Hallie Kretsinger led the Emporia High girls tennis team to a third-place finish in Saturday’s Emporia Invitational.
As the No. 1 singles player, Kretsinger finished second, recording victories over Hayden’s Libby Michel, 8-1, and Free State’s Molly Fyler, 8-3, before falling in her third match against Olathe East’s Ally Majercik, 8-3.
Whitney Page came in fifth at the No. 2 singles spot. Page dropped matches to Hayden’s Jen Jones, 8-3, and Free State’s Holly Maygers, 8-2, but came back to claim an 8-3 victory over Rochelle Weigand of Topeka High in her last match.
Emporia High’s doubles teams of McKenzie Cinelli and Sarah Watkins, and Jennifer Newell and Kaitlin Pedersen, each claimed fourth place in their respective divisions.
As the No. 1 doubles team, Cinelli and Watkins opened the tournament with a hard-fought 8-7 (10-8) victory over the doubles team from Hayden. However, Cinelli and Watkins dropped their next two matches to the teams from Free State (8-6) and Topeka High (8-3) to close out play.
Newell and Pedersen dropped their first match of No. 2-doubles play to Hayden, 8-5, before rebounding to capture a win over the team from Free State, 8-6. Topeka High defeated Newell and Pedersen, 8-6, in the third match to keep the duo from placing any higher.
Emporia High finished with 13 points to tie with Free State for third place. Topeka High finished one point ahead to claim second, while Olathe East ran away with the team title with 28 points.
EHS gymnastics squad places 4th at Free State
Helped by its best showing of the year in two events, the Emporia High gymnastics team took fourth place at Saturday’s Lawrence Free State Invitational.
The Spartans recorded season-best scores in the vault (25.25 team points) — with season-best individual scores from all three competitors in Libby England (8.2), Tarra Nichols (8.5) and Hayley Fry (8.55) — and on the beam (22.85 points).
With such a strong showing in the vault, EHS coach Barbara Clark said she will probably begin to put more emphasis on the event.
“We are going to work hard this week and get more girls to compete on vault,” Clark said.
On the beam, Fry led the way with a no-fall routine to finish in sixth.
The lowest team score of the day came in the floor exercise, where EHS compiled a season-low 20.9 points, despite a personal-best effort from Haley Risley, who scored a 6.5.
“We just didn’t have clean routines and we missed out on a lot of skills needed to score for that event,” Clark said. “I’m glad we have a week off so we can work on those skills.”
Jennie Loucks did not compete in her usual floor exercise, as she has a sprained ankle.
Tarra Nichols, who paced the Spartans in the all-around competition with a fifth-place finish (31.45 points), came in fifth on the uneven bars with an 8.25.
Emporia finished the meet with 90.2 points, while Lawrence High won with 107.225 points, followed by Shawnee Mission Northwest (102.275) and Newton (93.575). Hutchinson (89.375) and Free State (84.85) rounded out the field.
The next action for the squad is Oct. 7 at the Newton Invitational.
Cross Country
rained out
The Emporia High cross country team drove a long way for nothing on Saturday.
The Spartans traveled to St. Louis to compete in the Hancock Invitational. However, moments after the girls JV race was completed, lightning flashed in the skies, causing race officials to delay the remaining races for 20 minutes. But 10 minutes into the delay, officials canceled the rest of the races.
The next action for the Spartans is this Saturday, when they travel to Lawrence to compete in the Rim Rock Invitational.