Roundup: Cowley’s personal best boosts track team

Boulder City High School girls track team placed third out of 12 programs with a team score of 111 at the Bulldogs Early Bird Invitational on Friday, March 8, at Virgin Valley High School.

Rival Moapa Valley finished first with a score of 159, while rival Virgin Valley finished second with a score of 139.5.

Leading the Lady Eagles was senior Erin Cowley, who placed first in the discus (81-10) and shot put (27-8), setting a personal best in the shot put.

In running events, freshman Mary Henderson placed second in the 800-meter run (2:50.93) and third in the 1600-meter run (6:25.03). Sophomore Sophie Dickerman placed second in the 3200-meter run (14:18.87) and fourth in the 1600-meter (6:33.06). Junior Sarah Oberweis placed sixth in the 3200-meter run (14:59.51) and seventh in the 1600-meter (7:07.41).

In the hurdles event, senior Geri Wachtel finished fourth in the 100-meter hurdles (19.66), followed by senior Alyssa Williams (19.86) and sophomore Chloe Payne (20.38), who finished fifth and sixth, respectively. In the 300-meter hurdles, Payne finished third (55.49), followed by Williams (55.64) and Wachtel (56.52), who finished fifth and seventh.

Payne also finished third in the triple jump (28-11 1/4). Sophomore Christina Dunagan finished fourth in the pole vault (6) and senior Taylor Cunningham finished sixth in the high jump (4-4).

Finishing seventh out of 13 programs, the Eagles finished with an overall score of 40. Rivals Moapa Valley and Virgin Valley each finished second with a score of 113.5.

Leading the way for the Eagles, sophomore Sean White finished sixth in the 800-meter run (2:23.23) and 1600-meter run (5:19.23). Julian Balmer finished sixth in the 400-meter run (57.75 seconds) and eighth in the 200-meter dash (25.30 seconds).

Sophomore Sonny Peck finished third in the pole vault (8-6-) and third in the triple jump (32-3 1/4)

Rounding out the boys’ efforts, senior Kyle Ressler finished fifth in the 3200-meter run (11:56.33) and senior Christian Long finished ninth in the 400-meter run (58.86 seconds). Senior Tre’ Hershey finished 12th in the 200-meter dash with a time of 25.67 seconds.

Competing in another preseason event, the Eagles will travel to Palo Verde High School on Friday, March 15, for the O’Dea Relay, followed by a weekly event at Sunrise Mountain on Tuesday, March 19.

Boys volleyball

Playing in the tough Las Vegas Invitational on Friday and Saturday, March 8 and 9, Boulder City High School boys volleyball team finished with a 2-5 record.

“There was a lot of good competition out there this weekend and I wasn’t quite sure how the boys would respond, but they played well,” head coach Rachelle Huxford said. “A lot of these teams, especially the out-of-state teams, are filled with club players that play year-round and we don’t have one on our roster. To be able to compete early and get a few wins was really great for us.”

Moving into the 3A classification this season after spending a year as an independent, the third-year program picked up victories over 4A opponents Legacy and Durango on Friday, March 9, defeating both opponents 2-0.

Senior Karson Bailey and junior Preston Jorgensen each generated eight kills and four digs defensively in the 35-18, 25-19 victory over Legacy. Junior Boen Huxford dished out 20 assists.

Defeating Durango 25-20, 25-19, Jorgensen tailed nine kills, while Bailey added seven kills and six digs. Boen Huxford dished out 10 assists against the Trailblazers.

Expected to be a key piece of defense, freshman Kannon Rose added four digs in each Eagles’ victory.

The Eagles fell to 4A Las Vegas 2-1, before being swept by 4A Green Valley and out-of- state opponents Mater Dei (California), Cienega (Arizona) and Salpointe Catholic (Arizona) 2-0.

Heading into league play, the Eagles will travel to Somerset Academy Sky Pointe on Tuesday, March 19, followed by a nonleague road game against Eldorado on Wednesday, March 20.

Results from the Eagles’ Wednesday, March 13, outing against Southeast Career Technical Academy will appear in next week’s issue.

Softball

Boulder City High School’s softball team fell to 2-5 on the season after the first week of play following a 14-10 loss to rival Pahrump Valley on Monday, March 11.

“Obviously 2-5 is not where we want to be, but we are adapting to some new chemistry this year and I am certain it will come around,” head coach Anjelica Moorhead said. “This is a great group of young ladies and we will continue to work hard and build off of each game. I’m looking forward to the season; it’s all still new, but we will be ready.”

Plagued this far by youth and inexperience at key positions, the Lady Eagles have the makeup to be a great team come postseason play. For now though, they’ll experience the growing pains of learning how to be great.

Ahead 9-1 against Pahrump Valley heading into the bottom of the fifth inning, the Lady Eagles gave up 10 runs in the inning after a series of errors doomed what looked to be a surefire victory.

Freshman Alyssa Baker was charged the loss after allowing seven runs in 1 2/3 innings of relief. After pitching great for the first four innings, senior starter Abby Giunta was pulled in the fifth inning after allowing seven runs on seven hits. Giunta struck out five batters.

“There definitely was a huge momentum shift when they started hitting the ball,” Moorhead said. “No one person gets the loss for this game. The errors and lack of hits at the end of the game was on the whole team. We need to learn from this and go forward. There is no doubt we will face them again in regionals.”

Taking away positives, the Lady Eagles’ bats came alive early against the Trojans, sparked by three runs batted in by freshman Paeton Carver, who finished three-for-five at the plate and two RBIs from Giunta, who finished one-for-four.

Senior Ryann Reese finished three-for-three and senior Marleena Mills finished three-for-four with an RBI double.

Finishing 2-4 in the Colorado River Invitational in Needles, California, the Lady Eagles defeated Palo Verde Valley (California) on March 7 and Needles 13-7 on Friday, March 8. Giunta picked up both victories for the Eagles, striking out five batters.

Against Palo Verde Valley, Carver (two-for-four), Mills (one-for-four) and senior Natalie Bowman (one-for-one) each drove in a pair of runs. Against Needles, Reese and sophomore Brooke Baker each had a pair of hits.

In other games at the Colorado River Invitational, the Lady Eagles lost to 4A Rancho 9-5 and Durango 7-0 on Friday, March 8, while falling to Arizona opponents Chino Valley 12-2 on March 7 and Holbrook 11-2 on Saturday, March 9.

Looking to challenge themselves, the Lady Eagles will travel to Utah this weekend for the March Warm Up Classic, where they’ll play South Summit, Stansbury and Uintah on Friday, March 15.

They’ll round out the week with a home game against Del Sol on Monday, March 18, followed by road outings Tuesday, March 19, and Wednesday, March 20, against Mojave and Valley, respectively.

Contact Robert Vendettoli at BCRsports@gmail.com.