Watervliet Press Box

Three Panther runners at State Finals

The Watervliet varsity cross-country teams went to Portage on Saturday, Oct. 28 to take part in the Region 22 Division 3 race. Three of the Panthers ran well enough to qualify for the state finals this coming weekend at Michigan International Speedway.

Senior Morgan Lowell finished fourth place in 20:30.78, her fastest time ever and the third-best in Panther history. Teammate junior Kimmy Romero took 11th place at 21:26.93, also qualifying for the finals and setting the sixth best time in the Panther record books. Buchanan’s Emma Miller won the race at 20:09.

Lowell will make her second trip to the finals and Romero will make her first trip. The team raced well, finishing sixth out of 18 teams. Mimi Feneley finished her first cross-country season by taking 59 seconds off her previous best time to post a 23:49. Gabby Wisdom, Ella Geisler, Marissa Lowell, and Johanna Granados all held steady with consistent performances to help the team finish in the top third of the field.

On the boys team, Daniel Mandujano continues his breakout season finishing fifth overall at 16:47.55 to qualify for the state finals for the second year in a row in as many years on the team. Lucas Hopkins of Olivet won the race at 16:16.02.

Luke Isbrecht raced his way to 19:03 and a new PR at 46th place. Alex Sexton posted his season best with a 20:08 followed up by Zeke Cardozo in 20:20. Dennis Frazier had his best race of the season lowering his PR by 51 seconds to 20:28. Grayson Richards and Devin Geisler also ran for the Panthers.

Volleyball playoffs begin

At press time the first matches of the volleyball district tournaments had just started but by Friday, Nov. 3 all the district champions will have been crowned. On Monday evening the Districts at Coloma began and Bloomingdale (8-11) handily beat Hartford (3-11) 3-0 to advance to the 5:30 p.m. Wednesday match with Bangor (8-8). Coloma (24-10-1) will play Watervliet (25-2-1) in the 7:00 match to set up the District 76 finals on Thursday night.

The postseason opens against Coloma on Wednesday, Nov. 1 at Coloma, then the winner faces Hartford, Bangor, or Bloomingdale for the district title on November 2 in Coloma. The regional tournament will be held in Fennville on Tuesday, Nov. 7 with the finals on Thursday.

The last regular season matches for the Panthers were played at Dowagiac on Tuesday, Oct. 24. They started the night playing Hopkins and swept them 25-17 and 25-13. Next they took on a good Lakeshore team, beating them in three: 25-23, 26-28, 15-9. They closed the regular season with Dowagiac, beating them 25-16 and 25-18.

The team is playing very well, being coached very well, and ready for their third run at a regional title.

Watervliet Bond

On Tuesday, Nov. 7, district residents will vote on a $30 million bond for the school. The bulk of this bond involves academic and structural upgrades and expansions, but there are a couple items in the plan that involves athletics. First is the addition of a middle school cafeteria which frees up their gymnasium for several more gymnasium-based phys ed classes during the school day. Next is a replacement for the concession stand and restrooms at the football field. This building is the sorriest such building in the region. An expansion several years ago improved it significantly, but it desperately needs replacing. A smaller update is the resurfacing of the track.

The high school girls locker room was built before schools had real girls sports and it shows. The room is tiny and barely useful except for visiting teams. Now that we often have boys and girls basketball on the same night (four teams) the locker room situation is difficult at best. This will be fixed.

Finally, the big one is the construction of an auxiliary gym. The school outgrew its existing winter sports space many years ago, and with anywhere between 10 and 14 basketball teams (not kidding!) vying for practice time the entire program suffers when kids must practice before school and until 9 p.m. on school nights. The varsity teams often need to share the high school gym for practices, something few quality schools do. Add middle school wrestling and the two gyms are constantly busy and it’s been this way for years. A new facility will see plenty of use the entire year, for instance during inclement weather in the spring and fall and may also become available for community use, eventually.

Last needed, and we’ve all experienced the congestion: renovate and reconfigure the high school parking lot to make post-game exits more orderly and efficient.