Sports

Andrew Kuta is certainly no stranger to the world of Sandy Creek football. The third-year educator and coach at Sandy Creek was a 2013 graduate of Sandy Creek and will bring a wealth of knowledge and certain positive intensity as he takes over the program after Jack Shadley announced to SC Athletic Director Matt Swartzendrueber that he will be leaving the South Central Unified School District at the end of this school year.

Shadley has accepted a teaching and coaching position with Pierce High School starting with the 2022-23 school year.

Not only is Kuta taking over the program, but he will guide the Sandy Creek program into a new era, as Sandy Creek will enter the ranks of 8-man football next season.

“First off, I’m excited for Jack. This move for him will get him closer to his family and take him into a larger program as he continues his coaching and educational career at Pierce,” said Kuta

The Sutton Fillies’ three relay teams and senior Kate Griess guided the Fillies to a fourth-place team finish in action at the Heartland Invite, Thursday, April 14, in Henderson.

The relays and Griess combined for 36 of the Fillies’ 76 total team points as the track season nears the midway point of the season.

The team of Olivia Kessler, Griess, Maddie Baxa, and Reagan Robinson opened the track events with a gold medal performance in the 4x800-meter relay, winning with a time of 10 minutes, 47.21 seconds. Hastings St. Cecilia trailed the Fillies squad with a second place time of 11:09.76.

Sutton’s two other relay teams both earned runner-up finishes, with the 4x100-meter relay team, made up by Kennedy Perrien, Alivia Huxoll, Griess and Robinson placed second with a time of 54.11 seconds. Sandy Creek earned gold with a time of 53.38 seconds.

The two Harvard track and field teams took on the field of teams at the Fullerton Invitational Monday, April 4, with the boys gaining 10 team points to place ninth out of 11 teams, while the Cardinal girls tallied nine points to place eighth in the final standings.

The boys medaled in two events, led by a third-place finish by Xavier Marburger in the 200-meter dash, finishing with a time of 23.94 seconds. Event winner Isaiah Zelasney of Osceola claimed gold with a time of 22.9 seconds, while Bulldog teammate Xavier Blackburn placed second, just ahead of Marburger with a time of 23.58 seconds.

Marburger teamed up with Cody Fishler, Zach Grove and Eduardo Perez to place fourth in the 4x100-meter relay with a time of 49.6 seconds. Riverside claimed the event title with a time of 45.87 seconds, Fullerton was second in 47.4 seconds, while Twin River finished just ahead of the Cardinals with a third place time of 49.12 seconds.

The Sutton Fillies track and field team took on their third challenge of the 2022 season April 5, traveling south to the Sandy Creek Invitational.

Tough weather conditions proved to be the biggest challenge of the day, as high winds, cold temperatures and periods of rain and sleet hampered the nine teams competing.

Sutton gained 10 total medals, with eight pieces of hardware coming on the track, while two field events helped Sutton score 55 team points to place sixth overall.

Hastings St. Cecilia ran away with the team title, scoring 165.5 points, while Superior gained the runner-up spot with 112.5 team points.

On the track, junior Alivia Huxoll claimed the lone gold medal for the Fillies in the meet, winning the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 19.04 seconds, outlasting second-place Sophie Fitch of Doniphan-Trumbull by three-hundredths of a second, as Fitch finished in 19.07 seconds.

The Sutton senior division trap squad earned four awards during the fourth week of conference shooting at the Crooked Creek Gun Club Saturday, April 9.

Cody Barritt captured top overall honors from the 16-yard mark, hitting on 49 of 50 attempts, while Leah Cool gained the senior division top female award from 16-yards out, as Cool was 46-50 to start the day.

With the top spots gained by Barritt and Cool, the senior division team with Barritt and Cool, along with Leif Andersen, Vance Smith and Ryan Tiemeyer also captured the top spot in the overall team shoot, combining to hit on 229 total targets for the win.

Cool was the overall runner-up for the female shoot, as Cool was 85-100, trailing only Cori Combs of Exeter-Milligan/Friend who was 90-100.

Despite having to deal with blustery cold and wind, the Sandy Creek boys track and field team cashed in big time during action in the Cougars annual home invitational Tuesday, April 5.

Sandy Creek gained 17 medals in all, with 11 coming on the Sandy Creek oval, while six medals were gained in field events.

Hastings St. Cecilia dominated the team standings, outscoring second-place Superior 157-104, while the Cougars claimed third place overall with 94.5 team points.

Field events were led by the high jumping duo of Micah Biltoft and Sean Heaton, as the two placed first and sixth, respectfully, to gain 11 team points.

Biltoft, the all-class leader in the event with his 6’ 7” jump at Fairbury, cleared the 6’ 4” mark to beat out second-place Myles Sadd of Doniphan-Trumbull, and third-place Jenson Anderson of Hastings St. Cecilia, who both cleared the 6’ 2” barrier.

Heaton soared over the bar at 5’ 10” to place sixth.

Speed proved to be the key mantra for the Sandy Creek girls track team, as the Cougars earned nine overall medals in action at the Thayer Central Invitational Thursday, March 31 in Hebron.

The fast-paced 4x100-meter relay would gain Sandy Creek their lone gold medal performance of the meet, as Leah Hatch, Jenna Heinz, Karys Lipovsky and Caitlin Rempe joined forces to blaze to a nearly one-second win over second-place Sutton in the event.

Sandy Creek finished the one-lap relay in a time of 53.78 seconds, while Sutton wrapped up the event in 54.72 seconds.

Hatch also claimed three individual medals in the meet, placing second in the long jump, while gaining a pair of third-place finishes in the two short sprints, the 100 and 200-meter dash events.

Superior’s Ella Gardner ruled the long jump with a big 17’ 10.75” leap, while Hatch gained the runner-up spot with a 16’ 3.5” jump.

Harvard junior Xavier Marburger set the tone for the Cardinals track team in what was Harvard’s first track and field action of the 2022 season.

Marburger earned gold in the triple jump, placed fourth in the 200-meter dash, and added a sixth-place finish in the long jump to claim three of the Cardinals’ six medals at the Thayer Central Invite Thursday, March 31.

Marburger’s win in the triple jump opened the day for the junior, as he hit the 40’ 11.25” mark to defeat Lachlan Pickering of Thayer Central by nearly five inches, as Pickering placed second with a 40’ 6.5” leap.

Sophomore Drayden Whetstine-Jones also medaled in the event, placing fourth overall with a 36’ 9” jump.

Marburger followed the triple jump with his sixth-place finish in the long jump, hitting the 18’ 8.25” mark. Event winner Grant Wiedel of Thayer Central earned gold with a 20 3.5” leap.

To say Sutton thrower Nathan Baldwin is on a mission, that mission might just be for NASA because the Mustang junior blasted off in the shot put during action at the Thayer Central Invite in Hebron Thursday, March 31.

Baldwin had been flirting with the 53-foot mark off and on last season and hit the 52’ 5” mark at the season opening Doane Indoor track meet March 18.

In Hebron, Baldwin launched the steel ball well over 57-feet on the first of four eventual throws.

It was his second throw of the meet that those watching the event let out a subtle “oh my,” when Baldwin came up just short of the 60-foot mark, letting loose of a 59’ 6.25” heave to easily win the event over second-place medalist Seth Schnakenberg of Superior who hit the 50’ 5” mark.

Harvard hosted and competed in the annual Class D State Powerlifting Competition Saturday, March 26, with many students earning medals.

In the high school division, Xavier Marburger placed second in the 165 weight class, while Mackenzie Wagner also placed second, in the 148 class.

Earning fourth place in the 181 class was Eric Villalbaso; Ethyn Whetstine-Jones, in the 148 class, earned fifth.

Earning sixth and seventh-place were Blaine Tessman (220) and Maizie Boyd (198), respectively. Earning ninth place was Brett Dillman in the 165 class.

In the junior high division, Claire Williamson and Haley Gimpel tied for first place overall in the 148 class.

Overall, the boys and girls teams placed fifth, while the co-ed team placed sixth.