Published: October 10, 2008 12:35 am         

Caston advances in soccer sectional

Caston beat Peru 3-1 in a shootout Thursday in the opening round of the Caston Boys Soccer Sectional.

“This is our first sectional win, and I am pretty proud of that,” Caston coach Mark Gardner said. “The boys played hard [Thursday], and I don’t think they will stop after [Thursday]. I really don’t. We had 15 shots on goal to Peru’s three.”

Preston Howard, Garrett Johnson and Dylan Johnson all scored a goal in the shootout, and Shawn Rentschler had three saves for the Comets.

Caston (10-5-2) plays North Miami at noon in the semifinal round Saturday. Maconaquah plays Rochester at 10 a.m., and the two winners will come back for the 7 p.m. championship match.

Boys Tennis

Individual sectional

Cass’ Doug Engle lost to Western’s Brad DiCarlo (6-3, 6-1) in the opening match of the individual singles tournament held at Peru Wednesday in boys tennis action.

Cass coach Stu Engle didn’t see anything go right for his Cass player.

“Nothing went right for Doug [Engle] from the very beginning,” coach Engle said. “The last time he and Brad played it was a two-and-half hour marathon that was played at a very high level. This time, he just didn’t have any answer for [DiCarlo] who made the shots he had to make to control the match.

“It would have been great for both of us to go out on a high note, but sometimes even when your preparation is great, it is just not enough.”

Doug Engle broke three school records with the most wins in a varsity career (50), most wins at No. 1 singles (36) and the most points during a season (895). He will play in the Indiana state tennis all-star game at DePauw University next month.

Boys CC

MWC meet

Pioneer won the Midwest Conference meet with a score of 45 points, followed by North White (54), West Central (74), Tri-County (94), Frontier (127), Caston (129) and South Newton (163).

The Panthers had their top five runners place in the top 14, while North White had four runners in the top 19.

Ryan Bice led Pioneer with a third-place finish in a time of 17 minutes, 47 seconds. Tony Williams placed seventh (18:21). Josh Layer came in ninth (18:23). Eric Simons finished in 12th place (18:36), and Cameron Cover was 14th (18:48).

Payton Daily was Caston’s top runner with a 10th place finish (18:25). Tim Huff came in 25th place (19:55). Chris Brown was 32nd (20:49), followed by Graham Redweik in 33rd place (20:52), and Jordan O’Neal rounded out the Comet runners with a 36th place finish (21:09.

Caleb Schmicker led Winamac, which was an incomplete team, in a time of 19:24 for 20th place. Mike Keller was 29th (20:20), and Bryan McKinney came in 45th (22:12).

HHC meet

The Carroll Cougars won the Hoosier Heartland Conference meet with a score of 34 points, followed by Clinton Prairie (39), Rossville (63) and Clinton Central (94).

Blake Mills led the Cougars with a second place finish (17:13). Jordan Tooley came in fifth (17:27). Tyler Macy was seventh (17:29). Seth Larimore placed ninth (17:21), and Andrew Miller rounded out Carroll runners with a 13th place finish (18:21).

Girls CC

MWC meet

Winamac placed second with 57 points, 25 points behind the winner West Central (32). Tri-County was third (69), followed by Pioneer (73), South Newton (144) and Caston (145).

Tabby Halleck led the Warrior attack with a fifth place finish (21:33), followed by Stacy Gudas was sixth (21:42). Shannon Finley placed 12th (22:40). Hayley Harper came in 16th (23:21) and Michelle Bulington was 18th (23:44).

Pioneer’s Cady Caudle was the top area runner with a fourth place finish (21:06). Bailey Farrer was ninth (22:18). Angie Moss came in 14th (22:56). Jazzmin Humphrey placed 21st (24:12), and Christine Baker finished in 28th place (25:10).

Veronica Sheets led Caston in a time of 24:24 for 24th place. Kara Smith was 29th (25:12). Maggie Daily came in 31st (25:49). Emily See was 34th (28:46), and Kaley Kellenburger placed 39th (28:55).

HHC meet

Carroll had four of its five runners place in the top 10, scoring a total of 31 points in winning the conference meet. Lafayette Central Catholic was second (70), followed by Tri-Central (79), Clinton Prairie (82) and Clinton Central (97).

The Cougars’ Ashley Bordner won the individual race in 20:02. Lauren Wilkinson placed fourth (21:37). Hope Hayden came in seventh (21:50). Kaira Ragan was ninth (22:07), and Stephanie Strawcutter came in 11th (22:35).

Volleyball

Pioneer 3, Twin Lakes 0

Class A No. 6 Pioneer traveled to Monticello and took three from the home team by scores of 26-24, 25-20, 25-22.

Leading the Panther attack was Ashley Gerlach with four kills, six aces, and five blocks and Cortney Hanson with 15 kills, seven digs, and an ace. Chelsea Corn came through with eight kills, seven digs and an ace while Haleigh Williams pitched in with eight digs and 19 assists. Kelsey Williams added seven kills, two aces, two blocks and three assists and Abby Beach contributed three digs. Amanda Johnson tallied two kills, two digs and two blocks while teammate Katie Gerlach added two kills and four blocks. Tori Cole came through with 10 digs in the winning effort.

Pioneer coach Rod Nies was pleased with his girls’ overall performance.

“The scores were close, but we’re switching things around getting ready for the tournament,” he said.

Nies also talked about the injuries and illnesses that have hit the team.

“Kelly Gates is still out. We’ll be evaluating her in practice to see when she’ll be ready to go again. Cortney Hanson is back from illness and we have a few people that are a little sore, nothing major, but a little beat up,” he said.

With the win Pioneer moves its record to 26-2. The Lady Panthers will be in action again on Monday when they travel to Clinton Central.

Pioneer 2, Twin Lakes 0 (JV)

Pioneer’s JV swept Twin Lakes with scores of 25-22, 25-14.

Leading the Panther attack was Hillary Sharp with 11 kills, three digs and three aces. Also adding to the win was Ashley Feltis with six kills and four digs. Morgan Shanks pitched in with a kill, two digs and 18 assists while Nichole Miller added a kill and 10 digs and Katie Galbreath added a kill, five digs, four aces and one block.

Pioneer 2, Twin Lakes 0 (9th)

The Pioneer freshman made it a clean sweep for the Panthers when they dropped Twin Lakes 25-8, 25-24.

Nicole Korniak had two kills, two digs, a block and an assist for the winners. Also getting in on the action was Tara McWherter with four digs, four aces and four assists and Marissa Centers with five kills, three digs and an assist. Tara Sell contributed four kills and three aces while Amanda Rance added three kills and two blocks and Jana Whittaker added a kill, a dig, two aces and block.

Pioneer 2, Peru 0 (7th)

Pioneer swept Peru 25-10, 25-16.

Leading the way for the Lady Panthers was Mikayla Greiner with 14 services points, eight aces and five kills. Also pitching in on the winning effort was Kayte Miller with seven service points, an ace and 12 assists. Brooke Harmon added to the cause with six points and two aces. Jaylynn Humphrey, Shelby Cree and Riley Morris each added four points while Cree added three aces and Morris added two aces and 22 assists.

Logansport 2,

Winamac 0 (JV)

The Berries swept a pair from the Warriors 25-11, 25-19 Wednesday.

Alyssa McPherson led Logansport (13-9) with 17 assists and two aces. Taylor Waychunis had nine kills and a ace. Kim Ladd contributed with three aces and two kills. Haleigh Tommine came up with two kills and a ace. Lydia Hayden had two digs and two aces. Sophie Babcock dug up nine digs. Hillary Trapp had four kills, and LeAnn Hileman had an ace.

Columbia 2, Peru 1 (8th)

Columbia had to go the distance, defeating Peru in three games (25-18, 22-25, 15-8) Wednesday.

Seanna Redman led Columbia (9-5) with seven service points, including three aces and six kills. Shannon Sink added 11 service points and two kills. Lexi Barron came up with four service points and two kills, and Megan Vaughan had 10 service points.

Cass County Tourney (8th)

Columbia placed third in the county tournament that was held Saturday at Logansport. The Vikings defeated Caston for third place (25-19, 25-11). Columbia was tops over Cass (25-15, 25-16) in the second round, but the Vikings lost to Lincoln (25-11, 25-24) in the opening match.

In the third place match, Lexi Barron, Megan Vaughan and Seanna Redman all had seven service points. Shannon Sink served up six service points, and Nicole Smelser had three. Barron added six aces. Vaughan had four aces, and Smelser had two aces.

In the Cass match, Redman and Sink each had nine service points. Vaughan added seven, and Katie Griffith had three. Redman added six aces, and Sink came up with two.

Barron led Columbia with seven service points in the Lincoln match. Vaughan added five, and Griffith served up three.

Columbia 2, Peru 0 (7th)

Columbia improved to 10-4 with the win over Peru in two games 25-18, 25-20 Wednesday.

Bailey Kelley had 11 service points, including four aces to lead Columbia. Emily Shilling added nine service points. Katrina Neuendorf came up with six digs, and Jeanna Keller added five. Kendra Schlick had two kills.

Football

Pioneer 28,

Clinton Central 0 (Fr)

The Pioneer Panthers remained undefeated with a 6-0 record in shutting out the Bulldogs.

Braxton Winn started Pioneer scoring on a 16-yard touchdown run. Winn caught a pass from Charlie Cool for the two-point conversion. Austin Runyon scored the Panthers second touchdown on a 5-yard run. Justin Hanna ran in for the second two-point conversion.

Hanna would later add a nine-yard touchdown run, and Justin Johnson closed out the scoring on a seven-yard run.

Pioneer was led by Hanna in rushing with 52 yards on five carries and a touchdown. J.D. Maggart added 41 yards rushing on a fake punt. Braxton Mehrley led the Panther defense with 13 total tackles (five solo and eight assists). Winn and Zach Smith each had nine tackles each. Smith also had a fumble recovery.

Pioneer hosts Rensselaer Thursday.

Beau Wicker, Kenny Hetzler and Rick Conrad contributed to this report.