For the first time this year, the Indiana High School Wrestling Coaches Association conducted an Academic Challenge to determine the state’s top team in terms of combined success on the mat and in the classroom.
Taking the combined GPAs of the 14 varsity wrestlers from the 32 sectional team champions, Columbus East came away as one of the best. The Olympians tied with Noblesville for the Academic Challenge championship.
“I think it’s fantastic to be recognized,” East coach Chris Cooper said. “For years, something we’ve emphasized in our program is the student aspect. It’s nice to be a great wrestler, but at the end of the day, you can’t wrestle forever. We always talk to them about academics, and we have a lot of great students in our program, so it’s nice for them to be recognized for that.”
The Olympians have a non-weighted GPA of better than 3.4 for its 14 wrestlers that competed in the sectional. Cooper said the combined GPA is about the same when all 30 wrestlers in the program are included.
“That’s something we keep track of,” Cooper said. “We take our first-quarter GPA and set goals for the second and third nine weeks.”
Among varsity wrestlers, junior Noah Lykins and sophomores Liam Krueger and Tommy Morrill all have perfect 4.0 GPA, while enior Tyler Williams (3.9), sophomore Bo Wagner (3.8) and junior Reece Fisher (3.7) aren’t far off. From the JV, junior Tristan Statler, sophomores Jacob Clark and Jordan Sutton and freshman Jahir Arellano all have 4.0 GPAs.
“It’s amazing that we were able to win with an unweighted GPA because most schools have weighted GPAs,” Cooper said.
Nichalson picked for North-South Game
Columbus East senior offensive lineman Hunter Nichalson has been selected to the South squad for the annual North-South All-Star Classic.
South Decatur senior offensive lineman Brian Wittkamper also has been selected to the South team. The South will play the North July 9 at North Central High School in Indianapolis.
North’s Ward commits to UIndy
Columbus North kicker and punter Carter Ward has committed to continue his football career at University of Indianapolis.
Ward converted 38 of 39 extra points and 9 of 12 field goals, with a long of 40, last fall and averaged 36.2 yards on 19 punts, putting three inside the opponents’ 20-yard line. He had 17 touchbacks on 56 kickoffs and earned All-Conference Indiana and Class 6A Senior All-State honors.
East’s Murphy signs with Olivet
Columbus East senior Daniel Murphy signed Wednesday to continue his basketball career at Olivet Nazarene.
Murphy averaged 10.4 points and led the Olympians with 4-4 rebounds and 2.6 assists a game this season.
Bull Dogs named All-Conference
Three coaches who led Columbus North to Conference Indiana titles this winter have been named conference Coach of the Year.
Pat McKee won the honor in girls basketball, as did Betsy Warble in gymnastics. Paul Ferguson shared the boys basketball honor with former Bull Dogs coach and current Bloomington North coach Jason Speer.
Columbus North seniors Blake Barker and Reese Harmon and sophomore Cooper Horn made the All-Conference boys basketball team. Senior Jakub Trusina is an honorable mention selection.
Senior Alexa McKinley, junior Kylah Lawson and sophomore Lauren Barker are on the All-Conference girls basketball team. Madison White made honorable mention.
Sectional hosts set for spring sports
Columbus East and Columbus North will travel to Bloomington North for the baseball sectional and to Shelbyville for the softball sectional this spring.
The IHSAA announced on Friday the locations for its postseason tournaments for spring sports. One change this year is that the Class 4A baseball regional that will host the Bloomington North Sectional winner will be at Jasper instead of Evansville’s Bosse Field.
In Class A, Hauser will travel to Jac-Cen-Del for the baseball sectional and Rising Sun for softball. Edinburgh will host a softball sectional and will be at Morristown for baseball. The Edinburgh Sectional champ will host the Rising Sun Sectional winner, and the Center Grove Sectional champ will host the Shelbyville Sectional champ in regional action.
Sectional and regional sites remain largely unchanged from two years ago in the other four spring sports. Columbus North will once again host an all-local five-team sectional that includes Columbus East, Hauser, Brown County and Edinburgh.
The Bartholomew County schools still will go to Franklin for the girls track sectional and regional and to Columbus North for the boys track sectional and Warren Central for the boys track regional. They’ll go to Greensburg for the boys golf sectional and would go to Champions Pointe for the boys golf regional.
The Unified Track sectional for East and Columbus North is at Bloomington North, and the regional is at Bedford North Lawrence.
The IHSAA announced Wednesday that it is seeking new venues for the Softball and Boys and Girls Track and Unified Track State Finals after Purdue, which had hosted softball, and Indiana University, which had hosted track, told IHSAA commissioner Paul Neidig that they would not be able to host those events with fans this spring.
CC to host All-Area All-Star Games
After a one-year absence, Columbus Christian will host the All-Area All-Star Games this year, featuring players from The Republic All-Area boys and girls basketball teams.
The girls game will be at 5:30 p.m. March 22. The boys game will follow at around 7 p.m.
Ted Schultz is sports editor for The Republic. He can be reached at tschultz@therepublic.com or 812-379-5628.
