The Press-Dispatch
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B-6 Sports Wednesday, September 18, 2019 The Press-Dispatch PCHS XC fourth at Heritage Hills Invite By Dennis Marshall Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net The Pike Central cross country teams competed in the Heritage Hills Invite on Saturday, Sept. 14. Each team finished fourth with five boys' team competing and nine girls' teams competing. Gibson Southern won the boys' and girls' divi- sions with scores of 32 and 55, respectively. The Titans' boys were followed by Reitz (46), Heritage Hills (57), Pike Central (97) and Tecum - seh (129). Boonville, Sig- nature School, Springs Valley, Crawford County and South Spencer did not have enough runners finish the race to record a team score. Gibson Southern's Zach Purcell finished first indi- vidually in a time of 16 min- utes and 25 seconds. Nate Woolery was Pike Central's top finisher. He was sixth in a time of 17:04, which was a person- al record. Peyton Chanley also set a personal record. He fin- ished 18th with a time of 18:41. Trent Zimmerman and A.J. Hill each set their best times of the season. Zimmerman was 28th in 19:37 and Hill was 29th in 19:43. Ethan Gorby and Dallas Reutepohler also set personal records. Gorby was 30th in 19:46 and Reutepohler was 37th in 20 :14. The Chargers' other fin- ishers were Noah Russell at 48th in 21:29, Sam The- ising at 52nd in 21:51 and Lane Potts at 60th in 24:49. "They competed very well," Pike Central coach Josh Roach said. "They are staying true to the lit- tle things and are showing improvement consistently, with seven of our nine run- ners having either season bests or personal records at this race. It's very reward- ing for them to see these improvements because of the work they put in. How- ever, we have to keep work- ing and keep making im- provements. They know that they still have a long way to go and they are de- termined to work to get there. But often times, we forget to stop and look how far we've already gotten, so today was a nice day to re- mind them of that." Roach said Woolery's work and dedication to the process sets the example for the rest of the team. "He continues to stay true to it, even through all of the things he has been through in his career," he said. "This year has final- ly started to let him prove to himself how worthy of the rewards he is. He set a personal record Saturday and that really feels like just the start for him as we continue through the rest of the season. That energy has trickled down. Peyton Chanley sees that and he is determined to improve, which led to a new personal record for him, too. Ethan, A.J. and Trent see that and they know they need to work harder to get closer to the front of the pack. They know that will help them- selves and our team. That led to more season bests and personal records out of them. One through nine, all of our boys are improv- ing every day and it's excit- ing to see." The Titans' girls were followed by Reitz (84), Her- itage Hills (90), Pike Cen- tral (98), Tecumseh (134), Signature School (151), Boonville (171), Springs Valley (181) and Crawford County (184). South Spen- cer did not record a team score. Boonville's Emma Gresham was the top fin- isher on the girls' side. Libby Stone was the Chargers' top perform- er. She was 11th in 21:55. Quinlan Teague was far be- hind at 15th in 22:26. Charlotte Dudenhoeffer ran her best time of season and finished 23rd in 23:09. Laney Johnson was right behind her at 24th in 23:11. Jenna Meyer and Mor- gan Anderson finished 28th in 23:25 and 29th in 23:26, respectively. Kenne- dy Willis was 45th in 24:36, Shelby Vaughn was 52nd in 25:25, Lexie Neese was 58th in 25:59 and Morgan Sallee was 70th in 28:28. "We saw a lot of consis- tency among the girls from last Saturday to this Satur- day," Roach said. "That will play a huge role into how much they can improve from now into the end of the season. Something these girls have to real- ize is that they raced these times, coming off of the hot race we had Tuesday. This means that we were still re- covering. "A lot of the other teams in this race hadn't raced since last Saturday or even longer. They were fully fresh and we went out and competed well every step of the way with them. This will help down the road as our schedule starts to space out more and we go into the races fully recov- ered as well." Pike Central also hosted a four-way meet on Tues- day, Sept. 10, at Prides Creek Golf Course. "It was a hot one and our times were reflective in that," Roach said. "Effort was great even through the heat, but it definitely played a factor in our mind- set. I think we can learn a lot from this meet about how to approach things when they are hard. It was definitely the hardest meet they have had to run all year, but we can't make ex- cuses. We have to keep get- ting better and approach every obstacle, like the heat, as a way to do that. Those that learn from this race, will definitely have an advantage going forward." South Knox won the boys' competition with a score of 15. They were fol- lowed by Pike Central (60) and North Daviess (65). Washington Catholic did not record a team score. The Spartans' Oliver Smith finished first indi- vidually in 18:51. The Chargers' finishers were Woolery at seventh in 20 :57, Gorby at 12th in 22:23, Zimmerman at 13th in 22:28, Hill at 15th in 22:46, Reutepohler at 17th in 23:19, Theising at 21st in 22:53 and Russell at 26th in 28:06. South Knox also won the girls' division with a score of 15. Pike Central was sec- ond with a 56 and North Daviess was third with a 73. The Spartans' MyKayla Couchenour won the girls' race in 21:37. Stone was the Char- gers' top finisher at 10th in 25:09. She was followed by Willis at 11th in 25:15, Teague at 12th in 25:16 and Johnson at 13th in 25:15. Pike Central's other run- ners were Dudenhoeffer at 16th in 26:39, Meyer at 17th in 26:46, Vaughn at 20th in 27:46, Anderson at 23rd in 29:16, Neese at 24th in 29:39 and Sallee at 25th in 31:20. By Dennis Marshall Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net It was a rough week for the Pike Central boys' soccer team, losing four straight matches before getting back on track with a 6 -0 victory over Princeton on Monday, Sept. 16. The Chargers (6 -5 -1) avenge a 1-0 loss to the Ti- gers (7-2-0) that started the losing streak on Saturday, Sept. 7, with the victory on their home field. "Last night, we got back in the win column," Pike Central head coach Jacob Western said. "It felt good to get back on the right track, it was a mix of ex- citement and relief after the game. We wanted to come out early and set the tone." Ethan Scott led the Char- gers with four goals. Con- nor Young and Sam Henson each added one goal with Gabe Caldwell (2), Isaac Burette (1), Xavier Shoul- tz, Devin Carlisle and Jo- ey Ridao dishing out the assists. Noah Whann and Pey- ton Howald each saw time in goal for Pike Central. Whann finished with six saves, while Howald had three. The team had been suf- fering some major setbacks up until that point. Pike Central lost 3-0 to South Knox (11-0 -0) on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 3-0 at North Posey (5 -3-1) on Thursday, Sept. 12, and 4-0 at Forest Park (4-5 -2) on Saturday, Sept. 14. "It was a rough week for us, we were battling inju- ries and two starters were out the whole week and a couple others were limited with what they could do," Western said. "The results were not what we wanted, but some other guys got some valuable experience. I am proud of how the guys responded, they were frus- trated, but they didn't let it change their mindset. They came to practice everyday wanting to get better and fix the things we needed to." Pike Central will host Heritage Hills (6 -1-2) on Thursday, Sept. 19, and be on the road against North- east Dubois (3-5 -1) on Mon- day, Sept. 23. Pike Central boys' soccer stops skid against Princeton Pike Central's Ethan Scott breaks away for a goal against Tell City on Monday, Sept. 16. Chargers' freshman Nolan Nelson attempts a long pass to a teammate in Pike Central's 6-0 vic- tory against Tell City on Monday, Sept. 16. Pike Central's Conner Young battles a Tell City player for possession on Monday, Sept. 16. The Chargers' Sam Henson battles for posses- sion on Monday, Sept. 16 against Tell City. Pike Central's Ethan Scott lines up to shoot a goal in the Chargers' 6-0 win over Tell City on Monday, Sept. 16.