Nevada Journal sports round-up: Carter Holland places sixth in 3A boys 800 at state track

Nevada's Carter Holland earned points for the Cub boys track and field team at the 2023 state co-ed track and field meet held last Thursday through Saturday at Drake Stadium in Des Moines.

Holland placed sixth in the Class 3A boys 800-meter run Saturday. He also helped Nevada to a 17th-place finish in the 4x800 relay.

Connor Kunze took 17th for the Nevada boys in the 3A 200 prelims. The Nevada girls 4x800 team finished 23rd in 3A at state.

Colo-NESCO had three athletes compete at state track. Nathan McFarland took 11th in the 1A boys high jump, Breckin Clatt finished 18th in the 400 hurdles and Sophia Clawson ended up 22nd in the 1A girls open 400.

The Nevada girls golf team qualified for state with an impressive runner-up shot at the 3A regional final meet held at the Carroll Country Club in Carroll May 17. The Cubs shot a 350 over 18 holes to beat Atlantic by a comfortable 45 strokes for second behind Gilbert's winning score of 321.

The Nevada girls soccer team crushed Benton Community by a 10-0 score in the 1A regional quarterfinals May 17 at Cub Stadium in Nevada. The Nevada girls tennis team saw its season come to a close with a 5-2 loss to Iowa Falls-Alden in 1A regional play May 15 at Dike.

The Cub baseball team split its first two games. Nevada dropped its opener at Grand View Christian by a 3-2 score May 18 in Des Moines then defeated GMG by a 6-5 score in its home opener Friday.

The Colo-NESCO baseball team won its first three games. The Royals toppled Clarion-Goldfield-Dows by a 9-1 score on the road May 16, they defeated Melcher-Dallas at home May 18, 10-5, and crushed BCLUW at home Monday, 15-2.

Here is what we learned from last week's Nevada and Colo-NESCO high school sports competition.

Nevada and Colo-NESCO athlete give a good effort at state track

The Nevada boys track team got strong individual outings out of Holland and Kunze.

Holland ran a 1:56.45 in the 800 to fall just shy of the school record in the event. He was also close to cracking the top five, coming in a hair behind Lewis Central's Ethan Eichhorn, who clocked in at 1:56.23.

Kunze finished the 200 in 23.45. He was the fastest of the two freshmen running in the 3A field.

"I was very pleased with Connor Kunze and Carter Holland," Nevada coach John Pelzer said. "They both had season best times. Carter is .45 off the school record with his 1:56.45 in the 800. Connor has established himself as one of the top freshman sprinters in the state."

The Nevada 4x800 team of Nick Frideres, Paul Stephens, Brian Rohde and Holland finished with a time of 8:23.69.

"Things did not go as well as we had hoped in the 4x800 relay, but the district title in that race is something we can all cherish going forward," Pelzer said. "Kudos to Nick Frideres, Brian Rohde, and Paul Stephens, Carter Holland, on an outstanding season in the 4x800."

The Nevada girls 4x800 team of Sophia Martinez, Brooke Axmear, Alexa Betting and Ava Vanderheyden ran a time of 10:30.68.

The Cub girls gained valuable experience running on the Blue Oval. Martinez, Axmear and Betting are freshmen and Vanderheyden is just a sophomore, giving the Cubs a potentially bright future in the event.

McFarland and Clatt both gave a good effort for the Colo-NESCO boys in 1A.

McFarland fought through an injury to place 11th in the high jump with a peak jump of 5-11.

"Unfortunately for Nathan, he was dealing with some knee pain so he didn't jump like we were hoping," Colo-NESCO coach Tony Stalzer said. "He had a tremendous season and has a chance to go on to do some really good things. Placing 11th is nothing to be upset about."

Clatt completed the 400 hurdles in 58.31.

"Breckin had a good race for his first trip to state," Stalzer said. "He was able to take in the whole atmosphere of the event and that will help to prepare him for future big races. Placing 18th is a good starting point and we look forward to the future with him."

Clawson gave a gutsy effort for the Colo-NESCO girls in the 400. The talented freshman got out a little too fast and ran out of gas at the end, but she still had a solid racing in finishing with a time of 1:05.06.

Nevada girls impressive at 3A regional final golf meet in Carroll

The Nevada girls golf team looked tough during its regional meet at the Carroll Country Club.

The Cubs were not able to keep up with an elite Gilbert team, but they easily outclassed the rest of the field to earn a trip to the Pheasant Ridge course in Cedar Falls to compete in the 3A state meet this Thursday and Friday. Nevada had two golfers place in the top five and four in the top 10 individually.

Olivia Axmear, a 2022 individual state participant, placed fourth for Nevada with an 18-hole score of 81. Bridget Cahill was right behind Axmear with a fifth-place effort of 82.

Freshman Lauren Smith placed ninth with a round of 93. Sophomore Mary Hensley finished in a three-way tie for 10th with ADM's Cecilia Gardiner and Carroll's Ashlee Danner as they each carded a 94.

Reagan Schmidt tied for 15th with a 97 and Mya Spykerman tied for 34th with a 106 as the other Cub golfers competing at the meet.

Gilbert's Eden Lohrbach was medalist at Carroll with a 76 and her younger sisters Ella and Ava placed second and third with respective scores of 79 and 80.

Cub girls tennis team gets two singles wins during regionals

The Nevada girls tennis team won two singles matches during its 1A regional team meet against Iowa Falls-Alden last week.

Meagan McGaffin won the No. 4 match over IFA's Hailey Bridgewarter, 7-6 (7-3) and 6-3. Kaitlyn McGaffin swept the No. 6 match against the Cadets' Alivia Hansen with 6-3 and 6-1 victories.

Nevada's No. 3 doubles team of Brooklyn Estes and Kaitlyn McGaffin was leading IFA's Kadynce Winters and Lieke Kienhuis 2-1 in the first set before the meet was called after the Cadets had achieve their fifth victory to secure the team win. Nevada ended its season with a 2-7 record.

Cub baseball team rallies past Wolverines

Nevada came back from a 5-3 deficit against GMG with two runs in the seventh inning and another in the eighth to top the Wolverines in extra innings and even its record at 1-1 on the season.

Karter Beving was 2-for-4 with a triple, run and RBI and Anthony Eaton tripled and drove in two runs for Nevada in the win. Griffin Tamburo was 1-for-3 with a run and Carson Rhodes 1-for-4 with an RBI for the Cubs.

Jackson Burlage was the winning pitcher after throwing four scoreless innings and giving up three hits and two walks with two strikeouts.

In the loss to Grand View Christian the Cubs scored twice in the first inning and then their bats went silent the rest of the night. Nevada finished with five hits, led by Beving going 2-for-3 with a double and a run and Eaton also finishing 2-for-3 with an RBI.

Colton Leslie doubled and drove in a run for Nevada. Drake Hinson was the losing pitcher after giving up one run on two hits with one strikeout in 1 2/3 innings of relief.

Colo-NESCO baseball is off to a hot start

The Colo-NESCO baseball team is clicking on all cylinders to start the 2023.

The Royals used a strong finish to get past Clarion-Goldfield-Dows in their opener. They broke a 1-1 tie with two runs in the fourth inning then broke the game open late with three runs in both the sixth and seventh frames.

Spencer Hansen recorded 15 strikeouts in just 5 2/3 innings and he gave up and he gave up just one run on three hits with three walks as the winning pitcher. Lucas Frohwein drove in two runs, Hansen doubled and scored, Clay Gilmore doubled once, Isaac Harrington singled and scored three times and Gannon Short was 1-for-1 with two runs and an RBI for the Royals on offense.

Colo-NESCO jumped out to an 8-0 lead and held on versus Melcher-Dallas. The Royals took charge with a six-run fourth inning, and they withstood a five-run Saint fifth to get the win.

Drew Banks doubled and scored twice, Frohwein tripled and scored a run, Harrington was 1-for-4 with one run and RBI apiece and Kaleb Gray doubled and drove in a run against Melcher-Dallas. Banks was the winning pitcher, throwing five scoreless innings on two hits and five walks with 10 strikeouts.

The Royals took advantage of nine walks to blow past BCLUW.

Frohwein was 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI, Hansen singled once and walked and scored three times apiece against the Comets. Banks was 1-for-2 with two runs and RBIs apiece, Breckin Clatt finished 1-for-3 with a run and two RBIs and Trenton Beard scored twice.

Hansen got the win after throwing three scoreless and hitless innings with two strikeouts.

This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Nevada's Carter Holland takes sixth in 3A boys 800 at state track meet