Staff Reports
We’re bringing out the best. Through the next few days, the Daily Reporter sports staff is taking our readers back, sharing a few of our favorite 2020-21 memories and highlighting some of Hancock County’s top achievers.
Up next, the Daily Reporter sports staff is dishing out more recognition. We’re going back through the 2020-21 school year and putting the spotlight back on a few of our previously named Fall, Winter and Spring Athletes of the Year, while revealing our Best Female Athlete of the Year and more.
BEST FEMALE ATHLETE
Lexi Shelton, Mt. Vernon
•Mt. Vernon’s Lexi Shelton remembers when she thought her athletics career was over. Not just put on hold momentarily, for a few weeks or months, but truly done. It happened right before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the sports world in March 2020. Suffering a potential career-ending back injury while weight training, Shelton ruptured a disc in her lower back and had a bulging disc as well. The prognosis was bleak for her senior year of high school sports ahead in 2020-21, let alone her collegiate basketball future. One thing Shelton did know, amidst the uncertainty, was she wasn’t going to let her injury win without a fight. Though far from easy, Shelton slowly recovered one step at a time and regained her strength, confidence and durability. She returned to basketball, though not at 100 percent, and also tennis in the spring. The reward for her perseverance was a commitment to the University of Saint Francis in Fort Wayne for basketball, a third All-Hoosier Heritage Conference selection, an IBCA All-State honorable mention in girls hoops and back-to-back All-Hancock County Player of the Year honors. Shelton led the Marauders girls basketball team to a 19-6 record as a senior, a second straight HHC team title, the program’s second sectional title in three years and a regional title game appearance. On the tennis court, the doubles player helped the Mt. Vernon girls finish 18-4, keep their county team championship run intact and win the program’s seventh straight sectional. Individually, Shelton and her doubles partner Ceci Bulmahn also advanced into the IHSAA sectional tournament.
BEST GIRLS SPORTS TEAM
Eastern Hancock softball
• The Class 2A Eastern Hancock softball team was simply historic. While the No. 7 Royals didn’t reach their ultimate goal of winning a state championship this spring, falling to No. 3 Union County 4-2 at regional, they rewrote history at every turn during what could be described as the golden era of softball in Hancock County. As neighboring top-ranked 4A New Palestine remained a powerhouse in the state and 4A Mt. Vernon reached the final four, Eastern Hancock became not only a factor in the softball landscape but a true contender to watch in the future. The proof is in the numbers, beginning with 27, marking the games won consecutively to set a new school record for longest streak and most victories in a single season. After losing their season opener 4-3 to New Pal on March 22, the Royals didn’t lose again until regional in early June. In the process, the team captured the MEC championship, a second consecutive sectional title and fourth in six years while setting 10 single-season team records, including home runs (51), and seven individual season records.
BEST GIRLS SPORTS COACH
Veronica Kirby, Mt. Vernon softball
• Veronica (Weaver) Kirby’s softball journey ran full circle this spring. A student-athlete on the softball program’s last state championship team in 2000, the Mt. Vernon graduate nearly steered the modern-day Marauders to a state title run of their own in 2021. Finishing 23-6, the Marauders reached the final four in Class 4A this season, winning a second sectional title in three years and the program’s first regional crown since 2002. The most impressive part wasn’t what the Marauders achieved, but what Kirby’s squad had to do to get there. After a 9-1 start to the season, minor injuries and a few Hoosier Heritage Conference setbacks foreshadowed a potential letdown by late May. Instead, the Marauders caught fire, winning eight straight while avenging a pair of regular-season losses in the postseason against rival Pendleton Heights at sectional and Lawrence North in regional to meet eventual state champion Roncalli in the semistate title game. A team with multiple heroes, Kirby found a way to keep her Marauders focused on the process and the team’s chemistry responded with 52 home runs in 29 games and 278 runs scored behind a pair of aces in Madison Taylor and Karlee Franklin. Their final loss of the season at semistate required 10-innings of tug-of-war softball before Roncalli narrowly escaped, 1-0.
BEST GIRLS BREAKOUT PERFORMER
Maddie Swingle, Mt. Vernon
• It pays to be a Swingle or so it seemed in 2020-21. While her brother, A.J. Swingle, was a part of two sectional championship teams (football and baseball), Maddie Swingle played a role in three team sectional titles as a member of the girls soccer, basketball and tennis teams. Of the two Swingles, five of Mt. Vernon’s 12 sectional team titles in 2020-21 had their last name attached to them. Maddie Swingle, a junior, provided five goals and one assist for the girls soccer team that finished 16-3 overall and won its first sectional title since 2015. The Marauders outscored their foes 47-8 on the season and won 10 straight before losing in the regional title game. As a basketball player, Swingle was a ferocious competitor, providing a physicality in the paint, on the glass and on defense while averaging 4.4 points, 3.9 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 1.3 steals per game. The Marauders won a second straight HHC title and their second sectional championship in three years with Swingle bolstering the team’s seven-player rotation. As a tennis player, Swingle starred as a doubles player with soccer teammate Anna Isger, helping the program win a seventh straight sectional title and another county tournament team championship. Swingle was named All-HHC in both tennis and soccer.
BEST GIRLS SPORTS NEWCOMER
Sammie Bolding, Eastern Hancock
• A two-sport standout, Eastern Hancock freshman Sammie Bolding made her presence known in 2020-21. On the softball diamond, the infielder hit a team-best .560 to lead Hancock County while scoring 53 runs, driving in 46 RBI, connecting for nine doubles, a triple and a team-leading 14 home runs, which was also tops in the county. She set a single-season school record for home runs and was one RBI shy of tying fellow freshman Brooklyn Willis for the program’s single-season mark at 47. On the basketball court, Bolding averaged 8.9 points, 2.7 assists, 2.1 rebounds and 2.8 steals per game. She had seven double-digit games for the Royals (13-9) and finished with 195 points, 47 rebounds, 60 assists and 62 steals in 22 contests played.
BEST GIRLS SPORTS ATMOSPHERE
Roncalli vs. New Palestine softball
• The game was hyped as the Class 4A softball state championship two weeks ahead of schedule and the capacity crowd in attendance echoed that sentiment. With fans occupying every available seat inside New Palestine’s new softball complex and even more overflowing along the fence lines and on the viewing mounds beyond the outfield walls, the matchup between No. 1 New Palestine and No. 2 Roncalli didn’t feel like a sectional semifinal. It had a championship atmosphere, and neither team disappointed as they slugged it out pitch for pitch before Roncalli’s Keagan Rothrock led the Royals to a 4-0 win over ace Sam Booe and the Dragons (28-1). The two pitchers combined for 21 strikeouts and nine hits allowed. Rothrock, a sophomore, surrendered one hit with 15 strikeouts. The loss was the first for New Palestine all season, and it stung, after winning three consecutive state titles before the lost campaign of 2020. The teams split the season series, 1-1, with New Pal winning during the regular season, so this past postseason meeting could be the first of many down the line.
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2020-21 Daily Reporter Athletes of the Year
FALL
Football – Blake Austin, New Palestine (Offense)/Rylan Cole, Mt. Vernon (Defense)
Volleyball – Cecilia Bulmahn, Mt. Vernon
Boys soccer – Abe Buescher, Greenfield-Central
Girls soccer – Anna Isger, Mt. Vernon
Boys tennis – Chris Hays, Mt. Vernon
Girls golf – Caroline Gibson, Greenfield-Central
Boys cross-country – Austin Rush, Mt. Vernon
Girls cross-country – Brenna Shaw, New Palestine
WINTER
Boys basketball – Amhad Jarrard, Mt. Vernon
Girls basketball – Lexi Shelton, Mt. Vernon
Boys swimming – Aiden Tierney, Mt. Vernon
Girls swimming – Norah Johnson, Greenfield-Central
Wrestling – Avery Wills, Eastern Hancock
Gymnastics – Kennedy Garrett, New Palestine
SPRING
Baseball – Hunter Dobbins, Mt. Vernon
Softball – Madison Taylor, Mt. Vernon
Girls tennis – Lydia Ruegsegger, Mt. Vernon
Boys track runner – Cody Hargett, Greenfield-Central
Girls track runner – Kayana Maroska, Greenfield-Central
Boys golf – Sam McWilliams, Mt. Vernon
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Thursday: 2020-21 Sports Photos of the Year
• One day isn’t enough, but staff photographer Tom Russo has chosen his selects and is ready to share all the memories and thrilling sports moments captured this past school year. Tom Russo has been there for the heartbreak, elation and all those amazing performances. Get ready as he unveils the best in show!
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