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Track and field program growing by leaps and bounds

4/25/2018

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SOUTHSIDER VOICE PHOTOS BY AL STILLEY Lutheran distance coach Ronnie Robson (from left) chats with freshman Riley Settlemeyer and senior Charlie Moffitt during a break at a recent practice.
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Sophomore Claire Tabit set a school record in the shot put this season with a toss of 32 feet, 8 1/2 inches, breaking a 15-year record.
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It’s all smiles at the end of a practice for seniors Janessa Schaffer and Erin Pasch and sophomore Brianna McGee.
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Senior Emeka Jilani prepares to throw the discus during practice. Jilani, a Ball State football recruit, qualified last year in the shot put for the state finals.
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Lutheran's new track
By Al Stilley
Senior staff writer

When distance runner Charlie Moffitt was a freshman at Lutheran High School, he could count his teammates – boys and girls – on both hands.

Now he sees 29 male teammates and 14 females at practices at the school’s new stadium, which features an artificial turf football field and a new synthetic surface track.

“I’m very happy with this,” said Moffitt, one of four seniors on the squads. “We have had our first track meets at home in three years; I had only one meet here as a freshman. The track was horrible and helped cause painful shin splints and sore ankles.”

Replacing the football field and track plus expanding grandstand seating and an enlarged press box have brought other athletes from the hallways onto the track. The 43 athletes represent around 17 percent of the school’s enrollment.

With every meet on the road for most of his career, Moffitt deplored getting home after 10 p.m. from weeknight meets. 

“We have a lot of young runners in the program who have a strong future,” said Moffitt, who is hopeful of qualifying for the state finals in Bloomington. “We have attracted athletes who play other sports in the fall and winter.”

Moffitt, a regional qualifier last year, All-State football player and state finalist discus thrower Emeka Julani, sprinter/high jumper Erin Pasch and mid-distance runner Janessa Schaeffer are the only seniors. Pasch qualified for the 400-meter dash regional race on her fifth-place time at the talent-loaded Warren Central sectional. Sophomore Claire Tabit broke the school shot put record with a throw of 32 feet, 8 1/2 inches.

Pasch was instrumental in talking her dad, Lutheran dean of students Dave Pasch, into coaching track. She told him that if he didn’t coach she would quit. Since that conversation the track program has grown exponentially in numbers and success.

Mr. Pasch simply calls it a continuation of the school’s commitment to excellence in the classroom, all sports and extracurricular activities.

The Saints have enough male athletes to compete in all individual events and relays in dual and multiple-team events. 

Lutheran’s boys team won each of the three multiple-team meets at home against a total of 13 teams. Moffitt, sophomore hurdler Noah Brandt and sophomore Marcus McFadden were double winners, and Erin Pasch was a triple winner in leading the girls to the Saints Invitational championship.

“I couldn’t imagine building a track and field program without a facility like this and having to go on the road for every meet,” coach Pasch said. “When you have great facilities you’re going to work hard to use the gifts that you are given, and I see a lot of kids benefitting from that. We’re not done with facilities and the growth of our school. We feel like we are going to continue to improve in every facet here.”

Eventually, Pasch would like to see a junior track program.

“Everything boils down to development and experience,” he said. “This is a sport that takes work, a lot of self-discipline, and it’s not always fun, but when kids have success it makes it a lot easier to come back the next day and fight through the soreness.”

Pasch and his assistant coaches have their athletes training in the weight room and working on speed and agility. “What we do in track translates to what the athletes can do in other sports,” he emphasized. “All the sports are important.”

Pasch praised his assistant coaches: Ronnie Robson, distance runners; Kyle Brockett, mid-distance, high jump and long jump; strength coach Shane Wyant, throws; Jordan Crosby, hurdles, sprints; and A.J. Burgstedt, the only female coach on staff. Robson is training for the 2019 Boston Marathon.
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The Saints are preparing for several dual meets plus the conference meet May 4 and Marion County championships May 8 (girls) and 9 (boys).
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Freshman Heather Kremer, sophomore Brianna McGee and sophomore Chloe Andre stretch before running
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BGHS student seeks funds to enhance school safety

4/25/2018

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PictureSOUTHSIDER VOICE PHOTO BY AL STILLEY Alyssa Hockett seeks matching funds to supplement student safety measures at all Beech Grove schools.
By Al Stilley
Senior staff writer

Beech Grove sophomore Alyssa Hockett is on a mission.

She wants to make all Beech Grove schools safe, and she seeks the help of the community through a student-driven fundraising drive that would supplement the district’s security.

Hockett wants to make a special device available for each classroom door to further enhance security in the classroom.

“This is all about a way that adds to the safety of students,” Hockett explained. “No student should be scared or nervous in class anywhere, trying get an education. This is a way for students to feel more secure.”

She estimates that the cost of an easily placed mechanical device for each classroom in the district at $31,500. Students would raise $16,000 from businesses, alumni, civic groups, students, residents and school events with an agreement that the school board would approve matching funds. She plans to appear in front of the board May 8 and has met with administrators.

“This is about security in the schools, regardless of how anyone feels about any political subject,” Hockett said.

Principal Elizabeth Walters is supportive because a student is opening a conversation with the community about school security.

“We benefit as a school. She is going to benefit through the process, but her true goal is to make sure the community has a conversation about school safety because we all have to be part of that conversation,” Walters said in an interview with Fox 59.

Hockett wants a unique bar (Barracuda BS-1) in all classrooms that allows a door to be barricaded from the inside for additional protection from an intruder.

She has helped in forming a high school group, STORM (Special Team of Role Models), to reach out to students throughout the district. She wants to speak out against bullying, especially with middle school students.

She envisions a STORM team that would inform high schoolers about school safety and all students about how proactive safety.

Her drive for additional school security is an outgrowth of her activities. She holds a first degree black belt, has taken part in active shooter seminars and assisted in a preventative child-abduction seminar.

Hockett is training to become Community Emergency Reaction Team-certified through Homeland Security at the East District of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.

She has three sisters and is the daughter of Crissy Grider, a Beech Grove alumna and former secretary of the high school’s Alumni Association, and Michael Hockett.

Hockett was spurred by the tragic shooting that killed 17 students at Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, Fla., and an earlier shooting that killed two students in December at Aztec (N.M.) High. Her awareness was raised by recent threats at two high schools in central Indiana.
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Donations can be made at https://www.gofundme.com/safety-is-priceless. Checks, with a notation: Safety is Priceless, can be mailed to the Beech Grove Education Foundation, 53345 Hornet Ave., Beech Grove, IN 46107.

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