The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/906097
The Press-Dispatch Winter Sports Preview Wednesday, November 22, 2017 E- 7 Pictured above is the 2017-18 Pike Central High School girls' swimming and diving team. They are, first row, left to right: Jenna Meyer, Jaci Potts, Libby Stone, Neeley Correll, Audrey Keepes, Lily Frederick-Rice, Hallee Stephens, Charlotte Dudenhoeffer and Natalie Bohnert. Second row: Manager Meredith Ben- son, Emillee Halderman, Courtney Frederick, Quin Bailey, Gretchen McCrary, Brittany Young, Cass Conder, Shania Cremeans and Miki Feldpausch. Not pic- tured: Emma Russell and Manager Jayden Ashby. John Heuring photo Lady Chargers aiming for first PAC title since 1994 "We've got good numbers. We have four freshmen and two sophomores that didn't swim last year, so we ended up with six more kids, and we lost three. Two of the freshmen (Dudenhoeffer and Meyer) swam last year, so we expect big things out of both of them. They'll help transition in the points that we lost." – Assistant Coach Mike Bohnert " See GIRLS on page 10 FICKLIN AUTO SUPPLY GOOD LUCK CHARGERS! WE WISH YOU A VERY SUCCESSFUL SEASON! WE HAVE QUALITY PARTS FOR DOMESTIC VEHICLES AND IMPORTS, TOO! NOW YOUR AREA'S EXCLUSIVE NAPA DEALER! MON. - FRI. 7:30am-5pm SAT. 7:30am-4pm CLOSED SUNDAY 12TH & MAIN STREETS, PETERSBURG 812-354-6000 By Ed Cahill The Pike Central High School girls' swimming team lost three seniors fol- lowing a season in which the Lady Chargers placed sec- ond – for the second straight year – to Heritage Hills in the Pocket Athletic Confer- ence Championships. Selena Carpenter, Kait- lyn Foster and Maya Fred- erick all left some pretty big shoes to fill, especially Maya Frederick, who won PAC titles in two events – the 200 -yard freestyle and the 500 -yard freestyle – be- fore capping her high school career with a school-record performance in a third- place finish in the 500 -yard freestyle during the section- al meet. "You knew she was al- ways going to be at prac- tice; you knew she was al- ways going to work hard," said Pike Central head coach Mike Bohnert. "But the rollover starts, and you start again." The Lady Chargers re- turn a total of 12 swimmers – seniors Quin Bailey, Cass Conder, Shania Cremeans, Miki Feldpausch, Courtney Frederick, Emillee Halder- man, Gretchen McCrary and Brittany Young; juniors Natalie Bohnert and Hallee Stephens; and sophomores Lily Frederick-Rice and Ja- ci Potts. The six first-year mem- bers of the team are soph- omores Audrie Keepes and Emma Russell and fresh- men Neeley Correll, Char- lotte Dudenhoeffer, Jenna Meyer and Libby Stone. "We've got good num- bers," Mike Bohnert said. "We have four freshmen and two sophomores that didn't swim last year, so we ended up with six more kids, and we lost three. Two of the freshmen (Dudenhoeffer and Meyer) swam last year, so we expect big things out of both of them. They'll help transition in the points that we lost." Of course, Mike Bohnert is stepping into some big shoes of his own. A fter serv- ing as an assistant coach for the past 13 years under Jason McKinney, he was named head coach follow- ing McKinney's resignation in October. In his letter of resigna- tion, McKinney – who had coached both the girls' and boys' swimming teams for 19 years – said that he want- ed to concentrate on his job as a deputy with the Pike County Sheriff's Depart- ment, which he described as "a lifelong dream." McKinney also urged that Mike Bohnert be named as his successor. "A special thanks to Mike Bohnert for being my assis- tant coach for the past 13 years, because I could not have done it without him and his wife, Beth," McKin- ney wrote. "They are a huge asset to the swim program and I hope the school board will let them continue coaching for as long as they want." Mike Bohnert said that while McKinney's resig- nation was sudden, it was hardly unexpected, espe- cially after McKinney's son, Chaney, graduated this past spring. "I kind of thought it was probably going to go that way, but it was nothing def- inite," said Mike Bohnert, whose wife was named as assistant coach for the high school girls' and boys' teams. "We talked about differ- ent scenarios, but it was ul- timately whatever he want- ed to do, and what worked best for him." "It's not a big change, because we kind of co- coached it anyway," he add- ed. "Everything's going to be the same as it was, pret- ty much. All these years, it's been pretty steady, so that's a big help in coaching, and the kids know what to ex- pect." The Lady Chargers will be led this season by ju- nior Natalie Bohnert (Mike and Beth's daughter), who set school records in six in- dividual swimming events – the 200 -yard individual medley, the 50 -yard free- style, the 100 -yard butter- fly, the 100 -yard freestyle and the 100 -yard backstroke – as a sophomore while ad- vancing to the state meet in the 200 -yard individual medley and, for the second straight year, the 100 -yard backstroke. In addition, Natalie Bohnert teamed up last season with Bailey, Ma- ya Frederick and Young to set school records in the 200 -yard and 400 -yard free- style relays, and with Cond- er, Maya Frederick and Young to set the school re- cord in the 200 -yard med- ley relay. Bohnert also holds the school record in the 200 -yard freestyle, which she set during her fresh- man season. "I can put her in any- thing," Mike Bohnert said. "We went to the individual medley and the backstroke to get out, to head to state. Also, her butterfly time dropped over the summer. She's down around 1:01 now ... which is about three sec- onds faster than she used to be." "We probably won't move her, but we have the option to if we need to, depending on whether we can fill spots, at least for the regular sea- son and PAC," he added. The only individual swimming events Natalie Bohnert does not current- ly hold the school record in are the 500 -yard freestyle – Maya Frederick's time of 5:47.87 during last year's sectional finals broke Nata- lie Bohnert's school record of 5:48.75, which she set in 2016 – and the 100 -yard breaststroke, which was has been held by Missy Barnes since 1984. "She's been working to- ward it," Mike Bohnert said of the 100 -yard breast- stroke school record. "We're not sure. We'd like to see what she can do. She's real- ly worked the breaststroke, which she needs for the in- dividual medley anyway. It's her weakest stroke." Bohnert's older brother, Jacob, is a senior member of the boys' swim team. "Nat asks about every time she pulls herself out of the water what went wrong, what did she do," Mike Bohnert said. "Jake's kind of, like, 'Well, I just didn't feel it.'" "It's fun to coach your kids," he added. "I try not to show anybody any favor- itism, because it's all based on times, wherever I need you. I'll put my kid in the 500 or the 100 fly in a heart- beat. They know I'll put them in whatever we need to do to win that meet." The Lady Chargers' oth- er junior, Stephens, placed fifth in diving during last year's sectional finals after advancing to the diving re- gionals as a freshman. Mike Bohnert described Stephens as "an awesome diver" who – along with freshman Jenna Meyer, Meyer placed first in div- ing at the season-ending PAC middle school meet as an eighth grader – is work- ing with diving coach Missy Sparks, the school's record holder in diving since 1998. "Hopefully, we're going to get (Stephens) out to the re- gional again," he said. "Mis- sy is working hard with them." Mike Bohnert said that having two divers compet- ing this season will be good for both Stephens and Mey- er – as well as the team as a whole. "Last year, Hallee was all by herself," Mike Bohnert said. "This year, she's got Jenna with her. So they've got some friendly compe- tition, but they also have somebody to work with while they're doing it. That's going to help a lot. It's not just (Stephens), being ner- vous, by herself, standing over there. She's got some- body with her." Leading the returning se- niors is Bailey, who, as a ju- nior, placed second in the 200 -yard freestyle during the PAC Championships – less than one second be- hind first-place finisher Ma- ya Frederick. "They battled it out un- til the end," Mike Bohnert said of Bailey, who finished seventh in the 100 -yard freestyle and ninth in the 200 -yard freestyle during the sectional meet. "She's a really good mid- dle distance, 200 freesty- ler. Also a good 100 freesty- ler. She's a pretty good 50 freestyer. We've just got to get the start a little quick- er and the pull out a little quicker." Young matched Bailey's individual performance at the sectional meet with a seventh-place finish in the 50 -yard freestyle and a ninth-place finish in the 100 -yard butterfly. "She's on our record board for the relays," Mike Bohnert said. "She's a very good sprinter. We can also put her in the butterfly. It just depends on where we need her at. She's another girl we can place about any- where we want to." Conder, meanwhile, placed 12th in the 100 -yard breaststroke and 14th in the 200 -yard individual medley during last year's sectonal meet after placing fifth in the 100 -yard breaststroke during the PAC Champion- ships with a personal record time of 1:23.50. "She's a breaststroker who, when she came in in middle school, couldn't even swim a lap of the pool," Mike Bohnert said. "Now she's swimming the breast- stroke, and she swims the breaststroke leg of our med- ley relay." "Her times are steadily dropping and getting low- er," he added. "We're hoping that she can work through this year and maybe get that time down closer to that re- cord board. She's got a ways to go, but, hopefully, we can get her down to that time, or at least close to it, where she's competitive at section- al." Last year, Cremeans placed 14th in the 100 -yard butterfly and 15th in the 100 -yard backstroke dur- ing the sectional meet. "She swims a lot of back- stroke for us," Mike Bohnert said. "She's a girl that we swam in the fly some last year. We'll roll her around in a lot of different things to see where we need to fill stuff out at. She'll come in and always work hard for you." Courtney Frederick – Ma- ya's younger sister – is an- other senior returner who is expected to compete in the distance events. She placed 15th in the 500 -yard free- style during last year's sec- tional meet. "She's done a really good job," Mike Bohnert said. "She'll work hard for you. She'll give it her all in every event you put her in. You can put her in about any- thing you want to put her in. We've put her in the butter- fly before. We've put her in the distance events, and any relay we want to put her in. So she's a really good, ver- satile girl." McCrary, meanwhile, placed 16th in the 200 -yard individual medley and the 100 -yard breaststroke dur- ing last year's sectional meet. "She's a really solid breaststroker, and we've swam her in the individ- ual medley a lot," Mike Bohnert said. "If we can re- ally get her to really get out there and go, she'll be a sol- id swimmer for us. She has been every year and works really hard for us." Halderman, who finished 11th in the 500 -yard free- style during last year's PAC Championships, will like- ly see some action at either the butterfly and the breast- stroke this season. "It just depends on where we need kids this year," Mike Bohnert said. "We lost a butterflier, we lost a breaststroker, we lost a dis- tance girl, but also, with los- ing Maya, we could roll her around anywhere we want to. There's going to be a lot of spaces we'll have to fill." Feldpausch, who placed 15th in the 100 -yard free- style during preliminaries at the PAC Championships last season, also returns. "We'll kind of roll her in- to different things," Mike Bohnert said. "She's trying the backstroke for us some. We can put her in free- style. She's a decent sprint- er. She'll come in and work for you. She's pretty good with the newer kids, too. She helps the younger kids with what they're doing to make sure they know what 2017-'18 SWIMMING GIRLS'