Father Ryan High School’s boys soccer team finished the 2021 season one win shy of a state championship, while senior Brock Carlson’s second place finish in the shot put led the Ryan boys track and field team to a fifth-place finish in the team standings for the state meet.
Both performances were part of the annual TSSAA Spring Fling championships for spring sports.
The Ryan soccer team advanced to the Division II-AA championship after besting Baylor in the semifinals 3-2 in a penalty kick shootout.
Harrison Kraus scored twice for the Irish, the first at 25:49 to tie the score at 1-1, and the second to tie the score at 2-2 at 71:44.
After regulation and extra time ended with the score still knotted at 2-2, the two teams headed to the shootout.
Kraus, Austin Ignatz and Brett Kaley all made their attempts to give Ryan a 3-1 advantage in the shootout and the win.
In the championship game, Father Ryan fell to Christian Brothers High School of Memphis 2-1.
Johnny Drouillard put Christian Brothers on top 1-0 at the 20:05 mark when he poked in a rebound off a free kick.
Father Ryan’s Reece Rayhab tied the score in the game’s 61st minute when he followed a corner kick by knocking the ball past the goalkeeper.
David Martin answered at 69:07 by heading a corner kick into the goal at the near post, giving Christian Brothers the 2-1 lead that would hold up for the win and the state championship.
In the boys track and field state meet, Carlson took second place in the shot put with a throw of 57 feet, 4 inches. He also finished fourth in the discus with a throw of 155 feet, 9.5 inches. Sophomore Drake Carlson took fifth place for Father Ryan with a throw of 155 feet, 6 inches.
In other results for the Father Ryan team:
Junior Ciro Albamont finished third in the 1600-meter run; the 4×200 meter relay team of Andrew Cathey, Alex Ford, James Reed and Christian Smith finished third, a half-second behind the winning team from Christian Brothers; the 4×100 meter relay team of Reed, Ford, Richard Bryant and Smith, third, a half-second behind the winning team from McCallie; freshman Charlie Becker finished fourth in the 300-meter hurdles and sixth in the 110-meter hurdles; Junior James Reed, fifth in the 100-meter dash; senior Ian Jones, sixth in the 400-meter run; junior Aidan Nix, seventh in both the 1600-meter run and 3200-meter run; junior Alex Ford, seventh, 200-meter dash; 4×400-meter relay team of Jones, Ford, Reed and Albamont, seventh; 4×800 relay team of Colin Knapp, Michael LeClair, Carson Spalding and Will Thompson, eighth.
Father Ryan finished fifth in the team standings.
For Pope John Paul II High School, the 4×400 meter relay team of Erik Backstrom, Gavin Sellers, James Dugger and Harrison Cline finished seventh, and Backstrom, a senior, finished 13th in the decathlon. JPII finished 12th in the team standings.
In the girls track and field Division II-AA state meet, JPII senior Keonna Chumbley finished fourth in the 400-meter dash.
Other results for JPII included: senior Leanna Pearson, sixth in the long jump; the 4×200 meter relay team of Chumbley, Pearson, Callie Goodwin and Adrianna Cadena finished sixth; the 4×100 meter relay team of Camaya Keaton, Bethany Howard, Goodwin and Jada Dorsey finished seventh; and freshman Shealee Smith finished 20th in the pentathlon.
Results for Father Ryan included: the 4×800 relay team of Katie Knapp, Jackie Brunet, Stella Harrison and Grace Feltner finished third; senior Andi Miller, fifth in the shot put and seventh in the discus; freshman Katie Knapp, sixth in the 3200-meter run.
It was a busy spring for Knapp, who graduated this spring. She helped the 4×800 relay team qualify for the state meet by winning the sectional meet. After finishing her leg of the relay, she bolted off the track and hurried back to Father Ryan to sing at the Baccalaureate Mass as part of the school choir.
St. Cecilia Academy’s 4×800 relay team of sophomores Emery Hart, Jessica Epstein and Stella Perazzini and freshman Chloe Crosslin finished seventh.
In the team standings, Father Ryan finished 11th, JPII 12th, and St. Cecilia 16th.
