Viking Sports Report, December 15 – January 13, 2017

Viking-Sports-Report-December-15-January-13-2017The varsity wrestling team finished with a record of 3-2 this past weekend at the tough Traicoff Duals. The duals had many ranked teams participating and our wrestlers performed extremely well. Going undefeated on the day were Joey Strickland (120), Jacob Bond (126), Brycen Nylin (132), and Ronnie Deluna (170).

The JV wrestlers also participated this past weekend in the Crown Point Invite. The Vikings had over 10 wrestlers compete and came away with 20 victories combined. Placing in the tournament were Ethan McFadyen (3rd), Aidan Pollitt (3rd), Jaedan Hufford (3rd), Tommy Stalmah (3rd), and David Bittorf (3rd).

The freshmen wrestlers travelled to Crown Point on Monday night. The following individuals had matches: Jayce Stephens 1-1, Ethan McFadyen 0-2, Colin Busse 1-1, Jaedan Hufford 0-1, Colin Burge 1-1, Reese Mayernik 0-1, and David Bittorf 1-0.

The girls’ basketball teams made a visit to Avalon Springs Health Campus to interact with the residents. They showed off their mad skills with a basketball as well as talked with the residents about a myriad of topics. Judging by the smiles and the giggling the visit had a profound impact on both the team and the residents. The residents have all been invited to attend the girls’ game against Penn on December 22. The team has plans to return sometime in January to spend time with their new friends.

The girls’ Varsity and JV basketball teams were on the road this past Friday and Saturday nights. The JV split losing to Crown Point on Friday 30-44 with Annelise Rubin scoring 8 points and Grace Healy 8, While on Saturday, they defeated Whiting 52-8 with Annelise Rubin again leading the way with 11 points along with Kiana Oelling with 11 and Grace Healy 9. They are now 7-3 overall and 2-1 in the DAC. The Varsity downed Crown Point 49-36 and Whiting 62-37. Against Crown Pont, Jessica Gast and Taelynn Oelling scored 14 each followed by Shea Pendleton and Ari Gerdt contributing 7 points each. On Saturday, Ari Gerdt led the way with 16 points followed by Maddie Molnar with 14 points and Aleah Ferngren with 13 points. Ferngren also blocked two shots on the weekend! The Varsity is now 9-3 and 2-1 in the DAC.

The freshmen girls’ basketball team lost a close one to Chesterton this past Thursday 18-19. Lucia Otten led the Vikings with 6 points and 6 rebounds and Ryanne Reese had 4 steals. They are now 6-5 on the season.

The boys’ swim team lost to Crown Point last week 96-84. First place finishers were the 200 yd. Medley Relay of Sam Behrend, Cole St. Aubin, Ryan Hrosik, and Alex Stamp, Ryan Hrosik in the 50 yd. Freestyle and 100 yd. Butterfly, Cole St. Aubin in the 100 yd. Freestyle and 100 yd. Breaststroke, and the 200 yd. Freestyle Relay of St. Aubin, Behrend, Shenal Karunaratne, and Hrosik. On Tuesday, they lost 49-136 to Chesterton. Ryan Hrosik won the 50 freestyle and Jack Schwartz won diving. Isaac Anderson swam the 500 Free dropping 5 seconds to swim a best time of 5:45.57, as well as Cole St. Aubin swimming a season best 1:02.45 in the 100 Breaststroke. Ryan Hrosik also finished second in the 100 Free with a time of 48.45. Congratulations also goes out to Sam Behrend who was very close to a regular season best time in the 100 Butterfly with a 55.94, after not swimming it since last February due to an injury.

The girls’ swim team was also defeated by Chesterton 43-143. Liz Simac was the lone winner in the 100 breaststroke. Freshman Janine Holleworth had some awesome swims in her 50 fly split in the relay and her individual 100 butterfly both were some of her fastest times this season. Sophomore Gillian Rossmann dropped 6 seconds in her 500 freestyle and had great pacing throughout the entire race. Jackie Bontrager anchored the 400 freestyle with a strong comeback swim of 53.74 and had season best times in all of her events. Job well done!

The boys’ JV basketball team defeated the East Chicago Central Cardinals 51-43 on Saturday. The Vikings were led by Brandon Mack who scored 12 points and pulled down 6 rebounds. Carter Casko added 7 points and CJ Opperman and Cooper Jones each grabbed 8 rebounds. The Vikings are now 5-0 on the season.

The Varsity defeated East Chicago by a score of 58-44. Brandon Newman scored 23 and had 13 rebounds, Nate Aerts added 17 points and 8 rebounds, and Marcus Gholston added 8 points and 4 rebounds. They are also 5-0 on the young season. They are currently #17 in the IBCA Coaches Poll and #13 in the AP Class 4A poll.

In football news, Jake Leffew has verbally committed to play at the University of Indianapolis and Adrian Guzman has verbally committed to play at Valparaiso University. Congratulations to both!

The Valparaiso High School Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2018 induction will be held Saturday, January 20th at 2:00 PM at the Old Town Banquet Center. Tickets are available at the Athletic Office for $35.00 each. The program is 2:00-5:30 PM dinner will be served at 2:30 PM. The Inductees will also be recognized at the boys’ Varsity basketball game vs. South Bend Washington in the Boucher Gymnasium at Benjamin Franklin Middle School at 6:30 PM. The JV game starts at 5:00 PM. The Class of 2018 includes the Anselm Family (Debbie, Jamie, Jeff, Mike, Stacy and Scott), James Arnold, the Butterfield Family (David, Larry, Jeff and Steven), Rob Cavanaugh, Erik Chilian, Angie Cook Moon, Coach John Cook, Micky Mannel, Coach Terry Cox, Mike Jones, Coach John Knauff, Dave Knott, the O’Neill Family (Martin “Chip,” Mike, Steve and Tom), Joe Otis, Brett Polizotto, Peter Sattler and Lorrie Woycik. Congratulations to all and we hope to see you at Old Town and Boucher Gym!