Sporting News

STUDENT SPORTS

CGA captures first regional title

The Culver Girls Academy track and field team made history this spring when it captured its first regional title in history. Neither CMA nor CGA had won a regional until this spring. In a lead-up to the regional, CGA won its ninth Bremen sectional crown by 56 points over second place Plymouth. The girls finished with 88 points at the Goshen regional, just 3.5 points ahead of second place Warsaw. A total of 31 teams were represented at the regional tournament.

In winning the regional, CGA also qualified a record number of participants for the IHSAA Track & State Finals. Senior Alexis Allen (Canton, Georgia) qualified in the 1600- and 3200-meter runs, junior Cecille Figueroa (Chicago) qualified in the 100 and 200, and senior Maggie Bialek (Metamora, Michigan) earned an appearance in the 400. The 4x800 relay team of senior Elizabeth Strogilos, junior Emily Heim (Culver), and sophomores Liilian VerMeulen and Margaret VerMeulen (Winnetka, Illinois) and the 4x400 team of Bialek, junior Madison Rivera (Columbus, Indiana), sophomore Lena Spiller (Louisville, Kentucky), and freshman Quinn Bird (Sturgis, Michigan) each took third-place overall in their respective events during the Regional, also earning bids to the Finals. Junior Madison Miller (Indianapolis) was the lone field contestant to appear in the State Finals, besting her own personal record by more than 16 feet in the discus throw during the Regional round. Allen finished her Culver career by reaching the podium twice at the state finals. She finished fifth in the 1600 with a time of 4 minutes, 51.24 seconds. The state record, interestingly enough, is held by CGA’s Waverly Neer ’11 at 4:43.46. Allen also finished sixth in the 3200 with a time of 10:45.74. She is headed to Princeton University to run cross country and track and field.

CMA dominates in sectional victory

Culver Military Academy claimed the program’s fifth track and field sectional championship in dominating fashion, placing first in nine of the 16 total events, and second in three. The Eagles, who have not won a sectional title since 2002, finished with 164 points. Runner-up Rochester had 96.

Senior Jaxon Mull (Fort Wayne, Indiana) and junior George Bourdier (New Iberia, Louisiana) led much of the scoring. Bourdier and Mull claimed first and second in the 100-meter dash, respectively. Mull also took first in the 110 and 300 hurdles, and Bourdier won the 200 and pole vault. Both also took part in the winning 4x100 relay team with sophomores Folabomi Fayemi (Lagos, Nigeria) and Andrew Galas (Naperville, Illinois). In longer distance events, seniors Jacob Graham (Granger, Indiana) and Clayton Long (North Liberty, Indiana), junior Samuel Tullis (South Bend, Indiana), and sophomore Hunter Miller (Greencastle, Indiana) each scored significant points in individual events and earned advancement. Long and Tullis took first and second, respectively, in the 1600, while Tullis took first in the 3200 with Miller placing third. Graham took first place in the 800. The 4x800m relay team consisting of Miller, Graham, Tullis, and Long narrowly beat out Rochester’s team by .04 seconds for first, adding to CMA’s overall dominant night. After the regional competition, Mull and Bourdier were the lone CMA representatives at the state finals. Bourdier placed eighth and earned a podium spot in the pole vault. He also finished 13th overall in the 200. Mull would take 18th and 20th overall in the 300 and 110 hurdle events, respectively. — Kirk Brown

CGA wins 17th sectional title

CGA tennis captured its third consecutive and 17th overall sectional championship with wins over Rochester and North Judson. CGA defeated the Zebras, 5-0, in the first round and the Blue Jays, 4-1, in the championship. The team lost, 3-2, to Peru in the first round of the regional.

Friends gather to celebrate Autumn Baumgartner’s signing.

26 continue athletic careers

Twenty-six more Culver Academies students signed on to continue their athletic careers during two spring signing ceremonies in May and June. That brings the total number of 2021 graduates making athletic commitments to 43, with 17 students committing during the fall signing period.

Making spring commitments were: Alexis Allen, cross country/track & field, Princeton University Elena Vona, fencing, Wellesley College Connor Lee, fencing, University of North Carolina Luca Xiao, fencing, Johns Hopkins University Evan Lu, fencing, Brown University Jaxon Mull, football, Marian University Margaret Groszek, hockey, Amherst College Katie Manning, hockey, Elmira College Gavin Bailey, lacrosse, The College of the Holy Cross Mike Melton, lacrosse, Tufts University Nicholas Gravenites, rowing, Tufts University Enoch Wood, rowing, Tufts University Kyle Letke, rowing, Bucknell University Beatrice Johnson, rowing, Bates College Tereza Dudzik, rowing, Gonzaga University Noah Tan, rowing, Stanford University Mitchell Lafferty, rowing, University of Wisconsin Justin Ludwig, rugby, Cardiff Metropolitan University Jack Etheridge, rugby, U.S. Naval Academy Erich Marschall, rugby, U.S. Military Academy West Point Isabelle Kanach, sailing, Old Dominion University Samantha Hazen, soccer, Southwestern University Sophia Rotiroti, soccer, Soccer Management Institute in Rome Autumn Baumgartner, swim & dive, U.S. Military Academy West Point Catherine VerMeulen, volleyball, Williams College Deandre Francis, basketball, Glen Oaks Community College

Baseball makes impressive run

CMA Baseball finished the regular season with an impressive 13-6 overall record. The Eagles’ run came to an end, though, in Kankakee Valley Class 3A Sectional semifinal, where they lost to eventual Class 3A state-runners-up Hanover Central.

Rising junior Connor Schmiedlin (Culver) finished the season with an impressive .603 batting average, earning him the third best average in the state.

Miracle latest in history of Culver Olympians

Kayla Miracle ’14 became the latest in the long list of Culver Academies alumni, faculty and staff to participate in the Olympics. Competing at the Tokyo Games this summer, Miracle was a member of the USA women’s wrestling team.

Wrestling at 62 kg, this was Miracle’s first Olympics, losing a 3-2 decision in the first round. Two months later, she would win the silver medal at the World Championships in Oslo, Norway. She won three preliminary matches by a total of 29-6 before losing in the championship, 7-0, to Aisuluu Tynybekova of Kyrgyzstan, who won silver in Tokyo.

Miracle’s experience includes placing eighth at the 2019 Senior World Championships. She is a three-time champion at the U.S. Senior Nationals. She also has won a silver medal at the 2012 Cadet World Championships, bronze medals at the 2014 and 2016 Junior World Championships and a silver medal at the 2019 U23 World Championships.

William H. “Beef” Richardson ’22 became the first Culver Military Academy graduate to score in the 1924 Olympics, finishing fifth in the 800-meter run for the United States. John K. Boles 1906 won gold in the 100-meter single shot target and finished seventh in double shots.

Col. Isaac Leonard Kitts, Culver’s director of horsemanship from 1948-53, was a member of the U.S. Equestrian Dressage Team. He helped the team take the bronze medal and finished sixth individually at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympic Games riding American Lady.

He was also a member of the U.S. team at the 1936 Berlin Olympics team that finished ninth overall. When Kitts joined the Senior ROTC staff at Culver in 1939, American Lady joined him. Also at Berlin, Richard W. Freeman ’30 and J. Paul Austin ’33 were members of the men’s coxed 4 rowing team.

At the 1956 Stockholm Summer Games, Warren W. Wofford ’54 qualified for both the show jumping and eventing. He chose show jumping but went as an alternate. Related to Warren is James C. “Jimmy” Wofford ’62, one of the best known equestrian trainers and coaches in the world. He competed on the 1968 and 1972 Olympic teams and was named to the 1980 team (which boycotted the Moscow games), winning two team silver medals and one individual silver medal during that span.

During the 1960s, Culver’s canoe instructor Kalman Blatho, a Hungarian Olympic athlete himself, coached the host Italian team in the 1960 Rome Olympics. William Smoke SS’52 was a member of the United States canoe team at the 1964 Tokyo games, as part of the men’s K-4 1000 meters team.

Robert C. Mitchell ’67, who was inspired by Blatho, represented the United States in the K-1 1000-meter event at the 1972 Munich games. Also representing the United States in Munich was retired leadership instructor Maj. Tom Duckett. Duckett was a member of USA cycling team.

Raul Nieto del Rio ’78 and Jaime Azcarraga ’78 were members of the Mexican show jumping team at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Azcarraga also participated in the 1988, 1992, and 2012 Olympics. Capt. John “Jack” Harold Fritz, who served as director of horsemanship at Culver from 1956-57, was a judge for the three-day eventing at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.

Former Culver fencing coach Igor Stefanic was on the Yugoslav Olympic team for the 1992 competition in the Barcelona games, though the team didn’t fence since the country wasn’t yet recognized by the Olympic body.

Barry Richter ’89, the first of several Culver hockey players to become Olympians, was named to the U.S. Olympic Hockey Team for the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway.

Eric Brodnax ’82 represented the Virgin Islands in the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, riding in the equestrian sport of eventing.

Lucy Kirkpatrick Tyler ’83, riding as Tyler-Sharman, won a bronze medal in the women’s cycling individual point race for her adopted country Australia at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Alejandro Fernandez ’78 represented the Mexican National Team at Atlanta in clay target shooting.

R. Stephen Tucker ’87 first represented the United States in the men’s lightweight double sculling at the 2000 Sydney Games. Four years later, he and his teammate Greg Ruckman finished seventh in the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens. National Hockey League star Gary Suter ’82 represented the United States at the 1998 and 2002 Winter Olympics. The 1998 games in Nagano, Japan, was the first time NHL players participated in the tournament. The 2002 games were held in Salt Lake City.

Behind the scenes at Salt Lake, Robie Vaughn ’74 served as the team leader for the USA Skeleton team, which included his wife, Fallon. Vaughn, who marched in the opening ceremonies, was instrumental in lobbying to add the sport to the 2002 winter games.

Molly Engstrom ’01 was on the women’s hockey team at the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Turin, Italy, and John Michael Liles ’99 played for the men. Engstrom also played in the 2010 games at Vancouver, winning a silver medal.

Liles and Ryan Suter ’03 played in the World Championships together but not in the Olympics. Suter served as alternate captain for the U.S. Olympic team at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, earning a silver medal. He also played in the 2014 Olympic games in Sochi, Russia, when the United States finished fourth.

And how the United States Olympic Committee operates and athletes train and are compensated today is largely due to George Steinbrenner ’48, who helped revolutionize the USOC while serving as the vice chairman of the organization from 1989 through 1996.

He led the Steinbrenner Commission, which urged the USOC to change the way that it trained and paid athletes, who until then received almost no financial support. Afterward, the committee created grants and training programs that aimed to increase American medals.