With the coming of October the school year is well underway, and with it the exploits of the student athletes in the Greyhounds sports programs. Here’s a rundown of some action on our courts, fields and trails.
Cross Country: Healdsburg’s runners have plenty of meets during the fall, and while many are regionals or invitationals with many schools participating, the “duel” meets between specific teams get underway this week. The runners travel to Ukiah on Wednesday, Oct. 1, for the first such meet in the North Bay League – Redwood section.
Athletic.net, a national sports site for high schools and colleges, has a preview of the meet based on the runners’ top scores—and its projection shows that Healdsburg’s team time (top five finishers) will beat Ukiah’s time by almost five seconds. Take it with a grain of salt, but check the results later this week to see how they did.
In actual races, a surprisingly strong sixth-place finish by sophomore Lucas Welty (15:46.50) at the Farmer Invitational in Hayward on Sept. 20 put him across the finish line ahead of senior Jake McWilliams (16:03.71), who came in 14th on the crowded field. It’s the first time this year Welty defeated his older teammate, though both finishes were personal bests. Sophomore Domenico Cornilsen was a full minute behind (17:06.19), in 49th place.
The girls didn’t finish as well, but the top Healdsburg time went to freshman June Nelson (23.35.30) on the three-mile route. Her time was only 13 seconds faster than senior Madeleine Herzberg (23:48.52) but is an encouraging sign for the girls cross country program.
Boys Football: It’s another tough season for the Greyhound boys, despite the continued strong performances of junior QB Frank Rea Jr. and senior receivers Hayden Mariani and Max Morris. Rea, however, completed less than half of his pass attempts (18 of 38) and gave up three interceptions in the Sept. 26 game against San Rafael. Though he carried for over 100 yards for the third time this season (122 this time), those gaffes hurt and San Rafael coasted to a 56-21 win.
Mariani hauled in five receptions for 71 yards, two of them for touchdowns. Morris hurt the Bulldogs in another way, returning a kickoff for an exciting runback to score six points. But that was all the point production the offense could summon, while San Rafael spread its eight touchdowns among seven different players.
Next game is Friday night, as the 0-5 Greyhounds try their luck against league rival Novato, with its 1-3 record. Kick-off is 7pm at Rec Park; welcome back the boys to their home field.
Girls Golf: Our recent reporting on the success of the girls team was borne out by their powerful performance at the nine-hole mini-tournament in Ukiah on Sept. 25. Their team total of 239 outpaced their closest competitor, Ukiah’s 291, by a staggering 52 strokes, sweeping all six individual matches along the way. Other schools were Maria Carillo with 296 and Montgomery at 314.
Once again, Brooklyn Viramontes set the tone, firing a composed five-over 39 that featured birdies on the par-4 second and par-4 eighth holes. The balanced scoring across the lineup emphasized the team’s depth, as every player contributed to the victory.
Next up was a meet on Tuesday this week at Tayman Park against the Ukiah team. It was followed the next day, Wednesday Oct. 1, also at Tayman, with another nine-hole mini with the same four regional schools as last week in Ukiah. The website will be updated as scores become available.
Girls Tennis: After winning three league meets in a row, over Windsor, Analy and Rancho Cotate, the girls’ luck ran out in the 5-2 loss to perennial powerhouse Cardinal Newman on Sept. 25.
They have another league opponent on Tuesday this week, at Santa Rosa (results to be announced). In fact their next three matches are all on the road, before returning to the Frost Gym on Oct. 9 to play Piner.
Volleyball: The Lady Hounds volleyball team broke an eight-match losing streak last week, shutting out Elsie Allen 3-0 in the second league meeting of the season. It was a long dry spell for the Hounds, as they won only one set in that period, over Analy in a 2-1 loss on Sept. 6. “We made them work for every point, and played volleyball I can be proud of,” said coach Jonathan Nuttall. “At the end of the day, the score always means less to me than the quality of our play, so I’d call that match a success.”
It was a different story at Elsie Allen on Sept. 25 as the Hounds took all three sets by dominant scores: 25-8, 25-9 and a squeaker at 25-14. The win gives Healdsburg a 5-12 season record, but the 1-1 record in league play suggests there are more wins in their future.
Senior Josefine Mork leads the team with 1.8 kills per set, 55 total. Junior libero Elizabeth Aleman is doing her job with 5.1 digs per set and 26 serving aces so far, averaging 0.7 per set. Senior Siena Sbragia puts the ball where it needs to be with 126 assists on the year.
