The Press-Dispatch
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The Press-Dispatch Wednesday, Januar y 29, 2020 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 WRESTLING on page 4 See PAC on page 5 See COMBACK on page 6 CHARGER WRESTLER BLAKE HENSON WINS CONFERENCE CROWN I knew I was capable of winning, but I just focused on myself and not what everyone else was doing." -Jenna Meyer Friday, February 7, 2020 6 AM - 9:30 AM Schedule your screening today! Call (812) 385-9437, email jjones@gibsongeneral.com, or schedule online at gibsongeneral.com/go-red. By Dennis Marshall Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net Pike Central senior Blake Henson made the most of his first time competing in the Pocket Athletic Conference Wrestling Meet. Henson, who was seed No. 5, captured the conference's 138 -pound championship on Saturday, Jan. 25 at Heritage Hills. "It's pretty awesome," Henson said. "I'm going to work really hard in practice this week and hopefully I can do the same thing at sectionals." It was his first time competing in the con- ference meet because he was battling an injury last year and was on the Chargers' junior varsity squad the previous two sea- sons before that. Henson made short work of North Posey's Levi Freeman (23-7) in the title match by pinning him in just 50 seconds. "He took a bad shot," Henson said. "He got on his back and I just rolled backwards and got him in a headlock. I just got him in a bad spot." Pike Central coach Ryan McCain said he wasn't sure of Henson's chances in the ti- tle match because Freeman is extremely tough, but Henson was ready for the chal- lenge. "The kid made a mistake, got sloppy and Blake was all over him," McCain said. "It was fantastic. He made a statement going out as a senior." His semi-final match was far more dra- matic. Henson won the match against Te- cumseh's Kaden Riley (24-13) by sudden victory, 12-10. Riley was the No. 1 seed and had defeated Henson earlier this season. "We had a game plan going in," Pike Cen- tral coach Ryan McCain said. "The kid was a great leg rider, so we needed to avoid be- ing on bottom." Unfortunately, that did not happen in the first period. Henson trailed 5 -0 at the end of the first period after he was taken down and surrendered some back points. Henson scored a takedown in the second period, but gave up a reserve toward the end of the end. He entered the third period down 7-2. "We discussed earlier that week that we could take this kid down at will," McCain said. "I told him if we could do that and just cut him, that would eventually break him mentally." That's exactly what Henson did in that third period. He scored four unanswered takedowns to tie it up. "It was playing out exactly as we dis- cussed," McCain said. "It was great. Blake is probably the best conditioned wrestler I've ever coached and his opponent was gassed and mentally broken." Henson scored a takedown in overtime to move on to the finals. He also got some redemption in his quar- terfinal match against Tell City's Tavor Du- pont (10 -21). DuPont had defeated him twice earlier this season, but Henson was able to pin Dupont's shoulder to the mat when it mattered most. "Blake Henson really stepped up this weekend," McCain said. Griffin Boyd was Pike Central's next highest finisher. He placed third at 106. "Griffin Boyd did very well this weekend placing third, which is a big deal for a fresh- man," McCain said. "I expect big things PAC-to-PAC: Meyer claims second conference title By Dennis Marshall Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net Pike Central junior Jenna Meyer claimed her second consecutive one-me- ter diving title at the Pocket Athletic Con- ference Swimming and Diving Meet on Saturday, Jan. 25 at Tecumseh. Meyer won the competition with a total score of 351.50, which was more than 60 points better than the second-place fin- isher, and more than 30 points better than her score from last season's PAC Meet. "It means a lot," Meyer said. "I've worked very hard and it's great to be reward- ed for the work you put in. Things went better than I expect- ed. I knew I was capa- ble of winning, but I just focused on myself and not what every- one else was doing. I knew what I had to do and I got it done." Meyer will enter the sectional meet as the favorite to win the diving competition and move on the regional meet. She placed second at last year's sec- tional meet. However, the individual who placed first has since graduated and Mey- er's score from the PAC meet would have been more than enough for her to claim the sectional last season. "This is a huge accomplishment for Jenna," Pike Central coach Travis Co- chren said. "Being a junior, she has the opportunity to do it again next year. We could not be more proud of her perfor- mance on the board this season and are excited to see what she can do at section- als in a couple weeks." The Chargers' only other athlete to place in the top three of an event was Emma McKinney. She claimed bronze in the 100 -yard breaststroke with a time of 1:22.19. Pike Central did have several other athletes finish in the top 12 spots. "Making it into the top 12 in PAC is a hard task," Cochren said. "We are hap- py about all our swimmers who achieved this, this weekend. Furthermore, to make it into the top six and earn a spot on the podium is even harder. We are very proud of our individuals who pushed themselves to earn these spots." Athletes who earned a spot on the po- dium were Brayden Cooper (sixth in the 100 freestyle and 100 backstroke), Draven Readle (fourth in the 500 free- style), Isaac Burdette (sixth in the 100 PC completes wild comeback to knock off Princeton Lady Chargers' Hickey wills to victory By Dennis Marshall Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net Offense or defense, it didn't matter which end of the court Mallory Hickey was on. If there was a play to be made late in the game, she made it. The Pike Central junior forward was in- strumental and made just about every play possible in the final two minutes of the Chargers' 45 -39 victory over the Prince- ton Tigers (5 -12, 0 -5 Big Eight) on Thurs- day, Jan. 23. "It was hard, but we worked as a team," Hickey said. "We struggled right after half- time, but we came together as team and got the win. This is a good win for us with sec- tionals right around the corner." The Chargers (8 -12, 3-3 PAC) struggled to knock down open shots early, but only trailed 18 -14 at halftime. "We had a lot of open looks, but they weren't falling, so we felt good only being down four points," Pike Central coach Kyle McCutchan said. "The second half, they came out and were aggressive and we had a couple early turnovers. That's when things started to look pret- ty bleak. The Tigers were able to extend their lead to 13, midway through the third quarter, but Pike Central cut Princeton's advantage to 29 -27 entering the fourth quarter. "We went into a half court trap and that totally changed the game," McCutchan said. "It picked up our intensity level on both ends of the court and we clawed our Lauren Vaughn goes for a steal in Pike Central's come-from-behind victo- ry over Princeton on Thursday, Jan. 23. Jenna Meyer stands for a photo after winning the one-meter div- ing competition during the PAC Meet on Saturday, Jan. 25, at Te- cumseh. Blake Henson pins his opponent's shoulder to the mat during the 138-pound weight class championship match at the PAC Meet on Saturday, Jan. 25, at Heritage Hills.