BENNETT'S MINUTES: Believe it or not, fall sports are here

Monday, July 31, 2017
Greencastle's football team gets preseason practice started on Monday.
Banner Graphic/JOEY BENNETT

Today is the first day of August, and believe it or not the fall sports season has already begun.

Girls’ golf practice started last week, and Greencastle has already opened its season.

Practice sessions have now started for all eight fall sports, and competitions for all sports except golf are still a couple of weeks or so away.

Practice started on Monday for several high school sports teams, including the South Putnam boys' tennis squad.
Banner Graphic/JOEY BENNETT

Change is a part of the high school sports environment, and we definitely have our share of that this fall in Putnam County.

Fifty percent turnover has taken place in the county’s athletic directors and football coaches, and there will be several other new faces patrolling the sidelines in other sports.

North Putnam grad Roger Busch is the new athletic director at his alma mater, taking over at the end of the last school year, while Doug Greenlee has returned to Putnam County and replaced the retired Greg Hill.

Sam Carnes takes over from Greg Barrett at North Putnam, while Tom Winders has been promoted at Cloverdale to replace Tony Meyer.

Some of the most recognizable names from last fall have moved on, and will be highlighted in the next couple of weeks as the College Report goes into full catchup mode.

There are obviously many big names back, however.

Greencastle’s Emma Wilson will be shooting for a third straight trip to the cross country state finals, and hopes to build upon her success in track when she won state titles in two events last spring.

North Putnam’s Ethan Christy is the reigning Banner Graphic Defensive Player of the Year, while Greencastle’s Maggie Meyer is hoping to repeat her Player of the Year honors in volleyball.

For these athletes to have successful seasons will not be shocking, but one of the things that makes high school sports great are the unknown entities waiting in the wings who will step up to fill holes for their respective teams and become household names themselves.

Some dates to note as the season approaches:

Aug. 11 — High school football scrimmages

Aug. 12 — The weekly high school schedule page will debut, in preparation for a full slate of activities the following week.

Aug. 16 — Publication of the preseason high school football section.

Aug. 18 — High school football opening night of games.

Aug. 23 — Season debut of the “Featured Athlete of the Week,” which was previously on Fridays but has been switched to Wednesdays to better balance sports coverage and the need for space.

This feature is not necessarily the top performer of the previous week, but a rotating look at seniors from each school concerning both their athletic and non-athletic lives.

As work progresses on the football tab, the other sports will also be previewed in the daily sports section.

One minor change that started in the spring but will become most important to note is the change of the first printed newspaper of the week from Monday to Tuesday.

This change means there will be a bigger delay for Saturday events to be published, but it’s a good thing overall for our printing structure.

Results from Saturday events will be put on our website at www.bannergraphic.com as soon as possible, and will also be included in the Tuesday printed edition.

We look forward to providing even better sports coverage this year with a full year of experience under our belt.

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