The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1014770
The Press-Dispatch Fall Sports Preview Wednesday, August 15, 2018 D-11 country." Ijaa (Chambers) had a great freshman year, almost broke the freshman record and looks hungrier than ever to improve. "A.J. Hill and Sam The- ising ( juniors) stepped up late last year and actual- ly ran well at sectional and look like they have improved even more since then. Sam and Colt Armstrong are both sprinters in track sea- son so they take a little lon- ger to get back into dis- tance shape, but we know they will provide a lot for us. Lane Potts also returns for us. He has a lot of poten- tial to take a big leap this year. He was running fast- er as a freshman last year than a lot of the upperclass- men did as a freshman. He just had a strong group in front of him. He could make a very big jump this year and surprise some people. "New runners Trent Zim- merman and Noah Rus- sell (sophomores) both ran track for me as freshman last year and Ethan Gorby played basketball for me. They are new to this sport but have done great in prac- tice both at adapting and im- proving." One senior, Draven Huff, three juniors and six sopho- mores comprise the 10 man Charger cross country team for 2018. Theising, Woolery and Hill make up the junior contingent and Armstrong, Gorby, Chambers, Potts, Russell and Zimmerman are the sophomores. Head coach Josh Roach is assisted by Wil Teague and Joe Chamberlain. Amelia Bailey and Austin Goodrid are the team managers. The first meet of the sea- son is this Thursday, Au- gust 16, at Cedar Crest with Forest Park, Castle, Craw- ford County, Heritage Hills, Jasper, South Spencer, Te- cumseh and Wood Memo- rial. The Southridge High School invitational is next on August 21 followed by North Knox on August 28, also on the road. The Alan Hopewell Class Invitational is hosted at Gibson Southern High School on August 30. Following the Tuesday, September 4, home meet, the Chargers travel to the Princeton Invitational on September 11. The South Knox Invite follows on Sat- urday, August 15, and then the Barr-Reeve invitational is Tuesday, September 18. The 24-team Pike Central Invitational is kicked off at 10 :30 a.m. on September 22 and a week later the teams head to the PAC champion- ships on September 29. The next two Saturdays are IH- SA A sectional and region- al events. JR VARSITY FRESHMEN Pictured above is the 2018-19 Pike Central High School junior varsity volleyball team. They are, first row, left to right: Addison Faulk, Bailey Brenton, Madison Riley, Jaize Mills and Alaina Mc- Clellan. Second row: Kayla Gladish, Zoey Davis, Lily Willis, Kenzie Powell, Morgan Blackburn and Makayla Thorne. Third row: Assistant Coach Tina Vinnedge, Neeley Correll, Riley Morgan, Maddie Williams, Erika Vinnedge, Addie Johnson, Madalynn Lamey, Shelby Ridao and Head Coach Brandi Chestnut. Ed Cahill photo Pictured above is the 2018-19 Pike Central High School freshmen volleyball team. They are, first row, left to right: Madison Riley, Jaize Mills and Morgan Blackburn. Second row: Assistant Coach Tina Vinnedge, Addison Faulk, Kayla Gladish, Erika Vinnedge, Madalynn Lamey, Alaina McClellan and Head Coach Brandi Chestnut. Ed Cahill photo SOCCER Continued from page D-4 STEP UP Continued from page D-9 RETURN Continued from page D-9 SERVE Continued from page D-10 we've got five or six guys that can be between 15 and 20," Jacob Western said. "So it's going to be a little more spread out, but I think we'll still have a lot of offensive firepower." Jacob Western said that a second straight PAC championship is one of the team's goals, but knows that it will be more of a challenge this sea- son than it was last season, when the Chargers posted their first-ever win over Heritage Hills as well as the pro- gram's second straight over Gibson Southern while outscoring seven PAC foes 24-0. "We're definitely going to have a target on our back this year," he said. "It's something we've been preach- ing to the kids, is, we're not the same players but there's been teams that we beat in the past that are going to remember us and want to try to put it on us. So we're taking that to heart." The Chargers, who opened its sea- son at Tell City on Tuesday, Aug. 14, will return home to host Washington Catholic on Tuesday, Aug. 21. "A new team, same expectations for the most part," Jacob Western said. "We may stumble one or two times, but I think by the end of the season we're going to be playing good soccer and be able to compete in the sectional." Jacob Western is being assisted this year by Josh Stieneker, who will also coach the junior varsity. His fa- ther, Chad Western, will serve as a volunteer assistant coach. are not to be taken lightly. It should be a very exciting year for both sides." Roach's third year as head coach sports two se- niors, one junior, four soph- omores and four freshmen. Erin Craig and Madison Peer are the two seniors and Shelby Vaughn is the lone ju- nior. Jenna Meyer, Lauren Young and Libby Stone com- prise the sophomore group and Laney Johnson, Mor- gan Anderson, Morgan Sal- lee and Quinlan Teague are the freshmen. Roach is assisted by Wil Teague and Joe Chamber- lain. Amelia Bailey and Austin Goodrid are man- agers for the Charger cross country. Charger cross country opens on Thursday, Au- gust 16, at Cedar Crest with 10 schools in the mix. Au- gust 21 the teams travel to the Southridge High School Invitational and then go to North Knox August 28 pri- or to the Tuesday, August 30 Alan Hopewell Invitational at Gibson Southern. A quad meet at North Knox is Sep- tember 4 and then the Princ- eton Invitational comes in- to play September 11. The South Knox Invitational is September 15 followed by the Barr-Reeve Invitational September 18. The Pike Central Invi- tational is set for Satur- day, September 22 and fea- tures two dozen teams from Evansville and Southwest- ern Indiana. The Pocket Athletic Conference cham- pionships are Saturday, Sep- tember 29 followed by the sectional on Saturday, Oc- tober 6. 625 N. Ninth St., Petersburg Phone: 812-354-8776 Wishing all Pike Central Chargers the best of luck this season. Go CharGers! out of them, and that's really big in a team. Often times, there's people you can rely on and there's people you can't, but I feel like, with this group, no matter who we put in, we're going to get the same results." "I really think our hitting has come along pretty well, and the serving, too," Chestnut added. "If we can hit our spots on the court with the serve, make the other team work for the ball, and then set our hitters up to put it back down, that's all we could ask from them." Chestnut said that she was also pleased with how her team is play- ing defensively. "We've been working on their cov- erage," Chestnut said. "We've been working on running down balls that are maybe shot to the corners, so that we can get them back up and put them back in play." "We've got some pretty strong mid- dles, and we've got pretty strong out- sides that can block the ball," Chest- nut added. "So I think, defensively, we'll be pretty good." Chestnut said that another area that she has tried to focus on is pre- paring her team both physically and mentally for the season. "I think a lot of their losses last year had to do with becoming fa- tigued in the third set if they were down two sets to none, or even in the fifth set," Chestnut said. "I think a lot of it had to do with de-condition- ing and fatigue. So all of our focus this summer was on conditioning, it was about endurance training and trying to keep them conditioned to keep going in the fifth set for the win- ning point." To help prepare her team mentally, Chestnut uses game-like situations during practice. "We put a score on the board," Chestnut explained. "They might be down three or four points and we tell them it's the third set and you guys are down two sets to none, so you have to win this game to continue." "I think a lot of it is just their men- tality to keep going, that it's not over with," Chestnut added. "This game is 90 percent mental and 10 percent physical, so you've really got to have a good head on your shoulders and clear your head to continue going, continue fighting." Chestnut said that her goals this season includes finishing with a won- loss record at or above .500 – which would end nine straight losing sea- sons since the Lady Chargers were 17-13 in 2008. "Anything below that is not accept- able," Chestnut said. "We host sec- tional this year, so we would like to have a sectional win on our home court, because who knows when we'll get to host that again. Those are my two main goals." The Lady Chargers' junior varsity team features 10 sophomores – John- son, Powell, Bailey Brenton, Neeley Correll, Zoey Davis, Riley Morgan, Shelby Ridao, Makayla Thorne, Mad- die Williams and Lily Willis – and eight freshmen – Morgan Blackburn, Addie Faulk, Kayla Gladish, Maddy Lamey, Alaina McClellan, Jaize Mills, Madison Riley and Erika Vinnedge. MKT-5894I-A :HµVXSSRUWµWKHµ3LNH &HQWUDOµ&KDUJHUV 7RP:LOOLV 'JOBODJBM"EWJTPS /7JODFOOFT"WFOVF 1FUFSTCVSH*/ ZZZHGZDUGMRQHVFRP 0HPEHU6,3& 12TH & MAIN STREETS, PETERSBURG 812-354-6000 FICKLIN AUTO SUPPLY GOOD LUCK CHARGERS! WE WISH YOU A VERY SUCCESSFUL SEASON! WE HAVE QUALITY PARTS FOR DOMESTIC VEHICLES AND IMPORTS, TOO! NOW YOUR AREA'S EXCLUSIVE NAPA DEALER!