Liberty Christian boys basketball coach Jason Chappell may just be the rare combination of a realistic optimist. Chappell’s Lions squad returns just one starter from a year ago. Among the graduation losses was all-everything player Michael Horner. Chappell knows that the early going may be rough but he’s looking forward to the challenge that comes with a young squad.

Most coaches would be fretting over the idea of losing six seniors to graduation. Shenandoah’s seventh-year boys basketball coach, Aaron Cain, doesn’t seem concerned one bit. As a matter of fact, he sounds confident about his team’s potential. Cain admits that his team will miss the players who graduated, but he feels this year’s team should be ready to step up their play and improve over last year.

When Dallas Clark looks at the evolution of tight ends, he thinks of John Mackey.

Swimming season is in full swing for Madison County as the winter months approach. Local coaches weigh in about their hopes for the season.

The aggressive play the North Central Panthers brought Wednesday night against the Highland Scots proved to be too much to handle for the home team. North Central beat Highland 63-36, but not before the Scots put up a big fight. “We didn’t know what to expect other than that they were going to come out with aggressive play,” Highland coach Chad Cook said.

After anchoring the Pendleton Heights boys tennis team for four years, it’s hard to imagine a time when Matt Tran didn’t excel at tennis. On the contrary, the senior did not even pick up his first tennis racket until eighth grade when the natural athlete was encouraged by those around him to pursue the sport. It was never a primary focus for Tran, who instead made academics his primary focus growing up.

The season is already under way for local girls high school swim teams, and each squad is looking to improve on last year’s performances.

What started as an intra-team rivalry turned into a record-breaking season for Anderson Highland junior Marissa Goodwin. Not only did her competitive streak with recent Highland soccer graduate Ashlan Allison help propel her into a scoring star, it was the catalyst for the Lady Scots’ berth in the sectional championship game this season. “This season was definitely better for me for a lot of reasons,” Good win said.

Tuesday's area sports results.

Highland wrestler Sam Bennett has a brutally efficient style on the mat.
He took a similar approach to the recruiting process.

Pendleton Heights graduate Susan Lester on Sunday became just the 20th player in Butler University women’s basketball history to reach 1,000.

Several new faces on the court will bring a different kind of team for the 2009-10 Anderson University women’s basketball season. After losing last year’s senior class that featured a trio of All-HCAC players in Mandy Seward, Mel Hawthorne and Kayla Martin, head coach Marcie Taylor said the Raven team that takes the court this year will be playing with more speed.