Each of the four MCAA schools had a successful week, though they scattered the wealth amongst the various spring sports.
TMP
The Monarch track teams were one of 11 schools in competition Tuesday in Ellsworth. The Lady Monarchs finished in third place, and the TMP boys left with a fifth-place finish.
Heather Ruder was, once again, a mainstay in the distance events. She won the two-mile by two seconds in 11:50.37, and the mile by five seconds in 5:17.13. She has the best times in Class 3A in both the 800m run and the 1600m run.
Mikaela Flax also had a nice day, finishing second in the 300m hurdles in 49.90, and placing fourth in the 100m hurdles in 17.84, 0.11 seconds off the bronze. Kaylor Gottschalk took the silver in the high jump at 4-10, the same clearance as the winner. Megan Gottschalk cleared 9-0 in the pole vault for the silver, missing the gold by six inches.
Rodney Deus led the Monarch sprinters with a gold in the 200m dash in 23.32, 0.3 seconds ahead of the next runner. He finished third in the 100m dash in 11.40, 0.09 seconds from the win. In the field, Austin Werth and Sam Dreiling took the top two spots in the pole vault at 12-6 and 11-0, respectively. Ryan Mayorga cleared 5-8 for the silver in the high jump, missing the gold by half a foot.
Larned
The Lady Indian softball team tripled its win total with a trip to Ellinwood on Friday. Larned took game one 11-0, and improved to 3-3 on the season with a 19-2 route in game two.
Freshman Shaylene Shepherd kept the Ellinwood batters at bay in game one, allowing no runs on three hits in seven innings of work. She utilized a deadly changeup to strike out seven batters. Kim Gobin lead the Larned bats with three hits, three runs, and an RBI. Bailey Schartz added two hits, including an RBI triple in the first inning. Shepherd doubled in two runs in her lone hit of the game in the fourth inning. Reaghan Burris had a hit and scored twice in the win.
Emily Lucas picked up the game two win, striking out four Ellinwood batters. Summer Snyder and Katie Seeman both tripled in as part of the offensive onslaught.
Hoisington
The Cardinal baseball team took a .500 record into Nickerson on Tuesday, and left with a version of the same record. Hoisington could not overcome three early runs in a 3-2 game one loss, but used a big seventh inning to beat the Panthers 6-3 in game two.
The Cardinals could not hit Quintin Crandall in game one. The unbeaten pitcher struck out nine batters in his 3.2 innings of work to finish the game. Before he came in, Hoisington was able to cut a 3-0 lead to 3-2 in the fourth inning.
Ethan Woodcock picked up the win in game two, throwing five shutout innings. Colton Zink doubled in the first run of the game in the third inning, then scored on a wild pitch for the early 2-0 lead. With another Panther reliever on the mound in the seventh, Dylan Bell, Corey Umphries, and Zink each had RBI singles. Bryce Steiner added a squeeze bunt to score Bell for a 6-0 advantage. Nickerson plated all three of its runs in its final at-bat.
Ellinwood
The Eagle track teams were among the many in action at Friday and Saturday’s Pre-State meet at Wichita State University. Ellinwood had only two entries in the elite events, but managed several competitive times.
Kyle Oglesbee has the second best time in Class 2A after a fifth-place finish in the elite 800m run with a time of 1:59.75. Pedro Montoya was the other elite runner, finishing the 3200m run in 10:09.32 for 10th place.
The 4x800m relay team of Jenna Snell, Becca Strecker, Brooke Panning, and Sophie Hayes dominated the event by 13 seconds in 10:18.85, shaving nine seconds off the best time in Class 2A this year. Hays won the 110m hurdles in 16.46, also posting the best Class 2A time of the year. Jenna Snel l won the 3-1A 3200m run in 12:37.60, and Becky Elsen won the pole vault with a clearance of 8-0.
The 4x800m team of Montoya, Oglesbee, Derek Ward, and Patrick Ringering led the Ellinwood boys with a second-place finish in 8:38.90, 15 seconds behind first-place Wichita Independent. Ringering also won the silver in the 200m dash in 24.01, missing the gold by just 0.13 seconds.
