Sports

from Prophetstown-Echo-6-15-2021

James R. Fidlar, Arlene L. Hazlett, Craig V. Johnson, Marian Francis Ottens

BOYS TRACK & FIELD Mustangs, Panthers sending large group to state

By ERIC INGLES eingles@shawmedia.com

The Erie-Prophetstown and Morrison boys track teams will both be busy next week at the Class 1A state championships in Charleston.

The host Panthers won four events at Friday’s sectional meet, with the Mustangs winning three and putting in three other state-qualifying performances.

Sherrard wound up edging Riverdale for the team sectional title with 87 points; the Rams had 83. Erie-Prophetstown was third with 63. Morrison finished fourth with 58.

Fulton took eighth as a team with 21 points, Newman was ninth with 19, Bureau Valley was 11th with 16, West Carroll tied for 12th with 14, Amboy-LaMoille was 14th with 11, and Milledgeville-Eastland took 15th with four points.

Morrison had a 1-2 finish in the 400, with Alex Anderson taking first in 51.65 seconds and teammate Justice Brainerd right behind him.

“I was hoping to be first in the [first] 200 and hopefully just don’t see anyone,” Anderson said. “Since I was on the outside lane of Justice, I was just hoping I didn’t see him the whole race. That usually means I get first.”

Brainerd was never far behind him, finishing in 51.70.

“All we do is just try to push ourselves each and every race we do,” Brainerd said. “Try to push each other in practices. We just try to force the best out of each other.”

Anderson is also headed to state in the 100, where he took third in a state-qualifying time of 11.30 seconds.

“It felt great,” Anderson said. “I was hoping to get first, but that didn’t happen, but I still qualified, so that’s awesome.”

The Mustangs capped off the night with a dominant 4x400 relay. Brainerd, running the first leg, built a sizable early lead and his colleagues Brady Wolf, Skylar Drolema and Anderson never let up, finishing in 3:30.16 to beat second-place Sherrard by nearly four seconds.

Morrison also has the sectional high jump champion in Drolema, who, rested and ready following a trip to Key West, cleared 6 feet, 1 inch. He tried 6-3, going up too close to the bar and knocking it off with his first and third attempts, and nicking it with his finger on the second.

“High jump, I wasn’t expecting to do that because I was on vacation, but I got one practice in before this and it went good,” Drolema said.

Wolf took second in the 300 hurdles in 43.40 seconds.

Erie-Prophetstown has a pole vault champion in Parker Holdorf, who cleared 3.90 meters. Teammate Lucas Dreisbach cleared 3.1 meters to take third, but missed out on a spot at state.

The Panthers also have a long jump champion in Braxton Froeliger, who went 6.18 meters.

“I was making sure I was on my board,” Froeliger said. “Coach was helping me. My first jump was a little behind, so he had me move up. I just really built up my speed on that last jump, which was my best jump, and I was able to edge out second place.”

Froeliger then teamed up with Michael Carlson, Cameron Stout and Alex Gustaf to win the 4x100 in dominating fashion, finishing in 44.72. Riverdale took second in 45.17.

“It was great. We got all our handoffs pretty good,” Gustaf said. “We came out with a season PR, and now we’re going to state.

“Just run your own race. We all ran our own race. We all stayed relaxed, stayed smooth, and we got the job done.”

Fulton was disqualified from the 4x100 on a false start, but rebounded with a strong 4x200. Erie-Prophetstown had gotten off to a good start and seemed to be repeating its wide victory from the 4x100, but Fulton’s Josh Vanderploeg was able to close much of the gap with the anchor leg. He, Carson Wherry, Daken Pessman and Kyler Pessman took second in 1:34.22.

“It felt good,” Vanderploeg said. “We kind of got off to a slow start. I wasn’t really worried because I knew we’d come back because our third and fourth legs are really good.”

Erie-Prophetstown’s 4x200 relay of Froeliger, Stout, Gustaf and Ben Lantz won in 1:33.83. The Panthers nearly had a third relay through to state, but Carlson, Stout, Lantz and Gustaf took third in the 4x400, finishing 0.65 seconds behind Sherrard.

Vanderploeg also is through to state with a second-place run in the 200.

TOP: Erie’s Alex Gustaf celebrates after crossing the finish line in the 4x100. ABOVE LEFT: Morrison’s Skylar Drolema can’t quite clear 6’3 but is well on his way to qualifying for the state tournament. ABOVE: Erie’s Braxton Froeliger lands his long jump Friday in Erie. Froeliger qualified for state. LEFT: Morrison teammates Alex Anderson (right) and Justice Brainerd head for the finish in the 100 dash.

MORRISON BASEBALL

Morrison suf fers loss in reg ional semif inal against New man

By CODY CUTTER ccutter@saukvalley.com

Both the Newman Comets and Morrison Mustangs ended the final stretch of the regular season not playing how they would have liked, but both looked to come away victorious in the Class 1A regional semifinal June 4.

Newman, which had lost five of six coming into the game, put an end to Morrison’s season with a 6-1 win behind strong p i t c h i n g a n d a b i g s e c o n d inning at the plate.

Comets pitchers Elias Henkel and Kyle Wolfe combined to strike out nine and allow only three hits. Henkel, a lefty, went four innings and allowed one hit and one unearned run. Wolfe relieved him for the final three frames and struck out seven to deny the Mustangs any chance for a late rally. Wolfe struck out the side in the fifth and seventh innings.

Newman’s Brendan Tunink led off the second inning against the Mustangs’ Nate Helms with a towering shot that was just inches away from a home run in right-center field. It hit the yellow lining on top of the fence, and Tunink came away with a double. Tunink was driven home on an RBI single from Brennan Cook. Two batters later, Kory Mullen brought in Cook. Helms walked the next two batters to load the bases for Ethan Van Landuit, who hit a sacrifice fly to send home Mullen for a 3-0 lead.

Mullen made a crucial catch in center field to end the first inning for Newman (13-8). The Mustangs (1-15) had the bases loaded for TC Ottens, who ripped a line drive toward right-center that Mullen snared with a diving catch to quell the threat.

Tunink and Cook led off the third with singles. Tunink came around to score when Grant Koerner’s sacrifice bunt was misplayed. Cook came home on a wild pitch. Wolfe drove in Koerner for the Comets’ final run.

Morrison’s lone run came on a sacrifice fly from Ashton Smith. He drove home Danny Mouw, who had walked and advanced a base on an error.

The Mustangs finished the regular season winless in 14 games, but opened the postseason June 2 with an 8-3 regional quarterfinal win over Hiawatha in Kirkland.

“ I ’ m v e r y p r o u d o f o u r team,” Morrison coach Josh Robbins said. “Over the course of the regular season, we were 0-14. We came back and won the first game of the playoffs, and we battled here. We battled hard and these guys really showed what they’re made of.

“Newman was the better team today, and I congratulate them on their game and wish them good luck. We’re going to try to rebuild and come back next year and be strong.”

Alex T. Paschal - apaschal@shawmedia.com Morrison’s Ashton Smith fires a throw to first for an out against Newman on June 4.

GIRLS TRACK AND FIELD

Jordan Gallentine break s school record in 400 at state f inals

CHARLESTON – Morrison’s Jordan Gallentine had a race to remember in the 400 meters at the Class 1A state track and field finals June 10.

Gallentine turned in a time of 59.12 seconds. It was good for fourth place, and broke the school record of 59.38 set by Jenny Schaefer in 1995.

“Running against these fast girls definitely helped me, especially at the end, to have girls in front of me to chase down,” Gallentine said. “That helped a lot.”

Gallentine also competed in the 100 and 200 dashes. Her time of 12.75 seconds in the 100 put her in 10th place, one spot out of a medal.

Gallentine was the first Filly to qualify in three sprints at state since Schaefer in 1995.

Fulton placed eighth in the 4x200 relay after winning its heat. The foursome of Abbigail Thyne, Grace Dykstra, Mikayla Gazo and Lara Bielema was clocked in 1:50.44 in the finals.

Erie-Prophetstown’s Riley Packer took 12th in the 800 in 2:27.35.

Clark Brooks - PhotoNews Media Morrison’s Jordan Gallentine competes in the Class 1A 200-meter dash at the IHSA girls track and field state finals June 10.

Clark Brooks - PhotoNews Media Fulton’s Mikayla Gazo runs a leg in the Class 1A 4x200-meter relay at the IHSA girls track and field state finals.

Douglas Cottle - PhotoNews Media Erie-Prophetstown’s Jade Nickerson competes in the Class 1A 4x800-meter relay at the IHSA girls track and field state finals.

FULTON BASEBALL

New man slips past Fulton for reg ional championship

By BRIAN WEIDMAN bweidman@shawmedia.com

N e w m a n b a s e b a l l c o a c h K e n n y Koerner had the same message for his team before it took their hacks: “Don’t sit on one. Let’s go.”

The Comets tacked on a pair of late insurance runs in the Class 1A regional championship game June 7 against Fulton, and they were needed. Newman held on for a 3-2 victory, its second consecutive regional title. It was the Comets’ second one-run victory against the Steamers this season, the first being an 11-10 decision on April 30.

“Hats off to Fulton. I thought their d e f e n s e w a s o u t s t a n d i n g t o d a y , ” Koerner said. “I thought we hit a bunch of balls that during the regular s e a s o n w e r e f a l li n g i n f o r u s . W e preach all year throw strikes and make plays and you’ll be in every game.”

The Comets scratched out a run in the bottom of the second inning. Brennan Cook and Grant Koerner had twoout singles, and Kory Mullen walked to load the bases. Kyle Wolfe then hit a slow roller to Fulton shortstop Jacob Jones and beat the throw as Cook scored.

Newman added two runs in the fifth with some help from the Steamers. Fulton starter Connor Barnett struck out Ethan VanLanduit, but the ball got p a st c a t c h e r B r o c k M a s o n f o r a dropped third strike. Courtesy runner Trenton Hicks moved up a base when Nolan Britt was hit by a pitch, and Brendan Tunink singled to load the bases with one out.

Cook went down swinging for the inning’s second out. Koerner then hit a s h a r p g r o u n d e r t o t h i r d b a s e m a n Ethan Price, whose throw to second base was low. Kannon Wynkoop was unable to come up with the throw as Hicks scored the game’s second run.

Britt later scored on a wild pitch to increase the lead to 3-0.

On the mound, Newman left-hander Blake Wolfe, a senior, was handling things for his side. Through six shutout innings, he allowed just a pair of singles and one walk and had seven strikeouts.

The Steamers weren’t sunk yet, however.

Mason singled with one out, and Davis Ludin came to the plate. Ludin had struck out looking and swinging in his first two plate appearances, but that was about to change. The lefty turned on a Wolfe fastball and deposited it over the fence in right field for a two-run homer, his first homer of the season.

Wolfe regro uped, however, and retired Price and Ryan Eads on fly balls to end the game.

Barnett (3-3) also went the distance for Fulton. In six innings, he allowed three runs (one earned), seven hits, two walks and hit one batter. Barnett had three strikeouts.

“I told them at the beginning of the game we were going to have to fight for a solid seven innings,” Fulton coach Brent Dykstra said. “There was no doubt going into that seventh inning we were not going to be done fighting.”