CHR
S
September 11, 2014
The Lovell Chronicle 19
PATTI CARPENTER
The Lady Grizz celebrate a good start to their volleyball season, with wins this
week over teams from Meeteetse and Riverside.
Awesome. week for Rocky girls
BY PATTI CARPENTER
The Lady Grizz are off
to a good start this season,
with wins this week over
two opponents--Meeteetse
and Riverside.
On Thursday, the girls
took on Meeteetse on their
home court, wining all
three games 25-22, 25-15
and 25-22. Marissa Arnold
let the team in kills with 10,
Mikayla Hocker had 7, Liv-
ia Higgins had 3, and Mad-
die Crawford and Mikayla
McWhirter had 2 apiece.
"I'm really proud of our
small team, especially the
sophomores who filled in,"
said Coach Jamie Cooley.
• Cooley said she was im-
pressed with the serving
she saw, especially from
Crawford who served 19
out of 21. She noted that
Arnold and Hocker served
with nine successful serves
out of 11.
"We got off to a slow
start, most likely because
we creamed this team at
the tournament last week,"
said Cooley, "but they
showed up ready to play
and it was a lesson learned
that we have to play our
best no matter who we
come up against."
Cooley said she was
very impressed with soph-
omore Summer Johnson
who is called upon to play
for both JV and varsity.
She said Johnson brings a
lot of energy to the court.
On Friday night the
team played Riverside in
an away game. They won
the first two games 25-10
and 25-14, but Riverside
put the pressure on in the
third game, winning 25-
21. The girls dug deep in
the fourth game, winning
25-17.
Cooley commented that
Crawford's passing was
spectacular.
"We're working on pass-
ing, which is something we
struggle with sometimes,"
said Cooley. "Maddie real-
ly came through for us on
this."
She said what pleased
her most was to see the
girls just go out and play
and enjoy the game. She
noted that Arnold keeps
the girls "up" and commu-
nicated very well the en-
tire evening, which set the
stage for a successful team
effort.
"They did good," said "That sort of communi-
Cooley. "They played their cation goes a long way and
heads off, leaving nothing
on the floor."
She said she was very
impressed with the game
Kaitlyn Hayes and Ar-
nold played. She noted that
Hocker, as always, proved
to be someone she could
count on.
Arnold again led the
team with 8 kills. Hock-
er and Hayes had 4 apiece,
Higgins had 3 and Ash-
lei Carroll had 1. Johnson
set for the entire game and
it really took her game up to
another level," said Cooley.
She said the girls
played hard the entire time
and most important of all,
they played "their game."
Next up the girls will
travel to Sheridan for the
Big Horn Tournament on
Friday and Saturday. Cool-
ey said this will be a great
opportunity to see other
teams and what the Lady
Grizz need to work on to
stay on top of their game.
Lady Bulldogs get a taste of 3A
competition this week
BY PATTI CARPENTER
The Lovell Lady Bull-
dogs had another successful
weekend in Billings, at the
Montana-Wyoming Bor-
der Wars volleyball tour-
nament. Friday consisted
of pool play matches where
each team took on an op-
ponent for three sets to 25
points, whether they won
the first two sets or not.
"We were pooled with
Miles City, Jackson and
Sidney," said Coach Stormy
Jameson. "We started out
by winning two of three
against Miles City (23-25,
25-23, 25-16) then anoth-
er two out of three against
Jackson (23-25, 25-20, 25-
15) before sweeping Sidney
(25-13, 25-13, 25-15).
"We were placed in a
strong pool and had to play
at a higher level than last
weekend. We saw some
strong individual hitters
that we had to adjust our
defense around, and it's
nice to know we were able
to do that mid-game and be
successful."
On Saturday, teams
were seeded and ranked
against the teams from
their own state.
"We finished as the sec-
ond best record of the Wy-
oming teams (behind Pow-
ell), which landed us a
rematch against Sidney in
our opening game on Sat-
urday. All games played on
Saturday were best two out
of three to 25 points.
"We handled Sidney 25-
15 and 25-12. The hardest
matches to win sometimes
are the first games in the
morning because the girls
don't always come in as
awake as they need to be,
or as warmed up. But, it
was nice to have an easier
game to get them warmed
up because we had to play
immediately afterward
against Jackson again, who
had been a much tougher
opponent the day before."
Jameson said Jack-
son came out firing, win-
ning the first set 14-25. The
Lady Bulldogs rose to the
challenge, winning the last
two sets 25-23 and 25-21.
"That put us facing the
top-seeded Powell Lady
Panthers," said Jameson.
KARLIE VOSS
Lauren Hinckley goes for the hit against Greybull at
the North Big Horn County Volleyball Tournament
on Aug. 29-30.
"Powell bested us 25-18 and
25-22 and then went on to
win the whole tournament."
In their final match,
the girls played Hardin,
and beat them (24-26, 25-
17, 25-22), finishing third
in the tournament.
"There were several
times throughout the tour-
nament that we found our-
selves in big holes, down a
set or down a lot of points,
and we found ways to claw
back into matches and win
when a lot of teams fold
in those situations," said
Jameson. "That's comfort-
ing to know that we have
the heart to do that, but I
would much rather play
with a lead and keep it.
"It was good to see some
tougher competition and
build our confidence going
into 3A play."
On the weekend, Lovell
stat leaders were Emilee
Reasch with 62 kills, 11
blocks and 12 aces. Charri
McArthur also had 12 aces
along with 101 assists and
team-high with 47 digs.
Chayli McArthur, Mykelle
Nicholls, Lauren Hinckley
and Savanna Savage also
had a good weekend, as our
offense was able to remain
balanced across the board,"
Jameson noted.
According to Jameson,
Emilee Reasch was selected
to the Montana-Wyoming
Border Wars All-Tourna-
ment team, which was cho-
sen by the host tournament
committee. Jameson said
only seven girls from the
entire tournament received
this honor.
POWELL
The team faced PoT-
ell again on Tuesday night
in Powell for its first con-
ference game in the 3A di-
vision. After losing to Pow-
ell in the tournament a few
days before, Jameson said
the girls went in seeking re-
venge. Unfortunately, the
girls fell again to the Lady
Panthers.
"We lost to Powell (16-
25, 18-25 and 20-25)," said
Jameson. "We didn't really
play our best, and against
a team like that, every one
of us needs to have a good
day. It was a tough way to
start our conference play-
ing the 3A defending state
champions on their home
court, but we hope to learn
from it and that it will fuel
a fire within us."
Reasch was the team-
leader again with 9 kills,
2 blocks and 5 digs. My-
kelle Nicholls had 7 kills,
2 aces and 11 digs. Chayli
McArthur had 2 kills and
11 digs. Lauren Hinckley
had 3 kills and 14 digs. Sa-
vanna Savage and Charri
McArthur both had one kill
apiece. Savage also had a
block and McArthur had 14
assists.
Next up the girls will
travel to Rawlins for the
Rawlins Tournament, on
Friday and Saturday.
Veterans and freshmen impress in LHS cross country opener
BY DAVID PECK
The Lovell cross coun-
try team made a strong first
impression as the team saw
its first action of the new
season Friday when the
Bulldogs and Lady Bull-
dogs competed at the Bill-
ings Invitational.
Veterans and newcom-
ers alike ran well in Bill-
ings, either making impres-
sive debuts or improving on
times from a year ago.
Senior AJ Dickson
placed 26 th out of 169 run-
ners in the varsity boys race
with a solid time of 16:47.27,
about 22 seconds faster on
the three-mile course than
he ran last year (17:09.6).
Right behind him at the fin-
ish was junior Jacob New-
man, who placed 27 th with a
time of 16:47.59, 24 seconds
better than his time from a
year ago (17:11.7).
"Those are great open-
ing times," Coach Caleb
Sanders said. "Our goal for
them was to go under 18
seconds, and they did. They
didn't run together during
the race. AJ came up from
behind in the last mile. Ja-
cob led AJ until the last
half second."
Also running in the
varsity race were senior
Andrew Mayes, who fin-
ished 115 th with a time of
18:53.47, two minutes fast-
er than a year ago, and se-
nior Alex Sawaya, who
placed 131 st at 19:25.63,
about 41 seconds faster
than a year ago.
"That's a good time for
COURTESY PHOTO
Lovell freshman Brent Snyder and Rocky sophomore Dominic Twomey stride
out during the Billings Invitational Friday afternoon. Both placed in the top
10 in the junior varsity race.
Andrew," Sanders'said.
"He's in better shape than I
thought he'd be in."
One of the high school
athletes of the week named
by coaches this week is
freshman Brent Snyder,
who made a smashing de-
but by placing third out of
242 runners in the junior
varsity race with a time of
17:35.95.
"That's a lot faster
than I thought he'd be,"
Sanders said. "I thought
he'd be around 18:10 on
that course, so it was a big
surprise."
The other athlete of
the week is freshman Will
Lillard, who placed 83 rd in
the JV race with a time of
20:18.43.
"He'll be right in the
thick of the top seven run-
ners on the team," Sanders
said, based on Lillard's per-
formance in Billings.
Placing 108 th in the JV
race was freshman Kyle
Wolvington, who ran a time
of 20:51.41.
"He needs to go out fast-
er," Sanders said. "He's got
more in the tank."
Close behind Wolving-
ton was junior Joey Bas-
sett, who placed 110 th with
a time of 20:52.02, nearly
a minute faster than last
year. Freshman Ben Cornia
placed 1364 in the JV race
at 21:18.63, junior Dillon
Schneider 150 th at 21:43.03,
a minute and a half faster
than a year ago, and soph-
omore Kyle Burton 152 nd at
21:44.10.
Senior Dylan Ohman
ran 25:24.42, junior Chance
Wilson 25:35.72.
In the girls division, ju-
nior Jaclyn Caldwell placed
31 st in the varsity race with
a time of 20:19.28.
"That's an improve-
ment from last year, but I
expect her to be much fast-
er by the end of the season,"
Sanders said. "That's a de-
cent start for her."
Caldwell ran 22:11.9 a
year ago.
Strong in her high
school debut was junior Ja-
mie Kite, who placed 105 th
in the junior varsity race
out of 203 runners with a
time of 25:20.82.
"For her first race I
was pleased with her run,"
Sanders said.
Sophomore Jazmyn See
placed 128 th in JV, cover-
ing the course in 26:03.89,
42 seconds faster than a
year ago, and Afton George
ran 26:06.24 to place 130
in the JV race, 2½ minutes
faster than a year ago.
Freshman Bailey
Mitchell ran 30:23.93, soph-
omore Mylee McArthur
30:48.42.
MIDDLE SCHOOL RUNNERS
The Lovell Middle
School squad competed at
the Rocky Mountain Mid-
dle School Invitational last
Thursday in Cowley, and
although he had not re-
ceived results as of Monday
afternoon, Sanders did say
that seventh-grader James
Caldwell did place sec-
ond to earn middle school
athlete of the week hon-
ors along with sixth-grader
Zeke Newman, who placed
fourth.
"Both of them ran well,"
Sanders said. "I knew
James would run strong,
but Zeke was a little bit of
a surprise."
The Bulldogs and Mus-
tangs will travel to Sheri-
dan Saturday to compete in
the Michelle Ludwig Invita-
tional. Running begins with
the middle school girls race
at 10 a.m. followed by the
middle school boys at 10:30,
varsity girls at 11 a.m., var-
sity boys at 11:30, junior
varsity girls at noon and JV
boys at 12:30.
