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Lisa Conrad's Rams posted an impressive 25-17, 25-20, 25-10 victory over the visiting Huskies, picking up their 30th dual win of the season in the process.

Kyrie Diem was perfect on all 17 of her serves, including three aces. Diem also recorded 10 digs, 10 kills and a pair of blocks. Sara Pully added 7 digs, 11 kills and 3 blocks while Casey Lake was 12 of 13 on serves along with 15 digs and 7 kills.

Kirsti Groulx continued to orchestrate the offense by racking up 83 sets and 26 assists. She also came up with six digs and was good on all six of her serves. Ashley Gifford chipped in with 8 digs and a pair of assists to go with 15/16 serving and Caleigh Robinson went 8/8 on serving with 7 digs and 4 kills.

The Rams needed two more victories yesterday (Saturday) to win their own district.

Montrose's win over Hemlock helped take some of the sting out of its early exit in the single-elimination league tournament that was held on Saturday, October 27. The Rams, who entered the tournament in sole possession of second place in the GAC-Red with a 10-2 dual mark, earned a bye in the tourney before losing to Goodrich, 18-25, 11-25, 13-25.

Groulx led the Rams with a dozen assists, three digs and five-for-five serving against the Martians. Pully had seven kills and four blocks while Diem went 9/10 serving with two aces, eight digs and two kills. Lake was good on all nine of her serves, including a pair of aces, and tallied four digs and five kills along the way.

Heading into Saturday's district competition, the Rams owned a 30-11-3 overall record.

Ram runners finish 7th at regionals

Beck turns in gutsy performance despite injury

CARSON CITY - Five Ram runners turned in season-best times at the Carson City regional cross country meet on Saturday, October 27 to help Montrose to a seventh place finish among 12 teams.

Despite the solid team showing, however, it was the Rams' star runner, Ken Beck, who shined the brightest at the meet.

"I was proud of all my runners as five out of the ten ran personal bests and four others were close to their best times," praised Ram coach Steve Medemar. "But I was touched the most by Ken. Even though his time did not qualify him for the state meet, his effort certainly did."

Beck, one of the premier runners in the state, was cruising in seventh place, running the first mile of the 3.1 mile course at a 4:55 pace when he stepped in a pot hole and fell, tearing ligaments in his left ankle. Despite the debilitating injury, Beck got back up and finished the race in 17:45, good enough for 24th place among the 93 male runners at the meet.

"Only the top 15 runners qualify to run at the state finals, but the fact that Ken even finished the race is remarkable," said Medemar. "He still ran under 18 minutes and that took guts. I think most people would not have been able to finish."

David Leos finished in 27th spot for Montrose, posting his best time of the season at 17:55. Jesse Beardslee was next for Montrose at 18:53, earning him 49th place. Travis Tekiele followed in 53rd with a clocking of 19:02 and Taylor Kirk was the next Ram at 19:36 (65th place). Corey Madden and Steve Yerian each recorded personal bests, finishing 84th and 86th with times of 21:40 and 21:45, respectively.

Although Montrose had just three runners in the female portion of the race, two of them turned in personal-best times.

Adrieanna Hosea (25th in 22:04) and Ashley Fikes (73rd at 27:47) gave their best showings of the year while Kristi Burner was 79th with a time of 31:51 Williamston won both the boys and girls segments of the regionals.

Chesaning X-C runners Denton, Guzdial qualify for state finals

CARSON CITY - Chesaning's Andrew Guzdial and Trevor Denton each qualified for the state finals by finishing 8th and 12th, respectively, at the cross country regional meet held at Fish Creek Sportsmen's Club on Saturday, October 27.

The Indians did not field enough runners to qualify for the team competition, but Guzdial and Denton will be moving on as individuals.

Guzdial covered the course in just 16:39 to place eighth and Denton was 12th with a time of 16:58. The top 15 runners among the 93 male competitors will move on.

Brandon Bishop completed the course in 18:33 to grab 42nd place for Chesaning.

In the 81-runner female portion of the race, five Indians participated to give Chesaning an 11th place finish in team competition. Chantelle Fondren was the top Tribe runner, placing 39th with a clocking of 23:12. Other finishers for Chesaning were Carlie Zervan (60th, 26:01), Kaylee Turnwald (61st, 26:04), Melissa Martinez (69th, 27:33), and Lindsey Halvorsen (72nd, 27:44).

Williamston won both the girls and guys portion of the race.

Guzdial and Denton ran yesterday (Saturday, November 3) at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan, in the state finals. Look in next week's Citizen for coverage of that event.

NL boys place 6th, girls 7th at X-C regionals

BAD AXE - New Lothrop's guys finished sixth and the girls finished seventh among 13 schools at Division 4 regionals held at Bad Axe on Saturday, October 27.

Jesse Lorencz led the NL guys with a 27th place finish (19:17), followed by Hornet teammates Dakota Allen (32nd, 19:39), Brandon Praski (44th, 20:53), Pat Schnell (48th, 21:37), Josh Schiefer (50th, 21:58), Cody Jacobs (22:40) and Tiler Bacon (22:42).

Emily Vincke led the Hornet gals with a clocking of 23:30, good for 29th place. Kayla Knieper was 31st (23:58), Ashley Root finished 33rd (24:25), Amanda Sanders was next in 34th place (24:36) and Brittney Henige was 42nd (25:28), each earning points for the Hornets. Other NL female finishers were Celeste Rousseau (25:41) and Chelsea Parsons (26:37).

Reese won the boys' competition while Harbor Beach took home the top prize in the girls' portion of the meet.

Hornet spikers win GAC tourney, clinch league title

New Lothrop's varsity volleyball team captured its seventh league title in the last eight years by winning the GAC-Blue post-season tournament on Sautrday, October 27.

The Hornets, who won the regular season portion of the championship, still found themselves in a must-win situation entering the single-elimination tournament. Sheri Warner's squad was up to the task, however, beating Bendle, 25-6, 25-12, 25-9, before defeating Byron in the championship match, 25-14, 25-19, 25-23.

"We really clicked on all cylinders in the first game of our match with Byron," praised Coach Warner. "Our next two games were good, but I really feel the way we came out in game one was huge. What a nice win for these kids. It was nice to see them celebrate reaching their goal of winning the GAC."

Several Hornets made key contributions on the day, including Kayla Krupp (22 kills, 23/25 passing with 19 digs, 20/20 serving with 6 aces), Sabrina Besaw (62 assists, 12 digs, 45/46 serving with 11 aces), Kelsey Gasper (19 kills, 15/15 passing with 20 digs, 5 aces), Monica Confer (18 kills, 8/9 passing with 8 digs, 4 blocks, 12/13 serving), Rachelle Kviz (16 kills, 3 digs, an ace), Shauna Henige (13/14 passing with 11 digs, an ace) and Hannah Wenzlick (9 digs, 4 assists, 4 aces, 2/2 passing).

New Lothrop now sports an overall dual record of 31-16-3.

Indian spikers reach finals of league tourney

BIRCH RUN - Chesaning's varsity volleyball team finished second in its portion of the TVC tournament on Saturday, October 27, advancing to the finals of the elimination play before finally losing to Breckenridge.

The Indians won two of three games against Michigan Lutheran Seminary and Birch Run to advance to a Semi-final match with Hemlock. The Tribe turned away the Huskies, 25-18, 25-17, setting up a showdown with Breckenridge in the Finals.

After dropping a hard-fought 22-25 decision in the opening game, the Indians responded with a 25-17 win in Game Two. The deciding game went into overtime, with Breckenridge finally prevailing, 15-17.

Brooke Jastrzembowski registered 42 attacks, 33 kills, 25 assisted sets, 13 solo blocks and 35 digs on the day for Chesaning. Katie Vincke was steady with 36 attacks, 20 kills, 88 sets and 13 digs while Megan Newton contributed 35 attacks, 19 kills, 10 solo blocks and 24 digs to the Indian cause. Sydney Pacek chipped in with 21 attacks, 9 kills and 89 sets.

St. Charles defeats Sanford-Meridian in volleyball pre-district

ST. LOUIS - St. Charles advanced to the last Friday's volleyball district finals with a 22-25, 25-15, 25-11, 25-14 win over Sanford-Meridian on Wednesday.

The first-round win moved the 'Dawgs into a title showdown at St. Louis with Merrill and improves St. Charles' overall match record to 10-3.

St. Charles competes at X-C regionals

CARSON CITY - St. Charles did not have enough runners to field a team at the Carson City regional cross country meet held on Saturday, October 27, but seven individuals competed at the event.

Zachary Murray was the fastest Bulldog at the meet, finishing 51st among 93 male runners with a time of 18:57. Kyle Anderson was 76th, covering the course in a span of 20:19. Mark Chad (79th, 21:08) and Tyler Wilson (85th, 21:42) were the other finishers for St. Charles' guys.

Paige Kushion placed 57th among the 81 female competitors with a time of 28:21. Elysabeth Kushion and Olivia Sieggreen finished 77th and 78th with times of 28:21 and 29:15, respectively.