Sports

SPORTS Hawks getting ready to run for 2020 season

Eighth-year Oregon cross country coach Tim Gipper welcomes back a solid core of girls runners that has the Hawks looking for big things in the 2020 season.

Seniors Leah Watters and Lydia Cermak, juniors Faith Marquardt and Ashley Diehl and sophomores Ellen Hodson, Natalie Tremble and Hadley Lutz were each sectional qualifiers last fall.

They will be joined by seven more returning runners in seniors Kaitlyn Ramirez, Madison Byerley, McKenna Tremble and Abigail Tomlinson, junior Taylar Rufer and freshmen Grace Tomlinson and Valerie Nyderek.

“One of our strengths this year is we have a core group of athletes that should be able to run in a pack for scoring purposes and the leadership of our returning athletes,” Gipper said.

Newcomers this season will be seniors Ella Martin and Alexis Wilhelm, sophomores Jennica Ciesiel, Katelyn Bowers and Ava Wight and freshmen Hailee Taylor and Teagan Champley.

“We are excited about what the incoming freshmen are going to bring to the team,” Gipper said. “And we have some upperclassmen that are going to bring a great addition to the team.”

On the boys side, the top returning runners are seniors Ryan Hussung and Conner Harshman, junior Nicholas Meives-Wylie and sophomore Lane Halverson.

Newcomers to the team include seniors Riley Benton, Austin Ebert and Gavin Bradshaw, sophomores Grant Stender and Edwin Estrada and freshmen Leo Cardenas and Gabe Reed.

“A great group of young men that work hard and want to do well,” Gipper said. “We are looking forward to what this group of runners can accomplish this year and what the new additions to the team will bring.”

The Hawks begin the season on Tuesday, Sept. 8 with a home triangular against Stillman Valley and Byron.

Earleen Hinton/Shaw Media

Runners start the girls 1A sectional race at Oregon Park West in 2019. Pictured, left to right, are: Princeton’s Elizabeth Orwig and Jenna Loftus; Oregon’s Ella Hudson: West Carroll’s Jaydin Sisler; and Oregon’s Leah Watters.

GOLF ROUNDUP

Hackman goes low for Oregon’

Ava Hackman carded a 5-over-par 39 for the Oregon girls golf team in a 162- 180 loss to Rock Falls on Aug. 20 in a Big Northern Conference dual held at Rock River Golf and Pool.

Mia Trampel (42), Tori Marchetti (49) and Cassie Nyderek (50) had the other counting scores for the Hawks.

The Rockets’ Megan Fiorini was medalist with a 34, while Ellie Wasson added a 38.

Polo 228, Eastland 245: Kamryn Stockton fired a 50 to lead the Marcos past the Cougars in a dual held Aug. 18 at Lake Carroll.

Ashley Janssen had a 51 for the Cougars.

Oregon 184, Rockford Lutheran

211: Marchetti carded a 41 and Hackman added a 43 for the Hawks in a win against the Crusaders on Aug. 18 at Silver Ridge.

Oregon 210, Erie-Prophetstown

247: Helena Holden-Fox was the medalist with a 49 to lead the Hawks past he Panthers on Aug. 19 at Silver Ridge. Lena Trampel added a 53 for Oregon.

Boys Golf

Hawks 4th at Tiger Shootout

Jarrett Dietrich had an 88 to lead Oregon to a 383 total and fourth place at the five-team Tiger Shootout on Aug. 22 at PrairieView in Byron. Participating teams were Rockford Christian (328), Stillman Valley (333), Byron (346), Oregon (383) and Forreston (473).

Jackson Werren (94), Nick Bietel (98) and Isaac Kaltenbrun (101) had the other counting scores for the Hawks.

Rockford Lutheran 192, Oregon 205:

Dietrich had a 45 for the Hawks in a loss to the Crusaders on Aug. 18 at Silver Ridge. Werren was next with a 46.

Lutheran’s Andrew Gravino was medalist with a 41.

Dakota 173, Forreston 263: Joel Ludwig had a 50 for the Cardinals in a loss to the Indians on Aug. 18 at Sunset Golf Course in Mt. Morris. Logan Dyson added a 53.

Dakota’s Ian Peterson was the medalist with a 40.

Erie-Prophetstown 172, Oregon 194:

Dietrich had a 44 for the Hawks in a loss to the Panthers on Aug. 19 at Silver Ridge.

The medalist was E-P’s Logan Wunderlich with a 2-over-par 38.

Oregon 192, Rock Falls 217: Dietrich finished with a 43 as the Hawks handled the Rockets in a dual on Aug. 20 at Rock River Golf and Pool. Kaltenbrun was next with a 48.

Eastland 192, River Ridge 210: Andy Anderson was the medalist with a 42 to lead the Cougars to a win against the Wildcats at Eagle Ridge South in Galena. Kellen Henze added a 47 for Eastland.

Amboy 204, Forreston 265: Dyson led the Cardinals with a 47 in a dual against the Clippers at Shady Oaks in Amboy.

Amboy’s Wesley Wilson was the medalist with a 44.

SPORTS Two young golfers already hitting their marks

Oregon’s Hackman, Rock Falls’ Fiorini get off to a good start

BY ERIC INGLES Shaw Media

Two young players are getting the 2020 high school girls golf season off to an impressive start.

On the heels of a 16-stroke win at the Women’s Rock River Classic, Rock Falls freshman Megan Fiorini opened her high school career with a 40, taking medalist honors in a dual against Le-Win/Pearl City.

The following day, she went even lower, carding a 34 in a dual with Oregon. Then she shot a 77 to tie for second in the Rocket Invitational on Saturday.

On the day the highly touted freshman of 2020 carded her 34, the highly touted freshman of 2019 was in her playing group. Now a sophomore at Oregon, Ava Hackman had the low score for the Hawks that day and in Saturday’s Rocket Invitational.

In last year’s regional, Hackman shot a 93 in tough conditions at Lake Carroll, then beat Dixon’s Bella Heintzelman in a one-hole playoff.

Despite entering this season as a reigning regional champion, the Hawks sophomore is not feeling the pressure.

“I’ve just got to keep in my head that I need to play my best no matter what people think or what other people are doing,” Hackman said.

So less than a week into the sophomore season for one player and the varsity career of the other, they got a chance to see up close what the other was able to do on the course.

On No. 6 on Thursday, a 375-yard par-5 running along Howland Creek, both landed tee shots in the rough before recovering with their second shots, Fiorini hitting hers past the green, Hackman hitting her just short of the green.

On No. 8, a 287-yard par-4, Fiorini landed her tee shot squarely in the center of the fairway and was later able to chip to within a foot and tap in. Hackman landed in the rough to the right of the fairway and had to punch out.

“She hits the ball really well,” Fiorini said of Hackman. “I think I might know the course because I’ve been playing all summer here.”

They were not in the same playing group on Saturday, as Fiorini tied for second behind Dixon’s Bella Heintzelman with a 77 and Hack

Michael Krabbenhoeft/Shaw Media ABOVE: Oregon’s Ava Hackman hits her ball on the first hole Thursday at Rock River Golf and Pool in Rock Falls. BELOW: Rock Falls’

Megan Fiorini watches her drive on the second hole at the Rocket Invitational at Rock River Golf and Pool in Rock Falls.

man shot a 94.

“She hits a lot of straight shots and her drives and really nice and she can get long putts in,” Hackman said of Fiorini.

Hackman said her goal for sophomore year is another regional title and to get into the mid or low 30s for nine holes.

“My putting could be a bit better, and my drives, they’re going to the right so I need to fix those, but when I hit them straight they go pretty good,” she said.

Hackman’s interest in golf came from her parents when she was maybe four or five.

“I grew up on the golf course, so every weekend or every other day I’d go out on the course and just mess around with my mom and day,” she said. “As high school came around, I started getting very serious about it.”

Hackman said she likes how it’s an individual sport and that she gets to see multiple courses.

For Fiorini, the introduction to golf came from her day.

“When I was really little, he would take me out in the back, we have a field, and I would just start hitting golf balls,” Fiorini said. “He would shorten clubs for me and I would hit them. I started doing tournaments in sixth grade, and I’ve done more and more every year, just working every single day, almost twice a day, and just improving as much as I can.”

Fiorini set a busy schedule for

her self during the summer months when she was in middle school, getting out on the course as much as possible and playing in summer tournaments.

“If you miss a day, it will totally set you back,” Fiorini said. “So I try to do as much as I can.”