Wellington girls tennis and golf team start post-season… it is getting close for volleyball squad
by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — The postseason is upon us for girls tennis and girls golf. The girls’ volleyball sub-states are still a couple of weeks away.
Here’s an update on what to expect in the road ahead for all three Wellington teams.
2021 Wellington High School girls tennis team. (Click to enlarge).
Wellington tennis (Saturday)
Regional: El Dorado. Teams playing: Wellington, Augusta, Chapman, El Dorado, Circle, Wichita Trinity, and Winfield.
Analysis:
To get to the Class 4A state tournament in Winfield, Wellington’s two singles players and two doubles teams need to make the top six.
This regional will be unique in that it probably won’t contain the teams vying for a state championship, but it will have plenty of depth.
Jensen Lynnes and Lyric Cornejo come into the El Dorado regional with an 18-5 record and could be seeded as either a No. 1 or No. 2 seed with the Wichita Trinity No. 1 duo as the other. Lynnes/Cornejo has not seen the Trinity duo all year but played them for a chance to go to state in 2020 (which Trinity won).
The other duo team will consist of Kadynce Aufdengarten and Ashlyn Gerten (21-6). They could be seeded fifth and also have a good chance of getting to the big show.
Singles will be a little tougher. Kami Reichenberger (11-10) is likely to be the fifth seed. Crystal Ramirez (16-6), a junior, could be seeded anywhere from No. 7 to 10.
Lyric Cornejo was at the Goddard tournament earlier this year.
This marks the first year in quite a while Wellington head coach Brian Aufdengarten will not have a returning state qualifier from the previous season, (Lynnes did make it her freshman year).
How Wellington will finish in this regional could hugely fluctuate from getting the whole team to state or maybe just getting in one doubles team.
“We’ve played a tougher schedule than everyone in this regional,” Aufdengarten said. “We played in the tournament of Champions in Collegiate and then at Andover. None of those other teams did. I think that will bode well for us on Saturday.”
In the league tournament held at Riverside Tennis court on Monday, Wellington finished fourth. But Aufdengarten changed up the lineup and it won’t serve as a predictor for Saturday.
“We were hoping for a top-six as a team and almost finished third with mixing the line up,” Aufdengarten said of the league tournament.
Wichita Collegiate finished with 68 points, McPherson 59, Buhler 41, Wellington 39, Circle 34, Winfield 20, El Dorado 13, and Augusta 6.
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Pictured from left: Elly DeJarnett, Laney Dillon, Kasiah Richmond, Keoni Babalquinto, and Aubrey Hunt. (Click to enlarge).
Wellington girls golf (Monday)
Regional: Chanute. Teams playing: Wellington, Altamont-Labette County, Chunte, Fort Scott, Girard, Independence, Mulvane, Parsons, Winfield.
Analysis:
Wellington head girls golf coach James Ginter said this is one of the weirdest seasons he has coached both boys or girls in his 25 years of coaching.
For one thing, Wellington has five girls out for high school golf this year and has dealt with several absences throughout the year. For the first time on Tuesday at the Ark Valley Chisholm Trail League Div. III and IV tournament at Prairie Trails Golf Course in El Dorado, Wellington posted a team score. They shot a 422, good enough for fifth place.
This Monday Wellington heads to Chanute and could possibly qualify for state. The top three teams from each regional goes.
Kasiah Richmond hopes to return to the state tournament for the second consecutive year. She placed 17th in the league tournament on Tuesday.
Another girl with a huge opportunity to make it to state is Laney Dillon, who shot a 91 and finished sixth in the league, for the team’s lowest score of the day.
Elly DeJarnett finished tied for 19th with a 107 score. Keoni Babalquinto shot a 118 to tie for 31st place and Aubrey Hunt tied for 35th with a 120.
Ginter said Winfield will be the heavy favorite to win. After that, it will be anyone’s guess which two teams finish second and third.
“We have never qualified as a team to get to state in girls golf,” Ginter said. “This is a great opportunity for us to make history.”
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2021 Wellington girls volleyball team. (Click to enlarge).
WHS Volleyball
Regional: Undetermined. Teams playing: 18 teams in the Class 4A-West regional.
It has not been a banner year for the Crusaders, who are sitting at 3-12 at the moment. Wellington did get another win on Tuesday in Andale. After losing to No. 1 ranked Andale 25-22, 25-12, Wellington defeated one-win Buhler 25-20, 22-25, 25-20. The rankings for the 4A-West at this time are as follows:
Ok. Let’s explain the post-season which is a bit convoluted.
The 18-team sub-state will be divided into four tournaments with the top four seeds hosting. At this moment Andale, Clay Center, Augusta and McPherson would host. Then a combination of four or five teams would go to one of these four sub-states.
The way it stands now, Wellington, a No. 15 seed, would play Buhler in a play-in game with the winner playing Clay Center, the No. 2 seed, and host of the sub-state.
There is still plenty of volleyball left to play. Wellington is playing in a triangular on Tuesday in Winfield with Circle and will be home against Chaparral and Mulvane next Thursday. The Crusaders then travel to Mulvane with a triangular with McPherson.
