Area athletes staying active, IHSAA announces fall sectional sites

Happy Gilmore went the distance.

After a marathon week of eight rounds of competitive golf over five days in typical Midwestern summer heat in West Lafayette, the Bloomington South rising junior finished as a runner-up at the Boys State Junior Championships on July 1.

It was the best run in the tourney by an area golfer since South's Joe Weiler made it to the semifinals in 2016.

Gilmore, who made it to the quarterfinals last year, losing in 19 holes, fell on the 18th this time in the match play head-to-head final against Fairfield rising sophomore Brayden Miller.

Gilmore, the No. 30 seed after qualifying, won the third hole before Miller squared it up on the eighth. Miller, the top seed, won 11 to go up before Gilmore won 13 and 14 with a birdie and a par. Miller responded with a birdie on 17 to square it up and won 18 with a par putt to take the title.

In the semifinals, Gilmore defeated recent Guerin Catholic graduate and Butler singee Conner McNeely 2 and 1, needing five birdies to get the job done.

Gilmore, qualified 30th during stroke play, tying for 29th with fellow Panther Connor Byon as they fired identical rounds of 78-73—151. South's Nick Bellush also made it to match play tying for 55th (80-77—157), while Jacob Paine lost out on a tiebreaker for the last spot after going 78-80—158.

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Oddly enough, all three remaining Panthers ended up in the same foursome the next day. Gilmore beat Byon 6 and 5 while Bellush upset third seeded Alex Holder of Fort Wayne, 5 and 4, to set up a meeting against Gilmore, which Gilmore won, 2 and 1.

On Thursday, in the quarterfinals, Gilmore pulled out a 4 and 2 win over Silver Creek's Cody Coleman, a 14th seed. He then turned around and dispatched No. 6 Adam Melliere of Zionsville, who was ninth at the IHSAA state meet, 3 and 1.

Age group championships

Gilmore, Bellush and Paine are all back in action this week in the Age Group State Championships on the Donald Ross and Pete Dye courses in French Lick.

Also there are South grad Dylan Barkley, North's Simon Deliyannis, Bloomington's Colton Watson and North's Darian Lafferty.

Barkley and Paine will compete in the boys' 18s, with Bellush and Deliyannis in the 17s, Byon and Gilmore in the 16s and Watson the 14s. Lafferty will compete in the girls' 16s.

Paegle 3-time All-American

The National Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association has named Bloomington South grad Kristina Paegle a three-time All-American for this past season.

The Indiana University recruit was the fastest girl in the nation in the 100 freestyle in 48.00, No. 4 in the 50 free (22.38) and No. 5 in the 200 free (1:45.02).

Fall sectional sites announced

The IHSAA has released its list of postseason hosts for fall sports.

One big change came in cross country, with Edgewood picking up a chance to be a regional host. Sectionals will still be held at Bedford North Lawrence and semistate at Brown County.

In volleyball, area sectional sites are Bloomington South (Class 4A), Edgewood (3A), Eastern Greene and Clay City (1A). Regionals are at Bloomington North, Monrovia, Mitchell and Edinburgh respectively.

Boys' soccer sectionals will be at Martinsville (3A), Greencastle (2A) and White River Valley (1A), with regionals set for Washington (2A) and Knightstown (1A). The 3A regional site is TBA.

Girls' soccer sectionals will be at Center Grove (3A) and Edgewood (2A), with the 3A regional not yet determined and the 2A regional at Washington. Boys' tennis sectionals and regionals will both be held in Bloomington.

Hall makes a splash

Bloomington's Simone Hall had a strong outing at the Zone D Championships in Columbia, Mo. on June 23-25, winning the 1- and 3-meter titles and taking second in platform in the girls' 14-15 age group.

She trains with Indy-area club RipFest.

USATF Region 7 meet

North's Hadley Lucas and DeDe Eberle will be in action this week in the USTAF Region 7 meet at Wabash College in Crawfordsville.

Lucas will compete in the girls' 15-16 age group in the hammer, discus and shot put, while Eberle is in the girls' 15-16 long jump.

Contact Jim Gordillo at jgordillo@heraldt.com and follow on Twitter @JimGordillo.