Welti dominates in annual ORVC Invitational Cross Country Meet held at Milan's Baylor Park

Josh Barnett - Sports Editor

Milan's Brandon Welti has proved all season long that he was the best runner in each meet he has ran in, but on Tuesday night he had a chance to show he was the best runner in the entire conference and he did just that. Welti's course record time of 15:38 at Milan's Baylor Park helped him prove he was the best in the ORVC winning the meet by :36 over
Southwestern's Justin Druba who ran a 16:14, to keep his unbeaten streak alive and lead his team to a fourth place finish in the annual ORVC Invitational Cross Country meet.

Winning the meet this year was Rising Sun with a team score of 44. Following the Shiners was Southwestern with 61 points, Jac-Cen-Del with 71, Milan with 78, Switzerland County with 105 and South Ripley with 125. Shawe didn't have a full team competing so they weren't
awarded a team score. The top twelve runners in the meet were awarded a spot on the All-Conference team.

Jac-Cen-Del's Justin Eaton and Kyle Horan took third and fourth place in the race with times of 16:17 and 16:19 respectively to join Welti on the All-Conference team. Milan teammates Nathan Hampton and Adam Baylor finished 7th and 12th to join Welti on the All-Conference team. Hampton ran a 16:56 while Baylor ran a 17:08. Erik Demaree
was South Ripley's number one runner finishing 19th in a time of 17:37.

Andrew Wagner was JCD's third runner taking 16th place in a time of 17:26. Following Wagner was Matt Hicks (22nd 18:07), Grant Gilland (26th 18:28), Austin Lord (31st 19:13) and Andrew Huff (36th 20:03).

Behind Baylor for the Indians was Mark Horstman placing 28th in a time of 18:49. Following Horstman was Josh Yatsko (30th 19:12), Daniel Fleming (35th 19:35) and Levi Knowlton (38th 20:13).

South Ripley's number two runner was Ariel Lawburgh placing 21st in a time of 17:42. Following Lawburgh for the Raiders was Ryan Kohlmeier (24th 18:23), Cody Meyers (29th 19:08), B.J. Sieverding (32nd 19:14) and Michael Mathews (34th 19:22).

In the girls' portion of the race Southwestern ran away with it with all seven of their runners making the All-Conference team. The Lady Rebels finished with a team score of 25 followed by Rising Sun with 64, Jac-Cen-Del with 70, Switzerland County with 92, Milan with 120 and South Ripley with 165. Shawe didn't have a full team competing.

Caitlin Sauerhage continued her unbeaten streak taking first place in a time of 14:57 followed by Switzerland County's Amanda Hon who ran a time of 15:06. Following Hon were five Southwestern runners. Breaking up the Lady Rebels was JCD's Alisha Lord taking 8th place with a time of 16:38. JCD's Amber Lunsford and Kelley Wagner joined Lord on the All-Conference team taking 11th and 12th place with Lunsford running a 16:53 and Wagner running a 16:54. Kiley MacVey was Milan's number one runner taking 16th place in a time of 17:36. Amber Thompson was SR's top runner placing 30th in a time of 21:15.

Following Wagner for the Lady Eagles was Kaitlin Hughes who was 19th in a time of 18:06. She was followed by Casey Gerwe (20th 18:07) and Laura Hicks (28th 20:16).

Milan's number two runner was Danielle Clemens who placed 22nd in a time of 18:43. Following Clemens was Megan Lade (23rd 18:47), Sarah Mills (27th 20:06) and Kim Batta (32nd 22:32).

Molly Walls was SR's second runner to finish taking 31st in a time of 22:15. Behind her was Amy Hobbs (33rd 21:46), Bernadette Gorman (35th 24:15) and Sarah McCrory (29:40). All the Ripley County schools will be competing this Saturday at Jac-Cen-Del in the annual Ripley County Invitational. That meet is scheduled to start at 9:00 am with the girls running first.

Brandon Welti runs all by himself on his way to winning the conference meet and setting a new course record at Milan's Baylor Park.

Lady Raiders fall to East Central in four games on the road

Josh Barnett - Sports Editor

South Ripley's volleyball team suffered just their fifth loss of the season Monday night at East Central. The Lady Raiders fell to the Lady Trojans in four games with scores of 26-24, 12-25, 13-25 and 16-25. With the loss the Raiders' record falls to 14-5 on the season.

Three Raiders finished the match serving perfect with Kristen Huss going 13-13 with an ace, Erin Collier going 12-12 and Ashley Thomas going 7-7/

Collier was one of the top passers for the Raiders completing 30 out of 35 passes with 6 digs. Casey Payne completed 42 out of 46 passes with 13 digs and Tracy Keyes completed 23 out of 28 passes with 7 digs.

Julie Lipperd led the team with 13 kills on 31-35 hitting followed by Collier with 9 kills on 13-14 hitting
and Huss with 5 kills on 14-18 hitting.

Huss was one of the teams top setters going 53-55 for the match. The other top setter was Sheena Braley who was 20-26. Lipperd and Collier led the team with 3 sol blocks each, Lipperd also had 2 assisted blocks and Collier had one.

In the JV match the Lady Raiders fell in two games with scores of 21-25 and 20-25. Three Raiders finished the match serving perfect with Lauren Lemon going 8-8 and Courtney Walker and Erica Burress going 4-4 each.

Burress was the teams top passer completing 23 out of 25 passes. She was also perfect on hitting going 5-5. Courtney Walker finished with a team high 3 kills on 5-6 hitting.

The Lady Raiders play again tonight (Thurs.) at Shawe. That game is scheduled to start at 6:00 pm.