Athletes primed for state indoor meet

Several local athletes who hope to end their outdoor track and field seasons at the state finals will have a chance to experience a little state competition on Saturday.

Purdue University will host the Hoosier State Relays, the unofficial state indoor track and field meet. The Class 4A-5A-6A division begins at 8 a.m. Saturday and will be followed by the Class A-2A-3A division.

“It’s a good opportunity for us to see quality competition,” Columbus North coach Lou Sipe said. “The pressure is on to perform at a high level. But it’s a tuneup for us with not a lot of pressure because people are away on spring break.”

The top 24 competitors from around the state in each event qualified for the HSR meet. With some of those athletes opting out because of injuries or being away on spring break, those with the next-best times or distances were added to fill the 24-competitor fields in each event.

North’s boys will be represented by Mitchell Burton in the long jump, Chase Ballard and Ben Rankin in the 3,200 meters, Michael Behling in the 60 hurdles and Joe Wright, Chandler Stewart, Kyle Newland and Rankin in 4×800 relay. Alex Algee in the long jump and the Bull Dogs’ distance medley relay team qualified, but will not compete.

For the North girls, Sierra Lax and Rachel Brougher will run the 3,200, and Nina Bouthier, Morgan Neal, Olivia Malone and Allison Coffey will compete in the distance medley relay.

Also in the big school division will be Jennings County’s Wes Furgason in the boys high jump and Keri Ertel in the girls 60 hurdles.

Qualifying in the small school boys division were the Brown County 4×800 and distance medley relay teams and South Decatur’s Shea Ogle, Randall Canady and Damon Allen in the shot put.

Hauser’s Jordan McDaniel qualified in the high jump in the girls small school division. Brown County’s Emily Brady made it in the pole vault, long jump and 60 hurdles; while Harley Rogers in pole vault, Jalynn Stanford in high jump, Andi Smith in the shot put made the cut. Brown County’s girls 4×400 and 4×800 relay teams also qualified.

Seniors picked for Top 100

Four players from Columbus have been selected to this year’s Boys Top 100 Seniors list by Hoosier Basketball Magazine.

Columbus North’s Kooper Glick and Trent Larson and Columbus East’s Connor Umphress were picked, along with North’s Josh Speidel, who was injured in a Feb. 1 car accident. Speidel was one of four injured players who were selected.

Bull Dogs make All-Conference

Several Columbus North athletes have been selected to All-Conference Indiana teams for the winter sports season.

Seniors Debie Gedeon and Ali Patberg, junior Paige Littrell and sophomore Maliah Howard-Bass from the state champion North girls basketball team made the All-Conference squad. Pat McKee was named Coach of the Year.

Glick, Larson and Speidel made the All-Conference boys basketball team.

Freshman Michael Brinegar, sophomore Kaemon Jiles, juniors Chase McQueen and Jared Imlay and seniors Matt Freudenthaler and Kevin Zhang are on All-Conference boys swimming team. Sophomores Grace Haskett, Alex Nusawardhana and Darby Coles; junior Mackenzie Fry and seniors Marah Bieger, Maddie Wyke and Karen Wildemann made the girls squad. Jim Sheridan was named Coach of the Year for both boys and girls.

Junior Katrina May, sophomore Ashley Holliday, freshman Claire Thompson and senior Kaitlyn Barnes made the All-Conference gymnastics team. Sandy Freshour was named Coach of the Year.

Trio picked for Classic

Trinity Lutheran offensive lineman Tommy Davis will join Columbus East defensive lineman Connor Roberts and Columbus North offensive lineman Ezra Followell on the South squad that will play the North in the North-South All-Star Game July 17 at North Central.

Trinity coach Anthony Levy will be one of the assistant coaches for the South.

All-Star coaches selected

On the same day that Columbus North senior Ali Patberg was announced as this year’s Miss Basketball, her coaches for this year’s Indiana All-Stars were also announced on Tuesday.

Barr-Reeve coach Mark Holt will lead the girls squad and will be assisted by West Lafayette’s Jane Schott and Leo’s Carrie Shappell. Homestead’s Rod Parker will be the head coach for the Indiana Junior All-Star girls and will be assisted by Greenfield-Central’s Doug Laker and East Central’s Kevin Moore.

The Indiana All-Stars will play the Junior All-Stars June 8 and 10 at sites to be determined, then will play the Kentucky All-Stars June 12 in Lexington and June 13 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.