Kearney athletes are competing hard on courts, fields and in pools. Here’s your Bulldog Sports Recap for this week.

Girls Tennis

The Bulldogs girls tennis team heads into another busy week of matches this week.

On Thursday, August 31 the Bulldogs hosted their first home match vs William Chrisman. The night was full of close, competitive matches. The Bulldogs fought hard but came up just short of the win at 3-6 for varsity. The JV team saw more success on the courts ending the night 5-4.

Varsity winning matches included:

#1 doubles Eliza Lohman and Madelyn Stuart - 8-4

#3 singles Madelyn Stuart - 8-4

#5 singles Alexis Robertson - 8-3

JV winning matches included:

#1 singles Charleigh Elliott - 6-2

#2 singles Lily Rinehart - 6-3

#4 singles Emily McDowell - 7-6 tie break 7-2

#5 singles Leah Mayfield - 6-2

#6 singles Lauren Karel - 7-6 tie break 7-5

On Friday, September 1, the varsity team traveled to William Chrisman to compete in their Varsity Tournament. Kearney came away with 5th place with Hannah Wermelskirchen and Alexis Roberston bringing home third place medals.

On Tuesday September 5, the Bulldogs traveled to St. Joe to compete vs St. Joe Central. Another tough match for the Bulldogs ending the night at 1-8 varsity. Charleigh Elliott won her singles match 8-4. JV had a closer match ending the night 4-5.

Boys Soccer

On Tuesday, September 5, the boys soccer team cruised to a 6-0 win against Pleasant Hill in the opening round of the Excelsior Springs tournament.

Drew Horsman led the Bulldogs with 3 goals, Angelo Donze supplied 2 goals and an assist, Jimmy Smith scored once and assisted once, and Tucker Jones had two assists.

Softball

On Wednesday, September 6, the varsity softball team took on the Ray-Pec Panthers. It was a hard fought game. The Panthers were able to string hits together at the right time at the end of the game and the Bulldogs lost the game 6-2.

- Macy Morrow went 2-3 with 1 RBI

- Bri Reynolds went 1-4

- Brooke Paalhar went 1-3 with 1 RBI

- Morgan Pennington went 1-4

- Ella Herndon went 1-2

- Ryleigh Van Emmerik went 3-3

Alyssa Quick was on the mound and pitched a great game. She pitched 6 innings and struck out 5. Kate Landewee closed out the game in the 7th inning. She struck out 2.

Volleyball

On Monday, August 28, the varsity and JV volleyball teams opened up against Platte County at home. Both teams fell short of "sinking that ship". Platte County has a strong program returning many of their players from their team that made it to the state tournament last year. The varsity lost in 3 straight matches 18-25, 24-26, 23-25. Madison Browning lead in kills for the night with 10. Seniors Mallory Jury and Kate Martens anchored the back row combining for 23 digs on the night.

On Thursday, August 31, the Bulldogs traveled to Oak Park and all 3 teams (C team, JV and varsity) won. The C Team won 25-19, 15-25, 15-9 and JV won 25-6, 25-17. Varsity won 25-18, 25-12, and 25-15. Madison Browning led in kills for the night with 13 and hit .500. Payton Rudd led the team in digs with 9 and Kate Martens tallied 4 ace serves.

Girls Golf

On Tuesday, September 5, the varsity and C team golf teams played in 18 hole tournaments.

The varsity girls golf team traveled to Lakewood Oaks Country Club to participate in the Blue Springs South Invitational.

Jessi Kutch scored 95

JoJo Kutch scored 102

Kayla Resler scored 104

Emily Stauffer scored 115

The C team traveled to the Posse at Smithville for the Oak Park Beginners Tournament.

Gabby Wells scored 102

Brennan Judkins scored 103

Peyton Holt scored 109

Riley Walker scored 117

Swim and Dive

The boys traveled to Park Hill last night and lost with a final score of 106-86. While the boys may have lost, the night was full of great performances.

200 Medley Relay:

Whitaker Steward, Bennett Freeman, Parker Bartlett, and Reid Salmonson had a season best and earned a 1st place finish with a time of 1:50.12.

200 Freestyle:

Reid Salmonson - Finished in 2nd place with a time of 2:09.15.

Finnegan Simmons - Finished in 5th place with a time of 2:52.33

200 IM:

Whitaker Steward - Finished in 1st place with a time of 2:01.85.

50 Freestyle:

Parker Mendel - Finished in 3rd place with a lifetime best of 27.13.

Bennett Freeman - Finished in 4th place with a time of 28.94.

Landon Morrill - Finished in 5th place with a time of 32.48.

Diving:

Isaac Clayton - Finished in 2nd place with a score of 115.95.

Finnegan Simmons - Finished in 3rd place with a score of 95.15.

100 Butterfly:

Parker Bartlett - Finished in 2nd place with a state consideration time of 1:00.75.

100 Freestyle:

Whitaker Steward - Finished in 1st place with a state consideration time of 50.63.

Reid Salmonson - Finished in 2nd place with a lifetime best and state consideration time of 53.67.

Isaac Clayton - Finished in 5th place with a season best time of 1:03.94.

500 Freestyle:

Parker Mendel - Finished in 2nd place with a lifetime best of 5:59.82.

200 Freestyle Relay:

Reid Salmonson, Parker Bartlett, Parker Mendel, and Whitaker Steward had a season best performance of 1:39.46 which was enough to earn a 1st place finish.

100 Backstroke:

Bennett Freeman - Finished in 4th place with a lifetime best of 1:18.61.

100 Breaststroke:

Parker Bartlett - Finished in 2nd place with a time of 1:11.68, just shy of a state consideration cut.

Landon Morrill - Finished in 5th place with a lifetime best of 1:45.67.

KPGZ Sports - Brian Watts contributed to this story