The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/65813
Wednesday, May 16, 2012 B-1 E-Mail Sports Items to: sports@pressdispatch.net Sports Tidbits From the Mini Mac By Mike Johansen Award for 2012, it is greatly ap- preciated. I do love the Chargers in sports, choral and band music, drama, musicals and almost anything else. Unless there is a conflict, I don't pass up a chance to be at most events and I don't pass up a chance to get a photo of something that is positive and they sure do a lot of positive things. T hanks to the Pike County School Corporation for the Friends of the PCSC The male and female runners get ready for the siren to start the annual Pike Central High School National Honor Society 5K Run and 3K walk on Saturday at Prides Creek Park. I do not like to see the Char- gers lose in any sport, but that is part of covering sports and I have seen my teams suffer many defeats over the 30 plus years I have been covering sports for small newspapers (here since March 2003). There is so much good hap- pening at Pike Central I never mind going out there. A few days as many as three times in a day. Once during the day for a photo of some accomplishment; once for a sport or photo session right after school and again in the evening for a sporting event. To say that I enjoy it would be an understate- ment. I love it and hope to con- tinue on for a few years despite my advancing (my terminology) age. I am still having fun and loving what I do and really do not want to be anywhere else. First, I love small towns and relatively small school districts. I am having more fun that ever covering Pike Central because I cover just one district instead of 10 like my last newspaper in Arizona. You can get close to them, but not as close as when you are at so many events for one school like I am here. Do you know what is my favorite part—the kids, whoops, I should say young adults. They are my favorite and I will be on their side in 99.5 percent of the situations. There are always a few minor slips, but once you pay the price and right the ship to the proper behavior and take the pun- ishment (such as the recent drink- ing incident), then we should just move forward. The one thing I do try to do is not look at someone's back- ground. It is not what their family has done, where they are from or anything related to their family. It is related to what they do at school and with the athletic teams and not about anything any one else has done or has a reputa- tion for. Economic status, family status, who they are related to, none of that matters. Each of the young adults I meet and have the privilege to cover earn their own wings and have their own accomplishments. I have a love for them all! There are things many others would not do to try and spread around who gets a photo in the newspaper. I have my own Facebook site with extra photos for people to look at and enjoy and I try to help anyone who needs it. It can be yearbook, band, academic achievements and many other areas, they are all just as important to me as anything else. I do hope that I achieve what I set out. There are kids at all levels in all sports I really enjoy watching, whether they are the event win- ners or just someone improving their time of performance. When they have such achievements as a personal best, as far as I am con- cerned that is just as important as anything else that happens. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be here and enjoy what your kids do in school and in sports! I was covering a Pike County School Board meeting last week and listening to one of the board members seek a more strict ver- sion of the "dress code" for the high school and middle school. In particular he was against tattoos and extra jewelry such as nose rings. I happen to agree with him. I will tell you I am old fashioned having been raised in Iowa in the '60s and early '60s before the "revolutions." I do think there should be stricter dress codes for all high school kids, but especially student-athletes. It will help them gain the self discipline they need for the future. ******* NHS 5K run helps the kids "It was deja vu all over again" on Saturday at the Pike Central High School National Honor Society 5K Run with Cain Parker first for the men and Andrea McCutchen first for the women. They were first last year as well As Yogi Berra would have said: By Mike Johansen and took the top honors in their di- visions in the fourth annual NHS 5K run. There were also a good group of walkers for the annual event that raises funds for a proj- ect that the Pike Central National Honor Society is doing with Prides Creek Park, the location for the run and 3K walk. The funds from the 2012 run go for some new equipment that the NHS and other groups have been helping with that will be completed in the near future. The day was cloudy, but no rain. Last year it had been a wet race time. The National Honor Society had both competitors in the race and manned the finish line to re- cord times and place finishes and hand out water to racers complet- ing the 5K or 3K events. Cain Parker was first for the men overall and in his age group with a time of 16 minutes and 15 seconds, 35 seconds better than his winning time from a year ago at 16:50. Finishing in second was Chantz Parson with a time of 16:34, third was Christian Wilson at 18:09, Steve Wilson 18:16 was fourth and fifth was Brian Willis at 18:30. The first woman finishing was Andrea McCutchen, who was first a year ago. This year she had a time of 22:00. Second in the Wo- mens Division was Kaitlyn Foster with a time of 22:31. She was the winner of the 14 and Under age division. The entrants in times for each division are: Women, 14 and Under—Kaitlyn Foster 22:31; Abby Hillyard 22:34; Brook Nalley 26:48; Hannah Mills VIDEO NETedition Exclusive Cain Parker and Chantz Parson try to catch their breath after finishing first and second in the annual NHS 5K Run at Prides Creek Park on Saturday. 26:48; Rebekah Luff 28:42. Women, Age 15-20—Haley Roy 26:12; Lauryn Davis 27:33; Marie Luff 33:27. Women, Age 21-35—Andrea McCutchen, 22:00; Nichole Miller 22:41; Jill Barnett 23:33; Kayla Whitehead 23:42; Brandi Meece 25:22; Stephanie Shedd 28:25; Ja- mie Seitz 29:06. Women, Age 36-49—Cindy Shir- ley 28:08; Brenda Segert 37:04; Sara Baumgart 38:38. Women, Age 50 and Over— Marla Stemle 28:32. Men, Age 14 and Under—Ka- leb Claridge 23:32; Jacob Bohnert 26:43; Montana Norman 33:28. Men, Age 15-20—Cain Parker, 16:15; Chantz Parson 16:34; Chris- tian Wilson 18:09; Tanner Gray 18:37; Aaron Dy 18:48; Allen Cle- ments 22:20; Ethan Rolens 22:30; Continued on Page B5 Lady Chargers solid in PAC meet may not have finished among the top teams at the Pocket Athletic Conference match, but they did come up with several personal bests and some key place finishes to show they are peaking at the right time during the season. All that is left of the 2012 girls The Pike Central Lady Chargers By Mike Johansen high jump. Janessa (Foster) and Olivia (Leighty) had thirds in shot put and pole vault. "All three relay teams turned in their fastest times of the season. The 3,200 relay (Selena Guzman, Jennifer Aberle, Lauryn Davis, and Dana Fuhrman) cut over 20 seconds from their previous best time. The 1,600 relay (Fuhrman, track season is the Sectional, Regional and then state. The Sectional was at Princeton High School Tuesday and several Lady Chargers had a chance to advance to the Regional. The Regional is at Evansville Central High School next Tuesday starting at 6 p.m. The top four performers in each event at that meet advance to the IHSAA Girls State track Meet at the University of Indiana on Fri- day, June 1. The Lady Chargers finished in seventh place in the Pocket Ath- letic Conference Championships held at Tell City High School on May 8. Southridge won the team championship with 129.5 points; Forest Park 123.5; Gibson South- ern 78, Heritage Hills 75.5, Tell City 74.5; North Posey 66, Pike Central 44, Tecumseh 25.5 and South Spencer 3.5. The Lady Chargers were two One thing I do is try to hide any tattoos and objectionable jewelry or not use a photo. I will admit that does not always work, especially with the number of kids with tattoos in obvious spots. Let me first point out that I Continued on Page 4 enth overall many girls had per- sonal records for the evening. The field events were our biggest suc- cess stories of the evening, as far as earning points goes. Morgan Henson finished the highest of the evening with a second place in places and 22 points better than last year. One of the best parts of the meet is that even though some of the Lady Chargers did not end up placing, they did earn personal best times or performances and that meant a lot to the girls and to Coach Cassi Craig. "Even though we finished sev- Taylor Hinton, Amanda Cook, and Allison Sheffler) cut nearly 10 sec- onds off their previous best time. Ashtan Clark threw her best dis- cus of her career. Olivia now holds the school record in pole vault at 7 feet 6 inches. She and Breanna (Young) are really working hard to push that record even higher in the next two meets. Both of these two were able to place in the pole vault, which is fantastic for our first year doing the event. Lauryn Davis cut more time than anyone else. She took about 15 seconds off her best mile time and 50 sec- onds off her best two mile time, so there was a lot to be excited about at the meet," said the coach. "When you are still cutting times and improving distances in field events while heading into Sectionals, it makes for an exciting season." Morgan Henson had one of her best days in the high jump clear- ing 5-0 and taking second place. She has been consistently over 5-0 and that will be good for a chance at placing high in the Sectional. Al- lison Sheffler just missed a place in ninth clearing 4-8, but having more misses than two other girls. Tori Payne of Tell City went over 5-1 to win the event. Aubrey Main of Southridge and Logan Flanagan of Tell City cleared 4-10 for a tie for third. The pole vault was another good Lauryn Davis heads for the finish line in the 3,200 meter race on the eighth lap around the track. event for Pike Central. Leighty cleared 7-6 to take third with her best effort of the season and set- ting a school record for girls in the event. Breanna Young cleared 7-0 and took seventh place. Kandace Buechler won the pole vault at 9-4 and Jaclyn Alststadt of Southridge was second at 8-6. Olivia Leighty had a good day in the long jump going 13-11 as Continued on Page 4