Valley Sports Wrap: Jan. 14
Wrestling
Tippecanoe Valley finished fourth among the eight teams at Saturday’s Rochester Super 8. Valley went 2-3, defeating Northfield 42-36 and Pioneer 60-0 while falling to Rochester 47-30 and Peru 60-21 before losing to West Central 33-27 in the third-place matchup.
Tyler Manuszak had himself quite a day, going 5-0 with five falls to his credit, all five coming in the first period including a 17-second finish in his matchup with Northfield’s Jasper Donaldson. Devin Bandow also went 5-0 on the day, scoring four falls and a forfeit.
Chevy Teeter went 4-1 with four falls, his only loss coming in the final round against West Central’s Kirk Bushong.
Also scoring pins for Valley were Jon Humes, Isaac Randall, Joseph Irons and Jacob Eherenman. Humes and Randall also recorded decision wins.
Peru would claim the Super 8 title after beating Rochester in the championship match 60-16.
Valley will host Bremen, West Noble and North White on Thursday in its final regular season action before turning its attention to the Three Rivers Conference meet at North Miami on Jan. 21.
Boys Basketball
For the second time in less than 12 hours, Valley’s boys lost a one-possession game. Friday night, it was a one-point loss at Rochester. Saturday afternoon, Winamac got Valley in a 64-61 final at Winamac.
Alec Craig had a huge game in the scoring department, hitting for 31 points on 11-14 shooting from the floor, hitting all three of his three-point attempts. Winamac was able to quite the other two heads of Valley’s three-headed monster, keeping Jarod Dusenbery to just eight points and Keith Wright to two points, 11 points under his season average.
Jack DeGroot led the way for the Warriors with 21 points, followed by Luke Pugh with 16 points and Caleb Smith with 11 points and nine rebounds.
Winamac (9-2) won the rebounding edge 30-14 and were 18-22 from the free throw line, Valley just 7-11.
Valley (6-8) will return to Three Rivers Conference action Friday in hosting Southwood.
Girls Basketball
Tippecanoe Valley kept its Three Rivers Conference résumé spotless with a 47-24 win against Rochester Saturday night.
Emily Peterson led the way for Valley with 12 points in a contest where Valley didn’t need to burn its varsity nearly as much in the second half against the Zebras as in recent years.
Sophie Bussard, Anne Secrest and Hannah Dunn all finished with eight points for Valley, which moves to 15-4 overall and 5-0 in the TRC.
Rochester (9-10, 4-3 TRC) had Morgan Ruff and Maci Brown both finish with seven points.
Valley led the game 14-3 in the first quarter and poured it on in the second, taking a 27-10 lead into the half.
Valley is in a flat-footed tie with Whitko at the top of the TRC heap with 5-0 marks after the Wildcats kept pace with a 47-31 win over Southwood. Valley will face TRC foe Peru Tuesday at home before the huge tussle with Whitko on Thursday in South Whitley. The original matchup was to have been played Dec. 17 but was postponed due to poor weather. Northfield is also in the hunt at 6-1 overall, its only loss to Valley with a game with Whitko still on tap on Jan. 21.
Swimming
The boys and girls programs at Valley traveled to Oak Hill Saturday to compete in the Oak Hill Invite. Valley had its boys finish third and girls sixth among the eight-team fields.
Valley had Chase Brower claim two titles, winning the 50 free at 22.66 and the 100 free at 51.23, the only titles Valley would win on the day.
Olivia Livengood had the top showing for the girls with a second-place finish in the butterfly, going 1:07.43 and the girls 400 free relay was fourth.
Daniel Alexander was third in the butterfly at 1:03.75 and the Valley 400 free relay was fourth.
Oak Hill’s girls won 10 of the 12 events rolling to 487 points and the team title. Rochester, which had Abbie McCarter win the other two event titles in the individual medley and backstroke, were second at 326 team points. Valley scored 90 total points in the girls races.
The Oak Hill boys were also dominant, winning six-and-a-half titles, the half coming in the 500 where Silas Vermilya of Oak Hill and Isaac Smith of Rochester tied at 5:18.05. Jeff Ruppert won a backstroke title and and Mason Brady won the breaststroke title to pace Rochester, which finished second 474.5-284.5 to Oak Hill. Valley finished third at 213.5.