Whitko Takes First-Ever Boys Track Sectional Title
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Staff Report-
PLYMOUTH – A change in sectional venue seemed to suit the Whitko boys track team just fine. After competing for several years in the Fort Wayne area, the Wildcats went to Plymouth and ended the Pilgrims’ 10-year sectional win streak and earned the school’s first ever sectional title in the sport, scoring 128 points to Plymouth’s 98. For comparison, in last year’s Fort Wayne Wayne sectional Whitko’s 49.5 points were good for fifth place. Tippecanoe Valley was fifth with 65 points. Manchester took sixth with 50 points, and Triton had 10 points and finished 10th. Sectional champions for Whitko were Alex Morales in the 110 hurdles and Daniel Kirkham in the 400. Brady Weeks advances to next week’s regional meet by finishing second in the 300 hurdles and third in the 110 hurdles. Will Bumbaugh was second in the pole vault, as was Conner Sherwin in the discus and Walker Hobbs in the shot put. Both the 4x100 relay team (Bumbaugh, Garrett Elder, Alex Wilson, Weeks) and the 4x400 relay team (Elder, Alex Morales, Weeks, Kirkham) finished second. Elder took third in the long jump, as did Zach Baughman in the shot put. Manchester’s Colin McNeeley won the sectional title in the 100 and 200. Deontee Smith of Tippecanoe Valley won the 300 hurdles in 43.99. The Vikings’ Aaron Hoffman took the discus with a throw of 137 feet, 6 inches. Valley’s 4x100 relay team of Neil Clampitt, Jon Fields, Jared Mikel and Dakota Parker advanced to regional with a third place finish. Clampitt was second in the 200 The top three finishers in each event, plus others who meet a pre-determined stater standard, advance to Thursday’s track regional at South Bend St. Joseph.
Girls Tennis Thursday in Warsaw Warsaw and Whitko advanced to the girls tennis sectional final. The Lady Tigers shut out Wawasee 5-0 and the Lady Wildcats edged Tippecanoe Valley 3-2. Warsaw won all five matches in straight sets, but only two sets were shutouts. Whitko won all three singles matches while Valley countered with a pair of doubles match victories. The final is set for 4:30 this afternoon at the Warsaw courts.
Thursday in Peru Manchester advanced to the Peru Sectional championship by winning a rematch with Three Rivers Conference foe Southwood. The two teams met earlier this week, and the Lady Squires won the second time around by an identical 4-1 score. The Lady Squires will take on another TRC squad, Wabash, for the sectional championship this afternoon. MANCHESTER 4, SOUTHWOOD 1 Singles – No. 1: Karly Eichenauer (M) def. Sarah Peters 6-4. 6-3; No. 2: Allison Smith (M) def. Kristen Poehler 6-2, 6-1; No. 3: Claire Barnett (M) def. Allison Smith 6-1, 6-1 Doubles – No. 1: Ashley Hunt/ Anna Reed (S) def. Reilly Ruppert/Leiah Brandenburg 6-3, 7-5; No. 2: Morgan McKee/Marrett Metzger (M) def. Mary Sieberns/Hannah King 6-1, 6-0
Boys Golf Thursday in Rochester Tippecanoe Valley beat a pair of Three Rivers Conference teams Thursday with a score of 176. Manchester had 195 to Whitko’s 199. Viking senior Bryce Zimpleman was medalist, carding a 3-over par 39 at the Mill Creek course in Rochester. Valley will play in the Bob Turner Classic at Tippecanoe Country Club in Leesburg on Tuesday. Manchester will take on Peru on Thursday, while Whitko will travel to West Noble on Thursday.
TIPPECANOE VALLEY 176 MANCHESTER 195, WHITKO 199 (at Mill Creek GC, Rochester, Par 36) Valley – Bryce Zimpelman 39 (medalist), Jeremy Julian 45, Corey Carson 46, Cole Cumberland 46, Trevor Neeley 47 Manchester – Connor Eichenour 41, Noah Cain 48, Rainer Boardmann 51. Parker Wagner 55, Nathan Self 57 Whitko – Cole Bechtold 45, Matt Hathaway 49, Will Peters 50, Caleb Busz 55, Grady Clingerman 58
Softball Thursday in Waterford Mills Taytum Hargrave and Heather Stichter had three hits each and Courtney Jennings allowed only one run in five innings pitched to lead Triton to a 11-1 win over Bethany Christian in the Lady Trojans’ regular season finale. Triton will take an 18-10 record into sectional play where they will host Elkhart Christian Monday afternoon. TRITON 11 BETHANY CHRISTIAN 1 (5 INN.) T 154 10 – 11 14 0 BC 000 10 – 1 4 2 Triton – C. Jennings (W, 5IP, 4H, 1R, 0BB. 2K) Bethany – Welty (L, 4IP, 14H, 11R, 1BB, 7K), Helmuth (1IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 0K) Triton record: 18-10
Thursday in Converse Manchester scored seven runs in the top of the sixth inning to envoke the run rule in the Lady Squires’ 12-1 win over Oak Hill. Brooklyn Howard and Mattie McKee had three hits each, while Kiera Stacy drove in three runs. The Lady Squires will open sectional play when they take on the host Cass at 11:30 a.m. Monday. MANCHESTER 12 OAK HILL 1 (6 INN.) M 100 407 – 12 13 0 OH 000 001 – 1 2 2 Manchester – Howard (W, 6IP, 2H, 1R, 1ER, 1BB, 9K) Oak Hill – Buckler (L, 6IP, 13H, 12R, 5ER, 3BB, 5K) 2B – Day (M), Ci. Carter (M), McKee (M), Stacy 2 (M) 3B – Day (M) Manchester record: 11-9 Oak Hill record: 11-11
Thursday in Akron Whitko came out with a six-run first inning and went on to beat Tippecanoe Valley 12-2. Hanna Yohe was the winning pitcher for Whitko, striking out five. Whitko will play a doubleheader at Norwell on Saturday before opening sectional play against host Lakeland at 2 P.m. Monday. Valley will host a tournament on Saturday, then open the Lakeland Sectional against Fairfield at 10 a.m. Monday.
Baseball Thursday in Elkhart Ryan Marshall had three hits and Ethyn Bradley added two more in Warsaw’s 8-6 loss at Elkhart Memorial. Bradley and Cole Baker scored two runs each for the Tigers, who couldn’t overcome Memorial’s five-run first-inning outburst. Warsaw hosts the Tiger Tourney on Saturday. ELKHART MEMORIAL 8 WARSAW 6 W 030 003 0 – 6 11 3 EM 502 010 x – 8 6 2 Warsaw – Lenon (L. 2/3 IP, 1H, 5R. 1ER. 5BB, 0K), Kerschner (3-1/3 IP, 4H, 2R, 2ER, 1BB, 2K), Murphy (2IP, 1H, 1R, 1ER, 1BB, 1K) Memorial – Oley (W, 5-2/3 IP, 11H, 6R, 2ER, 2BB, 3K), Walter (1-1/3 IP, 0H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 3K) 2B – Rodriguez (W)
