Roundup: JoBurg volleyball wins St. Ignace Invite, cross country boys win at Kalkaska
ST. IGNACE ― The past few years have been some of the most successful seasons in the history of Johannesburg-Lewiston volleyball.
The Cardinals followed back-to-back Ski Valley Conference titles in 2020 and 2021 with more than 30 wins in 2022, all while adding quite a few new pieces to the JoBurg trophy case with multiple weekend tournament titles.
They traveled to yet another tournament this past weekend, and the trophy case got a new addition.
JoBurg brought home the St. Ignace Invite championship on Saturday, Sept. 23, defeating the hosting Saints in the tournament finals two sets to one (25-11, 20-25, 15-7) to bring home the tournament crown.
"We saved our best game of the day for the finals," head coach Kristine Peppin said. "It was a fun game to coach and the girls really pulled together for the win. The team did a great job of adjusting to some differences in our lineup."
JoBurg went 5-1 in the round-robin pool play, defeating Pickford (25-16, 26-12), Sault Ste. Marie (25-22, 25-23), Engadine (25-23, 25-14), Rogers City (25-13, 25-18) and Boyne Falls (25-18, 25-12), with the lone loss coming to St. Ignace (16-25, 24-25) before avenging that loss in the finals.
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Jayden Marlatt led the team with 50 kills and 38 digs, both team-highs for the day. Other standouts included Brittney Fox (32 kills, 18 digs), Mady Peppin (21 kills, 37 serving points), Brooklyn Latuszek (22 kills, 21 digs), Lexi Hogle (110 assists) and Cassie Tallman (37 digs).
It was part of a big week for the Cardinals after securing key SVC victories with sweeps over Inland Lakes (25-17, 25-18, 25-17) on Tuesday, Sept. 19 and Gaylord St. Mary (25-16, 25-17, 25-21) on Thursday, Sept. 21.
JoBurg is currently 20-7 overall this season and 3-1 in the SVC with matchups with Pellston and Onaway upcoming.
Witt, Nowak lead big days for JoBurg CC in Kalkaska
KALKASKA ― JoBurg cross country entered the 2023 season with high expectations following a state championship run by the girls in 2022 and a nearly full roster returning for both the boys and the girls.
Through the first few races of the fall season, the Cardinals have seemingly picked right back up where they left off last season.
The Cardinals had the top finishers on both sides of the Kalkaska Invite on Tuesday, Sept. 19 as juniors Jeremiah Witt and Allie Nowak both took first place overall, helping the JoBurg boys take home the Invite championships and the girls finish as the runner-ups.
Witt finished with a time of 16 minutes, 42 seconds, ending out Gavin Guggemos from Kalkaska by nearly five seconds. Nowak, meanwhile, clocked in a time of 19 minutes, 29 seconds, a full 43 seconds ahead of second place.
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Other top finishers for the boys included Blake Fox (eighth, 18:19.8), Malaki Gascho (ninth, 18:19.9) and Dusty Layman (11th, 18:20.3), while Madalyn Agren (fourth, 21:03.7) and Harlie Fox (sixth, 21:20.5) rounded out the performances from the girls.
The boys finished with 49 points, besting Elk Rapids (56) and Kalkaska (57) for the top team performance, while the girl's 50-point performance put them just behind Elk Rapids (32) in second place.
JoBurg will be back in action on Saturday, Sept. 30 at the Shepherd Bluejay Invitational.
Contact Sports Editor Dylan Jespersen at Djespersen@gaylordheraldtimes.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @dylanjespersen, and Instagram, @dylanjespersen
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Johannesburg-Lewiston volleyball wins in St. Ignace, cross country in Kalkaska
