BEDFORD — Zach Miller won two events Thursday to lead the Jennings County boys track team to the Bedford North Lawrence Sectional championship.
The Panthers finished with 129 points. Seymour took second with 103.
Miller captured the long jump with a leap of 21 feet, 1 ¾ inches and the 100 meters in 11.3 seconds.
Daniel Hauersperger won two individual events and anchored the 4×800 relay team to a first-place finish to help Seymour.
The Owls got off to a great start when Hauersperger, Cam Deppen, Evan Frische and Keegan Bowman teamed up to win the 4×800 relay in 8:36.3. That was Seymour’s best time of the season.
Hauersperger trailed Mitchell’s anchor by 18 yards when both runners received their batons. The Seymour senior passed the Mitchell runner on the backstretch on the second lap.
Hauersperger said he was consistent with his splits, running 1:02 on each lap.
“The last 200 is when I caught him,” Hauersperger said of his finish in the relay. “My finish was about right.”
Hauersperger won the mile with a time of 4:38.2.
“It went about how I wanted,” he said. “I wasn’t sure exactly where I was going to make my move. Then at the 500, I felt like I had a little more left than (runner-up Kyle Lewis of Jennings County) did, and I took off and built a little bit of a gap.”
In the 3,200, Hauersperger was second after two laps before taking the lead a fourth of the way through the third lap.
“I was going to stay behind for another lap, but he (Lewis) is going to be my teammate next year, and he wanted to try to PR, so I helped share the work with him, and I took the lead,” Hauersperger said. “I felt pretty good.”
Seymour coach Randy Fife said he felt like Hauersperer had an outstanding meet.
“Daniel had an outstanding meet. He improved his 800 split to a season’s best 2:04, and came back and won both the 1600 and 3200. He gave us a lot of points. He’s going to the regional in three events. We’re probably going to scratch him out of the 1600 so he can concentrate in the 3200. He’s done a good job all year long. Nobody deserves it more than him. Ha has a lot of confidence and it shows in his running.”
“We started off well winning that first relay. We had several PRs. Both of our pole vaulters PRed. (Todd) advanced. Tim Deppen in the 3200 had a good run. We went 1-3 there. Josh Vance in the discus PRed. That’s a nice way to finish. We are getting better and better. We advanced quite a few people out to the regional. We scored two people in several events just not high enough. Brayden Engleking had an outstanding shot put.”
Trinity coach Chris Crenshaw said, “I saw a lot of PR’s. I am pleased about that. We had a couple of milers couple that cut seconds; Nikolai took off 5 seconds.”
Ian Anderson won the shot at 43-7¼ and Engleking was third with 41-1.
SOFTBALL
East edges Warriors
Columbus East won an offensive shootout with visiting Scottsburg 11-10 by scoring two runs in the bottom the eighth after the Warriors had scored a run in the top of the inning to take the lead.
Hayley Smalley crushed five hits for the Olympians and drove home two runs while Kiersten Henderson and Elyse Babb both had three hits. Parker Wetherald had two hits and two RBIs for East, which is 5-16.
Panthers overwhelm Knights
AURORA — Maddy Hovious slammed a double, three singles and drove in four runs to lead Jennings County past host South Dearborn 12-3.
Sydney Gerkin, Baylee Krueger and Tesla Kopitzke all had two hits apiece for the Panthers, who are 21-6.
Cougars rout Yellow Jackets
GREENSBURG — Brittany Koors went 3 for 4 with a double and five RBIs to lead South Decatur to a 12-2, five-inning Mid-Hoosier Conference win against Morristown.
Mackenzie Kopplin threw a four-hitter for the Cougars (8-13, 3-6). Brooke Helms went 3 for 4 with a double and a triple, Chloe Smith went 2 for 2 and Natasha Bruce had two RBIs.
BASEBALL
Jets blank Chargers
GREENSBURG — Hauser slammed four triples and 15 hits overall in a 15-0, five-inning MHC rout of host North Decatur in five innings.
Brooks Bailey had a triple, two singles and three RBI for the Jets, who are 16-7 after their fourth win in a row. Will Rose had a triple, single and three RBI while Dalton McKinney had a double, triple and three RBI.
Rory Thayer and Sam Meek each had three hits for Hauser while Nathan Branum had a hit and two RBIs.
Eric McMillen pitched all five innings, allowing four hits and striking out six.
Panthers edge Bears
NORTH VERNON — Jennings County rallied from a 4-0 deficit to pull out a 5-4 win against Shelbyville.
Ethan Jarvis went 2 for 3, and Sam Miller and Conner Byrum each went 2 for 5 for the Panthers. Tod Brown pitched 3 2/3 innings of hitless relief to pick up the victory.
BOYS GOLF
East eases past Batesville
BATESVILLE — Columbus East downed host Batesville 152-171 as Chris Jurrema won medalist honors for the Olympians with a 37.
Zach Sutton shot 37 for East followed by Will Mayhew at 39, Derek Alexander at 40, Austin Proffitt at 43 and Thomas Ruch at 44.
Cougars win tri match
HOPE — South Decatur was paced by Jake Vannatta’s 42 in a tri-match victory over Hauser and Morristown at Clifty Creek Golf Course.
South Decatur shot 177 to 193 for Hauser and 214 for Morristown.
Also for the Cougars, Nick Schwering and Brayden Helms each shot 45, Seth Niese carded a 46 and Jake Johnson had a 49.
For Hauser, Jack Washburn shot 43, followed by Aaron Sweet at 49, Matt Sweet at 50, Wyatt Whittington at 52, Chase Connor at 54, Clayton Wilson at 56 and Travis Stafford at 58.
GIRLS TENNIS
Panthers fall to Cubs
GREENSBURG — Jennings County saw its season come to an end with a 3-2 loss to Madison in the semifinals of the Greensburg Sectional.
Rebecca Driver downed Emma Stacia 6-3, 6-3 at No. 3 singles, and Cassie Leach and Hailee Harmon beat Clare Loshbetter and Annie Auxier 6-1, 7-5 at No. 2 doubles for the Panthers (7-15). Avis McGovern fell to Riley Boone 6-0, 6-1 at No. 1 singles, Kristen Nottingham lost to Anna Bruns 6-0, 6-1 at No. 2 singles and Elaine Lykins and Amy Gasper fell to Maddie Robinson and Annie Marsh 7-6 (5), 6-4 at No. 1 doubles.
Owls move into finals
SEYMOUR — Seymour is focused on hoisting the sectional trophy for the fourth straight year on its home courts.
The Owls will get that chance Saturday after knocking off Scottsburg 4-1 in Thursday’s semifinals. At 9 a.m. Saturday they will face Austin, a 5-0 winner against Trinity Lutheran.
Playing the No. 23 Owls (18-2) for the third time this season, the Warriors weren’t going to make it easy. They battled at most positions, including winning a point for the first time.
“A lot of credit goes to coach (Brian) Roberts. He really had the girls ready to play tonight,” Owls coach Jennifer Miller said. “They’ve lost to us 5-0 twice this season. It’s really hard to beat a team 5-0 a third time, and I felt like Scottsburg’s girls came out with some intensity tonight. They really challenged us at a couple of positions.”
The No. 1 doubles duo of Karen Dringenburg and Emma Wood finished their match before any others began their second sets, winning 6-1, 6-0 against Lindsey Boswell and Jayla Helton in less than 30 minutes.
Seymour led 2-0 after Marley Vehslage wrapped up a 6-1, 6-3 win against Alexis Lucas at No. 2 singles. The Owls had the match in hand when Julia Adam fought off Carmen Boley 6-4, 6-3 at No. 1 singles.
Scottsburg then earned its sole point when Leah Hunefeld defeated Kennedy Richart 7-5, 6-4 at No. 3 singles. Richart led 4-3 in the first set before Hunefeld rallied. She then fell behind 5-2 in the second set before pulling within a game, but Hunefeld closed out the win.
The final match on the court was No. 2 doubles. Seymour’s Lindsey Hume and Megan Baurle trailed Alexa Howser and Paige Crites 6-5 in the first set before forcing a tiebreaker and winning 7-2. They then overcame a 2-1 deficit in the second set and won 6-2.
In the other semifinal match, Trinity’s Shelby Nierman and Maddie Lucas lost the first set 6-4 before winning 7-5 to force a third set at No. 2 doubles. They had a 2-1 edge early in the third set before Austin’s Kami Owens and Skyler Coomer regained the lead and maintained for a 6-3 win.
Trinity’s No. 1 doubles duo of Allison Hackman and Sydney Stuckwisch also battled, but they lost 7-5, 6-3 to Holli Reynolds and Cheyenne Riley.
Austin scored the first point on Kayla Blaylock’s 6-1, 6-2 win against Kendyll Austin at No. 3 singles. The Eagles then claimed the match with Rebekah Raichel defeating Courtney Barker 6-2, 6-3 at No. 2 singles and Kaylin Carter topping Aurora Willman 6-1, 6-2 at No. 1 singles.
Trinity finished 1-13.
