Sports

A pair of Mustang seniors would guide the Sutton boys track and field team in action at the Sandy Creek Invitational Thursday, April 6.

Baldwin easily won both throwing events, claiming the shot put by nearly 10 feet with his throw of 53’ 5.5”. Central City’s Cole Brandes placed second with a 44-foot effort, while teammate Alvino Sanchez placed sixth with a 40’ 7.75”.

In the discus, Baldwin reached out for a 162’ 10” throw to win the event by over 31 feet, with second place medalist Kenai Kearney of Central City placing second with a 131’ 6” throw.

Bergen began his day with a strong showing in the high jump, placing in a two-way tie for second-place with Sandy Creek’s Owen Oglesby, as both cleared the bar at 5’ 10”. Sean Heaton of Sandy Creek claimed top honors with a leap of 6’ 2”.

In a day that would see the Sandy Creek boys track team finish as the runner-up in the Thayer Central Invitational, sophomore distance runner Rowan Jarosik would be a part of 30 of Sandy Creek’s 75 team points, winning two individual events, while helping the 4x800-meter relay to a championship run.

The Cougars’ final standing in the team race trailed only Lincoln Christian, who captured team gold, scoring 90 points for the win.

Jarosik teamed up with Jacob Petr, Ethan Shaw, and Owen Oglesby to start the scoring on the track for Sandy Creek, as the 4x800-meter relay team outlasted second-place Fillmore Central by nearly seven seconds in the eightlap relay.

The Sandy Creek four finished the race in eight minutes, 57.4 seconds, with the Panthers crossing the finish line in 9:04.28.

Jarosik then stepped onto the Thayer Central oval to win both the 3,200-meter run and the 1,600-meter run.

Medals in a total of 10 track and field events at the Thayer Central Invitational, Thursday, March 30, would generate 54 total team points to place the Fillies fifth out of 11 teams in Hebron.

Senior Alivia Huxoll earned two of three gold medals in the meet, winning the high jump and the 100-meter low hurdles to account for 20 team points.

Huxoll began her day with the win in the high jump, clearing the bar at 5-feet to beat out two other jumpers that cleared 4’ 10” in the event. Cobie Cole of Fairbury and Molly Moenning of Lincoln Christian followed Huxoll in the event.

On the track, Huxoll’s win in the hurdles event came with a time of 16.68 seconds. The Sutton senior held off Mattea Kassebaum of Lincoln Christian who was second with a time of 17.71 seconds. Teammate Madilynn Bautista added to the team total in the short hurdle race, placing fifth with a time of 19.11 seconds.

Harvard served as host to the Class D State Powerlifting competition Saturday, March 25.

Results for Harvard included a second-place medal for Ethyn Whetstine- Jones in the 132-pound class. Also placing in this class was Eduardo Perez, who earned fourth.

In the boys 242-pound class, Brodin Gaughen earned second place. Claire Williamson was the lone competitor from Sandy Creek. She hit her personal best of 250 pounds during the deadlift round, and placed first in the girls 148 class.

The 2022-23 track and field season at Sandy Creek High School opened with the short trip to Sutton High School, Thursday, March 23.

The Sandy Creek boys walked away with seven earned medals, while the girls posted four medals in the 12-team event.

On the boys side of the meet, two field event medalists would start the day, with sophomore Jacob Petr placing fifth in the triple jump, with a 37’ 9” leap, while junior Owen Oglesby placed in a four-way tie for fifth in the high jump, clearing the bar at 5’ 6.”

Doniphan-Trumbull freshman Jack Poppe earned gold in the triple jump with a 42’ 11.75 leap, while in the high jump, Shelton’s Ben Myers earned gold with a 6-foot jump.

On the track, the 4x800-meter relay team, made up of Rowan Jarosik, Petr, Alston Clark, and Owen Oglesby ran away with gold in the event, winning by nearly 30 seconds, with their time of nine minutes, 10.8 seconds. Doniphan- Trumbull finished second with a time of 9:40.31.

Two field event medals and nine more medals on the track headlined the Sutton Fillies’ efforts during the Fillies’ home, 12-team invitational, held Thursday, March 23.

In the field, senior Alivia Huxoll won the high jump by two inches with a 5-foot leap, to beat a 4’ 10” leap by Paige Crawford of Centura.

Freshman Kaci Yost placed fifth overall in the triple jump, as the Fillies youngster sailed 30’ 3.5,” with Centura’s Crawford gaining the event title with a 33’ 9” jump.

On the track, individual medalists included Huxoll with a second-place finish in the 100-meter low hurdles, as Huxoll finished behind Gibbon’s Emma Kucera, with Kucera gaining the win in 16.86 seconds, while Huxoll finished in 17.55 seconds.

A pair of Sutton Middle School student-athletes came away from the 2023 Huskerland State Wrestling Championships loaded with hardware, as eighth-grade students Griffin Bergen, and Connor Hinrich battled through their respective weight classes Saturday, March 25.

Bergen won the 162-178 weight class, and capped his day off with a “Champion of Champions” title as well, winning the big title in the 155-178 class.

Hinrichs placed third overall in the 127-131 weight class, winning three of four matches in the season finale tournament.

Bergen pinned his way through the 162-178 weight class, opening the tournament with a 38-second pinfall win over Burwell’s Frank Green, before gaining a 1:18 pinfall win over Preston Burbach of Central City.

The Sutton junior and senior division trap teams opened the 2023 shooting season Saturday, March 18, at the Crooked Creek Gun Club near Stockham, earning five trophies and medals on a day that mother nature caused issues for all shooters in the weekly shoot.

Three trophies were earned by the junior squad, with Gavin VanderLey finishing as one of two top junior male shooters with Jackson Brandt of the EMF squad. VanderLey and Brandt both hit on 42 of 50 total shots from the 16-yard singles mark, while Aniston Jasnoch was the junior female runner-up on the day, connecting on 36 of 50 shots.

Jasnoch also teammed up with Elsa Andersen to gain the junior ladies runner-up team position, as Jasnoch and Andersen combined to hit on 58 of 100 total shots, trailing an EMF team that connected on 64 of 100 total shots.

Nearly 30 Sutton area elementary students took part in a three-day youth football camp in Sutton last week. The camp, which covered fundamental skills, was capped by a flag football tournament Sunday, March 19 at the Legion Field in south Sutton. In the photo above, Mason McKenzie attempts to elude several defenders by making cuts against the flow of the play. At the left, Kooper Steinhauer tries to stay out of the reach of defender Hank Ehly, while Kale Hahn moves in to block on the play for Steinhauer.

The 2022-23 basketball season for the Sandy Creek boys proved to be a tale of two seasons, as the Cougars got off to a sluggish start in the month of December, winning just two of their first ten games. As the calendar switched to 2023, the light at the end of the tunnel would shine very bright in the month of January, as Sandy Creek reeled off seven wins in eight games to stand at 9-9 on the year.

February gained another four wins in eight games, as the Cougars wrapped up the season with a 13-13 record.

Sandy Creek upended Shelby-Rising City and Wilber-Clatonia during their 2-8 December run, but with the quick change in January, the Cougars rolled past Hastings St. Cecilia, St. Paul, Superior, Thayer Central, Fairbury and gained back-to-back wins over country rival Sutton.