The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1462367
The Press-Dispatch Wednesday, March 23, 2022 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 SWIM on 2 Luff, Smith lead Chargers to fourth place PAC finish Lady Chargers swim takes fourth spot at PAC By Andy Heuring Awstyn Luff had two firsts and Jacoby Smith added a first and second to help lead Pike Central's boys middle school swim team to fourth place in the Pocket Athletic Confer- ence swim meet last week. Pike Central's boys scored 163 points in the eight-team event. Heritage Hills domi- nated the event, winning with 285 points. Second place went to Southridge with 198, while Tell City was a close third with 190. The others were 4) Pike Central 163, 5) Tecum- seh 126, 6) Forest Park 91, 7) South Spencer 70, and 8) Boonville 31. "Our three individual cham- pions are eighth graders who will impact the high school team next year. All of our boys swam fast and set personal bests," said Charger Coach Andrew Russell. Isaiah Harvey beat his per- sonal best in the 100 freestyle by 11 seconds. Izaiah Lemond beat his personal best in the 50 backstroke by 10 seconds. Many other swimmers swam their personal bests through- out the meet. Luff won the 100 Individual Medley going away. He swam a 1:07.56 to win. It was nearly two seconds slower than his fastest time this year, but was still good enough to win by more than four seconds over Southridge's Ben Fuesler in 1:11.95. Luff also won the 50 butter- fly in a time of 28.04, which was more than three sec- onds faster than second place Fuesler who swam a 31.15. Smith won the 50 freestyle, swimming his fastest time of the season at 28.5. It was 1.11 seconds faster than second place Wyatt Schlachter of Her- itage Hills. Smith and Luff teamed up in the 200 freestyle relay with Julian Hay and Tyler Col- lins to place third in a time of 2:14.25. It was won by Tell City in a time of 2:06.64. The same four also swam the 200 med- ley relay and placed fourth in a time of 2:26.79. The event was won by Tell City in a time of 2:19.65. Along with Tyler Collins two places in the two relays he added an eighth place in the 50 back. Collins also teamed with Hay, Zane DeCoursey and Joshua Smith to place sixth in the 400 free relay. Hay placed fifth in div- ing with 70.45 score, just 0.4 points out of fourth place. "Ju- lian Hay had his best diving performance of the year, fin- ishing 0.4 points behind the next diver. He made lots of progress on the diving board, especially toward the end of the season, which will be good for next year," said Russell. Isaiah Harvey placed ninth in the 100 free in a time of 1:34.65 and Zane DeCoursey was ninth in the 50 back in a time of 49.6, which was three seconds faster than his previ- ous best time. "Our boys team was very strong this year and although we will miss our eighth grad- ers next year, one of which set two new school records this year, they will still be a strong team next year." "Awstyn Luff ended his 8th grade year and middle school career with new school re- cords in the 50 fly and the 50 back in times of 26.76 and 30.21 respectively," said Rus- sell. He added, "Our new-to- swimming eighth graders were the most improved this season. Markis Hutchinson did a great job diving this By Andy Heuring Pike Central's middle school girls swim team placed fourth in the Pocket Athletic Conference meet last week at Heritage Hills. "There has been steady progress all season. Every- one on the team has made improvements in our short season that was impacted by winter weather, which did not allow us to have as many prac- tices as we possibly could," said Charger Coach Andrew Russell. "Our two eighth grade girls were instrumental to our success this year," said Russell about Easton Bailey and Kylee Weathers. Weath- ers was ill and not able to com- pete in the PAC. Pike Central was led by Easton Bailey, Hope Meny and Kyle Meyer who all placed in four events. Bailey had individual third place finishes in both the 50 free and 50 back. She swam a 33.14 in the closely contested 50 freestyle. Sixth place was a mere 1.6 seconds behind. Bai- ley also placed third in the 50 Jacoby Smith grabs a big breath of air as he pops out of the water during the 50 breaststroke. He placed second in the PAC championships in the 50 breast and won the 50 freestyle. Awstyn Luff looks like he is ready to fly between strokes of the 50 butterfly. He won the event in the PAC Championships. He also won the 100 Individual Medley. Photos courtesy Jamie Luff. Pike Central sixth grader K. J. Wood gets in posi- tion for her launch during the diving competition at the girls middle school PAC Championships. Hope Meny, a sixth grader, placed 5th in the 50 breaststroke and sixth in the 100 Individual Medley during the PAC Championships. Photos courtesy Jamie Luff. back where she swam a 38.93. Bailey teamed with Meny, Meyer and Kaydee Sims to place third in the 200 med- ley relay in a time of 2:48.02. She also had a fourth place in the 400 freestyle relay teamed with Meny, Meyer and Lind- sey Woods. They swam at 5:57.17. Meny had two individual places to go along with her two relay team finishes. Indi- vidually she placed fifth in the 50 breaststroke with a time of 45.65. She also placed sixth in the 100 individual medley in a time 1:39.73. "One of our top swimmers this year was Hope Meny, a 6th grader, who mostly swam the 100 IM and the 50 breast all season, in addition to a couple of relays. I am excit- ed to see her grow over the next couple of years in mid- dle school and then into high school. I am very proud of the progress that our girls team made this year, especially our sixth graders," said Russell. Meyer placed fifth in the 50 fly with time of 45.79. She was just .31 seconds out of fourth place. She also placed ninth in the 50 breaststroke in a time of 46.53. Meyer was a member of the 400 freestyle relay and 200 medley relay. Eva Cox placed 12th in the 100 free as well as being on the fifth place 400 relay team. Lindsey Woods added a fifth place in the 50 back to her two relay team places. "The best individual achievements during the meet were from Eva Cox in the 100 free and Lindsey Woods in the 50 back. Eva beat her person- al best by almost 10 seconds. Lindsey swam a few seconds better than her personal best but her performance put her in the top six to get on the po- dium when she was seeded further back. Heritage Hills won the meet with 347 points. Tecumseh was second at 251. The oth- er schools were: 3) Tell City 175, 4) Pike Central 135, 5) Southridge 97, 6) South Spen- cer 82, 7) Boonville 50, 8) For- est Park 20. Kylee Meyer pops up between strokes of the butterfly. A sixth grader, she finished fifth in the 50 fly. HEATING AND AIR 812-789-3065 jmcdonald@alltradeheatingandair.net or admin@alltradeheatingandair.net THE INDUSTRY LEADER IN CLEAN AIR, BUT DON'T JUST TAKE OUR WORD FOR IT. The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America recognizes CleanEffects® as asthma & allergy friendly®