The La Crosse boys track and field team used a strong showing in the field events to win their third straight 1A regional track and field meet at Lewis Field in Hays. The Leopards scored 85 points and finished 23 ahead of second place Wallace County. Grainfield-Wheatland won the girls title with 69 points. Quinter finished second with 52.

The Leopards had only three first place finishes. The 4×100 relay team of Andrew Jay, Taylor Yohe, Marshall Jay and Lucas Moeder brought home gold as did Sheldon Schmidt in the shot put and Moeder in the javelin. Cole Kershner was second in the shot as was Moeder in the discus. Marshall Jay also finished second in the triple jump. The 4×400 relay team finished third.

Otis-Bison’s Jordan Hoffman won three events, taking the 100, 200 and 400. Stockton’s Jaden Williams won the 100 and 300 hurdles while teammates Reed Stephens won the 800 and Kian Coffey the triple jump.

Victoria’s Connor Gagnon won the long jump and Clayton Roth the triple jump. Roth was also fourth in the 300 hurdles. Jayden Newbold finished second in the long jump and was a part of the fourth-place 4×400 relay team which included Julie and Audra Nowak and Karly Oberle.

Alexcia Duetscher brought home two first-place finishes and two third’s to lead the Ellis girls’ track and field team at the Smith Center 2A Regional Friday. Duetscher won the high jump and long jump and finished third in the 200 meters and 300 hurdles and qualifies for state in all four events.

Kaliegh Sonenson won the pole vault while teammates Ashley Mattheyer was second in the high jump, Rachel Keller third in the shot put and Sydney Gottschalk fourth in the pole vault.

The Railer boys were led by Jared Pfeifer who qualified in four events, finishing third in the long jump and fourth in the 110 and 300 hurdles and was on the fourth-place 4×400 relay team along with Sean Lee, Brendon Brenner and Landon Younger.

Brandon Groff finished fourth in the javelin to also qualify to state for Ellis.

Plainville’s Hadley Gillum wins the discus and Dylan Wiesner the javelin and the 4×100 relay also brought home a gold medal. The 4×400 relay finished second.

Trego’s Devon Ghumm finished second in the shot put and the girls’ 4×800 relay team finished fourth.

The Ellis baseball team will be the No. 7 seed at the 2-1A state baseball tournament next week in Great Bend. The 12-8 Railers open with 19-3 Troy Thursday at 4pm. 23-0 Udall is the tournament’s No. 1 seed.

2-1A State Tournament Pairings
May 29, Great Bend Sports Complex
No. 1 Udall (23-0) vs. No. 8 Cedar Vale/Dexter (13-10, 11am
No. 4 Eskridge/Mission Valley (17-6) vs. No. 5 Pittsburg-St. Mary’s Colgan (17-6), 1:30pm
No. 2, Troy (19-3) vs. No. 7 Ellis (12-8), 4pm
No. 3 Little River (18-5) vs. No. 6 Elkhart (15-8), 6:30pm

2-1A State Tournament Bracket

The Russell/Victoria baseball team will be the No. 6 seed at the 4A Division II state tournament at Stanion Field in Pratt. The 14-8 Broncos will open with 18-4 Trinity Academy out of Wichita in the final game of the day at 6:30 next Thursday.

4A Division II State Tournament Pairings
May 29, Stanion Field, Pratt, KS
No. 1 Perry-Lecompton (19-3) vs. No. 8 Goodland (7-13), 11am
No. 4. Baxter Springs (18-4) vs. No. 5 Concordia (15-5), 1:30pm
No. 2. Burlington (18-4) vs. No. 7 KC-Bishop Ward (12-10), 4pm
No. 3 Wichita-Trinity Academy (18-4) vs. No. 6 Russell/Victoria (14-8),
6:30pm

4A Division II State Tournament Bracket

The Ellis baseball team is headed to state. The Railers beat Herington 12-6 then knocked off Lincoln 15-0 in three innings to win the Lincoln 2-1A Regional.

Ellis scored three in the first, nine in the second and three in the third in the title game. Clayton Feik went 2-for-3 and drove in four. Dalton Hensley had three RBIs. Brandon Bollig struck out six of the 12 batters he faced.

Ellis took control of the first game early as well, scoring three runs in the first, second, fourth and fifth innings against Herington. Easton Smith struck out eight in the complete game win. Brevin LaBarge went 2-for-4 and drove in four.

The Railers improve to 11-8 and will play on Thursday at the 2-1A state tournament in Great Bend.

By DUSTIN ARMBRUSTER
Hays Post

Hays High and Maize South each scored in just one inning Wednesday afternoon. The difference is that the Indians scored just one run in the first, while the Mavericks pushed three across in the third for the 3-1 victory.

Hays used two singles and a Maverick error to take a 1-0 lead after the first inning.  The Indians starting pitcher Layne Downing cruised through the first two innings before running into trouble in the third. The Mavericks led the inning off with a Johnny Heppler single. Heppler moved to second on a balk and then was called safe on a close play at third base on a bunt. A sacrifice bunt followed by two doubles scored the last three runs of  the game.

Maize South freshman pitcher Jordan Maxson faced just one over the minimum over the third, fourth, fifth and sixth inning.

The Indains gave themselves one last chance to save their season in the bottom of the seventh with a Downing lead off double. South would bring Nate McBroom into the game to shut the Indians down with two pop-ups and strike out to earn his second save of the season.

Hays ends the year at 13-8.  Maize South improves to 8-12.  The Indians graduate four seniors from this year’s team.

Postgame Highlights

Frank Leo Postgame Interview

The Trego golf team placed two in the top-10 and won the team title at the Atwood 2A Regional tournament Monday.

Trego finished with a 327 team score, 14 shots better than second-place Oberlin. Plainville was third with a 351 combined score.

Ellis’ Skyler Tebo won the individual title with an even-par 72. Trego’s Blake Huxman was second with a one-over 73 and Dion Reetz was eighth with an 80.

Plainville’s Colten Bobek was sixth with an 82 and Craig Garvert carded an 86 in a five-way tie for tenth.

Ness City’s Darby Schwartzkopf turned in an 85 and was one six individuals to qualify for the state tournament next Tuesday, May 27th at Fort Hays Municipal Golf Course in Hays.