Area Track Athletes Compete in the State Finals

IHSAAIn the Girls State Track Finals yesterday the Kankakee Valley was well represented. Culver Community High School had four girls competing in five events, while North Judson was represented by the school’s record holder in shot put. Kayla Shaffer (Culver) finished in 14th place in the 100m dash, while teammate and fellow senior Denisha Brown (Culver) finished in 24th. In the 200m Dash Shaffer finished in 15th place. Brown then went on to place 27th in the long jump competition. Shaffer and Brown were also two members of the 4×100 relay team which finished in 19th place. The 4×100 team was rounded out by Mickella Hardy and Justine Dexter. Hardy also competed in shot put where she finished 15th overall. Caitlin Dvorscak of North Judson also competed in the shot put where she placed 20th.

Congratulations to all of our area athletes on a job well done representing the Kankakee Valley at the State Finals!

Boys Golfers Participate in Sectionals

 It was a very successful day for our area boys golfers in Sectional play yesterday. The John Glenn Falcons placed 3rd as a team at the South Bend Riley Sectional which advances them to next week’s Regional. Tyler Prentkowski was the meets medalist shooting a 68. The Falcons finished just 3-strokes behind Penn High School for 2nd place overall. In other sectional golf action Adam Gruenig led the Winamac Warriors to a 4th place finish in the Logansport Sectional. While the Warriors did not advance as a team, Gruenig was the medalist for the meet shooting a 78. At the LaPorte Sectional, Austin Howell of South Central was the leader for the 7th place finishing Satellites. Howell shot an 82 which was good enough to advance him as an individual to the Regional round.

The golf Regional rounds will be played next Thursday and Friday. Adam Gruenig and Austin Howell will be competing at Lafayette Jefferson, while the John Glenn Falcons will be at Warsaw. Both of those Regional rounds will be played on Thursday, June 12th.

Tyler Roth/WKVI Athlete of the Year is Named

Athlete of the Year Ashley Campbell with Tim and Melinda Roth
Athlete of the Year Ashley Campbell with Tim and Melinda Roth

Our Tyler Roth/WKVI Athlete of the Year for this year is Ashley Campbell, a member of the Girls Basketball team at Oregon-Davis High School.

Ashley concluded a great high school athletic career by leading her team to a State Championship!

Campbell set an Oregon-Davis school record with 1,863 career points in her 4 years as a starter, breaking the old record of 1,606 points set by Aubrey Minix. In addition, she led her team in assists for 4 years with a total of 509, 2nd all-time behind Gabi Minix who had 711.

The 5-8 senior was the MVP 3 times for her team and led them in free throw shooting for 3 years. She was also named the MVP in the Bi-County tournament while leading her team to 2 Bi-County Championships. Campbell also helped lead the Lady ‘Cats to 3 Sectional Championships, a Regional, and Semi-State Championship. In the State Championship game this year, Ashley set the State Finals record for points in a championship game with 35.

Ashley is the daughter of Emily and Lance Campbell and joins Sarah Konkey, a 2-time winner of the award, as the second Oregon-Davis athlete to be named as our Tyler Roth/WKVI Athlete of the Year.

Congratulations to Ashley Campbell of Oregon-Davis, our 2013-2014 Tyler Roth/WKVI Athlete of the Year!

Volunteers Needed to Spruce Up Tippecanoe River State Park

 
 

If the brutal winter has you itching to get outdoors, head to Tippecanoe River State Park this weekend for the third annual volunteer day. Assistant manager Jason Hickman says gate fees will be waived for anyone who comes out to lend a hand. Volunteer activities will start at 10 a.m. EDT at the Nature Center. The big goal is to build a second scenic overlook. The Friends of Tippecanoe River State Park nonprofit organization replaced one last year after securing donations and volunteers to do so. Hickman says they’ve secured money for the other one. Weather permitting he says the goal is to get it framed and decked out. That’s the main project for the weekend, but Hickman says it’s not the only one. Volunteers are also needed to clean and spruce up the Nature Center and remove invasive plants and some small trees from the waterfowl dam. Bird feeders also need to be hung up. Volunteers are asked to bring gloves and cordless drills, if possible, and wear long pants and sturdy shoes.

 

 

 

INDOT’s Trash Bash Underway

 
 

With the spring season finally upon us, cleaning of our highways and byways will be getting underway.

INDOT’s annual Trash Bash will be running throughout this month and coincides with National Earth Day to aid in raising awareness of litter. Over 20,000 bags of trash were collected by INDOT maintenance crews, Indiana Department of Correction offender crews, and Adopt-A-Highway volunteers last year.

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Jeanene Calabrese Recognized in Top Percentile in IRONMAN 70.3

 
 

Jeanene Calabrese of Winamac was recently honored for being positioned in the top 10% in the IRONMAN 70.3 which also gives her Bronze All-World Athlete status.

The IRONMAN 70.3 competition consists of swimming 1.2 miles, followed by 56 miles of biking, and concludes with a 13.1 mile run. Calabrese was able to finish the competition in June of 2013 in a time of 6 hours 20 minutes and 37 seconds. Then in July of 2013 she finished in an impressive 6 hours 14 minutes and 45 seconds.

Don’t Give Pets as Easter Gifts

  
 

It is not recommended to give live animals as gifts, according to Suzanne Crider from the Starke County Humane Society.

The Easter holiday is this weekend and some people may think that giving a live chick or bunny as a gift for Easter is a great idea, but Crider has another suggestion.

“We run into this at Christmas time,” noted Crider. “People want to give a Christmas gift so they’re going to get Dad a puppy. What we suggest is if that’s truly what Dad wants, start buying him the supplies. Contact your shelter and see if they give gift certificates. If you know somebody that already has animals, give a gift certificate from their vet or pay something on the vet bill to help with the cost of that. There’s a lot of things that you can do beforehand to help get a person ready to have a new pet in the family. By all means, let them be the one that picks out their companion for the coming years.”

If you’d like to see what animals are available for adoption at the Starke County Humane Society, click here.

 

Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum Offers Easter Trains This Weekend

HVRM Tourist Train
HVRM Tourist Train

The Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum in North Judson will be giving Easter Train Rides beginning on April 19th.

The excursion is a round-trip from the depot and crosses the Kankakee River and English Lake in a trip that goes over five miles. The trip also travels to a park along the tracks where passengers disembark to take part in an Easter Egg Hunt.

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Community Services of Starke County Hosts Tailgaiting Fundraiser

 

David Haugh
David Haugh

Attention sports fans. Don’t miss your chance to hang out with Chicago Tribune sports writer David Haugh and bid on some exclusive Chicago sports SWAG Saturday night. He’s headlining a tailgaiting party Saturday night at the Nancy J. Dembowski Community Center to benefit a nonprofit organization close to his heart. His mother, Joan, is the executive director of Community Services of Starke County. Proceeds from “Tailgaiting with David Haugh and Charlie Adams” will all benefit the agency. Haugh says the organization was a part of his life when he was growing up in North Judson and is very important to Starke County because of all of the services they provide. He and former WSBT sportscaster Charlie Adams will be at the 5 p.m. event, which will include a live auction of a lot of sports memorabilia. Items up for bid include items from the reigning Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks and footballs signed by Chicago Bears players. The Chicago White Sox also donated items, and a signed Notre Dame Football will be sold as well. Continue reading

Culver Community Schools to Consider “Balanced Schedule”

 

Culver Community High School will consider moving to a "balanced schedule".
Culver Community High School will consider moving to a “balanced schedule”.

The Culver Community School Corporation is one of many area schools to consider moving to a “Balanced Calendar” in the near future. The Balanced Calendar approach would not mean a year-round school approach, but rather would spread out the required 180 school days over the course of the year, allowing regular break time for holidays, spring and fall breaks, as well as remediation periods. A meeting will be held on Wednesday April 9th at 7:00 p.m. EDT in the Culver Community High School Auditorium to present the possible benefits of the calendar change. Attendees will be asked to fill out a survey regarding their opinions at the conclusion of the meeting.

2013 WKVI All-Area Football Team Announced

OFFENSE

OL: Dalton Button (Winamac)

OL: Laz Conley (West Central)

OL: Quest Fritz (Winamac)

OL: Caleb Robbins (NJSP)

OL: Hunter Schuman (John Glenn)

RB: Tyler Katschke (Winamac)

RB: Michael Schmeltz (John Glenn)

WR: Trent Elliott (Culver)

WR: Robert Miller (South Central)

QB: Parker Fox (Winamac)

DEFENSE

DL: Bayland Brown (NJSP)

DL: Sean Lynch (Winamac)

DL: Alex Morrow (South Central)

DL: Rodney Oliver (West Central)

LB: Parker Fritz (West Central)

LB: Keegan Kasten (Winamac)

LB: Keaton Leszek (NJSP)

LB: Mitch Reed (Winamac)

DB: Eric Dan (Knox)

DB: Preston Hansel (Culver)

DB: Levi Schultz (Winamac)

Football Coaching Leaders

(Through 11-1-13)

Tim Roth-Winamac (33 years): 213-132  .617

Kirk Kennedy-NJSP (23 years): 168-104  .618

Andy Thomas-Culver (14 years): 90-67  .573

Dan Klimczak-South Central (8 years): 71-19  .789

Darren Rodriguez-West Central (6 years): 32-32  .500

Chris McGowen-Knox (2 years): 5-15  .250

Dave Sharpe-John Glenn (1 year): 6-5  .545

Week 12 Football Picks

Harold’s Picks (53-9)

John Glenn-27  Andrean-21

Winamac-36  West Central-20

Nathan’s Picks (46-16)

Andrean-42  John Glenn-14

Winamac-48  West Central-18

Tom’s Blind Picks (32-30)

Andrean over John Glenn

Winamac over West Central

Knox 7th Grade Team Completes Undefeated Season

Knox 7th Grade FB
Players: Matt Potthoff, Billy Durkiewicz, Austin Taulbee, Brock Taulbee, Paden Shidler, Colton Back, Jared Prater, Cole Bridegroom, Dawson Patrick, Kevin Lovins, Julian Godinez, Austin Smith, Josh Alexander, Koy Wagner, Josh Fletcher, Clint Stacy, Richard Archer, Jerris Pezzuto, Donnie Salyers, Dusty Krick, Dawson McCarty, Kane Howard, Kendall Pfost, Dalton Kohn, Erik Taylor, Silas Roberts, Ethan Kletz, Martin Napierkowski, Aizak Gast. Managers: Donnis Davis, Paige Byer, Synthia Weliczko, Sophia Parker. Coaches: Kyle McCan, Ryan Marsh, Kyle Radtke, Alex Windbigler, Devin Garbison, Larry Mullins, Byron Osbourne.

 

For the second consecutive year the Knox 7th grade football team completed an undefeated season going a perfect 9-0 and winning the Northern State Conference Championship. The Redskins outscored their opponents 178-25 while having a +10 turnover margin. Dawson Patrick was the team’s offensive leader rushing for 761 yards and scoring 17 touchdowns. The Redskins had 11 different players record rushing attempts this season while 18 different players recorded at least one tackle. Congratulations to the Knox 7th grade football team on their championship season!

Football Coaching Leaders

(Through 10-25-13)

Tim Roth-Winamac (33 years): 212-132  .616

Kirk Kennedy-NJSP (23 years): 168-103  .620

Andy Thomas-Culver (14 years): 90-66  .577

Dan Klimczak-South Central (8 years): 71-19  .789

Darren Rodriguez-West Central (6 years): 31-32  .492

Chris McGowen-Knox (2 years): 5-15  .250

Dave Sharpe-John Glenn (1 year): 5-5  .500