CHR
S
October 27, 2011
I The Lovell Chronicle 1 7
Lady Bulldogs dominate regional
BY PATTI CARPENTER
The Lady Bulldogs
walked away with a first
place trophy at the regional
volleyball tournament this
past weekend after pound-
ing three teams, including
their newly formed rival
from Shoshoni.
The girls came in as the
number one seed, which
put them up against Kem-
merer in their first match of
the tournament. Kemmerer
was the number four seed
from the southwest and
gave the girls a good warm-
up and a confidence-build-
ing win. According to coach
Stormy Jameson, the girls
had the usual "first game
jitters" but those feelings
quickly dissipated as the
girls took three easy wins
in a row 25-11, 25-15 and
25-20.
Senior Jodi Walker
had 14 kills, one ace, five
digs and two blocks. Junior
Chelsey Ellis had four kills,
two aces and 10 digs. Senior
Erin Robertson had nine
kills, five blocks and two
digs. Senior Miranda Griffis
had one kill, one ace and two
digs. Senior Leanne Winter-
holler had 17 digs and four
aces. Junior Maddie Baxen-
dale and senior Schuylar
Davis each contributed two
kills. Freshman Emilee Re-
asch, who has made a sig-
nificant contribution to the
team all season, had three
kills and two blocks. Junior
Megan McClure contributed
32 assists and 10 digs.
"We didn't really have
a ten of digs this time be-
cause Kemmerer didn't re-
ally have a lot of hitters,"
said Jameson. "The game
went quickly. We just got
out there and took care of
business."
On Friday night the
team played Wind River.
The scores were 25-19, 25-
23 and 25-20.
According to James-
on, Wind River was a little
bit better competition than
Kemmerer, but she felt the
LHS girls made more errors
than usual, resulting in a
closer score than she would
have expected.
"I don't remember mak-
ing that many errors in the
past few weeks, so that hurt
us but we still won all three
games," said Jameson. "We
had quite a few hitting er-
rors this game and I think
we could have handled them
better without those errors."
Walker had 10 kills, one
ace, nine digs and two blocks.
DAVID PECK
The Lady Bulldogs won the regional championship tournament last weekend. Posing with the championship
trophy are (l-r) Tommie Ann Schmitt, McKenzie Jameson, Stormy Jameson, Chelsey Ellis, Shyann Wilske,
Emilee Reasch, Jodi Walker, Miranda Griffis, Leanne Winterholler, Erin Robertson, Schuylar Davis, Mercedes
Haney, Maddie Baxendale, Megan McClure, Bonnie Rodriguez, Dana Christiansen and April Nicholls.
Ellis had six kills, one block
and 35 digs. Robertson had
12 kills, 10 blocks and eight
digs. Griffis had three kills
and 11 digs. Reasch had five
kills and seven blocks. Mc-
Clure had 31 assists and
11 digs, Shyann Wilske had
nine digs and Winterholler
had 28 digs. Walker, Ellis,
McClure and Robertson all
served 100 percent.
"Chelsey (Ellis) had a
really good defensive game,
she even told me after the
game that she wasn't going
to let the ball hit the floor
if it came to her, no matter
what," said Jameson.
The girls faced off with
Shoshoni in the champi-
onship game on Saturday
afternoon. Shoshoni beat
LHS twice this season and
the girls were not about to
let that happen again. They
came in strong and pound-
ed Shoshoni in three hard-
hitting games 25-17, 25-16
and 25-18, giving the Lady
Bulldogs that solid first-
place finish at the regional
tournament they hoped for.
"We really wanted our
revenge on Shoshoni," said
Jameson. "We didn't really
care who we played either
way, we just wanted to win,
but when we heard it was
Shoshoni we were pretty
excited that we could get
some revenge on them."
"I reminded the girls in
our pre-game meeting and
pep talk to remember what
it felt like to lose to Sho-
shoni," said Jameson, "to
remember how mad they
were and how upset they
were that they lost and not
See 'REGIONALS,' page 8
fourth at State
Grizzly harriers place Lovell runners see good times for
some but no big wins at state
31 seconds faster than his
time of a year ago. Also
placing in the top 25 were
Rocky freshman Casey
Banks, who placed 23 d
with a time of 20:08.17, and
Burlington senior Lance
Schatz, who ran the course
in 20:16.10 to place 25 th.
Other Rocky Mountain
competitors were sopho-
more Jake Loyning, 35
with a time of 21:04.28,
senior Jackson Stephens,
39 $ at 21:15.62 and ju-
nior Brady Winland, 41 st at
21:29.59.
On the girls side, sis-
ters Kelly and Cassy
Vezain placed 30 and 32 "d,
respectively, Kelly with a
time of 26:39.79 and Cassy
at 26:45.82.
Coach John Bernhisel
was not able to comment
on the meet, but assistant
coach Penny Tolman told
the Basin Republican Rus-
tier, "Exceptional is the
best way to describe the
cross-country runners who
represented our schools at
state. They have charac-
ter beyond their years. As
a team we ran faster than
five other teams if you look
at it with the glass half full.
Everyone gave their all in
spite of nagging sickness.
It truly shows what you're
made of when there's no
timeouts and no subs no
matter how hard it is to
keep going.
"Individually, our ath-
letes increased their im-
provement margins a great
deal, but the other teams
improved, too, and adding
Pine Bluffs in the mix by
moving down from 3A this
year pushed us into fourth.
"Lance Schatz will be
missed in Burlington and
Jackson Stephens in Rocky
will also be missed. Both se-
niors were truly a joy to be
around and so coachable.
"Thanks to everyone,
athletes, parents and the
Rocky Booster Club for sup-
port. I'm a runner forever
and hope to infect others
with the passion."
BY DAVID PECK
The young Rocky
Mo.untain Grizzlies cross
country team had a strong
day at the Wyoming State
Cross Country meet held at
the Douglas Country Club
Saturday, with four run-
ners placing in the top 25.
The Grizzly boys
placed fourth overall with
75 points, trailing cham-
pion Wyoming Indian (17),
Pine Bluffs/Burns (44) and
Saratoga (65) and beat-
ing Hulett/Sundance (88),
Lovell (98), Moorcroft (111),
Wright (175) and Norma-
tive Services (186).
Rocky junior Michael
Bernhisel just missed earn-
ing all-state honors, placing
11 th with a time of 18:49.54,
two seconds behind Quinn
Harrington of Saratoga and
five seconds faster than he
ran a year ago when he
placed fourth on the same
course.
Burlington junior Nate
Davidson placed 18 Satur-
day with a time of 19:32.17,
DAVID PECK
Rocky Mountain junior Michael Bernhisel, left, and Lovell senior Colin May,
right, cruise along a fairway at the Douglas Country Club during the state
cross country meet Saturday.
BY PATTI CARPENTER
The Wyoming High
School State Championship
meet wasn't the best day
that Lovell's cross country
team could have hoped for,
but it did have its moments:
"I saw a lot of our run-
ners improve their times
from the last time we ran
this course," said Coach
Caleb Sanders. "Although
we didn't achieve our team
goals several runners im-
proved their times and met
their own goals."
The much-anticipated
meet was held in Douglas
on Oct. 22. The team ran
the same course earlier in
the year and set a goal to
improve their times across
the board with some of the
top runners like Colin May
and Kim Shumway hoping
for a title wins.
Defending state cham-
pion Colin May had his
work cut out for him facing
stiff competition in the top
of the field. Coming in 124
place, May was a full min-
ute off his time last year at
19:10.97 and close to two
minutes behind the front-
runner Alejandro Garcia of
Pine Bluffs/Burns, who pro-
vided serious competition
for entire field at 17:41.03.
"I was proud of Colin,
he had a good season," said
Sanders. "Being able to
break a course record ear-
lier this season was a high-
light for him that he can al-
ways hang his hat on."
Several boys improved
their times over their pre-
vious run on the same
course. Freshman AJ Dick-
son placed 19 th out of a field
of 63 runners with a time of
19:32.84.
"AJ improved quite a
bit," said Sanders. "Last
time he ran that course in
21:16, this time he had an
near two minute improve-
ment in his time. He was
one of the highlights of the
meet."
Sanders has been im-
pressed with Dickson all
season, oftentimes com-
menting how he runs a
"smart race" and sets "high
goals for himself."
Michael Steiner also
beat his previous time
of 25:54 with a time of
23:37.59.
"I was happy for Mi-
chael, ! really liked the way
he finished his season,"
DAVID PECK
Lovell sophomore Kim Shumway, left, works her
way uphill on a difficult portion of the state cross
country course Saturday in Douglas.
said Sanders.
Mysen McArthur
shaved about a minute and
a half off his previous time
of 22:29 at 20:59.13.
Derek Phelps also im-
proved his time by nearly
three minutes at 27:35.16.
Jesse Bassett and Tony
Rodriquez ran well consid-
ering they only starting
racing a few weeks ago af-
ter their golf season end-
ed. They both turned in
respectable times with Bas-
sett at 23:24.51 and Ro-
driquez at 21:12.55.
According to Sanders,
their participation helped
the boys place sixth out of
nine teams.
"Tony and Jesse only
had a few weeks of racing
so I really appreciate them
coming out and helping the
team," said Sanders.
Sophomore Kim Shum-
way also faced stiff compe-
tition at the top of the girls'
field. Shumway placed
third at 22:00.27 behind
rival Austin Asay of Pine
Bluffs/Burns at 21:41.80.
Both were topped by Mi-
kayla Hudgins of Wright
who came out of nowhere
with a fast time of 21.28.04
Shumway was the only one
on the LHS team to make
all-state by placing in the
top 10.
"Kim ran the best that
she could, and I'm happy
that she made all-state,"
said Sanders. "She ran
the best she could and she
should be proud of that."
Meryk McArthur
placed 13th at 23:46.36,
missing all state by a mat-
ter of seconds.
"I was impressed with
Meryk. She really stepped
up a notch for this season,
and she was one of the top
performers on the team,"
said Sanders.
Freshman Chayli
McArthur joined the team
only recently when her vol-
d
See RUNNERS, page 8
