The Sun and News, Saturday, April 24, 2021/ Page 11TK ladies bounce
back to best GRCC
Brett Bremer
Sports Editor
After scoring multiple
goals in each of four victories
to open the 2021 season, the
Thornapple Kellogg varsity
girls’ soccer team saw a step
up in competition in the past
week.
The Trojans bounced back
from being shut out by Byron
Center and Cedar Springs to
get a 1-0 victory at Grand
Rapids Catholic Central
Wednesday.
Defender Abbie Numerick
tallied the single goal for the
Trojans during that three-
game stretch, finding an
upper corner with a free kick
from about 35 yards out mid-
way through the first half
against the Cougars. The goal
was enough to improve the
Trojans’ record to 5-2 overall
and 2-1 in the OK Gold
Conference.
“Just a great shot overall, a
great ball and a great finish
and that was the deciding
play,” TK head coach Joel
Strickland said.
Katelyn Hildabrand earned
the shutout in net for the
Trojans, making ten saves.
It was a total team effort
for TK to shut out the Eagles.
“Defensively we played
really solid. Overall just real-
ly well organized,” Strickland
said.
Numerick, Sydney
Moerman, Emelia
MacDonald and Peyton Pratt
were key along the back line
for the Trojans, with Pratt
stepping into a defensive role
with the team’s regular start-
ing sweeper out for the night.
“The four of them just
really held tight. All aroundwe just played better. The
midfield controlled the game,
as far as great possession,”
Strickland said.
He was happy with the
chances created on the attack
as well.
The TK ladies had dropped
consecutive ballgames head-
ing into the match with the
Cougars. Cedar Springs
scored a 2-0 win over the
visiting Trojans Monday eve-
ning, and TK lost to a tough
Byron Center team in a
non-conference match 3-
last Friday on the road.
“We had a tough loss to
them,” Strickland said of the
match with the Bulldogs.
“They’re good and they are
really solid, very organized.
John Conlon is coaching
them now. He used to coach
East Kentwood and is proba-
bly one of the best coaches in
the state of Michigan. He had
them really well organized. It
was a good game for us.”
The Trojans didn’t play
quite as well in the OK Gold
Conference defeat at Cedar
Springs, but Strickland was
pleased with how hard his
girls played.
The TK girls will be at
home Monday to take on
Wayland and then visit
Ottawa Hills Wednesday in
the week ahead in the OK
Gold Conference. They’ll
face a good non-conference
test when they travel to
Kalamazoo Christian next
Friday (April 30).School record two-mile helps
Scots score conference victory
The Caledonia varsity
girls’ track and field team
picked up OK Red
Conference victories over
Hudsonville and Grandville
this week, with senior
Lindsey Peters capping the
outstanding week by smash-
ing a school record.
Peters won the 3200-meter
run in the Scots’ dual with the
Grandville girls in Caledonia
Thursday, breaking a 26-year
old school record with her
winning time of 10 minutes
37.65 seconds. She was more
than two minutes ahead of
the runner-up in the race,
Grandville sophomore Sarah
Etcher.
Caledonia girls won ten of
the 17 events on the day to
capture an 96-40 win. Peters
also teamed with Lola
Schuler, Leah Thompson and
Natalia Quigley to open the
afternoon with a winning
time of 10:54.38 in the 3200-
meter relay.
Caledonia girls won two of
the three relays, with the
team of Mayari Coriano,
Brooke Heyboer, Teresa
Abraham and Ella Mealey
winning the 400-meter relay
in 52.89 seconds.
Coriano, a freshman, won
both hurdles races for the
Scots. She took the 100-
meter hurdles in 18:45 sec-
onds and the 300-meter low
hurdles in 51.24. Mealey, a
senior, won the two sprints
for the Scots. She took the
100-meter dash in 13.01 and
the 200 in 27.84.
Caledonia senior Emma
Crosby won the 400-meter
run in 1:08.76.
In the field, Caledonia had
junior Harlei Mansfield win
the shot put with a mark of 31
feet 8 inches. Morgan Babb
took the discus at 97-0, lead-
ing a sweep of that event for
the Scots with Mansfield sec-
ond and senior Adelyn
Sanders third. Junior Laura
Robotham won the pole vault
at 9-0 and senior Etania Peay
won the long jump at 15-2.25.
Caledonia’s boys split
their two OK Red duals this
week, beating the Bulldogs
Thursday after falling to the
Eagles at Hudsonville
Monday.
The Scots beat Grandville
88-49 powered by a big day
in the field. The Scots swept
the three scoring places in the
pole vault, the discus, and
placed 1-2 in the long jump,
the high jump and the shot
put.
Junior Mason Powers had
two of those wins for
Caledonia. He took the pole
vault at 11-0 and won the
long jump at 19-2.25.
Collin Witvoet, a junior,
won the high jump by clear-ing the bar at 5-6 for
Caledonia. Junior Caleb
Paarlberg took the shot put
for Caledonia at 39-6 and
senior Luke Craig won the
discus at 115-10, a new per-
sonal record. Senior Daniel
Cruz was second in each of
the throws for the Scots.
The Caledonia girls bested
Hudsonville 87-49 Monday.
Diana Bisono, Audrey
Howell, Leah Thompson and
Brooke Heyboer took the
Scots’ lone relay win over the
Eagles, winning the 1600-
meter relay at the end of the
evening in 4:44.05.
Coriano swept the hurdles
again, taking the 100 hurdles
in 18.55 and the 300 hurdles
in 55.58.
Peters won a couple dis-
tance races, taking the 1600-
meter run in 5:41.39 and the
800-meter run in 2:18.80.
Coulter won the 3200 for the
Scots in 12:44.56.
Peay took the high jump at
4-10, Molly Winger the pole
vault at 9-0, Mansfield the
shot put at 31-3 and Adelyn
Sanders the discus at 90-9 in
the field for Caledonia.
Caledonia’s boys fell
78-59 to the Eagles.
There was another sweep
of the pole vault for the scots
with Elijah Miller, a senior,40
Business Services
I BUY JUNK Cars, Farm
Equipment. 616-570-6701.
DUMP RUNS SMALL FEE ~
will do tear-downs! Fencing,
Scrap metal, unwanted appli-
ances, Fuel oil/Propane tanks,
Old black antenna dishes, Bat-
teries, Automobiles, Mobile
Homes, much more! David:
269-203-6881 (cell).
CONSTRUCTION: ADDI-
TIONS, REMODELING,
Roofing, Siding, Pole Barns
& Decks. Licensed builder 25
years. Tom Beard, 269-838-
5937.
MATT ENDSLEY, FABRI-
CATION and repair, custom
trailers, buckets, bale spears,
etc. Call 269-804-7506.
BUYING ALL HARD-
WOODS: Walnut, White
Oak, Tulip Poplar. Call for
pricing. Will buy single Wal-
nut trees. Insured, liability &
workman’s comp. Fetterley
Logging, (269)818-7793.Real Estate
I BUY HOUSES - any condi-
tion. All Cash - CloseFast.
http://www.fastcashformichigan-
homes.com Call Ken 269-
217-1123.Garage Sale
APRIL 23 & 24, 2021- Down-
town Alto. Includes: resi-
dences, Alto Meadows, rural,
library book sale. Maps w/
addresses will be available
at sales.Lost & Found
LOST COCKATIEL PIK-
ACHU- White with yellow
4/22/21. Vickie 517-490-1196.Call 269-945-
for Sun & News
classified ads
121 E. Main Street
Downtown Middleville(269) 795-
[email protected]
FarmBureauInsurance.comTK ladies a point better
than Hastings at invite
Brett Bremer
Sports Editor
Hastings won the top two
singles flights and the top
doubles flight, but Thornapple
Kellogg won everything else
Saturday at the four-team
Lakewood Invitational.
The Trojan varsity girls’
tennis team outscored the
Saxons 20-19 at the top of the
standings. Lakewood was
third with 6 points and Ionia
finished with two.
Thornapple Kellogg got
flight championships from
Sophia Beckering at third
singles and Christel Hoskins
at number four. Tylor Buxton
and Jamie DeVries teamed up
for the second doubles win
for TK, with teammates Ellie
Essenberg and Heidi Church
winning at third doubles and
Madeline Coe and Trinity
Simons taking the fourth
doubles victory.
One point here or there
was the difference in the final
standings. Nowhere was that
more evident than in the sec-
ond doubles match-up
between the Trojans’ Buxton
and DeVries and Hastings’
Ella Carroll and Skylar
Grego. Buxton and DeVries
took the opening set 6-4, but
the Saxon pair rallied to win
the second 7-5. A ten-point
super tiebreaker wasn’t near-
ly enough to decide the match
as the two sides battled until
the Trojan team finally pulled
out an 18-16 win.
Buxton and DeVries start-
ed their day with a 6-0, 6-
win over Ionia and closed out
their flight championship by
beating the Lakewood sec-
ond doubles team 6-1, 6-1.
The Saxons’ Brooklyn
Youngs took the first singleschampionship and teammate
Abby Beemer won at number
two. Youngs bested
Lakewood’s Kristen Finsaas
7-5, 6-0 in the day’s opener
and then defeated Nancy
Hoogwerf from Thornapple
Kellogg 6-3, 6-0. Youngs
closed her day with a 6-1, 6-
win over Ionia’s Jessa
Swineheart.
Bailey Cook and Brinna
Cobb teamed up to win the
first doubles title for the
Saxons. The defeated the top
team from Lakewood 6-4,
6-0, the top team from TK
6-1, 6-3 and the top team
from ionia 6-1, 6-0.
Thornapple Kellogg placed
second at second singles and
first doubles, and third at sec-
ond singles where Charlotte
Nelson had to make an early
exit from the tournament
after defeating Ionia’s Kate
Brown to start the day.
Lakewood’s Izzy Wheeler
earned the runner-up spot at
second singles. She got a 6-2,
6-1 win over Ionia’s Kate
Brown and and added a for-
feit victory over TK.
TK returned to OK Gold
Conference action at Grand
Rapids Catholic Central
Thursday, falling 6-2 to the
host Cougars.
Nelson and Beckering at
second and third singles for
TK picked up wins. Nelson
knocked off Abby Griffith
6-2, 6-4 and Beckering best-
ed Stella Wilson in a mara-
thon two-set match 7-6(16),
7-5.
TK also got a good singles
competition from Hoskins at
number four where she was
edged 6-3, 6-4 by Catholic
Central’s Annalise Micus.See VICTORY, page 12