Saturday wrap: CC semistates & volleyball sectionals

Cross country

Greenfield-Central's boys finished 17th at the Carmel cross country semistate today. Tyler Wilcher led the Cougars (58th, 16:50). Garrett Benedict was 99th (17:14). Christopher Tatom (110th, 17:42), Syrus Fletcher (114th, 17:43) and Jared McQueen (140th, 18:31) all scored for the Cougars. 

Seth Eagleson of New Palestine ran as an individual and finished 53rd.  

New Palestine's girls finished 19th at the semistate. The Dragons were led by Natalie Shields (96th, 21:12), Kayla Medaris (110th, 21:46), Caroline Voelz (116th, 22:04); Emily Trimpe (120th, 22:22) and Izzy Fleetwood (128th, 22:57). 

Volleyball

The volleyball season ended for the local schools this morning, as the final two teams remaining in action fell in sectional semifinal matches.

Mt. Vernon had a strong rally in the first game, but fell to Chatard 26-24, 25-22, 25-21. The Marauder season finishes with a 23-10 record.

Eastern Hancock fell to Cambridge City Lincoln in three games in the semifinals of the 2A Knightstown sectional. 

CC: Marauders, Dragons, Cougars advance

The New Palestine girls and Greenfield-Central boys teams advanced out of today's Rushville regional and will compete in next Saturday's semistate at Northview Christian Life Church.

In the Delta regional, both Mt. Vernon teams advanced. MV's girls finished third, MV's boys were fourth. They will compete in the New Haven semistate next Saturday.


In the girls race, the Dragons finished fourth out of 10 teams in today's Rushville regional, earning a ticket to next Saturday's semistate at Northview Christian Life Church in Carmel.

The Dragons had 125 points, finishing five ahead of fifth-place Connersville and 49 points ahead of the cutoff to make it to the regional. Franklin Central and Warren Central -- the top two teams in the New Palestine sectional earlier this week -- were the top two teams with 23 and 78, respectively. Hagerstown was third with 94. NP was the only team in the top five to advance without a runner in the top 10, showing tremendous depth, as the Dragons' sixth runner was ahead of Hagerstown's fifth, Connersville's fourth and sixth-place Roncalli's third runner. Greenfield-Central was ninth with 205.

Emily Trimpe led the Dragons with a 23rd-place finish in 21:31. Natalie Shields finished 24th (21:32). Caroline Voelz was 27th (22:05), Kayla Medaris 31st (22:20) and Izzy Fleetwood 38th (22:43). Brianna Komornik (39th) and Chloe Kirchner (57th) did not score, but had strong runs for the Dragons.

G-C was led by 32nd-place Rebecca Flora (22:23). Also scoring for the Cougars were Katie McKeeman (41st, 22:48), Claire Talbott (43rd, 22:50), Emily Dupnick (45th, 22:54) and Megan Morley (64th, 24:21).

Eastern Hancock's Kiersten Schrope narrowly missed advancing, finishing 16th with a time of 21:14 -- one spot and 10 seconds shy of moving on.

On the boys side, Greenfield-Central scored 142 to finish fifth -- and was just eight points shy of third-place New Castle and six shy of fourth-place Roncalli. Franklin Central and Warren Central were the top two teams with 38 and 87 points, respectively. New Palestine finished seventh with 174.

G-C was led by senior Tyler Wi9lcher (17th, 17:37). Also scoring were Garrett Benedict (20th, 17:44), Christopher Tatom (25th, 17:56), Jared McQueen (45th, 18:35) and Jordan Wright (49th, 18:43).

New Palestine's Seth Eagleson finished sixth with a 17:00 run over 5K to advance to the semistate as an individual. Tate Schienbein of Union County won with a time of 16:01.

Also scoring for the Dragons were Austin Dodd (18:20, 37th), Oliver Dockins (41st, 18:30), Sam Jones (48th, 18:38) and Zach Nagel (56th, 19:03).

At Delta, Mt. Vernon's girls finished third with a team score of 101. Pendleton Heights won the race with a total of 56, Yorktown was second with 95. Four of the five advancing teams were from the Hoosier Heritage Conference -- Jay County and Delta were fourth and fifth.

MV had a lot of depth, shown by the fact that all five runners finished in the top 35. The Marauders were led by Elizabeth Cook (13th, 20:39), Miranda Bode (15th, 20:43), Jessica Grubb (25th, 21:37), Micaela Elmore (28th, 21:35) and Cassandra Eiler (31st, 21:49).

In the boys race, MV finished fourth with a score of 102, four points ahead of fifth-place Delta. Pendleton Heights won with a 45, beating Muncie Central by eight. Frankton was third with 89.

Matthew Abebe (12th, 17:27) led the Marauders. Nathan Bode (14th, 17:30), Andrew Boyle (23rd, 17:56), Taylor VanWinkle (28th, 18:06) and Gary Maley (37th, 18:24) all scored for the Marauders.

Tuesday wrap: Cougars, Dragons win CC titles

Greenfield-Central and New Palestine won the Hancock County cross country titles Tuesday night by the narrowest of margins.

G-C won the boys championship by a 32-34 score over Mt. Vernon. New Palestine's Seth Eagleson was the individual champ (17:19), but G-C had four runners in the top eight to clinch the title, led by second-place Tyler Wilcher (17:37) and third-place Garrett Benedict (17:44). G-C's Christopher Tatom and Jordan Wright finished seventh and eighth, respectively, and 12th-place Syrus Fletcher rounded out the Cougars' scoring. 

MV was led by fourth-place Matthew Abebe (17:54). Nathan Bode (fifth), Andrew Boyle (sixth), Alberto Sanchez (ninth) and Andrew Thaxton (10th) were All-County runners for the Marauders. 

NP finished third with 67 points, led by Eagleson, Austin Dodd (14th), Sam Jones (16th), Oliver Dockins (17th) and Zach Nagel (19th). 

EH totaled 120 points, with the 22nd-through-26th place runners -- Tristian Holzhausen, Jacob Brown, Tim Warburton, Parker West and Mitchell Scott. 

It was G-C's first title since 2006. 

NP won its sixth straight girls county title, besting MV 36-40. The Marauders' Mandy Bode was the individual champ in 21:37 for the 5,000 meter race. 

NP had four runners in the top 10 and all five in the top 12, led by Emily Trimpe (3rd, 22:04), fifth-place Natalie Shields, sixth-place Izzy Fleetwood, 10th-place Caroline Voelz and 12th-place Kayla Medaris. 

MV placed four runners in the top 10. Following Bode were seventh-place Jessica Grubb, eighth-place Cassandra Eiler, ninth-place Sam Sanders and 15th-place Micaela Elmore. 

G-C was third with 64 points, led by fourth-place Claire Talbot (22:30). Also scoring for the Cougars were Katie McKeeman (11th), Emily Dupnick (13th), Becca Flora (14th) and Bailey Thompson (22nd). 

EH was fourth with 92 points. Runner-up Kiersten Schrope (21:46) was the Royals' top finisher. Also scoring were Elizabeth Pettit (20th), Hannah Miller (21st), Hallie Wright (24th) and ALex Perkins (25th). 

Boys tennis

New Palestine 3, Mt. Vernon 2: The county champion Dragons pulled out a close match against the Marauders on the road at Mt. Vernon. 

Winners for NP were Reid Clark 7-5, 6-4 over Bryce Bobb at No. 1 singles, Stratton Smith 6-3, 6-0 over Corey Beck at No. 3 singles and the No. 1 doubles team of Connor Swain/Evan Poole, which won 6-1, 6-4 over Jake Shepherd and Ben Bobb. 

MV winners were Kendall Ryan 6-4, 7-6 over Brent Barrett at No. 2 singles, and Reid Eberhard/Zach Weaver 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 over Kyle Willhelm/David Thompson. 

NP won the JV match 8-2. 

Volleyball

Lawrence Central 3, Greenfield-Central: The Cougars bounced back from a slow start take LC to five games before falling 25-12, 22-25, 25-22, 22-25, 15-12. Shay Pope and Shelby Davis had 10 kills each for G-C, while Jordan Bunch had nine. Megan Bradley had 35 assists. Caitey Sosnowski (21 digs) and Amelia Shepherd (17 digs) led the Cougars on the back line.

"Shelby Davis did a great job in set No. 4 and took charge of the net in the middle," G-C coach Rita Rouse said, while also citing the play of Pope, Bunch and Sosnowski. Bunch's nine kills and Sosnowski's 21 digs are career highs. 

G-C plays Scecina Thursday.


New Palestine 3, Morristown 0: The Dragons posted a straight-set victory over Morristown, winning 25-9, 25-23, 25-10. NP is now 16-6 headed into a Thursday match against Pike. NP has made two other schedule changes -- adding a Sept. 29 home match against Triton Central, and canceling a Sept. 26 road match at Franklin Central. 

Boys soccer

Center Grove 2, New Palestine 0: The 11th-ranked Trojans got a first-half goal from Carson Kelker and a second-half tally from Cristian Soto to beat the Dragons. NP is now 8-4 on the season, while CG improves to 12-1-1. The Dragons return home Thursday to face Hamilton Southeastern.  

Mt. Vernon 0, Brebeuf 0: The Marauders and Braves fought to a scoreless draw at Brebeuf. MV's Corban Hartley made seven saves to register the shutout. The Marauders visit HHC rival Pendleton Heights Thursday night. MV is now 7-3-3 on the year. 

Thursday wrap: G-C wins soccer thriller

Our soccer Games of the Week tend to be great ones. Tonight might have been one of the biggest thrillers of all.

Greenfield-Central rallied three different times before pulling off a 3-2 victory over New Palestine on the seventh shooter of the PK shootout. Ross Morgan's goal came right after Collin Kleckner stopped NP's seventh shooter -- and was the Dragons' fourth straight miss of the shootout -- giving the Cougars a 4-3 edge in the seven-round shootout that had to go to sudden death. NP led 3-1 after three rounds, but a miss and a Kleckner save -- as well as goals by Jeremiah Spencer and Kleckner -- tied the shootout. Neither team scored in the sixth round. Both Kleckner and NP's Jaron Pridgen made two saves in the extra session.

NP led 1-0 after 10:11 on Dillon Pike's breakaway goal. It stayed that way until early in the second half, when Morgan cashed in a feed in the box from Angel Rodriguez in the 48th minute to make it 1-1. Bryson Basaran scored from the left side on a feed from Wes Fox -- his ninth goal of the year -- to give NP a 2-1 lead in the final nine minutes. But just 2:10 later, G-C's Trent Barnhart tied it up, again on a feed in the middle from Rodriguez.

NP had a 14-9 shot edge in regulation and the two overtimes, but Kleckner made seven saves to preserve the Cougars' eighth victory of the year.

The win also puts G-C in the Hoosier Heritage Conference driver's seat with a 4-0 record and possession of the Victory Bell. The Cougars still have Shelbyville, Yorktown and Rushville remaining in their conference slate. G-C is 8-2-1 on the year. NP is now 7-3 (2-1).

It was a thrilling game between two very evenly-matched teams that went down to the wire. Glad you could listen to us tonight! If not, go here for the archive.

The Cougars next play Saturday at Richmond, then meet Shelbyville (Monday) and Yorktown (Wednesday) next week. The Dragons host Yorktown in the completion of a game suspended by lighting on Aug. 18, then visit Center Grove Tuesday before returning home Thursday to face Hamilton Southeastern.

Also tonight, 
Mt. Vernon 3, Lawrence North 1: The Marauders improved to 7-3-2 on the year with a victory against LN. Matt Powell scored a first-half goal, but the Wildcats tied it in the second. Adam Luke scored the game-winner on Mouhamed Konate's asist, with Trevor Johnson scoring a late insurance goal on a feed from Eric Ahonen. Corban Hartley made seven saves for the Marauders.

Girls soccer
Hamilton SE 7, Mt. Vernon 0: The Royals scored three goals in the first half and four more in the second to defeat MV.  Hannah Whitaker had two shots on goal for the Marauders. Hannah Miller and Bri Walker scored two goals each for HSE.

Volleyball
New Palestine 3, Pendleton Heights 0: The Dragons downed the Arabians tonight in a key Hoosier Heritage Conference match. NP won 25-21, 25-17, 25-16 on the road. Megan Riley had eight blocks and three kills for NP.

New Castle 3, Mt. Vernon 0: The Marauders fell 25-14, 25-19, 25-17 to the Trojans, who are one of the top teams in Class 4A. Listen to MV's home match against Eastern Hancock at 7 p.m. Monday on www.hancockcountysports.com.

Shelbyville 3, Greenfield-Central 0: The Cougars fell 25-10,  25-13, 25-8 in a Hoosier Heritage Conference matchup.


Cross country
NP sweeps 4-way:The New Palestine girls cross country team scored 17 points to win a 4-way meet with Knightstown (42), Triton Central and Morristown (both incomplete). The Dragons were led by second-place Caroline Voelz (22:35). Also scoring were  Izzy Fleetwood (third, 22:47), Chloe Kirchner (fourth), Brianna Komornik (sixth) and Lauren Lane (seventh).

The New Palestine boys scored 31 points, besting Triton Central (45), Morristown (61), and Knightstown (101).  The Dragons were led by Austin Dodd, who placed seventh in 19:01. Also scoring were Mitchell Lawson (fifth, 19:24), Kevin Laetsch (sixth), Zach Nagel (eighth) and Dominic Basciano (ninth).

Boys tennis
New Palestine 5, Triton Central 0: The Dragons only dropped 10 games in a sweep of the Tigers. At singles, Reid Clark's 6-1, 6-0 victory was close to perfection, while Brent Barrett and Stratton Smith hit it with 6-0, 6-0 sweeps. Evan Poole/Connor Swain won 7-5, 6-1, and Pete Rusche/Kyle Willhelm won 6-2, 6-1 at doubles.

Hamilton Southeastern 5, Mt. Vernon 0: The Marauders fell to the state's fifth-ranked team.