Rookie Bison high jumper wins medal at state finals

Bison lose post season opener in baseball

BY STAN MADDUX

The season is now over for the young but promising New Buffalo boys’ baseball team.

The Bison in their District 4 tournament opener lost to Michigan Lutheran 10-0 Friday, June 4, at River Valley High School.

Michigan Lutheran upset the heavily favored River Valley Mustangs to take the District 4 title.

“It shows you anything can happen at tournament time,” said New Buffalo Head Coach Wayne Butler.

The Bison with mostly freshmen and sophomores trailed 7-0 after the first two innings on runs scored mostly from walks and fielding errors.

The team played much better defensively for the rest of the game.

Sam Wendell, despite his previous inexperience on the mound, looked impressive again in giving up two runs in two innings of pitching in relief.

The offense for the Bison, which was overpowered by hard throwing pitchers, managed just two hits from Braden Huffer and Giovanni Sanchez-Perez.

The team, which didn’t win a game last year, had over a half dozen victories this season.

Butler said the vast improvement has come from players continuing to work hard on the game while their bodies are maturing.

“I’m really happy with how the team looks going forward into next year and I expect big things from them for the next couple of years,” he said.

Rookie Bison high jumper wins medal at state finals

BY STAN MADDUX

He never tried high jumping until the start of the track and field season this year but the recent

New Buffalo High School graduate placed third in the Class D state finals.

Jeremiah Mitchell cleared the pole set at 6’2” above the ground during the finals on June 4 at Hudsonville.

Mitchell was thrilled at such a high finish but wished he would have topped his best-ever jump when he cleared the pole at 6’6” to earn first place at a recent competition in St. Joseph.

“I feel good about it. It’s my first year in the high jump. I know I can get better at it,” he said.

The first-place finisher was Braden Prielipp, a sophomore from Marion who cleared the pole at 6’9.”

“He was good,” he said.

The 6’1” Mitchell was one of the star players on the New Buffalo High School basketball team which made it to the Class D regional finals this year.

The speedy Mitchell said his jumping ability on the court had a lot to do with him wanting to compete in the sport for the very first time.

Mitchell said he gave high jumping a try a few times after practice during the basketball season and felt it was something he could be very good at before graduating.

“Driving on one foot in the high jump is kind of like doing lay ups. My legs were already used to doing that motion,” he said.

Mitchell said the most challenging aspect of high jumping was the several weeks it took him to learn and sharpen the technique needed for clearing the pole. “I was jumping but I didn’t have like the form. You have to have a good form and I didn’t have that down yet,” he said. Head Coach Nathan Jones wondered how much better Mitchell would have performed with more experience in the high jump. “He’s very raw but he’s obviously got some great talent. Great kid. I can’t say enough great things about him,” he said. Mitchell recently signed a letter of intent to play basketball at Southwest Michigan College in Dowagiac.