Staff Reports
The New Palestine girls cross-country team had four runners in the top eight to win the invitational division of Saturday’s FlashRock Invitational at Northview Christian Church in Carmel.
Senior Brenna Shaw won the individual title, running the 5K course in 18 minutes, 54.91 seconds, leading the Dragons to the victory.
New Palestine tallied 36 places, beating Pendleton Heights (76) by 40 spots. Lebanon (89) was third and Huntington North (116) fourth in the 12-team event.
Junior Emma Mann finished sixth (20:05.24), senior Kendall Mann seventh (20:16.44) and freshman Courtney Study eighth (20:17.7). Freshman Jocelynn Flagle was 14th (21:00.05) and Emily Adam finished 15th as the Dragons’ sixth runner.
The Dragon boys finished 14th with a total of 359 places. Hayden Isaacs was 63rd (19:03.61). Connor Lapenta finished 71st, Harrison Holloway 78th, Cameron Mann 88th and Jacob Collins 91st.
Cougars boys take
2nd at Leffler Invite
The Greenfield-Central boys cross-country team placed five runners in the top 20 to finish second at the Yorktown Jim Leffler Invitational on Saturday.
Leading the Cougars was third-place finisher Matt Wickham (17:08). Freshman Liam Brinkruff finished seventh (17:18). Griffen Wheeler was 11th (17:36). Chris Ross was 15th (17:52) and Austin Nigh was 18th (17:55) to round out the scoring.
Luke Muckerheide was 22nd (18:05), and Morgan Flanagan was 31st (18:46).
Cougars girls place
3rd at Invite
The Greenfield-Central girls cross-country team place third at the Jim Leffler Invitational hosted by Yorktown at the Muncie Sportsplex Saturday morning.
The Cougars were led by overall champion Audrey Brinkruff, who finished in 19:31.9. Sophia Moss placed 10th for the Cougars in 21:25.1.
Emma Bogle placed 30th, running a 26-second personal best. Emily Wright placed 33rd, Reagan Crouch placed 39th, Gia Valenzano placed 49th, and Emma Leininger placed 58th.
Girls Soccer
Dragons soar past Eagles for victory
The New Palestine girls soccer team scored six goals Saturday en route to a 6-3 victory at Hoosier Heritage Conference foe Delta.
The Dragons started slow but began to dominate in the second half.
Bethany Aldridge and Anna Luker scored two goals each in the contest. Maddy Potter and Koryn Marshall also scored, with Marshall tallying her first career varsity goal.
Marauders beat No. 3 HSE
The Mt. Vernon girls soccer team defeated third-ranked Hamilton Southeastern 1-0 on Thursday night.
Mattie Isger scored in the 28th minute and the goal stood behind 10 saves from goalkeeper Riley Britt.
This victory for Mt. Vernon marked the program’s first against HSE in school history.
“The girls wanted it today, and they were intense and left everything on the field,” MV coach Steve Williams said.
“I think this is as hard as I have seen them play, scrambling and fighting for every ball. It was as gratifying of a win as I have had as a coach. All of our players played with heart. A signature win for our program.”
Boys Soccer
Dragons fall to Eagles
The New Palestine boys soccer team dropped a 3-0 decision Saturday at home against Hoosier Heritage Conference foe Delta.
The game was scoreless at halftime, but Delta took advantage of a fortunate bounce to take a 1-0 lead in the second half. The Eagles added two more goals in the final six minutes, one on a penalty kick and one off the run of play late.
Marauders split weekend Classic
The Mt. Vernon boys soccer team lost to East Central 2-1 (4-3 shootout) and defeated Bishop Chatard 6-3 to split at the Marauders Classic on Saturday.
In the second game of the day, Mt. Vernon defeated Bishop Chatard after falling behind early 2-0.
Jordan Price found Aiden Cappelletti for Mt. Vernon’s first goal. Ten minutes later Carsen Brandon found Evan LeRoy for the equalizer in the first half.
With the momentum going into the second half, Brennan La Belle got the go-ahead goal assisted by Tyler Webb. Webb later found the net three times on assists from Brandon and LeRoy (2).
In the first game against East Central, Price played a through ball to Cappelletti who beat the keeper far post for a 1-0 lead with 16 minutes left in the first half.
Unfortunately with 1:20 left on the clock, East Central equalized on a far post shot. The Marauders ended up losing in penalty kicks 4-3 after 14-scoreless overtime minutes.
Volleyball
Marauders Win Triple title
The Mt. Vernon volleyball team competed in the Triple Classic at Bellmont High School on Saturday and faced a pair of Class 3A powerhouses in Angola and Bellmont.
The Marauders defeated Angola 3-0 (25-15, 25-21, 25-17) before vanquishing host Bellmont 3-1 (25-23, 25-19, 23-25, 25-22) for the title.
Mt. Vernon’s blocking turned out to be the difference in its four-set victory over Bellmont. Macy Lyons led the charge with nine stuff blocks and pressured the Bellmont attackers all afternoon.
Cecilia Bulmahn picked up her 1,000th career kill in the victory and topped all attackers with 21 kills. Claire Ertel added 10. Five Marauders registered double digits in digs. Abby Herman had 25, Delaney Bowser added 23, Ertel had 16, Rylee Ugen finished with 15, and Bulmahn recorded 13.
In the first match against Angola, the Marauders were able to take down the Hornets in straight sets. Ugen had 32 assists to with Ertel leading the team on the receiving end of those deliveries for 14 kills. Bowser led the defense with 13 digs.
The Marauders are now 12-4 on the season.
Dragons narrowly fall to Arabians
The New Palestine volleyball team dropped a close match Thursday to Pendleton Heights in four sets: 25-23, 25-22, 23-25, 25-19.
Kaelyn Armstrong led the Dragons with 15 kills and seven digs. Jesi Hall had 13 kills and three blocks. Liv Ellis added eight kills. Grace Myers led the defense with 21 digs. Trinity Oertel had 13 digs and two aces. Sarah Adam added 42 assists and nine digs.
“Pendleton is a really good team with a dominant outside hitter that’s nearly impossible to stop. We played well tonight and battled the entire set,” Dragons coach Kelli Gabehart said. “No reason to hang our heads. We just need to learn from it and move on.”
Cougars split tri-way match
The Greenfield-Central volleyball team lost to Cathedral 3-1 and defeated Noblesville 3-1 to split their tri-match on Saturday.
The Cougars faced Cathedral in their first match of the day, falling 24-26, 25-15, 23-25, 23-25.
Senior outside hitter, Ava Antic, recorded a double-double with 16 kills and 18 digs. Senior libero, Rachel Campbell, tallied 29 digs. Molly Schwarzkopf registered six blocks.
G-C bounced back against Noblesville, 14-25, 25-16, 25-10, 25-14.
Antic recorded 15 kills and nine digs. Brooke Herrell followed closely behind with 13 kills. Campbell tallied 21 digs. Schwarzkopf had four blocks. Junior setter, Morgan Hornaday, had 24 assists in the match.
“Today was a long and tough day,” said G-C head coach Ron Heck. “I am pleased with our win today against Noblesville. Something we need to work on is starting matches quicker and finishing with a purpose when we are ahead. Going one and one today is tough, but it was a long day for the girls. … I am looking forward to what this challenging week ahead brings us.”
