Henson looks for a surge in women's lacrosse roster

Starting a club sport in an area mostly oblivious to the sport itself is tough.

But that didn't stop Gina Henson, who says "tough" is more or less a way of life.

Henson, a lacrosse player, is trying to spur the area's interest in a sport that's growing in popularity nationwide.

"In St. Louis it's very popular," Henson said. "It's growing very fast up there."

Henson, 19, began playing in high school when she was a sophomore at St. Joseph's Academy in St. Louis. Although she attended St. Joseph's, another school's team got her attention when a teacher asked for interested girls who would play on a club team at Parkway Central.

"I hopped on it," she said. "I had no idea what I was doing."

She caught on quickly and made the varsity team roster in her first year of competition.

"We pretty much started the team at Parkway and played both private and public schools like a normal team. We practiced every single day," she said.

The biggest difference was that it was not a normal team. Her high school team was a club team, much like the team she is trying to get organized at Southeast Missouri State University.

Henson had to choose between attending Regis University in Colorado on a lacrosse scholarship or coming to Southeast. She chose Southeast and is making the most of her decision by trying to build interest in women's lacrosse.

"It's certainly still in the process," said Henson, a sophomore. "The first steps are slow. It's really hard to find girls who are interested and dedicated."

The team so far consists of 10 players, but Henson said she hopes the team will include closer to 20 by spring, when they plan to start competing.

"The majority of girls don't know how to play, so we're in the teaching and coaching stage," Henson said. "We're waiting for girls to come tell us that they're interested. We're putting all our effort into this. All we ask is that the girls who are interested do the same."

Henson has already contacted the University of Missouri, Dayton and the University of Kansas about future games.

"Right now it's just for recreation, but we are hoping to get scrimmages in soon," she said.

Henson said her goal is to establish a club team and be competitive by the time she graduates. It may be her last chance for serious competition.

"I highly doubt that I will be playing anywhere else after college," she said. "I'd like to coach, even though I already miss playing."

Her alma mater, St. Joseph's Academy, recently started a girls lacrosse team, and she would like to become involved with that team after college.

"Some girls in my senior class helped start that team, so it would be nice to be a coach or an assistant coach there," Henson said. "I wouldn't mind refereeing either. It's fun, too."

Ryan teams for doubles title in South CarolinaDonna Ryan of Cape Girardeau was on the team that won the women's doubles gold medal last week during the Professional Tennis Registry conference tournament at Hilton Head, S.C.

Ryan was among 800 tennis professionals who attended the weeklong event that included a trade show, lectures and demonstrations at Shipyard Plantation.

Noteworthyn The Jackson Flash won a bronze medal last week in the third annual Show Me State Games Youth Basketball Tournament in Columbia. The event featured more than 100 youth teams from across the state and was open to males and females in grades four through six.

The Flash competed in the boys' fifth-grade competitive division. The coach is Doug Seabaugh.

The Southeast Missouri Track Club, made up of female athletes from Central and Jackson high schools, fared well in the University of Missouri All-Comers Indoor Track Meet over the weekend.

Individually, Rachel Lowes won the 400 meter dash in 1:03.6; Jennifer Pancoast was second in the mile run in 5:32.1; Nicole Fadler was fourth in the 3,000 run in 11:43; Holly Shaffer was fourth in the 800 in 2:37.7, with Linnea Woldveldt eighth in 2:39.7. The relay team of Shaffer, Pancoast, Woldveldt and Lowes won the 1,600 in 4:28.4.

The meet included athletes from Missouri, Illinois, Kansas and Oklahoma.