Sep. 4—Western volleyball team went 3-1 and took third place in Wes-Del's Kay Saunders Classic on Saturday.

Western's victories came against Marion (25-7, 25-9), Tipton (25-20, 25-16) and Mississinewa (21-25, 25-20, 15-9). Fort Wayne Bishop Luers beat the Panthers 25-19, 25-23.

Kayleigh Turner totaled 76 assists and 42 service points over the four matches. Also for the Panthers, Lacy Rathbun had 39 kills, 43 digs and 32 points, Caitlin Sylvester had 19 kills, Kenna Smith had 18 kills and Reyce Gibson had 28 digs and 39 points.

"The girls did a good job [Saturday]," Western coach Jessica Oliver said. "We had some back-to-back errors in the Luers game that took us out of how we play. That's something we will work on this week at practice. Overall, I'm proud of their effort all day."

Wes-Del won the tourney at 4-0 and Luers was runner-up.

Western (10-2) meets Tipton again on Wednesday at Tipton.

GIRLS SOCCER

TAYLOR 3, DELPHI 2

Jessica Brockett scored a pair of goals and Jayla Preston scored one as the Titans got their first win of the season and first win since the girls program restarted last after two years of being a co-ed program. Emma McCorkle had seven saves for the Titans (1-3, 1-2 Hoosier Heartland Conference) and Trinity Calvert had three.

"For us, it's huge," Taylor coach Mike Shane said. "Three years ago we didn't have a girls team. Last year was the first one we've had in three years and we barely had enough numbers for a girls team, and to come out this year and kind of be in that same boat — only have 14 on our roster and only three of those girls have ever won a game. The rest are brand new.

"I just want to give them all the credit because it is all theirs. They've worked their butts off to build the program back up and get out and recruit. To win this is a testament to them and what they've done and what they're willing to do."

BOYS SOCCER

NW 3, OLE MISS 1

Quentin Yeakel scored a goal and dished an assist to help the Tigers deal the visiting Indians their first loss. Matty Polk and Gavin Morrow also scored.

Northwestern improved to 4-4 while Mississinewa dropped to 4-1-1.

GIRLS GOLF

JEFF INVITE

Western and Kokomo played in Lafayette Jeff's Broncho Invitational at Battle Ground G.C. State powerhouse Westfield won with a team score of 2-over 290.

Western shot 395. Elizabeth Mercer shot a 2-over 74 and tied for fifth overall and Grace Williams was second low for Western with a personal-best 102.

Kokomo shot 506. Brileigh Quillen-Popejoy led the Kats with a 99. She had a chip-in birdie and a 50-foot par putt.

CA INVITE

Peru shot a season-low 409 in the Culver Academies' Invitational.

Piercey Dyer led the Bengal Tigers and finished runner-up individually with a 2-under par 70. Raina Nero and Bailee Beattie followed for Peru with personal-low scores of 108 and 114.

GIRLS XC

MARION INVITE

Northwestern took ninth place out of 12 teams in the elite division of Marion's invitational, which was held at Indiana Wesleyan University.

The Tigers' Hannah Moore and Courtney Adams medaled. Moore was eighth in a season-best 18:44 and Adams was 18th in a season-best 19:27.

"We knew that this was going to be a tough race," Northwestern coach Josh Perry said. "I was happy to see the girls go battle it out with some really good teams. They showed everyone that we can hold our own even against schools three times our size.

"We had a lot of positives on the day. Two personal bests and three season bests is a great day. I am very happy with where the girls team is at. We will continue to get better and see where that takes us in championship season."

Perry noted Moore is ranked No. 14 in the state.

HARRISON INVITE

Kokomo ran in Harrison's invitational, which was held at the Tippecanoe Amphitheater. Coach Jordan Ousley noted all four of the Kat runners had personal- or season-best times.

"Our varsity runners have been pack running at practice and working together and it is starting to pay off on Saturdays," he said. "Morgan Rakestraw, Gretchen Riggle, and Christina Durham all raced together and worked together well on Saturday, and they all came in one right after the other in the race."

Rakestraw covered the course in 26:32, which marked a 48-second PR. Riggle and Durham had matching times of 26:33, which for Durham marked a 90-second PR.

CASTON INVITE

Winamac (37) took first, Lewis Cass (63) was second and Carroll (110) was third in Caston's invitational, which had 10 full teams.

Individually, Cass standout Aftin Griffin ran to an emotional victory. Running in memory of her twin brother, Gavin, who died earlier in the week, Griffin won in a time of 19:58.

The Kings' next four runners were Gracie Spicer (23:15.43) in 15th, Kylie Logan (23:17.79) in 16th, Annaleigh Hedrick (23:31) in 17th and Bystalin Gillem (24:03) in 23rd.

For Carroll, Jillian Salts led the team and 13th overall in 22:58. Aubrey Salts (18th, 23:40), Madison Wagner (19th, 23:40) and Riley Hayden (30th, 24:49) also finished in the top 30.

BOYS XC

MARION INVITE

Northwestern took fourth place out of 23 teams in the small school division of Marion's invitational, which was held at Indiana Wesleyan University.

The Tigers had three runners medal. Isaac Everson was 24th in a personal-best 18:22, Jacob Bumgardner was 27th in a season-best 18:30 and Ryland Barnes was 31st in 18:38.

"We have had a lot of injuries and illness this season. We are starting to get healthy again and it was great to see the boys come out swinging in full force. We knew if we ran well that we could crack the top five and the boys made it happen," Perry said. "We had a really strong showing by freshman Isaac Everson to lead the day. We have a solid group of front runners on the team that are ready to take charge in races. Our time gap from our first runner to our fifth was just over a minute.

"If we can keep that consistent as we improve throughout the year, we will set ourselves up well for the tournament in October."

HARRISON INVITE

LaPorte won the Harrison Invitational, which featured 27 teams and was held at the Tippecanoe Amphitheater. The Slicers had a score of 86 points.

Western finished ninth and had four runners in the top 60 — Camden Raab (22nd, 16:32), Aden Yeary (33rd, 16:48), Miles Rudy (52nd, 17:26) and Maddox Carver (60th, 17:41).

"Great competition leads to fast times. Recorded our best cumulative this year," Western coach Gary Jewell said. "Camden and Aden lead the way. It was the first time we had two runners under 17:00 since the 2020 semistate.

"All seven of our varsity runners recorded personal bests," he added.

Kokomo took 22nd place. Cooper Cage led the Kats and placed 47th overall with a time of 17:12. Kelton Serra (18:34) and Connor Frederick (18:38) followed for the Kats.

"Five out of our six varsity runners set new PRs and our other runner set a season best," Kokomo coach Jordan Ousley said. "I thought our guys raced well and competed against a very strong field.

"Connor ran in the 18s for the first time ever and his PR was almost a 40-second drop," Ousley said, adding that Ben Wallace (20:00) had a 22-second drop.

CASTON INVITE

Pioneer (49) took first and Lewis Cass (71) was second in Caston's invitational, which had 13 full teams.

Kale Skiles led Cass and was fourth overall in a time of 17:21. Ben Jay (10th, 18:00), Colton Copeland (14th, 18:23), Kaiden Hughes (18th, 18:40) and Curtis Henry (25th, 19:11) rounded out the Kings' top five.

Bryce Salgat led Carroll and was 19th overall in 18:40. Regan Wolf (22nd, 19:00), Eli Harshbarger (27th, 19:24) and Toby Burns (30th, 19:31) also had top-30 finishes for the Cougars.

Taylor's Braden Wunderlich took 35th in 19:48.