Ripon’s boys water polo team played in the toughest division of the 37th annual Roddy Svendson Shootout and came away with the gold medal this past weekend.
The Indians (14-3) edged out Ponderosa of Shingle Springs 12-11 in the platinum division final at Merced College behind Brody Biedermann’s all-around effort. The junior tallied our goals, two assists, seven steals and five blocks.
Ripon opened with a 14-7 win over Downey. The Indians then faced two schools from the Central Section, dispatching Bullard 20-11 and Sanger, 18-15
Biedermann finished with 15 goals, five assists, 11 blocks and 12 steals. McKeane Beier also netted 15 goals while adding 11 assists, four blocks and three steals. Goalie Benny Rogers totaled 23 saves and four steals.
Chetan Harvey (four goals, three steals), Ryan Bell (four goals, three assists), Teo West (five goals, seven steals), Ben Svoboda (seven goals, six assists, seven steals), Matthew Lee (seven goals, four assists, four steals), Nate Selna (six goals, six assists, five steals) and Owen Curtiss (goal, nine assists, six steals) were also key contributors during the two-day tournament.
GIRLS WATER POLO
El Capitan Summit Tournament
The highlight Tiffani Hunter’s whopping 21 saves in the Indians’ 10-9 overtime loss to Merced. She racked up 48 saves over the four games.
Ripon finished 2-2, opening with a 15-4 blowout of Chowchilla before falling to host Buhach Colony, 13-4. The Indians topped Turlock 10-8 in the third-place match.
Freshman Reyna Biedermann led the attack with 12 goals. She also had seven steals. Senior Sami Scheid registered 10 goals, six seals, three assists and two blocks.
Other contributors: Maddie Curtiss (two goals, two assists, two steals), Faith Fasani (seven goals, four assists, two blocks, two steals), Crystallyn Tran (six goals, five assists, 10 steals, five assists) and Maddie Stewart (goal, assist).
CROSS COUNTRY
Tom Laythe Invitational
Sierra took first place in the 5,000-meter varsity boys small-school division Saturday at Willow Hills Reservoir in Folsom.
Sophomore Christian Gonzalez led the Timberwolves with his runner-up finish in 16 minutes, 29.67 seconds. Ripon’s Devin Fitzpatrick finished third in 16:55.59, and Oscar Angel of Manteca took seventh in 16:52.69.
Other notable runners from Sierra were Tristan Crowe (13th, 17:13.30), Ernesto Pacheco (19th, 17:24.52), Landen Nabb (38th, 18:05.73) and Brady Alves (44th, 18:14.83). Manteca’s Dario Rodriguez placed 31st in 17:55.91.
Mikayla Bueno of Sierra paced local varsity girls runners, finishing in 24th place in 21:02.27. Ripon’s Jenna Skavdahl was 47th in 22:17.11.
Anthony Bueno (11th, 12:46.05) and Xavier Hardiman (25th, 13:01.41) highlighted lower-level runners, helping Sierra’s frosh-soph boys take sixth in the 3,400-meter small-school division.
