Last the Valparaiso Vikings hosted their Inaugural Unified Track and Field meet. The meet consisted of 8 different teams from the area. A few key performances for the Vikings were: the 4x100 meter relay team of Jeremiah Leftridge, Jamie Leftridge, Marco Traino, and Eddie Curry turning in a blistering 48.04. In the 400 m dash Colin Walls with a 1:01, Jorge Apollo with a 1:11, and Connor Imhoff with a 1:16. In the long jump Luke Balash jumped 17’5” and Lexi Riale 10’10”. In the 100 m dash Nick Taskoff ran a 19.11, Hayley Taylor a 22.93, and Devinn Johnson a 23.61. Job well done for all of our Unified athletes.
The freshmen baseball team played games on Friday and Saturday winning both. It took 8 innings on Friday for the 5-4 win over Chesterton. Cooper Jones pitched six innings striking out 11. Nolan Coil pitched two innings struck out 6 and got the win. Jacob Nightingale went 2-3 with 2 singles and Ryoma Yamawaki went 2-4 with 2 singles and hit the walk off single to win in the 8th inning. On Saturday, they defeated Calumet 27-0. Elan Reid had 12 Ks and a perfect game. Jack Shifflett was 2-3 with a single and a triple. Elan Reid went 3-4 with 3 singles and a walk. Cooper Jones went 4-4 with 3 singles and a double with a walk. On Wednesday, they defeated Lake Central 7-5. Ryoma Yamawaki threw five great innings shutting down LC and earned the W. Nolan Coil threw 2 innings and got the save. Josh Brinson went 2-4 with 2 singles and Cole Koselke went 3-3 with 2 doubles and a single and a hit by pitch. They are now 7-0 and 3-0 in the DAC.
After losing 15-1 to Chesterton on Tuesday, the JV Vikes beat the Trojans 10-3 on Friday. John Mudd was dominant on the mound. Max Bukur and Blake Lemmon led the way offensively, with several other timely contributions from everyone else. The JV Vikes swept Munster on Saturday. Spencer Reed was lights out on the mound in game 1. Valpo won 7-1. Ty Gill got the win in relief of game 2. Valpo scored 5 unanswered runs to erase a 4-0 deficit to take the 5-4 win. They lost to Lake Central on Tuesday 9-2 and lost Wednesday 9-3 to the Indians. They are now 8-3 overall and 5-3 in the DAC. The Varsity baseball team lost another tough one to Chesterton Friday 10-0, but bounced back against Elkhart Memorial Saturday morning 5-3 with a solid combined pitching effort from Ryan Troxel, Noah Comstock, and Nick Caputo. Offensively, the Vikings were led by Michael Jovanovic who was 2-2 with a double and 2 RBI's. Connor Brinson also had a double and an RBI. They are 6-3 overall and 3-3 in the DAC.
On Friday night the JV softball beat Michigan City 15-2. Gill Leone and Hannah Flynn both went 3 for 3 with singles. Jazmine Cwenta pitched the full game for her first win of the season. On Monday they lost to Portage in a football scoring type game 22-10. Hannah Flynn was 4 for 4 for the night. They are now 3-4 on the season. On Tuesday, they beat Merrillville 17-1. Jazmine Cwenta went 5 for 5 with 2 doubles and 3 singles. JV softball won 27-13 against Michigan City on Wednesday. Last night they lost to New Prairie 9-3. Jazmine Cwenta was responsible for all of the runs with a 3 run homer, her first of the season. They are now 5-5 overall.
On Friday, girls’ varsity softball beat Michigan City 3-0. Allie Gatz had two hits and an RBI. Alex Burns and Morgan Corneil each added a hit and an RBI. Emily Glover pitched the shut-out; earning 9 K’s and giving up one walk. On Saturday, the Vikings beat Highland 10-1. Ashlynn Templin, Paige Knight (2 RBI's) and Emily Petro each had 2 hits. Brooke Templin and Alex Burns had 2 RBI's. Emily Glover pitched a complete game. On Monday, they defeated Portage 14-4. The Vikings had 17 hits. Maggie Etzler and Emily Glover had 3 hits each (Glover added 4 RBI's). Ashlynn Templin, Maya Seifert, Alex Burns, and Paige Knight each added two hits each. Emily Glover pitched all 5 innings. It was a great team effort! On Tuesday they defeated Merrillville 15-0 in 5 innings. Maya Seifert and Allie Gatz had 3 hits, Maggie Etzler, Morgan Corneil Beth Kupsis, and Carissa Hite added 2 hits each Etlzer and Corneil also had 2 RBI's each. Emily Glover and Emily Petro combined efforts for the shut-out. On Wednesday, 4-25 they dispatched the Wolves from Michigan City 14-0 in 5 innings. Maya Seifert had 3 hits including 2 triples and 2 RBI’s. Brooke Templin had 4 hits including 3 doubles. Peyton Zahm homered over a 231 ft. fence. Maggie Etzler added 2 hits and 4 RBI’s. Emily Glover pitched the complete game shut-out. On Thursday, they defeated. New Prairie 18 - 8 in 6 innings. Maya Seifert had 4 hits. Brooke Templin and Alex Burns had 3 hits apiece. One of Templin’s was a homerun. Peyton Zahm had 2 hits including the game ending 3 run home run and 5 RBI's. Maggie Etzler and Ashlynn Templin added 2 hits each. Emily Glover pitched all 6 innings. Wow, what a week!! Great job ladies! They are now 7-4 overall and 5-4 in the DAC.
The boys’ golf team finished 7th out of 16 teams this weekend at the Lake Central Classic held at Sandy Pines Golf Course. Three players shot in the 70's, Andrew Karr 73 for 4th place overall, Michael Smith 77 and Mark Civanich finished with a 79. The Vikings were able to drop 10 strokes off their score from last weekend. The JV team competed at the Plymouth Invitational with Jacob McDaniel and Aiden Pollitt leading the way. On Tuesday, they travelled to Merrillville splitting a tri meet losing to Crown Point by four strokes and easily defeating Merrillville. Andrew Karr, Mark Civanich, and Michael Smith tied for second with a 40.
They took on Chesterton at the Valparaiso Country Club on Thursday. The first four golfers for each school are used to determine the score. It was a 163 to 163 tie. Thanks to a one shot lead with the fifth man score, the Vikings won the rivalry match. Andrew Karr and Michael Smith led the way with a 39 and tied for 2nd, Zach Holmes shot a 41, Mark Civanich a 44, and Ryan Gring a 49 one shot better than the Chesterton 5th golfer. They are 3-1 overall and 2-1 in the DAC.
Saturday, the boys’ track team finished 7th at the 19th Annual West Lafayette Relays. The Vikings placed first in the Distance Medley Relay and the 4x1600m Relay. Several athletes had personal bests in the "open" events: Ben Scott (discus), Logan Evans (pole vault), Ben Kroll and Jon Fry (300m Intermediate Hurdles), and Bobby Woodburn and Joey Roytan (3200 m).
Girls’ tennis lost to LaPorte Tuesday night 4-1. The lone victory came at #1 doubles with Ema Gilliana and Keeley Evans winning 6-3 and 6-2. The JV went 8-2 on the evening. On Thursday, they defeated Crown Point 3-2. At #2 singles AK Flude won 7-5, 6-1. At #1 doubles Ema Gilliana and Keeley Evans won 3-6, 7-6(6), 6-4, and at #2 doubles Ainsley Grabarek and Grace Healy won 6-4, 3-6, 6-2. The JV won four of eleven matches.
The girls’ Track and Field team had two meets this past week, finishing a strong third at the West Lafayette Relays on Saturday and losing to Merrillville 75-57 on Tuesday. Senior Madison Ochs was named the Outstanding Field Event Athlete of the meet with her wins in both the Shot Put and the Discus. The second most outstanding field event athlete was our own senior Brittney Clark who won the pole vault and was third in the high jump. The 6400 m relay team of freshmen Emily and Sarah Worthington, sophomore Ava Gilliana, and senior Logan Ferngren won that event by a wide margin. Another strong finish was turned in by the Shuttle Hurdle team of freshman Precious Harvey, junior Adrianna McFadden, and seniors Kellee Davidson and Alyssa Ido. On Tuesday, they lost to a lightning fast Merrillville team to drop our DAC record to 3-2. Event winners were Madison Ochs in the, and shot put and discus, Brittney Clark in the high jump and pole vault (where she vaulted to a season and area best 11' 6"), Ava Gilliana in the 1600 and 800 (plus an incredible 58.1 anchor leg in the 4 x 400 relay), and Logan Ferngren in the 3200. Other outstanding efforts were turned in by Adrianna McFadden, Precious Harvey, Emily Worthington, Sara Worthington, Julia Arnold, Demetra Spores, Katie Pastoret, Hanna Lopez, Anastasia Tsagris, Bella Grisafi, and Bridget McGrath, Valparaiso High School graduate Trace Ramsey has just committed to play basketball in the Big Ten at the University of Maryland. Congratulations to him!