The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/107941
B-1 Wednesday, February 6, 2013 E-Mail Sports Items to: sports@pressdispatch.net Sports Tidbits From the Mini Mac By Mike Johansen C ongratulations to Dalton Miller, Pike Central 285 pound wrestler who qualified for Semi-state this week. He beat Nathan Wright of Evansville Mater Dei 8-4 in the semifinals and lost to Austin Little of North Posey 2-0, one move from a Regional title. He now tries for state this weekend at the Ford Center in Evansville and we wish him luck!!!! GOOOOOOO DALTON!!!!!!!! ******* I do not know what type of experience the other Pike Central fans had driving home last Thursday night after attending the Girls Sectional Swimming qualifier night, but mine was a harrowing trip on ice and snow covered roads!!! If my hair was not already gray, it would be after that drive. I checked the weather forecast just before heading out to Jasper from Petersburg and they said the snow and any icing along with it would be south of I-64 and most of it in Kentucky. So, I decided to go to the Swimming Sectional preliminary round to get photos as is my custom. It was snowing in Petersburg when I headed out about 5:30, that should have given me a clue what the night was going to be like. The Lady Chargers did a great job in the Sectional prelims with several qualifying for the finals and several girls having their best performances of the season. With about four or five events left, I wasn't going to stay for the 400 relay anyway, the Jasper people announced that the weather was getting worse with snow falling in Jasper. I figured a half hour or so would not make any difference and that driving in snow was not that bad. Well, the first clue was my car covered in snow and ice on some of the windows. That was not hard to clear off and I was underway in about 10 minutes after warming the car up. Boy, it was a lot worse on the roads than I thought it would be. It was not only snow, but ice as well. The roads were covered. On the big hill on the edge of Jasper was a road block. A semi with a trailer had tried to go up the hill, the road was too slick and he didn't make it up. The truck was stuck about half way on that hill by the woods before the Methodist Church (heading out), fortunately in the inbound lane. They let one side go at a time for traffic and going down that hill was something else. The 10-15 miles an hour was almost too fast as I slid once on the icy road when applying my brakes. Fortunately, I was able to keep control and was going slow enough to stop sliding around and start moving ahead in a straight line, well as straight as the road. The rest of the trip was no easy affair either as the roads all the way, 22 miles, to Petersburg were ice covered and some areas were covered with drifting snow. I am sure some other drivers may have been frustrated by my slow but steady pace. However, I was not alone—other vehicles going the other direction were inching along as well. I moved along most of the time at 20-25 miles an hour and a couple of times really got up speed to 30 mph. A couple of times I dropped just below 20 as well. I only saw one vehicle off the road in the Cato area near the Boy Scout camp turnoff. It took about an hour from Jasper to home and I was worn out from being on edge while driving that distance. I am sure that other drivers heading home that night had the same nerve wracking drives. I was not surprised when school was cancelled Friday and the Homecoming festivities had to be moved to Feb. 15 home game with Forest Park. The roads were just too bad in the morning as well. When the sun came out, even though it was very cold, it did melt the snow and ice off the highways and side streets. It wasn't Jasper's fault, they did let us know about the weather. It was not an experience I would care to repeat and not one I would like to have had for a longer trip. It was not nice out Thursday night! ******* Here is some information about a way to help Pike Central High School athletics by joining up with an Internet company in Pike County. SITCO High Speed Internet is Continued on Page B2 Pike Central heavyweight Dalton Miller has Nathan Wright of Evansville Mater Dei, the fifth ranked heavyweight in the state, in trouble and on his back. Only the buzzer to end the second period kept him from being pinned. Miller beat him 8-4 at the Regional. Miller going to Semistate Roberson and Phillips just miss on advancing By Mike Johansen Dalton Miller is going to Semistate after beating the Mater Dei Heavyweight in the semifinals and finishing second in the IHSAA Regional at Castle High School on Saturday. The luck was not as good for Mason Roberson and Devin Phillips. Miller became the only Charger to head to Semistate with his second place finish in the 285 pound or heavyweight division Saturday at the Castle Regional. It is Miller's second straight Semistate appearance. This was the first year Pike Central had been assigned to the Evansville Sectional and Castle Regional. For many years they had been assigned to Southridge for the Sectional and Jeffersonville for the Regional. This year several schools were shifted around as well with the Southridge Sectional now going to Bloomington South. The Sectional and Regional Pike Central is in now includes all of the Evansville schools as well as several other Southeastern Indiana schools. The winners from this Regional, the Bloomington South Regional and Regionals at Mooresville and Jeffersonville will be at the Ford Center Saturday for the Evansville Semistate. The top four in each weight class will qualify for the IHSAA State Tournament in Indianapolis the following Friday and Saturday. The Evansville Semistate is Saturday starting at 10 a.m. Pike County time in the Ford Center in downtown Evansville. The wrestling starts with the lower weight classes. Wrestling will be all day long with the Consolation Finals and Championship final starting about 5 p.m. Each wrestler must win twice to qualify for the semifinals and to make the state tournament. There are no wrestle backs from losses in the first two rounds, those wrestlers will miss out on state. "I was proud of our three wrestlers that made it to Semi-state. Devin Phillips wrestled a very tough opponent and came up a little short, but gave great effort all match. He really was in some good positions against a really strong wrestler, but just could not turn the corner," said Coach Billy Hewig. "Mason Roberson wrestled a tough match against a very experienced senior and was winning by one point when he got reversed with nine seconds left. That is a tough way to lose. The great thing is Mason has another year left and if he keeps improving as much as he did from last year he will be something special next year. We have to remember that this was his second year of wrestling and he can improve a lot over an off season." "Dalton Miller had a wonderful day by beating his first opponent in 14 seconds and then really showed how well he can wrestle against quality opponents by beat- ing the heavyweight from Mater Dei that had been ranked as high as No. 3 in the state rankings by a score of 8-4. Other than one mistake at the beginning, Dalton wrestled a flawless match," said Hewig. "He really put the plan into action and took advantage of some key mistakes made by his opponent. In the finals, Dalton wrestled great in the first period but just could not escape and lost 2-0. That is something he can overcome and hopefully he can end his season on a high note by making it to the state finals. Dalton will have a very familiar opponent from Southridge in the first round of Semistate and then has to win his next match to move on to State. I really think that Dalton has a great chance and am looking forward to this weekend." Miller had a pretty good day wrestling and was just two points shy of being the champion. He opened the day facing Cody Osborne (26-12) from Tell City and pinning him in 47 seconds. He got the takedown and turned OsContinued on Page B5 Lady Chargers improve in Sectional By Mike Johansen Aubrey Marrs finished seventh in the backstroke and Kendall Dudenhoeffer was eighth in the butterfly event plus some solid A Flight finishes by all three relays led the Pike Central Lady Chargers to their best finish in several years in the Jasper Sectional. It also led to a Coach of the Year Honor for Pike Central Head Coach Jason McKinney. McKinney was honored by a vote of the Sectional coaches and given the honor for leading the Lady Chargers to an improved finish in the Sectional. Several members of the Pike Central Swing Choir on the boys and girls swimming teams will be singing the national anthem at the State Swimming Meet in Indianapolis this weekend. The preliminaries were held on a stormy (snow and ice) Thursday night and the finals on Saturday in the Jasper High School Pool. The good performances in the relays and the two A Finalist for the Lady Chargers led them to seventh place and 114 points. Last year they were eighth with 105 points, in 2011 they were ninth with 56 points, in 2010 they finished sixth, but scored only 94 points and they were seventh in 2009 with 72 points. The top performance was by the 200 yard medley relay team of Aubrey Marrs, Kylee Claridge, Kendall Dudenhoeffer and Ally Sutherland as they finished the four stroke event with a time of 2 minutes 15.51 seconds, a slight improvement over their 2:15.63 time in the preliminaries. First went to Jasper with a time of 1:54.30, Heritage Hills was fifth in 2:13.60 and Vincennes Lincoln sixth in 2:17.93. The A Finals had eight in it for all events and the B finals eight in all events, where there were enough entries. The Lady Chargers 200 freestyle relay team also finished in the A Final taking sixth place. They had a time of 2:10.44 in the prelims and 2:01.44 in the finals. Northeast Dubois was seventh in 2:02.20, Southridge fifth in 1:57.31 and Jasper won the event in 1:46.68. Swimming for Pike Central were Marrs, Claridge, Sutherland and K. Dudenhoeffer. Chloe Keepes, Kaylee Gray, Helen Dudenhoeffer and Alivia Cummings teamed up in the 400 yard freestyle relay for a time of 5:08.97, one of their best of the season, for eighth place. The B Final went to Wood Memorial in 5:21.34 with Tecumseh seventh in 4:53.48. Jasper also won this relay with a time of 3:45.94. Aubrey Marrs had the best inContinued on Page B5 Kendall Dudenhoeffer strokes ahead in the butterfly portion of the individual medley event where she was 15th. She finished seventh in the butterfly race later in the Sectional. Aubrey Marrs reaches out to stroke ahead in the backstroke event at the Sectional. She finished eighth in the finals.