By Dan Karpiel

The Surveyor

Girls golf: Berthoud places fourth at Fox Hill

With the spring weather having finally arrived, at least temporarily, the Berthoud High School (BHS) girls golf team is getting plenty of experience in the throes of varsity competition. Berthoud competed in a pair of tournaments in the last week, swinging the sticks at Greeley’s Boomerang Links last Friday in the annual Birleffi Invitational and then again on Monday at Fox Hill in Longmont in a Tri-Valley League match.

In the large field in Greeley, Berthoud finished in 13^th place as a team with a score of 338, as Loveland (222) and Windsor (231) took the top two spots. Senior Stephanie Haberkon paced the Lady Spartans at Boomerang with a 109, fellow-senior Cora Fate was just a few strokes back at 114, while Isabel Gitting (115) and Tatum Graham (124) rounded out the scores for Berthoud’s varsity foursome.

“Even though we are sending three seniors and a junior to these invites, the girls are still getting used to competing at this level. Being comfortable will come with time, and the Spartans will turn the nervous energy into increased adrenalin,” Coach Dave Hunn said. “Even with the nerves, Tatum showed a glimpse of her potential with an outstanding par on the final hole as well as a hybrid, high cut, out of trouble on the 15th hole. One of the best shots I have seen in 19 years of high school golf. It was nice to see Haberkon continue to cut strokes off her total as well. They are all working on swing mechanics to get more consistency. However the immediate downside is higher scores until the changes are absorbed.”

Monday brought even better weather and an improved showing for the Lady Spartans. Berthoud took fourth place in the TVC match at Fox Hill in Longmont, posting a team score of 325. Windsor (244), Holy Family (255) and Erie (317) claimed the three spots in front of Berthoud on the day. Fate carded a 105 to pace Berthoud Graham and Haberkon, each shooting 110 for Berthoud. The Lady Spartans will return to the links on Monday when they will compete for the first time at Berthoud’s TPC Colorado.

Tennis: Berthoud dominates Skyline

The BHS tennis squad got the best of Skyline and then some Monday night, with the Lady Spartans winning six of the seven contested matches. Berthoud’s only defeat came in one-singles where senior Eriana Rennaker was defeated 6-0, 6-1 by Shelby Roberts.

In two-singles, Berthoud got a strong showing from Gretchen Marty who took care of business 6-2, 6-0 against Ashley Kastler. Emma Lundgreen battled Sierra West to take the three-singles match 6-4, 6-3. Berthoud got a sweep in all four doubles matches on the afternoon. Delany Lord and Kali Thoren defeated Skyine’s Claudia Backwell and Remin Basha 6-4, 6-1 in one-doubles, and the Alana Hymel/Lily Lind pairing for Berthoud got the best of the Joanna Sanchez/Rebecca Rauchmayer team in two-doubles. Berthoud kept things going in three-doubles with Ellie Yuska and Sydney Hocker defeating Denise Brooks and Ash Shrestha 6-4, 6-3 in a relatively competitive match. Four-doubles saw a Berthoud blowout as Hannah Miller and Piper O’Meara swept Claire Butcher and Christina Chirinos 6-0, 6-0.

Weather permitting, Berthoud will return to the courts on Friday, April 12, when they welcome Fort Lupton to town.

Track and field: Berthoud girls take second, boys third at NoCo meet on Friday

Both the BHS girls and boys track and field teams turned in strong showings last Friday at the NoCo track meet in Greeley, with the girls taking second place and the boys third in the seven-school event. Berthoud scored 116 team points to finish behind only Highland (146), and the boys posted a team score of 112, behind only Frontier Academy (133) and Roosevelt (122).

Berthoud picked up wins on the girls side in the 200 meter, 1600, 4×800 relay, 800 sprint medley and the discus throw, while the boys brought home gold in the high jump and triple jump.

Junior Alyssa Bailey won the 200 with a time of 27.24, took fifth in the 100, crossing the finish line in 13.55, and finished fourth in the triple jump with a jump of 32’ 2.00.” Berthoud claimed the top two spots in the discus throw with Emily Cavey throwing 118’3.00” for first place and Kai Berry hitting the 115’ 7.00” mark for second. Berry took 11^th and Cavey 17^th in the shotput, but both were well behind Berthoud junior Celsey Selland who threw 32’ 4.50” to take fourth place. Freshman Ally Padilla shined in the 1600 endurance race, winning by a comfortable margin with a time of 5:50.86, nearly two seconds ahead of second place. The Lady Spartans also claimed first in the 4×800 and 800 sprint medley relay races and took second in the 4×100.

On the boys side, junior Brent Hoogland cleared 10’ 5.00” to take first in the high jump, and Dawson Visger continued his stellar junior campaign by taking first place in the triple jump (40’ 1.00”) and second place in the discus throw with a toss of 132’ 11.00.” Berthoud got a number of other strong showings, including a second place finish in the 4×800, fourth in the 4×200, fourth by Tucker Horsch in the 300 hurdles and second place from Samuel Hatton in the 3200. Eli Greenslit, Kyle Conlon, Kade Leonard and Siler Stein finished in third-, fourth-, fifth- and sixth-place in the 1600, while Jonathan Wyrwas took second in the 400.

Berthoud will host the annual Max Marr Spartan Classic, one of the larger and more prestigious meets of the season, this Saturday with events beginning at 9 a.m.