The Press-Dispatch
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The Press-Dispatch Sports Wednesday, September 6, 2017 B- 5 Pike County Middle School eighth grader Anna Whitehead com- petes during a girls' cross country tri-meet with North Knox and Washington on Tues- day, Aug. 29, at Prides Creek Park. White- head placed fifth over- all with a season-best time of 13:26. Ed Ca- hill photo Pike County Mid- dle School sixth grad- er Wyatt Luff com- petes during a boys' cross country tri- meet with North Knox and Washington on Tuesday, Aug. 29, at Prides Creek Park. Luff placed 20th overall with a time of 14:20. Ed Cahill photo Pike County Mid- dle School fifth grader Blaine Barnett com- petes during a boys' cross country tri-meet with North Knox and Washington on Tues- day, Aug. 29, at Prides Creek Park. Bar- nett placed 11th over- all with a season-best time of 12:47. Ed Ca- hill photo Pike County Mid- dle School fifth grad- er Xavery Weisman competes during a girls' cross country tri-meet with North Knox and Washington on Tuesday, Aug. 29, at Prides Creek Park. Weisman placed third overall with a time of 13:21. Ed Cahill photo Pike County Mid- dle School sixth grad- er Lexie Onyett com- petes during a girls' cross country tri-meet with North Knox and Washington on Tues- day, Aug. 29, at Prides Creek Park. Onyett placed 22nd over- all with a season-best time of 14:45. Ed Ca- hill photo Pike County Middle School fourth grader Brayden Hartley com- petes during a boys' cross country tri-meet with North Knox and Washington on Tues- day, Aug. 29, at Prides Creek Park. Hart- ley placed 18th over- all with a season-best time of 13:46. Ed Ca- hill photo Pike County Middle School seventh grad- er Dallas Reutapohler competes during a boys' cross country tri-meet with North Knox and Washington on Tuesday, Aug. 29, at Prides Creek Park. Reutapohler placed eighth overall with a time of 12:38. Ed Ca- hill photo Pike County Mid- dle School sixth grad- er Michaela Gray com- petes during a girls' cross country tri-meet with North Knox and Washington on Tues- day, Aug. 29, at Prides Creek Park. Gray placed 24th over- all with a season-best time of 15:26. Ed Ca- hill photo Pike County Mid- dle School sixth grad- er Ruby Sallee com- petes during a girls' cross country tri-meet with North Knox and Washington on Tues- day, Aug. 29, at Prides Creek Park. Sallee placed eighth over- all with a season-best time of 13:42. Ed Ca- hill photo Warner, Weisman lead PCMS girls' cross country team past North Knox, Washington Fifth graders Kaylyn War- ner and Xavery Weisman placed second and third, re- spectively, as the Pike Cen- tral Middle School girls' cross country team placed first in a three-team meet held at Prides Creek Park on Tuesday, Aug. 29. Warner finished the race with a season-best time of 12:34, while Weisman tied her season-best time at 13:21. In addition, eighth grad- er Anna Whitehead placed fifth with a season-best time of 13:26; eighth grader Bella Toman placed seventh with a season-best time of 13:41; and sixth grader Ruby Sal- lee placed eighth with a sea- son-best time of 13:42. Also: • Eighth grader Morgan Sallee placed 11th with a sea- son-best time of 14:00. • Eighth grader Laney Johnson placed 12th with a season-best time of 14:02. • Fifth grader Izzy Luker placed 13th with a sea- son-best time of 14:13. • Fifth grader Ella Hart- ke placed 14th with a sea- son-best time of 14:25. • Eighth grader Quinlan Teague placed 15th with a season-best time of 14:27. • Fifth grader Eibhlin Teague placed 18th with a season-best time of 14:36. • Sixth grader Lexie On- yett placed 22nd with a sea- son-best time of 14:45. • Sixth grader Michaela Gray placed 24th with a sea- son-best time of 15:26. • Fifth grader Karlee Bolin placed 36th with a sea- son-best time of 18:02. • Fifth grader Destiny Jackson placed 38th with a season-best time of 18:33. • Fourth grader Gracie Hill placed 40th with a time of 19:28. • Fifth grader Brenna Potts placed 41st with a sea- son-best time of 19:54. • Eighth grader Hailey Parker placed 42nd with a season-best time of 20 :57. As a team, Pike Central scored 25 points. North Knox placed second with 43 points, while Washington finished third with 66 points. "My middle school girls started strong and finished strong," said Pike Central head coach Bridget Butch- er. "I had a pack of ladies in the front that competed in this race together, and kept the competitive drive the en- tire race – something we are working hard to master each and every practice." "I was impressed by how coachable once again this group of girls was tonight," Butcher added. "I told most of my girls during their race to always have a teammate in the front of their focus. Kaylyn had a great lead the second half of the race and worked hard to cross the finish line at second place. All of my girls did a fantas- tic job of pushing themselves past their limits, and enjoy- ing the race today, which we finished with a first-place fin- ish." BOYS: Seventh grader Dallas Reutapohler posted the Chargers' only top-ten finish, placing eighth with a time of 12:38, as Pike Cen- tral finished third as a team. Fifth grader Blaine Bar- nett was 11th with a sea- son-best time of 12:47; fourth grader Brayden Hartley was 18th with a season-best time of 13:46; sixth grader Wyatt Luff was 20th with a time of 14:20 ; fourth grader Garry Anderson was 29th with a season-best time of 18:51; and fifth grader Carter Mc- Cain was 30th with a sea- son-best time of 19:04. As a team, Pike Central scored a total of 71 points, trailing Washington (21 points) and North Knox (43). "The boys worked hard this evening, fight- ing through adversity that came their way," Butcher said. "Last race, Dallas was battling through an illness, but we were pleased to have him back this evening with an eighth-place finish. Being our first meet at home and against a strong Washing- ton team, I was happy with our results and look forward to improving our times even greater the rest of the sea- son." "This race was a good test to see how my boys and girls would do on our home course," Butcher added. "Al- though some nerves were high, everyone was much more confident and less scared this race." PCMS cross country teams compete in Fort Branch Invitational Fifth graders Xavery Weisman and Kaylyn War- ner finished 25th and 27th, respectively, out of 118 total runners as the Pike Central Middle School girls' cross country team placed ninth out of 18 teams during the Fort Branch Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 2. Weisman finished the race with a time of 12:57 while Warner posted a time of 13:05. In addition, eighth grad- er Anna Whitehead placed 54th with a time of 13:54; eighth grader Quinlan Teague placed 57th with a time of 13:58; sixth grad- er Ruby Sallee placed 65th with a time of 14:10 ; eighth grader Laney John- son placed 68th with a time of 14:12; and eighth grader Morgan Sallee placed 74th with a time of 14:23. In the girls' "B" race, sixth grader Lexie Onyett placed 20th out of 129 to- tal runners with a time of 14:21; fifth grader Izzy Luker placed 23rd with a time of 14:29; fifth grad- er Ella Hartke placed 39th with a time of 15:01; fifth grader Eibhlin Teague placed 46th with a time of 15:09; sixth grader Mi- chaela Gray placed 49th with a season-best time of 15:11; fourth grader Gracie Hill placed 49th with a sea- son-best time of 15:27; fifth grader Karlee Bolin placed 85th with a time of 16:59; fifth grader Destiny Jack- son placed 97th with a time of 18:14; and fifth grader Brenna Potts placed 108th with a time of 18:48. In the boys' race, sev- enth grader Dallas Reuta- pohler placed 80th out of 129 total runners with a time of 12:49, while sixth grader Wyatt Luff placed 106th with a time of 13:38. In the boys' "B" race, fifth grader Blaine Bar- nett placed 14th out of 200 total runners with a time of 12:47; fourth grad- er Brayden Hartley placed 139th with a time of 15:48; and fifth grader Carter Mc- Cain placed 196th with a time of 20 :48. "This morning was a test to see how strong the Pike Central Middle School cross country run- ners are so far this year," said head coach Bridget Butcher. "With 18 teams and at least 100 runners in each race, my boys and girls were faced with adver- sity. Regardless of the in- timidating start, my run- ners did their best to stay with the pack and settle in- to a steady pace. With this terrain and low altitude, my athletes showed me their racing potential and how hard they were willing to work to beat the one, two or maybe group of runners in front of them." "Although we were miss- ing a few runners today, I was very proud of all of my athletes," Butcher add- ed. "Each and every one of them is improving mental- ly, physically, and is becom- ing more and more coach- able. With the times, com- petition, and teams com- peting today, I trust that our boys and girls will on- ly continue to expand their love for running and let their passion lead them to great rewards." PCMS cross country teams host South Knox, Washington The Pike Central Mid- dle School girls' cross coun- try team finished second in a three-team meet held at Prides Creek Park on Thurs- day, Aug. 31. Fifth grader Xavery Weis- man led the Lady Chargers, finishing fifth out of 61 run- ners with a season-best time of 12:21, while fifth grader Kaylyn Warner placed sixth with a time of 12:34. In addition, eighth grad- er Anna Whitehead placed 12th with a time of 13:36; eighth grader Bella Toman placed 14th with a time of 13:45; fifth grader Ella Hart- ke placed 15th with a sea- son-best time of 13:48; fifth grader Izzy Luker placed 17th with a season-best time of 13:51; and eighth grader Quinlan Teague placed 18th with a season-best time of 13:57. Also: • Sixth grader Lexie On- yett placed 21st with a sea- son-best time of 14:06. • Eighth grader Laney Johnson placed 24th with a time of 14:18. • Sixth grader Ruby Sal- lee placed 30th with a time of 14:49. • Eighth grader Morgan Sallee placed 31st with a time of 14:59. • Fifth grader Eibhlin placed 36th with a time of 15:18. • Eighth grader Morgan Anderson placed 47th with a time of 16:22. • Fifth grader Karlee Bolin placed 48th with a sea- son-best time of 16:48. • Fourth grader Gracie Hill placed 50th with a sea- son-best time of 17:05. • Sixth grader Michaela Gray placed 51st with a time of 17:16. • Fifth grader Destiny Jackson placed 54th with a season-best time of 17:56. • Fifth grader Brenna Potts placed 55th with a sea- son-best time of 17:58. As a team, Pike Central scored a total of 47 points, trailing South Knox's 17 points. Washington was third with 80 points. In the boys' race, seventh grader Dallas Reutapohler placed 14th with a sea- son-best time of 12:19, while fifth grader Blaine Barnett finished 16th with a sea- son-best time of 12:27, as the Chargers finished third as a team with 83 points, trailing South Knox (15 points) and Washington (56). In addition, sixth grader Wyatt Luff placed 32nd with a season-best time of 13:32; fourth grader Brayden Hart- ley placed 39th with a time of 13:46; fourth grader Garry Anderson placed 50th with a time of 19:42; and fifth grad- er Carter McCain placed 51st with a time of 19:45. "Tonight's tri-meet was a good test of confidence for the girls' and boys' teams," Pike Central head coach Bridget Butcher said. "South Knox brought a large group of athletes – a larger group than many of my runners have faced before. I was very proud of how my athletes fought through their nerves and the excitement of the big crowd, and were very coach- able during the race. When it came time to approach the lightning tree and finish the race, all of my girls and boys pushed through their tired and screaming legs and sprinted as fast as they could to the finish." PCMS boys' tennis team picks up first win against Forest Park The Pike Central Mid- dle School boys' tennis team defeated host Forest Park on Tuesday, Aug. 28, to pick up its first win of the season. In first-round singles matches, the Chargers' Parker Knust won 8 -3, Al- ex Clark lost 8 -6, and J.J. Bellmore won 8 -7. In first-round doubles matches, the Chargers' Adon Lemond and Nolan Bailey lost 8 -0, and Alex Gray and Carter Blackwell won 8 -6. In second-round singles matches, the Chargers' Parker Knust won 6 -5, Al- ex Clark lost 6 -0, and Adon Lemond lost 6 -0. In a second-round dou- bles match, the Chargers' Dietrich Dunigan and Ja- cob Carter won 6 -2. "Forest Park has only sixth and seventh graders currently on their team, while Pike Central has two eighth graders and the rest are fourth and fifth graders," said Pike Central head coach Phil Knust. "This was a nice win for our team." Phil Knust said that any middle school students in- terested in playing tennis this year can still come out for the team. For more in- formation, contact him at 812-630 -5086. The Chargers will re- turn to action on Thurs- day, Sept. 7, at Southridge. SUBSCRIBE TODAY! 812-354-8500 We're not afraid to shed some light on the truth. NEWS! Want to share your news with others? The Press-Dispatch can help deliver it to Pike and the surrounding counties. 812-354-8500