Staff Reports
NEW PALESTINE — The New Palestine volleyball team dominated this weekend en route to winning their own invitational on Saturday.
The Dragons knocked off Lawrence Central in straight sets, 25-8, 25-12, in their opening match.
Grace Myers had four aces and three digs, while Reagan Kleiman tallied eight kills, two blocks and two aces. Jada Hausz and Lauren Wilson had two kills each. Isabella Gizzi had eight assists and Gabby Cruz four.
The Dragons later defeated Southport, 25-11, 25-11, to claim the title in the round-robin tournament.
Wilson had seven kills on eight attempts and two aces. Hausz also had eight kills and three digs. Kleiman added eight kills. Bella Brownfield had six kills on seven attempts, three digs and an ace. Myers had nine digs. Gizzi tallied 27 assists, five digs and two aces.
“The girls played really well today and were lock and step with each other,” New Palestine head coach Kelli Gabehart said. “Our passers did a nice job controlling the serves, and our hitters were very efficient at the net. Isabella Gizzi did a great job running the offense and getting our hitters in position to score.”
The Dragons improved to 14-2 on the season. They played Monday at Franklin Central.
CROSS COUNTRY
Marauders win Shelbyville Invite
Mt. Vernon won the large school division at Saturday’s Shelbyville Boys Cross Country Invitational at Blue River Memorial Park.
The Marauders scored 31 points, distancing themselves from runners-up Cathedral (91), Lebanon (111) and Seymour (122). There were 13 teams in the event.
For the second straight meet, including last week’s Hancock County Championship, junior Tristan Trevino was the individual winner. Trevino finished the 5K course in 16:20.
Senior Austin Rush was third in 16:34 and senior Joseph Blagrave placed sixth in 16:56. Samuel Wilson and Reyce Morgan were 10th and 11th, respectively.
Colin Strachman placed 13th, while freshmen Landon Willis (23rd), Xaiden Jenson (26th) and Ahmed Saleh (42nd) rounded out the MV field of runners.
The Marauders are ranked No. 24 in the state and will defend their Hoosier Heritage Conference title in Muncie on Saturday.
Royals take second at Classic
The Eastern Hancock Royals boys cross-country team barely missed out on the championship at the Heritage Classic in Hope on Saturday.
The Royals tied for the lead at 37 points but placed second because their sixth runner was unavailable due to COVID-19 contact-tracing quarantine, so they had no tiebreaker time.
Royals freshman Preston Markley was the individual champion by a wide margin, winning in 17:46 with teammate Luke McCartney second at 18:37.
Luken Edwards was sixth and John Henry Gray eighth with a personal-best 20:01. Brandon Cross completed the team score in 30th.
The Eastern Hancock girls team was led by freshman Olivia Evans at fourth in 22:49, followed closely by senior Ashton Willis in fifth at 22:50. Mia Griesmeyer placed 19th.
The Royals will compete in the MEC meet at Blue River Valley High School on Saturday.
Cougars win Shakamak Invite
The Greenfield-Central boys cross-country team won the Shakamak Invitational on Saturday with five-scoring runners finishing in the top 10.
Griffen Wheeler won the race in 16:53, followed by Liam Brinkruff in second at 17:01, Chris Ross in third at 17:04 and Matt Wickham in fourth at 17:27.
Carter Crouch was the final scorer at seventh in 18:01. Jacob Presser was eighth at 18:05. Lucas Tutrow was 15th in 18:35.
The Cougars tallied 17 points to win, followed by Clay City (71), Bloomfield (75), Eastern Greene (99) and West Vigo (102) in the top five.
Cougars finish second at invite
The Greenfield-Central girls cross-country team placed second during the Shakamak Invitational on Saturday.
Emma Bogle paced the Cougars in sixth, followed by Lexie Copeland in eighth and Reagan Crouch in ninth.
Olivia Wahl (25th) and Shelby Hoffman (36th) rounded out the scoring for G-C, which tallied 80 points. North Daviess won at 68.
Emily Wright (45th) secured the second-place finish for the Cougars via a tiebreaker. Owen Valley (80) was third. G-C’s Madelyn King (52nd) also competed.
The Cougars will run in the Hoosier Heritage Conference Championships this Saturday.
NP’s Mann wins invite title
New Palestine senior Emma Mann ran a 19:27.37 on Saturday to win the Shelbyville Golden Bear Invitational individual title.
Mann bested the field by 33.33 seconds, leading the Dragons girls team to a third-place finish in the 14-team large-school division.
The Dragons tallied 105 places, finishing a close third to Columbus North (94) and Mt. Vernon (102). Bloomington South (155) was fourth in the meet held at Shelbyville’s Blue River Cross Country Course.
Courtney Study finished 11th in 20:28.19. Caitlin Urrutia was 15th (21:13.38), Lexi Baynes 36th (22:10.27) and Emily Adam 42nd (22:27.75). Jocelynn Flagle was 55th and Anne Bauer 64th.
The Dragons boys finished ninth in the 13-team large-school race, with 244 places.
Mt. Vernon (31), Cathedral (91) and Lebanon (111) took the top-three places. Colin Darley led the Dragons with a 24th-place finish (18:14.67). Hayden Isaacs was 58th (19:05.37), Connor Lapenta 62nd (19:17.32), Will Hah 66th (19:19.43) and Cameron Mann 67th (19:21.25). Gavin Smith and Harrison Holloway took 68th and 69th.
TENNIS
Pairings announced for sectional
The IHSAA announced the 2021 state tournament series sectional pairings for boys tennis on Monday evening, pitting all four Hancock County teams against each other.
In the opening round on Wednesday at Mt. Vernon High School, the defending champion and host Marauders drew rival Greenfield-Central. The teams will play at 4:30 p.m.
In the semifinal round on Thursday, the first-round winner will face Pendleton Heights, while Eastern Hancock will play defending county champion New Palestine. Both matches begin at 4:30 p.m.
The sectional championship is set for Friday at 4:30 p.m.
Cougars win season finale
The Greenfield-Central boys tennis team defeated host Warren Central, 4-1, on Saturday to finish the regular season with a 15-5 record.
The Cougars collected three easy points with Matt Hyre winning 6-0, 6-0 at one singles, while CJ Michalek won 6-0, 6-0 at two singles. Casey Hunt made it a clean two-set, singles sweep 6-0, 6-0.
The fourth point came from a forfeit.
On Friday, the Cougars defeated Hoosier Heritage Conference foe Yorktown, 4-1, to finish 5-2 in conference play this season.
The Cougars will travel to rival Mt. Vernon on Wednesday to open sectional play against the host Marauders.
Dragons sweep Marauders
The New Palestine tennis team closed its regular season Friday with a 5-0 victory over county and HHC rival Mt. Vernon.
With the Dragons’ final home-match victory, they finished at 6-1 in the HHC. The Dragons finished second in the league to Delta.
Senior Zach Au was first off the courts with a 6-1, 6-1 victory, his 13th consecutive win. Colin Darley had to go the distance at No. 2 singles, winning 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.
In the longest match of the night, Ezra Schwier won his final home match at No. 1, outlasting his Marauder foe 6-4, 7-6 (6).
At doubles, Jackson Havel/Clayton Wesley won 6-2, 6-2, while Devon Bird/Moses Haynes won 6-3, 6-0.
The Dragons’ varsity finishes the regular season 16-3 overall.
BOYS SOCCER
Dragons rally to win
Sophomore Elliott Canova tallied a hat trick Saturday to lead the New Palestine boys soccer team to a come-from-behind 3-2 victory over host Connersville.
The Dragons dominated possession and chances in the first half, but were trailing 1-0 after Connersville turned a counter-attack into a corner kick goal in the 13th minute.
With 1:03 left in the opening half, the Dragons found the equalizer, as Canova won the ball in the corner, dribbled past two defenders along the goal line, then fired a near-post shot past the keeper to tie the game.
With 30:08 left, Andon Colclazier centered the ball for Canova, who tied the game again.
Later, Canova buried a 20-yard free kick to give the Dragons their first lead with 16:21 left.
The Dragons are now 6-8-0 on the season.
