Published: September 06, 2008 10:58 pm            

PREP: Kokomo wins NCC girls soccer opener

The Kokomo girls soccer team took a successful first step into North Central Conference play Saturday.

Casey Connor scored two goals to lead the Wildkats past the visiting Red Devils of Richmond. Kokomo took a 1-0 lead into halftime and went ahead 2-0 midway through the second half. Richmond scored a late goal to avoid the shutout.

“We struggled with Richmond the last two years — played them well, just weren’t able to beat them. So I think this group of seniors decided that for us to really have a shot in the conference, we had to win this first game,” Kokomo coach Myles Geary said.

Geary noted the Kats controlled the tempo throughout and dominated time of possession, which led to a lopsided advantage in shots on goal.

“Defensively, we really held strong,” he added. “The midfield played tremendous and moved the ball well. I was just really pleased with the effort. It’s been something we’ve been struggling with, that second effort, and it was really good [Saturday].

“Eileen Oaks had a really good game, back at defensive mid, and Jordan Parkhurst had a really good game too,” he added. “Brittney Hildebrand really stepped up and kind of won us a lot of the 50-50 balls in the midfield and kept the ball on the offensive side for us.”

Maddie Waltemath and Parkhurst recorded assists for the Kats and ’keeper Kristen Clason made five saves.

Kokomo (1-4 overall) visits Westfield Thursday.

BOYS SOCCER

Noblesville Invitational

Kokomo dropped a pair of games at the invite, falling to Noblesville 6-0 in its first game and to West Lafayette 7-1 in its second game.

Wildkat goalie Drew Marshall made 21 saves against Noblesville, and a dozen more against West Lafayette. Andrew Renshaw scored against the Red Devils, on an assist by Ben Yeoman.

“The team played exceptionally well against Noblesville, in fact played well in both games, it’s just that the wind was knocked out of their sails by the time they played the second one, but a solid performance against a well-organized team,” KHS coach Kismet Morrison said.

He praised Yeoman’s effort as the senior is coming back from an injury.

Kokomo (2-6) plays at Fishers on Tuesday.

Danville Tournament

Carroll beat Danville in a sudden-death shootout in the consolation game of the Danville Tournament.

Chase Meade scored two goals in regulation for Carroll off assists from Kiel Lester and Codey Meade. Tied 2-2 after regulation, the match came down to penalty kicks. Both teams converted on their first six attempts. After both teams missed their seventh attempt, Carroll ’keeper Cody Abdon made a diving save and Chase Meade followed with the game-winning PK. Abdon finished with four saves.

Mooresville beat Carroll 5-0 in the first round.

BOYS CROSS COUNTRY

Harrison Invitational

In a 26-team field that included seven ranked teams, No. 7 McCutcheon (55) claimed the top spot. Kokomo (565) came in 20th, Maconaquah (582) was 22nd and Peru (626) was 25th.

Ian Holtson led the Kats on the Tippecanoe Amphitheater course with a time of 17:56, good for 94th place. Other Kokomo runners were: Drew Simon (18:07, 106th place); Matt Wyss (18:08, 107th); Dylan Walker (18:21, 119th); Jordan Lee (18:41, 139th); Vince Calabro (18:52, 144th) and Kyle Wysong (19:03, 147th).

“We had four out of nine kids perform pretty well,” Kokomo coach Ricke Stucker said. “The course was a lot tougher, but it was 30 degrees cooler than we ran on Tuesday at Maconaquah. We have some illness and some [minor] injuries, but we were kind of happy. We had a 34-second gap, mainly because our No. 1 kid was sick, but it’s still improvement.”

Kokomo visits Lafayette Jeff on Tuesday for a three-team meet.

For Peru, Aaron Garretson was led the way, taking 42nd in 17:12. Shannon Garretson was 115th in 18:17, Jordan Garretson took 140th (18:42), Nick Lipari was 154th (19:12), Dalton Sparks was 176th (21:15), Sonny Ornelas was 177th (21:21) and Tyler Kintner was 180th (21:44).

“Our effort was great. The times of for the upper three kids were great, it’s just our splits are too far apart,” Peru coach Gary Downing said. “But I can’t fault their effort. Their effort was there.”

Peru runs in the Oak Hill Invitational Tuesday.

Zionsville’s Dylan Sorensen led all runners, covering the course in 15:56. Bryce Comp led Maconaquah with a 39th-place finish (17:09).

GIRLS CROSS COUNTRY

Harrison Invitational

In a 26-team field that featured six ranked teams, No. 8 Franklin Central (63) edged No. 2 Lake Central (66) for the team title.

Kokomo (574) came in 20th place. The Kat crew featured: Annika Taber (20:57, 48th); Kellie Miles (23:30, 131st); Hailey Butchart (23:33, 132nd); Katie Klein (23:50, 138th); Kelsey Griffin (24:02, 144th) and Maddie Cassidy (24:32, 151st).

“The girls team had five out of six run really well,” Kokomo coach Ricke Stucker said. “We had one girl who actually cut time off her all-time best on that tough course — Kelsey Griffin cut 53 seconds. She ran really well.”

Kokomo visits Lafayette Jeff on Tuesday for a three-team meet.

VOLLEYBALL

Clinton Prairie Tournament

Sable Staller’s 22 kills led Western’s charge as the Panthers went 1-2 in the tourney. Southwood beat Western 25-8, 25-8, Clinton Prairie beat Western 25-19, 28-26, and Western beat Taylor 25-22, 25-9.

“Sable was huge,” Western coach Denny Crum said. “She had a really nice day. We did not pass particularly well, which made our setter move around a lot. She struggled a little to deliver a ball and Sable did a nice job to be able to attack whatever we gave her [and] did a nice job on defense. She’s why we were competitive with Clinton Prairie and why we beat Taylor.”

Janel DeWitt led Western’s defensive effort with 26 digs and also served six aces. Taylor Ruch had 15 digs and Crum credited her for a solid day serving the ball.

Western (3-8) hosts Tipton on Wednesday

Taylor went 0-3 in the tournament, falling to the host Gophers 25-12, 25-10, falling to Southwood 25-13, 25-22, and dropping the match to Western.

Liz Mamaril led the Taylor defense with 10 digs. Amanda Seidel had six assists, and Bri Barnett served four aces and had three kills.

Taylor (4-11) plays at Hamilton Heights Tuesday.

BOYS TENNIS

Twin Lakes 3, Taylor 2

The Titans won the doubles points but fell in a close match at Taylor.

Matt Petty and Reomey Northington won 6-1, 6-4 at No. 1 doubles, and Cody Hinton and Tim Simmons won 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 at No. 2.

Two of the singles points were tight as Matt Brankle lost 6-4, 6-4 at No. 1 in the closest singles match, and Geoff Stimler lost 6-4, 6-2 at No. 2.

“Our doubles are both playing really well,” Taylor coach Dave Wise said. “It was a close match with one singles, two singles was 6-4, 6-2. I felt like overall, my team played pretty well.”

Taylor (3-2) plays at Logansport on Monday in a rain make-up.

McCutcheon Invitational

Aaron Anderson went 3-0 at No. 2 singles as the Panthers finished as runners-up in the tourney. Western beat McCutcheon 3-2, beat Covington 5-0 and lost to North Montgomery 4-1. North Montgomery won the tourney, topping the other three squads.

Also for Western, Brad DiCarlo was 2-1 at No. 1 singles, Jacob Welker and Drew Mitchell were 2-1 at No. 1 doubles, and the tandem of Sam Blatt and Bryson Platt won their only match together when paired at No. 2 doubles.

“I thought we played pretty well all day, in fact I thought we played our best match of the year in our loss to North Montgomery,” Western coach Tom Lewis said. “They were the best team we played all year top to bottom. I thought we played all the way through the lineup, and lost, but probably our best match of the year.

“I was also pretty happy with our win against McCutcheon. They’re a pretty strong team.”

Tribune sportswriters Bryan Gaskins and Pedro Velazco complied this roundup.

        

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