The Infinity South 15-1 volleyball team won the AAU Bayou Region Championship on May 4. Team members include, kneeling from left, Sadie Heintz, Molly Alexander and Avery Olver; middle row from left, assistant coach Kim Puissegur, Corey Pourciau and Kayla Brown; back row from left, Alexandra Liner, Haylie Williams, Shelby Bickers, Rylee Billiot and head coach Jake Palmer.

The Division 4 track and field state championship meet occurred on Saturday, May 31, at Hudsonville High School.

We have a Sectional semifinal in boys volleyball between the 6-seed Neuqua Valley and 1- seed, Glenbard West. These two have already squared off in April, with West winning in straight sets. The Wildcats seek an upset victory against the Hilltoppers, who’ve finished inside the top three for four consecutive years at the state series. This highlight is sponsored by BMO.

Neuqua Valley opens IHSA Boys Volleyball Sectional Semifinal with 7-4 lead before the Hilltoppers climb back

The Hilltoppers start hot, already leading 4-2 in the first set, until the Wildcats receive some momentum off a Noah Cullen kill to cut the lead down.

The Wildcats respond to Cullen well as Chase Marston sets up Vishwak Naramreddy for the kill, sparking an early wildcat scoring run.

Apart from that, the scoring run includes a Marston ace, which causes the Hilltoppers to take an early timeout. Neuqua leads 7-4.

Coming out of the timeout, the Hilltoppers look for some momentum and get it as Owen Bare sets up Charlie Clifford for the kill, sparking a Hilltopper scoring run.

Neuqua responds quickly with a Marston kill and with an ace by Blake Thompson as the Wildcats hold on to their 13-12 lead.

The two engage in an intense rally, refusing to let up a point until the Wildcats attempt a kill, but are denied at the net by Clifford as the Hilltoppers hold a commanding 18-15 lead.

Set point for the first set, and the Wildcats attempt a kill from Cullen, but it goes out of bounds, the Hilltoppers take set one 25-16.

Glenbard West Boys Volleyball advances to another Sectional Championship

The second set starts similarly to the first set. West gets off to a hot start until Marston provides his team with some energy with a kill as they trail 3-2 early in the second set.

The Wildcats look to keep the offense hot, but are shut down by Clifford for another kill.

Jasti locates Cullen for another wildcat kill, however, they trail 8-5.

The two teams enter another rally, the Wildcat’s just getting it over until Brendan Markey sets up Luke Bachman for the kill, forcing Neuqua to take a timeout.

Post the Wildcat timeout, Henery Truitt sets the tone for the rest of the set by delivering an ace for the Hilltoppers to go up 13-7.

Neuqua looks to stop West’s momentum as Jasti sets up Marston for another kill, but the Wildcats trail 16-9.

Last effort for the wildcats off the serve, however, it’s Owen Bare on the kill for set and match point as West takes the final set 25-17. West takes on the ten-seed Plainfield South in the sectional finals on Tuesday at Hinsdale South at 6 pm.

The562’s cross country and track & field coverage is sponsored by Joe Carlson & Debbie Hughes.

The562’s coverage of Long Beach Poly is sponsored by Bryson Financial.

The Long Beach Poly track and field team concluded its season at the CIF State Finals in Clovis on Saturday and took home a second-place finish for the girls.

Despite several setbacks this season, the Jackrabbits still finished as runners-up in CIF and State along with a CIF-SS championship for the boys. The Jackrabbits been riddled with injuries since the Moore League finals and faced a controversial no-call at the CIF finals that left them without a boys’ 4x100m team. The Jackrabbits’ entries have spiraled downward since then, but the Jackrabbits still finish the season with some honorable achievements.

“Anything that could go wrong for our boys and girls teams did go wrong this year,” said Poly coach Crystal Irving. “So the fact that our boys still came out as CIF-SS champs and our girls are second in the state, and then for our boys to set a new school record in the mile relay, it’s amazing. We are so blessed that God has us like He does.”

The Jackrabbits walked away from the meet with a state champion in the girls’ high jump, where Jillene Wetteland finished in a three-way tie and cleared 5 ‘7—an inch higher than her performance at State last year. 

“It does feel pretty good [to go out that way],” said Wetteland. “I think this is the highest I’ve gotten at State. I wish I got higher but I think 5 ‘7 is good, especially since it tied me for first.”

It was Wetteland’s last high school meet and last time jumping alongside teammate and fellow senior Joy Anderson. Anderson came in fifth place with a jump of 5 ‘6, but also finished eighth in the 300m hurdles with a 42.39. 

Anderson was primarily a basketball player throughout high school but began to take track seriously once she recognized her talent. This year, she added hurdles to her event roster and has exceeded expectations by advancing all the way to State. Her  abilities as both a high jumper and hurdler have also attracted attention at the collegiate level.

“I’m just a person who loves learning and I just had so much to learn from track,” Anderson said. “I always want to find a way to improve. This year, it was my first year doing hurdles and I made it this far and I also did better in high jump than last year. I’m super proud of myself.”

It’s hard to define a season, particularly one that ends in a team’s last possible contest.

It’s just as hard to pick one moment in time that defines a championship match.

But being down 15-12 in the fourth set of Saturday’s CIF State Division 4 Boys Volleyball Championship, there’s little doubt the Mater Dei Catholic Crusaders will remember the following eight minutes for the rest of their lives.

The Crusaders went on a run for the ages, scoring 13 of the set’s next 14 points to earn a 25-18, 25-19, 20-25, 25-16 win over Livingston at Fresno City College in California’s first-ever state championship for the sport.

“I knew they wanted it just as bad as I did,” coach Marissa Ritchie said. “It’s very hard to coach a team with this dynamic and wanting it. I didn’t have to beg them to come to practice. They had to beg me basically. Open gyms, early mornings, they wanted this. Our goal was CIF, and we did so much more. This is them that they wanted this so bad.”

After winning back-to-back section titles, the goal for Mater Dei Catholic (33-10) became to hang its 12th state championship banner in Bosco Gym. It took a legion of mostly senior leaders to refocus the goal.

Senior outside hitter Oskar Manguy-Meza once again led the way with 14 kills, three aces and two stuff blocks. His kill on a D ball in transition tied the fourth set at 15-15 and marked the fifth spot on the court in which he recorded a kill.

“Watching their offense made me a little nervous at the start, but I had confidence in our back row defense since I know all the practices we’ve done on digging and out-of-system setting,” Manguy-Meza said. “I felt like the confidence we had in each other didn’t bother me as much since they had an athletic offense.”

Senior libero Ethan Bundang had 15 digs to lead the defensive effort.

Senior setter Aaron Wood went to his middles often against the Wolves (37-7), resulting in junior Derek Jacobo finishing second on the team with 10 kills while adding four stuff blocks.

Jacobo and senior Reagan Nicanor combined for five kills in set one as Wood set the middle often in a dominant win. Jacobo’s stuff block on match point ended it.

“Once we started to get that run toward the end, I felt really confident,” Jacobo said. “We just wanted to keep going. We just wanted to finish it. I was just so into that moment like, I want to finish this right now.”

Manguy-Meza and Jacobo combined on a stuff block for a 14-9 lead in the second set. They built a 22-15 lead, then took advantage of several Livingston errors to close it out.

Mater Dei Catholic couldn’t close in the third set. Senior outside hitter Liam Kingston (seven kills) put a ball away to close the gap to five but it wasn’t enough.

That set up the fourth. The Crusaders played from behind and appeared headed to a fifth until the heroics. Some of the highlights after Manguy-Meza’s D kill: two kills by Wood, stuff blocks by Wood and Jacobo, a kill by Jacobo, a rally-ending kill by Kingston and two back-row kills from junior Adrian Trevino, including an improbable roll shot to the deep corner.

The final eight points came with junior Alfredo Ceballos serving.

Championships are won with big plays at big moments but are built through hours of practices and competing. A process essentially two full years in the making — and whittled down to eight minutes — can now finish with a state title.

“We set our goal at the start of the season just to win the San Diego Section,” Kingston said. “Once we saw the brackets came out and saw the No. 1 seed, we had to get to work. We prepared in every way possible. This is an incredible experience.”

Originally Published: May 31, 2025 at 3:30 PM PDT