Coach Ryan Baily said both Skyler Hoopes and Kolten Jelden easily made 15-5, a height no Chadron State vaulter had reached indoors until both of them did it early this season.

Hoopes went 15-5 to set the CSC record at the first meet of the season and Jelden topped 15-7 about a month later after transferring to Chadron State.

“Both of them were really close to making 16-1,” Baily said. “That’s the height we expect they’ll have to make to go to nationals. Hopefully, they can do it next weekend when we go back to Black Hills for the conference meet.”

Hoopes won the vault Saturday because he cleared 15-5 on his first attempt while Jelden made it on his second attempt to finish second.

Nearly all the Eagles who entered Saturday’s meet were throwers and vaulters.

Sophomore Josey Pehringer won the women’s vault at 10-11 ¾.

Freshman Mel Herl won the women’s shot put at 44-2 ¾, edging teammate Alyssa Norton by two inches for first place. Cyndi Thomas was third for the Eagles at 43-3 ¾.

Norton won the women’s weight throw at 54-8 ¼, the second best mark of her career. Herl was third at 49-3 ¾.

In the men’s shot put, the Eagles’ Charith Kapukotuwa was third at 52-6, about 18 inches below his career best.

Four young CSC throwers finished right behind Kapukotuwa, led by redshirt freshman Daniel Sotelo at 51-0 and sophomore Kyle McCarthy at 50-5 ¼.  Both of their marks were at least 20 inches farther than their previous bests.

Con Marshall, Information Services

            MIDLAND, Texas — Western Nebraska Community College’s Bianca Duran smashed two home runs and the Cougar softball team earned an impressive win over Odessa College 10-7 in the Midland Tournament on Saturday.

The Cougars, however, couldn’t stay unbeaten in the tournament, falling 3-2 in eight innings to Lubbock Christian junior varsity to finish the tournament at 4-1. WNCC will return to action Sunday when they play Midland College in a doubleheader.

WNCC got the offense cranked up early in the Odessa game in the first five innings. The Cougars took a 1-0 lead in the first on a Duran solo shot and followed that up with a four-run second inning for a  5-1 lead. The second saw the Cougars rap out five hits, including runs-scoring doubles by Angel Council and Lindsey Shiels-Brophy, and another double by Kasey Cash.

After scoring a single run in the third, the Cougars scored two runs in the fourth on back-to-back home runs by Duran and Jennifer Cottle for an 8-2 lead, before adding two more in the fifth.

WNCC had four players finish with multiple hits. Jennifer Cottle led the way with a 3-for-4 game with three RBIs and a home run. Duran went 2-for-3 with three RBIs, two runs scored and two home runs, while Council and Danielle Hearn each finished with two hits each.

Duran picked up the win, going all seven innings. The sophomore from Westminster, Colo., scattered 11 runs, gave up seven runs of which only three were earned, and struck out one.

The second game was a classic battle between two schools. The Cougars played well except for scoring more runs then Lubbock Christian. The game was a pitcher’s duel until the fifth when the Cougars scored twice. Kayla Romey belted a triple to score Melanie Rowson for the first run of the game. Romey came around to score on a Council double.

Lubbock Christian then scored twice in the sixth before scoring the winning run in the eighth inning.

Ravae Herrera took the loss in the circle for the Cougars.

Offensively, the Cougars had seven hits to Lubbock Christian’s three.

First Game

WNCC                  141 220 0 — 10 15 5

Odessa                 102 000 4 — 7 11 4

WP — Bianca Duran; 2B — Angel Council, Kasey Cash, Lindsey Shiels-Brophy, Ravae Herrera; HR — Duran 2, Jennifer Cottle.

Second Game

WNCC                  000 020 00 — 2 7 3

LBJV                      000 002 01 — 3 3 0

LP — Herrera; 2B — Council; 3B — Kayla Romey.

      Panhandle wrestlers will return home with 28 medals, although 5 have yet to learn if they’ll be coming back with gold or silver.  The 3rd-6th place matches wrapped up this morning with Panhandle wrestlers claiming 6 thirds, 4 fourths, 6 fifths, and 7 sixths.

Class B accounted for 5 of the third places.  Sophomore Baily Hort of Gering did it with a pin at 113, junior Devin Ushio of Alliance beat Scottsbluff sophomore Joseph Flores-Ybarra 5-4 in a Panhandle battle at 120, Alliance sophomore Walker Johnson took another 5-4 win at 126, still another sophomore, Sabian Harsh of Scottsbluff, was a 9-4 winner at 145, and Sidney senior Tanner Wintholz, headed to Chadron State to play football, claimed 3rd at 195 with a pin.

Finishing 4th besides Flores-Ybarra was senior Dawson Johnson of Alliance at 160, while Scottsbluff junior Andrew Aratani claimed 5th at 285.

The Panhandle’s 6th place finishers included another Alliance senior, Tyler Smith at 138, Chadron sophomore Willy Cogdill at 152, and senior Andrew Aratani of Scottsbluff at 285

Chadron senior Chance Bila…who came to state undefeated…wound up 6th at 170 after being injured in the championship semifinals…a match he lost 9-8… and not able to wrestle in the consolations.

The highest Class C placer was Bridgeport junior Brandon Nichols at 138, while the only 3 other placers were all from Mitchell and all finished 5th…senior Brendan Swanson at 170 and freshmen  Drew Gilliland and Braydon Wiedeman at 106 and 182 respectively.

The 3rd place match at 220 in Class D was another Panhandle battle as junior Steve Horrocks of Hay Springs topped Banner County senior David Gifford 3-0. ..leaving Gifford 4th.

The region had a pair of 5th place finishers in Garden County senior Makay Beck at 152 and Bayard junior Tanner Willey at 195, and a trio in 6th place…senior CJ Sidrow of Morrill at 106, Hay Springs junior Joey Johnson at 132, and  senior Allen Denton of Bayard at 160.

The six Panhandle wrestlers in the championship matches are all in Class B. Three are from Scottsbluff…Juan Delacruz at 106, Keegan Hessler at 113, and 2-time defending state champion Colton Adams at 132. Alliance has 2…Devin Ushio at 120 and undefeated Tyson Dowler at 152, while Chadron’s Colby Riesen is going after his 3 medal and first title at 160.

Going into the championship matches, the Class B team scores still had Scottsbluff second behind Omaha Skutt 138.5 to 111. Alliance had moved up to 5th with 83.5…just 2.5 points out of 4th and 6.5 out of 3rd…but Chadron had slipped from 10th to 13th. Bayard had also slipped out of the top 10 in D and sat 13th.

              LA JUNTA, Colo. — The Western Nebraska Community College men’s and women’s basketball teams picked up important South Sub-Region wins on Friday over Otero Junior College.

The No. 23 WNCC women received a double-double from Gritt Ryder with 21 points and 11 rebounds in posting the 58-47 win.

The men received a double-double from Quante Cooley of 12 points and 12 rebounds in giving the Rattlers their first sub-region loss, 78-69.

WNCC coach Russ Beck said his team played with lots of composure in the contest to get the important win that moves them to 4-8 in conference play.

“Our defense was really good and we got stops when we need to,” he said. “They have not lost at home in the sub-region and they were 9-1 at home coming in. We are starting to play our best ball right now.”

The key for the Cougars was that they jumped out to a 20-5 lead and led 44-34 at halftime after Tahir Little hit a near half court shot at the buzzer. In the second half, the Rattlers sliced the lead to one point with about 10 minutes to play, but this time the Cougars held their composure and fought to the end to get the win.

WNCC shot the ball really well, hitting on 48 percent from the field compared to 34 percent for the Rattlers. WNCC also sizzled from the 3-point area, connecting on 43 percent while Otero was 23 percent. The Cougars also hit their free throws, going 14 of 18 from the line for 82 percent.

WNCC had four players finish in double figures. Cooley had a double-double of 12 points and 12 rebounds, but the team was led by Cody Johnson, who poured in 23 points and pulled down seven rebounds. Johnson had 19 points at halftime.

Also hitting double digits were Charles Ward with 20 points and seven rebounds, while Little had 12 points.

For the ladies, the win pushed the team to within one win of winning the South Sub-Region and hosting the regional tournament that begins March 3.

Assistant coach Ipek Turkyilmaz said they only shot 28 percent in the first half but heated up both offensively and defensively in the second half, shooting 39 percent. They also connected on five 3-pointers on the night. Ryder was 3 of 6 from beyond the arc, while Brower was 1 of 3. Brower leads the nation in 3-point shooting at 54.2 percent.

Brower and Stevens joined Ryder in double digits with 11 points each. Aratani pitched in eight points and seven rebounds.

Both WNCC teams will be back in action today when they travel to Trinidad State Junior College.

Men’s Game

WNCC                  44 34 — 78

Otero                   34 35 — 69

WNCC

Tahir Little 12, Quante Cooley 12, Charles Ward 20, Sebastian Suarez 8, Cody Johnson 23, Chad Calcaterra 3.

Women’s Game

WNCC                  28 30 — 58

Otero                   24 23 — 47

WNCC

Mikaya Brower 11, Gritt Ryder 21, Ashley Stevens 11, Jessica Aratani 8, Kelsey Doddridge 2, Laurin Rivera 3, Katie Kerkhoff 2.