Former Cougar tennis player Lyle Stickney is in his 12th season leading the Barton tennis program.

While at Barton, Stickney’s women’s teams have qualified for the NJCAA tournament seven times (2012, ‘14, ‘15, ‘16, ‘17, ‘18, and ‘19) with a best placing of 9th in the 2016-17 season. On the men’s side, the Cougars finished 12th in 2014, 21st in ‘17, 15th in ‘18, 13th in ‘19, and most recently concluded the shortened 2020 season in 8th place nationally.

Stickney’s Cougars showed tremendous potential just six matches in as Barton boasted a 5-1 dual mark until the 2020 season was cut short by the global COVID-19 pandemic. The Cougars lone defeat came at the hands of top ranked Tyler Junior College. Sophomore duo Oswaldo Cano and Sebastian Pino wrapped their Cougar careers ranked 18th nationally in the ITA doubles rankings. The pair also concluded the season ranked individually in the ITA national polls 15th and 40th respectively.

Off the court the Cougars were also solid in the classroom amassing a 3.4 GPA to rank 12th in the nation with four members earning NJCAA academic distinction including two attaining a perfect 4.0 GPA.

Ranked 9th heading into the 2019 NJCAA National Championships, the Cougars went 5-1 on the opening day of their third straight national tournament appearance, powering through a tough draw to end the tournament 12-11 in matches played compiling 17.5 points to finish just .5 points out of a top ten standing. Barton's good start to the championships hit a wall on day two as unfavorable pre-tournament seeding put all six singles players against seeded opponents resulting in knock-out match losses for four of the six.

Barton had two entries surviving the back draw to reach the consolation championship, with No. 6 singles player Tom Letecheur winning the championship while the No. 1 doubles tandem of Guido Luna and Sebastian Pino came up short for the consolation title.

Making their second straight trip to the national tournament in 2018, the 20th ranked Cougars exceeded their ranking to conclude the season 15th at the Championships for its highest finish since the 2014 squad’s 12th placing in 2014. Off the hard court the Cougars also had a strong season in the classroom, placing 10th nationally with a cumulative 3.27 GPA.

Returning to the national tournament after a year removed, the 2016-17 Cougars placed 21st at the national tournament. Barton reached the back draw championship in the No. 3 singles while coming up a match short of the consolation championship in the No. 4 and No. 5 singles’ draws, as well as, in the No. 2 doubles.

Stickney entered the coaching ranks at Ellinwood High School, leading the girls program since 1989 and formerly headed the boys program from 1995-2009. During this run Stickney had 57 boys and 84 girls qualify for the state tournaments, with four regional titles and six top-5 state finishes on the boys side (three team runners-up) and six regional titles and seven top-5 placings for the girls. In 2011 his Lady Eagles captured the Class 3-2-1A Team Championship. Additionally, Stickney was twice named 3A Coach of the Year.

An Ellinwood, Kansas, native, Stickney continued his playing career at Fort Hays State University, graduating with a Business Administration bachelor’s degree in 1984.