Lake Center Tigers shine in cross country, volleyball and soccer
Tigers set school record in cross country; volleyball stays unbeaten; boys soccer rebounds with big win
Lake Center Christian's Gianna Ritchie, no. 1877, is pictured running at the Ashley White Invitational
The Tigers used a solid performance at the Aug. 30 Marlington Ashley White Invitational to climb even higher at the Walsh Jesuit Pat Ritchie Cross Country Invitational on Sept. 6.
At Marlington, the boys’ team raced in the small school division and finished in a three-way tie with host Marlington and Streetsboro. Ultimately, Lake Center placed fifth, just three points out of third. Juniors Zachary Varner and Isaac Larson led the Tigers, finishing 18th and 19th. Runners 3-5 — Joey McAboy (27th), Levi Ritchie (44th) and Jaxon Shilling (58th) — all recorded lifetime personal records.
At Walsh, Larson won the high school open category with a time of 18:06.52, more than 46 seconds ahead of the runner-up. His finish propelled the Tigers to fourth place with 127 points. Also in the top 30 were Ritchie in 16th, Landen Griffing in 21st and Shilling in 26th. Keegan Lawrence (69th) capped Lake Center’s scoring.
On the girls’ side, senior Gianna Ritchie’s time of 18:36.7 tied her own school record and was good for second place in the small school division, while the team placed 12th overall.
This past week, the Tigers split their squad; Ritchie raced individually at the Wooster Invitational, while the rest of the team competed at Walsh. Ritchie finished second at Wooster in 18:04, setting a new school record.
Meanwhile, Lake Center entered four runners in Walsh’s high school open division and did not qualify for the team standings. Still, three runners finished in the top 50, led by Jillian Griffing’s 17th-place finish in 23:58.59. Close behind was Nell Craig in 20th, with Aleyna Woods placing 50th.
Volleyball
The Tigers jumped out to a 2-0 lead but were pushed to a decisive fifth set by visiting Cornerstone Christian before pulling out a 25-18, 25-18, 18-25, 21-25, 15-10 victory to stay undefeated.
Mikenna Slayman tallied 39 assists, Lilly Kane had 21 kills, Savannah Brown served four aces and Charley Levengood recorded 32 digs for Lake Center (5-0).
Boys soccer
After a 3-1 road loss to Central Christian, the Tigers rebounded with a 6-0 win over Campbell Memorial.
Caleb Patrick led the way with a goal and two assists, while Macauley Baker, Cam Adam, Tanner Slabaugh, Judah Jacquet and Carter Rush also scored. Trever Hayberg added two assists, and Josiah Kinsley and Jacquet had one each, as Lake Center improved to 3-4-1.
