Fall Sports Roundup: Reports and scores from all over the Blast Zone
All Over: Results from swimming, tennis, golf and slowpitch
Jordan Nailon / blastzonenews@gmail.com
Kelso takes team tally without touching wall 1st
The Hilanders showed off the depth of their girls swimming lineup in a dual meet at Gaither Pool, Tuesday. Kelso won all of its head-to-head matches against visiting schools even though it was unable to get a swimmer or relay team to the wall first in any event.
“All of our wins come from a good solid team effort,” Kelso coach Lori Clark said. “Many of the girls are making great improvements but as you can see from the results it’s a long way yet to catch the club swimmers from the Vancouver area.”
Still, Kelso defeated La Center 120-17, bested Rigefield 95-48, trumped Seton Catholic 90-60, mollywhopped Woodland 120-12, and waved goodbye to Washougal 99-51.
“(We) had a couple of new district qualifiers and a few bettered previous qualifying times,” Clark added.
Natalie Brown placed second in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:45.72 and teammate Mercedes Musser finished third with a mark of 2:56.52. Raegan Zaemann of Seton Catholic won that race with a time of 2:24.86. Brown also placed third in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 1:06.20 that was just under eight seconds off the winning pace.
“Natalie continues to improve in her 200 IM,” Clark said. “Last (week) she dropped almost 4 seconds from her previous best time.”
Meanwhile, Kelso’s Miya Sorensen placed third in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 7:11.93. Sonja Austad of La Center won that race with a time of 6:25.21.
Mili Whipps placed second in the 100-yard backstroke for the Hilanders with a time of 1:16.20. Teammate Trinity Noga placed third with a time of 1:20.48.Emily Larzalere of Washougal won that race with a time of 1:14.78.
“Mili continues to be (the) team workhorse, swimming the 200 and 500 free,” Clark noted.
In the 400-yard freestyle relay Kelso’s group of Whipps, Mercedes Musser, Emily Tennant and Brown placed third with a time of 4:34.30. Seton Catholic’s relay team won that race with a time of 4:16.50.
“Mercedes is broadening her events by making a district qualifying time in the 200 IM (last week) and just missing it in the 100 breast,” Clark added. “Emily Tennant is also showing improvement in new events, also just missing the qualifying time in both the 50 free and the 100 breast (last week).”
Clark added that Stephanie Gonzalez has been a promising addition to Kelso’s swim squad this season, noting that she’s already on the books with District qualifying times in six events.
Beaver in the Water
Woodland’s team scores may not have been impressive, but that’s because the school is relying on just one swimmer to represent the green and black in the water.
“Woodland only has the one swimmer,” Kelso coach Lori Clark confirmed. “They usually only have a team if there is a club swimmer that wants to swim high school.”
Karlen Stuart is that lone Beaver competing in the pool this fall, but she’s not letting a lack of company in the locker room keep her from posting impressive times.
On Tuesday, Stuart won the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 58.55 seconds. Stuart also placed second in the 50 yard freestyle with a time of 26.36 seconds, trailing just Paige Dangleis of Hockinson (25.78).
BOYS GOLF
Burt leads Hilanders over Prairie
The Kelso boys golf team picked up a win in 3A Greater St. Helens League play, Tuesday, with a 176-193 count against Prairie at Three Rivers Golf Club.
The match medalist was Rex Burt who shot a two-over par round of 38 to lead the Hilanders.
Gavin Eades and Owen Toms both wound up on 44 to help Kelso nail down the victory.
Michael Rovig also finished on 44 to lead the Falcons.
Kelso was set to tee off against R.A. Long at Mint Valley on Wednesday afternoon.
BOYS TENNIS
R.A. Long wins a squeaker against Fort
The Lumberjacks pulled out a 2A Greater St. Helens League victory on a tiebreaker at Fort Vancouver, Tuesday.
R.A. Long picked up the win based on total games won, and no Jack was more impressive than Payton Thill who defeated Darian Nguyen 6-4, 6-0.
“I was really impressed with Payton Thill at number one singles today. He played his best match of the season beating Nguyen, who is a very good player,” RAL coach Rally Wallace said. “Payton had his serve and slice return going and built confidence as the match progressed.”
Alberto Martinez ( 5-1, def) also picked up a win for R.A. Long in singles play when Emiliano Martinez defaulted in the second set.
The Lumberjacks saw Aiden Tran and Rylan Burleson lose a close match with Christian Golden and Alex Vargas by scores of 6-4 and 7-5, but Kasen Burr and Rhet Young swept Kyle Field and Faber Thistlewood (6-0, 6-0) in the No. 1 doubles match to put R.A. Long in position for the team victory.
“I have also been happy with the progression of our 6’9” doubles player Rhet Young,” Wallace added. “He is really coming on and is a force at the net.”
R.A. Long (6-6, 4-4 league) will play at Columbia River on Wednesday for its third road match in as many days.
SLOWPITCH SOFTBALL
Diamonds Wild: Jills slide by Monarchs in Civil War
R.A. Long couldn’t keep up with the Monarchs in the hit column during a slowpitch softball rendition of the Civil War, but the Lumberjills came out on top in the runs scored box of the scoreboard to claim a 17-16 victory in a rivalry contest masquerading as a league game.
The Lumberjills were led at the plate by Malia Byrnes who went 4-for-4 with three runs batted in.
“Rivalry games always bring out the nerves in the girls. They played well enough to win but still have room to improve,” RAL coach Josh Donaldson said. “Mark Morris really was ready to play. They hit the ball great. Coach Mejia had his girls ready to play.”
Grace Bert tallied two hits and drove in three runs for the Jills, and Kace Prindel added a trio of hits to go with 2 RBIs out of the leadoff spot.
“(It) was a really fun high scoring game,” Donaldson added. “My hat goes off to the Mark Morris girls who gave it their all and made lots of really good plays. They definitely made us work for every run we got.”
The win puts the Lumberjills in charge of their own playoff destiny going forward. R.A. Long currently sits in second place with just one conference loss.
R.A. Long was slated to play a doubleheader at home against Mountain View on Wednesday afternoon. The Lumberjills will finish their week with a North vs South triple-header at home on Friday beginning at 10 a.m.
Monarchs Meet Their Match
Mark Morris was able to take an early lead against the Jills, but came up one lego short of a full kit in the end. Grace Woodbridge, Keira McGinley, and Neelie Robbins each collected three hits for the Monarchs.
“Nelson provided pop in the middle of the lineup, and led (us) with four runs batted in,” MM coach Chris Mejia said.
Karly Grothoff added two hits for the Monarchs.
After giving up a six spot and falling behind by three runs, the Lumberjills rallied in the top of the sixth but stranded their hopes on base.
“Errors got the best of us today. We left a lot of outs on the field that could have stemmed some of the scoring for the Jills, but I am very pleased with the fight that the girls showed today,” Mejia added. “The overall progression by the team is really starting to show.”
Mark Morris was set to host Skyview at 7th Avenue Park on Wednesday afternoon. The Monarchs will play Kelso at 10 a.m. on Friday at R.A. Long.
Kelso swamped by Storm
The Hilanders could do little but wonder who stepped on the chalk Tuesday afternoon while watching a tie game late in the contest dissolve into a 14-4 loss at the hands of Skyview in slowpitch 3A/4A softball play.
Kelso and the Storm were tied 4-4 in the top of the fifth inning before the wheels fell off. The Hilanders committed several errors in the bottom of the fifth as Skyview piled up 10 runs to end the contest early by mercy rule.
“(We were) led by Avery Mackin offensively,” Kelso coach Liz Hoopfer said. “Bregan Ruhland had a phenomenal catch at the fence.”
Kelso squandered away the fifth inning with a few errors, letting Skyview finish the game in the bottom of the fifth with a score of 14-4.
Kelso was set to host Union on Wednesday afternoon before playing Mark Morris at 10 a.m., Friday, at R.A. Long to kick off a triple-header.