Quade Greiwe and Sean Galligar don’t have to look much farther than how they ended last season to find motivation for the upcoming postseason wrestling tournament.

Greiwe made it to semistate, but lost his opening-round match in Evansville, falling two wins short of qualifying for state at 195 pounds. Galligar finished fifth in the Jennings County Sectional, one place away from making it to regional at 285.

Saturday, the pair of juniors will help lead Columbus East into the Jennings Sectional. Taking the first step and advancing with top-four finishes is the immediate goal.

“My coach reminds me every day, telling me, ‘Hey Sean, did you make it out of sectional last year?'” Galligar said. “That’s pretty much fuel for the fire to make it out of sectional this year.”

Not that they need any extra motivation. Greiwe and Galligar joined 106-pounder Graham Rooks as Hoosier Hills Conference champions from East and have been two of the Olympians’ most consistent wrestlers this season.

“All of those guys have committed to our program and the things we do in the offseason and playing other sports and everything like that,” East coach Chris Cooper said. “It’s not a matter of just wrestling from November to February. Those guys get a lot of mat time in the offseason. They do all the extra things to make themselves successful.”

Greiwe (24-7) is the sectional’s No. 1 seed at 195.

“Quade having success at conference, it’s essentially the same group of guys at sectional,” Cooper said. “I think he’s confident that he’s beaten those guys once, an he has the opportunity to do it again.”

“I want to get first at sectional so I have a good seed going into regional, and then the same thing with regional,” Greiwe said. “I want to place high there so I have a good seed going into semistate. Semistate, I just want to wrestle my hardest and make it as far as I can there and make it to the next level.”

Galligar (26-6) is the No. 4 seed at 285. Two of his losses have been by 1-0 scores to the Nos. 2 and 3 seeds.

“I don’t get too hung up on ‘He’s a 4 seed, or he’s a 1 or 2 or 3,'” Cooper said. “With Sean, we’re throwing in a couple of kids that weren’t in our conference that are high-level opponents. There are four very solid heavyweights there, and if he’s mentally focused, he could be as good as any of them.”

Both Galligar and Greiwe have goals of reaching the state finals.

“I’ve been working with my coaches every day to get better, and I think I’ve improved since the beginning of the season,” Galligar said. “I think if I go in and wrestle my match, I should be able to get first. Right now, I’m taking it week by week, but my end goal is to be a state qualifier.”

That’s the case with Greiwe, as well.

“I’m just trying to improve on what I got last year,” Greiwe said. “It’s a reachable goal, and I want to do something big.”

“If he comes out and wrestles as he’s capable, he has the ability to do it,” Cooper said. “I think he has his mind in the right place now. It’s just a matter of putting the matches together and staying in his position. If he can control the match, there’s no doubt he can make it.”

Galligar started a pair of sectional games, but was primarily a backup offensive lineman for East’s football team, while Greiwe saw action as a backup defensive lineman. They began morning workouts for football last week and hope to become full-time starters this fall.

Galligar, who also throws the shot and discus for the Olympians’ track team, is hoping to earn a wrestling or football scholarship. Griewe figures his best chance at a scholarship is in wrestling.

“We still go to morning workouts for football, but that’s pretty much supplementing wrestling,” Greiwe said. “We’re more focused on wrestling. When football comes around, then it will be football time, but right now, we’re 100 percent wrestling.”

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What: Jennings County Sectional wrestling

When 9 a.m. Saturday

Where: Jennings County High School

Teams: Columbus East, Columbus North, Jennings County, Brown County, Seymour, Greensburg, Madison, Scottsburg, Southwestern (Hanover), Switzerland County

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MALE

Graham Rooks, Columbus East freshman wrestler

Rooks came through with pins at 106 pounds in both of Columbus East’s matches, dual-meet losses at Mooresville and Bloomington North.

His performance last week:

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“I got to my shots and did a good job moving on my feet. Then, I could get the fall.”

Do you do anything special to prepare?

“Just get mentally focused and ready.”

Favorite drink:

“Root beer”

Favorite food:

“Hot dogs”

Favorite music group:

“Jack Johnson”

Favorite book:

“To Kill a Mockingbird”

Favorite class:

“Math”

Role model:

“My father (Ben Rooks) and my grandfather (Lester Perkinson)”

Best advice:

“Always work hard and try your best in everything you do.”

Athletics goal:

“To win state and NCAA national championships.”

If you could travel anywhere:

“Probably (University of) Iowa, because that’s where I want to go for wrestling.”

FEMALE

Macy Wingham, Columbus Christian senior basketball player

Wingham led the Crusaders with 26 points, five assists and seven steals in a 59-34 win at Crosspointe Christian.

Her performance last week:

“I feel pretty good about my performance, but I take every game to improve, and regardless of the stats, I take each game as a new game to get better.”

Do you do anything special to prepare?

“I just listen to music and hang out with my teammates.”

Favorite drink:

“Lemonade”

Favorite food:

“Pasta”

Favorite music group:

“Lincoln Brewster”

Favorite book:

“Into the Deep”

Favorite class:

“Bible class”

Role model:

“My parents (Andy and Judy Wingham)”

Best advice:

“Let go and let God.”

Athletics goal:

“To play college basketball”

If you could travel anywhere:

“Bora Bora, because of the nice weather, and it’s a beautiful place.”

When the wrestling postseason kicks off Saturday at Jennings County, the host squad will be favored to defend their sectional title.

The 19th-ranked Panthers are seeded in the top five in all 14 weight classes and are in the top four in 13 of them. The top four in each weight class qualify for the Feb. 7 Jeffersonville Regional.

Jennings’ Anthony Engelking (138 pounds), Andrew Herrin (145), Cole Chandler (152), Wes Furgason (160), Peyton Shepherd (182) and Brady Shepherd (220) are No. 1 seeds. Dalton Craig (106), Peyton Gerkin (170) and Christian Redmond (195) are No. 2 seeds; while Logan Applegate (120) and Brendan Sutton (285) are No. 3 seeds and Kyle Lewis (113) and Jake Hammond (126) are No. 4 seeds.

Columbus East has three No. 1 seeds in Graham Rooks (106), Dawson Combest (113) and Quade Greiwe (195). Coy Park (182) is a No. 2 seed; and Stuart Bryan (132), Ben Wilkerson (138), Austin Wilson (152) and Sean Galligar (285) are No. 4 seeds.

“If we come out and wrestle well, there’s no reason we can’t be in the top two,” East coach Chris Cooper said of the team race. “We’re going to have to really wrestle outstanding to be able to win it, but it’s not impossible. We kind of look at each weight class individually — ‘Let’s do the things we need to do’ — and if we do that, the team thing takes care of itself.”

Columbus North’s Isaiah Peetz (106), Curtis Collins (113), Braden Hinckley (138) and Andrew Chapman (160) are No. 3 seeds. Patrick Shehan (120), Brett Bosserman (145), Jake Larson (170) and Brandon Woods (220) are No. 4 seeds.

For Brown County, Evan Bullock (120) and Jacob Strickland (132) are No. 1 seeds. Colten Harper (113) is a No. 2 seed, Bristen Dial (182) is a No. 3 seed and Job Lawson (106) is a No. 4 seed.

Conference meets Saturday

The Columbus North and Columbus East boys swimming and diving teams will compete in their respective conference meets Saturday.

The Hoosier Hills Conference meet gets under way tonight with diving prelims at Floyd Central, with the finals scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday. North will host the Conference Indiana meet Saturday, with diving beginning at 9 a.m. and swimming at 1 p.m.

Co-No. 24 Jeffersonville and No. 26 Floyd Central are the favorites in the HHC meet. North coach Jim Sheridan sees the Conference Indiana meet as a three-team battle between No. 16 Bloomington South, co-No. 22 Bloomington North and the co-No. 27 Bull Frogs.

“Depth-wise, Bloomington South is the favorite right now,” Sheridan said. “They have some big guns and three pretty good relays. On paper, it appears they have more depth, but we’ve juggled our lineup to fill in some areas that at sectional, we’ll switch back to get to state. We’re gambling in a few spots, but I’m gambling with some pretty good guys.”

Crusader commits to CCU

Columbus Christian senior Macy Wingham has decided to continue her basketball career at Cincinnati Christian University.

The 5-foot point guard leads the 19-3 Crusaders with about 22 points, 4.5 assists and seven steals a game. She is in her second year at Columbus Christian after playing two years at Columbus North.

Wingham is headed to the school where Crusaders coach Ron Bridgewater played when it was called Cincinnati Bible College.

“When I went there and visited, I could feel God’s light, and I really want to grow my faith, and to play basketball is an even better blessing,” Wingham said. “Since they’re interested in me to play basketball, I thought that was really neat, and I feel like that’s where I belong.”

ICST draws announced

The Indiana Christian School Tournament draw has been released and the defending champion Columbus Christian boys will open regional play at 5 p.m. Feb. 21 against Northpointe Christian. The winner will play for the regional title at 7 p.m. Feb. 24.

The Columbus Christian girls will play for the regional title at 8 p.m. Feb. 21 against the winner of the Feb. 20 Bloomington Lighthouse-Dugger Union game.

The ICST state semifinals and finals will be Feb. 28 at Faith Christian Fitness Center in Anderson.

Meanwhile, the draw for the IHSAA girls basketball tournament will be at 4 p.m. Sunday.

Ribeye steak dinner planned

The Hauser Booster Club will host a ribeye steak dinner before Saturday’s boys basketball game against Batesville.

The dinner will include a ribeye steak, baked potato, green beans, salad, roll, dessert and drinks and will be served from 5 to 7 p.m. in the auditorium. Cost is $8.

North-EC tickets on sale

Tickets for Columbus North’s boys basketball game against East Central Feb. 7 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse are on sale from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. weekdays at the North athletics office.

Tickets are $12 for grades 7 and older and $8 for age 3 through sixth-graders. Children 2 and under are free.

An ankle injury in high school basketball is bad enough for any athlete, but this wasn’t just any ankle.

It belonged to Hauser junior Leslie Sims, who was expected to snap the Indiana high school career stolen base record early in the upcoming softball season.

Never mind that Sims was one of the key players on a Hauser girls basketball team that has gone 2-9 since her left ankle injury Dec. 29, her value as one of the state’s top softball players and The Republic’s reigning Athlete of the Year for Softball is based on her speed.

Sims opened her Jets’ softball career with a single-season, state-record 72 steals her freshman season and followed that with 59 steals last season. Her 131 total ranks her fourth on Indiana’s career steals list compiled by the Indiana Coaches of Girls Sports Association. She is on pace to shatter the career record, if she stays healthy.

“It was a high ankle sprain, and three of the five tendons in her ankle were torn,” said her father and softball coach, Craig Sims. “She is going to start physical therapy this week, and she is wearing a soft brace.”

Leslie Sims will have another doctor’s check-up Feb. 5 to see if she will be cleared to begin softball in March.

Her father said he won’t ease her back into action. “The No. 1 thing is that she has to be healthy to play regardless,” Craig Sims said. “That’s the main thing: She has to be prepared. If she isn’t 100 percent, she isn’t going to play. Sliding into bases and stealing is hard on your body.”

Although she wanted to return for the basketball sectional playoffs, that appears doubtful.

“It stinks watching (my basketball team),” Leslie Sims said. “It’s been hard on me. But I couldn’t do anything the first two weeks after the injury, and now I can at least walk on it. I’m doing better.

“I guess the things you love hurt you the most.”

Craig Sims knows that his daughter loves to play basketball, but she already has accepted a scholarship to play softball at Indiana State.

“It scares me,” Craig Sims said of his daughter continuing to play basketball in high school. “I’m not going to lie. Basketball is a physical sport for women. I can go down the list of injuries that (girls at Hauser) have got, and they are from basketball.”

At the same time, Hauser is a Class A school that needs its best athletes to play multiple sports. Sims, who coaches junior varsity girls basketball at Hauser along with his duties as head varsity softball coach, said he wouldn’t be able to run his softball program if the other sports coaches didn’t encourage their athletes to play multiple sports.

“We have to share athletes, or none of us will have enough,” he said.

Craig Sims could be forgiven if he is a little worried about injuries at the present time. Besides Leslie’s ankle injury, his daughter Tessa, who is a freshman at Hauser, broke her fibula playing basketball in December. Tessa is expected to be a major part of Hauser’s pitching rotation in the spring.

“Tessa is doing snap drills now,” Craig Sims said. “As long as there are no more issues, she should be pitching in two weeks.”

Both Tessa and Leslie have had back injuries in the past as well, but they were looking forward to playing on the same high school softball team together this spring.

“We were so excited,” Leslie Sims said. “Now we are both crippled. Sure I’m worried. I want to beat my record (single season steals). I plan to continue stealing bases.”

Now she said her dad challenges her and her sister, both wearing boots, to race to the car.

“Leslie loves to compete,” Craig Sims said. “Through the whole process of tearing her ligaments, she never once cried. When the doctor said she couldn’t play for six weeks, she started balling.”

Leslie Sims said she just wants to get back to work on either a basketball court or softball field.

“I hope (her ankle injury) doesn’t affect anything,” she said. “I hope this is just a bump in the road. I really do think it is up to me how all this turns out.”

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Career steals record

Indiana high school softball

*compiled by Indiana Coaches of Girls Sports Association

1. Gabrielle Richey, Loogootee, 2010-2013, 176

2. Kasey Gibson, Churubusco, 2009-2013, 165

3. Melanie Mannix, Blackford, 1992-1995, 136

4. Leslie Sims, Hauser, 2013-active, 131

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