Local Sports Headlines: March 15, 2023

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Indiana and Morehead State Baseball alter weekend series schedule To take advantage of the best possible conditions for fans and student-athletes, the Indiana baseball program has announced a schedule change for its weekend series at Bart Kaufman Field versus Morehead State. The two teams will now play single games starting today through Friday. The new schedule is as follows:
Wednesday, March 15 – 4:30pm, Thursday, March 16 – 4pm., Friday, March 17 – 4pm

This week’s games at Bart Kaufman Field feature free admission to all games, as the program celebrates Community Week. Parking for the weekend will remain the same, with lots around Bart Kaufman Field remaining open for patrons to park.

Trayce Jackson-Davis named Associated Press first team All-American Indiana Senior forward Trayce Jackson-Davis was selected to the Associated Press All-America First Team, the publication announced on Tuesday. The Center Grove product enters the NCAA Tournament with averages of 20.8 points, 10.9 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 2.7 blocks, and 0.9 steals per game. He has been named a Karl Malone Award Finalist, to the Oscar Robertson Trophy Late Season Watch List, the John R. Wooden Men’s National Ballot, and the Naismith Trophy Defensive Player of the Year semifinalist list. TJD was also a unanimous choice for the All-Big Ten First Team by the coaches, media, and Associated Press while also collecting All-Big Ten Defensive Team accolades.

The former McDonald’s All-American has claimed All-America First Team honors from the first two (The Sporting News, Associated Press) of four (NABC, USBWA) entities used to calculate consensus All-America status. Jackson-Davis and the Hoosiers will open play in the NCAA Tournament as the No. 4 Seed in the Midwest Regional against the No. 13 seed Kent State Golden Flashes. Tip is scheduled for 9:55pm Friday Night at the MVP Arena in Albany, N.Y. with a national broadcast on TBS.

#10 Indiana University Swimming and Diving competes in NCAA Championships A year ago, Indiana Women’s Swimming and Diving finished 11th nationally ahead of CSCAA and psych sheet projections with a young roster. It was the program’s 14th consecutive top-15 placement. This week, the No. 10-ranked Hoosiers will look to build on its momentum with 12 qualified student-athletes and all five relays competing at the 2023 NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships inside the Allan Jones Aquatic Center in Knoxville, Tennessee. The action kicks off tonight and runs through Saturday. Streaming is available via the ESPN Plus digital platform.  

The meet starts with the 200-yard medley relay and 800-yard freestyle relay on opening night. Indiana is seeded within All-America position in both at No. 15 in the 200medley relay (1:35.98) and No. 7 in the 800-freestyle relay (6:58.44). IU’s quartet of sophomore Anna Peplowski, sophomore Ching Hwee Gan, senior Mackenzie Looze and freshman Kristina Paegle set the program record in the 800 to win the Big Ten title a month ago. Thursday marks the first full day of events, and IU has at least one athlete in each event. In the 500 free, Big Ten silver medalist Gan (4:38.96) is the 12th-fastest coming into the meet, while fellow sophomore Mariah Denigan comes in with a time of 4:40.52. The lone Hoosier in the 200 IM, Looze enters with a 1:56.52 seed though her personal best sits at 1:55.68 from 2022 Big Tens. Paegle’s 21.91 in the 50 free sits just a hundredth of a second off IU’s program record as she and senior Ashley Truak (22.00) race in the final individual swimming event of the day.

Diving enters the conversation on Thursday, beginning with IU’s most loaded event on the 1-meter springboard. Two-time Big Ten 1-meter Champion and junior Anne Fowler will lead the way, though sophomore Megan Carter has the team’s highest score in the event this season with a 351.60 at midseason. Fellow sophomore Skyler Liu joined Fowler and Carter on the podium at Big Ten’s, her first of three top-eight finishes that week. Carter, Liu and another sophomore, Alaina Heyde, are competing in their first NCAA Championships. Thursday will conclude with the 200-yard freestyle relay, another program record set this season. Anna Peplowski, Paegle, Turak and junior Elizabeth Broshears won silver at Big Ten’s, going 1:27.70. The reordered lineup went .05 seconds faster than its previous program-best time at midseason.

Friday kicks off with three Hoosiers in the 400 IM; Looze (4:09.67), Mariah Denigan (4:11.25) and Ching Hwee Gan (4:14.00), who have all gone faster than their seed times. Anna Peplowski, a top-15 seed in all three of her events, will race her highest seeded event in the 200-yard freestyle. The Big Ten Swimmer of the Championships set a program record in 1:43.33 to win gold at the conference meet and capture the No. 7 slot entering this week. Freshman Kristina Paegle (1:46.69) will also race the event. Peplowski will swim again Friday in the 100 back, where she is the No. 14 seed with a time of 51.62. The current program record sits at 51.05. Between those events, Anna’s sister, senior Noelle Peplowski and fellow sophomore Brearna Crawford will compete in the 100-yard breaststroke, boasting seed times of 59.10 and 59.86, respectively. Fowler and Liu will return for the 3-meter dive competition after both medaled at the conference meet. Matching their medal finishes, Fowler and Liu were the Nos. 1 and 3 qualifiers out of Zone C. Indiana is the No. 8-seed in the 400-yard medley relay, Friday’s final event. The Peplowski sisters led off the Big Ten silver medal swim, anchored by Broshears and Paegle. The group went 3:29.82.

The final day projects to be IU’s most rewarding with five top-15 seeded swims. A year ago, the Hoosiers jumped four spots on Saturday. In the 1,650-yard freestyle, Gan (15:56.55) and Denigan (15:57.82) are the Nos. 8 and 10 seeds. Then, Peplowski will close her meet as the No. 13 seed in the 200 back, going 1:51.81 in her Big Ten title swim. In the 100 free to follow, Paegle (48.15) and Turak (48.66) will swim with the program record 47.84 in sight. Noelle Peplowski became the second-fastest 200 breaststroke swimmer in program history when she touched in 2:05.52 at midseason. The Big Ten champ is one of three Hoosiers in the 200 breast, joined by Looze (2:08.58) and Crawford (2:06.86). Both Looze and Crawford have career-best times faster than their seeds. Fowler and Liu will finish in the platform diving event. Liu was spectacular in her platform performance at the NCAA Zone C Diving Championships on Saturday, finishing as the top qualifier. The sophomore totaled a 690.60 scored over her 10 dives, 40.25 better than the runner-up. The meet ends with the 400 freestyle relay, IU’s third program record in a relay this season. Anna Peplowski, Turak, sophomore Ella Ristic and Paegle went 3:13.45 at midseason before going 3:14.71 with Paegle and Looze anchoring at Big Ten’s.

Jalen Hood-Schifino & Trayce Jackson-Davis selected to the All-District Team Senior Forward Trayce Jackson-Davis was selected to the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) and United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) All-District teams, the publications announced on Tuesday. Freshman Guard Jalen Hood-Schifino was also honored by the USBWA on the All-District V team.

Jackson-Davis enters the NCAA Tournament with averages of 20.8 points, 10.9 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 2.7 blocks, and 0.9 steals per game. He has been named a Karl Malone Award Finalist, to the Oscar Robertson Trophy Late Season Watch List, the John R. Wooden Men’s National Ballot, and the Naismith Trophy Defensive Player of the Year semifinalist list. TJD was also a unanimous choice for the All-Big Ten First Team by the coaches, media, and Associated Press while also collecting All-Big Ten Defensive Team accolades.

Hood-Schifino begins his first taste of national postseason play with averages of 13.5 points, 4.1 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 0.8 steals per game. He collected All-Big Ten Second Team honors from the league’s media and Third Team praise from the coaches. JHS was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year by both entities and tabbed a Kyle Macy National Freshman of the Year Finalist.

2023 Indiana Girls All Star Basketball team announced Twelve players have been selected to join IndyStar Indiana Miss Basketball Laila Hull of Zionsville for the 2023 IndyStar Indiana Girls’ All-Stars, All-Stars game director Mike Broughton announced Tuesday. Those chosen to the team will play three games in June one exhibition game against the Indiana Junior All-Stars as well as home-and-home contests against the Kentucky All-Stars.       

Hull’s selection as Miss Basketball was announced Monday. The players completing the 2023 Indiana Girls’ All-Stars, listed alphabetically, are Ashlynn Brooke of Pioneer, Olivia Brown of Hamilton Southeastern, Cristen Carter of Ben Davis, Asia Donald of Hobart, Layla Gold of Cathedral, RaShunda Jones of South Bend Washington, McKenna Layden of Northwestern, Riley Makalusky of Hamilton Southeastern, Karsyn Norman of Bedford North Lawrence, Amiyah Reynolds of South Bend Washington, Saige Stahl of Columbus East, and Amber Tretter of Forest Park. Reynolds is injured and is not expected to play in the games.           

The 2023 All-Stars include five players who have been a part of six state championship teams (Tretter with Two; Brooke, Jones, Norman and Reynolds with one each), two IHSAA Mental Attitude Award winners (Norman and Tretter), five players who were named IBCA first-team Academic All-State (Carter, Hull, Layden, Norman and Tretter) and one player who was named IBCA honorable mention Academic All-State (Makalusky). Kristi Ulrich of Penn has been named the head coach of the 2023 All-Stars. She will be assisted by Bryan Graham of Triton Central and Bob Lapadot of Garrett. Ulrich is 312-50 in 14 seasons at Penn, including the 2016 Class 4A state championship. Graham is 299-65 in 15 seasons at Triton Central. Lapadot is 193-91 in 12 seasons at Garrett.           

The Junior-Senior exhibition game is set for June 7 at a site to be announced. The first game against Kentucky will be June 9 at the Owensboro Sportscenter in Owensboro, Ky. The final game against Kentucky will be June 10 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.      All three dates will be doubleheaders with the IndyStar Indiana Boys’ All-Stars, whose roster will be announced later. The roster for the Indiana girls’ Junior All-Stars were announced March 8. The roster for the Indiana boys’ Junior All-Stars will be announced later. The Indiana Junior All-Stars will play two girl-boy doubleheaders this year are June 4 against the Kentucky Junior All-Stars at Jeffersonville High School and June 7 against the Indiana seniors at a site to be announced.         

The Indiana All-Stars program was founded in 1939 when the Indiana Boys All-Stars played the state champion Frankfort Hot Dogs. The series with Kentucky began in 1940, and the girls’ portion of the All-Stars was added in 1976. The Junior All-Stars, boys and girls, were added in 1996. The All-Star senior girls have played Kentucky every year since 1976, except 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The All-Star senior boys have played Kentucky in all but three years since 1940 — 1943 (World War II), 1944 (World War II) and 2020 (COVID-19 pandemic).  The Indiana Senior girls lead 52-40 in their series with Kentucky. The Indiana Senior girls lead 41-10 in games against the Indiana Junior girls. The Indiana Junior girls lead 10-1 in their series with Kentucky. The Indiana Senior boys lead 103-44 in their series with Kentucky. The Indiana Senior boys lead 41-10 in games against the Indiana Junior boys. The Indiana Junior boys lead 7-4 in their series with Kentucky.            

The June 10 date also will include the inaugural IndyStar Indiana All-Star “Futures Games.” The Futures Games will be a girls-boys doubleheader at Gainbridge Fieldhouse with Indiana-only squads of juniors, sophomores and freshmen in a North vs. South format. The girls’ Futures Games lineups were announced on Feb. 16. The boys’ Futures Games lineups will be announced later.    The Indiana portion of the All-Star Games is organized and produced by the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association. The Indianapolis Star, with its IndyStar brand, is a title sponsor.  Miss Basketball is selected through a balloting process of coaches and media overseen by game organizers from the IBCA. The remainder of the team is finalized by Broughton after observing numerous games and events throughout the season, conferring with coaches, school officials and media across the state. Broughton also reviews votes submitted by coaches and media who each could recommend up to 10 players. Those chosen as 2023 IndyStar Indiana Girls’ All-Stars are listed below alphabetically. Hull will wear the traditional No. 1 as Miss Basketball. All other jersey numbers will be assigned later.

Ashlynn Brooke, Pioneer, 5-7, G, 23.8, Ball State Olivia Brown, Hamilton Southeastern, 5-7, G, 6.9, Akron Cristen Carter, Ben Davis, 6-3, C, 18.6, Miami (Ohio) Asia Donald, Hobart, 5-9, G, 26.7, Indiana State Layla Gold, Cathedral, 6-0, G, 21.9, Valparaiso Laila Hull, Zionsville, 6-1, F, 23.2, North Carolina RaShunda Jones, South Bend Washington, 5-8, G, 19.8, Purdue McKenna Layden, Northwestern, 6-2, F, 21.6, Purdue Riley Makalusky, Hamilton Southeastern, 6-2, F, 19.9, Butler Karsyn Norman, Bedford North Lawrence, 5-6, G, 15.5, Butler ^ Amiyah Reynolds, South Bend Washington, 6-0, G, 15.2, Maryland Saige Stahl, Columbus East, 6-1, F, 26.0, Indiana State Amber Tretter, Forest Park, 6-1, F, 15.8, Miami (Ohio)        Head coach: Kristi Ulrich, Penn         Assistant coaches: Bryan Graham, Triton Central; Bob Lapadot, Garrett         ^ injured; unable to play in All-Star games

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