The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1402699
The Press-Dispatch Wednesday, August 18, 2021 C-7 In any sport, Four Star Fabricators encourages all Pike Central athletes to work hard, play tough and win in life. Serving the Aluminum, Coal and Power Industries with Quality Steel Fabrication Phone: 354-9995 Fax: 354-3809 Four Star Fabricators P.O. Box 67, Petersburg, IN 47567 www.fourstarfab.com Good Luck This season! 812-354-8404 292 W. Main St. • Petersburg ACCEPTING NEW PATIENTS Petersburg: Tues. & urs 8am-5pm Jasper: Mon. & Wed, 8am-5pm Fri., 7am-2pm Plus appointments by special arrangement. WALK-INS WELCOME Most insurances accepted. Adults & Children Good Luck! to all Pike Central SPORTS TEAMS! Pictured above is the 2020-21 Pike Central girls' cross country team. They are, front row (l to r): Quinlan Teague, Laney Johnson and Morgan Anderson; back row: Xavery Weisman, Kennedy Willis, Anna Whitehead, Kaylyn Warner and Eibhlin Teague. Photo by Matthew Haycraft Teague, Whitehead return as semi-state qualifiers By James Capozella Last season, the Pike Cen- tral Lady Chargers finished fourth in the sectional and sixth in the regional, with se- nior Libby Stone, junior Quin- lan Teague and freshman An- na Whitehead advancing to semi-state. The girls had two All-Pocket Athletic Con- ference runners last year in Teague and Whitehead. Two seniors, one junior, one sophomore and three fresh- man make up the seven Lady Charger runners this season. Morgan Anderson and Teague are the seniors, Kennedy Wil- lis is the only junior and Anna Whitehead is the sophomore. New to the team are freshmen Eibhlin Teague, Kaylyn War- ner and Xavery Weisman. This year will see the return of Randy Graham as Pike Cen- tral Charger Cross Country head coach. Cain Parker was a first year head coach last sea- son, and following his recent graduation and four years of track and cross country suc- cess at USI, has moved on in his career. Coach Graham said, "I took the position just a few days be- fore the official start of the season, so I didn't get the op- portunity to work with the ath- letes over the summer. Howev- er, several of them put in some miles on their own, which is a good thing. We also have picked up a few runners here in the last few days, so right now we are individualizing many of the workouts and get- ting everyone where we need them. We are very optimistic about the season and are glad to get going. We would like to have more runners, so we will be working on that as we go. Coach said, "We expect our girls' team to be very competitive and if we stay healthy and can develop a lit- tle depth through- out the year, this group could be re- ally good. Senior Quinlan Teague and sophomore Anna Whitehead are returning All- PAC runners and semi-state quali- fiers. Freshman Xavery Weisman should have an im- mediate impact as well. She won the middle school Pock- et Athletic Conference each of the last two seasons in cross country and won the 1600m run in the track and field PAC in the spring. We expect a big help from Kennedy Willis as well. She is splitting time with soccer, but ran cross country as a freshman and has also had some success in track. Rounding out the girls' roster are freshman Elbhilin Teague, Kaylyn Warner and senior Morgan Anderson. "We expect these girls to really come on and provide the depth we need as the sea- son progresses. Having sever- al young ladies who can run at the front of races, along with steady improvement from oth- er runners, could set this group up very well for the post-season. They have showed steady im- provement through the first week and we are anxious to see what they can do. Just like the boys, we only have seven run- ners and need them all to stay healthy." Coach Graham added, "Lain- ey Johnson is our manager this season and we are thankful to have some help with those du- ties. Also, coach Wil Teague is returning as assistant coach and I am glad to have him on board helping us. I have always been blessed with great assis- tant coaches in all my years coaching cross country at Pike Central and this is very import- ant." Charger cross country kicked off the season attending the Hokum Karen event at Gib- son Southern and are preparing for the Southridge Invitational on August 24. Both teams then travel to Angel Mounds hosted Dennis Bays Warrior Invitation- al set for August 28. The teams host North Knox at the Prides Creek Park home course on August 31 and are back to Gib- son Southern September 2 for the Alan Hopewell Class Invi- tational. That race pits juniors and seniors, and freshmen and sophomores. The Columbus North Invitational is next on the schedule for September 4 and is followed by a quad meet at Prides Creek Park on Tues- day, September 7. The Heritage Hills Invite is Saturday, September 11, fol- lowed by the South Knox Invi- tational on Saturday, Septem- ber 18. The Barr Reeve invite is Tuesday, September 21. Both teams host the Pike Central Invitational at Prides Creek on Saturday, Septem- ber 25, followed by the Pock- et Athletic Conference Cham- pionships at Gibson Southern High School on October 2. The South Knox IHSA A XC Section- al is October 9 and the Prides Creek hosted Regional is Oc- tober 16. The Brown County Semi-state is October 23 and state finals in Terre Haute are October 30. Quinlan Teague Morgan Anderson Laney Johnson We expect our girls' team to be very competitive and if we stay healthy and can develop a little depth throughout the year, this group could be really good." - Coach Randy Graham