by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — The Wellington High School sports calendar is a mess – so much so that the Wellington High School athletic banquet (or make that breakfast) has been moved to Friday at 7:30 a.m. No that isn’t a misprint.

Wellington Activities Director Brian Buchanan made the announcement at Crusader Club Monday. He initially received some chuckles as if he was joking. But he was serious.

The WHS athletic program has been canceled the past two years. Buchanan said the coaches did not want to do it again. But because of the various athletic events rescheduled there was not a free night. So the students will be asked to gather Friday morning at 7:30 a.m. in the high school auditorium to receive its medal and certificates.

The Senior Male and Female Athlete of the Year awards and the Frank Cornejo Scholarship winner will not be announced at the athletic program, but on Class Night on Thursday, May 9.

In other news…

Updated sports schedule: 

Here is the updated schedule for Wellington as we have it:

Tuesday, April 30

WHS GOLF — Hesston at Hesston Golf Course, 3 p.m.

HS SOFTBALL — Triangular: Clearwater, Buhler at Clearwater, 5 p.m.

WMS TRACK — Bob Hoover Invitational at Andover, 3:15 p.m.

HS BASEBALL — Reschedule: Collegiate, away, 4 p.m.

Wednesday, May 1

WHS BASEBALL/SOFTBALL – Reschedule: Wellington at Rose Hill. Girls start at 4:30 p.m., boys start at 4 p.m.

Thursday, May 2

WHS TENNIS —4A Regional Tournament, TBA.

WHS GOLF — Goddard Eisenhower at Tex-Consolver Golf Course, 3 p.m.

WHS BASEBALL — Clearwater, home, 4 p.m. (JV)

WHS SOFTBALL — Clearwater, home, 4:30 p.m. (JV).

WMS TRACK — Maize Middle Invitational at Maize Middle, 3:30 p.m.

Friday, May 3

WHS ATHLETIC BANQUET — WHS Auditorium, 7:30 a.m.

WHS TRACK — Goddard Invite, 3 p.m.

WHS TENNIS — Class 4A Regional at Pratt, 10 a.m.

Saturday, May 4

WHS BASEBALL — Triangular: Wellington vs. Kansas City Turner, 11 a.m., Arkansas City vs. K.C. Turner, 1 p.m., Wellington vs. Ark City, 3 p.m., home.

WHS TENNIS — Class 4A Regional at Pratt, 10 a.m.

WHS Tennis:

Wellington participated in the Ark Valley-Chisholm Trail League Div. III-IV boys tennis tournament at Riverside Tennis Center Monday on a wonderfully sunny day.

The Crusaders finished with 29 points good enough for fifth. McPherson won with 66 points, Collegiate second with 57 points, Winfield third with 49 points and Buhler fourth with 43 points.

“That’s about where I thought we would end up,” said Allen Keller, Wellington head boys tennis coach. “We knew we did not match up head to head with any of those four teams so our expectations of doing better than fifth were not very high.”

Tyler Pettegrew at No. 2 singles was the only Crusader to get a first round win (over Doerkson/Buhler 7/6, 6/1) which put him in the semi-finals.  He lost his next match to Osen/Winfield 1-6, 0-6 then lost to Moxley/Collegiate 4-6, 0-6 for 4^th place.

No. 1 singles player Avery Chaney lost his first round to Horton/McPherson 1-6, 1-6, beat Wallace of Circle 9-3, then lost a heartbreaker to Reinhardt/El Dorado 7-9 for a sixth place finish.  No. 1 doubles team of Dutch Brownlee/Jon Ryberg  lost their first round to Camp & Hoover/Winfield 1-6, 0-6, beat Harter and Laforge of El Dorado in the first round of consolation 9-8, then lost to Schmidt and Thayer of Buhler 2-9 for a sixth place finish.

No. 2 Doubles team of Chaz Crittenden/Anthony Glazer lost in the first round to Byers and Caywood, Buhler 6-1, 6-0, beat Troxell & Barrett/El Dorado 9-5, then lost to Hunter & Keplar of Circle 7-9 for a sixth place finish.

Brian Peck has left the team to concentrate on golf.

“Overall, I have to say that both our singles players gave a good effort and played well against every opponent,” Keller said. “Our doubles teams however, are really struggling with basics and until they learn to stay focused, stay positive, and play with energy and movement, we’re not even giving ourselves a fighting chance to win against even against the poorest teams.

“We haven’t lost matches to schools like El Dorado, Circle and Augusta for many years, and it states volumes about our level of performance when we do.  Hopefully we can get these guys back on track before the Regional tournament and start playing to our potential.”

WMS Tennis: 

The Wellington Middle School boys tennis team swept their last three matches against Goddard, Haysville and Haysville West.  The Knights dominated Goddard winning every match and defeating both Haysville teams yesterday.

Individual winners were: Derek Driskell, Brock Edwards, Cade Phelps, Will Long, Carson LeGrand, Chaese Hamel, D. J. Seyfert, Jaden Adams, Trenton Hodson, Skyler Crittenden, Aaron Schoemann, Braiden Buresh, Seth Tunnell, Reece Langford, Jack Walton, Jared Oathout, Ty Wilson, James Hinman, Logan Jones, Avery Rademacher, Max Scott, Austin Sears, Ian Groom and Billy Cook.