Horace Blankenship

The Berkeley Springs High School girls and boys track teams traveled to Hancock, Md., on Thursday, April 5, for a quadrangular meet against Hancock, Southern Fulton, Pa. and Smithsburg, Md.

All teams battled cold, windy conditions. But even with the snow flying and wind howling the Berkeley Springs girls finished first with 123 points and the boys second, 1.5 points behind Smithsburg.

Both the Berkeley Springs girls and boys tennis teams lost to Musselman on Monday, April 12 in Bunker Hill. The girls were shut out by the Lady Applemen 7-0, while the boys lost 6-1.

Eric Lyda, the number one singles player for the Tribe, defeated Cort Grubb 8-2 for the only win on the day. John Body defeated Logan Lyda 8-5, Ben Sencindiver downed Dan West 8-0 and Chris Hile defeated Ian Whibley. Lyda and Lyda fell to Grubb and Boyd 8-2 in the number one doubles match, Hite and Senscindiver edged Whibley and Josh Wise 7-7 (7-2), while Clay Raines and Carl Schultz defeated West and John Gordon 8-1.

Berkeley Springs climbed over the .500 mark in girls' softball, winning five of seven games last week, including a double header sweep of visiting East Hardy on Saturday, April 7.

"This double header sweep was much needed," said Berkeley Springs coach Greg Brown. They came in with a winning record and we took care of business. Sam Zahnow and Katie Kesecker did a great job on the mound."

After opening the season with two losses, the Berkeley Springs High School baseball team rebounded with six wins against just one loss last week. They opened the week with a double header sweep of Frankfort on Monday, April 2 by respective scores of 8-6 and 10-2. The Indians then split a double with Hampshire County on Wednesday, winning the first game 9-8 and dropping the nightcap 9-7, before defeating Southern Fulton the following day 9-1. The week ended with a sweep of East Hardy on Saturday, April 7, winning the first game 11-1 and then receiving a forfeit in the second game.

"I think we're starting to come together as a team," said Berkeley Springs coach Trey Barcus. "We have our spring trip coming up this week and we want to carry this momentum throughout the trip."

The Berkeley Springs High School baseball team opened its season last week with losses to Clear Spring and Martinsburg.

After having several games postponed because of weather, the Indians finally made its season debut on Monday, March 26, in Clear Spring, Md. Berkeley Springs was defeated by the Blazers 6-3, after jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the top half of the first inning.

After the first week of the high school softball season, Berkeley Springs stands 1-3 on the year. The Indians dropped a pair of games to Martinsburg and the other to Jefferson County. The lone win came over the weekend with Berkeley Springs pulling out a hard earned 7-6 victory over Moorefield, at the Gene Baker Tournament in Martinsburg.

Berkeley Springs High School opened its track and field season on Saturday, March 24, at the 13-team Jim Taylor Relays held in Shenandoah Junction. The girls team placed second, while the boys team finished fourth.

It was an opportunity for the athletes to taste competition and for the coaches to start putting pieces of the puzzle together.

Mother Nature dumped several inches of snow on Friday, March 16. The late snow, coupled with below average temperatures kept the baseball and softball diamonds throughout the Tri-State region covered for several days.

Eventually the snow melted and we had a couple of warm, sunny days that allowed officials to prepare the diamonds for play. But, once again the weather failed to cooperate, as rain on both Friday and Saturday, of last week, prevented Berkeley Springs High School's softball and baseball teams from opening their respective seasons.

Beilein will likely have options

Several high-profile men's Division 1 coaching jobs have come open within the past couple of weeks, none more attractive than the University of Kentucky. Michigan and Iowa, two other high-profile programs, also have current vacancies with others likely to open when the dominoes start to fall.

University of Louisville sophomore, and Berkeley Springs High School graduate, Tone Belt added to his already impressive resume by winning the NCAA Division 1 Indoor long jump title at the NCAA Division 1 Indoor Track and Field Championships at the Randall Tyson Track Center at the University of Arkansas on Friday, March 9,

Belt, who was just named the most outstanding field athlete in the Southeast Region the previous week, easily defeated the field of sixteen competitors who had qualified for the national meet. Belt's winning jump of 26 feet 1.75 inches, was a personal indoor best and five and one-half inches further than his nearest competitor.