It was quite a week in the world of Brickie Sports as Hobart hosted THREE INVITATIONALS ... Boys Golf & the "Brickie Scramble", Girls Tennis & the 9th Annual Hobart Invite, and Track & Field with the 81st (that's right ... I said 81st) running of the Hobart Little 5 Invitational! Not to mention baseball & softball each getting 4 games in - THIS is what Spring Sports are supposed to look like!!

Hopefully all the eggs have been found ... it's time for BricksCenter!

Run ... Jump ... Throw ... seems simple doesn't it? Fortunately for Hobart fans, our Brickie track athletes are making it look easy! These kids are showing drastic improvement on a weekly basis ... or as was the case this week, on a DAY-to-DAY basis!

Tuesday, Hobart opened Northwest Crossroads Conference competition by hosting archrival Andrean in a coed dual meet. There are a lot of events in a track & field meet, which means there are lots of opportunities to score points ... and the Brickies took advantage of almost all of them against the 59ers! The ladies placed 1st in 8 out of 12 individual events and won 2 out of 3 relays to earn a close 63-56 victory! The guys, on the other hand, CRUISED to an easy 122-35 victory by winning 1st in 11 out of 13 individual events and swept all 3 relays! WOW!!

Here are some results from Tuesday:

Girls

100m Hurdles - sophomore Cailey Weber - 1st, junior Haylie Skripac - 2nd

100m Dash - senior Dominique Clemons - 1st, senior Ja'Diah Belk - 3rd

1600m Run - sophomore Addy Black - 3rd

400m Relay - Belk, Clemons, junior Sarah Romeo and sophomore Alyssa Adams - 1st

300m Hurdles - Weber - 1st, Skripac - 2nd

800m Run - sophomore Kylee King - 3rd, sophomore Morgan James - 4th

200m Dash - Clemons - 1st, Belk - 3rd

3200m Run - Black - 3rd

1600m Relay - sophomore Ella Freimuth, sophomore Elisia Otero, Romeo, and Weber - 1st

Long Jump - Weber - 1st, freshman Brooke Cawthon - 4th

High Jump - sophomore Ella Freimuth - 1st

Shot Put - freshman Taylor Pope - 1st, senior Shanena Knight - 3rd

Discus - senior Anna Wood - 1st, Pope - 3rd

Boys

3200m Relay - junior Ryan Wein and sophomores Ryan Mattel, Vinny Gutierrez & Quentin Stengel - 1st

100m Hurdles - senior Jaden Camacho - 1st, junior Gavin Miller-Lane - 4th

100m Dash - junior Trey Gibson - 1st, senior Geo Koktsidis - 3rd

1600m Run - senior Joe Meagher - 1st, freshman Felix Lopez - 2nd, sophomore Owen Stankich - 3rd

400m Relay - Koktsidis, juniors Gabe Dickerson & TJ Quinones and freshman Will Shearer - 1st

300m Hurdles - senior Dakota Vanderberg - 2nd

800m Run - Mattel - 1st, Lopez - 2nd, Gutierrez - 3rd

200m Dash - Quinones - 1st, Gibson - 3rd

3200m Run - Meagher - 1st, Stankich - 2nd

1600m Relay - sophomore Anthony Hnilo, Lopez, Vanderberg & Mattel - 1st

Long Jump - Miller-Lane - 1st, Quinones - 2nd

High Jump - Miller-Lane - 1st, Hnilo - 2nd, Quinones - 3rd

Pole Vault - junior Cody Johnston - 1st

Shot Put - junior Diego Verduzco - 1st, junior Hunter Juris - 2nd, freshman Patrick O'Connor - 3rd

Discus - Juris - 1st, junior Grant Kappes - 2nd, Verduzco - 3rd

On Saturday, Hobart hosted the 81st annual Little 5 Track Meet ... and it's actually not so "Little" anymore. There were 13 teams competing (7 girls & 6 Boys) at the Brickyard and OUR BRICKS SHINED!! In the team competition, our girls placed 3rd overall behind KV & Valparaiso (team champion)... and our boys were 2nd - bested by Kankakee Valley, who narrowly held off the Brickies 187-154. The Kougars & Brickies were the only two schools who scored over 100 points ... clearly a two-team race as KV won their 3rd straight championship. Individually, the Brickies had some TREMENDOUS performances!

For the girls, sophomore Cailey Weber, who recently competed at the HSR Finals at the end of March, placed 2nd in the 100m hurdles ... 3rd in the 300m hurdles ... and ran anchor on the Lady Brickies 4x400 relay team (with junior Sarah Romeo and sophomores Ella Freimuth & Elisia Otero) that finished 2nd - ALL of these races were SEASON BEST TIMES!!! Freimuth also placed 4th in the High Jump (personal best height) ... Otero finished 6th in the 400m dash (personal best time) ... senior JaDiah Belk ran a personal best in the 100m dash for a 7th place finish and classmate Dominique Clemons raced a personal best to place 4th in the 200 ... sophomore Addy Black cut over a minute from her time on Tuesday in the 3200m run to place 5th ... and freshman Taylor Pope (2nd in the shot put) & senior Anna Wood (3rd in the disc) were STELLAR in the throws as they either matched or surpassed their season best attempts!! In fact, out of the 14 events the Lady Brickies were entered in, 11 of them had our girls performing at their personal best!! INCREDIBLE!!

On the boys side, junior TJ Quinones was nearly the meet's most outstanding performer as he placed 2nd in the 100, 200 and long jump events - ALL in personal best finishes! Freshman newcomer Will Shearer was PHENOMENAL in racing to 3rd in the 200 and leading off the boys 4x400m relay that WON!! Other members of that ream include freshman Felix Lopez (also 5th in the 1600), sophomore Ryan Mattel (also 2nd in the 800) and senior Dakota Vanderberg (also 4th in the 300 hurdles)! Junior Gavin Miller SOARED to 1st place in the long jump - surpassing 20' for the 2nd consecutive meet - and also took 4th in the 100 hurdles & 2nd in the high jump! Senior Joe Meagher (4th in the 1600) & sophomore Owen Stankich (3rd in the 3200) represented well in the distance events and the Brickie throwers were FANTASTIC in putting 2 in the top 4 for discus (juniors Hunter Juris & Grant Kappes went 2nd & 4th) and claiming the top 2 spots in the shot put (senior Elizjah Wilson - 1st & junior Diego Verduzco - 2nd)!! To top it off, junior vaulter Cody Johnston cleared 16' to stay undefeated in Indiana this spring!!

As you can see, Saturday was a GREAT DAY for the Brickies!! With the NCC Championships about 3 and a half weeks away, Hobart is looking better and better with some solid depth AND some big scoring front-runners in multiple events! Both boys and girls should be in the hunt for a FANTASTIC finish!

#TRACKINCAREOFBUSINESS

The Brickies finally got to swing the wrenches for real when our boys opened the season Tuesday by hosting the Hobart Invite "Brickie Scramble". Participating teams included Bishop Noll, Griffith, Hanover Central, Lowell, Merrillville, Morgan Township, River Forest, & Wheeler. The Wheeler Bearcats took home the title with a 1-under 35. Hobart finished tied for 3rd overall just 2 shots back (37)!

The 5-man team representing H-town included senior Ethan Cover, junior Trevor Triana, sophomores Parker Glass, Ben Eberle & Nate Becerra .

Hobart will be back in action on Monday against NCC rival Andrean in the first dual meet of the year! Hit 'em long & straight boys!

#PARFORTHECOURSE

Anyone for tennis? The Lady Brickies are two weeks into the competition season and have only 2 dual matches to show for it ... thanks Mother Nature! Still, our girls continue to persevere and even got to host the 9th annual Hobart Invite on Saturday!!

Monday, the Lady Brickies faced a tall task ... battling the Lady Bulldogs from Crown Point - ranked #25 in all of Indiana and #1 in Da Region. Our girls were competitive and never gave up throughout, but CP proved to be too much for the Lady Bricks and swept the match 5-0.

On Saturday, the Lady Brickies hosted the 9th annual Hobart Invite, which featured Lake Central, Portage and River Forest. The Invitational involved a round-robin format with each team playing all 3 others ... whichever school has the best record at the end of the day is crowned Champion. The "Blue" Indians from LC - also an area top-10 team - claimed the trophy for the 2nd consecutive year, but the girls from H-town finished 2nd overall after defeating both River Forest and the "Red" Indians from Portage! It was a SPECTACULAR performance from the Lady Brickies!! Senior Emma Novak (#1 singles), senior Aoife Combs (#2 singles), sophomore Melanie Paterson (#3 singles), junior Grace Hansen & senior Piper Logan (#1 doubles) and juniors Maddy Baltrushaitis & Kayla Walker (#2 doubles) represented Hobart at the Invite and were simply OUTSTANDING on the day!!

#SERVED

After a few rain-soaked weeks of postponements, Hobart FINALLY got things going with 4 games in 6 days this past week! Each contest was an opportunity to learn more about who we are and what we can be ... starting with facing the top team in NWI.

Monday brought a trip to West Lake County to face the area's #1-ranked squad, Lake Central. The Lady Indians are legit as they held our girls to just 3 hits and defeated the Lady Brickies 13-1. Junior Alyssa Janik went 1-for-2 with a double and freshman Taylor Lopez drove in Hobart's only run.

On Tuesday, the Lady Brickies were in Porter County for a non-conference game against Kouts. This one was close early, but our girls closed the door in the top of the 7th when they exploded for 9 runs to win easy 16-4! Hobart got 18 hits as a team with 9 different Lady Bricks registering at least 1 in the DOMINANT victory! Senior Sydney Belk led the attack with 4 hits, 3 stolen bases & 2 RBI ... sophomore Keirys Click slugged her 1st homer of the year and classmate Ella Hornak struck out 11 batters to pick up her 1st win of the year as pitcher!

Thursday, Hobart hosted rival Andrean to open the Northwest Crossroads Conference season. The '9ers scored 2 in the top of the 1st, but our girls responded with 3 of their own in the bottom half of the inning to take an early 3-2 lead! Hobart tacked on 1 more in the 3rd, 2 in the 4th, and 1 in each of the 5th & 6th innings to take a commanding 8-2 advantage into Andrean's final at bat!! Sophomore Morgan Ellenberger was TOUGH on the mound and her D-D-D-DEFENSE was backing her up at every spot! Andrean, always a contender, rallied for 5 runs in the top of the 7th to cut the deficit to just 1 at 8-7, but junior pitcher Carigan Menear came on in relief to close it out as the Lady Brickies WON A THRILLER!! Hobart pounded out 13 hits ... 3 each by sophomores Maddie Simpson (3-for-3, 2 RBI) & Click (3-for-4, 1 HR, 4 runs, 2 RBI)!! Ellenberger struck out 6 and only surrendered 4 hits on the mound to pick up the "W"!

On Saturday, our girls were on the road to play future NCC foe Hanover Central, who entered the game with a 4-1 record. Hobart jumped out to an early 4-0 lead by scoring in each of the 1st 3 innings!! Unfortunately, the Lady Wildcats responded with 3 in the 4th and 2 more in the bottom of the 6th to take a 5-4 lead and held on in the top of the 7th to defeat the Bricks in a tough road game. Belk, Click & Janik all collected 2 hits for Hobart in the loss.

Hobart is now 3-4 on the season and 1-0 in conference play after earning a split (2-2) for the week. Another busy 6-day stretch dots the softball landscape as the Lady Brickies will be in action Tuesday through Saturday (weather permitting). LET'S GO BRICKS!!

#WEBELIEVE

On Monday, Brickie baseball team for their exciting 6-0 victory over Lowell last night! Ivan Balboa pitched 6 innings, struck out 11, and scored the go-ahead run in the top of the 7th after stealing home! Kyle Feterick went 3-for-3 at the plate to help our boys improve to 5-0 on the year and start the NCC slate with a "W"! Don't stop now boys!!

Tuesday, Lowell visited H-town for the 2nd straight night ... and this one was crazy! The Brickies led 4-3 heading into the top of the 7th. Darkness was approaching quickly, but the game continued into the final inning. The Red Devils scored on a pitch that got past the Hobart catcher because neither he nor the umpire could even see it (too dark) ... tying things up at 4 ... and the game was called due to darkness. The Northwest Crossroads Conference By-Laws state that games like this have to be completed. Therefore, Lowell returned to Hobart on Saturday afternoon ... after playing a noon game at the RailCats stadium ... to finish it. Our boys had just finished playing Michigan City in a 1pm game and now had to wrap up Tuesday's conference match up. Well, Lowell did not score in the top of the 7th. For Hobart, freshman Noah Ehrlich drew a walk with nobody out and the bases loaded to plate the WINNING RUN!! UNBELIEVABLE!!

On Friday, the Brickies traveled to Hanover Central to face our future NCC foe. Our boys jumped out to an early 6-1 lead after just 2 innings of play, but the Wildcats fought back with a run in each of the 3rd & 4th innings to cut the deficit to 6-3. Hobart tacked on an insurance run in the 5th on a pinch hit double by senior Ryan Flores and held off another Hanover Central charge in the bottom half of the inning to earn a hard fought 7-4 VICTORY!! Junior Cam Gonzalez was 2-3 at the plate with 2 RBI and 2 runs scored! A pair of freshman did WORK on the mound with Connor Stafford earning his 1st varsity win and classmate Drew Burris picking up his second save!

Saturday, Michigan City visited The Friendly City for a 1pm start and came out swinging! The Wolves got it going early on offense scoring 5 runs in the 1st 2 innings ... but the Brickies chipped away a little at a time, went ahead in the bottom of the 5th on a 2-run single by sophomore Jevan Andrews, and held on for an EXCITING 6-5 VICTORY!! Junior Kyle Feterick, freshman Kael Schlosser & sophomore Carlos Santana each played a pivotal role in helping Hobart in the come-from-behind win with either a crucial hit or sacrifice at the plate and freshman Aiden Leonard & Gonzalez took care of business on the bump as the Brickies won their 8th straight game to open the season!! FANTASTIC!!

Hobart is currently 8-0 on the year and 2-0 in NCC action! A TOUGH road test at 2021 Regional champion Munster opens another busy week for our boys. DON'T STOP NOW!!

#FIELDOFDREAMS

Junior sensation Asia Donald played in the Region Classic All-Star game held at Purdue Northwest on Saturday afternoon. This was the INAUGURAL Region Classic High School All-Star event hosted by The RISE. The event featured top basketball talent in NWI competing against Chicago. Asia played in the "Rising Stars" game, scored 20 points, and earned MVP in leading her squad to a thrilling 63-58 win!

CONGRATULATIONS ASIA! WE ARE VERY PROUD OF YOU!!

#SHEGOTGAME

Monday

Baseball @ Munster *

Boys Golf @ Andrean *

JV Baseball vs. Munster *

Tuesday

Softball @ Munster (V & JV) *

Baseball vs. Munster *

Girls Track & Field @ Munster *

Boys Track & Field @ Munster *

Girls Tennis @ Lowell *

JV Baseball @ Munster *

9th Baseball vs. Crown Point

Wednesday

Girls Tennis @ Merrillville

Boys Golf @ Illiana Christian

Softball vs. Hebron

9th Baseball @ Crown Point

JV Softball @ Whiting

Thursday

Softball vs. Lowell (V & JV) *

Friday

Baseball @ Valparaiso

Softball @ KV (V & JV) *

JV Baseball vs. Valparaiso

Girls Tennis @ Boone Grove

Saturday

Girls Track & Field @ LaPorte Invite

Boys Track & Field @ LaPorte Invite

Softball vs. Morgan Twp/ vs. Boone Grove

Baseball vs. Portage

JV Softball vs. Bishop Noll/ vs. Boone Grove

JV Baseball @ LaPorte

* = NCC Opponent