Newsletter-Mid-Week

It was a debut to remember for Leavenworth High School freshman Josie Brown as the Pioneers toppled Topeka-Highland Park High School 6-0 in nonconference girls’ soccer action Tuesday at Pioneer Stadium.Brown scored the Pioneers first three goals of the season then tacked on a fourth as her squad won its first contest of 2025. Senior Avi Garret added two goals of her own in the win.According to senior goalkeeper Emily Singletary, the four-goal debut was a joyous event for the whole team.“Everyone was so excited for her, absolutely, and that’s why the team mobbed her after the third goal,” Singletary said.

It is impossible to spend time with Wayne Simien and not share in his joy.The 42-year-old Leavenworth native and University of Kansas men’s hoop legend is living out every one of his childhood basketball dreams – and then some.Twenty years after his astonishing 2005 senior season with the Jayhawks, which earned him consensus first-team All-American and Big XII Player of the Year honors, he still considers the earliest days of his Leavenworth upbringing his foundational moments.“I can’t have those thoughts of the All-American year or a world championship year without thinking of my hometown,” he said with a warm smile.Currently serving as the Jayhawks Associate Athletics Director of Strategic Engagement, a role he accepted in August 2021, Simien is honored to give back to the school, region and state that he credits with much of his success.“I like to take care of home,” Simien offered. “I was a beneficiary of so much that (KU) had to offer, and I feel like I’m a caretaker of it now.