BENNETT'S MINUTES: Wilson eyes spots on USA National Team this weekend

Thursday, June 14, 2018

Greencastle’s Emma Wilson will be competing in two events this weekend at Bloomington in the USATF Junior Outdoor Track and Field Championships, seeking a berth on the USA National Team that will compete in the World U20 Championships at Tempere, Finland, next month.

Wilson, a three-time state champion in track and field and the reigning IHSAA cross country state champion, will be competing tonight at 7: 20 p.m. in the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase.

Representing the “Miles to Go” running club directed by Greencastle coach Craig Jordan, Wilson is one of 10 entrants in the field. Two of the other entrants do not list an affiliation, and the other seven athletes are collegiate performers from Furman, Villanova, Kansas State, Texas A&M, UC-Riverside, George Washington and Michigan.

According to the USATF website, Wilson’s is ranked second among the entered athletes in this event.

Last weekend, Wilson competed in the USATF Indiana Open and Masters Championships at Ball State in the 2,000-meter steeplechase.

Wilson won the race in a time of 7:02.26, defeating the other entrant by 1:22.18.

Wilson will also run on Sunday at 4:45 p.m. in the women’s 3,000-meter run, seeded seventh according to the USATF website. Her “mark” time is 10:27.83, which is her personal best in the 3,200 (run at the IHSAA state finals earlier this month).

The two top seeds are from Iowa State, with seeded times of 9:29.03 and 9:36.55. Other entrants are from Marist, Washburn, Portland State and Cincinnati.

The two highest-placing finishers in each event will represent the USA National Team in those events in Finland from July 10-15.

Odds and ends

• Five South Putnam softball players will be competing in the 8th Annual Indiana Elite North vs. South Softball College Showcase this weekend at the Chuck Klein sports complex in Indianapolis.

Juniors Drew Bratcher and Helen Eaglin will play on Saturday in the Class 2A Juniors Division game.

Freshmen Alex and Drew Steffy and Brionna Egold will play Sunday evening in the Class 2A Underclass Division game.

Athletes from Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Ohio will also be participating.

Several of those Eagle players were also honored by the Indiana Coaches of Girls Sports Association for their play this spring.

Bratcher was honored as first-team all-state for Class 1A-2A, while and Alex Steffy was named to the third team. Drew Steffy and Egold were both awarded high honorable mention.

• DePauw softball recruit Mackenzie Jones pitched New Palestine to its second straight Class 3A state title on Saturday, as the Dragons defeated South Bend St. Joseph’s 3-1.

Jones allowed five hits and struck out seven, while walking only two and allowing one earned run.

Speedway, which defeated Greencastle sectional champion South Vermillion to win the regional title, won the Class 2A championship by beating Bremen 5-0.

Pioneer routed North Central (Farmersburg) 10-1 to win the Class A title, while Decatur Central edged Lake Central 5-2 in the Class 4A game.

• DePauw continues to attract more quality players to its NCAC softball team.

High school teammates Ali Dierks and Kate Geary of Geneva (Ill.) are both headed to Greencastle this fall. They were both honored by the Kane County Chronicle on its all-area team.

Dierks is a pitcher who compiled a 13-6 record this spring with 115 strikeouts, while also hitting eight home runs with 32 RBI. Geary plays second base and outfield, and batted .413 this spring with 16 RBI.

• The IHSAA baseball state finals will take place this weekend at Victory Field.

Tonight, Fishers (28-7) meets Indianapolis Cathedral (23-8-1) in the Class 4A game.

On Saturday, Daleville (21-9) plays University (28-6) in the Class A game, Boone Grove (21-5) meets Southridge (25-6) in the Class 2A game and Andrean (30-6) plays Silver Creek (26-3) in the 3A game.

Silver Creek defeated Western Indiana Conference runnerup Indian Creek 10-0 to win the semistate title last Saturday.

Indian Creek had earlier defeated West Vigo 5-4 to win the Crawfordsville Regional. West Vigo had reached the final game by edging North Montgomery 3-2 by scoring two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Southridge reached the state finals by defeating Indianapolis Scecina 7-2 in the semistate game. Scecina was playing without top pitcher Mac Ayres, who was inexplicably suspended for the now famous pitch-count controversy against South Vermillion in the regional finals.

Scecina coach Dave Gandolph chose to suspend himself for the semistate game against Southridge and watched from the stands, about the only normal thing about this situation.

• A few coaching changes have been announced for Putnam County teams.

Sam Jones will be the varsity volleyball coach for Cloverdale this year, moving up from his position as JV coach. He replaces Traci Scott, who resigned after last season.

South Putnam baseball coach Brady Rhodes has resigned. The Eagles have a very promising crop of young players returning, but Rhodes is pursuing his administrative license and also wants to spend more time at home with his family. No one can blame him for that.

Hopefully he will still be the South Putnam public address announcer and occasional national anthem singer.

Although no official announcement has been made by the school, Greencastle’s summer girls’ basketball program has been run this week by former Carmel coach Tod Windlan.

More on this when it becomes official.

Very good news this week for two county coaches. South Putnam varsity tennis coach and girls’ basketball assistant Johnny Briones had successful heart surgery and is recovering.

Also, congrats to North Putnam business teacher and assistant baseball coach Chris Geeser on his recent marriage.

• Cascade High School officially announced earlier this week that it is leaving the Western Indiana Conference for the Indiana Crossroads Conference following the upcoming school year.

The long-expected official move was approved on Wednesday night at the Mill Creek Community School board meeting.

“We would like to thank the Western Indiana Conference for the past three years,” Cascade athletic director Scott Stevens said in a press release. “The Indiana Crossroads Conference is a perfect fit for Cascade. Travel times will be cut, school enrollment size is fairly consistent between all eight schools and the ICC has a rich tradition in the state tournament.”

Cascade will replace Park Tudor, which is leaving for another conference.

“Being invited to such a great conference, along with the synthetic turf projects happening, I could not be happier for our student athletes and community members,” Stevens said. “These are exciting times for the Mill Creek community.”

Discussions for the WIC’s plans to replace Cascade, or not, have been taking place.

There is apparently some unofficial interest from Linton-Stockton in joining the WIC for some sports, but not all. The Miners also do not offer wrestling, soccer or swimming. No word on if the WIC would accept the school on that basis.

• As things currently stand, former Cloverdale basketball standout Cooper Neese will take the court for the first time with the Indiana State Sycamores when the team competes in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu from Dec. 22-25.

Neese originally signed with Butler, but left the school before ever playing a game for the Bulldogs. He lost a semester of eligibility by not starting school at Indiana State until last October.

However, Indiana State has filed an appeal with the NCAA for Neese to be eligible for the entire fall semester since he spent a majority of the term in Terre Haute. Considering what an uncommon this situation is, and the fact that the NCAA recently loosened its restrictions on transfers, he may have a chance.

We’ll keep you posted.

• A colleague of mine e-mailed earlier this week to ask how I was enjoying my “down time.” I told him I would let him know once it started.

We’ll be making a couple of trips to Anderson for the Class Basketball All-Star Games this weekend, as well as a trip to Bloomington to see Wilson try to qualify for the national team.

Next week brings the week of practice for our 11 Putnam County players in the Wabash Valley Football Coaches Association All-Star game, which takes place a week from Saturday.

Maybe there will be a little “down time” after that.

There’s no shortage of things that need to run in the near future, including all-county teams for baseball and softball, final all-sports standings for both the WIC and the NCAC, six college signings from last month waiting for their moment in the sun (and maybe a seventh if I can track down Jalen Moore this summer).

Plus, a look back at the entire school year of our college athletes that just never seems to make its way into the lineup.