The Press-Dispatch
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B-6 Sports Wednesday, August 29, 2018 The Press-Dispatch Joey Ridao scored four goals and dished out two assists as the Pike Cen- tral Middle School boys' soccer team improved to 4-0 with a 7-0 victory over visiting South Knox on Wednesday, Aug. 22. Jonas Martinez and Austin Henson added two goals and one goal, respec- tively, while Nolan Nelson had two as- sists. "I'm very happy with my team's ef- fort against South Knox," Chargers head coach Tanner Gray said. "They had one chance to score in the first minute of the game, and we dominated from that point forward. I'm impressed with how well the team shared the ball. Joey Ridao is one of our best offensive threats and did a great job of getting the rest of the team involved. Austin Henson scored a beautiful goal that drifted over the goalie's head and into the side net of the goal." "At halftime, South Knox informed me they wouldn't have enough players for a B game, so we tried to get our sec- ond team some action in the second half," Gray added. "I'm very pleased with how they came in and played against older players." Pike Central, which hosted Mount Carmel, Ill., and Heritage Hills on Sat- urday, Aug. 25, and played at Jasper on Monday, Aug. 27, will travel to Vin- cennes Rivet on Wednesday, Aug. 29, before returning home to host Boon- ville on Thursday, Aug. 30. The Char- gers will play at Southridge on Tues- day, Sept. 4, and at South Knox on Wednesday, Sept. 5. GIRLS: Kennedy Willis scored three goals while Jaylynn Capehart, Lainey Leighty and Keena Young add- ed one each as the Pike Central Mid- dle School girls' soccer team improved to 5 -0 with a 6 -1 victory over visiting South Knox on Wednesday, Aug. 22. "The girls are having a great sea- son so far," Lady Chargers head coach Brittney Biesterveld said. "They are constantly working to improve their in- dividual skill sets and grow as a team. With this work ethic, we are excited to see where the rest of the season takes us." "As coaches, we are always working with the girls in order to improve their skills, so it's great to see the progress they make – especially in games," Bies- terveld added. "Coach Natalie Schnarr and I are fortunate to have a great mix of girls, from 5th to 8th grade. The ef- fort that they put in is showing and it is clear to us that with each practice and game we will continue to get better." Pike Central, which played at Wash- ington on Monday, Aug. 27, will visit Vincennes Rivet on Wednesday, Aug. 29, South Knox on Wednesday, Sept. 5, and Northeast Dubois on Thursday, Sept. 6. Goal by Ridao rallies Jr. Chargers for 1-1 tie at Jasper The Pike Central Middle School boys' soccer team battled host Jasper to a 1- 1 tie on Monday, Aug. 27. Joey Ridao scored the lone goal for the Chargers, while Gabe Jones recorded seven saves in goal. "We faced a very strong Jasper team," said Pike Central head coach Tanner Gray. "They were a well- coached team that test- ed our defense the whole game. Isaac Burdette and Xavier Shoultz were tough on the defensive end. Gabe Jones played his best game in goal so far this season. He made many tough saves and it was huge having so much confidence in our goal keeper." "Jasper scored first and put the pressure on us," Gray added. "We kept bat- tling and Joey Ridao found a goal. Coming back to get the tie and avoid the loss against Jasper is big for us. I'm very proud of the whole team's effort and focus." In the junior varsity con- test, the host Wildcats shut out Pike Central 7-0. "The result didn't go ex- actly how we wanted it to go, but the kids played re- ally hard and had a lot of minutes in the heat," said Chargers assistant coach Colin Mahoney. "Chase Denton made a lot of good saves and received a lot of compliments from the oth- er team on how well he played." "Cade Morgan and Aw- styn Luff improve their defense every game," Ma- honey continued. "Blake Cooper played really hard in the midfield. Cameron Roy and Andrew Woods created some chances to score but came up short. We had a lot of help from our subs off the bench, Max Burkhart and Elijah Sanders." Weisman places fourth as PCMS cross country teams open season at Southridge Sixth grader Xavery Weis- man placed fourth overall as the Pike Central Middle School girls' cross country team finished fourth in a six- team meet hosted by South- ridge on Tuesday, Aug. 21. Weisman completed the 2.1-mile race with a personal course record time of 12:26, besting her previous PCR time of 13:21 by 55 seconds. Sixth grader Kaylyn War- ner placed 20th with a per- sonal course record time of 14:07, besting her previous PCR time of 14:22 by 15 sec- onds; seventh grader Anna Whitehead placed 22nd with a personal course record time of 14:16, besting her previous PCR time of 15:00 by 44 seconds; sixth grad- er Eibhlin Teague placed 26th with a time of 14:49; seventh grader Ruby Sal- lee placed 28th with a time of 15:09; and sixth grader Isabella Luker placed 29th with a personal course re- cord time of 15:12, besting her previous PCR time of 15:19 by seven seconds. In addition, sixth grad- er Ella Hartke placed 31st with a personal course re- cord time of 15:18, best- ing her previous PCR time of 19:02 by 244 seconds; fourth grader Kylie Mey- er placed 42nd with a time of 16:05; fifth grader Gra- cie Hill placed 45th with a personal course record time of 16:51, besting her previ- ous PCR time of 17:29 by 38 seconds; and fourth grader Macy Hill placed 56th with a time of 18:47. As a team, Pike Cen- tral scored a total of 98 points, trailing Southridge (28 points), Heritage Hills (46) and Barr-Reeve (62). Springs Valley was fifth with 141 points. Shoals also par- ticipated but did not have enough runners to qualify for a team score. In the boys' race, eighth grader Dallas Reutepohler placed eighth overall with a personal record time of 12:05, besting his previous PR time of 12:07 by two sec- onds, as the Chargers fin- ished fifth as a team. Sixth grader Blaine Bar- nett placed 22nd with a per- sonal course record time of 12:59, besting his previous PCR time of 13:03 by four seconds; seventh grader Wyatt Luff placed 30th with a personal course record time of 13:46, besting his previous PCR time of 14:08 by 22 seconds; sixth grad- er Carter McCain placed 65th with a personal course record time of 19:30, best- ing his previous PCR time of 20 :56 by 86 seconds; and fifth grader Jacoby Smith placed 67th with a time of 20 :35. As a team, Pike Central scored 112 points, trailing Barr-Reeve (34 points), Heritage Hills (48), South- ridge (74) and Springs Val- ley (107). Shoals also par- ticipated but did not have enough runners to qualify for a team score. "The team began training for the 2018 season during the summer, and the long runs in the summer heat as well as early Saturday morn- ing practices sure shined through each of the athletes' performances tonight," Pike Central head coach Bridget Butcher said. "Pike Central came home with nine of our 15 athletes finishing in the top 30." Butcher said that, this season, the middle school cross country teams are fo- cusing on two mail goals. "The primary goal is men- tal toughness," Butcher ex- plained. "When lacing up and when running, each and every runner fights the urges and negative thoughts that live between their ears. The middle school cross country teams have designated this season to stopping those negative thoughts and reaching their peak performance. The sec- ond goal of the season is to gain confidence and belief in themselves." "The strong results from Tuesday night reflect the re- siliency and persistence my athletes are working on dai- ly to reach our team goals," Butcher added. Pike Central, which com- peted – along with Washing- ton – in a three-team meet hosted by North Knox on Tuesday, Aug. 28, will partic- ipate – along with Washing- ton – in a three-team meet being hosted by South Knox on Thursday, Aug. 30. On Saturday, Sept. 1, Pike Cen- tral will compete in the Fort Branch Invitational. On Tuesday, Sept. 4, Pike Central, along with Wash- ington, will participate in a three-team meet hosted by Jasper, before returning home to host South Spencer and Southridge on Thurs- day, Sept. 6, at Prides Creek Park. Stone, Teague lead PCHS girls' cross country team to third-place finish in Southridge Invitational By Ed Cahill Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net The moral of one of Ae- sop's fables, "The Tortoise and the Hare," is being taken to heart by the Pike Central High School girls' cross coun- try team this season. In the story, a tortoise named Slow and Steady chal- lenges the speedy Hare – who bragged about how fast he could run – to a race. Hare ran for a while, building up a huge lead, then paused to rest and, thinking that he had plenty of time to relax, fell asleep. Slow and Steady, however, never stopped walking. The animals who were watching the race cheered so loudly that they woke up Hare. Hare began to run again, but it was too late – Slow and Steady had crossed the finish line. "A fter that, Hare always re- minded himself, 'Don't brag about your lightning pace, for Slow and Steady won the race! '" the story concludes. A fter opening its season with a fourth-place finish in the Forest Park Invitational on Thursday, Aug. 16, Pike Central had two runners fin- ish in the top five while tak- ing third-place honors in the Southridge Invitational on Tuesday, Aug. 21. Five of the eight Lady Char- gers who participated in the four-team meet – senior Er- in Craig, sophomore Libby Stone and freshmen Lainey Johnson, Morgan Sallee and Quinlin Teague – bested their times from one week earlier while a sixth – sophomore Jenna Meyer – posted a per- sonal course record time. "We have been focusing on not starting out too fast so that their energy stays consis- tent," Pike Central head coach Josh Roach said. "It's a very difficult task to apply because it is so easy to get caught up in the race. You've got other runners starting out a much faster pace than their overall mile pace will be, so it's easy to feel like if you don't keep up with them early, you won't catch up." "But if you run the same pace as them overall, you are going to end up at the same spot at the same time," Roach continued. "Our goal is to delay the fatigue, so we are catching up and passing runners, while they are tir- ing out." Stone placed third out of 27 runners with a time of 23:38, beating her previous sea- son-best time of 24:37 by 59 seconds, while Teague placed fifth with a time of 24:06, beat- ing her previous season-best time of 24:44 by 38 seconds. "Libby started out much slower in this race than Thursday's race," Roach said. "She actually sat in about 12th after the first mile. But in that second mile, she caught up with Quinlin and they sat in fourth and fifth going into the last mile. In the end, Lib- by was able to catch up and pass third place." "Quinlin had another strong race as well," Roach added. "She started a little stronger than we had talk- ed about before the race, but she was able to hold onto that strength. She was right there at the end with an opportuni- ty to catch the girl after Lib- by did. It won't take long until she is making that same pass at the end." Meyer, meanwhile, placed 14th overall with a personal course record time of 25:52, beating her previous PCR time of 27:28 by 96 seconds; sophomore Charlotte Duden- hoeffer placed 17th over- all with a time of 26:46; and Craig placed 22nd with a time of 28:04, beating her previous season-best time of 28:44 by 40 seconds. In addition, Johnson placed 24th with a time of 30 :04, beating her previous sea- son-best time of 31:14 by 70 seconds; Sallee placed 25th with a time of 30 :13, beat- ing her previous season-best time of 30 :49 by 36 seconds; and freshman Morgan Ander- son placed 27th with a time of 34:10. "I've talked to a number of college runners and the num- ber one thing I hear back when they talk about things they wish they knew in high school is pacing," Roach said. "They all say they wish they knew how to pace themselves better early in the race and feel like it would have giv- en them a much better high school career. We really feel if we stick to this course, even through the difficult times, it will benefit us a lot in the long run." As a team, Pike Central scored 58 points, trailing Heritage Hills (33 points) and Southridge (45). Springs Val- ley was fourth with 86 points. Shoals also participated but did not have enough runners to qualify for a team score." HUFF, CHAMBERS PACE CHARGERS TO THIRD- PLACE FINISH Both senior Draven Huff and sophomore Ijaa Cham- bers placed in the top 10 as the boys' cross country team finished third. Huff took third place with a time of 18.10 seconds, beating his previous season-best time of 18:21 by 11 seconds. "Draven ran another strong race to finish in third," Roach said. "This is his favorite course. He runs very strong here and he never looks tired." Chambers, meanwhile, placed seventh with a time of 19:03, beating his previous season-best time of 19:27 by 24 seconds. "Ijaa improved his time as well as he is rounding into shape," Roach said. In addition, sophomore Colt Armstrong placed 20th with a time of 21:38, beat- ing his previous season-best time of 22:03 by 25 seconds; sophomore Trent Zimmer- man placed 21st with a time of 21:49, beating his previous season-best time of 22:20 by 31 seconds; junior Sam The- ising placed 24th with a time of 22:13, beating his previous season-best time of 22:58 by 45 seconds; junior A.J. Hill placed 26th with a time of 22:56; sophomore Ethan Gor- by placed 27th with a time of 23:06; sophomore Noah Rus- sell placed 31st with a time of 26:57; and sophomore Lane Potts placed 32nd with a time of 27:00. "Our boys are still work- ing and applying the lessons they are learning," Roach said. "They all felt like they improved since Thursday. We are really working to shrink that gap from our 2 runners to our 3, 4 and 5 runners. They are committed to the process day in and day out. As long as they stay committed, the big rewards will come." "We feel like the 3, 4, 5 run- ners are shrinking the gap a little bit but they still have a long way to go," Roach add- ed. "The good thing is that there is a lot of competition for those spots, so they will push each other every single day in practice and during the meets." As a team, Pike Central scored 75 points, trailing Southridge (34 points) and Heritage Hills (41). Springs Valley was third with 83 points. Shoals also partici- pated but did not have enough runners to qualify for a team score. Pike Central, which com- peted in a dual meet hosted by North Knox on Tuesday, Aug. 28, will participate in the Alan Hopewell Invitational at Gibson Southern on Thurs- day, Aug. 30, before return- ing home to host a four-team meet against North Daviess, South Knox and Washington Catholic on Tuesday, Sept. 4, at Prides Creek Park. PCMS soccer teams sweep past South Knox Pike Central Middle School's Quintin Sanders (right) and South Knox's Jackson Thom- as (left) jostle for position while going after the ball during boys' soccer action on Wednesday, Aug. 22. The host Chargers won 7-0. Ed Cahill photo Above: Pike Central Mid- dle School's Joey Ridao push- es the ball up the field during boys' soccer action against vis- iting South Knox on Wednes- day, Aug. 22. Ridao scored four goals and dished out two assists in the Chargers' 7-0 victory. Ed Cahill photo Top left: Pike Central Middle School's Jonas Martinez fires a shot on goal as South Knox's Justin Siewers (11) pursues during boys' soccer action on Wednesday, Aug. 22. Martinez scored two goals in the Char- gers' 7-0 victory. Ed Cahill photo Left: Pike Central Middle School's Kya Leighty (left) tries to push the ball past a South Knox defender during girls' soc- cer action on Wednesday, Aug. 22. The host Lady Chargers won 6-1 to improve to 5-0. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central Middle School's Jasmine Leighty (right) battles South Knox's Taylor Medlen (left) for control of the ball during girls' soccer action on Wednesday, Aug. 22. The host Lady Chargers won 6-1 to im- prove to 5-0. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central Middle School's Lillian Thompson (left) tries to take the ball away from South Knox's Delaney Foley (19) during girls' soccer action on Wednesday, Aug. 22. The host Lady Chargers won 6-1 to im- prove to 5-0. Ed Cahill photo