Prep roundup for Friday, May 24
May 24—Maconaquah junior A.J. Kelly won the 400-meter dash to lead the KT-area showing in the IHSAA Goshen Boys Track and Field Regional on Thursday night.
Kelly sped around the track in 49.22 seconds to take the title and earn a return trip to the State Finals. Last year, when the regional was at Warsaw, Kelly was second in a time of :50.13. Top-three finishers at regionals advance to state.
Kokomo sophomore Jeremiah Young, Kokomo junior Jedaiah Beard, Tipton senior Cooper Altherr and Tipton junior Caleb Farr also are advancing to state from the Goshen Regional.
Young took second place in the long jump with a leap of 22 feet, 4.25 inches. Teammate Beard was third in discus with a heave of 168-6. And for the Blue Devils, Altherr was second in the 300 hurdles in a time of :39.69 and Farr was second in pole vault with a jump of 15-3.
The state meet is on June 1 in Bloomington.
Lewis Cass junior Julian Levine just missed advancing to state in the high jump. He finished fourth at 6-3, just an inch behind the second- and third-place finishers.
Altherr was fifth in the 110 hurdles (:15.18) and Kelly was seventh in the 200 dash (:23.03).
Also scoring points with top-eight finishes were: Western sophomore Camden Raab in the 3,200 run (fifth, 9:41.48); Eastern junior Andrew Cavazos (seventh in shot put, 49-5); Maconaquah seniors Isaiah Wittenberg in the 800 run (seventh, 2:01.62) and Kyler Hanson in pole vault (seventh, 13-6); and Kokomo's 4x100 relay team of Malachi Harper, Tracy Dowling, Rondell Greene and Lukas Degraffenreid (seventh, :43.08).
Penn won the regional with 96 points. Tipton (20 points) finished 11th and Kokomo (16) and Maconaquah (16) tied for 12th.
BASEBALL
N. MONTGOMERY 8, WESTERN 7
North Montgomery topped No. 7 Western in a back-and-forth battle in the Class 3A Northwestern Sectional's opening semifinal.
Tied 1-1 after the first inning, North Montgomery went up 2-1 after the second inning. In the fourth and fifth innings, Western took the lead in the top of the frames only to see the Chargers regain it in the bottom.
The Panthers scored twice in the sixth to pull even at 7-7, but the Chargers won it in the bottom of the seventh when they scored on a wild pitch.
"It's two quality teams that were taking advantage of what the other team was giving them," Western coach Ryan Berryman said. "We felt like we had to strike late because they had the last at-bat. We put ourselves in a position, but we didn't make some pitches and we didn't make a couple plays and situations got away from us and it hurt us."
Berryman pointed to the first and fifth innings as costly. In the first, the Panthers had two base-running errors that cost them outs. In the fifth, the Panthers scored two runs to go up 5-4 and had the bases loaded, but a double play ended the momentum.
"Our offense did a good job. If you had told me before the game that we're going to score seven runs, I'd say we'd win. Unfortunately, we kept putting the pressure back on ourselves," Berryman said.
The Panthers finished 22-5 for their fourth consecutive 20-win season. They repeated as Hoosier Conference champions.
"I'm proud of our guys, to win 22 games with a young team," Berryman said, noting he had only four seniors. "We're in a good spot for the future, we just have to keep grinding."
—No. 8-ranked Twin Lakes beat Northwestern 8-5 in the second semifinal. The game ended too late for a report in today's Tribune.
FROM WEDNESDAY
BASEBALL
NORWELL 6, PERU 4, 8 INNINGS
Peru jumped to a 3-0 lead after two innings, but Norwell battled back to beat the Bengal Tigers 6-4 in eight innings in the Class 3A Norwell Sectional's opening round.
Seniors Matthew Roettger and Ian Potts pitched for Peru. Roettger started and worked 4.2 innings, allowing eight hits and four earned runs with six strikeouts and three walks. Potts took the loss in relief. He pitched 3.1 innings and allowed two hits and two runs (one earned) with five strikeouts and two walks.
Gavin Eldridge led Peru with two hits, including a two-run single.
The Bengal Tigers closed the season with an 18-6 record. They shared the Three Rivers Conference title and won the Miami County tourney.
BENTON CENTRAL 8, CASS 3, 10 INNINGS
The game was tied 1-1 after nine innings before Benton Central pulled away in the 10th at the Class 2A Delphi Sectional. The game didn't end until 11:30 p.m.
Cass junior Brody Williams held the Bison to one run on seven hits and two walks in nine innings, striking out eight.
But three Kings relievers struggled with wildness in the 10th, combining for four walks and two hit by pitches while allowing three hits and seven runs.
Wade Tocco led the Kings at the plate going 3-for-4 with two RBIs. Nolan Hahn and Julian Davidson added two hits apiece. Owen Cotner-Graves had a single and two runs scored.
Cass closed the season 4-16.
