Spring Sports Previews By Alan Brake

WILDCATS’ SPRING SPORTS SEASON STARTS THIS WEEK

Montgomery County R-2 High School will have 3 teams in action during the Spring sports season.  The baseball, golf and track teams all have their first games/meets/matches this week (weather and conditions of playing surface permitting). 

The baseball team and boys’ track team will both be trying to repeat as East Missouri (EMO) Conference champions, having won their respective conference titles in 2012.  This year’s girls’ track team has 14 members this season (compared to only 6 last year), and look forward to an even more successful season than last year.  The golf team graduated 6 of the 7 players who played at the Varsity level last year, so it should be a “rebuilding” season for this year’s team.

Don Moultrie will coach the baseball team, assisted by Joe Klekamp.  Stephanie Finke will coach both the boys’ and girls’ track teams, assisted by Chastity Rodgers.  Jessie Cobb will coach the golf team. 

The following is a “season preview” report for each of the teams.

BASEBALL TEAM

Coach Moultrie has 24 players out for the Varsity and Jr. Varsity teams, including 9 players from last year’s Varsity team, which finished the 2012 season with a record of 14 wins and 7 losses.  As was mentioned previously, the 2012 Wildcats also won the EMO Conference title (their first conference title in 8 years) with a record of 9 wins and only 1 loss. 

The Varsity team has 17 regular games and 2 tournaments scheduled for this season.  This includes a double header on a Saturday (April 6), as the Wildcats will play Silex and then Louisiana.  The Jr. Varsity team will play on most of the “regular” game nights (after the Varsity game) and is scheduled for 1 tournament. 

The season starts this week with 2 or 3 games in the Four Rivers’ Tournament.  The Wildcats will play their first game on Tuesday, March 19, at home against St. Francis Borgia (Washington, MO), at 5:00.  Their second game is at Owensville on Wednesday, March 20, at 4:30.  If the Wildcats win at least one of those games they will play on Saturday, March 23, but the “who, where and what time” information for that game has yet to be determined.

Next week the Wildcats have 3 games.  On Monday, March 25, they play at Orchard Farm (St. Charles County).  On Tuesday, March 26, they play at Wright City.  On Thursday, March 28, they will host Van-Far.  The Wright City and Van-Far games are EMO Conference games.  The starting time for all 3 games is 5:00.

Even though 7 Seniors graduated from the 2012 team, the Wildcats have 5 key players returning to this year’s team, including Seniors Colt Ellis and Austin Killian, and Juniors Jackson Bishop, Evan Milner and Cameron Parrish.

Colt has been a starter on the Varsity team ever since his Freshman year, and has played various positions during those three years.  Colt, who has played well enough to earn All-Conference and/or All-District honors the past 2 seasons, will play primarily at shortstop and will also be one of the Wildcats starting pitchers.  Austin was a “spot starter” last season and will be heavily relied on this year as an outfielder and for his leadership.

Jackson returns after being a “unanimous” First Team All-Conference selection as a starting pitcher and also earned All-District honors.  Obviously he will be one of the starting pitchers again this year, and will play other positions when not pitching.  Evan is a returning starter and will takeover the catching duties.  Cameron will also return as one of the starting pitchers and will play various positions when not pitching.

Coach Moultrie made the following statement about having these 5 starters returning, “I have high expectations for these 5 players, because they have a lot of talent and it will be interesting to see how they succeed.”

However, a baseball team is made up of 9 players, so Coach Moultrie says the other Juniors on the team will have big roles on this team.  Listed in alphabetical order, here are the other Juniors and what Coach Moultrie had to say about them:  Matt Boshcert played various positions on last year’s Jr. Varsity team and will be expected to do the same this year; Brian Davis can play either the infield or the outfield and can pitch if needed; Justin Hall will play primarily in the outfield, but may be called upon at times to pitch; Zeke Theissen will be one of the starting pitchers, and will play various positions when not pitching; Chase Worsham will play primarily at first base or third base. 

The Wildcats also have 3 other Juniors on the 2013 team, that did not play last season.  Josh Thurman, who played some on the 2011 Varsity team as a Freshman (infield and some pitching), is back after missing last season due to a shoulder injury.  He has recovered from that injury, but is not able to pitch so he most likely will play in the infield.  Jake Kent and Clayton Schlanker are playing baseball this season, after participating in track their Freshman and Sophomore years.

Coach Moultrie’s final comment about having several good pitchers this season was follows, “Jackson, Cameron, Colt and Zeke will be our starting pitchers this season.  I believe this is the best group of starting pitchers I have had the opportunity to coach while coaching in this area.  I look forward to seeing their progress and maturity!”

The Jr. Varsity team will include the following players:

Junior – Tyler Peterson.

Sophomores – Tanner Cobb, Travis Oden and George Rodebaugh.

Freshmen – Nathan Hardcastle, Trevor Hollaway, Michael Ludy, Andy Milner, Joey Schlueter,

          Misael Vazquez-Perez and Scott Wright.

BOYS’ & GIRLS’ TRACK TEAMS

Coach Finke has 20 boys and 14 girls on this year’s team, including 11 boys and 3 girls who participated in track in 2012.  Among those who are returning, is Dylan Skeens who finished 4^th in the state championship meet in the 300 Meter Hurdles.  Also, Nick Martin, Makayla Yager, Emily O’Keefe and Tori Van Doren made it to the state championship meet preliminary races last year, but did not qualify for the state final races.

The track teams are each scheduled for 9 track meets this season (not including any state meets), most of which are “medal meets” that involve several schools.  The first meet for both teams is this Thursday, March 21, at Wright City starting at 3:30 p.m.  Their next meet is next Tuesday, March 26, at Warrenton starting at 4:00 p.m. 

Based on all of the teams they competed against in all of their meets in 2012 (up to the state championship meet), the boys’ record last year was 65 wins and 46 losses, and as was mentioned previously they won the EMO Conference title.  The girls’ record was 51 wins and 60 losses, even though they only had 6 girls on the team. 

Coach Finke made this statement about the upcoming season:  “I expect both teams to be successful again this year and I am looking forward to having a great season with both of them.”  She then went on to explain why she is optimistic about the teams and their upcoming season.

“The boys’ team is looking to repeat as EMO Conference Champs.  We have added some young talent to a strong group of that is returning from last year.  Our distance runners look to be the strongest that we have had in a very long time.”

“The girls’ team has a good number participating this year.  With only 6 girls on last year’s squad we were still able to place high in the meets as a team.  Therefore, we look to do even better with the number and talent of the girls we have this year.  The girls hope to also compete for the EMO Conference title this year, after finishing in 4^th place last year and being only 8 points of out 2^nd place.

The list of this year’s track participants is as follows:

Senior Girls – Yager and Jessica Padgett.

Senior Boys – Martin, Dalton Hardwick, Tim Kroll, Sam Kroll, Evan Forrest, and Mark Schall.

Junior Girls – O’Keefe and Lea Hartmann.

Junior Boys – Skeens, Jacob Davis, Cody Guile, Aaron Henke, Jerad Jordan, Luke Longstreet,

  and Jac Shwartz.

Sophomore Girls – Van Doren, Anna Ash, Amy Jordan, Sierra Kolan, Miah Klekamp,

          And Maggie Sarchette.

Sophomore Boys – Kyle Kroll, Jamison Rucker and Daven Sublette.

Freshmen Girls – Abby Bartlett, Mariah Davis, Victoria Weitkamp and Karina Yager.

Freshmen Boys – Lafe Arens, Nick Galarza, Nathan Hess and Joey McCormick.

GOLF TEAM

Coach Cobb has 7 boys and 2 girls out for the golf team this year.  As was mentioned previously only one of these golfers, Sophomore Jack Ecton, played in a Varsity match last year.  However, the team is not “completely” inexperienced, as Seniors Ryan Biggs, Bryke Brengle and Allen Rodriguez, and Sophomore Beck Holtman were on the team last season.

The golf team has 9 regular matches and 3 tournaments scheduled for this season.  They start their season with 3 home matches (2 this week and 1 next week).  On Tuesday, March 19, they will host Elsberry, Mexico and North Callaway.  On Thursday, March 21, they will host Silex, and Hallsville.  Next Monday, March 25, they will host South Callaway, Helias, and Winfield.  All three matches start at 4:00 p.m.  You can attend these matches and follow the golfing groups, however you are not allowed to “coach” or “aid” any golfers in any manner.

Coach Cobb made the following statement about the team and the upcoming season:  “With the loss of 6 of 7 golfers from last year’s Varsity squad, we will be looking to learn how to compete daily by managing the course and each individual’s game.”

The list of this year’s golfers include:

Seniors – Biggs, Brengle, Rodriguez, and Levi Warren.

Sophomores – Ecton, Holtman, and Elinor Arens.

Freshmen – Eli Hedding and Viv Worsham.

The coaches and players hope you will come and support these teams this Spring.  Best wishes to all of the teams, as you do your best to represent Montgomery County R-2 High School and our communities.