March 15, 2018 By Chris Varney
Today we take a look at the Hawks, Warriors and Tigers and how their winter season went
Lynnville Sully
Girls Basketball: Final Record 18-7, 3rd in the SICL West. Another year, another regional final, 5 years in a row. The Hawks played third fiddle to North Mahaska and Montezuma in the conference but were put in a different region this year and kept winning until they ran into AGWSR. Junior Carson Fisk (13.9 ppg) led the team in scoring and rebounding. Senior Mariah Vos (10.1) will be missed in the paint. Other seniors are Jataya Meyer, Christine Nikkel and Camryn Russell. There will be no worries for L-S as Head Coach Jerry Hulsing always reloads and finds a way to win with whatever he has in the stable. That’s why Hulsing was the recipient of the Golden Plaque of Distinction by the IGHSAU.
Boys Basketball: Final Record 22-4, SICL West Champions. The Hawks made it to the state tournament for the 2nd year in a row but were surely disappointed after a first round loss to Remsen St. Mary’s. L-S had a good senior core led by 1,000 point scorer Jesse Van Wyk (14.2 ppg), Tanner Foster (13.1), Brevin Hansen (11.8), 6th man Corey McCoy and Kemper Lukehart. Head Coach Nick Haarthorn will have to reload for next year but does have Juniors Rylan James (8.8) and Tyson Vander Linden (7.2) to start with.
Wrestling: Senior Josh Dunsbergen made it to the state tournament at 138 pounds; he had a memorable match in the consolation round pinning Austin Gutknecht of Clarinda in 25 seconds. Dunsbergen (37-7) did not win a medal and is one of four seniors for the Hawks including Carson Dunsbergen (23-10), Cayden Johnson (28-19), and Sage Zylstra (15-5)
HLV
Girls Basketball: Final Record 2-19, 6th in the SICL West. Low numbers hurt Head Coach Cory Lahndorf’s squad this year. Senior Emma Cheney (8.7 ppg) led the team in scoring and rebounding. Mandi Niemeyer was the only other senior and there were only 3 juniors and no sophomores on the squad. That left nothing but freshmen for the bench. Karlee Timm and Kayla Jack began to emerge as strong players as the season wore on.
Boys Basketball: Final Record 8-14, 4th in the SICL West. It was a good start for the Warriors, winning 5 of their first 8 games. Then, HLV hit a wall with 8 straight losses but the team doubled their win total from the previous season. Senior Mitch Thys (9.1 ppg) was the leading scorer and HLV also loses Seniors Ben Toyne and Kyle Frank. Sophomore Sam Gensley (8.7) showed some promise as did Junior Dean Schaull (7.9).
Wrestling: The Warriors did not send anyone to the state tournament and two were district qualifiers. Freshman Ethan Kupka at 106 pounds finished 26-24 and Senior Dylan Caskey at 132 finished 37-14. Caskey was the team leader in wins; he and Lyden Klesner are the team’s two seniors.
Grinnell High
Girls Basketball: Final Record 23-3, 2nd in the Little Hawkeye, 4A Runners-Up. I have written a lot about this basketball team throughout the season and deservedly so. This team re-wrote the GHS record book — Head Coach Trent Edsen says that this team has broken at least 30 records either as a team or individually on the season. Senior Sienna Durr (21.7 ppg) was named by the Iowa Coaches as the 4A Player of the Year. Senior Kameron Moore (12.7) and Juniors Macy Harris (12.6) and Naomi Jackson (12.4) were each named on an all-state team. Durr, Moore, Bailee Kriegel and Salena Yoeun are the four seniors that graduate — Durr will be playing basketball in the Ivy League for Columbia University. For next year, the Tigers return a ton of talent. There’s Harris, Jackson and Megan Doty returning among the starters. Sophomores Ady Petig, McKenna McKnight, Sarah Gosselink, Micah Benning-Shorg and Freshman Lauren Bolte provide tremendous depth. Junior Rebekah McCombs and Sophomore Chelsie Heinsleman are coming off of ACL injuries. The Cedar Rapids Gazette has already ranked Grinnell #4 in Class 4A for next season. There is a lot of hope for next year and the years to come for this team.
Boys Basketball: Final Record 1-21, 8th in the Little Hawkeye. This was the roughest year ever for the Tigers boys team. Grinnell played one of the toughest schedules in Class 3A and had to replace two 1,000+ point scorers from last year. Guys had to learn new positions and new roles on the team and nothing ever came together. Senior Ethan Mitchell (18.9 ppg) was the leader and named second team all-conference but also missed a month of the season. Nick Popp and Tristan DeSerano also leave the team as seniors. Head Coach Scott Sharp has already started on the work to rebuild, practicing as long as they could during the season up to the final week during the state tournament. Sophomore Jake Hull (13.6), Junior Jayden Gibson, and Freshmen A.J. Wilkins and Cole McGriff will be motivated to improve the team for next season.
Wrestling: For the second straight year, Grinnell only sent Brock Beck to the state tournament. This year as a Sophomore, Beck (47-8) earned another 6th place medal at 113 pounds. Two others made it to Districts — Junior Dalton Gosselink (22-8) at 106 pounds and Senior Alex Farmer (24-10) at 126 pounds. Other seniors for the Tigers were Ethan Kirby, Adam Gruman, Kyle Rauch, Bryson Cline, Quaid Pinkerton, Trent Miller, and Brett Clayton. Grinnell still has depth in the lower weights and some promising young wrestlers like Freshmen Eli Rose, Landon Kirby, Wyatt Hunter and Kam Steveson but they are a little thin in the upper weights right now.
Boys Swimming: The Grinnell-BGM squad did not qualify anybody to state this year but had a strong season. Senior Nick Jacobson came close with a 2nd place finish in the 50 freestyle with a personal best time of 22.61. The 200 freestyle relay team of Jacobson, Kevin Werner, Levi Durr and Logan Strawser were one of the strongest teams that Travis Smith has coached. Every swimmer put up personal best times in the district meet. There were seven seniors that will graduate with Jacobson, Strawser, Werner, Rob Clower, Wes Sebetka, John Langerud, and Meyer See.