The Hastings Banner — Thursday, September 16, 2021 — Page 15Saxons’ Shults shaves big chunk off PR at Gilmore
Brett Bremer
Sports Editor
With a season-opening dual with Gull Lake
postponed due to heat, the Delton Kellogg
varsity cross country teams ran their only
home meet of the season on the slightly
redesigned course at Gilmore Car Museum
Thursday.
That means it’ll be the lone race at Gilmore
for the other area teams that took part as well,
including the Hastings boys and girls. It was
as great afternoon winding past the Fords,
Cadillacs, barns and corn fields for Saxon
sophomore Riley Shults who placed fourth in
the boys’ race with a time of 17 minutes 29.
seconds – a new personal record.
He was 30 seconds faster than his personal
record from the end of his freshman season.
“At the end of track season [in the spring] I
decided I wasn’t doing very well and ‘hey,
why not put in a bunch of miles and train over
the summer,” Schults said. “I didn’t have a
very good first couple meets [this fall],
because I wasn’t comfortable with those
faster paces, but today I stuck with those top
guys and I just kept on going, and going, and
going and I ended up fourth overall.”
Senior Garrett Winter and junior William
Winter from Parchment finished the boys’
race 1-2, with Garrett coming in at 16:19.
and William in 17:11.40. Kalamazoo Christian
senior Isaac Bos was third in the boys’ race
with a season-best time of 17:16.10.
Shults beat out Paw Paw junior Austin
Williford over the final few hundred meters to
place fourth. Williford ended up fifth in
17:33.4 with Wayland junior Devin Weaver
sixth in 17:54.95.
“I have never really had a very strong
kick,” Shults “I decided to start kicking with
about 800 meters to go and I decided the last
turn why not push it?”
Covenant Christian won the boys’ and
girls’ championships at the 15-team
invitational. The Hastings boys were fourth
and the DK boys seventh. Covenant Christian
finished with 63 points, ahead of Kalamazoo
Christian 80, Wayland 85, Hastings 110, Paw
Paw 123, Parchment 142, Delton Kellogg
145, St. Philip 178, Pennfield 262, Hopkins
268 and Marcellus 316.
Cole Greenfield also set a new PR for the
Saxon boys placing 57th in 21:03.60. The rest
of the Saxon top five included Brandon
Simmons 15th in 18:36.15, Jonah Teed 19th
in 18:56.53 and Reuben Solmes 25th in
19:18.74.
Delton Kellogg got a personal record from
new varsity runner Tyden Ferris, a senior who
placed 32nd overall in 20:01.11. Ferris opted
out of playing football this fall in an effort in
part to stay in top physical condition for
wrestling. He is also a part of the DK varsity
boys’ soccer team for the second consecutive
fall along with fellow harriers Hector Jimenez
and Joelle White.
Jimenez led the DK team Thursday with a
13th-place time of 18:27.03. DK also had
Micah Martin run his best time of the season
in placing 26th. He came in at 19:34.74. DK
also had Ethan Rimmer 38th in 20:17.60 and
Isaac Shepard 43rd in 20:27.85.
Hastings didn’t get a team score on the
girls’ side with three competing. Allison Teed
led the Saxon pack with a 14th-place time of
22:21.72. Carissa Strouse was 17th in
22:35.49 and Lily Comensoli 38th in 24:22.8.
Aubrey Aukerman led the DK girls with a
season-best time of 22:28.62 that put her in
15 th place. Halena Phillips was 18th overall
for DK in 22:42.81. The Panthers also had
Johannah Houtkooper, a freshman, set a new
PR in 23:57.33 and senior Melanie Monroe
set a PR with her 59th-place time of 26:10.69.
White was also in DK’s top five, placing 43rd
in 24:47.51.Covenant Christian senior Meghan Beute
didn’t have any competition at the front of the
girls’ race. She finished in 19:24.39. Wayland
sophomore Olivia Barabas was the runner-up
in 20:48.50. Covenant Christian also had
Lydia VandenBerg and Amber Koole place
third and fourth respectively.
Covenant Christian won the girls’ meet
with 35 points, ahead of Kalamazoo Christian
50, Paw Paw 123, Hopkins 135, Wayland 139,
Delton Kellogg 139, St. Philip 162, Parchment
176, Marcellus 228 and Pennfield 276.The Delton Kellogg varsity girls’ cross country team takes off at the start of its 2021 Delton Kellogg Invitational on a newly rede-
signed course at Gilmore Car Museum Thursday afternoon. (Photo by Brett Bremer)Saxon sophomore Lily Comensoli
makes her way along the course at
Gilmore Car Museum during the Delton
Kellogg Invitational Thursday. (Photo by
Brett Bremer)The Saxons’ Carissa Strouse (left) and
Allison Teed race together about two
miles into the Delton Kellogg Invitational
Thursday at Gilmore Car Museum. (Photo
by Brett Bremer)
Delton Kellogg’s Hector Jimenez races a few strides ahead of Hastings’ and during
the first mile of the Delton Kellogg Invitational Thursday at Gilmore Car Museum.
(Photo by Brett Bremer)Saxon sophomore Riley Shults races
to a new personal record time and a
fourth place finish at the Delton Kellogg
Invitational Thursday at the Gilmore Car
Museum. (Photo by Brett Bremer)Pennfield rallies for
five-set win over Saxon
spikers in I-8 play
Valerie Slaughter
Contributing Writer
The Hastings Saxon varsity volleyball team
lost to Pennfield in their Interstate-8 Athletic
Conference match at Hastings High School
Wednesday (Sept. 8). The Saxons took the first
two sets over Pennfield 25-13 and 25-22,
before the Panthers made a comeback and took
the last three sets 12-25, 15-25 and 8-15.
Hastings Head Coach Tiffany Hendershot
said, “the girls put everything they had into
those first two sets. They were passing well
and hitting well and made very few unforced
errors, but by the third set they started getting
tired and made more unforced errors which
caused them to get into their own heads and
they just couldn’t find a way to come back
from that.”
The Saxon team was led by Audrey Vertalka
who had 15 kills on the night and 5 solo blocks
and 2 assists and 6 aces from the service line.
Morgan Deal led in assists with 15. The
defense was led by Isabella Hendershot in
passing. Hendershot also added 3 aces from the
service line.On Saturday, the Hastings team traveled to
Union City for the Union City Classic. The
Saxons dropped their first two set to Mendon
19-25 and 24-26. Coach Hendershot noted “it
was a very close and well played match.”
The Saxon team then defeated Union City
27-25 and 25-19, in what Coach Hendershot
described as their best played sets of the day. In
the next round they split sets with Colon 25-
and 18-25, before defeating Union City JV in
the first round of their bracket play 25-19 and
25-14, before dropping two sets to Athens.
Leading the Saxons in kills for the day was
Carly Warner with 17. Vertalka added 12 kills
and 10 assists along with 9 solo blocks and 8
block assists. Bailey Cook had 11 kills. Deal
added 21 assists for the team along with 22
service points and 7 aces. Abby Beemer added
another 30 service points and 6 aces along with
12 kills and 5 digs. Hendershot added another
15 digs and 6 aces for the Saxons.
Hastings varsity volleyball players Bella Hendershot and Cailin Redman play
defense in the back row during their team’s five-set loss to visiting Pennfield in an I-
dual Wednesday (Sept. 8) at Hastings High School. (Photo by Valerie Slaughter)The Saoxns’ Audrey Vertalka goes up
for an attack as teammate Carly Warner
looks on during their match with Pennfield
at Hastings High School Sept. 8. (Photo
by Valerie Slaughter)