Phillipsburg’s golf team walked away with all first-place honors at the MCL Toruanment at Ellis on May 8; however, Trego team placed in the top three in all categories.
Trego’s 4-man team of Nolan Smith, Eric Cunningham, Cameron Locke and Rubin Sherwood placed 2nd with 170 strokes, five behind Phillipsburg’s 165 strokes. Osborne followed with 172 strokes.
In the 2-man category, Ryan P. and Taylor Dirks placed third with 85 strokes, five more than Phillipsburg; three more than Norton.
Trego’s top four golfers, with 164 strokes, earned a second-place position at the tournament, 12 strokes behind Phillipsburg. Osborne, with 172 strokes, rounded out the top three.
Nolan S. led this team with a third-place individual finish with 76 strokes. Also making the top 10 was Ryan P., with 78 strokes. Cameron Locke, 86 strokes, tied for 10th; however, a card playoff positioned him in 12th place.
Other team scores included the following: Eric Cunningham, 88; Scott P., 90; Taylor Dirks, 92; Jade Bliss, 94; and Rubin Sherwood, 112.
Varsity members Nolan S., Locke, Cunningham, Ryan P., Scott P. and Dirks will compete at Regionals in Ellis on May 12.
Trego qualified in the top six seeds and will tee off between 10:00 a.m and 10:50 a.m. in 10 minute intervals.
“If they just play their normal game, we should have a good shot at possibly winning Regionals and definitely going to State,” said Coach Doug Durr.
By Jake Schlegel
The girls’ and boys’ track teams earned a combined seven medals at Hill City on May 5, as the girls placed eighth out of 10 schools and the boys placed 10th.
Highlighting the Lady Eagles’ team, Catie Riedel was the champion of the 400 meter dash. She ran a 1:03.71, which was 1.50 seconds faster than the second-place finisher.
Morgan Dietz and Stephanie Griffith each finished third in each of their bread and butter events. Dietz—a 100-meter-hurdles specialist—ran the race in 18.24 seconds, and Griffith—a discus-throwing specialist—threw a distance of 95’1”.
The girls’ 4x110-yard-relay team earned a fourth-place medal. Dietz, Aubrey Riedel, Catie Riedel and Michele Ummel completed the relay with a time of 53.91 seconds, which was just 1.50 seconds behind the winning time.
In addition to medaling with the 4x110-yard-relay team, Aubrey Riedel also medaled in the 200 meter dash, as she finished fourth with a time of 28.84 seconds.
Like Aubrey Riedel, Ummel also competed in the 200 meter dash. Ummel finished just .16 seconds behind her teammate to finish in fifth place.
Other fifth place finishers were Aubrey Riedel and Catie Riedel. Aubrey Riedel took fifth in the long jump and Catie Riedel took fifth in the 800 meter run.
The boys’ team was highlighted by the 4x880-yard-relay team. Skyler McGann, Spencer Hemmert, Brandon Eberle and Derek Carr finished third in the event with a time of 9:08.46.
Also medaling, Zach Bentham placed fourth in the 1600 meter run with a time of 5:24.84.
In the 3200 meter run, Skyler McGann finished fifth with a time of 11:41.12.
Sixth place finishers included the following: Derek Carr, 800 meter run; the 4x110-yard-relay team of Cory McGann, Eberle, Monte Schmitt and Dylan Sherfick; and the 4x440-yard-relay team of Hemmert, Schmitt, Eberle and Cory McGann.
The track team will compete in MCL competition on May 9 at Phillipsburg.
State bound Katt and Schlegel guide
Eagles to second-place Regional finish
The Eagles finished in second place out of seven schools at the tennis Regional in Cimarron on May 1, and the two Eagles’ singles players, Brandon Katt and Jake Schlegel, will be heading to State after placing third and fourth, respectively, in singles.
At the Regional tournament, Katt received the two seed, and Schlegel got the four seed out of 14 seeds. Katt earned a first-round bye, and, therefore, needed just one victory to qualify for State, which he got against Matt Kliewer from Cimarron by a score of 6-4, 6-4.
Schlegel wasn’t fortunate enough to earn a first-round bye, but he still defeated his opponent from Southwestern Heights, Oscar Sigala, 6-2, 6-3 in round one. In Schlegel’s second match of the day, he faced off against Parker Artz from Scott City, for the right to go to State. Earlier in the regular season, Schlegel fought back from a 2-5 deficit against Artz and won by an 8-6 score, so Schlegel knew that he was not going to just walk into the State tournament with an easy victory. However, Schlegel got off to a great start by winning his first of the best-of-three sets, 6-0. In the second set, Schlegel was pushed to a tie-breaker but prevailed 7-6 (7-2).
In the semi-finals, Katt and Schlegel both fell short to their opponents. Katt faltered against Jordan Toothacker of Cimarron by a score of 3-6, 1-6, and Schlegel lost, 1-6, 4-6, to Ethan Deckert of Larned, the top seed and eventual champion. After the Eagles’ singles players failed to reach the finals, the two played against each other for the second time this season for third place. Katt again defeated Schlegel. This time the score was 6-2, 6-1.
The doubles team of Shane Pfeifer and Mitchell Kroeger failed to qualify for State but did earn the team a point that helped put the team in position for a second-place finish, as they won their opening match of the day. Pfeifer and Kroeger fought back after losing their opening set, 3-6, against Meade and went on to win the final two sets, 6-4, 6-4, to move on to round two. In their second match of the day, Pfeifer and Kroeger lost, 0-6, 2-6, against Hoisington.
The other Eagles’ doubles team of Senior Matthew Neff and Casey Flax played Southwestern Heights in round one of the tournament. Neff and Flax faltered in the opening set, 2-6, but made things more interesting in the second set. In set two, Neff and Flax trailed five games to three and were serving, but they fell short in their final game of the year—a game that lasted nearly 10 minutes.
After the Regional tournament, Coach Sheryl Hillman commented.
“What a great day. Receiving the Regional Runner-up plaque was quite a surprise. The guys have worked hard this year, and they certainly earned it. It has definitely been a team-effort year. I am so pleased to be able to have two entries representing the team at the State tournament next week.”
Katt and Schlegel will head to Wichita this next week to compete at the 3-2-1 A State Tennis Tournament on May 9-10.
Brandon Katt, left, and Jake Schlegel, right, will compete at State Tennis in Wichita on May 9-10
Contributing to the TCHS Tennis team this year were the following members: 2nd place Regional winners-- (front) Jake Schlegel and Brandon Katt; (middle) Casey Flax, Matt Neff, Mitch Kroeger and Shane Pfeifer. Rounding out the team were (from left in back) Aaron Workman, Lance Soales, Chad Uhrich, Brandon Neff, Eli Sherwood, Curtis Satran and Jordan Olson. The team was coached by Sheryl Hillman and Libby Day.
