Senior staff writer
2016 was a banner year for sports on the Southside. Here are the top 10 sports stories from the pages of The Southsider Voice:
1. Roncalli claims 4A state championships in baseball with extra-inning one-run win against No. 1 Zionsville at Victory Field and in football by defeating NorthWood 34-22 at Lucas Oil Stadium.
2. Three basketball standouts – McDonald’s All-American Lindsey Corsaro of Roncalli, Holly Hoopingarner of Greenwood and 6-10 Joey Brunk of Southport – named to Indiana all-star teams.
3. Roncalli standout and Harvard University offensive lineman Cole Toner drafted by the Arizona Cardinals.
4. Southport’s boys basketball team ends 16-year sectional championship jinx, reaching 4A semistate before falling to eventual state champion New Albany.
5. Football success includes Center Grove reaching 6A state championship game and Class A Lutheran falling one win short of making state finals.
6. Center Grove’s Cameron Tidd wins second straight state discus title, and the school’s 1600-meter relay team snares state championship.
7. Greenwood diver Zachary Cooper places third in 10-meter synchro diving with partner Max Showalter in U.S. Olympic Trials at the IU Natatorium at IUPUI.
8. Perry Meridian boys and Franklin Central girls soccer teams win 2A regional titles to reach semistate finals, falling one win short or reaching state championship game.
9. Southside coaching icons Steve Montgomery of Southport High and Bill Bless of the University of Indianapolis, succumb to lengthy illnesses.
10. Franklin Central’s boys basketball team wins fourth straight 4A sectional championship.