Sept. 29, 2011 Bulldog sports round-up
- Published: September 29, 2011
Harshaw, Hardman lead stats
Kennedy Harshaw currently leads all high school varsity volleyball players in the Dayton area in aces, with 50 on the year. Maya Hardman is in ninth place in aces with 31 and is tied for fourth in blocks at 37 so far.
At Troy Christian last week, Harshaw and Hardman showed off their talents in the team’s epic five-set match. After dropping the first set, 13–25, the Bulldogs battled back to win the second set, 25–20, and fourth set, 20–5, before finishing their opponent in the fifth and deciding set, 20–18.
Hardman had three aces along with 12 digs and 11 blocks on the night. Harshaw was tops in kills with 10. The entire team played inspired ball with every hit, serve and tip contested, according to coach Lindsay Kerns.
“The Bulldogs had bodies everywhere diving for and chasing down the ball,” she said. “The team did not want to be denied the win and came away with the victory.”
Earlier in the week the team lost to Xenia Christian (21–25, 25–19, 19–25). Angela Allen contributed six digs and two blocks, while Harshaw had three digs and three kills on the night.
Boys soccer eyes MBC title
Keeping their hopes alive for the Metro Buckeye Conference championship, the YSHS boys soccer team hosted the Miami Valley Rams last week and settled for a 2–2 tie. The tie puts the Bulldogs on a collision course with Dayton Christian for the league championship.
The Bulldogs fell behind when a long ball played into the YSHS penalty box was allowed to bounce and the loose ball was finished by the Rams. The Bulldogs chased the game after that and late in the second half leveled the score at one apiece on a goal by Jacob Trumbull assisted by Ian Chick. About a minute later Fielding Lewis earned a penalty kick for YSHS when his cross into the penalty box was handled by a Miami Valley defender. Jared Scarfpin stepped up to knock the spot kick in and gave the Bulldogs a 2–1 lead. Late in the contest Miami Valley closed out the scoring when a long throw-in into the box was dropped, and the loose ball was tapped in for the tie.
Golf team fourth in MBC
The YSHS golf team placed fourth out of six teams at the Metro Buckeye Conference championships last week, held at Sugar Valley Golf Club. The five-deep young Bulldog team came in with a score of 425 over 18 holes, besting conference foes Emmanuel Christian (427) and Xenia Christian (432) while Miami Valley took the tournament with 323.
Sophomore Rachele Orme once again led the pack with a 94, followed by the freshmen Theron Orme (102), Liam Weigand (103), Taylor Beck (126) and Morgan Beard (137).
The team ended its season 2–5 in match play.
Ayers scores 3rd goal for girls
Coming to the end of the first half of the season and playing back-to-back games, the Lady Bulldogs soccer team aced the Xenia Christian Ambassadors on their home turf. The defense led by junior sweeper Keturah Fulton frustrated the Ambassadors by restricting their room to play and catching their forwards in an offside position. Paige Evans helped to pressure the Ambassador defense and Kara Edwards, Lucy Callahan, and Brianna Ayers connected to put several shots on goal. Unfortunately the Bulldogs could not find the back of the net and were shut out again in conference play.
The Lady Bulldogs continued their second round of conference games on the road against Troy Christian. In the 34th minute Niki Worsham pressured their defense on a distribution from the goal keeper and after getting the ball passed the ball to senior forward Tina Arporn, who gave a short back pass to Edwards which resulted in the assist for Ayers’ third goal of the season.
The defense held its own against the Eagles fast forwards as goalkeeper Maryah Martin had many close reaction saves. Emma Romohr and Isabella Long made significant contributions at midfield. But the Lady Bulldogs lost the game to move their season record to 0–9–0.
Lawson, McHugh lead boys CC
In the Eaton Invitational boys race, team captain Zach McHugh toed the line with squad mates Hunter Lawson and Eli Mulhall. McHugh had his best start of the season, a mile split of 5:21. A final kick brought McHugh home in 18:28, good for 35th place out of 120 finishers. Running a lifetime best, Hunter Lawson knocked several minutes off of his old personal record as he placed 99th.
McHugh led the boys team at Ohio Caverns with a 39th-place finish overall in 19:02. Connor Gravley-Novello knocked nearly two full minutes of his old lifetime best as he bulldozed his way around the 5K course to a new personal record of 22:54. He finished 101st out of 132 runners. Lawson was next to complete the course, placing 118th in 23:54. Mulhall and Josh Seitz ran together most of the way to place 128th and 129th in 27:04 and 27:09. The team finished 17th overall out of 19 schools with 493 points.
Lawson, a junior, was the top dog on the men’s team last week in Springfield. Lawson handled the challenging 5K course with a 14:06 split at two miles, then finished strong to place 158th out of 244 finishers in 21:30, just missing his lifetime best by eight seconds. Gravley-Novello was next up and placed 192nd in 22:39 – knocking another 15 seconds off of his lifetime best. Seitz completed the team’s efforts with a 242nd place in 30:21.
Girls CC improves
After six meets the YSHS girls cross country team is 46–25 with strong performances at recent meets in Eaton, West Liberty and Springfield.
The team finished ninth out of 18 schools participating at Eaton behind the leadership of team captain Lois Miller. Miller, a junior, broke the 21-minute barrier for the first time this year to place 12th overall. Miller had a very strong start, hitting the first mile clock in sixth place at 6:06.
“Lois ran her best race of the season so far”, said coach Peters. “That fast first mile will help her prepare for the competition she’ll be facing at tournament time in four short weeks.”
Alexandra Brown finished 18th overall out of 110 runners. Brown’s final time was 21:30, her best for the last three weeks. The next three women on the team then secured the squad’s final standings. Placing 64th overall in 24:12, Rachel Meyer was heavily in the mix with a 6:54 first mile. Less than 10 seconds later was Christina Brewer at 7:03, who finished 70th in 24:12. Rounding out the scoring and finishing her first race as a Bulldog was Ashley Merrit, who placed 110th in 36:21.
At the Ohio Caverns Invitational in West Liberty, Miller and Brown cruised through the first mile in 6:05. Miller would finish with her second fastest time of the year and placed ninth overall in 21:21. Brown took 13th with a big sprint in 21:46. The difference maker in this meet, Rachel Meyer, came in a very strong 33rd, just two seconds off her lifetime best at 23:37. Boutis was 53rd out of the 119 girls that finished, in 25:22, Brewer was 60th in 25:47 and McKinley earned a personal record of over two minutes when she finished 101st in 29:54. Overall the women’s team finished a very strong fifth out of the 20 schools participating, and just 29 points out of second place.
During the final 400 meters of the Springfield Catholic Invitational, Miller passed Brown and charged to an 11th-place finish in 21:05. Brown ended 16th in 21:18. Meyer swimmingly handled the mud to place 60th in 24:02. Brewer continued her strong charge to the finish line to place 69th in 24:26. Completing the scoring on her bum ankle, Boutis took 102nd in 26:36. McKinley followed up her PR effort at the Caverns with another solid performance, placing 135th in 30:14.
Walkey takes second, sixth
Eighth-grade distance ace Charlotte Walkey lined up on the starting line next to a revolutionary war canon Saturday in Springfield. The unsuspecting Walkey didn’t know that the old bronze weapon was going to be used as the starting gun. As the smoke cleared, Walkey could be seen sprinting into the lead and went on to have her best race of the year as she finished second overall out of 126 finishers. Walkey had to fight off a strong challenge over the last 100 meters to secure the runner-up spot. Her time was 13:24 for two miles, an average of 6:42 per mile.
Walkey sped through the first mile of the Eaton Invitational two-mile race in fourth place with a very quick 6:08 split. A second mile filled with a series of hills slowed her overall pace but she still completed the course in an outstanding time of 13:20, good for sixth place overall out of the 96 girls competing.
McKinney boys CC 7th, 10th
The McKinney team faced tough competition at Eaton. CJ Johnson led the Bulldogs to a 10th-place team finish out of the 14 schools competing. Just a seventh grader, Johnson handled the first mile of the two-mile course in 5:36 and placed fourth overall out of the 132 runners competing. His final time was a very quick 11:44 (6:08 second mile).
Hayden Orme also ran a very strong race. Orme aggressively charged up the hills in the second mile and finished strongly in 13:02, which was 37th overall. Levi Brown had the hills get the better of him on this occasion, but held on to place 61st in 13:56. Closing strongly during the second mile were the trio of Gabe Tillana, Sawyer HaleWolf and Oluka Okia. They finished in 91st, 94th and 96th places, respectively. Atulya Dora-Laskey also ran strongly. He placed 130th in 22:58.
In Springfield this week, Johnson improved from his fourth-place finish to take third out of 135 runners at last Saturday’s two-mile race. His time of 12:06 reflects the difficulty of the course and the competition. Brown also had a big race, improving to 45th in 13:54. Orme was 76th in 14:43 with Sawyer HaleWolfe just a short distance back in 83rd with a time of 14:58. Okia completed the scoring by placing 100th in 15:56. As a team, they were seventh of 11 schools in the race with 187 points.
“Our McKinney middle school team is very young this year”, said coach Peters. “Four of our five scorers today were seventh graders. And that year of physical maturity makes a huge difference at this age.”
8th grade vball wins 8 of 11
After starting the season 0–4, the McKinney eighth-grade volleyball team has won eight out of its last 11 games, including three last week, to improve to 8–7 (6–6).
The victory last week over Emmanuel Christian (25–20, 25–15) was solidified with strong play by Madison E. Robinson (12 points, 1 ace), Meredith Rowe (4 points, 3 aces, 3 kills), Madeline Nielsen (4 points, 2 aces, 3 kills) and Jade Miller (3 points, 2 aces).
In an MBC tri-match, YSHS lost a tough battle to Xenia Christian (27–25, 25–22). Madison E. Robinson had four points and two aces while Nielsen contributed three points and two aces in the loss. The team then re-grouped and stunted Miami Valley (25–22, 25–7) and Dayton Christian (26–24, 24–26, 25–17). Over the two games, the team was led by Nielsen (26 points), Rowe (23 points), Madison E. Robinson (10 points), Molly Brown (5 points) and Elizabeth Smith (4 points). Later in the week the team lost to Indian Valley.
7th grade volleyball 8–0
Likely a number one seed at this weekend’s MBC tournament, the McKinney seventh-grade volleyball team finished out its conference season this week with defeats of Emmanuel Christian (25–9, 25–18) and Indian Valley (25–20, 21–25, 25–21) to remain undefeated at 8–0.
Against Emmanuel Christian, Elizabeth Smith led the Bulldogs with nine points, six aces, two assists and two kills on the night. Other top players were Kasey Linkhart (7 points, 5 aces, 1 assists, 2 kills), Gracie Wilke (4 points, 1 ace, 2 kills) and Danny Horton (3 points, 2 aces, 2 kills). Allison Bothwell, Amelia Gray and Julian Roberts each contributed a kill.
During the match at Indian Valley the games were close, with both teams gaining and losing the lead several times during each game. Smith led the team with 11 points and four aces followed by Roberts (11 points, 2 aces), Linkhart (5 points, 2 blocks), Wilke (4 points, 1 ace), Horton (4 points) and Aliza Skinner (2 points, 1 ace).
“The Bulldogs played great all season and worked hard to earn their undefeated record,” said coach Chris Linkhart. “I’m very proud of the way they played and the effort they put into learning the game and improving their skills.”
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