The Press-Dispatch
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The Press-Dispatch Wednesday, December 18, 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 By Dennis Marshall Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net The Pike Central swimming and diving teams had a busy week. The Chargers hosted Evans- ville F.J. Reitz on Monday, Dec. 16. The Pike Central boys won 87-64, while the girls fell 118 -61. "Our boys swam a great meet tonight and were able to take the top finishes in the majority of the events throughout the meet," Pike Central coach Travis Co- chren said. "Several of our boys also saw improvements to their personal best times tonight. Our girls swam hard and put up some good results, but Reitz had a few good swimmers and numbers in the pool to take more points in each event." The Pike Central team of Mi- chael Burkhart, Tyler Kirby, Isaac Burdette and Coleman Henson won the 200 -yard freestyle relay in 1:59.34 seconds. Brayden Coo- per won the 100 backstroke in 1:08.91, Noah Russell won the 200 freestyle in 2:31.46 and Henson (1:19.45), Burdette (1:19.67) and Isaac Theising (2:07.73) placed first, second and third in the 100 breaststroke. "We are putting up competi- tive times across the board for the boys and still have room to improve," Cochren said. "We are looking to add another win on Wednesday against Evans- ville North to go into winter re- cess on a high note. We also ex- pect to see significant improve- ments from the boys when we re- turn from winter break." Emma McKinney earned the lone wins for the girls' team when she claimed gold in the 100 breaststroke and the 50 freestyle in 1:26.15 and 30.72, respectively. McKinney also finished the meet with two second-place finishes as a member of the 200 medley and 200 freestyle relay teams. Charlotte Dudenhoeffer fin- ished second in all four of her events (200 medley relay, 200 in- dividual medley, 500 freestyle and 400 freestyle relay). "The girls are continuing to im- prove," Cochren said. "We are still shuffling a couple people around in events, and continue to see good times. We have one more meet prior to our winter recess, and when we come back from that, we expect to see better times and a pretty set event roster." Jenna Meyer continues to see improvements and strong finish- es both in the water and on the diving board. "We are very happy with her third-place finish on the board to- night as she was diving against three state caliber divers from Reitz," Cochren said. CHARGERS HOST REBELS AND RAIDERS The Pike Central teams also hosted South Spencer and South- ridge in a triangular meet on Thursday, Dec. 12. The Chargers boys finished with 142 points. They were fol- lowed by the Rebels (125) and the Raiders (5). Cooper, Coleman Henson, Burkhart and A J Hill (2:08.76) edged Sam Theising, Isaac Bur- dette, Draven Readle and Rus- sell (2:09.74) to win the 200 med- ley relay. Pike Central also fin- ished first and second in the 400 freestyle relay. The team of Henson, Hill, Sam Theising and Cooper won in 4:14.05, and Bur- khart, Russell, Burdette and Rea- dle were second in 4:36.21. Coo- PIKE CENTRAL SWIM EARNS SOME IMPRESSIVE VICTORIES Burkemper awarded nat'l number one plate at GNCC Night of Champions Levi Burkemper, 11, recently attend- ed the Grand Na- tional Cross Coun- try (GNCC) Night of Champion's ban- quet in early De- cember, where he was awarded a na- tional number one plate for winning GNCC's Youth AT V 90cc 8 to 12 year class cham- pionship out of 28 kids, who he com- peted against this year. Burkemper, who is a fifth grad- er at Petersburg Elementary school, competed in twelve out of GNCC's thirteen rounds in 2019 and made a top-three podium appear- ance at all twelve, winning eleven races and finishing second at another. Burkem- per opted to miss a nation- al race after securing the championship in early fall, so he could compete in a football game with his 5th and 6th grade Pike Central Chargers team. Burkemper also earned a Top 12 overall finish out of over 160 youth riders in the GNCC Youth AT V division for 2019. The GNCC series is the largest national cross coun- try motorsport organization in the United States. Youth AT V courses range from four to six miles long and riders compete over a wide variety of terrain and weath- Lady Chargers beat athletic Bulldogs By Dennis Marshall Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net The Pike Central girls' basket- ball team got back to their win- ning ways on Saturday, Dec. 14, by defeating an athletic Evans- ville Bosse team, 57-35, at PCHS. The Lady Chargers (6 -5, 2-1 PAC) stormed out of the gates with some stifling defense and held the Lady Bulldogs (0 -9, 0 - 2 SIAC) to just two points in the first quarter, "We got off to a good start and never looked back," Pike Cen- tral head coach Kyle McCutchan said. "Our man defense was very good and we scored a lot of easy baskets off good ball movement." The second quarter was much more competitive, with Pike Cen- tral edging Bosse 12-10, but the Lady Chargers were able to ex- tend their lead to double digits, 23-12. Pike Central scored 20 points in the third quarter and 14 in the fourth. Jayln Nelson led the Lady Chargers with 18 points. She was followed by Mallory Hunt (13), Lauren Vaughn (9), Kya Leighty (6), Mallory Hickey (5), Jenna Horrall (4) and Kailee Mann (2). Denaya Harris led the Lady Bulldogs with 11. McCutchan said Nelson did a great job guarding their best player. "They never could get going offensively," he said. "I was very proud of our effort in all three games this past week and we have to have that going forward." Pike Central has now won five of its last seven games, after starting the season 0 -3. SOUTHRIDGE HANGS ON TO WIN The Lady Chargers lost to a tough Southridge (7-5, 3-1 PAC) team 49 -41 at SHS on Thursday, Dec. 12. "We played a solid game against Southridge," McCutchan Charger matmen compete at PAC Duals By Dennis Marshall Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net The Pike Central wrestling team competed at the Pocket Athletic Con- ference duals on Friday, Dec. 13 and Saturday, Dec. 14 at Tell City. The Chargers finished 2-6 for the second consecutive year, after earn- ing victories over Forest Park and Te- cumseh. "Conference is pretty stacked up top and it was a rough weekend," Pike Central coach Ryan McCain said. "We lost a few close matches throughout the weekend at different weight classes. I expect these guys to work hard leading up to conference, and come back and get those wins. Some of the younger kids are start- ing to wrestle with more confidence, that was good to see this weekend. Hopefully, we can get our heads on straight this coming week. We got a lot of matches left before Christmas break." Hayden McDowell was able to get his first ever wrestling win. He stepped into the lineup for the team this weekend and showed a lot of heart for a first year wrestler. Corey Goeppner also wrestled well. "He's starting to stand his ground when he gets in tough spots," Mc- Cain said. "We're still giving up a lot of pins. We've got to start doing Pike Central's Isaiah Greer competes for the Chargers earlier this season. Contributed photo. Pike Central's Sean Hanselman dribbles past a Barr-Reeve de- fender on Friday, Dec. 13 at PCHS. Levi Burkemper, 11, attended the Grand Na- tional Cross Country (GNCC) Night of Champi- on's banquet in early December, where he was awarded a national number one plate for winning GNCC's Youth ATV 90cc 8 to 12 year class cham- pionship. Photos contributed. See ONE on page 4 See DUALS on page 5 See FRUSTR ATE on page 2 See BULLDOGS on page 3 See VICTORIES on page 2 Pike Central's Isaac Theising competes in the 100-yard butterfly at PCHS on Monday, Dec. 16. Barr-Reeve defense frustrates PC in lopsided win By Dennis Marshall Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net Pike Central got ran over by a freight train known as the Barr- Reeve boys' basketball team on Fri- day, Dec. 13. The Class A No. 2 ranked Vikings (4-0, 0 -0 Blue Chip) moved the ball all over the court, defended every inch of the floor in an effort to create cha- os and put their elite talent on full dis- play in the 56 -15 victory. "We knew how good Barr Reeve was coming in," Pike Central head coach Hunter Elliott said. "We saw them beat Evansville Memorial by 40 a couple nights prior. We actually came out and got two straight stops and three good looks to start the game." However, after the first couple of possessions, the Chargers (0 -4, 0 -1 PAC) allowed themselves to get sped up. "We really lost our composure against their pressure," Elliott said. "That is an area we have been focus- ing on all year and we did not do a great job of it tonight. We have to be able to handle pressure and not get sped up offensively. Overall, it was a disappointing game, but once again, Pike Central's Lily Frederick-Rice competes in the 100-yard butterfly against Evansville Reitz on Monday, Dec. 16.