SPORTS

Middle School Cross Country October 4, 2011

El Dorado Meet

Halstead Comments:
It was a very warm fall afternoon to run. Temperatures were near 90 degrees, with a steady south breeze. The meet was held on the grounds of Wartick Insurance Company, five miles south of Butler County Community College. Seventeen different schools participated, with over 240 runners competing in the four middle school races.  Most of the school participating were from 4A and 5A schools or communities. There was excellent competition at this meet with several outstanding performances.

Results: **Medal Winner
Name/Place/(Time)

7th Grade Girls:
Adelle Runnebaum – 39th (8:18)

7th Grade Boys:
Steven Cline  – **1st (5:58.03)
Partick Porch – **4th (6:10)
Adam Sigwing – **7th (6:16)
Nathan Loucks – 29th (6:51)

8th Grade Girls:  (1.5 Mile)
Kaci Foraker – **9th (10:42)
Miranda Reinert – **15th (11:23)
Courtney Glassco – 30th (12:47)

8th Grade Boys:  (2 Mile)
Darien Dawson – **4th (9:22.22)  New Course Record for (1.5) 8th grade boy
Jayson Kepple – 48th (12:30)

Overall, the meet was tough, but our runners competed well and did a super job. Times were not personal bests for most of our runners, but the course had some challenging terrain. These runners have little time to rest, as they have their final meet of the year in Sterling on October 6, 2011.

Tuesday, September 27th:
The Lady Dragons moved to 4-1 in Central Kansas League play after sweeping the Kingman Eagles and Haven Wildcats on Tuesday, September 27th.  The Dragons defeated Haven in the first match of the night, 25-15, 25-15. Though it wasn’t our best night of volleyball, the girls were still able to make plays when it counted and finish each set. We changed our serve receive before this match, and it definitely helped fix some of our communication problems on the back row. Matlack served 18/18 and had 23 assists. VanSteenburg finished with 16 kills and 5 ace blocks. Talbott had a strong night as libero, with 13 good serve receives and 14 digs. Maurath continues to get better every game, adding 3 kills, 3 ace blocks, and 4 digs. Howard added 3 kills and Littlejohn had 2 ace blocks.

We had a great team effort against Kingman to win in two sets, 25-10, 25-18. This was our best blocking night of the season, and we hope to keep it going against tougher competition as well. VanSteenburg led in kills with 9, while Howard had 4 and Maurath had 3. We had 7 ace blocks as a team (VanSteenburg 5, Maurath 2). Talbott and Matlack each played well defensively, with 7 blocks a piece. Matlack served 13/14, with 3 aces.

The JV lost to both Haven and Kingman. It was a tough night, but hopefully a good learning experience for the girls. They are continuing to work hard and improve. Communication is still a focus for improvement. We will host our annual JV tournament on Saturday, October 8th. (Coach Laura Jordan)

The C Team lost to Haven and Hesston.

Saturday, October 1st – Canton Galva Tournament, held at Hillsboro High School:
At the Canton Galva Invitational Tournament (held at Hillsboro High School) on Saturday, the Lady Dragons placed 2nd. Pool play started with a win against league rival, Hesston – 25-11, 25-11. Shelby Howard had one of her best serving games for the season, going 10/11, with 4 ace serves. She played with confidence and also added 3 kills. Aubrie VanSteenburg had another strong game, adding 12 kills and 9 digs. Matlack had 20 assists and 7 digs, while Lauren Wells came up big with 4 digs. Alyssa Talbott continues to be our best serve receiver, and also had 8 digs. Victoria Maurath had 2 kills and 2 digs.

In the next win against Little River (25-18, 25-8), we were able to try some different offensive sets, which led to a great match by Victoria Maurath (6 kills on 12 attempts/1 assist). Sydney Beat also played well, adding 5 serve receives and 2 digs. VanSteenburg  (6 aces) and Howard (3 aces) served tough for us, and they also played strong at the net (VanSteenburg 12 kills, Howard 6 kills on 13 attempts). Talbott added 9 digs, and Matlack had 22 assists and 9 digs.

We were able to go undefeated in pool play with a win over Sunrise Academy, 25-16, 25-17. Sunrise was a team that kept hitting the ball, but our digging was strong (Talbott 10, Matlack 10, VanSteenburg 8, Beat 6) and kept us ahead the whole way. We had a good team effort all around, including VanSteenburg with 18 kills, Howard with 4 kills, Matlack with 4 kills, and Daniels with 2 kills.

Halstead beats Sterling improves to 5-0.

Halstead traveled to Sterling to take on the Black Bears last Thursday.  The 8th grade opened the Night and  a 5th Quarter would follow.  It was not the type of game that the Dragons had become accustomed to as they had a battle on both sides of the ball for 32 minutes. The Dragons took an early 6-0 lead by 70 pass from Trevor Thomas to Blake Beckett.  The Dragons would strike again on a 38 yard run by Beckett, with Jayden Kniffen on the 2 point conversion.  On the kickoff the Dragons did not wrap up as Sterling returned it for a Touchdown to cut the lead to 14-6.  Halstead would score again as Christian Morris scampered 45 yards for a Touchdown and Kaleb Smith tacked on the 2 point conversion to make the score 22-6.  Sterling would score the next 10 points as they sacked Trevor Thomas for a safety, and Scored a Touchdown and 2 point conversion of their own to cut the lead to 22-16.  Blake Beckett put the Game on ice with another long run for a Touchdown as Eli McKee added the 2 point conversion as the final score was Halstead 30 Sterling 16.  Next up the Dragons travel to Haven to take on the Wildcats on Oct. 6th and will finish out the season at Home vs. Reno Valley.  Oct. 13th.

Halstead  Middle SchoolTakes two from the Trojans.
The Halstead Dragons traveled to Hillsboro last Thursday night.  It was a beautiful fall night as the sweatshirts were brought out, quite a contrast from the 100 heat two weeks earlier.   Once again the Dragons posted shut outs on Defense.  On offense it was a different story as the two groups combined for a total of 117 points. 
The 7th grade opened the night scoring 44 points.  Lakye Heimerman led the way with 113 yards, 2 touchdowns and a PAT.  Jacob Witt made his debut as running back, rushing  for 46 and adding two Touchdowns.  Gage Hardtarfer rumbled 48 yards for a score as well.  Tacking on two point conversions were Andy Theilen, and Cory Heibert.  Defensively the 7th Grade was led by Jacob Witt 8 tackles and a Fumble Recovery.  Followed by Cameron O’Neill with 6 tackles and a sack.  Hardtarfer added a fumble recovery, while Kenton Freeman added a sack.  Rounding out the Defense was a couple of interceptions by Kaden O’Neal and Chase Vansteenburg.

The 8th Grade had an offensive explosion as they scored 73 points.  Leading the Touchdowns were Blake Beckett and Casey Kohr with 3 apiece.  Leading the rushing was Christian Morris, with 78 yards, one touchdown and a PAT.  Others that scored Touchdowns were Eli McKee, Dylan Ratzlaff, and Jayden Kniffen.  Six Dragons added PAT’s including, Morris, Beckett, McKee, Ratzlaff, Kaleb Smith and Tate Kaufman.  Kaufman also kicked one through the uprights for the first one point conversion on the season.  Defensively  Morris and McKee were leading tacklers with 5.  The Dragons accumulated 7 Fumble Recoveries.  Noah Davidson, Taylor Armstrong, McKee and Kniffen each had one.  Devin Chesky had 3 in 5 minutes,which has to be some sort of a record.   
Next up for the Dragons is Hesston this Thursday at Hess Field.  7th Grade kickoff at 5:00 followed by the 8th Grade.