Cross Country wins home meet
The team ran at home Thursday in the Jason McKinney Invitational. The girls placed 1st as a team, with individual places going to Payton Wurtz, 1st with a time of 20:00, and Rebekah Stuhlsatz, 3rd with a time of 21:43. The girls finished 26 points ahead of the second-place team.
The boys placed 3rd with Rhett Parry placing 10th. It was the highest finish of the season, and they were only 5 points out of first.
“Our course is more challenging than last week’s course as Northern Heights but we did benefit from nice weather,” coach Roger Alderman said. Our times were pretty good and I especially liked how we stayed strong through the hills on the second lap around the course. We really gained a lot of ground through the hills which helped our girls get their first meet win of the season.”
The team competes again Saturday at Centralia. The junior high squad runs Tuesday at Rock Creek.
Tennis doubles teams place at Perry-Lecompton, Hillsboro
Tennis competed at Perry-Lecompton Tuesday and Hillsboro Thursday, earning several solid finishes as they prepare for the final two weeks of the season.
At Perry-Lecompton, the team competed against seven schools. All singles and doubles teams were combined in 16-team brackets. “This meet is a lot like our regional, so it’s a good way to gauge where we stand at this point of the year,” coach Brendan Praeger said.
The doubles teams both picked up easy first-round wins to advance to the front side of the bracket. With Meredith Denton and Baylie Tharman defeating Maranatha’s Takeshima/Snell 7-0, and Danielle Murphy and Ava Meinhardt defeating Perry-Lecompton’s Yoakum/Rossillon 7-2.
Both teams struggled in the next round losing to teams from Northeast Kansas and Marysville. Each duo bounced back in the consolation round, with Denton/Tharman defeating Perry-Lecompton’s Denton/Meyer 7-0 and Murphy/Meinhardt defeating Sabetha’s Meyer-Gatz 7-2.
The two Charger teams met in the fifth-place match, with Denton/Tharman prevailing 7-2.
“We beat everyone except for a few of the best teams in the state,” Praeger said.
Ava Huske finished 8th and Emily Meyer finished 12th in the singles bracket.
Thursday at Hillsboro, the doubles teams found success again.
Number one doubles was pool play, with Denton/Tharman finishing in a 3-way tie for first after wins over Hillsboro and Nickerson and a loss to Chapman. Unfortunately, the game count used for a tiebreaker sent them to the third place match where they fell to Pratt’s Karsyn Sharp and Jadyn Thompson 2-8.
“It was a really competitive slate of teams, and I think they played the best they have all season,” Praeger said.
Murphy/Meinhardt competed in an 8-team bracket, winning matches against Nickerson and Pratt to set up a championship match against Chapman. Unfortunately, the Chapman duo of Meredith Kuntz and Clara Gfeller won 8-2.
“They played the same team last week at Ellsworth, and it was way more competitive this time, so they’re moving in the right direction,” Praeger said. The Chargers meet Chapman again twice this week and once next week, so the team’s are not done with their rivalry.
In singles, Huske defeated Hillsboro’s Annaliese Jorgenson 8-3 to secure 7th place after losing matches to the Classical School of Wichita and Hutch Trinity. Emily Meyer lost matches to Hutch Trinity and Pratt, but won by default against Nickerson, finishing 6th.
The team competes at Clay Center Monday and Chapman Tuesday, with a JV dual at Wamego Tuesday.
Volleyball finishes 2nd at Olpe
Varsity finished 2nd at the Olpe Tournament Saturday. The Chargers defeated Northern Heights 25-14, 25-0 to open the day, followed by wins against Bishop Seabury and Madison. After defeating Goessel 25-17, 26-24, they advanced to the championship, where they fell to Olpe 21-25, 15-25. JV was perfect on the day, finishing first.
Coach Chris Smart said if the team comes together as a whole, they could be a dangerous team. “The ladies played well. The team Is slowly coming together and the leaders are starting to emerge. The challenge that we are facing right now is finding the right rotation with injuries changing it quite a bit, but the ladies have responded well to the changes,” Smart said.
The Chargers play again Tuesday at Rock Creek and Saturday at the Onaga tournament.
Look for coverage of Wabaunsee football’s 40-30 win over Smith Center in this week’s print edition of the Charger.
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