Lots of good North Putnam news

North Putnam's football team won the "Strongman Competition" recently at Terre Haute North.

We have received several good tips via e-mail recently, and hope to see those messages continue.

Do not hesistate to send anything sports newsworthy to sports@bannergraphic.com.

Many of the most recent ones have been about North Putnam, relatives of Cougar grads or residents in the school district.

* Recent Belding (Mich.) High School graduate Greta Wilker was honored in May as the Sports Illustrated "Student Athlete of the Week."

Wilker is the daughter of North Putnam grad Heidi Blocher Wilker (class of 1985). Her uncle, Tim Blocher, is a 1984 North Putnam grad, and her grandparents are Leroy and Linda Blocher of Bainbridge.

Greta Wilker, daughter of North Putnam graduate Heidi Blocher Wilker, was honored recently by Sports Illustrated magazine.

Wilker was a four-sport athlete at Belding, graduating first in her class with a 4.2 GPA and 16 varsity letters -- four each in volleyball, basketball, track and field and softball.

She was the starting third baseman for the Belding squad, and led her team in every offensive category with a .590 batting average and a 1.758 slugging percentage. For the past three years, she was an all-state softball selection, qualified for the state track meet, placed first in the regionals meet in shot put and an all-conference volleyball pick.

Wilker was one of seven students chosen to serve on the Michigan High School Athletic Association's student advisory council for the past two years.

While a highly-successful athlete, Wilker's biggest claim to fame is her work with training assistance dogs through the Paws With A Cause program.

Wilker has trained several dogs to help people with disabilities, seizures, hearing impaired and deaf people and also dogs for children with autism.

Raisers must help their dogs adapt to the real-world environments they will have to inhabit as someone's constant companion, and so they bring them to public places like the mall, the movies, and sporting events to get the dogs used to focusing on their human in distracting environments, says information from Paws With a Cause.

Wilker told mlive.com that her mother thought she was nominating her for the magazine's long-running "Faces in the Crowd" section.

Her accomplishments were impressive enough for the magazine to upgrade her to an even more prestigious honor.

"They called my mom and said they were interested in me being the Student Athlete of the Month," she said. "It all happened pretty fast. They called and wanted to set up times to interview me and come out and videotape.

"The whole experience has been surreal," Wilker added. "A lot of people that you always don't keep in touch with sent me their congratulations and their love. It was great to see all that support."

Wilker will continue her softball career this fall at Emory University in Atlanta.

* Roachdale resident Craig Hauss never coached high school football in Putnam County, but was recently inducted into the Indiana Football Hall of Fame after a decades-long coaching career at high schools in Indianapolis.

Hauss, who has lived in Putnam County for 26 years, is an Indianapolis native who graduated from North Central High School in 1963. He played three years of football there for coach Byron Weaver and attended college at Butler University. Hauss played four years for the Bulldogs under coach Tony Hinkle and ran track for two years under coach Stan Lyons.

Hauss began his football coaching career in 1967 at Butler, coaching the freshman team, then moved into the high school ranks where from 1968-1971 he was the defensive coordinator and JV coach at Chatard High School under coaches Carol Purichia and Dick Dullaghan. While at Chatard, he also coached wrestling, track, and golf.

In 1973, he became the defensive coordinator at Carmel for legendary coaches Dullaghan and Jim Belden, where the Greyhounds compiled a record of 123-18 and had a tournament record of 14-4 with three state championships (1978, 1980, 1981), one state runner-up (1975), and three undefeated seasons (1978, 1980, 1981).

He later became the defensive coordinator at Ben Davis under Dullaghan, and returned to Carmel for two seasons as a consultant to the defensive coaching staff.

* North Putnam's football team won the "Strongman Competition" at Terre Haute North last month.

The Cougars will look to build upon last year's 9-3 record when they open the season on Aug. 19 at Cascade.

* We had a mistake in last week's column on the most recent Putnam County Division I basketball players.

The name of the North Putnam player who played one season at Toledo should have been listed as Allison Phipps.

* Two players who led North Putnam to the baseball sectional championship game this season have announced their college plans.

Pitcher Brayden White will be pitching for DePauw, while slugger Kyler Jeter will be playing for Trine University in northeastern Indiana.

More on them later.

Other stuff:

* DePauw continues to pick up other outstanding area athletes, as Rockville's Sydney Secuskie and Northview's Morgan Stearley are two of the latest to become Tigers.

Secuskie batted .423 for the Rox softball team this spring and was a four-year starter. She earned three all-Wabash River Conference honors.

Stearley was a member of this year's senior class which won the most volleyball matches of any class in that school's history. She is a powerful, left-handed hitter who helped the Knights win three straight regional titles -- including a Class 3A state runnerup finish in 2014.

* Greencastle had an outstanding day last month in a 7-on-7 football tournament at Terre Haute North, finishing second after losing to West Vigo in the championship game.

The Tiger Cubs defeated Terre Haute North, Terre Haute South and Red Hill (Ill.) to reach the finals.

* After filling its vacant baseball and boys' basketball coaching positions last month, Greencastle is still officially looking to fill the positions of Garry Anderson as head coach for both boys' and girls' cross country and track and field.

Mark Jedele, a science teacher at GHS and a Tiger Cubs' assistant cross country coach last fall, was recently seen running with the GHS squad. It is unknown whether Jedele (a 2007 GHS grad) will be taking over for Anderson, but it's great to see qualified former athletes involved with their alma mater's sports programs.

* Former Northview baseball standout Brady Shoemaker was traded on Thursday from the Miami Marlins' organization back to the Chicago White Sox, who originally drafted him in the 19th round in 2009.

Shoemaker had been playing for the Class AAA New Orleans Zephyrs, and was assigned to the Birmingham Barons' Class AA squad.