Sports

By Sandy Anderberg

The Broncos and Lady Broncos made a great showing in the Area track meet in Panhandle last week with the top four in each event advancing to the Regional Meet that will be held in Levelland April 25-26.

Sarah Luttrell and Abby Johnson represented the Lady Broncos in a great

way at the meet and earned the right to move on to the Regional meet. Luttrell was named a three-way Area Champion in the 100, 200, and long jump. She won the 100-meter dash at a time of 12.83 and the 200-meter champion with a time of 26.73. Luttrell jumped a distance of 16’7 ½” in the long jump for the championship. Johnson is the 400-meter run Area champ and turned in a time of 1:01.49. Johnson also qualified in the 200-meter dash finishing second at a time of 26.78.

The Lady Bronco sprint relay finished second with a time of 52.27 and will be moving on. Running the relay was Amelia Weatherton, Taylor DeGrate, Taylor Gaines, and Luttrell. DeGrate also qualified in the 100-meter hurdles with a third-place finish at 17.57 and Gaines placed third in the long jump with a distance of 15’9 ¾”. Weatherton placed seventh in the 200-meter at 30.08 and fourth in the 100-meter with a time of 13.19. She will run the 100-meter dash in Levelland. The mile relay finished sixth with a time of 4:40.46 and was run by Sarah Williams, Hannah Howard, MaRae Hall, and Johnson. Berkeley Alexander finished fifth in the shot put with a throw of 31’6″, but will not advance.

The Lady Broncos finished third as a team with 84 total points.

Broncos Charles Mason and Caleb Cobb both earned the right to move on in the long jump and 800-meter dash. Mason jumped 21’9 ½” in the long jump for a second place finish and Cobb was third in the 800-meter dash with a time of 2:11.13. Also placing, but not qualifying were Cobb who placed eighth in the 400 with a time of 59.46 and Montana Hysinger in the shot put placing eighth with a distance of 36’7″.

The Bronco team finished tenth as a team with fourteen points.

By Sandy Anderberg

The Broncos suffered a heartbreaking loss to Gruver last week by just one run at 5-6.

According to head coach Brad Elam, the Broncos did not play up to speed against the Greyhounds.

“We didn’t play very well in this game, but we gave ourselves chances to win,” Elam said.

“Caleb Cobb pitched an outstanding game, but we made too many mistakes behind him. Offensively, we didn’t capitalize when we had chances and struck out too many times.”

The Broncos staged a comeback scoring four runs to cut the lead to one in the seventh inning, according to Elam, but it was not enough to get the win. Cobb played a big part in that comeback attempt when he hit a three-run blast in that inning.

The Broncos are finishing up their district race and will be moving into post-season play soon. They currently have a one-game lead for third place right now.

By Sandy Anderberg

The Lady Broncos came up with a big win in Claude last week at 22-11. Head Coach Gary Jack knew the ladies needed to make big plays to get the win.

“This was a very close game,” Jack said. “And going into the sixth inning we were tied 10-10. We came in and scored six runs in the sixth and they only scored one.”

Jack knew they needed to put more runs on the board and the ladies responded by adding another six runs in the seventh inning. They were able to hold the Lady Mustangs in their at bat and earned the win they needed.

“After the second inning everybody in the lineup really hit the ball hard, and we were able to score every inning from there on out,” Jack said. “Taylor Gaines hit a double that bounced over the fence.”

Jack felt the pitchers did a good job with Briley Chadwick starting the game. Taylor DeGrate came in for a couple of innings and Brooke Martin finished the game. Haley Ferguson made some good plays from behind the plate at catcher. DeGrate caught some good fly balls at center, and Savannah Topper made some good saves at first base.

“The rest of our team played solid on defense,” Jack said. “This was a huge win for our playoff chances.”

On Saturday, the Lady Broncos played Gruver at home and won 15-0 in a short game.

“Brooke pitched and shut them out, with Camra (Smith) and Sterling (King) making good plays on defense,” Jack said. “We hit the ball pretty well and made short work of Gruver.”

The Lady Broncos finished their district season in second place all alone in the playoff race according to Jack. They will take on the winner of the Ralls and Tahoka in District 5 at a time and place to be announced. The Lady Broncos are currently 9-3 in District play and 14-4 overall for the season.

Ryann Starnes and Deborah Howard have played a lot of basketball together during their four years of high school at Clarendon, recently wrapping up their third straight district championship and third straight trip to the regional basketball tournament.

Last Thursday and Saturday, they played together one last time as they were teammates on the East squad for the Golden Spread All-Star tournament.

The All-Star competition has been going on for 44 years and the objective is the promotion of high school basketball in the Texas Golden Spread area.

Starnes and Howard played with and against players from all sizes of area schools, including 6-man schools such as Miami and Valley as well as large schools like Pampa, Canyon, Tascosa, Palo Duro, and Amarillo High. The girls fit in well with the other all-stars, and their coach showed confidence in them by giving them plenty of playing time.

Their East team won the first game of the tournament and played in the championship game Saturday afternoon at the WTAMU United Bank Center.

It was obvious that they had played many games together, as Howard penetrated and often found Starnes open for a three-point attempt. Ryann scored in double figures in both games. In addition, both girls made the finals in the 3-point shooting contest.

Although they fell a bit short in the championship game, it was a great way for them both to finish their high school careers, together seeking a victory one last time.

By Sandy Anderberg

The Clarendon Broncos and Lady Broncos made a great showing in the District track meet in Panhandle last week, bringing home several gold medals and qualifying in several events for the Area meet. The top four finishers get to advance to the Area meet to be held April 18 at Panhandle.

On the Broncos side, Caleb Cobb won gold in the 800-meter dash in a time of 2:16.49 and Charles Mason fresh off of an injury took the gold in the long jump at 22’4″.

On the women’s side, cousins Sarah Luttrell and Abby Johnson won gold three races and one field event. Luttrell won the 100-meter dash with a time of 13.47 (13.21q) and took the long jump at 16’ ¼”. Johnson stormed through the field in the 400-meter run at 1:01.74 (101.91q) and won the gold in the 200-meter dash with a final time of 27.74 (27.39q). The Lady Broncos 400-meter relay finished a close second at 52.42 (Amelia Weatherton, Taylor Gaines, Taylor DeGrate, and Luttrell) and finished third at 4:30.85. Those running the relay were Myra Castillo, MaRae Hall, Hannah Howard, and Johnson. Both relays advanced to the Area meet.

The junior varsity Bronco 400-meter relay won gold with a time of 48.68 and was run by Clay Koetting, Riley Shadle, Wyatt Papa, and Keandre Cortez.

Koetting brought home gold in the 1600-meter run with a time of 5:37.58 and gold in the pole vault at 10’. Cortez outran the field in the 100-meter dash with at time of 12.09 and Marshal Johnson grabbed the gold in the discus with a throw of 110’11″. Mikeal LaRoe was golden in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:17.59.

The Broncos finished fifth as a team with 33 points, the Bronco JV took second with 144 points and the Lady Broncos were second with 118 points.

Bronco individual results: 400-meter run: Cobb 3rd 55.61 (57.83q); 200-meter run: Cobb 6th 26.24; discus: Montana Hysinger 5th 97’5″; shot put: Hysinger 4th 35’7 ¼”.

Bronco JV: mile relay: 3rd 4:16.85 (Cortez, N. Shadle, LaRoe, Lockhart); 110-hurdles: R. Shadle 2nd 19.53; 100-meter dash: Papa 2nd 12.83; 400-meter run: 59.13, Lockhart 5th 1:04.89, N. Shadle 7th 1:07.54; 300-meter hurdles: R. Shadle 3rd 51.00; 200-meter run: N. Shadle 5th 29.37; high jump: R. Shadle competed; pole vault: N. Shadle 4th 7’6″; long jump LaRoe 4th 17’ ¼”; triple jump: R. Shadle 5th 33’10 ¾”; discus: Taylon Knorpp 3rd 97’7″, Jacob Bishop 7th 79’2″; shot put: Johnson 3rd 37’4 ¾”, Bishop 4th 31’1 ½”.

Lady Broncos: 400-meter relay: 2nd 52.42 (Amelia Weatherton, Taylor Gaines, Taylor DeGrate, Luttrell); 100-meter hurdles: DeGrate 3rd 17.80 (1785q); 100-meter dash: Weatherton 2nd 13.72 (13.58q); 400-meter dash: Castillo 4th 1:05.46 (106.94q), Hall 7th 1:09.15 (106.94q); 200-meter dash: Luttrell 2nd 29.09 (27.74q), Weatherton 3rd 29.29 (29.54q); 1600-meter run: Sarah Williams 5th 6:39.87, Kelsey McAnear 10th 7:52.75; long jump: Gaines 3rd 15’6″, Weatherton 6th 15’2″; discus: Berkeley Alexander 5th 77’5″; shot put: Alexander 3rd 30’5″, Karlee Adams 6th 24’10 ¾”.

The District 2-1A golf tournament was held at the Clarendon Country Club on Monday, April 7th.

The boys division was won by the McLean Tigers with a total score of 417. Darrouzett boys finished in second with a score of 451 and had Brady Miller finish as the first place medalist with a score of 87.

The Hedley Owls finished in third place nine points behind at 460. Team member scores were Travis Ruthardt with 100, Clay King 110, Wyatt Wheatly 122, and Denver Chambless and Kyle Lindsey ended the day with 128. Cooper Hudson from Lefors was second medalist with 89 and third medalist was Travis Ruthardt with a 100. Travis will be competing at the regional meet in Levelland. Other teams included Higgins, Fort Elliott, Lefors, and Miami.

The girls division was won by McLean with a total score of 447 and Higgins finished second at 511. Shaley Goad from Fort Elliott was top medalist with an 88 and Camryann Richardson from McLean was second medalist with a 98.

By Sandy Anderberg

After jumping out to an early lead and having thoughts of a quick game, the Lady Broncos found themselves in a battle with Booker last Tuesday, April 8. The Lady Broncos pulled the 18-17 win out late in the game after a back-and-forth contest.

According to head coach Gary Jack, Taylor DeGrate was on the mound for three innings and did a good job before Brooke Martin came in to relieve her. After Martin, Sterling King, and Briley Chadwick also took a turn on the mound to try to give the Lady Broncos the edge they needed to get the win.

“We had a seven to nothing lead after the first two innings, but they came back on us,” Jack said. “But we were able to make plays when we needed to and scored enough runs to outlast them.”

Jack gave a lot of credit to his team’s offensive play at the plate and knew their great hitting was key.

“Skyler White continues to hit the ball well for us,” Jack said. “Also, Haley Ferguson, Camra Smith, Taylor DeGrate, Taylor Gaines, Audra Thomas, Savannah Topper, and Briley Chadwick hit the ball well.”

Jack knows the district race is anybody’s guess and the ladies need to keep playing hard.

“The race is very tight,” Jack said. “Everyone keeps beating each other and it will be a wild finish.”

The Lady Broncos will play Gruver at home on Friday, April 15, at 4:00 p.m. and finish regular season play on the road on Monday, April 21, in McLean.

By Sandy Anderberg

The Bronco baseball team dropped a district game to Booker last Tuesday at home with the final 2-14.

According to coach Brad Elam, the Broncos were strong at the start.

“We started off in pretty good shape, but we made too many errors and did not hit the ball that well,” Elam said. “I though Jonathan Cartwright pitched well for three innings, and Caleb Cobb had an rbi double in the first inning.”

The Broncos will regroup this week as they near the end of their district schedule.

Broncos will play Gruver at home on Saturday, April 19, at 1:00 p.m. They will travel to Shamrock on Tuesday, April 22, and play at 4:00 p.m.

By Sandy Anderberg

Clarendon doubles team Phara Berry and Haley Ferguson went into the District Tennis Meet in Amarillo with a first-round bye before meeting up with Claude in a two-set match up last week.

The Lady Broncos defeated the Lady Mustangs 6-2, 6-3 and moved on to the next match against number four seeded White Deer. Things went well for the duo as they fought hard to get a 6-1, 6-4 win to take third place in the meet.

Doubles team Jr. Ceniceros and Chance Lockhart defeated Panhandle in the first round 6-0, 6-1, but fell to number two seed Claude 3-6, 3-6. Zack LaRoe and Brandon Miller earned a wild win against Gruver in their first match 6-7, 6-3, 7-6 before losing to the number one seed Claude 2-6, 2-6.

On the ladies side, Savannah Topper and McKayla King received a first-round bye and then lost to White Deer in a very good match at 5-7, 6-3, 4-6.

“I was very proud of our effort throughout the year,” coach Brandt Lockhart said. “We seemed to improve during the year which showed in the district tournament. I enjoyed coaching this group of seniors the last four years and I wish them luck.”

By Sandy Anderberg

The Lady Broncos made short work of two district opponent last week to give them and 9-2 overall record and 4-1 in district play.

Their first win came against Gruver on Tuesday at 19-4 on Gruver’s brand new softball field. According to head coach Gary Jack; the pitchers did a great job.

“Camra Smith pitched well for a couple of innings and then Briley Chadwick came in for a couple. The Brooke Martin finished up,” Jack said. Haley Ferguson caught for us and did very good.”

The Lady Broncos’ offense was on line as well.

“Skyler White hit the ball very well along with Taylor DeGrate, Audra Thomas, Taylor Gaines, and Savannah Topper,” Jack said. “Gaines, Smith, DeGrate, and Sterling King all played well defensively.”

The ladies went ahead and played another game against Gruver and defeated them 4-0.

“Brooke pitched along with Taylor D,” Jack said. “Sterling did a good job of catching and Karlee Adams, Shelby Baxter, and Martin hit well.” The Lady Broncos played McLean on Saturday and defeated them 16-1. According to Jack, Martin took the mound first and Chadwick cleaned up.

“Skyler continues to hit very well in every game,” Jack said. “And Haley did a good job catching and also hit the ball well. Gaines, Chadwick, and Topper hit well and Thomas also had a big hit for us.”

Jack said that several Lady Broncos made very good defensive plays. White, Gaines, Topper, King, Smith and DeGrate did a good job defensively for the Lady Broncos according to Jack.

“We are now tied for first place in district,” Jack said. “We have some big games this week with Follett and West Texas High. I just want to say thanks again to Pat Ritchie for running the concession stand at the ball fields during the games.”