NUIC Sports Roundup

By Al Zipsie

The NUIC Conference meet is coming up April 19th at Dakota. While Polo/Forreston is still the favorite, Lena-Winslow is coming on strong. The Panthers won the Platteville, WI Indoor track meet for the first time. Last week they won meets on back to back nights with the Lena-Winslow Coed Classic and the Fulton Relays.

Polo/Forreston and Lena-Winslow will battle again at the 1A Sectional.

Isaiah Bruce a junior of Lena-Winslow, 6 foot 2 and 265 pounds is the rare athlete who is strong and fast. Bruce is a state medalist in the shot put and sprints. Bruce has given a verbal commitment to play football at Iowa but receiving other Division 1 offers, including Northwestern. He has the eighth best 1A shot put in the state this year at 50'10 1/2. And even though three of his state medal relay team all graduated. A new group has stepped up to put them right up with Forreston/Polo in the relay events.

Max Sager of Pecatonica graduated early in December to join the Military. Last year as a junior he qualified for state in all three sprint events and was ninth in the 400 meters. That left those wide open for others this season.

Here are the boys and girls track honor rolls as the season heats up with Conference and State meets ahead. The sprints have lots of talent. Dakota's junior Nolan Lentz set a Rockford Christian Invitation record in the 200 meters Saturday winning in 22.99. He also was second in the 100 in 11.28. Lentz also joined Jordon Ayres, Cade Kloster and freshman Kaleb Morris in winning the 400 relay in 45.29 and second in the 800 relay in 1:36.15. Dakota has improved vastly and hopes to challenge Polo/Forreston and Lena-Winslow at the NUIC meet.

Boys.

100 Meter Dash. Lentz Dakota 11.28. Evan Kelsey Polo/Forreston 11.50,Kloster Dakota 11.54. Morris Dakota. 11.63. Brady Webb Polo/Forreston 11.67. Andrew Lorig Pearl City 11.68. Caden Manning. Pecatonica/Durand. 11.70.

200 Meter Dash. Lentz Dakota. 22.99. Webb Polo/Forreston 23.47. , Kelsey Polo/Forreston 23.63, Isaiah Bruce Lena-Winslow 24.10. Lorig Pearl City 24.25, Cody Thorton Pecatonica 24.44. Kerian DuPlessis Galena/River Ridge/East Dubuque 24.47.

400 Meter Dash. Lentz Dakota. 52.49. Cailean Davids Polo/Forreston 53.11. Jarod Kempel. Pearl City 53.97. Joseph Diaz Galena/River Ridge/East Dubuque 54.01, Will Kiefer Galena/River Ridge/East Dubuque. 54.01. Colton Ballard.West Carroll. 55.29.

800 Meter Run. Tom Stamberger. Amboy. 2:03.84. Cayden Shelton Polo/Forreston 2:04.20.Josh Clark Dakota 2:05.

1600 Meter Run. Sam Mickelson Galena/River Ridge/East Dubuque 4:44.07. Jayden Day Milledgeville 4:47.46. Stamberger Amboy. 4:53.19.

3200 Meter Run. Mickelson Galena/River Ridge/East Dubuque 10:00.67. Briar Nevills. West Carroll. 10:49.45. Stephen Reifsteck. Milledgeville. 10:54.66.

110 High Hurdles. Hampton Petsche Galena/River Ridge/East Dubuque. 15.75. Tanner Kalkbrenner Lena-Winslow 16.35, Keegan Gyland Lena-Winslow 16.43.

300 Intermediate Hurdles. Kalkbrenner Lena-Winslow 41.40, Jayden Kempel Pearl City 42.19, Bennet Soltow Polo/Forreston 43.29, Devon Rowell Galena/River Ridge/East Dubuque 43.69.

Long Jump. Webb Polo/Forreston 21'2, Ethan Phillips Polo/Forreston 20'3, Bobby Brown Lena-Winslow 19'11, Kloster and Ayres Dakota 19'1.

Triple Jump. Brown Lena-Winslow 40'11, Ayres Dakota 39'05, Phillips Polo/Forreston 38'11. Sean Ormiston Lena-Winslow 38'5. Maury Roby Lena-Winslow 38'4.

Shot Put. Bruce Lena-Winslow 50'10 1/2. Ian Kuehl Lena-Winslow 44'4 (Kuehl, a football and wrestling standout switched from baseball to track this season). Jayce Coffey Polo/Forreston 44'6. Garrett Baderstcher Polo/Forreston 43'10. Alex Anger Galena/River Ridge/East Dubuque 42'10.

Discus. Coffey Polo/Forreston 149'03. Anger Galena/River Ridge/East Dubuque 138'07. Phillips Polo/Forreston 136'05, Brad Becker Amboy 133'6. Luke Schwarze Dakota 124'10. RJ Cianciarula Milledgeville 124'01. Ryan Turner Galena/River Ridge/East Dubuque 122'11.

Pole Vault. Dom Christensen. Polo/Forreston 11'0. Kade Chrisman. Lena-Winslow. 9'6.

High Jump. Bradley Storjohann West Carroll 5'10, Jenson Block Lena-Winslow 5'8, Kloster Dakota 5'6.Tiafa Raiden. Galena/River Ridge/East Dubuque 5'6.

400 Meter Relay: Polo/Forreston 44.24. Evan Kelsey, Jordan Neuschwander, Cailiean Davids, Dom Christensen. Dakota. 45.29. Ayres, Kloster, Lentz, Morris. Lena-Winslow 45.51. Kade Chrisman, Sean Ormiston, Maury Roby, Isaiah Bruce.Pearl City. 46.38. Lorig, Lucas Peterson, Jayden Kempel, Jared Kempel.

800 Meter Relay. Polo/Forreston. 1:31.94. Kelsey, Neuschwander, Christensen, Webb.Lena-Winslow. 1:35.55. Chrisman, Ormiston, Ronnel Valentine, Bruce. Forreston. Dakota. 1:36.15. Ayres, Lentz, Kloster, Morris. Galena/River Ridge/East Dubuque. 1:37.36. Dylan Schemhorn, Damian Stephanopolos, Jack Timmerman, Ben Crist.

1600 Meter Relay. Polo/Forreston 3:35.55. Chistensen, Neuschwander, Davids, Shelton. Lena-Winslow 3:37.64.Tanner Kalkbrenner, Lance Molitor, Zach Fox, Ormiston. Forreston. Pearl City. 3:38.03. Lorig, Peterson, Jayden and Jarod Kempel. Galena/River Ridge/East Dubuque. 3:42.18. Mickelson, Sam Hesselbacher, Kiefer, Diaz. Amboy. 3:44.68. Austin Norman, Hunter Walzar, Casten Cherry, Stamberger.

3200 Meter Relay. Forreston. 9:04.57. Draven Wells, Caleb Scott, Quincy Williams, Devonte King or Shelton. Lena-Winslow. 9:16.56. Molitor, Alex Daughenbaugh, Fox, Kamron Klever. Milledgeville. 9:22.89. Ashton Nobis, Day, Justus Dobish, Theo Woessner.

Girls.

Milledgeville/Eastland are again the favorites in the NUIC girls upcoming meet. Dakota, Galena/River Ridge/East Dubuque also all hope to contend.

100 Meter Dash. Olivia Strurrup. Milledgeville. 12.55.

200 Meter Dash. Strurrup. Milledgeville. 25.52.

400 Meter Dash. Ashley Althaus. Amboy. 1:02.52. Sage Walrath. Milledgeville/Eastland. 1:03.89.Riley Finn. Galena/River Ridge/East Dubuque.

800 Meter Run. Margaret Vaessen. Amboy. 2:30.49.

1600 Meter Run. Vaessen. Amboy. 5:52.95.

3200 Meter Run. Jaidy Sisler. West Carroll. 13:38.40.

100 Hurdles. Kylie Hill. West Carroll. 18.19.

300 Hurdles. Emma Lundquist. Amboy. 50.01.

Long Jump. Kylee Brown. Amboy. 17'0.

Triple Jump. Cali Minkie. Dakota. 32'06.75.

High Jump: Breya Christopher. Galena/River Ridge/East Dubuque. 5'0.

Pole Vault. Olivia Robinson. Pecatonica/Durand.

Shot Put. Karlie Krogman. Milledgeville/Eastland. 34'02.

Discus. Karlie Krogman. Milledgeville/Eastland. 102'07.50.

400 Meter Relay. Dakota. 50.39. Won the Rockford Christian Invitational Saturday in a meet record. Kennedy Schroeder, Kelsie Minkie, Kayln Field, Alayna Yoder. Milledgeville. 51.93. Sage Walrath, Kort Queckboerner, Alyvia Woodard, Olivia Strurrup.

800 Meter Relay. Milledgeville/Eastland. 1:49.49. Walrath, Woodard, Lydia Coatney, Sturrup. Amboy. 1:51.48. Amboy. 1:50.49. Kylee Brown, Sidney Corcoran, Emma Lundquist, Brooklyn Whelchel. Dakota 1:54.69. Schroeder, Casey Besse, Cali and Kelsie Minkie.

1600 Meter Relay. Amboy. 4:13.20. Corcoran, Whelchel, Lundquist, Ashley Althaus. Milledgeville. 4:33.01. Coatney, Jasmine Strurrup, Walrath, Angel DeVito.

3200 Meter Relay. Amboy. 10:51.48. Lauren Althaus, Kelynn Boyle, Kaitlyn Ortgeisen, Margaret Vaessen. Milledgeville. 11:32.29. Coatney, Jasmine Strurrup, Naomi Mullen, Paige Bardell.

Stateline Sports Hub. NUIC Rankings.

Baseball

Forreston 9-2.
Aquin 7-5.
Polo 6-3.
Eastland 6-8.
Dakota 8-6.
Amboy 7-6.
West Carroll 5-4
River Ridge/Scales Mound 4-4.
East Dubuque 6-7-1.
River Ridge/Scales Mound 4-4.

Forreston is easy in the top spot and then a big gap from second on down with a lot of balance. The Cardinals fell to Sterling Newman Saturday in a non-league game 10-6.

Softball

Eastland 16-2.
Orangeville 14-2.
Dakota 11-4.
Durand 12-6.
Pearl City 12-6.
Forreston 10-5.
Amboy 9-4..
Lena-Winslow 8-6,
West Carroll 9-13.
Warren/Stockton 5-8.

While Eastland rolls on and is the number spot. Softball rivals Dakota and Orangeville are in at the second and third spots. The teams met on Tuesday and Thursday and split as they traded walk-off wins in the bottom of the seventh. First Orangeville won at home with a walk-off two out, two-run homer from Tessa Janecke for a Broncos 4-3 win. Dakota returned the favor with a walk-off at home for a 7-6 victory. Orangeville coach Lon Scheuerell notched his 400th career victory in the win over Dakota. The Indians lost to Ridgewood 2-0 Saturday while Orangeville beat Freeport 7-3.