Top Performers Week 1: County athletes impress in opening season duals and games
HILLSDALE COUNTY — The first full week of winter prep sports is finally over.
There were plenty of standout student-athlete performances from bowling, wrestling and basketball. These are some of those athletes that ended up making an impact for their teams in their first events of 2023.
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Girls Basketball
Several girls basketball players led their teams to undefeated starts to their season.
The Reading Rangers were 2-0 after big wins over Homer and Camden-Frontier. Aubree Ervans was the biggest contributor in Week 1, totaling 37 points through two games. Ervans also had five assists and six steals against Camden-Frontier, and she had a double-double of 20 points and 11 rebounds against the Trojans.
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Litchfield's own Abby Bills combined for 25 points, 11 rebounds and eight steals through two games to keep the Terrier's undefeated. Her teammate - senior Jenna Miller - had 18 points, 27 rebounds and six steals to assist Bills in taking down WCA and Jackson Christian.
North Adams-Jerome athlete Kamryn Wagler hit three triples and earned 15 total points, four rebounds and two assists to help take her Rams team to a victory to start the season.
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It wasn't the easiest start, but Waldron won their first two games of the season: a 28-20 final over Burr Oak and a 47-16 final over Tekonsha. Leading the way was Kailie Kurtz with a combined 26 points, 14 rebounds, 10 steals and eight assists. Morgan Burk had 23 points, 19 rebounds, eight steals, four blocks and four assists.
Pittsford continues rolled their way to a 2-0 start. Leading the way was Riley McCumber with 28 combined points, including three triples against Sand Creek. Junior PG and Grand Valley commit Ava Mallar had 28 combined points as well, hitting six 3-pointers against North Adams.
The Hillsdale girls basketball team is 1-1, bouncing back from a loss to East Jackson with a 37-29 win over Union City. Hillsdale senior Karsyn Stebbins led the scoring effort through two games with 24 points, including three triples in their loss to East Jackson and one against Union City. Senior Rylee Miller led the team with 13 points in the UC win. Rakell Brown had 14 rebounds and eight blocks.
Boys Basketball
Only two teams stand undefeated after two weeks of boys basketball: Litchfield and Hillsdale Academy. The 3-0 Colts and 4-0 Terriers have several players to thank for their starts to the season.
For the Colts, Dominic Scharer has averaged 18.7 points a game and five rebounds. This includes 23 points in their standout win over Concord.
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For the Terriers, senior Tyler Bills has scored 67 points through four games and hit eight triples.
Also starting out strong was the Hillsdale Hornets with a 3-1 record. This includes three double-digit wins, with their only loss being a 55-51 final. Leading the way has been senior Jack Bowles with 65 points total, this includes a five 3-pointer game against Union City. Brody Adams had 40 points and Jace Lennox had 46 points.
The Comets went 2-2 to start the season. Senior Warrick Elder has scored 89 total points, including 32 in the team's opening win against Ypsi Arbor Prep.
Wrestling
Jonesville wrestlers dominate first week of matches
Coach Carter Ballinger could not have asked for a better start from his squad of Comet wrestlers to start the year.
After defeating Homer and Hillsdale in their opening quad matches, the Comets carried that momentum into the weekend and won the Grover Invitational.
First place winners for the Comets were Blake Ryan (113 pounds) and Carson Playford (138). Cooper Stevens (285), Evan McColley (215). Isaac Shively (190), Austin Bowers (175), Ben Colbart (157) and Max Smith (132) took second place. Harrison Packer (106) took third.
Ben Colbart, Cooper Stevens, Harrison Packer, Max Smith and Cody Nichols went 2-0 in their matches against Homer and Hillsdale.
Hillsdale
Hillsdale went 2-2 in their two quads. They defeated Reading and Erie-Mason. Going undefeated for the week for the Hornets was senior Stephen Petersen (190), who had two major decisions and one pinfall. Colton Wolf (126), Miles Brown (144) and Robert Garcia (175) had three wins.
Reading
Reading hosted the first county wrestling event of the season against Homer and Hillsdale. They then traveled to the Concord Invitational, where three wrestlers took first place. Reid Westfall (106), Connar Rudy (165) and Caiden Baker (175) took first place. Taking third was Cormack Price (215) and Isaac Westfall (190). Jeremiah Bedford (144) and Domanick Magowan (138) took second.
Baker and Reid Westfall remain undefeated at 5-0. Westfall had two pins and Baker had four pins.
Photos: Litchfield girls prep hoops defeats WCA 41-7
Bowling top performers
Hillsdale Hornet girls bowling picked up two wins against Clinton and Blissfield in week 1. The team was led by Chloe Manifold with a 426 series against Clinton and Shalee Van Herde with a 329 series against Blissfield. The boys team was led by Nolan Grant with a 416 series against Clinton and a 471 series against Blissfield.
Chloe Manifold then led the Hornet effort at the Wildcat Blastoff singles tournament in Tecumseh. MAnifold bowled a 757 and took third in the varsity girls bowling bracket. Shalee Van Heerde took fourth and Sage Wickham took fifth.
This article originally appeared on Hillsdale Daily News: Week 1 Top Performers: Wrestlers earn first place at invitationals
