The JV wrestlers went to Chesterton on January 25th to compete in the JV DAC Invitational. The following Vikes had successful performances: Ethan McFadyen 4-0, Jaeden Hufford 3-0, Jack Thursby 2-1, Aidan Pollitt 2-1, and Ethan Gaskill 2-1.
The Varsity wrestlers participated in the IHSAA Sectional this past weekend. Placing 6th were Alex Spoor, Jack Thursby, and David Bittorf. Placing 5th were Jayce Stephens, Jeff Furst, and JB Cioe. Five wrestlers are advancing to the IHSAA Regionals in Crown Point this Saturday. In 3rd place were Jak Krouse (113), Jacob Bond (126), Collin Kwiatkowski (160), and Joey McIntyre (195). Ian Dembowski was the Sectional champion in the 138 lbs. weight class.
The boy’s swim team had an excellent showing at the DAC conference meet on Saturday. Every swimmer swam a season best time and most also had lifetime best times. To start the meet off the 200 medley relay of Sam Behrend, Cole St. Aubin, Ryan Hrosik and Will Miltenberger, swam a 1:36.89 and barely got beat out by Chesterton to finish 2nd. Their time was faster than the state qualifying time. In the 200 IM Sam Behrend dropped nearly 7 seconds to swim a 2:01.61 and placed 5th Alex Stamp dropped nearly 4 seconds to finish 10th Ryan Hrosik dominated the 50 free setting a new DAC record at 21.00 and finished 1st. Will Miltenberger finished 8th with a time of 23.12. Jack Schwartz dove a great meet to win diving with a score of 407.40. Cole St. Aubin dropped nearly a full second to swim a 47.39 in the 100 free to finish in 2nd place. Will Miltenberger (51.33) also dropped over a second to finish in 10th with Clay Hatch right behind him in 11th with a 51.83. Shenal Karunaratne (5:14.79) and Liam Shepherd (5:19.51) both dropped about 7 seconds in the 500 freestyle. Isaac Anderson (5:26.65) also dropped an astounding 9 seconds. The 200 free relay finished first just barely ahead of Chesterton with a time of 1:27.01. Cole St. Aubin also won the 100 breast stroke dropping almost 4 seconds to swim a 58.92. The 400 free relay dropped 4 seconds overall to swim a 3:26.33 and finish in 4th place. Overall the boys had an outstanding meet that took them to a second place finish in the DAC.
The freshmen boys’ basketball team has been busy since last week. On Thursday, January 25 they defeated Crown Point in both the A and B game. In the A game, Valpo won 36-26. AJ Alburo led the way with 8 points followed by JoJo Villagran with 7 and Grant Comstock with 6. In the B game, Valpo won 35- 18 with Jake Metz scoring 9, Tommy Burbee 7 and Jack Shifflet 5 points. On Saturday they travelled to Penn for a tournament. Valpo lost to Penn 33-32 in the morning game. Villagran had 8 and Comstock 6 points. In the afternoon game, Valpo easily defeated Elkhart Memorial 59-13. Villagran had 15, Comstock 13, and John Hofer added 11 points. On Tuesday, they hosted Michigan City in an A game. It was an easy 63-26 victory with Villagran chipping in 15, Comstock 11, and Clay MacLagan adding 8 points. The team is now 15-2.
Friday the Valpo boys’ basketball JV team defeated the Merrillville Pirates in Overtime 62-57. They were led by CJ Opperman's 18 points and 6 rebounds and Luke Balash's 15 points and 5 rebounds. Saturday the Vikings defeated the Munster Mustangs 64-54 in another overtime thriller that included CJ Opperman hitting two 3 point shots in the Final 30 seconds to send it to extra time. Opperman lead the way with 20 points and 5 boards. Peyton Krutz had 9 points and 6 rebounds and Cooper Jones had 8 points and 6 rebounds. Last evening, they defeated LaPorte 67-38. Peyton Krutz led the offensive barrage with 13 points and 4 rebounds, Tommy Cavanaugh had 12 points, and CJ Opperman added 9 points and 5 rebounds. The Junior Varsity is 14-1 on the year.
The Varsity won two thrilling games this past weekend with last second three pointers. On Friday, they beat Merrillville in overtime 57-54 on a banked three pointer by Nathan Aerts. He finished with 22 points and 3 rebounds. Brandon Newman also dropped in 22 points and 12 rebounds. Colin Walls added 4 assists. On Saturday they beat Munster 56-55 with a three pointer by Brandon Newman with eight seconds to go. Newman had 23 points and 5 rebounds followed by Nathan Aerts with 14 points. Colin Walls had 8 rebounds and 3 assists. Last night they dispatched LaPorte 77-51. Brandon Newman dropped in 25 points and 9 rebounds, Nate Aerts had 13 points, CJ Opperman scored 8 points and had 4 rebounds while Colin Walls dished out 5 assists.
The Viking boys’ basketball team hosted alumni from their storied past this past Saturday. Several individuals dating back to the Class of 1956 were recognized at halftime. Those in attendance included: Gary Connors (1956), Ken Jankowski (1962), Newt Brown (1974), Steve Meyer (1976),Jim Bisacky (1982), Bryan Behnke (1988), Brad Cavanaugh (1988), Rob Cavanaugh (1990), Nate McMillan (1992), Chad Tolson (1992), Chris Kaleth (1993), Jake Lieske (2004), John Hanselman (2005), Ryan Osburn (2005), Justin Osburn (2014), Max Jindra (2015), Steve Helm (2016), Jay Bisacky (2017), Trace Ramsey (2017), and Connor Wolf (2017).
The girls’ Coaches vs Cancer game against Munster last Thursday raised over $1194 from the bake sale, gift basket raffle and t-shirt sales to be donated to the American Cancer Society. Thank you fans for helping out a great cause!
The freshmen girls’ basketball team ended their season this past Saturday in the Penn tournament. Valparaiso beat Mishawaka in the opening game 23-5. Sam Sabol score 6 points and had 2 rebounds and a steal. In the championship game Valpo fell to Penn 22-12 in a hard fought game. Six different players had 2 points while Sydney Vorrier grabbed 5 rebounds. They finished their season 9-10.
The girls’ basketball team defeated state ranked #14 Chesterton (19-3) for the second time this season 56- 49 in the first round of the sectional. Taelynn Oelling had an outstanding game with 17 points, 12 rebounds and 6 blocked shots. Jessica Gast added 14 points, Shea Pendleton had 9 points and Ari Gerdt added 12 rebounds. This was a great team effort taking them to 14-10 on the season. Next up is a rematch with Portage on Friday at 7:30 in the semifinals.
Saturday, January 25th, Pat Murphy, former VHS head baseball coach was the 185th inductee into the Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame. Coach Pat Murphy competed against several Hall of Fame coaches throughout his 28 year tenure at VHS. During that time he accumulated 483 wins, 2 DAC championships, 13 sectional championships and was the IHSBCA Regional Coach of the Year 3 times in 1991, 1995, and 1996. He is very appreciative of the support he has received from his wife, Nancy of 45 years and their two sons Michael and Tim. In addition to his family he made sure to acknowledge his past coaches and supporters including but not limited to: Todd Evans, Chad Evans, Chance Garbison, Greg Simms, Dave Coyle, Steve Krutz, Rich Spicer, Dave Watson, Todd Coffin, Jeff Wood, Mark Hoffman, Dale Gott, and Dan Miller.
Congratulations to VHS senior Michael Scarsella who was voted an IFCA Region 1 Senior All Star cornerback in football. He will now be considered for the annual North-South All Star game.
The gymnastics team lost a hard-fought battle to Chesterton last night, 113.725 to 112.3. Valpo had a solid team effort, with Rachel Moneta placing second on Vault and Floor, and 4th All-Around. Whitney McKeon was 5th All-Around and on Floor, and 4th on Vault. Lizzy Wilson added 5th place finishes on Vault and Uneven Bars, and 6th on Floor and All-Around. Jenna Algozine was 2nd on Uneven Bars and 6th on Floor; Megan Wagenblast was 2nd on Beam. The team is now 5-1 in the DAC. Team II lost 102.75 to 100.275. Katie Pastoret won Uneven Bars, and Eden Roberts was second All-Around and 3rd on Beam. Sami Bluhm placed 3rd on Vault, with Jade VerSchure 4th on Vault and Beam.
The 2016-17 Valparaiso boys’ soccer team recently was recognized by the United Soccer Coaches for their academic excellence. They were one of three teams in the state of Indiana. The USC Team Academic Award is presented to high school soccer teams with a minimum combined GPA of 3.4 or higher. The 2016-17 team had a GPA of 3.75. Congratulations to Coach Jeftich and his student-athletes!