On the eve of my top pick for the 2023-24 top-5 sports moments in Wells County, No. 2 overall will go to Feb. 17, 2024.
Is an entire day considered a moment? Well, this is my list so I’m saying yes due to the significance of it.
On that date, our girls’ basketball team won a semi-state and dismantled the No. 1 team to do it. About 50 miles away, another school captured its first swimming sectional in program history and several individuals qualified for states as individuals.
Of course, I’m writing about Norwell’s state championship appearance, Bluffton’s swim sectional and six individual events heading to state.
This day in particular is where I earned my stripes as a sports editor. I got up early to drive to Huntington North for the morning session of Norwell’s semi-state game. Then, I grabbed lunch and made the trip to Jay County to photograph and cover swimming. After that, I made the trail back to Huntington North for the semi-state championship before heading home in the evening.
I will say, the trip was well worth it. Of course, it isn’t ideal to have a work day on a weekend go all day, but I think it was a fair trade with a couple of trophies attached to it.
I’ll get to the basketball part first. For me, it was this game and the Bluffton football regional against Bishop Luers that were the most highly anticipated games in my two-year career here.
Personally, I made a big deal about the rematch with Hamilton Heights with my stories and previews before the game. I know how much that loss hurt the then junior class the year before, and now they had a another crack at them as seniors.
Not only did the Knights knock off the No. 1 team that day, they picked them apart. That group of girls looked more confident than any other game I’d covered, and it lifted them to the semi-state matchup with Bremen, who they destroyed by 44 points.
The semi-state appearance was the first since 1977.
In my short trip to Jay County, I got to see a first-time sectional champ and some state qualifications.
Unfortunately, heading back to Huntington North for the semi-state final game prevented me from seeing and documenting the Bluffton swim team winning the sectional, but I was fired up when I heard it was official.
The Tigersharks have had a decade of ACAC titles, and that double-digit number this year got their first sectional — and they did it in style.
A victory by over 100 points in the 11-team field was quite impressive. And personally, I’m stoaked for the team as I’ve watched how hard they’ve worked and their passion.
I was especially excited for head coach Justin Upgraft, who has been talking with me about this achievement for two years now. He was humble in the moment, but I know well that he was just beaming inside for this, and he deserved it.
The Tigersharks and Norwell Knights’ individual swimmers were also successful in the pool that day.
The 200-yard medley team from Bluffton of Noah Brooks, Dalton Rodgers, Elija Robles and Isaac Wheeler and the 400-yard freestyle of Brooks, Griffin Linderwell, Rodgers and Wheeler claimed the top spot in their races and qualified for state. In the individual events, Brooks qualified in the 100-yard backstroke, and Wheeler in the 100-yard butterfly. Robles also advanced on to the regional next week in the diving events.
For Norwell, Rylan Heyerly qualified with a first-place finish in the 100-yard freestyle and the 200-yard freestyle as a freshman! A side note: Heyerly has quite the bright future ahead of him.
ryan@news-banner.com
