PREP ROUNDUP: Eagles win West Vigo tennis tourney

Monday, August 21, 2017
Members of the South Putnam boys’ tennis team are (from left, front) Austin Arnold, Tanner Pistelli and Ty VanSickle; (back)manager Kaylee Hubbard, Thomas Fanning, Garrett Heavin, Jared Seidler, Noah Emmrich and coach Johnny Briones. The Eagles won the West Vigo Invitational on Saturday.
Contributed photo

WEST TERRE HAUTE — South Putnam got a singles title from Ty VanSickle at No. 2 and a first-place finish its No. 2 doubles team of Austin Arnold and Tanner Pistelli to claim first place in the West Vigo Invitational boys’ tennis match on Saturday.

VanSickle defeated Alex Wolfe of White River Valley in the championship match at No. 2 singles, while the team of Arnold-Pistelli won a tough three-set match from Turkey Run’s Connor Crum and Trevor Hardman.

“It was a very good day for South Putnam tennis,” Eagle coach Johnny Briones said. “Despite the high temperature, our Eagles played hard and were extremely competitive.”

The No. 1 doubles team of Jared Seidler-Noah Emmrich finished second, while Thomas Fanning of South Putnam placed third at No. 1 singles and Garrett Heavin was third at No. 3 singles. Other competing teams were West Vigo, Turkey Run and White River Valley.

“We had several third-set tiebreaker matches,” he said. “I’m extremely proud of how our guys performed, and hopefully this will jumpstart our season.”

The Eagles play at West Vigo today and play at Northview on Wednesday.

West Vigo Invitational

First round

Singles — 1. Nate Ferguson (TR) def. Thomas Fanning (SP) 6-4, 5-7, 10-2; 2. Ty VanSickle (SP) def. Alex Wolfe (WRV) 3-6, 6-2, 13-11; 3. Ryan Brown (WV) def. Garrett Heavin (SP) 6-2, 6-4

Doubles — 1. Jared Seidler-Noah Emmrich (SP) def. Alex Baker-Elijah Fulford (WV) 7-5, 4-6, 10-7; 2. Austin Arnold-Tanner Pistelli (SP) def. Chance Cooper-Evan Newman (WV) 7-6 (7-0)m 6-0

Second round

Singles — 1. Thomas Fanning (SP) def. Cooper Banning (WRV) 6-0, 6-1; 2. Ty Van Sickle (SP) def. Dylan Lemon (WV) 6-4, 6-3; 3 Garrett Heavin (SP) def. Dawson Seward (TR) 6-0, 6-0

Doubles — 1. Connor Crum-Trevor Hardman (TR) def. Jared Seidler-Noah Emmrich (SP) 6-3, 0-6, 10-8, 2. Austin Arnold-Tanner Pistelli (SP) def. Riley Ferguson-John Flack (TR) 6-1, 6-1

In other tennis:

Tiger Cubs win pair — Greencastle traveled to Sullivan on Saturday and won a pair of matches, beating Sullivan 5-0 and Rockville 3-2.

Sean Ramey went 2-0 on the day at No. 1 singles, while Trent Ross at No. 2 singles and the No. 1 doubles team of Anthony Conley and Nate Hensley also won both matches on the day.

Greencastle 5, Sullivan 0

Singles — 1. Sean Ramey won 6-0, 6-0; 2. Trent Ross won 6-0, 6-0; 3. Luca Magni won 6-0, 6-1

Doubles — 1. Anthony Conley-Nate Hensley won 6-0, 6-0; 2. Henry Carter-Micah Hammond won by default

Greencastle 3, Rockville 2

Singles — 1. Sean Ramey won 6-2, 6-2; 2. Trent Ross won 6-3 6-4; 3. Luca Magni lost 4-6, 3-6

Doubles — 1. Anthony Conley-Nate Hensley won 6-3, 6-2; 2. Henry Carter-Micah Hammond lost 2-6, 4-6

Soccer

Greencastle 2, Covington 2 (boys) — Each team scored a goal in each half on Saturday in a tie game.

The Tiger Cubs were able to get on the board first with Evan Crowe scoring a goal (assisted by Jakob Foss) in the 16th minute. Covington replied back by tying the game with a goal just before half.

Greencastle fired back in the second half with a deep shot from Hector Lezama, again assisted by Foss. Covington came back to equalize with 20 minutes remaining in the game.

Greencastle 8, Monrovia 0 (boys) — The Tiger Cubs opened their season on Tuesday with a big win over the Bulldogs.

Ben Parsons kicked off the scoring, netting the first goal of the season. Evan Crowe had an exceptional game, bagging a hat trick along with three other assists.

Ben Wilkerson controlled the tempo of play in the midfield and managed two assists before the game was over. Jakob Foss helped in the attacking midfield role, getting one goal and two assists. Hector Lezama got his first goal of the season and Jacob Baker put in a brace for his first varsity goals.

“The boys played well, keeping the ball in the offensive end for most of the game,” coach J.D. Sims said.

Cascade 7, North Putnam 0 (boys) — The Cadets scored six goals in the first half and one in the second to record the victory on Saturday.

“Cascade is always a tough game for us under normal circumstances,” NP coach Curt Krominaker said. “We had one of our key players out sick and two other starters coming straight from a cross country meet. This led to a very slow start for our team, with several players functioning in a different role.”

The Cougars regrouped at halftime and had a much better second half.

“We made a few position adjustments and talked to the boys at halftime about getting to the ball,” Krominaker said. “This seemed to have a positive impact in the second half. We only gave up one goal and had several more shot opportunities which was a positive take away. The boys gave an outstanding effort for 80 minutes with the heat and only having one substitute available.”

Krominaker thought goalie Aidan Millican had a “fantastic” game, recording 21 saves along with numerous other plays protecting his box.

“I would say it was his finest performance in his two years as a starter,” Krominaker said.

Cascade 3, North Putnam 0 (girls) — The Cadets scored all three of their goals in the first half on Saturday to record the victory.

“The Lady Cougars came out sluggish to start the match,” coach James Hilton said, “but improved as the contest went on by shutting Cascade out in the second half. We had a few good chances to score, but could not find the back of the net.”

Volleyball

Cougars finish 2-1 in Early Bird tourney — North Putnam hosted the Early Bird Tourney on Saturday, and finished 2-1 on the day.

The Cougars defeated Attica 25-20 and 25-21, then lost to Mooresville by similar 25-21 scores. North Putnam closed out the day by defeating Crawfordsville 19-25, 25-18 and 15-13.

“We came out ready to play against Attica and played pretty well as a team,” NP coach Bonnie Osborn said. “We played well against a good Mooresville team, but we get down on ourselves as individuals when we made mistakes. That’s one of the biggest things I am currently working on — getting the girls to always be up and learning from mistakes and then letting them go.”

The Cougars lost the first set to Crawfordsville, and after winning the second set were down 10-4 in the third set.

“The girls decided they were not losing, and worked hard to come back and get the victory,” Osborn said. “They are a group that fights for wins. If we can get past getting down as individuals, then this team will do great things.”

Attica 20 21

North Putnam 25 25

Highlights — Bradi Gierke had six kills and Clarissa Gibson had nine assists.

Mooresville 25 25

North Putnam 21 21

Highlights — Bradi Gierke had six kills, Kinzey Young had five kills, Baylee Osburn had three kills and Clarissa Gibson had 11 assists.

Crawfordsville 25 18 13

North Putnam 19 25 15

Highlights — Bradi Gierke had three kills, Dana Tennis and Baylee Osburn had one kill each and Clarissa Gibson had four assists.

Cross country

Eagles compete at Zionsville — South Putnam’s runners competed in the Zionsville Invitational on Saturday

“It was a unique format, consisting of 4K races divided by class,” SP coach Brandon Welti said. “We were likely among the smallest of the 18 schools represented, yet we still put together quite a few stellar performances.”

In the boys’ freshman-sophomore race, Karl Egold led South Putnam with a strong 28th place finish out of 199 individuals.

“His time was well over a minute faster than what he ran here last year, which was really impressive,” Welti said. “Another great standout from this race was Josh Beikman. It’s quite common to see individuals go out too fast and then really slow down as the race goes on. Josh, however, ran consistently the entire time, with only a five-second difference from his fastest and slowest splits. To put things in perspective, the next best in consistency had 18 seconds between their fastest and slowest splits. The team average was in the upper 30s. That makes what Josh did pretty impressive.”

In the girls’ freshman-sophomore race, Lexi Vanihel got her cross country career off to a great start by finishing 25th to lead all Eagle runners.

“Also impressing the team was Ally Menke,” Welti noted. “Ally was sick all morning, yet she still managed to come out and put together a strong race from start to finish.”

The junior-senior boys had the best results in the team standings in relation to the number of competitors. Austin Rumley led the group with a solid 35th-place finish, Welti said, despite not feeling the greatest in the later stages of the race.

“One of the most impressive things came with the incredible pack we had for runners 2-5,” Welti added. “Dru Bottorff, Eric Hinkle, Andrew Carr and Michael Crossman all finished just eight seconds apart. Looking down the road to the end of the season, that kind of pack racing can really help with team success.”

The final race of the morning was the junior-senior girls race. Chelsie Edwards was the best Eagle finisher in this race, crossing the line in 28th place, in pacing the Eagles to a sixth-place finish.

Boys — Austin Rumley 14:14, Karl Egold 14:52, Dru Bottorff 15:36, Eric Hinkle 15:40, Andrew Carr 15:43, Michael Crossman 15:44, Josh Beikman 16:55, Daniel Johnson 16:57, Adair Bock 17:13, Steven Schnepp 17:44, Brent Wiggins 17:53

Girls — Lexi Vanihel 17:33, Chelsie Edwards 17:42, Ally Nichols 18:11, Caity Crossman 19:43, Samara Young 19:52, Ally Menke 20:15, Addi Blaydes 21:12, Rachel Jones 21:14, Naomi Martinez 22:02, Rachel Carter 28:33

Wilson wins BN title — Emma Wilson of Greencastle won the Bloomington North Earlybird Invitational title with a winning time of 18:52.5, more than 30 seconds faster than the runnerup finisher.

Teammate Sydney Kallem finished 38th overall in 22:48.8.

Three boys competed for Greencastle, with Ben Gellman placing the best at 19th with a time of 18:02.2. Other Tiger Cubs competing were Ian Frank (116th in 21:02.5) and John Brook (25:31.9).

The Tiger Cubs did not field a complete team in either race and were not included in the team standings.

Cougars open season at FC Grand Prix — North Putnam opened its season on Saturday by competing in the Fountain Central Grand Prix.

The Cougars are awaiting several athletes to join the team after completing the required practice allotment.

“Our Cougar athletes competed better than we had expected for their first race, especially on a course we’ve never been to,” NP coach Kevin Lutes said. “On the boys’ side, Caleb Duncan crushed his PR by close to a minute, and finished 11th overall. That performance will help focus him for the future.”

Lutes thought Kyle Young, Adam Bonebrake and Grant Jarboe all ran well also.

“Unfortunately we weren’t able to score as a team since we only had four eligible runners,” Lutes said. “This will be the first time in years that we’ll be able to field two scoring teams, which we’re very excited about.”

North Putnam finished seventh in the girls’ team competition, led by freshmen Grace Elmore and Anna Haste.

“I was impressed with how those two handled their first high school race,” Lutes said. “I know they were nervous at the start, but they settled in well. Sydney [Sims], Taylor [Hensley] and Gabby [Carney] all raced hard.

“We still have six more athletes that will join us once they get their final practices in,” he added. “We’re looking forward to what this season holds.”

Boys — 11. Caleb Duncan 17:32, 42. Kyle Young 20:03, 65. Adam Bonebrake 21:51, 66. Grant Jarboe 21:52

Girls — 28. Grace Elmore 23:49, 34. Anna Haste 24:21, 48. Sydney Sims (NP) 26:13, 58. Taylor Hensley 28:04, 59. Gabby Carney 28:07

Golf

Cougars continue progress — North Putnam competed in the Western Boone Invitational on Saturday, cutting nearly 100 strokes from its previous tournament appearance.

“Scores do not always reflect what really happens on a golf course,” NP coach Linda Patrick said. “The Lady Cougars are beginning to see the fruits of their labor by dropping strokes from their team score with a 487 Saturday, compared to a 570 at the Southmont Invitational.

Taylor Dixon, still nursing an ankle injury, managed to card her best 18-hold score for the Lady Cougars with a 98.

“Hopefully she will back to full force by next week’s WIC conference meet,” Patrick said.

Brittany Bonifacius and Nyiah Goff both scored a 129, followed by Grace Timm with a 131 and Haylee Greene with a 132.

“These scores could not have happened without the focus of all players to do their very best amongst a field of tough competitors such as Brownsburg, Lebanon, Westfield and West Lafayette,” Patrick said. “Every player showed tremendous improvement in tempo, good ball placement for each club, and better club choice. All players can still improve putting to knock off some three putts to help decrease strokes.”

Patrick thought the course conditions were great for the event.

“The hard surfaces allowed a lot of rolling in the fairways, but the greens were also hard and made it difficult for balls to stick on the green,” she said. “I am pleased to see great improvement from meet to meet.”

Respond to this story

Posting a comment requires free registration: