Luke Bless’ grandfather played and coached football at University of Indianapolis, and his father and two uncles played for Bill Bless at UIndy.
Now, Luke is headed to play for the Greyhounds, as well. The Columbus North senior linebacker committed to the Division II school on Monday.
Luke Bless recorded 68 tackles, including five for losses, and three sacks last fall in earning All-Conference Indiana honors and helping his father Tim’s Bull Dog squad to a 6-3 record and a conference title.
Softball players commit
Two Columbus North softball players have announced commitments to play in college. Senior Meghan Waggoner is headed to NAIA program IU-Southeast, and junior Peri Foust has committed to Division III Mount St. Joseph.
Waggoner pitched for the Bull Dogs as a freshman, but played mostly first base as a sophomore in 2019, when she batted .364 with six doubles, four home runs and 15 RBIs. She also had considered Mount St. Joseph, Indiana Wesleyan and Trinity International.
Foust went 6-6 with a 3.77 ERA as a freshman in 2019. She also had considered Franklin College.
The 2020 high school season was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Both Waggoner and Foust played on the Midwest Astros travel team last summer.
Diing picks Indiana Tech
Columbus North senior Diing Diing has committed to continue his basketball career at Indiana Tech.
Diing is averaging 4.3 points and 2.0 rebounds for the Bull Dogs. He plans to major in business management at Indiana Tech.
Barker moves to second
Columbus North senior Blake Barker moved into second place on Columbus North’s all-time scoring list when he scored 17 points in Friday’s 65-56 win against Mooresville.
Barker now has 1,281 points, nine more than former Columbus High School and Indiana University star Bill Russell. Josh Speidel is the all-time leader for Columbus/Columbus North with 1,512 points.
Greiwe earns IBCA honor
Columbus East junior Koryn Greiwe has been named the IBCA/Franciscan District 3 Player of the Week for her efforts last week.
Greiwe led the Olympians with 22 points, four assists and four steals and added seven rebounds in a 67-66 upset of Class 4A then-No. 2 Bedford North Lawrence. She then had 19 points, seven rebounds, two assists and five steals in a 79-60 win at New Albany.
Jets livestreaming games
Hauser will livestreaming its home boys and girls basketball games on its YouTube channel for the rest of the season.
The address is for the YouTube channel is https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCR5X5tJ1s9RWu7LpAUeaSDg. The link also can be accessed under the “More” tab on the school’s athletics website.
North football sets meeting
Columbus North football will hold an information meeting at 6 p.m. Feb. 2 in the school’s cafeteria for incoming freshmen.
All interested eighth-graders and their parents who are interested in learning about Columbus North and high school football are invited to attend. They should enter Door 1.
Basketball games moved
Columbus East’s girls basketball game at Salem scheduled for Saturday and the Olympians’ boys basketball game at Bloomington North scheduled for Jan. 30 have been canceled because those opponents are in quarantine.
Also, Hauser’s boys basketball game with Rising Sun scheduled for Saturday has been canceled because of a COVID case at Rising Sun. In its place, Hauser will play Eastern (Pekin) on Saturday, with the JV starting at 1 p.m. and the varsity to follow at around 2:30 p.m.
Meanwhile, the boys basketball state finals have been moved back a week to April 3 because of the NCAA Tournament taking place the weekend of March 27 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
Ted Schultz is sports editor for The Republic. He can be reached at tschultz@therepublic.com or 812-379-5628.
