Sports
January 29, 2010
Girls swimming eyes sectional meet
Team takes second in conference championship, looks towards sectional
S
13
scoreboard Boys Basketball CP-47 Michigan City-53 (Dec. 18) Griffith-62 CP-68 (Dec. 22) CP-55 Merrillville-61 (Dec. 29) CP-56 Portage-44 (Jan. 2) Chesterton-49 CP-57 (Jan. 9) CP-47 Lake Central-57 (Jan. 15) Michigan City-39 CP-49 (Jan. 22)
Photo
by
Joe Nejman
Freshman Kara Click swims the breastroke during a meet against LaPorte. The girls recently placed second in the conference championship, and will be competing in the sectional meet on February 4 and 6. By Hunter McKee sports editor The Lady Bulldogs swim team closed out their season with eight consecutive dual meet wins. At the girls’ most recent meet, the Lady ‘Dogs raced against Lowell. The meet was expected to be highly competitive, but in the end the Lady Bulldogs were victorious 109-76. Sophomore Hannah Raspopovich finished first in the 50 freestyle. Senior Ashley Gose placed first in the 100 freestyle with a time of 58.06, and sophomore Hannah Schuster won the 500 freestyle 5:33.57. In arguably, the meet of the year, the Lady ‘Dogs faced off against Lake Central. The girls barely surpassed the Indians 9591. At the Lake Central meet, seniors Gose and Angela Roberts won the events of the 200 freestyle and the 200 IM respectively. Raspopovich took first in the 50 freestyle. The Lady Bulldogs also re-
ceived a huge boost from senior diver Amanda Nisle. Through six dives Nisle was able to defeat the defending DAC champion and place first in diving . After the diving break the Lady Bulldogs finished first in four out of seven events to help secure their victory. “What the meet came down to was depth, it’s the number two and three swimmers that you rely on during tight meets like Lake Central,” Assistant head coach Bryon Trippeer said. On Jan. 16, the Lady ‘Dogs hosted the DAC swim meet. At the DAC meet the girls placed second behind Chesterton with a score of 344. The girl’s 200 freestyle relay, consisting of Raspopovich, Gose, junior Caitlyn Lowry, and Schuster placed first at the DAC meet with a time of 1:42.68. At the Highland Invite, the Lady ‘Dogs finished at third place. Sophomore Haley Balko placed fourth in the 100 yard butterfly with a time of 1:01.52.
For the girls’ senior night on Jan. 5, the Lady Bulldogs were victorious over the Portage Indians 113-72. The girls’ 200 yard medley relay consisting of Roberts, Raspopovich, Balko, and senior Nicky Way swam a time of 1:56.29. Nisle also won the diving portion of the meet with 213.8 points. The next meet the girls have circled on their season is the sectional preliminaries and finals. The preliminaries are set to take place on Feb. 4, and the finals on Feb. 6. The Lady ‘Dogs will look forward to tough competition from Munster, Lake Central, and Lowell, which are all ranked higher than Crown Point in the IHSSCA rankings. Though the girls do not expect to beat Munster, they hope to finish second. “We need to swim our season best times at the sectional meet,” Trippeer said. “If we swim our season best times, there is no doubt in my mind will we beat Lake Central and Lowell.”
Girls’ individual state rankings Hannah Raspopovich
#23 50 Freestyle : 24.47
#27
100 Breaststroke : 1:09.49
Angela Roberts Hannah Raspopovich Hayley Balko Ashley Gose
#20 200 Medley Relay : 1:54.01
Ashley Gose Hannah Raspopovich Angela Roberts Caitlyn Lowery
#26 400 Free Relay : 3:50.75
Wrestling picks up DAC title, prepares for post-season By Colin Likas asst. sports editor Consistency is one of the keys to success in any sport. The wrestling team has figured that out and continues to roll along. The boys have impressively overcome their early-season loss to Mishawaka. The ‘Dogs have completed a perfect season in the DAC and are in the midst of a winning streak. The only meet for the team during winter break was the Carnahan Invitational, which was held at Crown Point. The contest is in honor of Carl Carnahan, the man who originated wrestling at CPHS. The boys took down seven individual titles en route to a victory over second place Hanover Central, among other teams. Senior Tommy Renn (152 lbs) and sophomore Josh Swope (heavyweight) claimed two of the
seven titles for the ‘Dogs. Other champions for the boys were earned by sophomores Jason Tsirtsis (130 lbs) and Tyler Kral (189 lbs), juniors Josh Flamme (140 lbs) and Eric Roach (145 lbs), and senior Dallas Schurg (135 lbs). “It was especially nice to win [the Carnahan Invite],” head coach Scott Vlink said. “It’s not the toughest meet on the schedule, but it’s dedicated to the man who started wrestling here.” In its toughest dual meet of the season, the boys defeated another state ranked team in the Merrillville Pirates on Jan. 6. The score was 35-26. “We figured it would be our toughest dual meet of the season,” Schurg said. “We proved to be better than what people thought we were. It came down to usss showing up and them not showing up.” Another conference victory
three days later all but assured that the ‘Dogs are the top team in the DAC this season. The boys defeated a good Portage squad by a 35-26 margin. Before the DAC championship meet, the team had one more conference match-up, this time against Michigan City. They easily overcame the Wolves, defeating them by a 72-6 score. The DAC championship was held at Chesterton on Jan. 16. The ‘Dogs were looking to repeat as conference champs, with Merrillville and Portage being their toughest competition for the title. The boys made it look easy though, putting up 245.5 points and defeating the second place team, Merrillville, by 35 points. “It felt good to win the meet,” Renn said. “It showed that all the hard work is paying off.” Individual titles were earned by Hawkins, Tsirtsis, Flamme,
Roach, Renn, and Kral. “The most important matches in the meet were against Merrillville and Portage,” Vlink said. A 63-7 victory over Valparaiso on Jan. 20 secured a perfect conference record for the ‘Dogs this season. The final meet of the regular season for the team was against non-conference opponent River Forest. The final score was 704, with the boys picking up the win. With the post-season quickly approaching, Vlink believes there are several keys to the team’s possible success. “We’ll have to get through Merrillville and Portage, and maybe Munster,” Vlink said. “We need to get healthy and stay focused, but we also have to hope for good match-ups.” The team will open sectionals tomorrow at home against seven other teams.
CP-56 EC Central-61 (Jan. 23)
Girls Basketball Michigan City-65 CP-43 (Dec. 18) CP-51 Merrillville-68 (Dec. 29) CP-39 Portage-58 (Jan. 2) CP-57 Chesterton-45 (Jan. 9) Lake Central-63 CP-44 (Jan. 16) Michigan City-68 CP-52 (Jan. 22) CP-42 LaPorte-28 (Jan. 26)
Boys Swimming 2nd @ LaPorte Invitational (Dec. 19) 3rd @ Highland Invitational (Dec. 26) CP-112 LaPorte-81 (Jan. 12) CP-103 Lake Central-83 (Jan. 19) CP-128 Lowell-53 (Jan. 25)
Girls Swimming 3rd @ Highland Invitational (Jan. 9) Win @ LaPorte (Jan. 12) 2nd @ DAC Championship (Jan. 16) CP-95 Lake Central-91 (Jan. 19) CP-109 Lowell-76 (Jan. 21)
Wrestling 1st @ Carnahan Invitational (Dec. 19) CP-35 Merrillville-26 (Jan. 6) CP-35 Portage-26 (Jan. 9) Michigan City-6 CP-72 (Jan. 13) 1st @ DAC Championship (Jan. 16) CP-63 Valparaiso-7 (Jan. 20) CP-70 Lake Forest-4 (Jan. 23)