Soccer- South Soccer played Tuesday night and lost a close one to Olathe West. They were down by one goal and trying to come back, but fell behind after letting in another goal in the closing minutes. The Raiders played another good opponent, Olathe Northwest on Thursday, South’s senior night, and lost four to one. South soccer has had a very difficult schedule throughout the first few games but looks to improve next week after last weeks tough losses

Tennis- After the Shawnee Mission School District announced that fall sports could start, the girls tennis team was ready to start. Because of the late start the team has been playing almost every day at Marty Courts on 103rd and Metcalf. The team is split into two groups most days, one playing at South Courts and the other at Marty. Overall, the team has done pretty well, placing second in Shawnee Mission, and only losing to East. On Wednesday, September 23 the top 12 players played in Olathe while the rest of the team played against Saint James. The Raiders are hopeful to keep their good play going throughout the rest of the season.

Volleyball – The Volleyball season started about 2 weeks ago and the team is looking for their first win of the year. The Raiders played Mill Valley and SMW on Thursday night at the SMS gym and lost both, but played the best volleyball they have all season. The team has played 12 games and looks to improve for their next game against Olathe Northwest on Tuesday, September 29.
“Our defense has gotten a lot better, so hopefully we can get our offence going and hit some balls and get the other team to play some more defence,” senior Natalie Payne said. With around 20 games left, the team looks to add some wins before the season ends.

Cross Country- On September 19th the Cross Country team had their first meet of the season at Lexington Lake in Desoto. The Raiders girls did well, with Hannah Gibson, Laci and Lexi Sims, and Chloe Wannamaker all placing top ten. The boys also ran well, with Nick Petrella taking second and Lloyd Dodson taking fourth place. Their next meet was on Saturday, September 26th at the Frontier Trail in Olathe, where Gibson broke the SMS 5k record. “The last meet was on a pretty hard course in Desoto, so we hope that next Saturday we will continue to get better,”Senior Nick Petrella said.

Girls Golf- Girls golf has started back up and has done well so far, the team has had 2 tournaments and junior McLain Neal has been the standout in those, placing 5th overall. The team consists of 10 girls, who compete in a playoff to determine who will be on varsity for next week’s tournament, which helps create competition between players. After missing a few tournaments due to the season being delayed, the Raiders will look to continue their good start at their next tournament in Lawrence on September 30th at Eagle’s Bend golf course.

Gymnastics- Gymnastics’ next meet is Monday, September 29th, at Indian Creek Technology Center. The team consists of 4 girls. The team is coached by the same coach as SME and SMW, which makes the girls very close to the opposing team’s players. In gymnastics meets, the team competes on four different events, floor, beam, bars and vault. In gymnastics, the teams are judged on technique, performance, execution and level of difficulty. Based on those factors, the highest score wins the meet.