We have a state qualifier in boys tennis!
Garrett Stoltzfus will play for an individual championship this weekend after emerging as the regional singles champion at the Kokomo Individual Tennis Regional this past Saturday. Stoltzfus made the final after knocking off Logan Heiman of Adams Central 6-1, 6-0, then claimed his first-ever regional championship, beating Ettore Bona of East Noble 6-2, 6-4.
Stoltzfus is 29-0 on the season (7-0 in the postseason) and will filter into the state quarters this Friday. His draw will be determined later today via the IHSAA.
Volleyball’s season came to an end in the semi-finals of the West Noble Volleyball Sectional. Saturday afternoon, NorthWood held off Fairfield 25-18, 25-16, 25-18 to eliminate the Lady Falcons, to which the Panthers then defeated host West Noble in four games to claim the sectional title.
Closing out the season for Fairfield on the stat line were Eva Herbert with three kills, two aces and two blocks, Lacy Stoltzfus with three kills and two blocks, Ariana Schwartz with three kills and five digs, Abigail Graber with three blocks and two aces, Maddy Miller with seven assists, Shelby Cripe with six digs, and Paige Park with a pair of aces.
Cross Country took its best shot Saturday at the Elkhart Cross Country Sectional at OxBow Park.
Both the boys and girls teams finished sixth overall, the highest placing the boys have had in 13 years. The sixth-place finishes were outside of the required top-five advancing places, but all was not lost, as Fairfield will send four athletes each to the regional round with top-15 non-advancing team racers.
On the girls side, Lyla Dennis led Fairfield with a 20:43 time and 16th place finish, followed by Claira Foust (23, 21:18), Lorelei Shively (35, 21:49), Natalee Lambright (37, 21:52) and Emma Walter (49, 22:42). Nyra Leach (60, 24:29) and Shelby Miller (61, 24:41) also ran for the Lady Falcons. Dennis, Foust, Shively and Lambright all advance to the regional race at New Prairie this weekend.
On the boys side, Evan Correll was seventh overall with a 16:15, followed by Caden Harris (21, 17:05), Carson Correll (22, 17:06), Kaden Decker (43, 17:53) and Levi Sydor (59, 18:46). Dillon Fussle (61, 19:06) and Larry Cobern (64, 19:23) also ran for the Falcons. Correll, Correll, Harris and Decker all advance to the regional race at New Prairie this weekend.
Winning the girls race was a familiar name to the Fairfield community, Mia Hodgson of Wawasee, daughter of Ryan and Amy Thwaits. Hodgson commanded the race from the opening gun and won at 18:54. Goshen placed all five of its runners in the top 13 to win the team title.
Winning the boys race was Westview’s Noah Bontrager at 15:18, Bontrager posting the second-fastest time in the state at OxBow. Fishers’ Sam Quagliaroli had the fastest aggregate time of the weekend at a mind-numbing 14:46.
Football closed out its regular season with a win, pulling away from Churubusco in the second half, 42-18.
Breckan Maran was a boulder running downhill, rushing just 18 times for 244 yards and four touchdowns. Blake Metzger amassed 143 all-purpose yards and two scores along with 10 tackles on defense, and Hunter Kauffman again led the Fairfield defense with 12 tackles. Harley Garl added seven stops for Fairfield.
Fairfield (4-5) will host Fort Wayne Concordia (2-7) in the first round of the Class 3-A sectional this Friday, a 7 p.m. kickoff.