Golf Season Ends at Regional

The Garrett Golfers made history today by golfing in the IHSAA Golf Regional held at Orchard Ridge in Fort Wayne. They are only the 4th golf team in GHS history to make it this far. They may not have golfed like they wanted to, but they need to look back at this season with great PRIDE!

The Railroaders tied with Homestead for 10th place. For the 4th straight year Bennett Rieke golfed at Regional. He ended his Career with a great round of 76 to end up 5th. He was just one stroke away from qualifying for State. He got a slow start to the day shooting a 40 on his first nine holes. He then blistered the next 9, but it wasn't enough to advance. In the previous 3 years he competed by himself. The results were the same, but it was his great leadership that drove this team to accomplish all that it did. We are very proud of him and his career as the 4 year leader at GHS!

Cameron Stockdale and Jake Stafford also ended their careers. Cam shot an 86. He has worked hard to battle through injuries this year and was an important member of this team. Jake shot 97 for the day. He really struggled with the last 9 holes. We are also very proud of him and his dedication this year and in his career at GHS.

Below are the rest of the results and comments from Coach Kleeman.

I would like to report better team and individual results for the golf team, but unfortunately I can not. The team went to Orchard Ridge in Ft. Wayne and shot a respectable 335. The #7 team in the state, Warsaw shot a very solid 308. They were followed by Bishop Dwenger with a 322 and Northridge with a 323. So, only twelve strokes separated us and placing a team in the state finals.

On a individual level Bennett missed qualifying for state by 1 stroke again this year. He starts his first 9 holes by shooting a 40 but follows that up with a terrific 36. Incidentally, the 36 was the lowest in the entire field for the day. Bennett is truly one of the top 3 or 4 players to ever play high school golf for Garrett. For him to not make it to the state tournament is heartbreaking.

Karsten struggled a little bit today and shot a pair of 44's. Coop had a great practice round on Tuesday but couldn't quite get it going today.  Cameron played very well for for 16 holes but the par five holes are where he struggled. Cam had triple bogeys on 2 of the 3 par fives but still shot an 86. Zach came through with a nice 85 today (41-44). Zach has improved so much this season it is too bad it ended so soon. Jake "aka The Stud" Stafford finishes his high school golf career with a 97 (45-52).

I want to wish the four seniors the very best. They end there careers having won back-to-back ACAC championships and they are the first team since 1999 to qualify for the regional tournament. I have a hard time imagining going to golf practice without Bennett, Cameron, Jake or Noah there. However we have a great nucleus of kids coming back and I truly look forward to the 2013 season. 

Thanks

Coach Kleeman

Coach Kleeman - Golf Sectional Comments!

At the start of each year the kids all write down what their team goals are and what their individual goals are for the upcoming season.  Almost every player listed 3 team goals. They were: 1) win the ACAC regular season, 2) win the ACAC Conference Tournament and 3) qualify the team for the Regional. I'm very pleased to say that we have accomplished 2 of the 3 team goals. We missed winning the ACAC regular season when we lost to a very good Heritage team. That day we shot what was at the time our best 9 hole team score of 164 at Pond-A-River in Woodburn. (Note: we eventually shot a 156 at Noble Hawk against East Noble and Central Noble.) The team captured their 2nd consecutive ACAC Conference Tournament championship at one of their favorite courses, Brookwood, by shooting a nice 326 to beat that same Heritage team by 1 stroke. Yesterday we played in the Sectional at Noble Hawk and finished 3rd to qualify the team for their first Regional appearance.  The team shot a 326 compared to the East Noble Invitational in April when they shot 345 - what a nice improvement.  On a individual level, Bennett now has some company at Orchard Ridge on Thursday after shooting a 75. Cameron's 79 was his best 18 hole score of the year and could not have come at a better time. Karsten has a terrific 39 on the back nine and ends with a very respectable 81. Zach, always the grinder, shoots a 89. Jake starts out shooting a great 41 on the front and ends with a 91. Now comes the Regionals! Great job, guys!

Boys Track State Finals

The 2012 Boys Track season is in the record books. Todd Frickey and Robert Deventer both competed today at the IHSAA State Track meet in Bloomington. Neither were able to break into the finals in their event. But, they both represented Garrett with pride and excellence. Todd and Robert had their work cut out for them if they were going to make the finals in the 200m or Discus. With the strong field of athletes, they just couldn't do it.

Todd has left the GHS track program as one of the fastest athletes to run track for the Railroaders. He holds numerous records in both Track and Football. It has been great for all of us to watch him compete. It is great to see this from a student-athlete that also works hard in the classroom. Good Luck next year at Hillsdale!

Robert Deventer is the poster child for work ethic. I wish you all could have seen him introduced at the State Finals. Robert is not gifted with height. He seemed a good foot shorter than the rest of the field of 27 athletes. But, he some of the best footwork for a thrower and he gets the most out of his speed and strength. He is such a hardworker and his goal for 4 years was to make it to the State Finals. He accomplished that and had a great time this weekend taking all of it in!  This won't be Robert's last track meet. He is also going to compete at the next level. He will join Railroader teammate Geoff Getts at Indiana Wesleyan as a thrower. Good Luck Robert, we are proud of you.

This is the BIG TIME! Great Job Jordyn!

This is the BIG Time. Great job Jordyn. WE ARE PROUD OF YOU!

Golf and State Track Photos

2012 REGIONAL QUALIFYING RAILROADER GOLF TEAM - Zach Sarrazine, Karsten Cooper, Cameron Stockdale, Coach Tom Kleeman, Bennett Rieke, and Jacob Stafford!

Jordyn Knott 4th Place at 2012 IHSAA State Track Meet - High Jump 5'6"! WOW!

Golfers Shine and Jordyn Knott at State!

What a great day for Railroader Athletics. The Golfers were at Noble Hawk for the IHSAA Sectional Golf Tournament. The Top 3 advance to the Homestead Regional. Our Golf program has done this only 3 times so the task for our golfers was HUGE! But, on a day where we had rain, mist, cold, and breezy conditions, the Golfers DID IT! For only the 4th time in GHS History, our golfers have qualified for Regionals. Bennett Rieke, Karsten Cooper, Cameron Stockdale, Zach Sarrazine, and Jake Stafford put this team in the history books. They will compete in the regional next Thursday.

I will give more details about the scores when Coach Kleeman sends them. Congrats Team and on to Regionals!

The second part of the great day for Garrett was Jordyn Knott at the IHSAA State Track meet. Jordyn's best High Jump has been 5'5, until today! The starting height for the meet was 5'2". That is really intimidating even though Jordyn has consistently jumped 5'4 this year. But, in true style, Jordyn did that with ease. She ended up jumping a CAREER BEST 5'6" and FINISHED 4th. WOW! That is an amazing accomplishment. Coach Lapadot sent me this quote, "The best female athlete in GHS History finished 4th today with a career best 5'6"."  I have a picture that will get posted later.

Great work GHS Athletes today. Just another reason why I'm PROUD TO BE A RAILROADER!

Baseball Season Ends

Great Pitching + No Offense + 7 Errors = 5 - 1 Loss in the Sectional Championship.

Andrew Robinson and Brett Schendel combined for 7 innings giving up NO earned runs and losing 5-1 to the Leo Lions in the Sectional Championship game this afternoon. The Railroaders defense had too many "bobbles" to defeat a solid Leo team and the offense didn't help. Leo's Taylor Horn had 11 strikeouts and gave up only 2 hits to the Railroaders. James Weber had a double in the 5th inning to break up the no hitter bid. Travis Carunchia followed two batters later with an RBI Single to drive in Weber. That was the only offense all night.

Leo travels to Bellmont for the IHSAA Class 3A Regional next Saturday.

Today was the last game for our Senior Baseball Players. Garrett Moon, James Weber, Andrew Johnson, Travis Carunchia, Logan Casselman, and Kylan LaMotte ended their careers today.  All of these young men have been a big part of our baseball program. Logan transferred to Garrett this year and was an immediate contributor. Coach Mireles said he would've loved to have him for 4 years. The others were all steady members of the team throughout their careers. We wish them luck as they move on to college and life outside GHS.

Today was also the last home event of the Spring Season. I am certainly proud of our kids. But, I am also proud of all the workers who helped make this a great season for GHS Sports. Becky Blotkamp is #1 when it comes to GHS Sports. She always gets things ready so we can pay officials and coordinate workers for all events. Thanks Beck for your hard work and dedication to the Kids at GHS. I would like to also thank Greg Griffin, Rich Wisel, Tammy Stafford, Alan Bobalik, Austin Freels,  Mary Baker, Anne Duckett, and all the other workers who helped work games this year. We couldn't do, what we do, without You!

Now let's finish up the season with a Golf Sectional Championship and some State Medals this weekend!