MEDIA
INFORMATION
January 20, 2009
Contact: Jason Wille, Sports Information
Director
E–Mail:
jwille@ihsaa.org
TEAM WRESTLING TOURNAMENT
DRAW THURSDAY
The
pairings for the 14th Annual IHSAA Team Wrestling State Tournament
will be drawn Thursday morning at 8 am ET / 7 am CT at the IHSAA Offices in Indianapolis.
This year’s
team tournament will have a slightly different look from previous years as the
eight state finalist teams will now be determined through a four-team format at
the regional level made up only of teams that win their respective sectional. At
its Nov. 7 meeting, the IHSAA Executive Committee voted to eliminate the
semi-state round of the tournament and that sectional runner-up teams would no
longer advance to the separate tournament.
This year’s
state tourney begins with Individual Sectionals on Saturday, Jan. 31.
Team Regionals
Date: Wednesday,
Feb. 4, 2009.
Admission: $6.
Qualifiers: The
championship team in the individual sectional tournament advances to the
regional round of the team tournament.
Advancement: This is a single elimination
tournament in which the winning team advances to the next round.
1. Portage: Calumet, Crown Point, East Chicago
Central, LaPorte.
2. Jimtown: Elkhart Memorial, Mishawaka, Plymouth, Westview.
3. Adams
Central: Carroll
(Fort Wayne), Delta, Jay County, New Haven.
4. Peru: Lafayette Jefferson, Oak Hill,
Peru, Twin Lakes.
5. North
Montgomery:
Crawfordsville, Hamilton Heights, Lawrence Central, Zionsville.
6. Greencastle: Avon, Decatur Central, Mooresville,
Northview.
7. Seymour: Jennings County, Shenandoah, South
Dearborn, Warren Central.
8. Jasper: Castle, Evansville Central, Jeffersonville, Southridge.
Team State Finals
Date: Saturday,
Feb. 28, 2009.
Site: Center
Grove High School, 2717 S. Morgantown Road, Greenwood | Website
Time:
Quarterfinals begin at 10 am ET with semifinal round and championship round to
follow.
Admission: $8.00.
Advancement: This is a single elimination
tournament in which the winning team shall advance to the next round.
BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
PAIRINGS SHOWS SCHEDULED
The
pairings shows for the girls and boys basketball state tournaments are
scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 29, and Thursday, Feb. 19, respectively. Matchups
for the 34th annual girls tournament will be drawn
beginning at 7 pm ET/6 pm CT in the lobby of Emmis Communications on Monument
Circle in downtown Indianapolis. Games for the 99th annual boys tournament will
be paired beginning at 6 pm ET/5 pm CT in the lobby of Conseco Fieldhouse.
Both
shows may be viewed live at www.ihsaasports.org
or may be heard on the IHSAA/Methodist Sports Medicine Championship Radio
Network. A list of network affiliates will be available the week of each
respective show.
Girls sectionals run the week of Feb. 9 and boys sectionals are
scheduled the week of March 2.
TWO INDIANA HIGH SCHOOL CONNECTIONS
TO SUPER BOWL XLIII
Two Indiana
high school graduates, one each from the Arizona Cardinals and the Pittsburgh
Steelers organizations, will compete in Super Bowl XLIII at Raymond James Stadium
in Tampa, FL on February 1, 2009.
Several of the coaches have also had connections to our state at the
professional level spending some time as a part of the Indianapolis Colts
organization.
Steelers second string offensive
lineman Trai Essex graduated from Harding
High School in Fort Wayne where he received numerous honors and awards. He was ranked
the fifth-best tight end in the country by Tom Lemming's Prep Football
Report and earned All-America honors as a senior. He also was named to the Indiana Football
Coaches Association (IFCA) Top 50 All-State team and Region III MVP; National
High School Football All-Star, and was selected to play in the Indiana
North-South All-Star game. During his high school career he caught 83 passes
for 1,416 yards and 14 touchdowns. He lettered all four years in football and
basketball and was named all-conference in basketball as a junior. He excelled academically as well making the
school’s honor roll list 10 times. He attended Northwestern University.
Arizona
Cardinals starting linebacker Chikezie “Chike” Okeafor attended West
Lafayette High School. While at West Lafayette, he was a finalist for Indiana
Mr. Football, earning All-State and Super-Prep All-Midwest honors, and also was
named Indiana region IV MVP. In his
senior year of high school he tallied 132 tackles and rushed for 1,169 yards
and earned 12 touchdowns on 132 carries on offense helping the Red Devils
capture the 1993 Class 2A state championship.
STATE STATISTICAL LEADERS
Girls
Basketball State Leaders | Boys
Basketball State Leaders
NEWS & NOTES FROM AROUND THE STATE
Have an
interesting note? A conference or school record, coaching
milestone or something else of interest? Please e-mail IHSAA Sports
Information Director Jason Wille at jwille@ihsaa.org for consideration.
Doug Armstrong
announced his resignation as football coach at New Palestine last month. Armstrong had served as the Dragons mentor
since 2002. Over seven years, New
Palestine compiled a 49-31 record winning sectional championships in 2004 and
2005 and winning Hoosier Heritage Conference titles in 2005 and 2006.
With the
Ben Davis girls basketball team's 64-40 win over Oak Hill in the championship
game of the Hall of Fame Classic on Dec. 29, coach Stan Benge notched his 450th win in 24 seasons (all at Ben Davis).
Seymour
swimming coach Dave Boggs picked up
his 200th victories as coach in both boys and girls swimming last
month. The girl's 200th win came on Dec.
9 against New Albany and the boy's 200th win came Dec. 18 against Jennings
County.
Franklin
Central’s boys basketball coach Mark
James earned his 400th career victory last week as the Flashes
topped Pike, 73-60, in the first round of the Marion County Tournament. James
is currently in his 24th season as the Flashes head coach and 27th
overall as a head coach.
Former Carmel High School coach Chuck Koeppen was named men's cross
country and track coach at IUPUI earlier this month. The men's track
team only has distance runners. Koeppen, 62, won 22 state cross country titles, 11 each in boys
and girls, in his 37-year coaching career at Carmel.
South Bend
Clay football coach Mike Kuntz
stepped down from his post in November in order to see his son play his final
two years of high school football in Michigan. Kuntz just completed his 22nd
year at Clay, making him the longest tenured head football coach in the history
of South Bend high schools. Kuntz will continue to teach physical
education at Clay. This year's Colonials team lost in the sectional
championship game to Lowell.
Carmel High School
senior Morgan Newton was named to Parade Magazine's 46th annual All-America
High School Football Team. The 6-5, 215-pound quarterback, a Kentucky recruit,
is among 58 standouts to be recognized in Sunday's issue. Newton completed
170-of-261 passes for 1,938 yards and 22 touchdowns while rushing for 1,664
yards and 26 touchdowns in helping 13-2 Carmel to a Class 5A state-runner
finish.
Speedway football coach Denny Pelley
won his 250th game the Sparkplugs defeated Monrovia for the sectional title on
Nov. 7. It was also his seventh sectional championship at the school.
Southport High School is celebrating 50 years in the
Southport Fieldhouse on Friday, Feb. 6, when the
Cardinals host Perry Meridian. The athletic department is bringing back members
of several Cardinal teams to be honored at halftime including the 1980 state
championship girls basketball team, the 1990 boys basketball state finalist
team, the 1993 state runner-up wrestling team and the 1970 boys gymnastics
team.
IHSAA
08-09/17