By Brad Hallier
HAYSVILLE, Kan. – If anyone expected the Hutchinson High boys basketball team to be in rebuild mode this season, they are sorely mistaken.
Tuesday at Campus, Taishaun Govain scored the go-ahead basket with one second left on a goaltending call, and the Salthawks enter the holiday break undefeated after beating Campus 51-49.
The 5-0 Salthawks, which went 22-3 last season and reached the Class 5A state semifinals but graduated a good senior class, are ranked No. 5 in 5A and won their previous four games by an average of nearly 16 points a game. Hutchinson is one of three undefeated teams remaining in 5A West, along with second-ranked Kapaun Mount Carmel and No. 1 Maize South.
Campus proved to be Hutchinson’s toughest test yet. Ranked No. 10 in 6A, Campus led by double digits in the third quarter, but the Salthawks ended the quarter strong. That set the table for an exciting fourth quarter that ended with Govain’s winning points, which came after a slick pass from Jax Heneha.
Terrell King led Hutchinson with 17 points. Govain added 13 and Heneha had 10.
Girls basketball – The Salthawks had little trouble with Campus on Tuesday, winning 52-18 and improving to 4-1.
Grace Posch poured in a game-high 19 points, all coming in the first three quarters. Kaia Smith scored 12 points and Lily Rodriguez added 11 points for the Salthawks, who led 31-6 at halftime.
Boys wrestling – The Salthawks had a good performance on Saturday, taking second place at a tournament in Emporia.
The Salthawks finished with 188 points, behind Emporia’s 233.
Two Salthawks won championships, including Kade Smith at 157 pounds and Camden Jensen at 285 pounds. Smith won three matches by pin, spending less than seven minutes on the mat total. Jensen also dominated his opposition with two pins and one major decision.
Jose Zuniga (126) and Jade Vetter (132) also reached their respective championship matches but lost.
Boys swimming – The Salthawks won three relays Thursday at Wichita Heights.
The Salthawks won the 400-yard freestyle relay, the 200-yard relay and the 400-yard medley relay.
The 400 freestyle team of Trent McClelland, Zion Hayes, Lakin Franz and Logan Most won with a time of 3 minutes, 34.91 seconds. The team won the event by more than 7 seconds.
The 200 relay team of Ethan Nicholsm Gibson Malashcuck, Tate Collins and Griffin Davenport win in a time of 2:16.25. The team won the event by nearly 8 seconds.
The 400 medley relay team of Hayes, Jordan Graham, Franz and Most won in a time of 4:38.4. That also was a comfortable win by more than 6 seconds.
