The Hastings Banner — Thursday, June 3, 2021 — Page 13Second-ranked Gull Lake a goal better than TK
Brett Bremer
Sports Editor
From the opening moments, Gull Lake
head coach Colton Johnson urged his girls to
put pressure on the Trojans, to attack 1-v-1 at
every opportunity, and to score one goal, then
another and another.
The Blue Devils won their fair share of
those 1-v-1 battles, but more often than not
another TK defender was there to slide and
help out and clear the ball from trouble.
The second-ranked team in the state man-
aged a first goal, but that was all as the
Thornapple Kellogg varsity girls’ soccer team
battled the Blue Devils in a 1-0 loss in the
Division 2 District Semifinals at Harper Creek
High School in Battle Creek Tuesday eve-
ning.
“They’re a good team. I felt like overall, as
a team, we definitely competed with them. I
think we frustrated them a lot,” TK head
coach Joel Strickland said. “I think they had
the assumption that they were going to come
in and dominate our girls. I think that was
kind of their mindset. You could just tell in the
beginning, especially how we were playing
together as a team, it brought a lot of frustra-
tion to their team and that is what this team
can do.
“We’re a great team, and honestly it could
have been our game as much as theirs and
they took advantage of one opportunity and
we weren’t able to capitalize on ours.”
The Blue Devils scored the game’s only
goal in the 37th minute. Gull Lake freshman
Maggie Westra couldn’t get a shot off with
her left foot at the top of the 18 and tapped a
pass to senior teammate Anna McKay who
slammed a shot hard past a diving Trojan
keeper, Katelyn Hildabrand.
Both Trojan keepers Hildabrand and Tristen
Cross, in the second half, made big saves to
keep the game tight. Moments before the goal
Hildabrand had made a big save on the
Devils’ Maddie Bellinger as she crashed in on
the goal. Cross went high in the air to deflect
or pull down as couple balls in the second
half.
TK had its best couple scoring opportuni-
ties as the second half moved into its second
half. Trojan defender Sydney Moerman had a
free kick from just outside the top left corner
of the box fly inches high of the crossbar, and
Ainsley Oliver skipped a shot in from just
above the top of the 18 that had Gull Lake
keeper Sarah Willard on the ground to block.
The ball bounded away and sat on the turf to
the right of the Blue Devil goal for what feltlike a long time before Willard was able to get
up and get on it.
Strickland liked the way his girls defended
as a team throughout the ballgame, and saw
his girls’ best attacks as usual coming when
they worked the ball through the midfield.
The Blue Devils did their best to pay special
attention to Emma Schut in the midfield, but
she still managed to put forward a couple
successful runs with the ball up to the attack.
The game got more physical as it pro-
gressed and the Blue Devils began to control
possession in the offensive end for much of
the final ten minutes.
“I think they were exhausted,” Strickland
said of his girls in the end. “We have been
battling a lot of different injuries this year and
we’re a smaller team. I think it says a lot
about our team, as far how much they left out
there on the field. They were giving it every-
thing they could. At the end of the day, I
would rather see our team come off just
exhausted than coming off like they have a
ton of breath left because they’re not giving itall they can.”
Gull Lake is 13-3 after the win and will
face Plainwell in the district final back at
Harper Creek Saturday. TK ends the season at
10-6-2.
The TK program has grown accustomed to
chasing district and conference champion-
ships in recent years, and they were just shy of
both this spring. They were bested in a shoot-
out by Grand Rapids Catholic Central in the
semifinals of the OK Gold Conference
Tournament last month on an evening when a
TK win would have secured them the confer-
ence title.
The Thornapple Kellogg girls won their
Division 2 District opener 6-1 over the Saxons
at Hastings High School last Wednesday to
earn the semifinal match with the Gull Lake
girls.
“We really did a great job of possession and
controlling the game,” Strickland said.
“Hastings had a few counter attacks that lead
to a few shots and them converting on one in
the second half, from about 20 yards out.”Overall the Trojans outshot the Saxons
39-5, and Strickland said the Saxon keeper
“did a good job of keeping the score where it
was with several diving saves and outstanding
plays.”
Nichols scored the first TK goal just the
minutes in. Cross punted a ball from her box
over the Saxon defense and Nichols took it
and put it in the net.
Nichols got a second goal 12 minutes in
with the help of a great cross from teammate
Ainsley Oliver, and the TK quickly made it
3-0 with Shayne Krystyniak finishing off a
great ball into the goalmouth by teammate
Holly Velting.
Velting assisted on another Nichols goal
seven minutes into the second half. Emma
Schut scored once and assisted on freshman
Alivia Raak’s first varsity goal in the final
minutes of the game.Area athletes perform well
at Lansing Honor Roll Meet
The Lakewood area has some pretty fast
distance runners, and they were nearly all
faster than ever before at the Greater Lansing
Honor Roll Meet of Champions hosted by
Lansing Waverly Tuesday.
Lakewood senior Nathan Alford set a new
Lakewood record with his 3200-meter time of
9 minutes 56.08 seconds, a time that was good
enough for 12th place in a field of 16 runners.
All but one of the top 13 runners in the race
set a new varsity personal record. Carson
City-Crystal senior Coleman Clark, one of
three members of his team in the race, won
with a time of 9 minutes 22.78 seconds. There
were four guys across the finish line in less
than nine minutes and 30 seconds, Olivet
senior Noah Griffith (9:27.31, St. Johns senior
Ryan Brown (9:27.92) and East Lansing
junior Matthew Zeleke (9:28.43).
Travis Williams set the Lakewood boys’
3200-meter record previously in 2001 at
9:58.7.
Lakewood had three athletes closing their
season season at the Honor Roll Meet. Junior
Hokulani Ka’alakea placed third in the girls’
100-meter hurdles with a time of 16.80 sec-
onds. Viking freshman Annabelle Stank was
fifth in the girls’ discus with at time of 98 feet
1.5 inches.
Maple Valley senior Ashlyn Wilkes com-
peted in the girls’ high jump Tuesday as well,
placing fourth by clearing the bar at 4-10.Thornapple Kellogg’s Grace McNabnay works to contain Gull Lake’s Maggie Westra
in the midfield during the first half of their Division 2 District Semifinal ballgame at
Harper Creek High School in Battle Creek Tuesday. The Blue Devils took a 1-0 win to
earn a spot in this weekend’s district final. (Photo by Brett Bremer)
Thornapple Kellogg freshman Alivia Raak attacks a corner kick in front of Gull Lake’s (from left) McKenzie Ford, Emma Sexton,
Caroline Yapp (2) and Alex French (18) during the first half of their Division 2 District Semifinal match at Harper Creek High School
Tuesday. She was whistled for having her cleats up too high on the play. (Photo by Brett Bremer)Lakewood and Olivet playing out GLAC series
Brett Bremer
Sports Editor
It has been a contentious season between
the Lakewood varsity baseball team and the
Olivet varsity baseball team this spring, and
they’ll get to settle things on the field Saturday.
The Vikings face the Eagles in the second
of two Division 2 District Semifinal match-
ups at Lakewood High School Saturday.
Hastings meets Charlotte at 9 a.m., with the
ballgame between the Eagles and Vikings to
follow.
The Olivet team clinched a share of the
Greater Lansing Activities Conference cham-
pionship with a walk-off win over the Vikings
Wednesday, May 26, in Olivet. The Vikings
thought the GLAC season was done at that
point. They had swept the doubleheader
between the two teams at Lakewood High
School two days earlier.
Olivet closes the conference season at 16-2.
The Vikings were 13-2 in the conference, and
Lakewood head coach Brad Tacey was under
the impression that due to the nature of put-
ting together a full conference schedule in a
pandemic, the league coaches had agreed that
it was enough to share the conference cham-
pionship. Instead, the Vikings learned last
week that they’d have to get in their confer-
ence set with the Maple Valley boys, which
was postponed early in the season.
Lakewood moved to 15-2 in the conference
with two wins over the Lions in Vermontville
Monday, scoring 9-2 and 7-4 wins. The two
teams were set to meet for one last ballgame
at Lakewood High School Wednesday, June 2.
The Olivet Eagles took their share of the
conference championship with a 7-6 win on a
walk-off home run by Tyler Latunski to lead-
off the bottom of the seventh last Wednesday.
Jayce Hansen had just delivered an RBI
single in the top of the sixth for the Vikings to
tie the game at 6-6.
The two teams were knotted at 3-3 after
two innings Wednesday, then the Eagles
sprang for three runs in the bottom of the
third. Lakewood clawed back with two runs
in the top of the fifth and then the one in the
sixth.
Hansen drove in two runs in the loss, with
a single, a double and a walk in two at-bats.
Walker Klifman had a pair of singles for the
Vikings and scored a run. Nathan Willette
doubled and scored once. Brady Gawne had
the Vikings’ other hit, a single. Brent Sweet,
Blake Price and Gawne all scored runs aswell.
Hansen started on the mound for the
Vikings, striking out two and walking two in
four innings. He gave up six runs (just two
earned) on six hits.
Gavin Willette was hit with the loss. The
home run was one of only two hits he allowed
after taking over to start the fifth. He walked
one and struck out one.
Price, Gawne and Hansen had two hits each
in the Vikings’ game-one win over Maple
Valley Monday. Klifman, Hansen and Price
had two RBI each. Nathaniel Graham and
Gawne drove in one run apiece.Graham got the win, striking out 11 in
seven innings. He allowed two runs on six hits
and didn’t walk a batter.
Gregg Richardson drilled a two-run home
run to right field that scored Lane Morris and
tied the game at 2-2-2 with two out in the
bottom of the third for the Lions.
Lakewood took the lead right back though
as Hansen singled to lead off the fourth. He
stole second and was replaced for a courtesy
runner, Denny Sauers, at second. Sauers went
to third on a ground out by Graham and then
scored on a sacrifice fly by Klifman.
In the Vikings’ 7-4, game-two win, Hansenwas hot again going 2-for-3 with a pair of
doubles and a walk. Graham and Sweet both
singled once and drove in a run. Nathan
Willette was 2-for-3 with two runs scored.
Gawne, Gavin Willette, Ethan Rodriguez and
Sawyer Stoepker had the other Viking hits.
Richardson belted another home run in
game two, going 2-for-4 with two RBI and a
run scored. Morris was 2-for-3 and scored a
run for the Lions. Callan Hoefler, Nick
Osborne and Ayden Wilkes each singled.
Wilkes and Blaze Sensiba scored Maple
Valley runs, and Hoefler and Osborne had one
RBI apiece.