BENNETT'S MINUTES: Cross country now on center stage

Seasons winding downfor volleyball, football

The post-season is now over for Putnam County squads competing in half of the eight IHSAA fall sports.

Another round of updates:

• Golf ended a couple of weeks ago, while all four soccer teams lost opening-round sectional matches this week.

• Greencastle’s boys’ tennis team won the first sectional title of the 2016-17 school year for county schools last week with a pair of 4-1 wins, and was nipped 3-2 by Turkey Run in a tough regional match on Tuesday. (Turkey Run, by the way, lost 4-1 to Terre Haute South in the regional championship on Wednesday.)

• More sectional hardware could be staying in the county on Saturday as the cross country sectional takes place at South Putnam.

Joining the four county schools are runners from Avon, Bethesda Christian, Brownsburg, Cascade, Danville, Decatur Central and Tri-West.

Greencastle’s Emma Wilson, who won the Western Indiana Conference meet by more than two minutes, is definitely one of the individual frontrunners.

The Tiger Cub girls’ team – which had three of the top four finishers in the conference meet – is also likely to be a high finisher. Shelby Kallem and Sydney Kallem finished third and fourth, respectively, in the WIC meet and are also looking to move on to the regional.

Avon senior Taylor Nicholson placed fourth in the Hoosier Heritage Conference championships in 18:31.45, a time comparable to some of Wilson’s this year. Avon placed sixth among seven teams in that meet, while Brownsburg was last.

Cloverdale’s Chelsie Edwards (eighth in WIC) and South Putnam’s Ally Nichols (14th in WIC) also hope to place highly in the sectional.

The Avon boys’ team is ranked 10th in this week’s state coaches’ association poll, and the Orioles are one of the clear favorites. Senior Rhys Grealish of the Orioles was second in the Hoosier Heritage championships in an outstanding time of 15:50.80.

South Putnam’s boys lost the conference meet by one point and were without their No. 3 runner (Austin Rumley). No. 1 runner Kieffer Vittetow was under the weather, but still finished fourth.

The Eagles ran in the Avon Invitational last month, and while the Orioles had six of the top 10 runners but they were all behind Vittetow – the individual winner.

Greencastle’s Clayton Wilson (fifth in WIC meet), South Putnam’s Logan Vandermark (seventh in WIC), Greencastle’s Cameron Lewis (10th in WIC) and Cloverdale’s Chad Stevens (13th in WIC) also hope to repeat their conference successes.

Danville senior Daniel Gerber won the Sagamore Conference championship in 16:48 and had two teammates in the top four.

The top five teams for both boys and girls will advance to the Ben Davis regional next Saturday, plus the top 10 individuals not from one of those teams.

Comparing times between runners is difficult, since each course is different. They all have the same distance marked off, but while some courses are flat others are hilly (like at South Putnam) and offer different challenges.

Weather has also played a big role this fall, as heavy rains on several Saturday mornings have forced runners to slosh through ankle-deep mud puddles that unquestionably affected their times.

Football post-season becoming clearer

One of the biggest high school sporting events of the young school year will take place tonight at North Putnam, as the Cougars host Greencastle for the Putnam County championship and the ongoing battle for second place in the West Division of the Western Indiana Conference.

If you haven’t been to a high school football game this year, this game is one to attend.

Both teams have lost to West Division champion Sullivan, and North Putnam’s other loss came to Northview — a team the Tiger Cubs shut out last week.

The style and personnel of both teams are similar. Both have strong running games, keyed by hard-churning runners following excellent blockers, and quarterbacks who may not fill the air with 50-yard bombs but who are very accurate on mid-range tosses and can also tuck the ball away and run.

Both also have stingy defenses.

Tonight is the final night of play in the Western Indiana Conference, and next week’s crossover game matchups are beginning to become a little clearer.

The West Division teams will be the host teams, and the championship game will definitely be played at Sullivan.

The opponent for the Golden Arrows, ranked 18th this week in the Class 3A media poll, will be conference newcomer Indian Creek if the Braves defeat Cloverdale tonight.

If Cloverdale wins tonight, and Owen Valley beats Brown County (as expected), a three-way tie would exist and the team allowing the fewest points in conference games would be the winner.

Owen Valley has allowed 30 points in its four conference games, while Indian Creek has given up 36. The Clovers are 16 points behind Indian Creek, and would need to both win and score a ton of points to swing the tiebreaker their way.

Here is a look at each potential matchup:

• 1st/2nd place – Indian Creek at Sullivan with a Braves’ win tonight

• 3rd/4th place – If Indian Creek beats Cloverdale and Greencastle beats North Putnam, it would be Owen Valley at Greencastle

• 5th/6th place – If Cloverdale loses, the Clovers would play at North Putnam if the Cougars beat Greencastle or at Northview if Greencastle beats NP

• 7th/8th place – Tonight’s Cascade-Edgewood winner will play at Greencastle, North Putnam or Northview

• 9th/10th place – Tonight’s Cascade-Edgewood loser plays at West Vigo

• 11th/12th place – Will be Brown County at South Putnam. Even if either team wins tonight, it would not win the tiebreaker over potential tied teams.

Volleyball getting closer to conference, sectionals

Thursday night’s Greencastle at South Putnam volleyball match was not only the “Volley for a Cure” fundraiser, but was also the final WIC match for all West Division teams.

Sullivan – ranked 20th in Class 3A this week with a 25-3 record – went undefeated to win the West Division title. The East Division schools will host the crossover matches on Oct. 15.

Northview finished second in the West and will play in the third-place match. Some East Division matches were still being played Thursday night.

Sectional pairings will be made Monday.

Odds and ends

• North Putnam has rejoined the Associated Press media poll, and the Cougars are tied for 17th in the Class 2A rankings. Sullivan is No. 21 in Class 3A.

• Cougar head coach Greg Barrett was honored by the Indianapolis Colts as the Region 6 “Coach of the Week.”

For 17 years, the Colts have honored one coach from 10 regions of the state and chosen one of those as the overall winner. Coaches are evaluated on various factors including the coach’s impact on his team, school and community, as well as performance of the team.

The honorees are selected by a panel of high school football media, former athletic directors and other football representatives from all regions of the state.

• Indianapolis Lutheran is ranked 14th in the Class A media poll. The Saints are coached by Dave Pasch, Barrett’s predecessor at North Putnam.

Another former Cougar head coach is getting his new program in order. After opening the season with three straight losses, Herb King’s Seeger Patriots have won three of their last four games.

• Brown County football coach Randy Minniear is a former NFL player with the New York Giants and Cleveland Browns.

Minniear, who played collegiately at Purdue, played running back for the Giants from 1967-69 and with the Browns the following year. He scored five touchdowns.

• Former Edgewood boys’ basketball coach Dave Mahurin has opened a Farmers Insurance Agency office in Terre Haute.