Warriors take win off Indians (2024)

Baseball

Warriors take win off Indians

The Chilhowie Warriors are still kings of the hill in the Hogoheegee District thanks to Noah Hill.

Hill’s two-out RBI single in the bottom of the seventh inning brought Isaac Booth home for the winning run as Chilhowie won the Hogoheegee baseball tournament on Monday with a 2-1 victory over the Rural Retreat Indians at Emory & Henry College.

Chilhowie (18-3) was outhit 9-4 and struck out 10 times, but the Warriors were still able to add the district tourney title to their regular-season Hogo crown.

“This team just finds ways to win,” said Chilhowie coach Jeff Robinson. “We didn’t swing it well today. A lot of the credit for that goes to [Rural Retreat starting pitcher Tucker] Fontaine, who was spectacular today. But when there is something big on the line, this team knows how to win. They find a way. These guys are Warriors in the truest sense.”

Chilhowie had taken a 1-0 lead in the second inning as courtesy runner Noah Nash scored on a double-steal situation.

Rural Retreat (13-8) knotted the score with two outs in the top of the seventh inning as Hunter Rollyson scored on Holden Keefer’s RBI single.

Keefer was later picked off at second base to end the inning.

That set the stage for Hill’s heroics.

Booth led off the frame with an infield single and then Rural Retreat boss Van Harris issued a two-out intentional walk to Connor Smith.

Hill then connected on a 1-1 pitch for the game-winner against reliever Noah Bandrimer of the Indians.

Tuell went the distance for Chilhowie in throwing 88 pitches. He walked none and struck out two. He has a 16-1 record the last two seasons.

“Dawson Tuell is one of the best big-game pitchers I have coached,” Robinson said.

Brody Childers, Caleb Roberts and Rollyson each had two hits in the loss for the Indians. Fontaine allowed two hits in 5 2/3 innings with four walks and nine strikeouts in a no-decision.

Chilhowie is 8-3 in the last three seasons against Rural Retreat with many of those games not being decided until the late innings.

Rural Retreat 000 000 1—1 9 1

Chilhowie 010 000 1—2 4 0

Fontaine, Bandrimer (6) and H. Rollyson. Tuell and Bowman. W – Tuell. L – Fontaine. HR – none.

Soccer

Giles 2, George Wythe 1Rylan Anderson-Jernigan assisted Mason Tate on George Wythe’s only goal as the Maroons lost in the third-place game of the Mountain Empire District tournament.

Track & Field

Haley Faulkner stars for GW

The George Wythe Maroons recorded five first-place finishes at Wednesday’s VHSL Region 1D track and field championships on Wednesday in Pearisburg, Virginia.

Haley Faulkner won both the girls 200-meter dash (26.39 seconds) and long jump (16-07) for GW.

Emma Faulkner was victorious in the 1,600 in 12:30.79 and the girls 4x100 relay squad was triumphant in 52.37 seconds.

The Maroons finished second in the female team standings with 87 points. Auburn won with a total of 189.

The only win on the boys side for George Wythe came in the 4x100 relay as the Maroons had a top time of 45.79 seconds. GW finished sixth in the male team standings.

The year of the Eastside Spartans marched on at Tuesday’s Region 1D outdoor track and field championships at John McKilgore Park.

The Coeburn crew successfully defended home turf, winning the program’s first regional title and becoming the first Wise County school to win a girls regional title of any sort since Wise County Central won the final Group A, Region D meet in 2013.

The Spartans racked up 93 points, out-distancing runner-up Patrick Henry (69) and third place Chilhowie (68).

On the boys side, Patrick Henry won a third consecutive title with 148, winning over runner-up Rural Retreat by nearly 80 points.

Patrick Henry and Chilhowie both entered Tuesday’s meet with points already on the board thanks to the pole vault that was completed last week. The top four in each event automatically qualified for the VHSL Class 1 state meet next Friday and Saturday at James Madison University’s Sentara Park in Harrisonburg.

Junior standout athlete Jocelyn Aldrich was superb for the Spartans, winning four events and was a part of the winning 4x400-meter relay.

Aldrich — like Eastside basketball and softball standout Taylor Clay — had her biggest days when she needed them, scoring three personal bests in her four wins.

She barely missed the meet record in the 300 hurdles (49.29) by one-tenth of a second and had solid days in the 100 hurdles (16.31), long jump (17-0½) and triple jump (34-9).

“This day feels great,” Aldrich said. “I really didn’t know what I was going to do today because it was hot and humid, but all I wanted to do today was to jump 17 feet in the long jump. Getting those other two (personal bests) was just icing on the cake.

“This really is like the ‘Year of Eastside’ and I hope it’s like that next year, too.”

Eastside girls coach Joel Davis — the 1994 Group A state champ in both shot put and discus from Powell Valley — admitted that winning a region title as a coach is special in its own way.

“It feels a lot different and I’ve coached some individual kids since then, but dividing my time with the jumpers, throwers and everyone else is hard,” said Davis, who was a major contributor to the 1994 Group A state championship team under the guidance of Phil Robbins. “These girls at Eastside are fun to work with and we push them hard everyday in practice, but they respond.”

Davis emphasized on running against the best competition out there throughout the season. Eastside has run several times against Class 3 Abingdon and Class 2 Lee High and Ridgeview plus a few meets in Tennessee that have prepped the Lady Spartans for championship season.

“This being my first year here, I said to Coach (Mike) Rhodes that we needed to go to some of these big meets,” Davis said. “To get better, you have to go against better competition. I was coached that way and I believe that as a coach now.”

Aldrich’s partner-in-crime Lexi Carter had a massive day in the throwing events, winning shot put by nearly eight feet (37-4) and surprisingly pulling out a win in discus with a personal best of 103-9. The discus field included defending Class 1 champion Anna Summers of Castlewood, who finished fourth (91-0).

“I knew if I was going to compete with (Summers) that I’d have to come out strong,” said Carter, who recently verbally committed to East Tennessee State for track. “That first throw of 102 really kind of set my standard. I had thrown like that in practice, but I had struggled to throw 90 (feet) in meets.”

Chilhowie gave the Spartans a run late, but a valiant effort in a tough middle-distance triple by Tess Somervell didn’t quite push the defending champion Warriors over the finish line. Somervell won the pole vault last week, tying the meet record (9-0) and followed it up Tuesday with two wins in the 1,600 (5:51.52) and 400 (1:03.24). In the 800, Somervell finished outside the scoring when the Lady Warriors needed at least three scorers in the event to stay within striking distance.

If there was one person that had a busier day than Eastside’s Aldrich, it was Rural Retreat senior Olivia Crigger, who scored in all seven events that she competed in.

Unfortunately for the Indians’ multi-sport standout, she couldn’t add to her trophy case in any individual event as she finished runner-up to Aldrich in the 100 hurdles (16.43), long jump (16-3¾) and triple jump (33-11¾).

“(Aldrich) has always been really good, but she’s really peaked this year,” Crigger said. “This is her year and I’ve enjoyed competing against her because she’s pushed me. It’s been fun.”

Crigger was third in the 300 hurdles (54.82), fifth in discus (88-1) and helped Rural Retreat finish fourth in the 4x100 relay (55.22). She racked up 33 of her squad’s 51 total points.

“I am exhausted,” said Crigger after finishing up the 300 hurdles. “It was definitely an eventful day and it was stressful because I was running back-and-forth between events, but I only need one good jump or throw at state (to win).”

Though she had a long day, Crigger said she is starting to ultimately move in the right direction in the horizontal jumps.

“I’m slowly progressing and I feel good about it,” Crigger said. “I feel like I’m ready.”

Entering the main portion of the meet already up 30-0 on the field thanks to sweeping the first five places in pole vault, Patrick Henry’s boys put the pedal to the metal across the board en route to another dominating win.

“We had several years when we lost to Auburn in the state title because they had pole vault and we didn’t,” Patrick Henry boys coach Fred Selfe said. “That’s something we’ve been doing for the past eight years almost since we won that first title in 2017. Coach (Mark) Love said we’d never lose another meet because of pole vault.”

Junior throwing standout Tyler Barrett broke the meet record in the shot put with a heave of 58-10½ on his final toss. He beat the previous best by over two feet, which had been standing since 2017.

“I felt really good in warm-ups and I felt like I had a big throw in me,” Barrett said. “I ran into some problems in competition, but I got it all sorted out on the last throw. … It feels great to get the meet record and see all the hard work pay off. It’s been a grind the last couple of years trying to get where I’ve gotten to.”

While Barrett, Michael Jenkins and Landon Steele were taking care of business in the ring, Grant Buchanan was doing everything else for the Rebels.

The junior won the long jump (21-8 ½), the 100 (11.25) the 200 (23.12) and helped out on the runner-up 4x100 relay (45.02).

“Grant is a special kid and we missed him a lot last year and we’re thankful to have him back,” Selfe said. “He’s a great athlete and a great kid to have on the team.”

The Rebels have good quality in a lot of events, especially in the two throwing events and in the sprints, so the coaching staff feels good about next week’s trip to Harrisonburg.

“If you look at the rankings before, we’re ranked around third or fourth and Lancaster is dominating,” Selfe said. “But it really is about what you do on that day. Rankings are rankings and times are times, but you have to be the best on those two days and that’s all we’re going to ask of our kids.”

Grundy’s Keyston Hartford doubled-up in the distance, winning the boys 1,600 (4:54.46) and 3,200 (10:32.03).

Twin Springs senior Colten Kilgore swept the boys hurdling titles, winning the 110s in 15.98 and crossing the line in 42.16 to take the gold in 300s. He also won the triple jump (40-9½).

Castlewood’s Madison Sutherland won the girls 100 (13.05) and 200 (27.94). Council’s Ella Rasnake won the girls 800 in rather dominating fashion (2:36.86) by more than three seconds.

Thomas Walker’s Sarah McPherson won the girls high jump by clearing 5 feet and Castlewood’s Brayden Houchins cleared 6 feet to win the boys competition.

Region 1D Track & Field Championships

John McKilgore Park, Coeburn (Va.)

Girls

Team Results

1 Eastside 93, 2 Patrick Henry 69, 3 Chilhowie 68, 4 Rye Cove 54, 5 Rural Retreat 51, 6 Grundy 38, 7 Castlewood 36, 8 Thomas Walker 30, 9 J.I. Burton 24, 10 Honaker 20, 11 Hurley 11, 12 Council 10, 13 Northwood 6, 14 Twin Valley 4, 15 Holston 2, 16 Twin Springs 1.

Top 6 Finishers

100 — 1 Madison Sutherland (Cwood) 13.05, 2 Harlee Cress (RC) 13.40, 3 Anna McKinney (PH) 13.58, 4 Makailah Estep (G) 13.64, 5 Mady Heath (Chil) 13.69, 6 Eva Herron (RC) 13.79.

200 — 1 Madison Sutherland (Cwood) 27.94, 2 Anna McKinney (PH) 28.60, 3 Eva Herron (RC) 29.05, 4 Audrey Gilley (Chil) 29.28, 5 Katie Dick (PH) 29.32, 6 Katie Williams (E) 29.61.

400 — 1 Tess Somervell (Chil) 1:03.24, 2 Katie Williams (E) 1:05.70, 3 Audrey Gilley (Chil) 1:06.61, 4 Makailah Estep (G) 1:08.29, 5 Jalynn Rogers (RC) 1:09.15, 6 Kaydence Jackson (Hur) 1:10.38.

800 — 1 Ella Rasnake (Cou) 2:36.86, 2 Carey Keene (Hon) 2:40.36, 3 Destany Armendariz (G) 2:41.33, 4 Shelby Stanley (E) 2:41.86, 5 Kendyl Gross (Chil) 2:44.29, 6 Isabel Sawyers (E) 3:00.77.

1600 — 1 Tess Somervell (Chil) 5:51.52, 2 Shelby Stanley (E) 5:52.99, 3 Amelia Lewis (TW) 6:05.92, 4 Ashley Jackson (Hon) 6:16.30, 5 Alexa Goins (RC) 6:35.08, 6 Quila Greear (TS) 6:59.40.

3200 — 1 Jayda Hilton (Hur) 13:24.30, 2 Amelia Lewis (TW) 13:38.26, 3 Alexa Goins (RC) 14:27.56, 4 Kaylen Fields (JIB) 14:38.52, 5 Kirsten Woodard (PH) 15:05.53, 6 Mary Wood (E) 16:37.52.

100H — 1 Jocelyn Aldrich (E) 16.31, 2 Olivia Crigger (RR) 16.43, 3 Kaylee Lamb (RC) 18.93, 4 Lilly Porter (G) 19.20, 5 Kendra Armstrong (Nwood) 19.62, 6 Jalynn Rogers (RC) 20.74.

300H — 1 Jocelyn Aldrich (E) 49.29, 2 Kayman Atwell (Chil) 51.99, 3 Olivia Crigger (RR) 54.82, 4 Kendra Armstrong (Nwood) 54.82, 5 Kaylee Lamb (RC) 55.73, 6 Riley Trogdon (PH) 56.67.

400R — 1 Rye Cove 53.95, 2 Patrick Henry 54.52, 3 Castlewood 55.10, 4 Rural Retreat 55.22, 5 Chilhowie 57.24, 6 Thomas Walker 57.98.

1600R — 1 Eastside 4:39.61, 2 J.I. Burton 4:49.89, 3 Patrick Henry 4:50.84, 4 Grundy 4:57.27, 5 Chilhowie 5:02.50, 6 Rye Cove 5:08.69.

3200R — 1 Chilhowie 11:44.98, 2 Grundy 11:48.22, 3 Rural Retreat 11:50.14, 4 Patrick Henry 12:04.01, 5 Rye Cove 12:25.94, 6 Castlewood 12:49.84.

HJ — 1 Sarah McPherson (TW) 5-0, 2 Jalynn Rogers (RC) 4-10, 3 Madie Burke (TW) 4-10, 4 Makailah Estep (G) 4-8, 5 Riley Trogdon (PH) 4-8, 6 Autumn Dale (G) 4-6.

PV — 1 Tess Somervell (Chil) 9-0* (*ties meet record), 2 Katie Dick (PH) 9-0, 3 Riley Trogdon (PH) 6-6.

LJ — 1 Jocelyn Aldrich (E) 17-0.5, 2 Olivia Crigger (RR) 16-3.75, 3 Madison Sutherland (Cwood) 16-3.5, 4 Kadence Keen (Hon) 16-1, 5 Audrey Gilley (Chil) 15-8.5, 6 Anna McKinney (PH) 15-7.25.

TJ — 1 Jocelyn Aldrich (E) 34-9, 2 Olivia Crigger (RR) 33-11.75, 3 Madison Adair (JIB) 33-1.5, 4 Kadence Keen (Hon) 32-9.25, 5 Autumn Dale (G) 32-3.5, 6 Addison Umberger (RR) 30-11.

SP — 1 Lexi Carter (E) 37-4, 2 Erin South (PH) 29-8.5, 3 Shay Henderson (JIB) 29-7.5, 4 Cheyanna Davis (TV) 28-2, 5 Autumn Surber (Hol) 27-6.25, 6 Chyna Goodspeed (PH) 27-3.75.

D — 1 Lexi Carter (E) 103-9, 2 Olivia Bailey (RR) 92-9, 3 Erin South (PH) 92-5, 4 Anna Summers (Cwood) 91-0, 5 Olivia Crigger (RR) 88-1, 6 Katelynn Thompson (G) 84-1.

Boys

Team Results

1 Patrick Henry 148, 2 Rural Retreat 68.5, 3 Grundy 56, 4 Castlewood 42, 5 Rye Cove 38, 6 Twin Springs 37, 7 J.I. Burton 24, 8 Chilhowie 22, t9 Eastside 21.75, t9 Holston 21.75, 11 Thomas Walker 18, 12 Hurley 12, 13 Honaker 9, 14 Northwood 4, 15 Council 1.

Top 6 Finishers

100 — 1 Grant Buchanan (PH) 11.25, 2 Hunter Vaught (RR) 11.54, 3 Landon Lowe (TW) 11.64, 4 Shaiem Gordon (G) 11.68, 5 Kaleb Taylor (Cwood) 11.85, 6 Gabe Jones (Cwood) 11.97.

200 — 1 Grant Buchanan (PH) 23.12, 2 Shaiem Gordon (G) 23.39, 3 Hunter Vaught (RR) 24.03, 4 Camron Goodspeed (PH) 24.20, 5 Ian Tate (JIB) 24.28, 6 Kaleb Taylor (Cwood) 24.52.

400 — 1 Trey Ward (RR) 53.82, 2 Gaige Sloan (RC) 54.58, 3 Kager Rapier (PH) 55.08, 4 Noah Tweed (Hol) 55.14, 5 Donovan Gilliam (JIB) 55.62, 6 Eli Tweed (Hol) 57.64.

800 — 1 Landon Johnson (G) 2:06.34, 2 Lucas Hubble (Chil) 2:12.54, 3 Talan Hammack (RR) 2:16.95, 4 Jackson Little (Hol) 2:17.52, 5 Heath Kiser (Cwood) 2:17.96, 6 Micah Hamman (RR) 2:20.73.

1600 — 1 Keyston Hartford (G) 4:54.46, 2 Talan Hammack (RR) 5:16.71, 3 TJ Moore (Chil) 5:23.62, 4 Colten Evans-Swanner (PH) 5:24.57, 5 Jackson Little (Hol) 5:40.19, 6 Cash Mullins (JIB) 5:48.84.

3200 — 1 Keyston Hartford (G) 10:32.03, 2 Parker king (Cwood) 11:28.97, 3 Jacob Bush (Cwood) 11:44.27, 4 Caleb Ghammashi (E) 11:51.93, 5 Braydon McCracken (PH) 12:03.68, 6 Jacob Ray (Cou) 12:05.50.

110H — 1 Colten Kilgore (TS) 15.98, 2 Jeb Stewart (PH) 16.87, 3 Payton Welch (JIB) 17.74, 4 Clifton Goode (RC) 17.91, 5 Landon Sanders (Hol) 18.61, 6 Payton Adkins (E) 18.82.

300H — 1 Colten Kilgore (TS) 42.16, 2 Jeb Stewart (PH) 44.74, 3 Logan Lester (G) 44.75, 4 Clifton Goode (RC) 45.81, 5 Chaz Penwright (RR) 45.94, 6 Lukus Ball (JIB) 46.90.

400R — 1 Rural Retreat 44.94, 2 Patrick Henry 45.02, 3 Thomas Walker 46.80, 4 Holston 47.04, 5 Castlewood 47.14, 6 Chilhowie 47.95.

1600R — 1 J.I. Burton 3:44.31, 2 Rural Retreat 3;47.79, 3 Twin Springs 3:47.89, 4 Grundy 3:50.19, 5 Chilhowie 3:50.30, 6 Patrick Henry 3:51.17.

3200R — 1 Castlewood 9:07.97, 2 Patrick Henry 9:18.58, 3 Chilhowie 9:22.90, 4 Grundy 9:36.35, 5 J.I. Burton 9:38.55, 6 Rural Retreat 9:51.77.

HJ — 1 Brayden Houchins (Cwood) 6-0, 2 Malachi Lowe (Hon) 5-10, 3 Gaige Sloan (RC) 5-10, 4 Eli Williams (Nwood) 5-8, t5 Payton Adkins (E) 5-6, t5 Austin Umberger (RR) 5-6, t5 Hunter Vaught (RR) 5-6, t5 Alex Leonard (Hol) 5-6.

PV — 1 Ben Hahn (PH) 9-6, 2 Robbie Roark (PH) 9-6, 3 Grant Buchanan (PH) 8-0, 4 Camron Goodspeed (PH) 7-6, 5 Dallas Harner (PH) 6-0.

LJ — 1 Grant Buchanan (PH) 21-8.75, 2 Kager Rapier (PH) 19-10.75, 3 Hunter Norris (TW) 19-7, 4 Noah Tweed (Hol) 19-2.25, 5 Gaige Sloan (RC) 19-1, 6 Abel Dingus (TS) 18-9.5.

TJ — 1 Colten Kilgore (TS) 40-9.5, 2 Gaige Sloan (RC) 39-9, 3 Austin Umberger (RR) 39-1.25, 4 Payton Adkins (E) 39-0, 5 Clifton Goode (RC) 38-2.25, 6 Malachi Lowe (Hon) 38-0.5.

SP — 1 Tyler Barrett (PH) 58-10.5* (*meet record), 2 Michael Jenkins (PH) 45-6, 3 Landry Carico (E) 43-6, 4 Trevor Darnell (RC) 43-6, 5 Landon Adkins (Hur) 42-6, 6 Landon Steele (PH) 42-6.

D — 1 Landon Adkins (Hur) 149-10, 2 Tyler Barrett (PH) 144-10, 3 Yasir Hilton (E) 134-11, 4 Landon Steele (PH) 131-3, 5 Lucas Shrader (RR) 124-3, 6 Michael Jenkins (PH) 124-0.