Showing posts with label Panorama. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Panorama. Show all posts

Monday, May 3, 2010

Spring Sports Head Down 'Home Stretch'

CONFERENCE TRACK, GOLF MEETS THIS WEEK

East Greene closes out is final spring season in the West Central Conference this week with golf and track meets.

The Hawk and Hawkette track teams head to Guthrie Center tomorrow, May 4, for the conference track meet and the EG golf teams tee off today at the conference golf meet in Woodward. The track teams will return to Guthrie Center on Friday, May 14, for girls and boys district track action.

The EG boys are looking to move up in the team standings at the conference track meet. Last year EG scored 8 points for ninth place. The Hawks have some very good showings in meets this year, with upper division finishes in their own Hawkette/Toyne Relays meet held in Jefferson and at the Wildcat Relays hosted by Glidden-Ralston in Carroll. EG has founded it a little tougher going however in larger meets.

During a busy five day-stretch from Friday, April 16, and ending Tuesday, April 20, the Hawks finished fourth of eight teams at the Glidden-Ralston meet; seventh among nine teams at Southeast-Webster Grand Relays in Burnside; and third of eight teams at their own Toyne Relays in Jefferson.

EG crowned two champions at the G-R meet with Wes Onken winning the discus (126-7) and the 4 x 200 relay of Tyler Gathercoal, Aaron Lyons, Tom Beger and Schyler Bardole taking first with a time of 1:41.43. Freshman Reed Ostrander was second in the long jump (18-4) and the 4 x 100 relay (Jessie Priest, Gathercoal, Beger, Bardole) was runner-up to Adair-Casey (46.59) at 48.18.

The 1600 meter medley relay (Ostrander, Lyons, Priest, Tyler Cooklin) finished third at 4:14.89 as did the shuttle hurdle relay (Gathercoal, Beger, Cooklin, Ben Most) in 1:11.66 and Zach Dearborn in the high jump (5-6). EG secured fourth-place finishes in 4 x 800 meter relay, 100 meter dash (Bardole), shot put (Bardole) and 4 x 400 relay. Most rounded out the scoring with sixth in the 110 meter high hurdles (18.97).

TEAM SCORING @ GR: Audubon 143, Adair-Casey 108.5, Glidden-Ralston 81, EAST GREENE 74, Ar-We-Va 71, Coon Rapids-Bayard 50, CAM (Anita) 14.5, Aurelia 12.

Points and high finishes were harder to come by at Burnside the following Monday. The meet included three teams from the Twins Lakes Conference and several tough north central Iowa teams. Bardole brought home second in the shot put with a toss of 42-1 to lead the Hawks. The 4 x 100 relay (47.74) finished third, just being edged out by Southern Cal (46.18) and Rockwell City-Lytton (47.05). Those three teams went head-to-head in the 4 x 200 relay along with Northeast Hamilton (Blairsburg). The same foursome as in the 4 x 100 (Priest, Lyons, Beger, Bardole) posted a very solid time of 1:39.85 in a tough field for fourth place. Southern Cal again came out on top at 1:36.43, just ahead of Northeast Hamilton (1:36.66) and Rockwell City-Lytton (1:37.46), but EG finished well ahead of conference rival Woodward-Granger (1:43.10).

EG coach Dean Lyons told the Jefferson Herald that the Hawks are putting particular emphasis on shaving times off the 4 x 100 and 4 x 200 relays and seeing improvement from Priest in the 400 meter dash.

EG fared well in the field events overall at SWG as Wes Onken (119-4) and Tory Beger (109-0) finished fourth and sixth in the discus, Reed Ostrander was fourth in the long jump (17-10), and Zach Dearborn took sixth in the high jump (5-8).
The Hawks also picked up points from sixth-place finishes in the sprint medley and 4 x 400 relays, Most in the 110 meter high hurdles and Bardole in the 100 meter dash.

TEAM SCORING @ SWG: Northeast Hamilton 130, Rockwell City-Lytton 110, Southern Cal 88, Woodward-Granger 81, CWL 45, Southeast Webster-Grand 38, EG 33, Glidden-Ralston 22, Coon Rapids-Bayard 7.

The spotlight shone brightly on the Hawks as they hosted their own meet the following night on the all-weather track in Jefferson. EG scored 82 points to take third, trailing only meet winner Jefferson-Scranton JV, 127.5, and Des Moines Christian, 121. As Jefferson-Scranton is a 3A school in track, EG technically finished as runner-up among the seven same-size schools competing at the Toyne Relays. All of the other schools in the meet were 1A, with the exception of Ogden, a 2A school. And the J-S competitors were formidable as the varsity Rams have won big meets this season against 3A competitors at Creston, Prairie Valley (Gowrie) and Jefferson, and finished second at Winterset, so the level of JV competition in a track squad of that size (50 members) is pretty solid.

EG scored points in all the field event and all the relays, with the 4 x 100 meter team taking first with a time of 47.99. Priest took second in the 400 meters (53.95) and the 4 x 200 meter unit (1:40.47) came in second to West Central foe DMC. The Hawks scored somewhat of a runner-up sweep in the field events, taking second in three of the four events. Finishing second were Bardole (41-9.5) in the shotput, Onken (126-2) in the discus, and Ostrander (18-9) in the long jump. Tory Beger was fifth in the discus (100-1) and Zach Hiller’s sixth in the shot put (34-9).

The shuttle hurdle relay (1:11.1) came in third with the distance medley (4:14.66), 4 x 800 (11:22.08) and 4 x 400 (4:26.21) relays each placing fourth. Bardole was fourth in 100 meter dash (11.9) and Most was sixth in the 110 meter high hurdles (19.15).

Paton-Churdan had good showings from Taylor King and Brandon Tilley. King won the 3,200 meter run (11:18.45) and was runner-up in the 1,600 meter run (5:16.7). Tilley finished fourth in the 800 meter run (2:24.14).

TEAM SCORING @ EG: Jefferson-Scranton JV 127.5, Des Moines Christian 121, EAST GREENE 82, Ogden 78.5, Glidden-Ralston 65, Coon Rapids-Bayard 32, Grandview Park Baptist (Des Moines) 24, Paton-Churdan 22.

The Hawk track team faced its toughest competition of the season last Tuesday in Audubon, tying for 12th place in very tough 13-team field. Griswold won the meet with 111 points followed by IKM-Manning at 101, Treynor 80.5, Tri-Center 51, Audubon 47.5, Guthrie Center 37, Adair-Casey 32, West Central Valley 25, Villisca 23.5, Walnut 22, Coon Rapids-Bayard 9.5, East Greene 9, CAM (Anita) 9.

It was the first meet of the season where EG placed behind conference rival Coon Rapids-Bayard, having finished ahead of the Crusaders in all three of its recent meets.

GIRLS TRACK: Heidi Kiner got a big win for the girls team in the Hawkette/Toyne Relays, breaking the tape in 18:31 to claim first in the 100 meter hurdles. Teammate Jessi Beaman was fourth in 19.83 in the same event. Kiner and Beaman teamed up with Tia Lowe and Bobbie Halterman to finish fourth (2:23.94) in the sprint medley relay. The 4 x 100 meter relay (Kiner, Molly Neese, Lowe, Beaman) took fourth (1:03.05) and Haltermann was fourth in the 1,500 meter run (6:04.1), two spots ahead of Stephanie Thompson of Paton-Churdan (7:22.62). Lowe rounded out the EG scoring with a sixth-place finish in the 400 meter dash (1:17.64).

EG finished fourth of six teams with 37 points, its best showing of the year.

PC’s sprint medley relay team of Abby Koch, Makayla Minnehan, Taryn Jewett and Jaclyn Baldwin finished fifth (2:27.09) just behind EG. Baldwin took fifth in the 100 meter dash (13.75) and Minnehan was sixth in the 100 meter hurdles (21.61) to round out the PC scoring.

TEAM SCORING @ EG: Des Moines Christian 186, Ogden 166, Glidden-Ralston 83, EAST GREENE 37, Coon Rapids-Bayard 32, Paton-Churdan 14.

East Greene and conference foe Coon Rapids-Bayard have been going head-to-head this season with EG placing ahead of CRB in its own meet at Jefferson and at GR’s Wildcat Relays in Jefferson, but CRB came out ahead of the Hawkettes at SWG and an earlier season meet at Prairie Valley (Gowrie). EG’s season got off to a slow start with just 2 points scored at Gowrie, placing behind PC at 7 and CRB at 6. Halterman scored EG’s only points with fifth place in 3,000 meter run.

The Hawkettes have just a half-dozen team members and are limited to just five or six events per meet, so any points scored in the team standings are well earned. EG fared very well in the GR meet with 23 points to 12 for CRB, keeping the Hawkettes out of last place. Halterman was second in the 3,200 (13.07.4) and third in the 1,500 (6:04.53). The distance medley relay placed fourth, as did Lowe in the 400 hurdles. Kiner was sixth in the 100 hurdles.

TEAM SCORING @ GR: Audubon 185, Ar-We-Va 91, Adair-Casey and Glidden-Ralston 73, Aurelia 56, CAM (Anita) 43, EAST GREENE 23, Coon Rapids-Bayard 12.

The situation was reversed at Burnside with CRB scoring 19 points, ahead of CWL (Corwith) with 16 and EG in last place with 10. EG got points from Halterman finishing third in the 3,000, and sixth place finishes from Kiner in the 100 hurdles and the sprint medley relay.

TEAM SCORING @ SWG: Woodward-Granger 217, Southern Cal (Lake City) 138, Southeast Webster-Grand 62, Rockwell City-Lytton 56, Glidden-Ralston 45, Coon Rapids-Bayard 19, CWL (Corwith) 16, EAST GREENE 10.

Beyond tomorrow’s conference meet, the Hawks and Hawkettes will be looking for peak performances at the district meet on May 14. The top two finishers in each event of the boys district meet advance on to the 1A state track meet at Drake Stadium in Des Moines on May 22. In girls 1A track, each event winner of 12 regional meets advances to the state meet at Drake along with the next 12 best performances from among all 12 regionals. The girls state meet is run in conjunction with the boys meet in all four classes—1A, 2A, 3A and 4A.

BOYS GOLF: The Hawk golfers will be looking to improve on last year’s conference meet where they finished eighth among the 10 league teams, edging out Guthrie Center and West Central Valley (Stuart) and placing just behind conference newcomer Madrid.

EG has already notched a win over the Tigers, finishing second in a triangular on its home course at Lakeside Golf Course near Spring Lake. Woodward-Granger took first with 187, ahead of EG at 203 and Madrid’s 207. Josh Neese and Jessie Priest paced the Hawks with rounds of 48 followed by Zach Beyerink, 51, and Zach Hiller, 56.

The Hawks lost dual matches to Southeast Webster-Grand (178-194), Van Meter (187-228) and Guthrie Center (188-236). Josh Neese tied for medalist honors against Guthrie Center’s Patrick Ahrens and Zach Cain at 45 for the nine-hole round at Guthrie Center Golf Club.

Several of the Hawks’ top golfers are also on the track team, so the Hawks were a bit short-handed in a four-team tourney hosted by Southeast Webster-Grand at Dayton on April 20, the same night of the Toyne Relays. Prairie Valley won the meet with a 164 followed by SWG 174, Ogden 185, and EG 257. Neese paced the Hawks with a 52, followed by Zach Beyerink 54, Jacob Fester 60, and Brice Smith 90.

GIRLS GOLF: East Greene has just four members on the girls golf team and all but one are newcomers. It takes four golfers to combine for a team score and in some contests not all the Hawkette golfers are available. EG hosted Woodward-Granger and Madrid in a triangular on its home course, The Hill Golf Course at Grand Junction, on April 5 to open the season . WG won with a 219 followed by Madrid, 242, and EG, 329. Brandi Burrow and Kim Hatfield each shot 74 to lead EG. Leah Perry shot 78 and Tessa Lorentzen 103.

EG faced Van Meter on April 13 at River Valley Golf Course at Adel. The Bulldogs won the dual, 244-387. Hatfield led EG with 79, followed by Perry 88, and Lorentzen and Burrow both at 90.

EG took on SWG in dual at the Hill on April 14 with the Eaglettes shooting a 194, and two Hawkettes taking the course for EG. Perry shot 71 and Lorenzen 89. Hatfield and Lorenzen were on hand when EG hosted CRB on April 19 at the Hill. Hatfield shot a 68 and Lorentzen 114. CRB shot a 195.

The full Hawkette squad traveled to Guthrie Center on April 16, falling to the Tigerettes, 227 to 346.

EYE ON GJ SAYS: Coon Rapids-Bayard has dominated both boys and girls conference golf the last few years but the Crusader boys team will face a challenge this year from Panorama. CRB won both boys and girls conference titles last year and both squads made it through section and district play to advance to the state golf tournament.

Panorama has racked up a 23-4 record so far this year (based on wins in dual and triangular meets and overall tournament finishes) and is ranked 12th in Class 2A by the Iowa Golf Coaches Association. Panorama got the best of CRB in a head-to-head competition, 179 to 200, on Friday at Lake Panorama National. The Panthers also had a sizable advantage over CRB in the 12-team Panorama Invitational on April 24. Panorama took third with 156 while the Crusaders were eighth at 176.

CRB and Panorama have dominated the conference meet with the Crusaders winning eight championships since 1993 and Panorama winning five, all since 2000.

Just as CRB could be upended in golf today, the same fate could await Panorama in track tomorrow. The Panthers have breezed to the title the last three years, adding to the previous 14 West Central Conference crowns the school has won since it was formed in 1990. Panorama faced a challenge from Madrid in several meets last year, but the Panthers prevailed at the conference meet in Guthrie Center. Madrid is as strong this year as the team that won the state 1A title last year, if not better. The Tigers have taken team titles at Southern Cal and Colo-Nesco. When the Tigers and Panthers went up against each other April 20 at the Ballard Classic Relays in Huxley, Madrid came away with the Class B team championship with 148 points while Panorama was fourth in Class B with 60. The same scenario prevailed last Tuesday at the Bengal Relays in Gilbert with Madrid taking the crown among eight teams with 167 points and Panorama finishing fourth with 71.5.

EG will look to move up from last year’s ninth-place finish, two points behind Glidden-Ralston, since departed from the West Central, and five ahead of West Central Valley. GR has been replaced by Woodward-Granger, a solid track program. CRB, however, had one of its best track teams in years and scored 36 points for sixth place. The Hawks have been getting the edge over the Crusaders in most meets, so hopefully EG can keep that advantage and stay head of WCV while moving ahead of CRB in the standings.

Madrid should take the league crown while Panorama and Guthrie Center battle for second. What’s not clear is how the middle of the pack will shake out and how strong Van Meter and Earlham are this year. DMC had a 40-point advantage over EG at the Toyne Relays so it doesn’t look like the Hawks could leapfrog over the Lions. At the Ballard meet, Earlham was just 14 points behind Panorama with WG and WCV not that far behind. Comparatively, Van Meter scored 47 points at the Gilbert meet to finish sixth of eight teams, but in strong field.

Last year, EG scored in just three events and no higher than fourth in any of them. Bardole and Onken are both back in their field events, and the Hawks’ 4 x 100 and 4 x 200 relays are looking solid. Priest is strong in the 400 and if some of the other events that the Hawks placed in can bring in some fifth or sixth places and the strong events can score close to the top, EG can certainly improve on last year’s showing.

The Hawks will need to do much better than they did among the 13-team meet last week in Audubon, where WCV was well ahead of them in the points tally and CRB was one-half point better, leaving the Hawks stranded at 9 points total, tying them with CAM for the bottom.

The EG girls will be looking to get on the board as they were blanked at last year’s conference meet. Hopefully, that can get ahead of CRB, which scored just 3 points last year to take ninth. The hurdlers and Halterman in the distance events look to the best bets to score points.

The same scenario holds true in girls golf as EG will be hoping to field a full team and get on the team leaderboard. CRB looks to maintain its dominant position in the West Central. Panorama is a solid team, but not much of a threat as CRB beat them soundly in dual match earlier this season. Panorama has never won a West Central girls golf title.

Panorama’s girls team will most likely be unchallenged to snare an unprecedented 12th consecutive West Central track championship and 15th overall. Woodward-Granger looked to offer some solid completion to Panorama’s win streak, trailing the Lady Panthers by just a few points in some key meets but as the season moved along, Panorama returned to form and posted a big 42 point advantage over runner-up WG in winning the Tigerette Relays at Guthrie Center. The Lady Panthers have also won meets at Carroll and Perry and its own Kim Janvrin Invitational in Panora, while finishing second at the Adel-DeSoto-Minburn and Dallas Center-Grimes meets.

This year’s boys conference golf meet will be interesting as last year Glidden-Ralston nailed down the runner-up spot, just 20 strokes behind CRB. With GR now in the Rolling Hills Conference, it will be interesting to see how new member Woodward-Granger performs. WG does have a 16-stroke advantage over EG from the triangular meet that opened the season, but that was early so it will be interesting to see if EG can close the gap. Neese has greatly improved from the beginning of the season. A senior, he will be looking to close out his golf career at EG with a good showing. Priest is also a senior and a good outing from him could help move the Hawks up in the team standings. The Hawks have a good sized squad this year so they can send out their top six golfers on the course at Woodward with the best four counting in the team score.

Guthrie looks improved over last year’s ninth place showing, so EG will most likely fall behind them, especially since the Tigers took the Hawks to task in their head-to-head matchup. EG will need to keep the edge it had over Madrid in their triangular at Lakeside earlier this year. Van Meter and Des Moines Christian fielded strong teams last year, placing fourth and fifth in the conference and then placing second and third in the sectional meet at Pleasantville, which advanced them on to the district meet. VM had a 40-stroke advantage over EG in their dual meet, so they look to be strong again this year. Not clear is how strong DMC is this year, or Earlham for that matter, and if WCV is improved enough to move up from last place.

Next year the Hawks and Hawkettes will move to the Rolling Hills and resume conference competition with old rivals Glidden-Ralston and Paton-Churdan.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Hawkettes Look to Extend 2010 Win Streak

FACE DM CHRISTIAN ON LIONS’ HOME COURT


East Greene remains undefeated in girls basketball in the new year after sweeping Earlham and Van Meter last week. The Hawkettes opened January play with a win over Woodward-Granger on Jan. 5 and followed that up with a Saturday Jan. 9 victory at Madrid.

The 4-0 January start puts the Hawkettes at 7-5 for the season and 6-4 in the West Central Conference, good for fifth place and just a game behind fourth-place Guthrie Center (7-3).

Tonight EG will be out to avenge a Dec. 21 home loss to Des Moines Christian as the two teams square off in Urbandale. DMC got the best of the Hawkettes 43-30 in their December tilt. The Lions are tied with West Central Valley for second place in the conference at 9-2.

Last week’s sweep of Earlham and Van Meter was a repeat of the conference-opening weekend in early December. EG had beaten Earlham on the road on Friday (Dec. 4) 35-29 and Van Meter the following night in Rippey, 33-26. The Hawkettes continue to play tenacious defense as they held those same opponents in check last week as the teams opened the second half of conference play.

EG went to Van Meter Saturday, Jan. 16, and came away with a 43-30 win. The Hawkettes were at home on Friday and they showed great improvement over their first game with Earlham as they drubbed the Cardinals 44-24. The Hawkettes have held those two opponents to just an average of 27.3 points per game in the four contests.

EG jumped on Earlham early, holding them scoreless in the first quarter, 13-0, and extending the lead to a comfortable 24-4 at the half. The Hawkettes were up 37-11 after three periods and coasted the rest of the way, giving freshmen reserves Tori Lowe, Brittany Gunn and Liz Gunn some valuable varsity playing time.

Malarie Gilley paced a balanced Hawkette attack with 13 points. She was 6-10 from the field and 1-for-2 from behind the 3-point line. Molly Neese added 12 points and Katylnn Gannon 11. Rounding out the scoring were Jessica Beaman and Tia Lowe with 3 each and Jasmine Kinney with two. Gilley had a big night on the defensive end with 12 rebounds and five blocked shots. Neese had boards and Beaman 6.

EG shot a very solid 53% from the line on 19-of-36 field goals. The Hawkettes were 1-3 from three-point land but stumbled a bit at the free throw line, hitting just 5 of 11 for 45%. Both teams had trouble hanging on to the ball with EG guilty of 23 turnovers and Earlham 21. EG had a big advantage on the boards, 33-21.

Van Meter jumped out to an early lead in the Saturday game but EG came back to take a 12-8 lead at the first quarter break. The game remained tight in the second quarter with VM tying it up at 12 but EG edging ahead for a 16-12 at the half.

The Bulldogs game plan was to keep Gilley in check and they succeeded in the first half, holding her to just 2 points, but she got on track in the second half as the Hawkettes moved ahead after three quarters, 27-20, and outscored VM 16-10 to win by 13 points, 43-30.

Gilley lead the attack with 20 points, 14 rebounds and 3 blocked shots. Tia Lowe added 9, Beaman had 7, Neese 6, and Gannon 1. The Hawkettes were 15-39 from the floor for 39%. Gilley and Gannon combined for EG’s free throws. Gilley was 9-17 and Gannon 1-2, giving the Hawkettes a 10-19 night at the line for 53%.

Beaman had a solid night defensively with 8 rebounds and seven steals. The Hawkettes played a solid game all around, limiting their turnovers to 16 and being whistled for just 9 fouls. Van Meter was guilty of 24 turnovers and 15 fouls. EG had the edge on the boards, 29-25.

Aspen Rhodes led the Bulldogs with 11 points and 10 rebounds. The loss dropped Van Meter to 2-7 in conference action.

EYE ON GJ SAYS: This is a big week for the Hawkettes and could go long way in defining this season’s success. EG has had its way with this month with the bottom four teams in the conference--Earlham, Van Meter, Madrid and Woodward-Granger--who have a combined conference record of just 5-34. But tonight’s opponent (DMC) is the 15th-ranked team in Class 1-A, which has been ranked as high as eighth. This week’s opponents--DMC, Panorama and Guthrie Center--are three of the top four teams in the league.

League-leader Panorama (10-0) comes to Rippey on Thursday night for a game that was cancelled and rescheduled due to the snow storm on Friday, Jan. 8. The Panthers have been ranked all season in Class 2-A. Last week, Panorama was ranked 5th but is likely to drop a few spots when this week’s poll is released by the IGHSAU. The Panthers were beaten by Audubon 41-30 Saturday night in Audubon, dropping them to 11-2 for the season. Panorama’s only other loss was to Martensdale-St. Mary’s, which is the No. 2 team in Class 1-A. Audubon, a 2A school, improved to 11-1 for the year and will no doubt be ranked this week after knocking off Panorama. The Wheelerettes’ only loss this year has been to IKM-Manning, the 8th-ranked team in Class 2A.

Guthrie Center is Friday’s night opponent for another home game. The Tigerettes thumped EG 49-31 on Dec. 11 in Guthrie Center so the Hawkettes will be out to even the slate in Rippey.

West Central Conference Standings (through Friday, Jan. 15):
Panorama 10-0 (Ranked #5 in Class 2A)
Des Moines Christian 9-2 (Ranked #15 in Class 1A)
West Central Valley 9-2
Guthrie Center 7-3
East Greene 6-4
Coon Rapids-Bayard 4-5
Van Meter 2-7
Woodward-Granger 2-7
Earlham 1-9
Madrid 0-11

Thursday, July 9, 2009

BASEBALL

Hawks Fall to League Leaders

East Greene dropped games to two of the conference leaders on Tuesday and Wednesday, after wining three of its four previous games.

Earlham downed the Hawks 16-6 on Wednesday in Rippey, moving the Cardinals into a three-way tie for first place in the West Central at 13-4. The Hawks fell to 7-10 in the conference and 10-13 overall. EG came close to ending Panorama’s title hopes but fell to the Panthers 6-3 on Tuesday in Rippey. Panorama is also 13-4.

EG got the week off a good note with a 10-2 win over Glidden-Ralston. The previous Friday the Hawks blasted West Central Valley 15-1 in six innings. Heading into the WCV game the Hawks had lost a tight battle to Coon Rapids-Bayard, 6-4, on June 30 after winning 10-3 over Guthrie Center the previous night.

One of the Hawks’ biggest wins of the season came on Friday, June 26, when they downed Iowa Christian Academy 3-1. It was just the second loss of the season for ICA, champions of the Rolling Hills Conference at 11-1. ICA (16-2) has victories over West Central teams DMC and Van Meter this year. It’s only other loss was to RC opponent Walnut, which handed EG a 5-3 loss in the first round of the Hawks’ tournament in Rippey on June 20. EG lost the consolation game in the tourney to Class 2A Woodward-Granger, 11-8. East Sac, also a 2A school, won the championship beating Walnut 15-3.

Tyler Cooklin got the win against ICA giving up 10 hits, 4 walks and striking out 3. He had a big night at the plate too, going 2-3 with a single and a double.

EG heads to Madrid for its last conference game of the season tonight. EG will host the first two rounds of the Class 1A District Tournament in Rippey next week. EG faces Southeast Webster-Grand and Madrid takes on Glidden-Ralston on Tuesday, the winners of the those two games will meet on Thursday.

West Central Conference Standings
(Through Wed., July 8, Conf. and Reg. Season Records)
Des Moines Christian 13-4 17-8
Earlham 13-4 18-6
Panorama 13-4 15-4
Coon Rapids-Bayard 12-4 22-5
Van Meter 10-6 15-12
Madrid 9-8 13-11
East Greene 7-10 10-13
West Central Valley 5-12 6-19
Glidden-Ralston 2-15 4-19
Guthrie Center 0-17 1-23


EYE ON GJ SAYS: That was a big win for the Hawks over ICA and shows their potential. The team has just three seniors and its top two pitchers are sophomores, so next year looks promising. As for this year, EG has a chance to make a good showing on its home diamond in the district tourney next week, and tonight’s game at Madrid will show how both teams look heading into the tournament.

The conference race is very tight--as expected. Last year five teams (EG among them) were fighting for the conference crown and it went down to the last night, leaving four teams tied for the crown. It’s pretty much the same this year as DMC, Earlham and Panorama are knotted up at 13-4 and Coon Rapids-Bayard is right behind them at 12-4. Panorama takes on Earlham in Panora tonight so the loser of that game will be eliminated,

It was a five-team race as the week began, but thumpings at the hands of Earlham (14-1 in 5 innings) and CRB (12-2 in 5 innings) dropped Van Meter to 10-6 and out of the league chase. The Bulldogs can play the spoiler though, as they travel to Urbandale to take on Des Moines Christian tonight and host CRB tomorrow night (Friday) in Van Meter. Earlham is going for a league-sweep as the Lady Cardinals won the WC softball crown on Monday.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

BASEBALL

Hawks Score Big Win Over League Leader

East Greene picked up a big win at Panora 8-4 on Tuesday night, June 16, knocking the Panorama Panthers out of first place in the West Central Conference.

The Hawks have now won three straight and four of their last five, moving their season record to 6-3.

Not only did the win knock Panorama off the top of the league standings, but it moved the Hawks up from seventh place to fourth place, where they are tied with Van Meter at 4-2. Josh Neese and Jesse Luther each hit home runs to lead the Hawks at the plate. Tyler Cooklin held the Panthers in check, giving up 8 runs, 3 walks and striking out 3.

EG was up 8-0 and held off a surge by Panorama in the bottom of the seventh, with Brock Lyons coming in to relieve Cooklin after the Panthers had notched four runs. Lyons got the last out, striking out the batter with the bases loaded.

On Monday night, the Hawks took care of Glidden-Ralston 12-2 in a game shortened to six innings. Last week the Hawks beat Guthrie Center on Monday 11-4, fell to Coon Rapids-Bayard 5-1 on Tuesday but came back for a win over West Central Valley 9-2 on Thursday.

Against G-R, the Hawks pounded out 12 hits led by Cooklin going 3 for 4 with 2 singles, a double and 2 RBIs. Bradley Clark was 2 for 3 with a single and a double, and Neese went 3 for 4 with a double and 2 singles. Aaron Lyons had 3 RBIs off his single hit in two trips to the plate.

Wes Onken got the win for EG, giving up just 2 runs, 1 walk and striking out 8 Wildcat batters. The Hawks had a great night offensively and defensively with 8 stolen bases and just 1 error.

The West Central Valley game saw the Hawks pile up 13 hits, 10 stolen bases and no errors. Jesse Priest was 3 for 3 with 3 singles and 3 stolen bases. Onken got the win with Brock Lyons relieving him in the final inning.

West Central Conference Standings:
Earlham 5-1
Panorama 6-2
Des Moines Christian 6-2
East Greene 4-2
Van Meter 4-2
Madrid 5-3
Coon Rapids-Bayard 4-3
Glidden-Ralston 1-7
West Central Valley 1-6
Guthrie Center 0-8


SCOREBOARD
Wednesday, June 17:
DMC 3, MAD 2
Non-conference
CRB 10, Walnut 0
Carlisle 15, WCV 0
Martensdale-St. Mary’s 6, VM 3

Tuesday, June 16:
EG 8, PAN 4
WCV 12, GC 9
EAR 10, GR 0
CRB @ VM, ppd. to July 10
MAD @ DMC, ppd to Wed, June 17

Monday, June 15:
EG 12, GR 2
EAR 5, VM 2
CRB 9, WCV 0
DMC 6, PAN 4
MAD 5, GC 1

EYE ON GJ SAYS:

This is a big win for the Hawks and really tightens up the conference race. Any of the top seven teams in the league have a shot at the WC crown. Panorama, DMC and Madrid have a slight advantage at this juncture as they have played eight league games, while Earlham, EG and Van Meter have played just six. CRB may be 4-3 and in seventh place, but they’ve got a great baseball heritage, talented players and a veteran coach. Look for CRB to also shine in the post-season as they host both district and substate baseball tournaments.

EG is truly showing its mettle against the area “big schools.” West Central Valley, Panorama and Jefferson-Scranton are the three largest schools (all in Class 2A) on the Hawks’ baseball and Hawkettes’ softball schedules this season. Enrollment-wise, EG is the smallest of the 10 schools in the West Central, while non-conference foe J-S plays in various sports as either a 2A or 3A school. So far, the Hawks are 3-0 against these “Big Three,” downing J-S, West Central Valley and Panorama. The Hawkettes are 2-2, losing in league play to WCV and Panorama in Grand Junction, but beating Panorama down in Panora and downing J-S in a tournament in Ogden. Combined score: EG 5, BIG THREE 2. Small in numbers, but certainly not in heart and talent!