also, they have done a ton of upgrades in the facilities, specifically in athletics which is exciting.”

“We couldn’t be more excited,” said Oak Park Athletic Director Chad Valadez, who remembered McKinstry in his high school playing days while serving as football coach at North Kansas City. “We knew getting Joe was a long shot but I’m not afraid to take a chance at bringing in the best possible coach. What we’ve got going here at Oak Park makes it a very unique and special place.”

KCKCC Athletic Director Tony Tompkins said the college will begin a search for a new coach immediately. “Joe did an amazing job in leading our women’s program,” Tompkins said. “His vision and abilities made our women’s basketball program one of the very best in the nation. His commitment and consistency as to the success of his players both on and off the court made him special. He will be greatly missed.”

Plenty of reasons to give at-large soccer berth to KCKCC women

Barton scores with 2:09 left to edge Blue Devils 2-1 in regional playoffs

by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC sports information

Has the best women’s soccer team in Kansas City Kansas Community College earned an at-large berth in the NJCAA Division I national tournament? The facts say a resounding yes.

An automatic bid eluded the No. 10-ranked Blue Devils Saturday when they dropped a 2-1 heartbreaker in the Region VI semifinals, Barton County scoring the winning goal with 2:09 remaining.

The win advanced Barton (12-3-1) into Sunday’s championship game against Butler, a 1-0 upset winner over Hutchinson in the regional played in Stryker Arena in Wichita.

Three at-large berths are up for grabs for the national tourney to be played in Owens, Georgia.

“I think we have a decent chance of getting one,” KCKCC coach Shawn Uhlenhake said. Here’s what the Blue Devils have going for them:

  1. They were the top ranked team (No. 10) in one of the best conferences in the nation with five teams – No. 17 Cowley, Barton, Butler, Hutchinson and KCKCC ranked in the Top 20 at one time or another.
  2. The Blue Devils defeated both regional finalists, Barton and Butler, along with Cowley and tied with Hutchinson.
  3. The Blue Devils’ record of 12-2-1, the best in KCKCC history percentage wise, ranks among the best in the nation. The losses to Barton and Coffeyville were each by one goal.
  4. KCKCC scored more goals (46) and gave up fewer goals (12) than any team in the Jayhawk Conference and the Blue Devils’ 11-game winning streak was one of the NJCAA’s best.

If an invitation is to come, it won’t be until Wednesday.

“I’ve given the team off Monday, we’ll practice Tuesday, train on Wednesday and then wait and see,” Uhlenhake said. “It’s probably harder to get an at large bid losing in the semifinals.”

One has to go no farther than this year’s NJCAA Division II women’s national basketball tournament to see what can happen. Beaten by KCKCC in the regional championship game, Johnson County got an at-large bid to the national tourney and finished second.

The 2-1 loss to Barton came just when it looked like the two teams were headed for overtime only to have the Cougars’ Kedin Stinson ward off a defender and score from 12 yards out with 2:09 remaining. It was Stinson’s 13th goal of the season.

Barton broke a 0-0 deadlock when Seulgi Lee headed in a corner kick 10 minutes into the second half but the Blue Devils got even 13 minutes later when freshman Katharina Oelschlaeger drilled a 28-yarder just inside the far post.

“We just kept waiting for the second one,” Uhlenhake said. “You could just feel the tension. This team has come character. We’ve come from behind twice before this year but we just couldn’t get the one pass or one touch we needed.”

The Blue Devils came inches from a go-ahead goal when Melissa Siegel’s long free kick late in the game was barely tipped away by Cougar goalkeeper Maria Guiterrez.

“That was the play of the game,” Uhlenhake said. “Melissa could not hit that ball any better. It would have put us up 2-1. Barton is a good team, a real, good team. We made adjustments; they made adjustments. I think the best two teams were in the regional. We just ran out of time.”

Two 3-hit games not enough; Blue Devils eliminated in baseball

by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC sports information

Kansas City Kansas Community College’s baseball season came to a sudden end Friday.

Limited to three hits in each game, the Blue Devils fell 10-3 to Cowley College and 10-2 to Colby and were eliminated from the NJCAA Region VI Division I playoffs in Salina. The losses left the Blue Devils 32-20 for the season.

The Blue Devils led Cowley 3-2 through 5½ innings of their opener only to have the four-time Jayhawk champion Tigers score four runs in the sixth and three in the eighth in improving to 44-8.

KCKCC grabbed a 1-0 lead in the second on singles by Ray Paniagua and Brendyn Bard, fell behind 2-1 and then regained a 3-2 lead in the fifth on a pair of walks, wild pitch and a Palmer Hutchison sacrifice fly.

However, only two of the final 17 Blue Devil hitters reached base. Cole Slibowski led off the game with a double for KCKCC’s only other hit.

Cowley took advantage of three walks and a single to start the 4-run sixth and a 6-3 lead and then closed out the win with home runs by Michelle Artzberger, Gus Freeman and Elijah Jackson in the eighth.

Southpaw Logan Barnard allowed six hits and two runs in the first 4.1 innings but Parker Weddle walked three of the five hitters he faced and Chase Terrell finished, allowing six hits, six runs (four earned) and three home runs.

The Blue Devils also led Colby 2-0 in the elimination game, Cole Dawson belting a 2-run homer following Bard’s leadoff single in the second.

However, they managed only one other hit, a bunt single by Paniagua in the third against Alex Cook, who struck out 13 and retired 13 of the final 15 hitters he faced.

Colby (30-24) went ahead 5-2 in the third inning on a leadoff homer by Grant Higgins and a 3-run round tripper by Jake Ticer off Eli Tormes and added four more runs off Gabriel Ramos and Alan Mercado in the fourth.

Hunter Cashero worked the final four innings, allowing two hits and one run, Ticker’s second home run of the game.