The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1086608
The Press-Dispatch Wednesday, Februar y 27, 2019 B-1 SPORTS Submit sports items: Call: 812-354-8500 Email: sports@pressdispatch.net or bring in a hard copy: 820 E. Poplar Street, Petersburg See CHARGERS on page 2 Quin Bailey swims strides at Franklin College By Kenzie Rudolph Press-Dispatch Sports sports@pressdispatch.net Franklin College freshman, Quin Bailey, a Pike Central 2018 graduate, is adding suc- cess to the Franklin womens' swimming team this year. According to results from the Franklin College swim coach, Andrew Hendricks, Franklin College made the move to the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Confer- ence after five straight Liberal Arts Con- ference titles for the men and two straight for the Franklin women. The conference is now sponsoring swimming as a sport, and Franklin left this weekend with HCAC championships against Rose-Hulman Insti- tute of Technology, Anderson University, Hanover College, Transylvania University and Manchester University. Franklin women led the championship, outpacing second place Rose-Hulman by 457 points, according to Hendricks. Bai- ley, in her first year in college after leav- ing her Pike County home, swam lifetime bests in three different events, the 50 free- style, the 200 freestyle and the 100 free- style, as a Grizzly swimmer. A neighbor swimmer from Jasper, junior Cady Mehringer, also broke records this past weekend in two events, the 200 IM and the 200 Butterfly. Hendricks said, "Our women's team has something special and accomplished things no team at Franklin College has ev- er done." By Andy Heuring Press-Dispatch Sports sports@pressdispatch.net The Pike Central boys' basketball team's last regular season game was a game of big runs by both teams. South Knox had more runs and they lasted lon- ger in the second half as the pulled away for a 54-33 lead. Most of those runs were led by Gage Bobe, who hit five threes and had a game-high 20 points for the Spar- tans. A fter South Knox jumped out to a 5 - 0 lead to begin the game, the Chargers fought their way back. They trailed 9 -3 with 4:06 left in the first quarter, but went on an 8 -0 run. It started with a jumper from the corner by Ethan Gorby. Hayden Kabrick drilled a three-pointer with 2:57 left to make it a 9 -8 game, and then Ethan Scott hit another three at the 2:06 mark to give the Chargers their first lead 11-9. The two teams went back and forth with turnovers and fouls until South Knox's Zachary Welage hit a three at the buzzer of the first quarter to give South Knox a 12-11 lead. It was the first score for the Spartans in almost four minutes. Pike Central opened the second quar- ter with a score on an out-of-bounds play, with Kabrick hitting Christian Benson in the paint for two. It gave the Chargers a 13-12 lead with 6:55 left in the second quarter. It was the last time they would lead in the game. South Knox steadily pulled out to a 23-15 lead at half-time and never looked back. Bobe had three, second-half three-pointers and six other South Knox players scored six points for a balanced attack the Chargers couldn't slow down. Ethan Scott scored eight of his 11 points in the second half. He and Ben- son both had a team-high 11 points for the Chargers. Head coach Hunter Elliott missed the game after coming down with the flu the day of the game. The Chargers finish the season with a 3-20 record. South Knox improved to 17-6. VARSITY Pike Central (33) Austin Holder 1 0 -0 2 2, Draven Huff 1 0 -0 1 3, Ethan Gorby 1 0 -0 4 2, Christian Benson 4 2-2 1 11, Ethan Scott 5 0 -0 4 11, Judah Leathco 0 1-2 0 1, Joey Church 0 0 - Franklin College freshman, Quin Bailey, a Pike Central 2018 gradu- ate, is adding success to the Frank- lin womens' swimming team this year. File photo. SPARTANS TOO MUCH FOR CHARGERS IN FINAL REGULAR SEASON GAME Croak continues softball journey at Oakland City By Kenzie Rudolph Press-Dispatch Sports sports@pressdispatch.net Demi Croak, a 2018 Pike Central gradu- ate, is now starting her first softball season at Oakland City Univer- sity. Croak has played softball since she was a little kid, and said that she is excited to contin- ue her athletic career on OCU's small cam- pus. She is from Algiers, the daughter of Bruce and Jody Croak. She commutes to school, and added that she en- joys coming home ev- ery night to spend time with her family and sleep in her own bed. Croak started with tee ball and followed in her brothers Hunter's and Noah's foot- steps to become the athlete that she is to- day. Demi Croak Middle School grapplers went 4-1 in Charger Invite Pike Central Middle School's wrestling team went 4-1 on Saturday in their Char- ger Invitational. The Chargers defeated South Spencer 66 -18, Boonville 56 -48, Evansville North 54-46 and Heritage Hills 54-48. The lone loss was to the tourney champions, South- ridge, 78 -24. "It was a great weekend of wrestling, the best so far this season. We got a big re- venge win against Boonville, and that set the tone for the rest of our day," said Char- ger coach John Thompson. Three wrestlers came away with cham- pionships in their weight classes - Griffin Boyd (85 lbs), Corey Goeppner (195 lbs) and Isaac Marchino (hwt). Boyd and Goeppner each went 5 -0, while Marchino was 4-1. Goeppner was named the Most Out- standing Wrestler for the tourney. He pinned all five of his opponents. Also fin- ishing with a 4-1 record for Pike Central See CROAK on page 3 See INVITE on page 3 Corey Geppner pins his opponent from South Spencer in the first period during the middle school tournament this past Saturday. Kenzie Rudolph photo Austin Holder jumps over a South Knox defender on a drive during their game last Tuesday. Holder had two points in the 54-33 loss for the Chargers.