February 1, 2007

sports

At last Friday’s Yellow Springs Invitational, YSHS student Zane Reichert placed fourth overall in the 100 backstroke.

Bulldog sports round up

Swimmers win YS meet
The Yellow Springs girls and boys swimming teams hosted the Yellow Springs Invitational, which also serves as the Metro Buckeye Conference meet, last Friday, Jan. 26, at Wittenberg University. Fourteen teams competed overall, including three teams from the MBC. Yellow Springs girls tied for 11th place with 3 points, while the boys placed ninth with 6 points. In conference scoring, the Bulldog boys placed first with 31 points, followed by Dayton Christian with 26 points, and Miami Valley with 14. In conference for the girls, Dayton Christian dominated with 108 points, followed by Yellow Springs with 25, while Miami Valley failed to score.

In individual competition, freshman sensation Barbara Jewell placed sixth overall in the 200 free, followed by Miriam Barcus, who placed seventh, and Liz Zaff, who placed 11th. These girls were second, third, and fourth, respectively, in league competition. Zaff placed seventh in the 100 butterfly, overall, which gave her second place among MBC swimmers. Barcus came in fourth in the 500 freestyle, among all swimmers, which gave her third place in league competition. Jewell notched fifth place overall in the 100 breaststroke, -placing first in the league.

For the boys, freshmen Jake Kintner and John Michael Malone placed first and second, respectively, in MBC competition in the 50 freestyle, which gave them 13th and 14th places in overall competition. Malone came back to place third in the league in the 100 freestyle, followed by Zane Reichert who placed fourth, which gave the boys 13th and 14th places, respectively, in the overall standings. Reichert then placed fourth overall in the 100 backstroke, winning the event in the league. Kintner finished ninth overall in the 100 breaststroke, placing second in MBC competition.

Coaches Abby Guiler and Jenny Riehle were happy with Friday’s performances, if frustrated at not being able to field relays due to a lack of a number of swimmers. Dave Wishart, who directed the Yellow Springs Invitational, appreciated all the parents, including volunteer organizer Aida Merhemic, who helped out as timers and provided food for meet workers and coaches. There were several more teams at this year’s meet, and new meet records were established in eight of the 22 events.

The Lady Bulldogs’ sectional meet will be held at Wittenberg on Thursday, Feb. 8, with warm-ups starting at 4 p.m. and the meet beginning at 5:30. The YSHS boys sectional meet is also at Wittenberg on Friday, Feb. 9, with warm-ups beginning at 5 p.m. and the meet starting at 6:30. Admission to each event is $5.

Lady ‘Dogs suffer first loss
The Yellow Springs girls basketball team beat the Xenia Christian Ambassadors in double overtime 47–44 on Thursday, Jan. 25. But the seven-game winning streak of the YSHS girls basketball team came to an end Monday night, Jan. 29, at Troy -Christian, with the Lady ’Dogs losing 56–25. Troy ran its Metro Buckeye Conference record to 11–0, while the Bulldogs remain in second place in the league with an 8–3 conference mark. Yellow Springs is 9–7 overall.

Against Xenia, the game was tied at 7–7 at the end of the first quarter, and Yellow Springs worked through Xenia’s 12 turnovers to build a 19–17 lead by the halftime and end at 30–29 heading into the fourth quarter. The two teams worked themselves into a first overtime, and with less than 20 seconds left in the period, Ashanta’ -Robinson hit a 3-pointer to tie the game at 43. She scored two more baskets in the second overtime, while the Bulldog team held Xenia to one with a huge block from Ryder Comstock with two seconds left on the clock.

In addition to Robinson’s 31-point, 16-rebound heroics, Alisha Lucas, Marlee Layh and Jessica Kellar all hit crucial shots down the stretch to keep the Lady ’Dogs in the game. Yellow Springs also pulled down 35 rebounds on the night, to Xenia’s 25, including eight from Comstock, who also altered six Xenia Christian shots on the defensive end.

Against Troy, Robinson led the Bulldogs with 14 points, followed by Carly Bailey with 6, Comstock with 4 and Kellar with 1.

Boys basketball loses three
Yellow Springs fell under the hooves of the Stivers team, losing 74–51 on Tuesday, Jan. 23, and then were beaten by Dayton Christian 65–54 on Friday, Jan. 26. The Bulldogs narrowly missed a win against Cedarville, who edged out a 43–42 win the following day.

Against Stivers, the Bulldogs fell behind 20–11 in the first quarter and were consistently outscored in every quarter but the last. Despite their loss, the Bulldogs’ Kilan Brown was the game high scorer with 21 points, including 3 three-pointers. Raphael Allen and Ryan Newsome each scored 9 points for the team.

Against Dayton Christian, the Bulldogs had an unfortunate first quarter, scoring a paltry 6 points to the Warriors’ 19. Yellow Springs held Dayton to just 8 points in the third quarter and managed to cut the lead to 40–36. But Dayton took control again in the fourth. Brown again was the game high scorer with 24 points, while Newsome had 10, and Kevin Sikes-Gilbert had 8.

On Saturday Yellow Springs came out dominating against Cedarville, ending the first half up 27–20. But the Indians outscored the ’Dogs in both of the final quarters to tip the scales their way. Brown once again was the game’s high scorer with 21 points, including 3 three-pointers.