Area teams' postseason success earns them spots in state competition
With regional and sub-state competition held over the weekend, teams from Wetmore and ACCHS had to bring their “A” game. Most of them did, too, as the Cardinals and Tigers had a good deal of success this past week.
In regional cross country action, Saturday was marked by a number of outstanding achievements for area teams, starting with the Wetmore Cardinals.
Both the boys and girls qualified for the Class 1A state meet with third-place finishes at the regional meet in Mound City, as teams only need four runners to score in 1A competition.
For the Wetmore boys, there was some drama, as their final placing was decided by a tiebreaker. The Cardinals’ superior showing from their number five runner broke a tie with Onaga and qualified the whole team for a trip to the state meet.
Aaron Achten picked a good time to turn in one of his best performances of the season, too, as he paced the boys team by finishing as individual runner-up at the regional meet.
It was a little smoother sailing for the Lady Cardinals, as the WHS girls took third by eight points, qualifying all four runners for a trip to Wamego. McKayla Henry led the charge for the girls team with a top-10 finish.
Wetmore will now head to Wamego for the Class 1A state meet on Saturday. The boys race will start at 10:45 a.m. and the girls race will begin at 1 p.m. Full results from the regional meet in Mound City are listed below.
1A Regional @ Mound City
Boys team results:
1. Goessel 39, 2. Burden-Central 42, 3. Wetmore 42, 4. Onaga 42, 5. Lebo 83, 6. Flint Hills 85
Boys individual results:
1. Eisenbarth (Onaga) 17:53.54, 2. Achten (Wet.) 18:23.96, 3. Kistner (Wav.), 4. Petty (StP.), 5. LeRoy (Goes.), 6. Marten (Onaga), 7. Pippitt (BC), 8. Scheffe (Goes.), 9. Wiens (Goes.), 10. Lawson (BC), 15. Hladky-Bailey (Wet.) 20:37.2, 16. Morfitt (Wet.) 20:39.12, 22. Henninger (Wet.) 21:35.61, 26. Martin (Wet.) 22:49.05, 29. Bloom (Wet.) 23:29.51
Girls team results:
1. St. Paul 29, 2. Goessel 37, 3. Wetmore 50, 4. Lebo 58, 5. Marmaton Valley 73, 6. Hartford 73, 7. Burden-Central 106
Girls individual results:
1. J. O’Bryan (StP.) 20:19.41, 2. Besack (Lebo), 3. S. O’Bryan (StP.), 4. Melugin (FH), 5. Yoho (MV), 6. Revell (Onaga), 7. Metcalfe (Hart.), 8. Nightengale (Goes.), 9. Henry (Wet.) 24:12.48, 10. Meysing (Goes.), 14. Martin (Wet.) 25:28.1, 18. Crismas (Wet.) 25:58.2, 21. Hutfles (Wet.) 26:27.83
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Equally successful in regional competition was the ACCHS girls cross country team, as the Lady Tigers will be heading back to the Class 3A state meet in Lawrence after taking fifth a season ago.
In Leonardville on Saturday, the Atchison County girls finished third as a team to secure their return trip to state. Once again, Maddison Bissell (fourth) and Beba Scholz (sixth) led the charge for the Lady Tigers, while Mackenzie Forbes also had a top-20 finish in the tough field.
For the boys, ACCHS only had one representative running at the regional meet, with Conner Perkins finishing 60th in the race.
Atchison County will now get ready to run at Rim Rock Farm once again and state competition for the 3A girls will start at 1 p.m. on Saturday. Full results for the ACCHS girls are listed below.
Class 3A regional @ Leonardville
ACCHS girls results:
4. Bissell 21:17.6, 6. Scholz 21:27.38, 20. Mac. Forbes 22:36.76, 32. Mad. forbes 23:53.23, 40. Hamilton 24:50.99, 45. Fuller 25:39.61, 49. Hawk 26:50.44
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With the playoffs drawing near, district competition is heating up on the football field as well and Atchison County stepped up to the challenge in a road contest at McLouth last Friday.
Needing a win to keep its playoff hopes alive, ACCHS jumped out to a 16-12 lead at halftime and then held on late for a 24-20 victory over the host Bulldogs.
The Tigers made a big defensive stand late in the game to secure the win and got two special teams touchdowns from Hunter Ostertage (a 78-yard kickoff return and a 63-yard punt return) on the way to the victory. Lane Bowen had the final score for the team.
Atchison County (3-5) now faces another must-win situation on the road as the Tigers prepare to take on the Rams of Pleasant Ridge in Easton for the regular season finale. That game will start at 7 p.m. on Thursday.
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Wetmore (2-4), meanwhile, was off this past week and is preparing for its final game now, as the team will head to Le Roy to take on Southern Coffey County at 7 p.m. on Friday.
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Sub-State volleyball competition also took place over the weekend and while Wetmore got past the first round, it ran into eventual sub-state champion Axtell in the semifinals and saw its season come to an end.
The Cardinals put up a good fight, but fell a little short against the Eagles and finished the season 4-32 overall.
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Atchison County also had a tough draw in its sub-state bracket, as the Tigers had a first round match-up with Big Seven League champion Nemaha Central.
The Thunder volleyball team took the rematch of league foes and ACCHS ended the season with a 7-26 overall record.
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While those teams might not be heading to the state tournament, area teams that will continue their season on the ultimate stage include Silver Lake in Class 3A, Centralia in Class 1A-Division I and Axtell in 1A-Division II.
State competition for Class 3A will be held in Emporia, while the 1A state tournaments will be out west in Hays.
Other cross country teams joining Wetmore and ACCHS in state competition include Pleasant Ridge, Frankfort, the Hiawatha girls, the JCN girls, the Centralia girls and the Wamego boys.
