Shelbyville Golden Bears | Archive | April, 2009

Her first chance to prove her peers correct begins now.

On
Monday, the Shelbyville Central Schools board unanimously approved
Norris as the new high school girls’ varsity basketball coach.

She is currently an assistant basketball coach and junior varsity softball coach at Greenfield-Central.

“I’m
the type of coach that loves to get in the gym and teach the game,”
Norris said Tuesday morning. “I love getting girls enthusiastic about
the little things.”

And that’s where it will begin for a Lady
Golden Bears basketball program that has won a total of four games the
last two seasons after averaging 18 wins between 2001 and 2007.

Norris, 24, is a basketball overachiever.

Hard work and perseverance propelled her from a middle school reserve player to varsity standout at Shenandoah.

Between
2001 and 2003, Norris played in three Class 2A state championship games
under head coach Todd Salkoski. And in 2003, Norris scored 30 points
and including the game-winning free throws with three seconds left to
lead Shenandoah over Southwestern (Hanover), 52-51 to win the state
title.

Norris, who owns the school scoring record for points in
a season (516) and career (1,387), received the Patricia L. Roy Mental
Attitude Award after the championship game.

During Norris’ final three seasons, Shenandoah was 71-10.

Norris was named an Indiana All-Star in 2003 and went on to play collegiately at the University of Indianapolis.

A
four-time Academic All-Star at Indianapolis, Norris has spent the last
two seasons working as an assistant coach at Mount Vernon and
Greenfield-Central, respectively.

That gives her some familiarity with the Shelbyville program.

The
highly-motivated Norris will preach and teach fundamentals from the
outset and looks forward to cultivating the younger players in the area.

“I think it’s important to get a strong feeder program in place,” Norris said.

Norris won over Shelbyville athletic director Paul Heidenreich quickly.

“Her
attitude is unbelievable,” Heidenreich said. “She is extremely
positive. She is extremely personable. She has a passion that is
visible about basketball.”

Norris, who will teach math at the
high school, will receive either a two- or three-year contract based
upon the recommendation for the boys’ coach.

A double
announcement was expected Monday, but the final board vote on the
vacant boys’ varsity basketball coach was postponed so that some
questions from the final two candidates could be answered more
thoroughly.

The
Shelbyville senior twirled a complete-game, four hitter and smashed a
solo home run to lead the Golden Bears to a 6-1 win over Columbus East.

Bringle, now 2-2 this season, had 11 strikeouts in the win.

“Rylie
is dominating right now,” Shelbyville softball coach Rob Young said.
The right-hander has allowed just three earned runs all season and
leads the Hoosier Heritage Conference in strikeouts per inning,
according to Young.

Abby Wood had two hits and a double for Shelbyville (4-3).

The
Olympians swept both the boys’ and girls’ meets in convincing fashion
although Shelbyville keeps finding positives in the season’s first two
weeks.

Shelbyville won two events and tied for first place in a third in its 95-37 loss to Columbus East.

Nolan Kaster won the discus event with a throw of 115 feet, seven inches. Patrick Ellis won the high jump clearing 6-0.

Cody Clark tied for first in the pole vault at 10 feet.

“Kaster
has stayed pretty consistent,” Shelbyville boys’ track coach Pat Parks
said. “I’m very happy with that. I hope he can keep that up.”

The Lady Olympians won the girls’ meet, 95-32.

The Lady Golden Bears won four events.

Megan
Smith took first in the long jump (15-8). Ashley Riley outran the field
in the 100-meter dash (13.7 seconds). Victoria Guardado was strongest
in the 400 (1:03). And Kaylee Moore was swiftest in the 200 (27.4).

In other area track and field meets Tuesday:

TC stings the Hornets

At Beech Grove, the Triton Central girls ran away with an 84.5-45.5 victory.

Hilary
Schaf won the long jump (13-10) and 400 (1:07.35), while Emily Gill
picked up wins in the high jump (4-8) and 100 hurdles (19.1). Also
scoring first-place finishes for the Tigers were Ashley Jones (shot
put, 30-0), Julia Polston (1,600, 6:38), Bridgette Kesterman (300
hurdles, 55.3), Jenna Clark (800, 3:03.8) and Savanna Spaulding (3,200,
16:01).

Clark teamed with LeAnne Kirby, Laura Cord and Kori Kirkham to win the 3,200 relay in 13:13.

“The
weather was pretty rough, but the girls did a good job of stepping up
to the challenge of the competition, as well as the weather,” Triton
Central coach Matt Dunham said.

The results of the boys’ meet were not available as of press deadline.

Chargers run past Jackets, Twisters

At North Decatur, the host Chargers (80) finished ahead of Oldenburg (44) and Morristown (29) in the boys’ meet.

Conner
Shannon grabbed Morristown’s only win in the 400 (56.4). He finished
second in the 100 (11.7), while Cody Haycock (300 hurdles), Anthony
Muir (800) and Andrew Livezey (200) also scored individual second-place
finishes.

North Decatur also won the girls’ meet with 76 points, ahead of Morristown (43) and Oldenburg (37).

On
Thursday at New Palestine, both Golden Bear programs saw up close how
tough both the host Dragons and Greenfield-Central will be this season.

Jake
Knight (pole vault), Patrick Ellis (long jump) and Tyler Markley (1,600
meters) each won events for Shelbyville but New Palestine proved
stronger amassing 71.5 points to Shelbyville’s 46.

Greenfield-Central was second with 49.5 points.

Knight cleared 14 feet in the pole vault and teammates Cody Clark and Josh Murphy were third and fourth, respectively.

“Knight
going 14 feet is very impressive for a sophomore,” Shelbyville boys’
coach Pat Parks said. “Our vaulters are doing a great job right now.”

Ellis won the long jump with a distance of 20-7. Markley crossed the finish line in the 1,600 in four minutes, 51 seconds.

New
Palestine also won the girls’ meet with 65 points. The Lady Cougars
were second with 57 points, and Shelbyville was third (45).

Megan
Smith and Kaylee Moore each won individual events for the Lady Golden
Bears and teamed with Ashley Riley and Lydia Oldham to win the 400
relay in 52.5.

Smith, the defending HHC long jump champion, soared 16 feet to win Thursday. Riley was second.

Moore topped the field in the 200 (27.1).

“It was good for our girls to see this tier of competition,” Shelbyville girls’ coach Scott Fitzgerald said.

Ellis, a sophomore, won the high jump (six feet, two
inches), the long jump (20-4.5), the 200-meter dash (23.8 seconds) and
teamed with Brett Durphey, Jake Knight and Nick Raider to win the 400
relay in 46.3.

Jake Knight, also a sophomore and a regional
finalist last season, opened this season by clearing 13 feet in the
pole vault. Teammate Cody Clark placed second after clearing 11 feet.

“Ellis
had a good meet,” Shelbyville boys’ track and field coach Pat Parks
said. “Knight going 13 feet and Clark going 11 feet… I was very happy
with that.”

Knight also won the 100 in 11.7.

Triton Central’s John Fisher won the discus (128-7) while Shelbyville’s Gage Byrne took first in the shot put (44-7).

Nick Miller won the 110 hurdles (16.6) for Triton Central but Shelbyville’s Brett Durphey was fastest in the 300 hurdles (44.0).

Triton Central sophomore Billy Baldwin won both the 1,600 (5:03.9) and the 3,200 (10:57.4).

The sprinters helped the Lady Golden Bears defeat Triton Central, 68-60 in the girls’ meet.

Megan
Smith (13.4), Ashley Riley (13.8) and Lydia Oldham (13.9) swept the top
three finishing positions in the 100 and joined with Kaylee Moore to
win the 400 relay (53.2).

Smith (15-4.5) and Riley (15-1.25) also finished first and second, respectively, in the long jump.

For Triton Central, Kelsay Schilling won the discus (83-9) and Ashley Jones won the shot put (30-4.5).

Hilary
Schaf took first in the high jump (4-10) and the 400 (1:04) and helped
Rachel Alford, Anna Beaty and Bridgette Kesterman win the 1,600 relay
(4:32).

Kesterman won the 300 hurdles (54.7) while Emily Gill won the 100 hurdles (18.9).

Shelbyville freshmen Rachel Gambrel and Ashley Nolley won three events.

Gambrel was first in the 1,600 (6:18) and the 3,200 (13:43), while Nolley was fastest in the 800 (2:48).