Big week of volleyball

There are some big volleyball matches this week in and around Grand Island. It starts Tuesday night when Class C-2 No. 1 Ravenna hosts Class C-1 No. 4 St. Paul and Loup City in a triangular. On Thursday, C-1 No. 1 Grand Island Central Catholic plays at C-1 No. 2 Columbus Scotus.

Central Catholic will host the first GICC Invitational on Saturday. The Crusaders are in one pool with Lexington and Omaha Mercy. The other pool contains Ravenna, Class B No. 3 Grand Island Northwest and Class B No. 6 Aurora. Northwest and Aurora are both 6-1 after playing in the tough Beatrice Tournament over the weekend. The Vikings' only loss was to No. 2 Lincoln Pius X. Aurora's only loss came to Northwest.

It should be an interesting tournament to say the least. It all starts at 10 a.m. The championship match is set for 3 p.m.

GI baseball gets some rest

After stunning No. 1-rated Omaha Creighton Prep to open the Class A State Tournament, the Islanders got to relax and wait to find out its next opponent. Now, 48 hours later, it is Omaha Westside who moved on to face G.I. in the second round.
Coach Rick Kissack and the players didn't feel there was a big benefit to getting the only game in on Saturday. They are living the one-game-at-a-time motto, and they are doing it well this postseason.
But the obvious advantages are there. While more than likely six ace pitchers went on Monday, Grand Island's Kash Kalkowski was on his second day's rest after a complete-game two-hitter against the Junior Jays. He'll be able to come back earlier than other teams' No. 1s. And it's a confident, well-rested team going against Westside.
First pitch at Haymarket Park is Tuesday at 10 a.m.

District soccer

The Grand Island Northwest boys soccer team is one win away from qualifying for the Class B State Tournament. The Vikings used a three-goal explosion in overtime to knock off Columbus Lakeview 4-1 on Tuesday in the semifinals.

Northwest will have to get past York in Thursday's championship. The fifth-seeded Dukes have already eliminated fourth-seeded Hastings and top-seeded Columbus Lakeview.

If the Vikings get their offense going like they did against Lakeview, then they'll likely make the trip to Omaha next week. However, York has proven it can win the low scoring ones, including a 1-0 shootout win over Scotus in the semis. If rain can be avoided, it should be an interesting, well-played final.

White at it again

Broken Bow's Katie White is at it again. She won the Class B state 3,200 as a freshman in 11:34.5 and again as a sophomore in 11:40.5. Injuries prevented her from performing at her best last year, but on Saturday White won the Southwest Conference title in a personal best 11:09.6.

You would think with good conditions and someone to push her, White could get under 11:00. The problem is there probably is no one else in Class B that can run that pace. Class A leader Emily Sisson of Millard North , who ran 10:21 in California a couple of weeks ago, would be able to pull White along but obviously the two will never race head to head.

So White will just have to continue running by herself. We'll see in the coming weeks how good she can be.

CNTC coming Monday

We're just three days away from the16th annual Central Nebraska Track and Field Championships sponsored by The Independent. It should be another interesting day at Memorial Stadium in Grand Island. The weather has prevented some of the athletes from performing at their best, but we'll likely see some outstanding performances on Monday.

Keep an eye on the Grand Island Senior High girls track team. The defending Class A state champions are likely to walk away with a bucket full of medals. Junior sprinter Allison Jorgensen has stepped up another level with this season. Jorgensen and defending Class A 100 and 200 champ Alex Armes could burn up the track in those events.

Armes may well run on the 1,600 relay as well which will shave several seconds off the Islanders' time.

Schwieger signs

Grand Island continues its tradition of sending baseball players to the college level. Pitcher Eric Schwieger is the latest, as he signed a letter-of-intent on Wednesday to play at Wayne State.
Schwieger returned two weeks ago from a lengthy absence due to a shoulder injury suffered last summer. He's proven to be a big addition to the Islanders, who are looking to get things headed in the right direction before districts start up in two weeks.
Untimely errors and inconsistent pitching along with injuries have kept Grand Island from stringing together wins.
Still, Schwieger's signing is nice. Each year, a handfull of Islanders move on to the college diamonds. Whether it is Nebraska, UNK, UNO, Wayne State, the state's NAIA schools or jucos, G.I. is well-represented.

Boys state tournament picks

Here are my picks for the boys state tournament.
BobHamar

Class A

Thursday, March. 6

At Devaney Sports Center

2 p.m. - - Ralston (21-2) over Bellevue East (16-9)

3:45 p.m. - - Creighton Prep (21-2) over Lincoln High (19-4)

7 p.m. - - Bellevue West (23-2) over Omaha Benson (16-7

8:45 p.m. - - Kearney (18-6) over Omaha Central (22-3)

Friday, March 7

At Devaney Sports Center

7 p.m. - - Creighton Prep over Lincoln High

8:45 p.m. - - Bellevue West over Kearney

Saturday, March 8

At Pershing

5 p.m. - - Consolation, Kearney over Lincoln High

At Devaney Sports Center

7 p.m. - - Championship, Bellevue West over Creighton Prep

Class B

Thursday, March 6

At Devaney Sports Center

9 a.m. - - Omaha Skutt (20-5) over Elkhorn (15-6)

10:45 a.m. - - Lincoln Pius X (15-6) over Alliance (13-10)

At Pershing
7 p.m. - - Beatrice (18-3) over York (13-8)

8:45 p.m. - - Gretna (17-6) over McCook (16-10)

Friday, March 7

At Devaney Sports Center

2 p.m. - - Pius over Skutt

3:45 p.m. - - Beatrice over Gretna

Saturday, March 8

At Pershing

11:30a.m. - - Consolation, Skutt over Gretna

At Devaney Sports Center

1:30 p.m. - - Championship, Beatrice over Pius

Class C-1

Thursday, March 6

At Pershing

9 a.m. - - Boys Town (21-5) over Pierce

10:45 a.m. - - Hastings SC (20-2) over Minden

2 p.m. - - Chadron (19-2) over Lincoln Lutheran (11-10)

3:45 p.m. - - Bennington (23-0) over Wisner-Pilger (23-1)

Friday, March 7

At Devaney Sports Center

9 a.m. - - Hastings SC over Boys Town

10:45 a.m. - - Bennington over Chadron

Saturday, March 8

At Pershing

1:30 p.m. - - Consolation, Boys Town over Chadron

At Devaney Sports Center

9:30 a.m. - - Championship, Hastings SC over Bennington

Class C-2

Thursday, March 6

At Lincoln SE

2 p.m. - - Ravenna (23-1) over Perkins County (13-9)

3:45 p.m. - - Grand Island CC (15-7) over Deshler (22-1)

7 p.m. - - Ponca (21-2) over Oakland Craig (16-8)

8:45 p.m. - - Heartland High (19-3) over Elmwood-Murdock (20-3)

Friday, March 7

At Pershing

2 p.m. - - Ravenna over Grand Island CC

3:45 p.m. - - Ponca over Heartland

Saturday, March 8

At Pershing

9 p.m. - - Consolation, GICC over Heartland

At Devaney Sports Center

5 p.m. - - Championship, Ravenna over Ponca

Class D-1

Thursday, March 6

At Lincoln East

9 a.m. - - Fremont Bergan (24-0) over Kenesaw

10:45 a.m. - - Palmer (20-3) over Mead (19-3)

2 p.m. - - Hayes Center (22-1) over Callaway (15-4)

3:45 p.m. - - Humphrey SF (21-2) over West Boyd

Friday, March 7

At Pershing

9 a.m. - - Bergan over Palmer

2 p.m. - - Hayes Center over Humphrey SF

Saturday, March 8

At Pershing

9:30 a.m. - - Consolation, Humphrey SF over Palmer

At Devaney Sports Center

11:30 a.m. - - Championship, Bergan over Hayes Center

Class D-2

Thursday, March 6

At Lincoln SE

9 a.m. - - Falls City SH (23-2) over Potter-Dix (13-8)

10:45 a.m. - - Ewing (24-0) over O’Neill SM (20-3)

At Lincoln East

7 p.m. - - St. Edward (20-3) over Pleasanton (22-1)

8:45 p.m. - - Hampton (19-4) over Bruning-Davenport (20-5)

Friday, March 7

At Pershing

7 p.m. - - Falls City SH over Ewing

8:45p.m. - - St. Edward over Hampton

Saturday, March 8

At Pershing

7 p.m. - - Consolation, Ewing over Hampton

At Devaney Sports Center

9 p.m. - - Championship, Falls City SH over St. Edward