USA-365.com Uncovers Region Underground

A special USA-365 supplement by Mark Smith

3-29-2005

INDIANAPOLIS (3-29-2005) - All of what's happening or what might be happening doesn't fit into any particular context. Some off-season or off-the-court notes slip by the daily newspapers or appear briefly and are gone. But those tidbits don't go away, they just go:

UNDERGROUND

INDIANAPOLIS - Andrean's Luke Harangody will be a major player in the expanded junior all-stars exhibition games against Indiana's senior all-stars this summer. Harangody has been named to the core group of six junior stars who will face the seniors three times in June prior to the Indiana-Kentucky all-star series. Harangody, who averaged 23 points and 12 rebounds per game for coach Mark Horvath this season, will team with Snider's 6-6 guard Marques Johnson, Lakeland's 6-7 forward John Workman, Huntington North guard Chris Kramer and All-America players Greg Oden and Michael Conley from two-time state champion Lawrence North. Those six will play with a revolving cast of teammates from around the state.

The good news is that the juniors will play the seniors three times. The bad news is that none of the games will be played anywhere near Andrean. The 'core 6' and six southern players will meet the yet-to-be-announced senior all-star team at Washington on Wednesday, June 15. Six northern Indiana juniors will join the core 6 for a game at Carmel on Tuesday, June 21. Six central Indiana stars plus the core boys will take on the Indiana all-stars in Richmond on Thursday June 23.

Don't ask me to explain how the 'north' game is in Carmel. Among the northern junior all-stars will be 6-7 wing Jamil Tucker of Gary West Side.

East Chicago's Dee Dee Jernigan will join guard Melissa Lechlitner of 3A state champion St. Joseph's and 6-5 Amber Harris of 4A state champion North Central on the girls junior all stars for three games on the same nights as the boys' junior-senior contests. Among the 'north' group for the girls are NW Indiana players Erica Humes of Valparaiso, Kelly Peller of Chesterton and Brittney Moore of Merrillville.

The first one, Portage halfback Antoine Brown, as of last month, had not selected a college. Brown, who gained 2,000 yards in 2003, is still hoping to play in the Big-10 but may have to go to junior college after not having decided at this late date.

Aldridge and teammate Dexter Larimore plus Hobart lineman Adam Bailey, Rensselaer quarterback Jacob Kiger and Lowell all-purpose player Jeff Clemens have been chosen as five of the 'Tremendous 26', pre-season 2005 football all-staters by High School Sports Publications. HSSP vice president Rich Sapper and managing editor Hank Kilander publish the Indiana football 'bible,' the annual 500-page high school football guide each summer.

Hanover Central grad Doug Bilinski, who was seriously injured in a one-car auto accident on Sept 25, 2004, is back home now and progressing slowly through what will be an indefinite period of physical therapy. Bilinski, the sixth man on Hanover's 2004 basketball team and an IUPUI student, is said to be "getting better every day." You can contact Doug through Hanover Central's 'CyberCat' school newspaper web site. Look for a click-on icon at the bottom of the main news page and enter 'Doug Bilinski's updates' to leave a message for him and his family. Or, Click Here for the shortcut to Doug Bilinski's web page.

Lowell lineman Larin Childress is said to be headed for St. Joseph's College in Rensselaer on a partial scholarship where he will compete at the center position for the Div. II school. Childress (5-10, 240) was a center his junior year for coach Kirk Kennedy and the Red Devils. Larin is such an enthusiastic player he would be a natural for special teams and specialty situations on the defensive line. Childress had 34 tackles for loss and eight QB sacks last fall.

The April 23 baseball game matching Crown Point and Andrean is the first varsity game between the two schools in at least a decade. Crown Point previously refused to schedule the 59ers because the two schools often played tug-of-war for junior high student-athletes. Those battles certainly will continue. It's just that the boys can now battle on the playing field as well in a local neighborhood matchup that should be well attended.

***CP's baseball schedule may be their toughest in history. Leaving out the Bulldogs' four games (two each) with 4A No. 2 Lake Central and 4A No. 4 LaPorte, CP, formerly a team that never played outside NW Indiana, now will make good use of the big yellow bus. The Bulldogs have road games at 4A No. 8 Elkhart Memorial on May 27, and 4A No. 13 Terre Haute North on May 21. CP also hosts 4A No. 15 Jefferson on May 13. Throw in the games with 3A No. 2 Andrean and 3A No. 5 Griffith on April 16, not to mention two games with highly-regarded arch-rival Merrillville and CP will know how good they are long before the state tournament in June.

UNDERGROUND NOTES: As the second year of Lowell's three-year renovation winds down, the outdoor portion of the improvements are still on hold. There is no certainty there will not be anything done to the football field or baseball-softball complex, but it is not in the current plans.

Hanover Central's new gym is still in the skeletal stage, but AD Dave Seils has previously said the 2,500-seat structure will not be ready for volleyball or basketball any time in 2005.

One of Valparaiso basketball star Scott Martin's cousins is the former Florida State University, Italian Olympic team and Merrillville high school softball star Leslie Malerich (1997). Malerich is hoping to compete in the 2006 world championships and the 2008 Olympics.

No one is saying this officially, but there is an expansion of the Indiana state football playoffs coming. There were 311 football playing schools last year in Indiana and there will be more this fall. When the total gets to 321, the present five class, six week tournament MUST change. Pigs will fly and watch in-flight movies before the IHSAA either goes to a seven-week tournament or approves mid-week football. So the tournament must expand when the number of schools gets beyond 320 (64 in each class). That's probably when you'll see a Class 6A in Indiana.

It is not official yet but Hanover Central senior Amanda Wendlinger, who pitched a perfect game in the state 2A championship game last June, will probably follow her sister Beth to the Division II University of Indianapolis.

Basketball's state tournament played to a sellout crowd Saturday night (March 26) in Conseco Fieldhouse, the first sellout of the Class Sports era (1998-2005). The presence of tradition-rich schools Plymouth and Muncie Central helped fill the building, but the presence of Lawrence North star Greg Oden had people standing for the title game. Folks talk of Lawrence North, now 2-time champ, making it 3-in-a-row in 2006. But the hits might keep on coming. Anthony Oden, Greg's 6-8 brother, is a freshman, and Lawrence North's eighth-grade team was undefeated. Washington's 3A state title coach Dave Omar said he'd much rather have won the title in a one-class system. Washington would have had to beat highly-regarded Terre Haute South and eventual 4A champ Lawrence North JUST TO REACH THE FINALS if there was still just one class of playoffs. Who are they kidding? They would not have come close to making it.

JUNIOR ALL-STARS

Marques Johnson (Snider), Chris Kramer (Huntington North), Jon Workman (Lakeland), Luke Harnagody (ANDREAN), Michael Conley and Greg Oden (Lawrence North)

Tyler Brown (Penn), Ryan Sims (Snider), Grant Leindecker (Homestead), Phil Garnett (Maconaquah), Luke Smith (Rochester) and Jamil Tucker (Gary West Side)

Melissa Lechlitner (St. Joseph's), Ashley Barlow (Pike), Fahkara Malone (Evansville Memorial0, Susan lester (Pendleton Heights), Amber Harris (North Central) and Dee Dee Jernigan (East Chicago).

Danielle Ben-Tsvulun (Harding), Courtney Reed (Northfield), Julie Seiss (Warsaw), Erica Humes (Valparaiso), Kelly Peller (Chesterton) and Brittney Moore (MERRILLVILLE).

The sites of these games will create final home appearances for three certain boys' all-stars, Richmond's Dominic James, Carmel's Josh McRoberts and Washington's Luke Zeller, as well as Washington's retiring coach Dave Omar, who will coach against his star senior player.

The OUT OF TOWN SCOREBOARD - Crown Point's Nikki Borys (2002), who originally enrolled at Southern Indiana three years ago, has proved that a wrong first college choice is not the end of the line in athletics. Borys, who played to coach Tom May in Crown Point, never played four SIU, enrolled at Purdue-Calumet the next fall and has found success on the basketball court. Borys recently scored her 1,000th point in three seasons of play and was named an all-conference player in the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC) for the 2005 season. Borys averages 12 points and 5.6 rebounds per game for the Peregrines, the team formerly known as the Lakers. Borys was an honorable mention all-conference player her first two seasons. The 6-0 forward played for coach Tom May and Crown Point's Lady Bulldogs.

Hanover Central's Melanie Brumbaugh (2000), who started her college career with a season-ending leg injury, decided that she could come back and have a good career on the basketball floor at NAIA Division II Taylor College in Upland. Five years later, the Cedar Lake native can leave the floor knowing she got to play a major role on her team for four full years. Brumbaugh, whose career ended last month when Taylor lost in the first round of the NAIA National championship tournament, ended her career having been team captain three seasons in a row. Taylor was ranked in the top-20 all season and Brumbaugh averaged 15.6 points, seven rebounds, three steals and two assists per game. Brumbaugh, who averaged 14.9 her junior year and 14.1 her sophomore season, finishes as Taylor's sixth all-time leading scorer. A Christian education major, the 5-11 senior probably has a career as a coach in her future.

After some down times in softball, St. Joseph's College of Rensselaer appears to be on the rise in the NCAA Division II Great Lakes Valley Conference. Lake Central graduate Merissa Kapelinski (2001) was named the GLVC player of the week, Kapelinski hit a home run, and drove in four as St. Joseph's was 4-0 in the week of March 13-19. Kapelinski (17-51, .333) was very happy to be on an 11-7 team after 18 games in her senior season. That's because St. Joe was 17-33 last season when Kapelinski batted .277 in 50 games. St. Joe also has junior LC alum Jill Kapitan, senior LC grad Michelle Ellis and freshman Ashley Emmett (2004) of Andrean, who is batting just .217 but with 10 stolen bases in 11 attempts in her college debut. Freshman Stephanie Zimny of Highland (2004) has not gotten a chance as of yet probably because St. Joe has a team ERA of 1.81 after 124 innings.

The weather has seriously cooled a fast start for the University of Indianapolis (9-3), another Division II GLVC team. The Greyhounds had five (including three spring break rainouts in Florida) of their first 17 dates postponed due to weather and that was before the annual GLVC challenge tournament against the Michigan-based Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLVIC) was snowed out in Michigan last weekend. The Florida games and the Michigan games cannot be made up. When the sun did shine, Andrean grad Lindsey Mishevich (2002) was the Greyhounds leading hitter with 11 hits in 29 at bats (.379). The CP native has played and started in all 12 games so far. Mishevich was not used as a full time player last season and batted just .231.

Hanover Central pitcher Beth Wendlinger (2002) pitched five complete games and two shutouts in her first six starts rolling up a 7-1 record and an 0.76 ERA. The Cedar Lake right-hander allowed 29 hits and 10 walks in her first 48 innings. Allowed to bat this year (UIndy's previous coach did not use Beth as a hitter), Wendlinger is probably a little disappointed in her 3-of-21 stick so far. Looming large on the schedule for both UIndy and St. Joe's are double-header dates with the GLVC front runner, top-ranked Northern Kentucky University (24-0). Indianapolis plays two at NKU Saturday April 2 at 12 noon. St. Joe's plays twice at NKU Sunday at 12 noon. Good luck to them both because they'll need it. NKU's all-America junior starting pitcher Krystal Lewellen is 12-0 with an 0.25 ERA. Lewellen was 31-5 last season with 311 strikeouts. UIndy plays at St. Joseph's at 3 p.m. on Thursday, April 7.

Crown Point pitcher Mike Schultz (2004) made his college debut last month for Wabash College (8-8) in Crawfordsville, IN. Schulz, a 6-5 right-hander, pitching two thirds of an inning on March 23, allowing no runs in a 13-4 Wabash loss to Olivet. The CP grad may not get to the mound much this spring, through no fault of his own. Wabash had a team ERA of 3.05 after 16 games and appeared fairly solid in starting pitchers.

Things are not going well at Division I Butler University on the baseball diamond. The Bulldogs, loaded with ex Lake and Porter County high school stars, were 3-11 after 14 games and only Merrillville graduate Stephen Gill (2002) was off to any semblance of a good start, with 11 hits in 40 at bats (.270). Boone Grove grad Clayton Deeb (2002) was 1 of 16 and Munster alum Mike Rosen (2002) was 2-of-17. Munster left-hander Brian Bokowy (2004) was 0-2 with a 5.37 ERA but he's not pitching that badly. The all-area Mustang had 17 strikeouts and just three walks in his first three starts (15 innings) as a college player. The ex-LaPorte left-hander Craig Costello (2002) was 0-2 with a 6.75 ERA in three starts. But it's still cold and it's still early.

Two-time Andrean softball 20-game winning pitcher Katie Sheaks (2003) is now an outfielder exclusively for Division I power DePaul of Chicago (11-10). The former 59er, who was 25-2 with an 0.47 ERA in 2002, started 20 of her teams first 21 games in right field although she is batting just .190. Sheaks has not made an error in the field and is 4-for-4 in stolen base attempts. The Blue Demons almost always start slowly, as do most northern college softball and baseball teams. DePaul had not played a home game after 21 contests. Lowell grad Ryan Basham (2003) was the second-leading hitter for Division I Michigan State University after 17 games. Basham (18-54, .333) had four homers and 14 RBIs as the Spartans (8-9) open the season with 14 road games. Basham, arguably the best hitter in the last 15 years of NW Indiana high school baseball, batted .535 his junior season and .583 with 15 home runs for the Red Devils his senior year in 2003.