The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/105037
B-1 Wednesday, January 23, 2013 E-Mail Sports Items to: sports@pressdispatch.net Sports Tidbits From the Mini Mac By Mike Johansen T wo in a row—What an accomplishment for the Pike Central Chargers boys swimming team. Congratulations to the Chargers boys and girls swimming and diving teams for their great weekend at the Pocket Athletic Conference championships this past Saturday at Tecumseh High School. Also to the Chargers wrestling team for its work in the PAC championships at Heritage Hills where they improved from seventh a year ago to third this season! It was another great day for the Chargers boys swimming and diving team as they won their second PAC championship in a row. Head Coach Jason McKinney and Assistant Coach Mike Bohnert and all of the Chargers swimmers and divers should be very proud of their accomplishment. The coaches even got wet by diving into the pool after the meet! The girls, with no seniors, finished fifth in the PAC Meet with a good day of swimming and can also be proud of all they have accomplished. They work hard and work to get better each week and have improved and they will all be back next year. The best things about the boys and girls swimming teams is their sportsmanship and support of each other and others during the event and during the entire season. The Charger boys made sure the girls team joined in the celebration and took part in the championship activities. As I said last year and want to repeat it this year—Coaches Jason McKinney and Mike Bohnert teach sportsmanship along with competing hard to win and they value sportsmanship above all else and I think that is outstanding!! They don't yell at the kids— they teach them, challenge them and coach them to get better. This was a great year for Pike Central swimming. ******* Chargers wrestling Coach Billy Hewig along with assistants Chad Tharp, Rick Cannon and Hunter Manning led the Chargers to an improved year and an improved performance at the PAC going from seventh a year ago to third this season. They have a tough day ahead next Saturday in the Evansville Sectional, but I think they will have several wrestlers advance to the Castle Regional. They have shown a lot of improvement this season picking up some close dual meet wins and picking up wins over teams they would not have a year ago. The win over Washington was especially nice after losing one to Tell City just before Christmas. Washington, under former PC assistant John Thompson, is a tough program and beating them in a dual is a great accomplishment. Coach Hewig and his assistants have taught the kids to be tough, have improved their wrestling abilities and made them a much better team. Pike Central athletics, with such good coaches as those in swimming and wrestling, as well as in all the other sports, is in good hands. Athletic Director Roger Stuckey is a good leader and works hard to keep the programs moving forward. ******* While the boys and girls basketball teams are struggling this season, they are playing much better than last year and show improvement most of the time. The coaches will tell you there have been lapses, but the boys and girls on the team keep working hard to improve and get better and win more. Sometimes it just does not work out. The Lady Chargers had two of the toughest teams on the schedule last Thursday and Saturday and held their own for much of the game and did not let those teams really blow them off the court. They handled them at times and they had some good moments. That is a credit to the hard work of the girls and the hard work of Coaches Randy Graham, Brent Beck, Tim Crow and Valarie White! The boys basketball team has also shown improvement, but not found the consistency that they need to complete a game as yet. They are working hard to get better and they want to win more—and that counts for a lot. They already have a couple more wins than last year and will work hard to try to get a few more and that is all you can ask. Continued on page 2 The Pike Central High School Chargers display the first place plaque after winning the PAC meet by 115 points on Saturday. It was the second straight year the Chargers have won the PAC. Team members include Jorge Hurtado-Piedrahita, Aaron Keepes, Kyle Keepes, Colton Corlett, Brady Like, C.J. Popp, Maverick Henson, Ethan Rolens, Alex Keepes and Head Coach Jason McKinney and Assistant Coach Mike Bohnert. First again! Chargers win second straight PAC title By Mike Johansen It was a repeat all the way for the Pike Central Chargers boys swimming team as they qualified where they wanted and ended up capturing first place in eight events to dominate the Pocket Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving Meet on Saturday at Tecumseh High School for the second straight year. It was the first time the Chargers had won the PAC title on back-to-back seasons since 1994 and 1995. They did it in grand style, winning eight events, three more than last year, and accumulating 335 points, three more than last year, to beat Tell City by 115 points. It wasn't close from the beginning as the Chargers amassed a big lead early on and never let up, making sure no one would have a chance of even coming close. The Chargers scored 335 points, Tell City moved up from seventh to second and scored 220 points, Heritage Hills 181, Southridge 112, Tecumseh 110, Gibson Southern 99 and South Spencer dropped from second to seventh with 95 points. Forest Park and North Posey do not compete in boys swimming. The Chargers captured first place in all three relays and won the 200 yard individual medley event, 50 freestyle, the diving, 100 backstroke and 100 yard breaststroke. That was three more firsts than last season. The Chargers also had first and second place finishes in the 50, diving, 100 backstroke and 100 breaststroke. They Assistant Coach Mike Bohnert leads everyone into the pool for the celebration after a second straight PAC title for the boys swimming team at Pike Central. were second in the 200 freestyle, 100 freestyle and butterfly events and fourth in the 500 freestyle. "It was a great day and the boys really worked hard to win this meet. They showed their dedication and hard work by coming through in the finals and dominating the meet," said Pike Central head Coach Jason McKinney. One of the things we stressed was sportsmanship and supporting all of their teammates. The kids were out there yelling and encouraging every one of our boys and girls team members on when they were competing. They also showed great sportsmanship to the other teams. They kept a positive attitude throughput the season. "I am very proud of them for winning this championship for the second straight year," added the coach. The Chargers got the final day off to a good start when they dominated the 200 yard medley relay winning by five seconds over Tell City. Ethan Rolens, Alex Keepes, C.J. Popp and Aaron Keepes qualified first at 1 minute 59.15 seconds, five seconds ahead of Heritage Hills. They came back on Saturday with a time of 1:58.05, a little more than a second better, to win the finals with Tell City second in 2:03.45 and Heritage Hills placing third. The Chargers team of Maverick Henson, Popp, Brady Like and Paul Heldring just kept pulling further away during the 200 freestyle relay finals to win with a time of 1:40.52. They had qualified first at 1:41.52. Tell City was again second at 1:44.13 and Gibson Southern third. In the 400 yard freestyle relay it was Pike Central again on top by a good distance. Henson, Like, Rolens and Heldring had qualified in 3:48.83 with a five and a half second edge. They finished the finals in 3:46.96 with Tell City again second at 3:52.44 and Heritage Hills third in 3:56.77. Alex Keepes won the first individual gold for the Chargers in the 200 yard individual medley picking up first place in 2:29.75 with Logan Continued on Page B5