TERRE HAUTE — The landscape at the top of the Wabash River Conference boys basketball standings could change dramatically this year. Or will it?
Rockville (21-4 last year) has dominated the WRC the past two years, winning back-to-back sectional titles. After a brief stumble during the Pizza Hut Wabash Valley Classic, the Rox closed out last season by winning 16 of 17 games before falling to Lafayette Central Catholic in the regional.
But this year, the Rox have plenty of holes to plug due to graduation.
A major force no longer on the Rox scene is Indiana State University freshman R.J. Mahurin — a huge loss, not just in physical size. Mahurin was a stat sheet stuffer a year ago, averaging 23.4 points, 7.4 rebounds, 4.6 blocks and shot field goals at a 58.2 percent clip.
Other Rox players departing were such stalwarts as Josh Reed, Aaron Bridge and Matt King.
So what are some coaches saying about the WRC this year?
“I don’t see anyone super this year,” Rox coach Dave Mahurin said. “I have a feeling people will get after us this year. But we will continue to show up every night ready to win.”
Turkey Run coach Joey Hart describes the sectional field as “wide open, very competitive. Rockville will be better than people might think, Attica returns everyone, Covington. But we can be in the mix too.”
The WRC has also “evened out” according to Riverton Parke coach Monty Kirk. “Rockville is a big rival, Turkey Run has a couple of horses back. Rockville, North Vermillion, Turkey Run … it should a a fun time this season.”
The following are previews of the WRC teams in the Tribune-Star area:
• Rockville — Coach Mahurin admitted he was fortunate the past few seasons as his teams were able to avoid the injury bug. But that is not the case this year. The Rox are saddled with injuries, transfer and non-basketball issues.
One of the best returning players, 5-foot-10 senior Caleb McMullen, suffered an ACL injury in the second football game of the season. He feels he can return by Christmas, but Mahurin thinks it might not be until mid-January.
Junior Zach Kempf (6-3) is a transfer from South Vermillion, but the Rox were still awaiting word from the IHSAA on his eligibility late last week. Senior David Parsons (6-0) won’t return until at least Christmas.
With the absence of McMullen and Parsons, that leaves one senior to start the season for the Rox in 6-4 Drew Kelley.
Others on the varsity include 6-2 junior Eric Lear, 5-10 sophomore Cody Jeffries, 6-2 sophomore Clint White, 5-8 sophomore Kyle Wheeler, 6-4 freshman Lane Mahurin, 6-3 freshman Jordan McFall and 6-1 freshman Joel Wittenmeyer.
“When I have all my guys, we’ll be pretty good,” Mahurin noted. “But it’s been one mishap after another. We will be bigger, we’ll be stronger. I’m not sure we can score points as in the past. Our goal is simply to get everyone well.
“We’re not the favorite, probably, to win the sectional,” Mahurin admitted. “But I feel we have as good a chance as anyone.”
• Turkey Run — The Warriors had one of their most successful seasons last year, going 16-9 and falling to Rockville 66-43 in the sectional championship game. But five of those players were seniors.
Key returnees are an All-WRC performer, 5-10 junior Jake Weaver, plus 6-4 senior center Seth Marshall and 6-1 senior Austin Cook.
“We know what we get with Weaver, Marshall and Cook,” Hart stated. “They have been really consistent players. But all the rest of the team is new … we have a long way to go.”
Who will join those three players in the starting lineup and regular rotation? Hart jokingly said, “the rest of the lineup … we’ll have to it pull it out of a hat.”
Battling for the remaining starting spots are 6-0 junior Calib McCombs, 6-1 sophomore Tyler Goddard, 6-1 junior Eric Newton, 6-0 freshman Jeff Woods, 5-10 senior Brett Tappan, 5-10 junior Jacob Hayn and 5-9 senior Jon Sowers.
“We’re small,” Hart stated. “But if we take care of rebounding, the rest should take care of itself. If we continue to grow as a team, we’ll get there. We have the right attitude, that’s not a problem.”
• North Vermillion — Seven is the key number for the Falcons this season.
“We are pretty much going to go with seven guys … most of them with quite a bit of varsity experience from last year,” coach Mike Ahrens said.
North Vermillion is coming off its 11th straight losing season — the last winning season was 11-10 in 1997-98 — and is just 9-54 the past three seasons. The Falcons (4-17 last year) lost 12 straight games to end the season, the final one a 95-52 beating by eventual sectional champion Rockville.
The “seven guys” include three seniors, 6-4 guard-forward Jacob Rankin, 6-0 guard Zach Jumps and 6-1 forward Ethan Clark; two juniors, 6-3 forward Scott Leigh and 6-0 guard Jacob Harrison (6-0); and two sophomores, 6-4 center Lane Clark and 6-4 forward Dalton McCool.
Others seeking to work their way into the rotation include 6-4 junior Jesse Grubbs and three sophomores — 6-0 Josh Belser, 6-2 Rylan Smith and 6-0 Dalton Weaver. Ahrens said a “couple of freshmen” could join the varsity later in the season.
“The guys played a lot over the spring in Danville, Ill.,” he said. “They played a number of summer tournaments and they lifted [weights]. We are way ahead of a year ago.”
Ahrens described his team’s schedule — just seven home games — as “difficult, a challenge … We’ll try to get up and down the floor and I feel we’ll be more successful at that this year. We have a lot more cohesiveness than a year ago.”
• Riverton Parke — With just one senior, the Panthers are a youthful team — but they do have several players with varsity experience in an attempt to halt a three-year string of losing seasons.
The Panthers were just 4-18 last year, narrowly losing to Turkey Run 39-37 in their first sectional game.
Jeremy Helton, a 5-9 junior, will be a starter at guard for the third year in a row. “We look for big things from Jeremy. We’re hoping for a breakout season from him,” Kirk stated.
Cody Vauters, a 5-9 sophomore, was a full-time starter a year ago as a freshman. Derek Engle, a 5-8 junior, started at the end of the season.
Giving the Panthers some much-needed size is 6-3 junior Garrett Lientz, a transfer from Owen Valley; his older brother Randy was a senior at OV last year.
The fifth starter should be 5-11 sophomore point guard Wade Stites.
Other contributors include 5-9 junior guard Kyle Yeargin, 5-9 junior guard Kyle Daugherty, 5-11 junior forward Tyler Yando and 6-1 sophomore forward Gary Secuskie. The lone senior is 6-0 forward Daniel Hardesty.
“Hardesty has had a bad couple of years,” Kirk said. “He was hurt last year and is just now returning from an injury in the football season. He will play valuable minutes and we need his leadership skills.
“We don’t play the center game,” Kirk described, noting his team only has three players at or above the 6-foot level. “We have worked a lot at the defensive end. Our goal is to hold teams under 52 points per game. Offensively, we want to push the ball up and down the floor even more than we did last year.”
High School
WRC teams hope to unseat Rox atop conference
- High School
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It’s a rivalry-filled Memorial Day for sectional contenders
Longtime rivalries figure to determine high school baseball sectional champions throughout the Wabash Valley today, with semifinal and final games scheduled at four sites and a stand-alone championship game at a fifth.
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South tops Oldenburg to win tennis semistate
There was no evidence of rally caps, rally towels and certainly no rally squirrels, but Terre Haute South’s No. 1 singles player Maddie Kesler needed a rally in the worst way.
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New route leads to same place for South girls tennis
For so many years, the road to the IHSAA girls tennis state finals for local teams ran through Vincennes (regional) and Jasper (semistate). In other words, south and more south.
This year, their trip was re-routed through Greencastle (regional) and Center Grove (semistate). So it cnahged to east and more east. -
PREP ROUNDUP: Robinson tops Greenville in sectional semifinal
Robinson jumped to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning, then cruised to a convincing 12-3 victory over Greenville in a IHSA Class 2A Vandalia sectional semifinal game on Thursday.
Ashlyn Sullivan was 2 for 3 with a double, home run and three RBIs to lead the winning Maroons. -
West Vigo baseball falls in sectional to Owen Valley
West Vigo overcame the odds to win 20 high school baseball games this season with a lineup that often included four freshmen and few seniors.
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South Vermillion softball's late-season surge comes to end
A late-season surge by South Vermillion wasn’t quite enough to halt a high school softball sectional winning streak by the host team Thursday night, as Edgewood got on top early and held on for a 5-2 win in the championship game of the Class 3A Edgewood Sectional.
The loss was just the second in the last 12 games for the Wildcats. The Mustangs, however, haven’t lost a sectional softball game for eight years in a row. -
South takes second, North third at boys track regional
Terre Haute South finished second and Terre Haute North third on Thursday night at the boys track and field regional at Evansville Central, with 11 individuals and three relay teams qualifying for the state finals June 2.
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PREP ROUNDUP: White River Valley baseball holds off Eminence
Three Eminence errors in the top of the sixth inning finally enabled White River Valley to score in high school baseball Thursday night, and the Wolverines went on to a 5-0 win in Class A Shakamak Sectional action.
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Feeling cursed: South bitten in sectional final again
Terre Haute South softball is not even close to being as cursed as a certain northside baseball team in Chicago, but it might just seem like it.
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PREP ROUNDUP: Mundy, Porter, Knight individual regional winners
Chanli Mundy and Keirra Porter of Terre Haute North were among the individual winners in the IHSAA Evansville Central girls track and field regional that ended late Tuesday night.
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Thornton puts away South Vermillion
Cody Thornton’s three-run blast over the left-field fence was the finishing touch to West Vigo’s 10-3 victory over South Vermillion in the opening game of the Class 3A Greencastle Sectional on Wednesday.
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Lakers triumph, go home for regional
Shakamak took Class A Clay City Sectional honors in high school softball for the first time since 2009 Wednesday, defeating White River Valley 9-5 in the title tilt.
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North Vermillion avenges losses
North Vermillion avenged two high school softball losses during the regular season to win the Class A Riverton Parke Sectional championship Wednesday with a 3-2 triumph over the host Panthers.
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Pats, Knights will meet in sectional
Adler Ingalsbe pooh-poohed his lack of velocity Wednesday night, yet the Terre Haute North pitcher was throwing BBs in the first game compared to Mooresville’s Brandon Topie in the nightcap.
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South outbattles Northview to reach sectional final
Even the best of high school softball pitchers can’t keep all the batters in the middle of Terre Haute South’s lineup down.
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Panthers get 20th win in sectional
Riverton Parke will face North Vermillion in the Class A softball sectional championship at Riverton Parke today, with action commencing at 6 p.m.
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Plainfield Sectional all about parity
Considering Terre Haute South has won five consecutive Class 4A sectional titles in high school baseball, naming the Braves as favorites to capture the 2012 Class 4A Plainfield Sectional would not seem far-fetched.
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PREP ROUNDUP: North Vermillion in title game
Casey West had a triple and three runs scored to help North Vermillion softball advance to the championship game of the Class A Riverton Parke Sectional on Tuesday.
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North takes second in track regional
Terre Haute North finished second with 74 points, six behind team champion Evansville Reitz, during the Evansville Central girls track and field regional that ended late Tuesday night.
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Wildcats advance to sectional softball final; West Vigo falls
Patience, patience.
South Vermillion exhibited great patience, being very selective at the plate and it paid off royally in the fourth inning. -
South, Crawfordsville win in regional tennis semis
Terre Haute South outlasted Fountain Central 4-1 in the first round of the girls high school tennis regional Tuesday, advancing the Braves into today’s championship match against Crawfordsville.
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Braves, Knights open with wins
It was an excellent night for starting softball pitchers to help their own cause Monday night in the Class 4A Northview Sectional.
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Lough dreamt about McMillan
A two-time state finalist in wrestling and a two-time all-Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference football player and wrestler, Tsali Lough of Terre Haute South was named the male recipient of the 2012 McMillan Award on Monday night at South’s Senior Awards Night.
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PREP ROUNDUP: Panthers cruise in sectional opener
Sarah Burnham pitched a two-hit shutout with 10 strikeouts in high school softball Monday evening as host Riverton Parke defeated defending champion Rockville 10-0 in opening-round action at the Class A Riverton Parke Sectional.
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Notable tradition bodes well for Riverton Parke
Located practically in the shadow of a high school that sets one state standard in track and field, Riverton Parke has a tendency to be overlooked in that sport.
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Vikings get 18th win over Shakamak
West Vigo began a busy week of high school baseball Monday on a winning note, defeating Shakamak 6-3.
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Greencastle new site for girls tennis regional
The starting times might prove to be a bone of contention, but otherwise coaches Bill Blankenbaker and Emily Goff are thrilled their respective girls high school tennis teams will begin play today at the Greencastle Regional.
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Northview sectional groups 3 20-win teams
Three teams with 20-plus victories will attempt to claim the Class 4A Northview Sectional crown for high school softball this week, and most of the other Wabash Valley sectional fields also appear to be wide open.
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Terre Haute South softball takes Riverton Parke tournament
Terre Haute South is going into the Class 4A Sectional at Northview on Monday with momentum, confidence, a deep bench and a healthier pitching staff than it has had in quite a while.
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North baseball splits doubleheader with Indy North Central
Some of their incentive could have been sapped a couple of nights earlier, when Center Grove achieved an eight-inning victory over Warren Central to clinch the Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference high school baseball championship.
- More High School Headlines
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