Hawkettes Advance to Regional Semifinals

EG VS. WG FRIDAY @ 7 IN WOODWARD

East Greene advanced to the Class 1A regional volleyball semifinals with a definitive 25-11, 25-19, 25-23 blowout of Northeast Hamilton (Blairsburg) tonight in quarterfinal action at Burnside.

This sets up a “Battle of the Hawkettes” (and the “Greens”) as the Hawkettes of EG (green and white school colors) travel to Woodward to face 10th-ranked Woodward-Granger in a semifinal tilt on the WG Hawkettes’ (green and gold) home court in Woodward at 7 p.m. on Friday night, Oct. 28.

WG rolled over Madrid 25-9, 25-14, 25-17 in a quarterfinal match tonight in Woodward. The WG Hawkettes, winners of the West Central Conference, with a perfect 9-0 record, improved to 18-5. The EG Hawkettes improved to 10-15.

EYE ON GJ SAYS: This is a big win for the Hawkettes and shows they are really peaking at the right time. A tough non-conference slate that included matches against teams like Guthrie Center and Coon Rapids-Bayard—both ranked during the season—has paid off.

EG is the lone Rolling Hills Conference team still playing as Adair-Casey was beaten at home tonight by Earlham, another West Central team, 17-25, 25-17, 25-12, 28-26. Earlham (17-6) advances to a semifinal face-off with Coon Rapids-Bayard (22-8), a quarterfinal winner over Guthrie Center, 25-21, 25-16, 22-25, 25-23, on Friday night in Guthrie Center.

The Guthrie Center and Woodward semifinal winners advance to the Region 5 final on Tuesday, Nov. 1, at Adel.

Jefferson-Scranton dropped its 2A quarterfinal match to Roland-Story in Roland, 25-21, 25-23, 25-23.

Hawkettes Advance to Regional Quarterfinal

SWEEP SWG IN 3; FACE NEH TONIGHT @ BURNSIDE

East Greene swept Southeast Webster-Grand in three games to get a key regional volleyball victory on SWG’s home court in Burnside on Wednesday, Oct. 19. The Hawkettes’ 25-20, 25-20, 25-17 win moved them on to the quarterfinal round tonight against Northeast Hamilton (Blairsburg). EG returns to Burnside for the 7 p.m. match.

NEH beat CAL (Latimer) 25-21, 25-19, 25-13 on its home court Oct. 19 to advance. NEH (6-16) finished in a tie for 8th place at 2-6 with CAL and Dunkerton in the 11-team Iowa Star Conference. Tripoli, the No. 1 team in Class 1A and defending three-time state champion, won the Iowa Star with an 8-0 mark. Sixth-ranked Janesville (26-10) tied with North Tama for second place (behind Tripoli) in the Iowa Star. Those two teams square off tonight in Janesville in Region 7.

The Hawkettes improved their season record to 9-15 with the win over SWG, a team they lost to in four games in the season opener, also at Burnside. SWG finished the season 4-18.

The winner tonight advances on to the semifinal round on Friday at Woodward against the winner of a match tonight in Woodward between Madrid (9-12) and 10th-ranked Woodward-Granger (17-5). Madrid advanced with a very close win over Colo-Nesco 15-25, 25-17, 20-25, 25-23, 16-14 while WG rolled over Ankeny Christian 25-9, 25-17, 25-14.

Action in the other side of the Region 5 bracket tonight has Coon Rapids-Bayard (21-8) at 15th-ranked Guthrie Center (15-7) and Earlham (16-6) at Adair-Casey (18-10). Those winners square off Friday at Guthrie Center. Semifinal winners advance to the Region 5 final next Tuesday, Nov. 1, at Adel.

EYE ON GJ: This was a real solid turnaround for the Hawkettes and showed how much they have improved throughout the season. The season opening loss to the Eagles was not really all that close—25-12, 12-25, 25-14, 25-21—although the Hawkettes showed some promise for the season to come with that 25-12 win in the second game. To head back to Burnside in the post-season and come away with a solid three-zip sweep says a lot for how far this young team (no seniors and just two juniors and the rest freshman and sophomores) has come in the 2011 season.

East Greene was a bright spot in an otherwise pretty dismal showing for the Rolling Hills Conference. Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton was sidelined by CRB in a play-in round game last Monday night in Coon Rapids. CRB then dispatched of Glidden-Ralston, RH regular season runner-up with Adair-Casey, on Wednesday. Iowa Christian, winner of both the regular season and conference tournament titles, was beaten handily by Martensdale-St. Mary’s in Martensdale in its Region 4 opener, 25-12, 12-25, 25-14, 25-21.

Paton-Churdan, CAM and Ankeny Christian all lost their opening matches in Region 5 while the same fate befell Orient-Macksburg and Walnut in Region 3.

The only other RH team besides EG to post a win in regional opening round action was Adair-Casey, runner-up in the regular season standings and the conference tourney. The Bomberettes got by Grandview Park Baptist in a very tight match, 21-25, 25-23, 23-25, 25-15, 15-6. This was a pretty significant win, though, as GPB had advanced to the state tourney the last three years in addition to appearances in 2006 and 2002, the Defenders’ state championship season.

Jefferson-Scranton advanced in 2A with an easy win over Prairie Valley (Gowrie) in Jefferson, 25-13, 25-9, 25-19. The Rams head to Story City tonight for a quarterfinal contest against No. 15 Roland-Story, which rolled over Ogden, 25-13, 25-10, 25-13. Ogden is in its first season in the West Central Conference—East Greene’s former league—and found the going pretty rocky as the Bulldogs were 0-9 in conference play along the way to posting an 0-24 volleyball season.

The West Central as a conference fared much better, going 6-4 with one of the losses coming at the hands of a league member, Panorama, to another, Des Moines Christian, in 2A. Also losing in 2A were West Central Valley (Stuart) and Van Meter with all five 1A schools advancing: Guthrie Center, Coon Rapids-Bayard, Earlham, Madrid and Woodward-Granger.

If Jefferson-Scranton gets by the Norse tonight in Story City, the Rams would play in Jefferson in a 2A semifinal match Friday against Kuemper (Carroll) or East Sac County (Lake View).

EG Prepares for ‘Second’ and ‘Third’ Seasons

RH LEAGUE TOURNEY THURSDAY; REGIONAL NEXT WEEK

East Greene dropped a tough volleyball match to Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton on Tuesday, Oct. 4 in Rippey, 25-18, 25-14, 12-25, 29-27 to fall to 3-5 in the Rolling Hills Conference. The Hawkettes were back in action on Saturday winning two matches and losing three at the Walnut Tournament, moving their season record to 7-12.

EG beat Diagonal 21-8, 21-16 and Ankeny Christian 21-6, 20-22, 15-6 while losing to Walnut 21-13, 21-14 to finish 2-1 in pool play and advance with three other teams to the championship round of the 8-team tourney. Woodbine beat the Hawkettes 21-10, 22-20 in a semifinal match. EG closed out the tourney with another loss to Walnut, 21-14, 21-19, in the third-place match to finish fourth in the tourney.

Against EEHK, the Hawkettes got off to a slow start losing the first two games but took command in the third to double up points on the Spartans winning 25-12. EG went to “extra digits” in the fourth match but fell 29-27.

The loss dropped EG from the upper division of the Rolling Hills. Coming into the contest, the Hawkettes were tied with CAM (Anita) and Orient-Macksburg for fifth place at 3-4 with EEHK just behind at 2-5. CAM upset Iowa Christian Academy that night to move to 4-4 with OM breezing by winless Ankeny Christian Academy to move to 4-4 and stay tied with CAM.

EEHK moved up to 3-5 with the win, tying with the Hawkettes for seventh place in the league. The loss to CAM was Iowa Christian’s first conference setback and allowed Adair-Casey to move into a tie for first place with ICA at 7-1.

The conference title is on the line tonight as ICA hosts EEHK in Waukee and Adair-Casey hosts Walnut. All the league games are important this time of the season as teams no longer relevant in the conference regular championship title can still jockey for a good seed in the conference tournament on Thursday in Elk Horn.

This “second season” gives some of the lower division teams another crack at each other and also at the upper division teams. The bottom four teams form a “play-in” round to create an eight-team field. The 10th place team takes on the 7th place team with the winner moving on to face the No. 2 seed. The 9th place team takes on the 8th place team with the winner advancing to face the top seed. In other quarterfinal round games, No. 3 plays No. 6 and No. 4 takes on No. 5.

A “third season” gets underway next Wednesday, Oct. 19, as regional play begins. EG travels to Southeast Webster-Grand (Burnside) in Class 1A first-round action. The winner advances to the quarterfinal round on Tuesday, Oct. 25, in Burnside to take on the winner of the Oct. 19 match in Blairsburg between CAL (Latimer) and Northeast Hamilton (Blairsburg).

Adair-Casey 7-1
Iowa Christian 7-1
Glidden-Ralston 6-2
Walnut 5-3
CAM 4-4
Orient-Macksburg 4-4
East Greene 3-5
Exira/EHK 3-5
Paton-Churdan 1-7
Ankeny Christian 0-8

Tuesday, Oct. 5:
EEHK beat EG 25-18, 25-14, 12-25, 29-27
CAM beat ICA 16-25, 25-23, 25-22, 9-25, 15-12
OM beat ANK 29-27, 16-25, 24-26, 25-17, 15-5
AC beat PC 25-19, 25-13, 25-16
GR beat WAL 23-25, 25-15, 14-25, 25-20, 15-11

EYE ON GJ SAYS: It was a tough loss for EG at the hands of EEHK. A win would have moved the Hawkettes to 4-4 in the league and provide some momentum heading into the long trip on Saturday to the Walnut Tourney and the final league match of the season tonight at Glidden-Ralston. GR beat Walnut last Tuesday to take sole command of third place in the Rolling Hills at 6-2, just behind league-leaders Adair-Casey and Iowa Christian at 7-1. Should either of those teams stumble tonight, a win over EG will move GR into a tie for second place. The Wildcats will be a heavy favorite and looking to avenge two softball thumpings from EG this summer.

The conference tournament should be a very competitive event with the co-leaders as solid favorites, but some of the middle-tier teams could have an outside shot at taking the tourney title, considering CAM’s surprise win over ICA, which came on the heels of CAM falling to Paton-Churdan, 28-26, 25-23, 9-25, 20-25, 15-8. It was the Rockettes’ first league win of the season. Look for PC to prevail tonight against Ankeny Christian in its league finale.

Considering how the conference tourney shakes out, some teams could get an updraft heading into the big payoff—the “third season” or regional tournament. Every team’s eye is on the prize of a regional championship and a trip to the state tournament in Cedar Rapids.

SWG got the better of the Hawkettes in the season opener for both teams in late August. The Eagles prevailed 25-12, 12-25, 25-14, 25-21. EG will looking to make amends for that defeat. The Hawkettes play in a very competitive conference as Iowa Christian and Adair-Casey have been ranked most of the season. Two non-conference foes, Coon Rapids-Bayard and Guthrie Center, have also been ranked at different points of the season.

SWG is 1-9 in league play and 4-15 overall.

The winner of the Burnside quarterfinal bracket moves on to the semifinal round at Woodward. Teams in the opposite quarterfinal bracket are Colo-Nesco, Madrid, Ankeny Christian and Woodward-Granger.

The winner in Woodward on Friday, Oct. 28 moves on the regional final in Adel on Tuesday, Nov. 1 to face the winner of a seminal match in Guthrie Center on Oct. 28. Teams on that side of the regional bracket are Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton, Coon Rapids-Bayard, Glidden-Ralston, Paton-Churdan, Guthrie Center, Earlham, CAM, Grandview Park Baptist and Adair-Casey.

EEHK and CRB face off in a play-in round match on Monday night with the winner advancing to a first-round match against Glidden Ralston on Wednesday. PC takes on Guthrie Center in another first round pairing in Guthrie Center on Wednesday with the winners that night meeting next Tuesday in a quarterfinal match up in Guthrie Center. Other first-round matches on that side of the bracket are Grandview Park Baptist at Adair-Casey and Earlham at CAM.

Iowa Christian Academy is in Region 4. The Trailblazers’ first-round opponent is Martensdale-St. Mary’s. Walnut and Orient-Macksburg of the Rolling Hills are both in Region 3.

The favorites to make the Region 5 final in Adel are Coon Rapids-Bayard, Adair-Casey and Guthrie Center in the Guthrie half of the bracket with Woodward-Granger as the team to beat in the Woodward side of the bracket. WG is leading the West Central Conference with a 7-0 league mark and 12-4 overall record. The Hawkettes are ranked 11th in Class 1A just behind No. 10 Adair-Casey (14-6) of the Rolling Hills and one spot in front of West Central league foe Guthrie Center (13-5). GC and WG face off on Thursday in Guthrie Center. GC is 4-3 in the West Central behind WG, DMC (7-1) and CRB and Earlham tied for third (5-2).

But Grandview Park Baptist and SWG can’t be overlooked as each plays in a predominantly 2A conference—GPB in the Heart of Iowa and SWG in the Twin Lakes. GPB has a particularly strong history in volleyball with several state tournament appearances in recent years.

Jefferson-Scranton is also in the Heart of Iowa and is in third place with a 5-2 conference record and 14-5 overall mark. The Rams host Prairie Valley (Gowrie) on Tuesday, Oct. 18, in a 2A Region 3 first round match. Roland-Story takes on winless Ogden that same night in Story City with Tuesday’s winners facing off on Tuesday, Oct. 25 in a quarterfinal match up in Story City. The winner there advances to a semifinal match up in Jefferson on Friday, Oct. 28, against either South Central Calhoun, East Sac, IKM-Manning or Kuemper. The Jefferson semifinal winner will take on the Des Moines Christian semifinal winner on Tuesday, Nov. 1, in Ames. Teams on the DMC side of the bracket are Colfax-Mingo, North Polk, CMB, Gilbert, Van Meter, Audubon, Panorama and DMC. The first four are all members of the HOI with J-S while the others are all West Central Conference teams with the exception of Audubon of the Western Iowa Conference.

Going “Greene”?

NO WAY, JOSÉ, IT’S “LINCOLNWAY”!

Is there something that Tommy Birch down at the Des Moines Register knows that we don’t?

Tommy put together a nice recap of East Greene’s big Homecoming win over Charter Oak-Ute in a prep wrap-up in Sunday’s Register sports section Sept. 18 with a subhead entitled, “GOING GREENE.”

Earlier that weekend, some swag bags were handed out at the East Greene Homecoming Parade in GJ emblazoned with that awful beak-nosed bird they used for the [current] school logo and the words, “GO GREENE.” Hmmm? Twice in the same weekend with this mono-syllabic “GREENE” shows up. No longer “EAST,” cuz we’re headed west? Coincidence? I wonder. If this is someone’s idea for a new name for a possible reorganized East Greene and Jefferson-Scranton school district in the near future--something like Greene United or Greene County—I vote No . Without Paton-Churdan in a “reorg” it is only two-thirds to three-fourths or so of Greene County.

I suggest something that truly unites us across the board and helps this area stand out from the crowd: Lincolnway Community School District. Yes, the Lincoln (highway and president), with the statue of honest Abe on the courthouse square—on the county-owned side!—as our rallying point for all of Greene County, or at least all the towns and townships that would be inclusive of a reorg of the current J-S and EG districts.

Lincolnway cleanly ties together the three largest towns of the [proposed] district which are also the three largest towns of the county—Scranton, Jefferson and Grand Junction. The school district and the Lincoln served by the three towns also embrace these townships: Scranton and Kendrick Townships and the city of Scranton; Bristol, Jackson, Hardin and Grant Townships surrounding the city of Jefferson; and the super-size Junction Township and the city of Grand Junction, the second largest town in Greene County with Scranton being third, both trailing Jefferson, the county seat and proposed site of the high school.

Well, that will be then and this is now, so let’s give some applause to the EG Hawks for their showing in GJ at Homecoming on Sept. 16. Tommy Birch wrote:

“GOING GREENE: East Greene had a pair of strong performances in 66-28 victory over Charter Oak-Ute. Reed Ostrander hauled in five passes for 99 yards and three touchdowns. He also had two carries for 50 yards, including a 48-yard touchdown. He had a 51-yard punt return for a touchdown. Quarterback Tory Beger completed 20-of-29 passes for 289 yards and four touchdowns. Beger also rushed for two more scores.”

The following Monday, Sept. 21, the “Little Hawks” of the EG Junior High School in GJ posted a big 44-6 win over Adair-Casey in a game suspended in the middle of the third quarter as AC ran out of players. They started with 10 but injuries whittled that down to 7 which is one less needed to play 8-man football.

EYE ON GJ SAYS: Take it or leave it Paton-Churdan, or be on your “way.” If you don’t want to be a part of a county-wide school system, then don’t. But don’t expect any panting, open door “we’ll give it a name you can use too” reality going forward. And since you rebuffed the outreach from EG for any sports sharing, don’t expect us to hold some gild-edged invitation for sports sharing along the likes of Lincolnway/Paton-Churdan. It will be Lincolnway and Lincolnway only. Period. You had your chance(s). You took a pass.

Come on, folks! We need to market that Lincolnway. Make it educational….President Lincoln, early day highway transportation, Floyd Mahany and his legacy with the tower, and our beautiful historic courthouse…. emblematic of our pioneer forebears. Hey! There’s a great team nickname….the Pioneers….Lincolnway Pioneers! Green and Black school colors….green of East Greene and the black of Scranton’s black and gold and Jefferson’s black and red. Honor the heritage….

EG Wins Home Opener, 36-34

BEAT TWIN CEDARS IN GAME THAT SPANS TWO DAYS

East Greene slipped past Twin Cedars (Bussey), 36-34, in a game that stretched over two days—Friday and Saturday, Sept. 2 and 3—to pick up its first win of the season.

The game got underway as scheduled Friday night with a bit of sprinkles and light rain. The two teams traded touchdowns with the Hawks holding the upper hand at the halftime break, 26-20. Twin Cedars came back in the third quarter to take the lead on a touchdown and a two-point conversion, 28-26. The Sabers had the momentum as the Hawks looked to be tiring and were whistled for some key penalties.

The rain had stopped by halftime but with 3:45 left in the third quarter, the officials suspended the game due to lighting to the north. What was hoped to be a mandatory 30-minute delay with the expectations that the lighting would stop, turned into a one-hour delay and still no letup from the lightning. At that point—9:45 p.m.—it was determined to suspend play and resume the game the next day at 2 p.m.

The delay worked to the Hawks’ advantage as the Twin Cedars players and fans would need to drive all the way back to southern Marion County Friday night, and then back up to Grand Junction on Saturday.

Some electrical problems had made the sound system inoperative at Karber Field on Friday but the system was working on Saturday, so the resumed game got underway with the playing of the national anthem. But a light rain began just as play started, so conditions were similar to the night before—just brighter and with no lightning.

Twin Cedars got out of the blocks fast as Jared Stephens scored on a 25-yard run on the first play of the resumed game, extending the Sabers’ lead to 34-26. The EG defense came to the fore, however, and stopped the two point conversion.

The defensive momentum carried forward into the fourth quarter as the Hawks punted down to the 1-yard-line and then stopped TC for a loss in the end zone to score a two-point safety, cutting the lead to 34-28.

Neither team mounted much of a threat rest of the fourth quarter, but in the late stages the Sabers were threatening in Hawk territory when EG intercepted the ball with enough time on the clock to mount one last drive.

EG moved downfield on a key Tory Beger-to-Reed Ostrander pass play with Beger running the ball in a few plays later to tie the game at 34-34. Beger connected with Harrison Johnston on a two-point conversion pass play to put EG in the lead, 36-34, with 40 seconds left in the game.

The Hawks kicked off with Twin Cedars running the ball back to midfield. The Sabers put together an all-out passing assault but the Hawks held them in check in four downs and took over with 17 seconds left on the clock. The Hawks downed the ball on the first snap and then just ran out the clock to pick up their first win of the season, evening their non-district record at 1-1. Twin Cedars fell to 1-1 in non-district play.

Beger passed was 22-38 in passing for a total of 253 yards with no interceptions. He connected for three touchdown passes—one a 56-yard strike to Ostrander. On the receiving end, Ostrander caught 10 passes for 179 total yards. T. J. Lint caught seven passes for 50 yards, Gathercoal caught two for 18 yards, and Broc Timm

Beger ran the ball 16 times for 32 yards and Ostrander gained 106 yards on six carries, most of that on a 63-yard touchdown run. Beger scored on an 8-yard jaunt. Lint had 1 carry for a -1 yard, giving the Hawks 390 total yards—137 on the ground and 253 in the air. Twin Cedars had 356 total yards—213 rushing and 143 passing.

Lint lead the defense with 15 total tackles (two solo and 13 assisted) with Beger right behind with 12 total tackles (2 solo and 10 assisted). Ostrander, Beger and Cody Hidelbaugh each had a sack.

Gathercoal has a big night on defense as he added a fumble recovery to his game-changing interception. Beger also recovered a fumble. The Hawks kicking game was in good form with Zach Hiller kicking off five times for 165 yards and Alex Gordon punting four times for 150 yards.

EG travels to Dunlap on Friday to face 2-1 Boyer Valley in the District 7 opener. This kicks off another season of the 8-Man Football “Lincoln League” as 5 of 7 teams in District 7 are located on the historic Lincoln Highway. The “Lincoln League” (8-Man District 7) is down to seven teams this season as Walnut has dropped its football program and is sharing football with Atlantic, a 3A school. Teams on the Lincoln are: East Greene, Glidden-Ralston, Ar-We-Va, Boyer Valley and Woodbine. The only non-Lincoln teams are within a dozen miles of the highway—Coon Rapids-Bayard and Charter Oak-Ute.

Towns that are on the Lincoln in the five school districts, heading westward, are Grand Junction, Ralston, Glidden, Arcadia, Westside, Vale, Arion, Dow City, Dunlap and Woodbine—a “Big 10” roster of Lincoln Highway/U.S. 30 towns.

Boyer Valley has had easy wins over Whiting and River Valley (Correctionville) and lost by one point on Friday in overtime to No. 6-ranked Kingsley-Pierson, 21-20. EG beat Boyer Valley last year in Grand Junction, 26-20. Both teams qualified for the playoffs last year with EG finishing third in District 7 and BV finishing fourth. Twin Cedars hosts Tri-County (Thornburgh) in a District 5 opener for both teams.

Season (Non-Districts) Records of Lincoln League Teams
Boyer Valley (Dunlap) 2-1
Coon Rapids-Bayard 1-1
East Greene 1-1
Glidden-Ralston 1-1
Woodbine 1-1
Charter Oak-Ute 0-2
Ar-We-Va (Westside) 0-3

District 7 Scores, Week 2 (Sept. 1):
EG 36, Twin Cedars (Bussey) 34
Woodbine 48, Whiting 8
Kingsley-Pierson 21, Boyer Valley 20 (OT), *KP ranked No. 6
CRB 42, Grandview Park Baptist 9
Newell-Fonda 45, GR 8
River Valley 64, Ar-We- 61
Remsen-Union 58, Charter Oak-Ute 8, *RU ranked No. 5

District 7 Scores, Week 1 (Aug. 26):
Melcher Dallas 44, EG 30
GR 62, Grandview Park Baptist 21
Boyer Valley (Dunlap) 61, Whiting 0
Kingsley-Pierson 47, Ar-We-Va 6
Northeast Hamilton (Blairsburg) 56, CRB 20
River Valley (Correctionville) 70, COU 28

District 7 Scores, Week 0 (Aug. 19):
Boyer Valley 66, River Valley (Correctionville) 22
CAM (Anita) 39, Woodbine 0
Armstrong-Ringsted 51, Ar-We-Va 12, *AR ranked No. 1

EYE ON GJ SAYS: The Hawks will have their hands full with the Boyer Valley Bulldogs, who look to be one of the top teams in the “Lincoln League” at this stage of the season. BV took sixth-ranked Kingsley-Pierson, a District 1 team, to overtime before falling by one point while unranked Newell-Fonda, also in District 1, rolled over Glidden-Ralston 45-8. Glidden-Ralston, Kingsley-Pierson and Newell-Fonda all advanced to the playoffs last year. KP lost to state champion Armstrong-Ringsted in the first round while NF was eliminated by Armstrong-Ringsted in the second round. GR made it to the quarterfinal round, losing to Fremont-Mills (Tabor) which was, in turn, eliminated by AR in the semifinals in the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls.

EG will need to stop the running game of Michael Hanigan, BV’s standout junior quarterback/defensive back. Hanigan ran the ball 41 times for 131 yards and two touchdowns against Kingsley-Pierson. He was 4-9 with one interception and 51 yards passing. He has ran the ball 91 times for 601 yards in three games—an impressive 200 yards per game average.

BV will need to shut down the EG aerial assault. Beger is now finding success with a range of receivers, while he and Ostrander are also a threat running the ball. Ostrander is still the go-to guy on the EG passing attack, so how the Hawks hold up against the Bulldogs’ pass defense will go a long way in determining who gets the upper hand in Dunlap.

In the 44-30 loss to Melcher-Dallas, Beger put up 195 total yards on 16-24 passing with one interception, giving him a total of 448 yards for both games combined—an impressive 224 yards per game average.

In other D7/Lincoln League games this week, Ar-We-Va (0-3) is at Coon Rapids-Bayard (1-1) and Woodbine (1-1) is at Glidden-Ralston.

Hawkettes Get By OM In Tight Match

TAKE DECIDING FIFTH GAME BY TWO POINTS

East Greene evened its Rolling Hills volleyball record at 1-1 with a squeaker over Orient-Macksburg on Thursday, Sept. 1, in Orient, 16-25, 25-23, 25-23, 7-25, 17-15.

It was a solid comeback for the Hawkettes after losing the first game but winning the next two, only to lose the momentum in a 25-7 drubbing in a fourth game that would have clinched the match. In matches that go to the fifth—and deciding—game in a best-of-five match, the scoring is only to 15 but the winning team must win by two points.

The Hawkettes were tested to the limit as OM forced them to “extra digits” but EG prevailed, getting the last two points of game five for the 17-15 win.

EG opened the conference season with a loss to Walnut 25-18, 25-22, 25-21 on Tuesday, Aug. 30, in Rippey. The previous week, EG fell to Southeast Webster on Tuesday and then went 2-2 in the Coon Rapids-Bayard Invitational on Saturday, beating Ankeny Christian and Paton-Churdan but losing to Adair-Casey and Coon Rapids-Bayard, both ranked teams. CRB beat Adair-Casey in the championship game to win the tournament.

EG, now 3-4 on the season, hosts Paton-Churdan tonight in Rippey in a conference match.

ROLING HILLS CONFERENCE
Adair-Casey 2-0
Iowa Christian 2-0
Walnut 2-0
East Greene 1-1
CAM 1-1
Glidden-Ralston 1-1
Exira/EHK 1-1
Ankeny Christian 0-2
Orient-Macksburg 0-2
Paton-Churdan 0-2

Thurs., Sept. 1:
East Greene 16-25-25-7-17, Orient-Macksburg 25-23-23-25-15
Exira-EHK 25-24-25-25, Paton-Churdan 22-26-23-22
Iowa Christian Academy 25-20-25-25, Glidden-Ralston 20-25-18-21
Adair-Casey 25-22-25-25, Ankeny Christian Academy 6-25-8-13
Walnut 20-25-25-26, CAM, Anita 25-18-17-24

Tues., Aug. 30:
Adair-Casey 25-25-24-25, Exira-EHK 17-20-26-18
CAM, Anita 25-25-25, Ankeny Christian Academy 17-14-18
Glidden-Ralston 20-25-25-25-16, Orient-Macksburg 25-14-16-27-14
Iowa Christian Academy 25-25-25, Paton-Churdan 11-16-13
Walnut 25-25-25, East Greene 18-22-21

EYE ON GJ SAYS: EG is playing among some of the best teams in Class 1A as two conference foes—Iowa Christian and Adair-Casey—are both ranked along with two non-conference teams in west central Iowa—Coon Rapids-Bayard and Ar-We-Va.

Through Thursday, Sept. 1, Ar-We-Va (3-0) is ranked sixth; Adair-Casey (5-1) is eighth; CRB (8-2), ninth; and Iowa Christian (3-1), 13th. AC and ICA are the pre-season favorites in the Rolling Hills with ICA winning the regular conference crown with a perfect 9-0 mark, just ahead of AC at 8-1, but AC came back to beat ICA in the conference tournament championship final. Walnut however is also off to a good start with wins over East Greene and CAM (Anita) putting the Warriors in a tie for first with AC and ICA at 2-0.

ICA, AC, Ar-We-Va and CRB are the only ranked teams in central and west central Iowa in Classes 1A, 2A and 3A with the exception of Bondurant-Farrar in Polk County, which moved in the 3A rankings last week in 13th place. BF was a member of the Heart of Iowa Conference as in Jefferson-Scranton but moved this season to the all 3A Raccoon River Valley Conference. Other teams in the 10-team league are ADM (Adel), Ballard (Huxley), Boone, Carlisle, Carroll, Dallas Center-Grimes, Perry, Saydel and Winterset.

Cooklin, Gannon Earn Diamond ‘High Honors’

EG PITCHER NAMED ALL-STATE SECOND TEAM

Graduated seniors Tyler Cooklin and Katlynn Gannon closed out the summer baseball and softball seasons for East Greene by earning all-state recognition. Cooklin joined an elite group of baseball athletes by being named to the Class 1A All-State Second Team by the Iowa Newspaper Association.

Gannon, a catcher and senior leader on a young East Greene softball squad that saw great improvement throughout the season, was named All State Honorable Mention by the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union.

Cooklin, an outfielder and pitcher, helped lead the Hawks to their third straight 1A District baseball title and a berth in the substate game at Marshalltown, where they came up two runs short of advancing to the state tournament. Unheralded English Valleys (North English) beat the Hawks 6-4 and advanced to the tourney at Principal Park where they gave heavily favored Martensdale-St. Mary’s a run for its money, falling 2-1 in the opening round. MSt.M continued on with its nation’s longest unbeaten streak—set and broke during the district and substate rounds—to win its second straight 1A tourney with a 5-4 win over Kee (Lansing) in the championship game.

The Hawks struggled early in the season, dropping a number of conference games they were expected to handle, and finished in sixth place among eight teams in the Rolling Hills Conference with a 5-9 mark. However, they were just behind Orient-Macksburg and Glidden-Ralston at 6-8, so a win in their season finale over co-champion Iowa Christian (a shared program with Ankeny Christian) would have put them in tie for fourth-place and technically an “upper division” finish in their inaugural season in the Rolling Hills. Alas, Iowa Christian got the upper hand and won 8-4 to tie Elk Horn-Kimballton/Exira (another shared program) for the Rolling Hills title with a 12-2 mark.

As it was, the Hawks put together a four-game winning season and won four of five games heading into district tourney action. The Hawks had the home field advantage, hosting the first round games and a semifinal matchup at Walt Anderson Field in Rippey, which moved them on to State Center where they upset state-ranked Northern University (Cedar Falls) to win the district title, 6-4.

And the Rolling Hills proved to be a group of formidable opponents. Orient-Macksburg, Walnut and East Greene all won district titles and advanced to substate, with O-M downing Nishnabotna, 13-3, to make it on to state. Nishnabotna was a qualifier in last year’s state tournament. Walnut fell to state-ranked Coon Rapids-Bayard, 2-0, which ended years of frustration in post-season setbacks, to return to the state tournament for the first time since 2007. It was the Crusaders’ fourth state tournament appearance. CRB won its first round game at state and almost upended MSt.M in the semifinals, falling by just one run, 5-4.

The Hawkettes ended their season on a high note with a two-game winning streak, a come-from-behind win 6-5 over O-M that ended on a sharp “heads up” double-play between Gannon and first baseman Jolee Wessling, and a drubbing of rival Glidden-Ralston, 14-2 in 3 innings.

EG hosted a first-round regional softball game at Dutton Field in Grand Junction against Ar-We-Va “under the lights” and put forth a good effort, falling 11-9, to end the season at 4-13.

Gannon was named second team all-conference in the Rolling Hills and freshman outfielder Chelsi Wilkens was named all-conference honorable mention. Gannon was also named to the Class 1A All-District Team for the Central District by the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union. Twenty players are honored in each of six geographic districts by the IGHSAU in Class 1A: Central, West Central, North Central, Northeast, South and Southeast.

The Hawks reaped a number of post-season honors. Rolling Hills All-Conference recognition went to: Cooklin, senior, first team, outfielder; Wes Onken, senior, first team, first baseman; Aaron Lyons, senior, second team, outfielder; and Reed Ostrander, honorable mention.

Three of the Hawk seniors were also named to the all-district team. Similar to the IGHSAU, the Iowa High School Baseball Coaches Association names all-district teams, honoring 15 players on the first team and 15 on the second team for five geographic districts: Northeast, Northwest, Central, Southeast and Southwest.

Cooklin and Onken were both named first-team Central All-District and Lyons was named to the second team. Cooklin was named as an outfielder. He batted .478 for the season. Onken was named to a utility position, which honors his performance as both a pitcher and first baseman. He batted .380 and was 4-4 on the mound. Cooklin was 5-4 as a pitcher. Down the tournament trail, he was the winning pitcher against Colo-Nesco in the first round at Rippey and in the upset of Northern University in the district championship. Onken got the win in the semifinal round victory over Madrid at Rippey and Cooklin took the loss against English Valleys.

Lyons was named to the second all-district team as an outfielder and was known for his clutch plays from centerfield in key games. His batting average for the season was .373.

Onken will be heading to Coe College in Cedar Rapids this fall where he will be a member of the KoHawks baseball team. Coe finished the 2011 season ranked No. 27 among all NCAA Division III baseball teams this season.

EYE ON GJ SAYS: Hats off the all the Hawks and Hawkettes for great seasons. Along with Gannon, senior Jasmine Kinney was a steady force at shortstop for the Hawkettes along with seniors Tia Lowe, who played the first part of the season, and Molly Neese, who played third base for the latter two-thirds of the season. Great job, seniors, and thanks for all your efforts wearing on behalf of East Greene in softball, track, volleyball, basketball and cheerleading.

EG bids farewell to Cooklin, Lyons, Onken and fellow seniors Zach Dearborn (pitcher and shortstop) and Rob Ritchie, a key reserve on the baseball team. They have been part of a remarkable run in EG Hawk athletic success along with seniors Schyler Bardole in football, track and basketball; Bret Kersey in football and wrestling (as part of the JS/PC/EG shared team); and Nic Nicolaisen in football and basketball that saw the Hawks finish third among eight teams in District 7 8-man football and qualify for the state playoffs; finish as runner-up in the Rolling Hills to state tourney qualifier Elk Horn-Kimballton/Exira in the basketball with a 15-3 conference record and 18-5 overall; score points at the state track meet for the first time in many years; and win a third straight district baseball title and a trip to the substate. These senior baseball players played key roles on the EG state tournament team of 2009, when they were sophomores. EG’s track points this year were earned by Ostrander, but Dearborn, Bardole and Lyons were standout sprinters for the Hawks and were part of the successful 4 x 100 and 4 x 200 relay titles for EG the last several track seasons.

Hawks Win District, Face North English in Substate

THIRD STRAIGHT DISTRICT CROWN FOR EAST GREENE

East Greene won its third straight district baseball crown Saturday, July 16, over Northern University of Cedar Falls, 6-4, at the West Marshall baseball field in State Center.

The win pits EG, winner of District 10, against English Valleys of North English in the substate game tonight at 7 p.m. in Marshalltown. English Valleys got by BGM (Brooklyn) 4-2 in 8 innings in the District 9 championship. The winner tonight advances to the Class 1A state baseball tournament July 25-30 at Principal Park in Des Moines.

Northern University (NU) had been ranked as high as No. 5 this season and upended No. 4 North Tama (Traer) in a first-round district game at Traer. And the Panthers looked hard to stop in the top of the first inning against the Hawks, jumping out to a 3-0 lead. But EG came back in the bottom of the first to post 2 runs and send a message to NU, which was on a 7-game winning streak, that it would be a ball game.

Heading into the bottom of the fourth, EG was still down 3-2, but a combination of timely hits, an NU error and a hit batter lead to 4 runs and the Hawks took the lead 6-3. The EG defense stiffened the rest of the way, allowing just 1 more Panther run—securing the win and advancing to a third straight substate berth. Last year the Hawks were edged by Ar-We-Va 3-2 and two years ago EG beat Grandview Park Baptist to move on to the state tournament.

Tyler Cooklin picked up the win, pitching all 7 innings and giving up 6 hits, 4 runs, 3 earned runs, 3 walks and 12 strikeouts. The Hawks scattered 9 singles with 2 each from Cooklin, Zach Dearborn and Wes Onken and one each from Aaron Lyons, Tory Beger and Alex Gordon. Freshman T.J. Lint got the Hawks’ lone extra-base hit of the evening, a double.

The win evened the Hawks record at 13-13. They take on an English Valley team that is 8-15 after winning the district crown over BGM. NU ends its season at 22-9.

NU High 300 010 0 - 4 6 4
East Greene 200 400 x - 6 10 1

EYE ON GJ SAYS: English Valleys is a district with roughly the same enrollment as Guthrie Center, a longtime West Central Conference league foe. Neither team will be overlooking the other. EV is a member of the South Iowa Cedar Conference and ended a 6-game losing streak by beating HLV (Victor) in its season finale, and has now won 4 straight—half of its season win total. EV sidelined a solid BMG team (17-9) to win the District 9 crown.

EG just finished its first season in the Rolling Hills Conference after nearly 15 years playing in the tough 1A-2A West Central. But the power shifted to the Rolling Hills this season as three league teams are competing in three of the five substate championship games tonight. Orient-Macksburg (12-15) takes on Nishnabotna (19-5) at Bedford. Walnut (18-6) takes on Coon Rapids-Bayard (28-5) at Harlan. Game time for all substate games is 7 p.m.
CRB is the only West Central team to win a district crown and advance to the substate. Van Meter faced North Polk (Alleman) in a 2A district final, but lost 7-4. CRB entered district play as the No. 6 team in Class 1A and disposed of Ar-We-Va (Westside) and Glidden-Ralston before drubbing West Harrison (Mondamin) 23-3 in 5 innings in the District 16 final at Coon Rapids.

ABOUT ENGLISH VALLEYS: The English Valleys district is comprised of North English and South English. North English (pop. 1,041) straddles the county line between Iowa and Keokuk counties and is located about 40 miles southwest of Iowa City. South English (pop. 212) is in northeastern Keokuk County, 5 miles south of North English on Iowa Highway 149.

The school takes its name from the North Fork of the English River which flows eastward north of North English and the South Fork of the English River which flows eastward between North English and South English. The two branches conjoin 7 miles further east beyond the two towns at a point where Iowa, Keokuk and Washington counties meet. The English River then continues eastward until it meets the Iowa River between the towns of Riverside and River Junction, about 10 miles south of Iowa City.

Hawks Advance to District Finals

FACE NORTHERN UNIVERSITY OF CEDAR FALLS

A third straight Class 1A District baseball title is on the line for East Greene tonight when the Hawks take on Northern University (Cedar Falls) in the District 10 championship game Saturday at 7 p.m. at West Marshall High School in State Center.

EG rolled over Madrid 11-2 in a semifinal game in Rippey on Thursday night to advance to the title game. Wes Onken got the win, striking out 10 Madrid batters while walking just one. Onken gave up 6 hits, 2 runs and 1 earned run.

The Hawks banged out 15 hits on the evening with Tyler Cooklin going 3-5 with a single, double and a triple. Cooklin had one RBI and he scored 2 runs. Aaron Lyons was 2-4 with a triple and 3 RBIs. Onken was 3-4 with 3 doubles and 2 RBIs.

EG moves on with a 12-13 record while Madrid ends its season at 10-20.

EYE ON GJ SAYS: The Hawks will have their hands full tonight with Northern University, a school affiliated with the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls. Northern U. is 22-8 and has been ranked in the Top 10 in Class 1A all season. Northern U. got by North Tama (Traer) at Traer in the opening round of district play, 3-2. North Tama was also ranked in the Top 10 this season.

But East Greene is shooting for its third straight trip to the substate. Two years ago, the Hawks won their district and then beat Grandview Park Baptist (Des Moines) to advance to the 1A state tournament. Last year, the Hawks upset Coon Rapids-Bayard on the Crusaders’ field in Coon Rapids in the district semifinal round and then scored an even bigger upset over unbeaten and fourth-ranked Elk Horn-Kimballton/Exira in the district finals. EG fell to Ar-We-Va by one run in the substate game.

So, with two district titles and a substate championship to their credit, the Hawks are tournament-tested. And the pitchers are hitting their stride while the bats are finally warming up. If the Hawks can keep their field errors in check and not waste scoring opportunities (miscues and too many runners left on base have been weak areas all season), they can keep advancing in the post-season. They have the talent, they just need to keep fine-tuning the execution.

FOUR FOM LEAGUE ADVANCE: The Rolling Hills Conference is having a very good showing in the post-season. Orient-Macksburg, Adair-Casey and Walnut have all advanced to the district finals along with EG, so the conference has four teams still in contention.

Orient-Macksburg advanced to substate last year, so their success this year is no flook. OM beat East Union (Afton), 7-2, on Thursday and will move on to face Corning in the District 13 championship. Adair-Casey thumped league rival CAM (Anita) 16-6 and will now take on Walnut at Riverside (Oakland) in the District 15 championship. Walnut, which finished third in the Rolling Hills, beat co-champion Elk Horn-Kimballton/Exira, 2-1, to advance to the championship game. The win snapped EHKE’s 12-game winning streak.

If the Hawks get by Northern University, they will advance to the Substate 5 championship in Marshalltown at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, July 19, to face the winner of District 9 championship game between English Valleys (North English) and BGM (Brooklyn) tonight at HLV (Victor).

The OM-Corning winner will meet the Bedford-Nishnabotna winner in Substate 7 championship. Since Walnut is taking on league foe Adair-Casey, that guarantees one Rolling Hills team a spot in the substate. The Walnut-AC winner takes on either Coon Rapids-Bayard or West Harrison.

CRB beat Glidden-Ralston of the Rolling Hills in the semifinals. The Crusaders racked up another West Central Conference title this year and have been ranked in the Top 10 all year. Look for CRB to get by West Harrison and for Walnut to beat Adair-Casey with two facing off in the Substate 8 game in Denison on Tuesday.

SEVEN OF NINE WC TEAMS ARE OUT: CRB is one of two West Central Conference teams left in contention. The RH went 2-1 versus the West Central with EG beating Madrid and CAM taking out Guthrie Center, with CRB getting a win over Glidden-Ralston. The West Central’s other 1A team, Earlham, fell to top-ranked Martensdale-St. Mary’s in the district semifinals.

Van Meter is one of five 2A teams in the West Central. The Bulldogs will face North Polk in a district championship tonight. Van Meter beat league foes Panorama in the first round and West Central Valley in the semifinals. West Central Valley had advanced with a win over conference member Woodward-Granger in the first round.

North Polk sidelined Des Moines Christian, the other 2A team in the conference, in the first round.

EG Advances to District Baseball Semifinals

HAWKS DOWN COLO-NESCO, 3-2, AT RIPPEY

East Greene upended Colo-Nesco, 3-2, in Rippey on Tuesday, July 12, to advance to the District 10 semifinals on Thursday, July 15. The Hawks will take on Madrid at Walt Anderson Field in Rippey at 7 p.m.

Madrid (10-19) advanced to the semifinal round with a 4-3 win over Northeast Hamilton (Blairsburg) in the opening game of a first-round doubleheader at Rippey on Tuesday. NEH ends the season at 17-18.

The Hawks rode the pitching of Tyler Cooklin to get the win and move on in the tournament. Cooklin struck out 11 Colo-Nesco batters. He gave up 5 hits, 1 earned run and walked 3. He was 2-3 at the plate with an RBI to lead the Hawk batters. Aaron Lyons was 2-4 with an RBI. The Hawks rapped 9 hits for the night with Tory Beger and Alex Gordon each adding a pair and Harrison Johnston adding a single.

The Hawks improved to 11-13 in beating a team they had downed 17-7 in 6 innings on July 1. Colo-Nesco bows out with a 13-16 record.

AROUND THE LEAGUE: The Rolling Hills Conference fared well in first-round district action, posting a glossy 6-1 record with one team, Adair-Casey, receiving a bye. League co-champion Elk Horn-Kimballton/Exira beat AHST, 3-1, and will now face conference foe Walnut, which got by Riverside (Oakland) 5-0. CAM (Anita) beat Guthrie Center in a 3-2 thriller in 8 innings and will advance to face Adair-Casey. Orient-Macksburg beat Murray 3-0 and Glidden-Ralston beat Southeast Webster-Grand (Burnside) 7-0.

The only loser on the night was co-champion Iowa Christian Academy/Ankeny Christian Academy, a team that had the task of taking on Martensdale-St. Mary’s, the defending Class 1A state champions. Martensdale-St. Mary’s has been making headlines all summer. A few weeks ago, the Blue Devils reached the No. 2 position among winning streaks for all high school baseball teams in the country with a 76-game unbeaten streak. A 9-1 win over Iowa Christian/Ankeny Christian Tuesday night moved them to 81 straight wins. The record is 83 games, which MSt.M will tie if they reach the district finals on Saturday. They can break the record with a win in the substate, which will advance them back to Des Moines to defend their state title.

Martensdale-St. Mary’s is now 38-0 for the season. Iowa Christian/Ankeny Christian ends the season at 16-5.

HAWKS FALL TO ICA/ACA, 8-4: East Greene finished conference competition at 5-9 in the Rolling Hills with an 8-4 loss to Iowa Christian/Ankeny Christian in a make-up game on Friday, July 8, in Rippey. An EG win coupled with a Glidden-Ralston loss to Iowa Christian on Saturday would have knocked the Blazers out of first place and moved EG into a tie for fourth-place with Glidden-Ralston. ICA swept both games to tie Elk Horn-Kimballton/Exira for the conference crown and left East Greene in sixth place at 5-9.

FINAL ROLLING HILLS CONFERENCE BASEBALL STANDINGS
Elk Horn-Kimballton/Exira 12-2
Iowa Christian/Ankeny Christian 12-2
Walnut 10-4
Orient-Macksburg 6-8
Glidden-Ralston 6-8
East Greene 5-9
Adair-Casey 3-11
CAM (Anita) 2-13

EG Hosts Tourneys “Under the Lights”

POST-SEASON SB, BB ACTION IN GRAND JCT. & RIPPEY

The summer ball team “spotlight” will be shining on eastern Greene County this week and next as East Greene hosts a first round game in the Class 1A Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union regional softball tournament at Dutton Field in Grand Junction and the boys baseball team hosts the first and second rounds of the Iowa Boys High School Athletic Association district baseball tournament at Walt Anderson Field in Rippey.

The girls kick things off tomorrow night when

First baseman Jolee Wessling

and the EG Hawkettes take on

Ar-We-Va in regional tourney

action Wednesday at Dutton

Park in Grand Junction.

(Photo courtesy of Shelly Juhl)

the Hawkettes host the Ar-We-Va (Westside) Rockettes in first-round softball action at 7 p.m. Admission will be charged for this game and the streets around Dutton Park will be blocked off to shift traffic through the main admission gates.

This will be the first “under the lights” EG game at Dutton Park this season.

East Greene, Madrid, Northeast Hamilton (Blairsburg) and Colo-Nesco will compete in the first two rounds of district baseball at Rippey. Madrid takes on Northeast Hamilton in a first-round game at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, July 12, with EG facing Colo-Nesco in the second-half of the first-round doubleheader at 7 p.m.

The winners of Tuesday night’s games advance to the semifinal game at 7 p.m. in Rippey on Thursday, July 14.

The Rippey semifinal winner will advance to the district finals on Saturday, July 16, at 7 p.m. at a location to be determined to face the winner of the semifinal game at North Tama (Traer). That side of the bracket has North Tama facing Northern University (Cedar Falls) on Tuesday in the first round and the winner advancing to the semifinal game on Thursday against GMG (Garwin), which drew a first-round bye.

The winner of District 10 (Rippey and Traer) will play the winner of District 9 in the substate at Marshalltown on Tuesday, July 19. That winner moves on the Class 1A State Tournament at Principal Park in Des Moines.

Teams in District 9 are Sigourney, Tri-County (Thornburg), English Valleys (North English), Keota, BGM (Brooklyn), HLV (Victor) and Belle Plaine.

The winner of the Region 7 first-round softball game in Grand Junction will advance to the quarterfinal round game in Coon Rapids on Friday, July 8. First-round action in Coon Rapids on Wednesday, July 6, has Coon Rapids-Bayard hosting Glidden-Ralston. The winner takes on Southeast Webster-Grand (Burnside) in a second round game on Thursday, July 7. The winner there advances to the quarterfinal round against the winner of Wednesday’s game in Grand Junction.

The winner advances to the semifinal round in Fonda on Monday, July 11. The Fonda bracket winner will play the semifinal winner of the Earlham bracket in the regional final in Carroll on Wednesday, July 13.

Hawkettes Beat Orient-Macksburg, 6-5

EG COMES FROM BEHIND FOR THE WIN

A double-play with one out in the top of the seventh inning preserved a come-from-behind softball win for East Greene, 6-5, over Orient-Macksburg on Thursday, June 30, in Grand Junction.

The Hawkettes trailed 4-1 going into the bottom of the sixth inning, but a combination of hits, walks and Orient-Macksburg fielding errors sparked a five-run EG rally to put the Hawkettes ahead, 6-5.

In the top of the sixth inning, an OM RBI triple drove in a run, cutting the lead to 6-5 with one out. EG pitcher Hannah Onken then got the next batter to deliver a little blooper to the pitcher’s mound which Onken threw to first baseman Jolee Wessling for the out. Wessling then fired the ball to catcher Katlynn Gannon, who tagged out the runner advancing from the third to home base, putting the cap on a nifty double play, ending the game and preserving the 6-5 win.

It was a big turnaround for the Hawkettes, who were blasted by the same OM team, 13-1, in 3 innings on June 14 in Orient.

The win snapped a six-game EG losing streak and moved the Hawkettes to 2-8 in the Rolling Hills Conference and 3-12 overall.

The Hawkettes were in action the night before, taking on Van Meter of the West Central Conference in Grand Junction, falling to the Bulldogs, 12-0 in 6 innings.

Van Meter blasted 15 hits while the Hawkettes added to their woes with 8 errors. EG had held the Bulldogs, ranked two weeks ago in the Class 1A Top 15, to a 6-0 lead through five innings, but a 6-run sixth inning doubled the score. EG was held scoreless in the bottom of the sixth, ending the game by the 10-run rule. (Van Meter fell out of the rankings issued June 24.)

East Greene got 3 hits against the Bulldogs with Emily Jacobsen rapping a solid double into centerfield. Dani Hubbard was 3-4 and had 5 stolen bases for Van Meter.

The Hawkettes travel to Coon Rapids tonight to face Coon Rapids-Bayard in an 8 p.m. tilt and then return to Dutton Field in Grand Junction on Tuesday, July 5, to take on Glidden-Ralston at 5:30 p.m. in the conference and season finale.

EG will open regional play the following night in Grand Junction against Ar-We-Va (Westside) in a first round game. Game time is 7 p.m.

East Greene Sweeps GR

HAWKS ROLL 11-2; HAWKETTES WIN BY ONE

East Greene scored a baseball-softball sweep at Glidden on Thursday, June 16, with the Hawks rolling over Glidden-Ralston, 11-2, in baseball, and the Hawkettes picking up a 9-8 softball win.

Wes Onken was on the mound for EG, striking out 14 Wildcat batters while giving up 2 hits, 2 runs, 1 earned run and walking 5 in 6 innings of work. Reed Ostrander pitched one inning to help shut down the Wildcats, giving up 1 hit.

The Hawks had their bats working with 11 hits against GR. Ostrander hit a 3-run homer run and Tyler Cooklin had three hits in four trips to the plate. Onken went 2-3 with a double, and Tory Beger and Alex Gordon each had a double.

The Wildcats’ offense came from Zack Rohrbeck with 2 hits and Nate Christian with one hit and 2 RBIs.

The win over GR moved the Hawks to 2-3 in the Rolling Hills and 6-5 overall. GR evened its league mark at 3-3.

Hannah Onken got the win on the mound for the Hawkettes. She gave up 9 hits, 8 runs, 6 earned runs, and 7 walks, while striking out 6 GR batters.

East Greene had one of its best offensive nights of the season. Hannah Gunn had 3 hits, including a double and 2 RBIs. Jolee Wessling had 2 hits with Bailey Godwin, Katlynn Gannon, Molly Neese and Onken with 1 hit each. Godwin, Neese, Kinney and Onken each had an RBI.

The Hawkettes got on base with 9 walks from the GR pitcher, and heads-up play resulted in four stolen bases.

It was the first Rolling Hills Conference softball win for EG. The Hawkettes are now 1-4 in the league and 2-6 overall. Glidden-Ralston fell to 1-4 in the conference.

HAWKS FALL IN AR-WE-VA CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

EG had a good showing in the Ar-We-Va Tournament on Saturday, June 11, with a 4-3 win over East Sac, a Class 2A school, which put them in the championship game against Newell-Fonda, which had advanced with an 11-7 win over host Ar-We-Va, a finalist in last year’s Class 1A state tournament.

Newell-Fonda got by the Hawks in the championship game, 10-7, to improve to 3-13 for the season. East Sac drubbed Ar-We-Va 15-2 in 4 innings in the consolation game to move its season mark to 10-4. Ar-We-Va started the season with a win but has since lost 10 straight games.

EG was rained out Monday, June 13, at home against Walnut. On Tuesday, the Hawks fell to Orient-Macksburg on the road, 4-3.

Rolling Hills Baseball
Through Thursday, June 16:
Iowa Christian/Ankeny Christian 5-1
Walnut 5-2
Orient-Macksburg 3-2
Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton 3-2
Glidden-Ralston 3-3
East Greene 2-3
Adair-Casey 1-6
CAM (Anita) 0-4

Rolling Hills Softball
Through Thurs., June 16:
Walnut 5-0
Elk Horn-Kimballton/Exira 3-1
CAM (Anita) 3-2
dair-Casey 2-3
Orient-Macksburg 2-3
Glidden-Ralston 1-4
East Greene 1-4

EG Patrons Comment on Whole Grade Sharing

ACADEMICS, MUSIC SHARED; SEPARATE EG, J-S SPORTS

Parents, teachers and district residents got a first-hand look at the proposed whole grade sharing arrangement between East Greene and Jefferson-Scranton school districts at a public hearing held at the East Greene school board meeting Wednesday, June 8, in the high school band room in Grand Junction.

The public hearing is part of process of moving toward a whole grade sharing (WGS) arrangement between the two districts. The WGS plan calls for East Greene to send its 7th through 12th grade students to Jefferson-Scranton and for Jefferson-Scranton to send its 5th and 6th grade students to East Greene. Each district will maintain its own kindergarten through 4th grade school.

The WGS agreement would take effect for the 2012-13 school year and be effective for two years. Each district is eligible for additional state funding by participating in the sharing arrangement. No further additional funds are available past the two years, but additional funding would be available should the two districts agree to reorganize into one school district.

WGS approval needs only the approval of each school board, while reorganization would require an election within each district, and both districts must approve.

East Greene Superintendent Mike Harter outlined the sharing proposal at the start of the hearing to 35 people assembled in the band room. The hearing would normally have been held in the gym but it was being used for a district-wide “garage sale” planned for the following three days.

Essentially, East Greene junior and senior high students will attend classes in Jefferson-Scranton but remain “East Greene students.” Seventh and eighth graders from EG will attend classes at the J-S Middle School at 203 West Harrison Street in Jefferson and EG high school students (9-12) will attend classes at J-S High School on the south edge of Jefferson. EG high school students are already attending some classes at J-S and have been shuttling back and forth between the two high school buildings for several years.

As part of the proposed two-way sharing, J-S will send all its 5th and 6th grade students to the Grand Junction building.

This past school year, EG and J-S shared two extracurricular activities—vocal music and wrestling. Next year, that will be expanded to include instrumental music. That will continue when WGS goes into effect the following year (2012-13), but the two districts will continue to operate separate athletic programs.

That component sparked some comments at the hearing, with several questioning why the WGS agreement does not include high school and middle school sports.

Other activities at the high school level will be shared however, such as the yearbook, prom and graduation ceremonies. Homecoming—which traditionally is centered around football in the fall—will be held separately by each district.

The two students will be presented diplomas at the same commencement but each graduating class will maintain its own class rankings.

Several teachers in attendance questioned how evaluations are to be handled as the language in the overview shared at the hearing indicates they will be evaluated “by the building principal of the building in which the teacher spends most of their day” but the “ultimate responsibility for the evaluation of the employees shall remain with the employing district.”

Harter noted that “each district will maintain its own master contract and negotiation” with its respective teachers’ association. Beyond that, if there is reorganization, “the master contract of the larger district is in effect.”

There were questions and comments on transportation between and within the two districts, and some grumbling about how decisions regarding weather and roads in one district might not impact the other and how starting would times each day be aligned between the two districts. Harter pointed out that the two districts have been coordinating weather-related school closures for several years.

Tim Bardole, EG board member and former board president, noted that high school students from EG have been traveling back and forth to Jefferson every period of the day for the last few years—some at two different times of the day—so this would actually streamline the travel with all the students headed to Jefferson at the same time, and subsequently returning at the same time.

Not addressed at the meeting was the use of the Rippey building, which is currently the K-5 building for East Greene, as the 6-12 students attend classes in Grand Junction. A consultant hired by both districts presented his recommendation in April that showed how combining the high school students from both districts in the Jefferson buildings at putting all 5th and 6th graders in Grand Junction would leave the district with an abundance of available classroom space in five attendance centers for the needs of 1,300 students.

He recommended the Grand Junction building handle EG’s kindergarten through fourth grades along with the two districts fifth and sixth grades, and the Rippey building be “phased out.”

But it was not clear from his “on paper” calculation if the Grand Junction building could handle all the 5th and 6th graders from both districts (212) plus the students at the elementary in grades K-4 (approximately 90 students).

That would put about more than 300 students in a building that presently is housing 152.

EYE ON GJ SAYS: It was good input from a cross-section of school district residents at the public hearing. The WGS plan itself looks solid. And the decision to keep sports separate from WGS will serve as a good transition. It will also help sort out the future needs of the school buildings and the infrastructure. This might be a good compromise as far as use of the two school buildings. Keeping sports at East Greene like volleyball and basketball for at least two more years and baseball at the Rippey diamond gives support to fully using the Rippey building—the gym for high school athletics and the classrooms for elementary grades. Essentially, the same format in use this school year and next.

Then, as WGS gets underway, the two districts can bet a better handle on how to use facilities together in the years ahead if it looks like reorganization is on the horizon.

Plus, putting 300+ students in one building seems like a tight fit. Perhaps the consultant was thinking more down the line that if enrollment continued to decline, then perhaps the use of the Rippey building would be phased out.

Hawks Fall to AC; Even League Mark at 1-1

OPEN SEASON WITH NO-HITTER AND 4-GAME WIN STREAK

After putting a four-game win streak together, East Greene has dropped two straight in baseball action to move its season record to 4-2.

The Hawks fell to Adair-Casey, 12-7, in Adair on Monday night, June 6, to even their Rolling Hills Conference record at 1-1. EG had won its league opener last Thursday, June 2, over CAM in Anita, 9-5.

The CAM win was the fourth straight, but the Hawks fell to Madrid in Rippey the following night, 12-10, for their first loss of the season.

EG opened the season in a big way with a 10-0 win over Grandview Park Baptist in Des Moines behind the no-hit pitching of Wes Onken. The game ended after six innings because of the 10-run rule. EG then beat Guthrie Center, 3-1, in its home opener on May 31, followed by a road win at Northeast Hamilton (Blairsburg), 3-1, the following night.

The Hawks will look to get back on the winning track tonight in Rippey against Elk Horn-Kimballton/Exira. EG takes on league-leading Iowa Christian/Ankeny Christian Thursday night in Rippey.

Rollings Hills Baseball
Standings through Monday, June 6
Iowa Christian/Ankeny Christian 2-0
East Greene 1-1
Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton 1-1
Glidden-Ralston 1-1
Adair-Casey 1-1
Orient-Macksburg 1-1
Walnut 1-1
CAM (Anita) 0-2

Monday, Jun 6:
Adair-Casey 12, EG 7
ICA/ACA 3, Glidden-Ralston 1
Orient-Macksburg 6, EHKE 4
Walnut 12, CAM 1 (5 inn.)

Thursday, June 2:
ICA/ACA 16, AC 1
EHK-Exira 7, Walnut 5 (8 inn.)
EG 9, CAM 5
Glidden-Ralston 8, Orient-Macksburg 6

Hawkettes Beat Guthrie Center, 8-7

EG SPLITS BACK-TO-BACK EXTRA INNING GAMES

A come-from-behind 8-7 thriller over against Guthrie Center that went to 8 innings on Tuesday, May 31, at Dutton Field in Grand Junction put East Greene in the victory column for the first time this season, but the “extra inning magic” failed two nights later as the Hawkettes fell to CAM at Anita in the conference opener, 11-10, in 9 innings.

East Greene pounded out 8 hits in the loss to CAM on Thursday June 2, which was its second extra-inning game in a row. Eighth grader Hannah Onken took the loss, giving up 11 runs on 4 hits, seven walks and three strikeouts.

CAM’s Michaela Schwenke got the win, giving up 10 runs on 8 hits, seven walks and six strikeouts.

Against Guthrie Center, the Hawkettes fell behind early but kept chipping away at the Tigerettes’ lead to knot things up at 7-7 in the bottom of the seventh inning. It looked like Guthrie had the game firmly in command with a 6-0 lead in the top of fourth but the Hawkettes mounted a rally to cut that down to 6-5. Each team scored a run in the sixth to keep the Hawkettes within striking distance.

After tying things up in the bottom of the seventh, the momentum was clearly in EG’s favor. Onken retired the order in the top of the eighth and the Hawkettes’ offense got in gear as they put together three singles, the last a two-out base hit by Emily Jacbosen that scored pinch runner Hannah Gunn.

Onken got her first win on the mound, giving up 7 runs on 4 hits, 6 walks, and 5 batters hit by pitch while striking out 8. Claire Thompson took the loss for the Tigerettes, giving up 10 hits and walking 7. She struck out 8 EG batters.

The win over Guthrie was a big turnaround from the EG’s losses to Southeast Webster-Grand, 17-2, and Des Moines Christian, 15-0 in, that opened the season the previous week.

EYE ON GJ SAYS: EG had several scoring chances that slipped away in the last inning, but the team looked confident on both offense and defense heading into the 8th inning, where it played its best defense and offense the entire game.

The seniors on the squad—Katlynn Gannon, Tia Lowe and Jasmine Kinney—are starting to gel and showing great leadership for the rest of the squad, which is comprised of freshmen and 8th graders. The younger players are playing with more confidence and they all have solid softball skills so look for this team to show improvement throughout the season.

The Rolling Hills Conference race looks to be wide open this season as pre-season favorite Elk Horn-Kimballton/Exira was upset by Walnut, 3-1, last Thursday. Orient-Macksburg edged Glidden-Ralston 4-3 in the league opener for those teams.

HAWKETTES FALL AT ADAIR

Adair-Casey beat the Hawkettes last night, Monday, June 6, in Adair, 11-3, to drop EG to 0-2 in the Rolling Hills. Elsewhere in the league, Elk Horn-Kimballton beat Orient-Macksburg, 14-2, in 4 innings and Walnut got by CAM, 4-3, to move into first place with a 2-0 record.

Rolling Hills Softball
Through Mon., June 7:
Walnut                                     2-0
Adair-Casey                            1-0
CAM (Anita)                           1-1
Elk Horn-Kimballton/Exira     1-1
Orient-Macksburg                    1-1
Glidden-Ralston                      0-1
East Greene                             0-2

EG takes on Elk Horn-Kimballton/Exira tonight at 5:30 p.m. in Grand Junction.

Ostrander, Wilkens Place at State Track

TAKE 7th IN LONG JUMP, 8th IN HIGH JUMP

East Greene had its best showing in many years at the Iowa High School State Track Meet at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, May 19-21, with Reed Ostrander placing seventh in the long jump and Chelsi Wilkens tying for eighth in the high jump.

Ostrander’s leap of 20’8” gave East Greene 2 points in the Class 1A team standings—the first time in many years that EG has scored at state. Nick Efkamp of Madrid won the event with a new state record of 23’2.5”. Efkamp won four events to lead Madrid to its third straight 1A championship and fifth overall since 2002.

East Greene tied for 49th place with Iowa Christian/Ankeny Christian, Hinton and Clay Central-Everly in the team standings.

Wilkens, a freshman, tied for eighth among 24 state finalists in the high jump with a 4’10” effort, giving the Hawkettes one-half point scoring in the team standings—the first points at state for EG in more than a decade.

Wilkens qualified for state at the district meet on Thursday, May 13, in Manson with a jump of 4’10”—good for second place behind Maddie Bardole of Woodward-Granger, who won with a 5’1” effort. Bardole took fourth at state with a 5’2” jump to pace Woodward-Granger to a seventh place finish in the team standings.

Ostrander, a sophomore, qualified for state at the district at Manson with a runner-up finish to Efkamp of Madrid. Efkamp, an Iowa State recruit, won with a 21’11 ¾” jump with Ostrander second at 20’ 10 ½”.

It was a very tough district with not just the defending two-time state champs from Madrid to contend with, but the host team from Manson-Northwest Webster was coming off a fifth-place finish from last year’s state meet.

Madrid repeated as district champions with 185 points with MNW in second with 142. MNW won the girls district title with 145.33 points, edging out Woodward-Granger with 140.

At the state meet, Manson-Northwest Webster moved up to the runner-up spot, scoring 53 points to Madrid’s state championship-winning 74 points. The third-place team, West Harrison (Mondamin), was nearly 20 points behind M-NW with 34—indicating how dominating the two teams from the Manson district were in the boys competition.

The Manson-Northwest Webster girls tied Corning for fifth place with 29 points at the state meet, just ahead of Woodward-Granger at 25.5.

WILKENS PLACES IN FOUR EVENTS

Wilkens paced the East Greene girls—a team comprised of just one senior and four freshmen—
to a 10th place finish among 12 teams with 24.33 points at the district meet on May 12. The EG boys finished tied for 7th among the same 12 teams with 30 points. It was the best finish for each of the boys and girls teams in many years.

Wilkens was third in the 100 meters, 14.16, and third in the 100 meter hurdles, 17.62. She anchored EG to a fifth place in the shuttle hurdle relay, 1:17.92. Senior Tia Lowe was the leadoff runner with Emily Jacobsen and Brooke Popp handling the second and third legs. Popp rounded out the scoring tying for eighth place in the high jump, 4’4”, giving EG 1/3 of a point.

Also competing were Shelby Cooklin, 15th in the shot put, 23’4” and Lowe in the 200 meter dash, 20.28 seconds, 13th place.

In the boys competition, senior Schyler Bardole closed out a successful track and EG sports career with a third-place finish in the 100 meter dash, 12.24 seconds. Madrid’s Efkamp won the district 100 meter crown, 11.52, with Blake Jesse of Newell-Fonda in second, 12.09. Efkamp went on to win the 100 at the state meet, 11.41, after running in 11.28 in the preliminaries.

Wes Onken was third in the discus, 124’8 ½”, and Harrison Johnston was eighth in the 400 meter dash, 58.94 seconds.

East Greene had a good showing in the relay events: distance medley relay (Bardole, Aaron Lyons, Ostrander, Broc Timm), fifth, 4:19.87; 4 x 100 meter relay (Gabe Bardole, Alex Gordon, Wyatt Beaman, Bret Kersey), seventh, 53.66; 4 x 400 meter relay (Johnston, T.J. Lint, Zack Dearborn, Zack Fouch), seventh, 4:10.43; and 4 x 200 meter relay (Ostrander, Lyons, Kersey and Schyler Bardole), eighth, 1:40.66.

Also participating at the district but not finishing in the top eight to score team points were Schyler Bardole, high jump, 16’4”, 13th; Tory Beger, discus, 98’5 ¾”, 15th; Joe Pena, shotput, 25’6 ¾”, 18th; Fouch, 200 meter dash, 28.41, 19th; Beger, 200 meter dash, 28.65, 20th; Gabe Bardole, 100 meter dash, 14.19, 21st; and Johnston and Dearborn in the high jump.

Paton-Churdan was also at the Manson district but had no state qualifiers. Taylor King finished fourth in the 1600 meter run, 5:00.96, and fourth in the 800 meter run, 2:20.87 to give PC 10 points in the team scoring.

BOYS TEAM STANDINGS AT MANSON: Madrid 185, Manson-Northwest Webster 142, Pocahontas Area/Pomeroy-Palmer 82, Woodward-Granger 73, Newell-Fonda 50, Northeast Hamilton (Blairsburg) 50, EAST GREENE 30, Glidden-Ralston 30, Coon Rapids-Bayard 26, St. Mary’s (Storm Lake) 12, Paton-Churdan 10, Southeast Webster-Grand 1.

Paton-Churdan girls finished 12th with 9 points. Jaclyn Baldwin was fifth in both the 200 meter dash and 400 meter dash, and Stephanie Thompson was eighth in the 3,200 run.

GIRLS TEAM STANDINGS AT MANSON: Manson-Northwest Webster 145.33, Woodward-Granger 140, Madrid 114, Pocahontas Area/Pomeroy-Palmer 68, Southeast Webster-Grand 60, Newell-Fonda 47.5, Glidden-Ralston 38.33, Northeast Hamilton (Blairsburg) 33.5, St. Mary’s (Storm Lake) 30, EAST GREENE 24.33, Coon Rapids-Bayard 21, and Paton-Churdan 9.

EYE ON GJ SAYS: This is not only the best showing at state in many years for both the EG girls and boys track teams, but it is probably the best showing ever for underclassmen in such intense competition. Ostrander, a sophomore, and Wilkens, just a freshmen, are off to impressive starts as East Greene athletes as their track success is just one of many accomplishments this school year.

Here’s a hats off to a great job by all the EG tracksters and track coaches for a terrific job this season!

Class of 1961 Celebrates 50th Reunion

SECOND CLASS TO GRADUATE FROM EGHS

This year’s Alumni Reunion Weekend will mark the 50th anniversary of the East Greene Class of 1961, which will be honored at the annual alumni banquet on Saturday, May 28, at the high school gymnasium in Grand Junction.

Thirty-members strong, the East Greene Class of 1961 was just the second to graduate from the newly merged district that was formed the summer after their sophomore years at Grand Junction and Dana high schools, respectively.

Class members who donned their caps and gowns that year May for commencement exercises were Bob Baxter, Carol Blanshan, Jeanette Briggs, Donna Cody, Sandra Crouch, Diane Finger, Jolene Fogarty, Pat Frantz, Bill Glawe, Claudette Hamilton, Mike Heath, Priscilla Herrick, Sandra James, Joyce Kersey, Harry “Kip” Lepke Jr., Dick McComb, Charles Metzger, Mary Pedersen, John Reineman, Francis Riehl, Jerry Schrum, Judy Scott, Faye Sims, Pam Slock, Ruth Teagarden, Joan Thompson, Steve Tiffany, Gary Weaver, Roger Wessling and Meredith Young.

This particular class actually came from four different elementary/junior high schools over the course of their high school careers. Their freshman year at GJHS, 1957-58, brought together the 8th graders of 1956-57 from Grand Junction Consolidated School with the 1957 eighth graduates from St. Mary’s Academy in Grand Junction and the Beaver elementary school.

Dana students went from eighth grade right into high school in Dana their freshman and sophomore years, 1957-58 and 1958-59, but joined the Grand Junction high school students as the junior class in the new East Greene High School in the fall of 1959. The senior class that year, 1959-60, became the first graduating class of East Greene.

The East Greene Class of 1961 helped usher in the new decade with new school colors, mascot, fight song and all new uniforms for basketball, band and choir. It was a “green-and-white” universe as the purple of Dana and the blue of Grand Junction high schools soon faded into the past of the bygone 1950s.

It was an era of the bold new architecture, the Cold War, space exploration and an exciting new president and a glamorous First Lady, as President John F. Kennedy began campaigning for the presidency in the spring of the Class of ‘61’s junior year and was elected in the fall of their senior year.

That year will also be noted by the remarkable run of the East Greene Hawkettes on the basketball court and their senior leader, forward Pam Slock, and coach, Otis Roby. Expectations were high for the Hawkettes that year as they were coming off a successful 1959-60 campaign which saw them win the Greene County Tournament, tie for the championship of the Little Central Conference, and win the sectional tournament and advance to the districts.

Their co-champions in the Little Central—Grand Community of Boxholm—had made it to the state tournament the previous year and that team featured one of the top guards in the state, Rita Peterson. The same year, 1960, saw the Churdan Rockets boys basketball team advance to the State Class B tournament—the last year of the A-B state tourneys until resumption in 1967.

With the success of two Little Central teams in 1960, anticipation was high for the 1961 season. All eyes were on the East Greene girls team as they returned five of six starters from 1959-60, including Slock, who scored at 39.2 points per game in leading EG to a 17-3 mark as a junior, and three other senior veterans—Faye Sims in the forward court, Jolene Fogarty in the guard court, and reserve guard Ruth Teagarden. The only starter lost from 1960 was guard Lana Miller, who was named first-team all-conference. The other veterans back were juniors Sharon Frantz in the forward court and Helen Holz in the guard court.

Clearly the Hawkettes would be a force to reckon with as Slock had been named third team all-state by the Iowa Daily Press Association (IDPA) and fifth team all-state by the Des Moines Register as a junior.

The Hawkettes lived up to their billing and rolled through the season, winning the Little Central Conference with a perfect 10-0 mark and finishing the regular season unbeaten at 17-0. Slock led the state in scoring throughout the season with a 52.6 average and she broke many scoring records along the way, topped by a 78-point performance against arch rival Rippey.

She set and then re-set school scoring records throughout her high school career. She scored 78 in a game against Rippey late in the season, breaking her own school record of 65 points set on Jan. 6, 1961, against Churdan, an 85-67 win for the Hawkettes, and one of the last victories over Churdan or Paton-Churdan for nearly 10 years.

Slock had set the bar high for the school scoring record as a junior when she poured in 61 points against Paton in a sectional tournament game on the Hawkettes’ home court in Grand Junction.

East Greene was ranked in the Top 10 of all Iowa girls high school teams in 1960-61 and just missed a trip to the state tournament, losing by two points to No. 3 Cedar Valley—a powerhouse in the 1950s and early 60s in this part of the state—in the district final.

Slock, however, did win the sectional and district free throw championship and advanced on to state level where she won the State Free Throw Championship. She was named first team all-state at the end of the season by both the Des Moines Register and IDPA.

The boys basketball team had a solid season, finishing 9-10 and advancing to the sectional finals. EG finished 4-6 in the Little Central Conference and bowed in the first round of the county tourney with a loss to Churdan.

The cheerleaders that season were seniors Joan Thompson, Joyce Kersey and Meredith Young; and juniors Judy Adamson and Leita Hillman.

East Greene had another fine season in baseball as the team was 8-1 in the fall with the only loss coming to Jewell. EG ended the fall season with a 4-0 record in the Little Conference with 6 games to be played in the spring.

Class members were accorded a number of honors along their GJ and EG high school way, including having a candidate elected Homecoming Queen each of their sophomore, junior and senior years—Slock in 1959, Teagarden in 1960 and Thompson in 1961.

Slock and Donna Cody were senior members of the National Honor Society in1961 along with Holz, selected as a junior, and Judy Hamilton, a sophomore. Sims and Thompson were co-editors of the annual staff, now dubbed the Hawkeye, and Fogarty and Pat Frantz were co-editors of the newly renamed school paper, The Gazette, which continued as a weekly page in the Globe-Free Press from its forerunner, The Scoop of Grand Junction High School.

The “Globe” as is was known locally was the weekly Grand Junction paper with circulation in all the surrounding towns. It had pages set aside for The Rippey News and The Paton Portrait which featured news particular to those towns. Each page also had space that year for their own school news from the Rippey and Paton schools.

The successful music program of the Grand Junction schools continued unabated at East Greene under vocal music teacher Carson Griffith and instrumental music teacher Charles Radke, both young members of the former GJHS faculty. Four vocal students were selected to the All-State Chorus—Judy Thompson, Bob Morlan, John Goodrich and Teagarden. Janet Henderson, a junior, was selected to the All-State Band.

The boys glee had 29 members and accompanist Sarah Minium and the girls glee had 42 members. The mixed chorus was 70-voices strong (check this).

The East Greene band was resplendent in is new Kelley green uniforms with featured a white chord and tassels across the uniform’s front for concert band and a buttoned-on white shields with the green EG Hawk logo for marching band. The twirlers were also decked out in new duds—white satin uniforms and green accents.

The cheerleaders were probably the best representation for the new district that year as the new uniforms unveiled the previous season featured Kelly green sweaters with white pleated skirts. Across each sweater was a megaphone with the letters E-G-C-S-D, so fans far and wide would know that these girls were proudly leading the cheers of our of new East Greene Community School District!

This was at the height of the era where community school districts were being created all over the state so the lineup of teams, nicknames and colors was new from north to south and east to west. East Greene was a new name in central Iowa as were Central Webster, Prairie View, Grand, United, YJB, South Hamilton, Northeast Hamilton, Northwest Webster and Central Dallas, along with schools formed a few years earlier, like Cedar Valley, and newly merged community school districts that implemented the use of the hyphenating the town/school district names to re-christen themselves, as did Panora-Linden and Woodward-Granger.

These were prevalent throughout the state from Bridgewater-Fontanelle and Carson-Macedonia in the south to Bondurant-Farrar in the center and Havelock-Plover and Harris-Lake Park in the north. Newly created names that took a little from one and a little from another were prevalent too, such as Delwood of Elwood (Delmar and Elwood) in eastern Iowa and Dexfield of Redfield (Dexter and Redfield) in central Iowa.

Two years later, Rippey would also become part of East Greene, and two years beyond that, Paton officially joined with Churdan to form another hyphenated district, Paton-Churdan. The state of Iowa had decreed that by July 1, 1966, every school district had to include a high school, so sadly, our friends from Beaver officially became part of the Ogden Community School District, ending a three-year arrangement where three towns comprised East Greene—GJ, Dana and Beaver—and then a four-town arrangement when Rippey was added to the mix in 1962-63 and 1963-64, but by then Beaver students had already begun shifting to Ogden.

Beaver students had been attending high school at the Grand Junction since Beaver High School was closed at the end of World War II.

East Greene continued a great rivalry with Rippey those first of East Greene and the Class of 1961 was right in the middle of that three-year EG vs. Rippey run. Churdan was always a fierce rival of Grand Junction and that continued with East Greene. The Churdan games were always a high point on the sports calendar—especially in basketball.

Hawk Golfers Finish Season

EG BOYS FINISH SEVENTH IN BOONE SECTIONAL

East Greene wrapped up the 2011 boys golf season on Friday finishing in seventh place at the Class 1A sectional meet at Cedar Pointe Golf Course near Boone on Friday, May 13.

Ankeny Christian Academy finished first with a 336 team score and Northeast Hamilton (Blairsburg) took second with a 363. Both teams will advance to the district meet on Friday at Pheasant Ridge Golf Course in Cedar Falls, hosted by Northern University High School of Cedar Falls, along with teams qualifying from sectional meets at Grundy Center, Mason City and Elgin.

Final standings were: Ankeny Christian, 336; Northeast Hamilton, 363; Colo-Nesco, 388; Van Meter, 389; Earlham, 394; Madrid, 395; East Greene, 437; and Southeast Webster-Grand, 447. Woowdard-Granger participated but did not have enough golfers for a team score.

Zach Cousins of Ankeny Christian was meet medalist with a 76, edging out teammate Patrick Grasso, 77.

Earlier in the week, Ankeny Christian had battled Adair-Casey for the Rolling Hills Conference championship at Anita with Adair-Casey coming out on top with a 321. Ankeny Christian finished at 346 just edging out Glidden Raltson, 348, followed by CAM (Anita) 366, Iowa Christian Academy 377, Elk Horn-Kimballton/Exira 390 and East Greene 402.

Three conference schools—Walnut, Orient-Macksburg and Paton-Churdan—do not field golf teams.

Taylor Wheatley of Adair-Casey was meet medalist with an even-par 71. Nick Kopp of CAM was runner-up with 79. Zach Hiller led EG with 87, followed by Harrison Johnston 96,
Alex Gordon 106, Sean Kenan 113, Tyler Cooklin 115 and Nic Nicolaisen 117.

The finish ahead of Southeast Webster-Grand and Woodward-Granger in the sectional meet were East Greene’s first varsity victories of the season, although the Hawks won a match against the Perry junior varsity, 193-221, on Thursday, May 5, at Lakeside Golf Course near Grand Junction.

The Hawks had a good showing on Friday, May 6, hosting Earlham and West Central Valley (Stuart) at Lakeside. The three teams finished within 11 strokes of each other. Earlham won the match 203, just ahead of West Central Valley at 204 with the Hawks finishing with 214. Johnston finished in a three-way tie for first at 48 with Dylan Watson of West Central Valley and Justin Brown of Earlham. A playoff was held to determine the order of finish with Watson taking medalist honors with Brown as runner-up and Johnston third.

Hiller had of his best rounds the following Monday, May 9, at Lakeside against Iowa Christian Academy (West Des Moines), tying for medalist runner-up honors with Conner Lively of Iowa Christian at 44 with Lively winning the playoff. His teammate, Conner Luginbill, was medalist as he lead the Blazers to 175-203 win over EG.

On Tuesday, May 3, EG faced Guthrie Center and Glidden-Ralston. Guthrie Center won the triangular with 188 to outpace GR 191 and EG 204.

East Greene hosted a boys quadrangular on April 29 at Lakeside while EG hosted the same girls teams—Glidden-Ralston, Adair-Casey and South Central Calhoun (Rockwell City)—at The Hill. South Central Calhoun took top honors in the boys match with 182, followed by Glidden-Ralston 196, Adair-Casey 197, and East Greene 239.

Only two of the four girls squads had enough golfers for team scores and GR and SCC ended play with identical team scores of 217. GR got the win on the basis of the tie-breaker, which is the best score for the team’s No. 5 golfer. Kinney was EG’s lone golfer and she finished with a 64.

Ankeny Christian Academy defeated the Hawks 157-211 on April 28 at Ankeny.

Playoff action for area girls teams began Monday, May 16, with the district meet at Newell with golfers from East Greene, Clay Central-Everly, Graettinger-Terrill, Glidden-Ralston, Laurens-Marathon, Newell-Fonda, Pocahontas, Southeast Webster-Grand, St. Mary’s (Storm Lake), and West Bend-Mallard competing to move on to the regional.

Newell district winners advanced to the regional meet at Graettinger on Monday, May 23, along with the winners of districts at Hawarden and Lake Mills.

EG Win 4 Events at Rolling Hills Meet

HAWKS, HAWEKTTES EACH FINISH IN 6TH PLACE

East Greene crowned four champions at the Rolling Hills Conference track meet Monday, May 9, at Panora.

Freshman Chelsi Wilkens won the 100 meter hurdles in 17.94 seconds, and she anchored EG’s championship shuttle hurdle relay. Senior Wes Onken won the discus with a throw of 129’10” and sophomore Reed Ostrander won the long jump with a 19’9 ¾” effort.

The Hawkettes and Hawks each finished in sixth place among the nine conference teams—the girls tying with Orient-Macksburg with 44 points and the boys finishing with 41 points. Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton took both the girls and boys titles.

The shuttle hurdle relay team of senior Tia Lowe and freshmen Emily Jacobsen, Brooke Popp and Wilkens took first with a time of 1:21.00. Wilkens had a good night as she also took second in the high jump, 4’8”, and second in the 100 meters, 13.82 seconds. Casey James of Orient-Macksburg won the event in 13.39 seconds and Jaclyn Baldwin of Paton-Churdan placed fifth in 14.09 seconds.

Other EG girls events that placed in the conference meet:
Fourth: Popp, high jump, 4’6”
Fifth: Jacbosen, 400 meter hurdles, 1:30.81; 4 x 100 meter relay (Lowe, Jacobsen, Shelby Cooklin, Popp), 1:02.69.

Other EG boys events that placed:
Fourth: Schyler Bardole, shot put, 37’9”; 4 x 800 meter relay (Harrison Johnston, T.J. Lint, Tory Beger, Broc Timm), 10:17.48; 4 x 100 meter relay (Wyatt Beaman, Bardole, Alex Gordon, Bret Kersey), 52.65.
Fifth: Johnston, high jump, 5-2; Bardole, 100 meter dash, 11.9; 4 x 200 meter relay (Ostrander, Lint, Aaron Lyons, Bardole), 1:40.59; 1600 meter medley relay, 4:20.45
Sixth: Beger, discus, 100’9”; Lint, long jump, 16, 4 ¾”

Paton-Churdan girls finished last with 17 points. In addition to finishing sixth in the 100 meters, Baldwin was third in the 200 meters, sixth in the 400 meters and she teamed up with Makayla Minnehan, Emma Tilley and anchor Stephanie Thompson to take fourth in the 4 x 400 meter relay. Thompson placed in all three distance events for PC. She was fifth in the 3,000 meters, sixth in the 1500 meters and sixth in the 800 meters.

Rolling Hills Conference Girls @ Panora: Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton 160, Adair-Casey 90, Glidden-Ralston 72, CAM (Anita) 70, Walnut 49, East Greene and Orient-Macksburg 44, Iowa Christian/Ankeny Christian 35, Paton-Churdan 17.

Taylor King of Paton-Churdan won the conference crown in the 1,600 meter run, 5:03.25. Also placing for the PC boys were King in the 800 meter run in sixth place and the 4 x 400 meter relay (Daniel Minnehan, King, Blake Murphy and Brandon Tilley) in fourth place.

Rolling Hills Conference Boys @ Panora: Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton 148, Adair-Casey 116, Glidden-Ralston 78, Orient-Macksburg 64, CAM (Anita) 62, East Greene 41, Iowa Christian/Ankeny Christian 32, Paton-Churdan 16, Walnut 1.

The EG boys were in action again on Friday, May 6, at the Bill Estrem Relays hosted by Ballard (Huxley). The Hawks finished seventh of eight teams in Class B, which featured two-time Class A state champion Madrid, which took the Class B team title with 161 points. Jefferson-Scranton won the Class A title, winning six events.

Estrem Relay Class A @ Ballard: Jefferson-Scranton 143, Boone 110, North Polk (Alleman) 87, Ballard 81, Gilbert 72, Nevada 56, Saydel 9.

Estrem Relays Class B @ Ballard: Madrid 161, St. Edmond (Fort Dodge) 154, Roland-Story 90, West Marshall 70, South Hamilton 41, Woodward-Granger 30, East Greene 10, Southeast Webster-Grand 1.

East Greene competed in the Gonzales-Parrish Invitational in Guthrie Center on April 28. The boys were last of nine teams with 20 points while the girls were last of eight teams with 3 points.

Ostrander was the highlight of the meet for East Greene as he won the long jump with a meet record leap of 19’10”. Bardole was fourth in the 100 and sixth in the 200, Johnston was fourth in the high jump, and Onken was sixth in the discus.

Wilkens finished fifth in the high jump and the 4 x 100 meter relay placed sixth for the girls scoring.

EYE ON GJ SAYS: The Hawkettes are faring well with just five team members while the Hawks are still “hitting their stride” (and leaps and throws) as they were shut out of competition for most of their earlier meets due to wet and cold weather. Ostrander and Wilkens are both having excellent seasons. Look for some of the Hawks to move up in their individual events—especially Bardole in the sprints and shot put—and for the 4 x 200 meter relay to be a force as the season ends.

EG has a busy week with the boys headed back to Guthrie Center tonight for an invitational meet and the girls participating at the South Central Calhoun Invitational in Lake City. Both teams will be looking for peak performances tonight in preparation for the district meet at Manson on Thursday.