The boys’ golf teams hosted golf tournaments at the Valparaiso Country Club this past Saturday. The Varsity was victorious defeating Penn, Granger Christian, Elkhart Memorial and Michigan City. Andrew Karr was medalist with a 77. Mark Civanich finished second and Michael Smith third. The JV team placed second in their invitational. On Tuesday, they hosted Morgan Township and South Central at Forest Park. The Vikings were victorious on both the Varsity and JV levels. Hayden Dickerson, Trent Risetter, and Ben Kroeger led the way in the Varsity match finishing first, second, and third respectively. On Tuesday they defeated conference foes Lake Central and Michigan City at Forest Park. Michael Smith took medalist honors with a 39 and Mark Civanich and Zach Holmes tied for second with a 40. The team travelled to Portage Robbinhurst on Thursday. The Varsity easily dispatched Portage and LaPorte for the victory. Andrew Karr shot a 32 good enough for 1st place followed by teammates Zach Holmes and Michael Smith in 2nd and 3rd respectively. The JV defeated LaPorte, but lost to Portage. Trent Risetter was 1st with Joey LaValley in 2nd. The Varsity is 6-1 overall and 4-1 in the DAC.
Valpo girls’ tennis defeated Portage 4-1 on Tuesday. #1 Singles Alexis Orlich, #2 Singles AK Flude, #3 Singles Julie Wappel, and #2 Doubles Grace Healy and Corinne Timmons were all victorious. The JV won nine out of ten matches. In a rain shortened match on Wednesday, they defeated Hobart 3-0. #2 singles AK Flude, #3 singles Julie Wappel, and #1 doubles team of Ema Gilliana and Keeley Evans were all victorious. The JV won 5-0.
The freshmen baseball team travelled to Crown Point on Tuesday. They came away with a 13-8 loss to the Bulldogs. Cooper Jones went 3-3 with 2 doubles and a single and a walk. Matt Levenda went 2-5 with a double and a single. They are now 8-3 overall and 3-2 in the DAC.
The JV Viking baseball team defeated Highland 6-5. Down 5-4 entering the final inning, the Vikes rallied and secured the victory. Ty Gill started the rally with a walk, he later scored on a throwing error. Spencer Reed doubled and Grant Comstock roped a liner down the left field line for the walk off victory. John Mudd picked up the win in relief of Ty Gill who started on the mound. Comstock was 2-4 with 3 RBI, Mudd was 1-3 with 2 RBI. They beat Crown Point on Tuesday 13-8. Spencer Reed earned the win on the mound. The offense propelled the Vikings to victory. They pounded out a total of 16 hits. Ty Gill, Logan Davidson, Spencer Reed, Tyler Bukur, Grant Comstock, and Blake Lemmon all had multiple hits. Gill, Comstock, T. Bukur, and M. Bukur added home runs. The Vikes are 10-4 overall (6-3 DAC).
The Varsity Baseball team fell to Griffith 3-1 in a weather shortened game Friday evening. Ryan Troxel put forth another solid effort pitching 4 innings with 0 ER's. Unfortunately, the game was called right as the Vikings were gaining momentum. They are 7-3 overall and 3-3 in the DAC.
Former Valparaiso Viking baseball coach Pat Murphy was enshrined into the Indiana Baseball Hall of Fame earlier this spring. At the game on Tuesday, Pat and his wife, Nancy, were recognized for this achievement. Congratulations Murph, we are proud of you!
JV softball won both games of the double header this past weekend against Highland. In game 1 it took 8 innings, but they were victorious 8-7. In game 2 they won in the bottom of the 7th inning 14-13. For the day, Michaela Nagy was able to put together 2 singles, 2 doubles, and 2 triples. Jazmine Cwenta hit her second home run of the season in the second game. On Tuesday, they lost to LaPorte 10-11. Maddy Wills had a great game going 5 for 5, two of the hits were doubles. On Wednesday, they lost 10-0 to Chesterton. Maddy Wills went 2 for 3 and Hannah Flynn went 2 for 2. They are now 7-7 overall.
The Varsity softball team hosted the Slicers from LaPorte on Tuesday. In a quick seven inning game the Vikings won 2-1. Emily Glover doubled and Brooke Templin homered. Glover pitched the complete game. Wednesday they lost to Chesterton in a rain shortened affair after 5 complete innings 5-1. They are now 8-5 overall and 6-5 in the DAC.
The IHSAA girls’ softball tournament draw occurred this past Sunday. Valparaiso drew Michigan City in the bye game on May 22 to follow the winners of Chesterton vs. Hobart and Merrillville vs. Portage at 4:30 PM. The first two games involving those schools will be played on May 21 starting at 4:30 PM. The championship will be played on May 24 at 4:30 PM. All games will be played at Merrillville HS. Admission is $6 per session or $10 for a season pass.
Last Friday night the boys’ track team traveled to Warsaw and competed in the Max Truex Invite. The team finished 4th behind Ft. Wayne Carroll, Homestead, and Penn. Several season bests were established including the 4x800m Relay, Jackson Kurth in the 100m and Long Jump, Noah Wronko in the 200m, Brett Otterbacher in the 400m, Matt Cavanaugh in 1600m, Carl Frey and Collin Huber in 3200m, and Jarred Craft in the Discus. The large number of season bests are a credit to the hard work and progress that the athletes are making as they approach the post-season. On Tuesday night the Vikings went 1-1 against Michigan City and Crown Point, respectively. The team shook off a nasty commute to Crown Point and posted season bests in the 4x100 and 4x800 relays. Near countless other individuals set personal records on the warm and windy night that was the final DAC dual meet of the year. They finished 4-3 in the DAC tied for 3rd place.
This past Tuesday, the girls’ Track and Field team came out of the cold to split a pair of dual meets, defeating the Wolves of Michigan City, but losing a close meet to the Bulldogs of Crown Point. We ended our dual meet season with a 4-3 won/loss record going into next week's DAC championship. The highlight of the meet was a stupendous 12' pole vault by senior Brittney Clark. Excellent performances were also turned in by high jumpers sophomore Jordan Coplan and freshman Kate Pastoret, shot put/discus seniors Mary Johnson and Maddie Ochs, freshman Bella Grisafi in the 400, freshman hurdler Precious Harvey, and distance runners senior Logan Ferngren, sophomore Ava Gilliana, and freshmen sisters Sarah and Emily Worthington. They finished 4-3 in the DAC tied for 3rd place.
Valparaiso High School Senior Ari Gerdt was invited by Hoosier Basketball Magazine to play in the Hoosiers' Reunion All-Star Classic in Knightstown at the historic Hoosier Gym. The boy/girl double header will be played on Friday, June 1st at 6:00 PM Indianapolis time.
Attached to the VSR this week are the Valparaiso High School senior student/athletes who have been named Duneland Athletic Conference Academic All Conference recipients. To qualify the student/athlete must have earned a varsity letter has attained accumulative grade point average of 3.7 or better during four years of high school. Congratulations to the 79 Valparaiso High School student/athletes for their excellence in the classroom and on the field of play!