Aces Cross Country Competes at NCAA Regional
On a chilly morning, the University of Evansville cross country teams ran in the NCAA Division One Great Lakes Regional on Friday morning at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course in Terre Haute.
The Aces men’s team finished 26th as a squad while UE’s women grabbed a 31st-place finish as a team.
For the women, junior Sienna Crews led the Aces for the fifth-straight race, finishing in 166th among the 223 runner field, in a time of 23:39. Among fellow Missouri Valley Conference runners in the race, Crews beat all but one Valparaiso runner
Competing in her first NCAA Regional and her first collegiate 6k, freshman Anna Lowry came home in 208th, finishing the course in 25:17. Following Lowry in a pack together were junior Ashton Bosler in 210th (25:27), sophomore Hannah Welsh one spot behind Bosler in 211th (25:37), and freshman Izzy Dawson in 214th (25:40).
Rounding out the Aces runners at the regional were freshman Lauren Meyer in 217th (26:064 and junior Hayley Elliot in 223rd (27:51).
Eighth-ranked Michigan captured the NCAA Great Lakes Regional women’s title with 71 total points and a top five average time of 20:53.
On the men’s side, sophomore Stanley Chepchieng set a new PR finishing in 168th in a time of 35:20.3. The Kabarnet, Kenya native’s previous PR in a 10k was 35.52 set in the NCAA Great Lakes Regional a year ago.
Crossing the line second for the Aces was freshman Dawson Hood in 173rd in a time of 35:37. Following Chepchieng and Hood were sophomore Ricky Hendrix in 175th (35:46), freshman Kalen Ochs in 178th (36:22), and freshman Ethan Price in 179th (36:40).
Sophomore Tucker Dawson and freshman Tyler Frields-Reifsteck wrapped up the Aces finishers, crossing the line in 181st and 186th place, respectively.
Michigan State won the NCAA Great Lakes Regional men’s title with 68 total points and its top five runners finishing in an average time of 31:17.
HOT JOBS IN EVANSVILLE
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MVC ANNOUNCES MEN’S SOCCER ALL-CONFERENCE TEAMS
Missouri State, along with Central Arkansas and Bradley, the league’s top three finishers, combined to place 20 athletes on the all-conference squads. Missouri State placed eight players on the all-conference teams, the most in the league, while Central Arkansas and Bradley each added six. Loyola and Evansville had five players on the all-conference teams, while Valparaiso added four and Drake had three honorees.
Brodacki, a two-time first-team all-MVC honoree leads the league in goals (15) and points (35) and ranks third in the conference in shots (56), while also tallying five assists. Brodacki’s total of 15 goals scored is the highest in The Valley since Creighton’s Ethan Finlay netted 15 goals during the 2010 season and his 35 points are the most in the league since Tulsa’s Ryan Pore racked up 55 points in 2004. The freshman currently ranks second nationally in goals scored and third nationally in points scored. The sophomore is UCA’s first MVC Player of the Year award winner, while claiming his second-straight MVC Offensive Player of the Year award.
Burtenshaw, a senior standout for Missouri State, has been a mainstay in the Bears lineup, starting all but one match this season. Earlier this season the defender saw a six-game shutout streak and has led the defense to one of its strongest seasons in history. The Missouri State defense has held opponents to .530 goals per game and a .416 shot on goal percentage.  MSU’s defense, led by Burtenshaw, has allowed 154 shots this season, but only given up eight goals. The squad paces the conference and is fifth in the nation in goals against average this season (.51).  The senior is Missouri State’s fourth MVC Defensive Player of the Year award winner and first since James Fawke won the award in 2013.
Priestley, a senior goalkeeper for Missouri State, currently has a .871 save percentage and totaled 54 saves for the Bears entering MVC tourney action. The senior keeper ranks as one of the top goalies in the nation this season, siting in third in shutouts (10), second in save percentage (0.871) and sixth in goals against average (0.51). Priestley holds the second lowest career goals against average in Missouri State history (.850) and has 24 career shutouts which also ranks second in school history. Earlier this season Priestley posted a six-match shutout streak and has led the defense to one of its strongest seasons in history. Priestley joins MVC Goalkeeper of the Year Alex Riggs (2010) as the only Bear to claim the honor.
Dayekh, a freshman midfielder for the Braves, is Bradley’s second leading scorer with five goals and 12 points this season. All five of his goals have given the Braves the lead and four have stood as game-winning goals this season. His four game-winners are tied for second in the MVC this season.  Dayekh is the sixth player in program history to be named MVC Freshman or Newcomer of the Year. The award was a Newcomer of the Year award from 1991-95 and Freshman of the Year from 1996-present.
Central Arkansas’ coaching staff has earned the MVC’s Coaching Staff of the Year honor, the first coaching honor for the Bears as a member of the Valley. Head coach Ross Duncan is in his fourth season at the helm, leading the Bears to an 8-10 mark this season, including a 5-3 league record which earned a second-place finish in the MVC standings.  Ross Duncan is assisted by Mitch McKay, Jordan Bates and Nick Doyle.
Missouri State was tabbed the honor of the Valley’s Fair Play Award, which is structured after the FIFA Fair Play honor. It is awarded to the Valley squad that has the fewest penalty cards during all MVC matches, as the Bears tallied just five penalty cards in regular-season league action.
PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Niklas Brodacki, Central Arkansas
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Niklas Brodacki, Central Arkansas
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Nick Burtenshaw, Missouri State
GOALKEEPER OF THE YEAR: Liam Priestley, Missouri State
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR: Younes Dayekh, Bradley
COACHING STAFF OF THE YEAR: Central Arkansas (Ross Duncan, Mitch McKay, Jordan Bates, Nick Doyle)
MVC FAIR PLAY AWARD: Missouri State
IS IT TRUE NOVEMBER 10, 2017
We hope that todays “IS IT TRUE” will provoke honest and open dialogue concerning issues that we, as responsible citizens of this community, need to address in a rational and responsible way?â€
IS IT TRUE that last night political newcomer Steve Hammer announced that he is a candidate for the District #2 in the Republican primary for the Vanderburgh County Commission?  ..,enthusiastic supporters of Steve Hammer jammed into  the main dinning area Roco Bar-North to hear his officials announcement for the Vanderburgh County  District #2 County Commission seat?…it looks like the political season in Vanderburgh County has officially begun?  …we can’t wait to see what kind of turnout that Mr. Hammers Republican opponents will have at their announcement events?
IS IT TRUE that Evansville is about to see another young successful professional pack up and leave for a bigger market?…this time it is the successor to Matt Meadors at the Chamber of Commerce of Southwest Indiana who has been attracted away to Chattanooga, Tennessee to run a Chamber of Commerce that has 40 employees as opposed to the 20 that she has in Evansville?…Christy Gillenwater graced our shoreline for just over four years during a time when the Chamber extended its mission in to all sorts of non-traditional roles including hiring an advocate for downtown Evansville pretty things and holding a contest to see who wants a restaurant that came up empty?…Christy started off with a bang and received praise from the City County Observer for rightly calling downtown Evansville a “leaderless ghost town” where there was nothing to do?…she was right then but not so much now?…she backed off on that accurate assessment after a trip to the woodshed with Mayor Winnecke and the good old boy network?…we criticized her for refuting her own truth at the time but we must say that Christy is leaving a better downtown that she came to and we wish her well in her expanded role in Chattanooga?
IS IT TRUE that keeping with the exit of talent TV reporter Jordan Vandenberge is heading off to the shores of Lake Erie to WEWS ABC 5 in Cleveland, Ohio?…it is a bigger market and we wish Jordan all the best in the home of the dog pound and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?…many very talented news readers have come through Evansville and Jordan is another one?…it is good to see him escape the graveyard for journalists?…in one of his best jobs, he broke and followed the story of corruption down in Union County, Kentucky?…we expect more shoes to drop in Morganfield before the Jody Jenkins trial concludes sometime next year?
IS IT TRUE former USI basketball coach extrordinaire Bruce Pearl has a sword of Damocles hanging over his head again at Auburn where he has been coaching for four years?…Pearl is refusing to cooperate with an internal investigation of the basketball program and is being threatened with being fired if he doesn’t?…we have two words to say about the honesty and ethics of Auburn University and those words are Cam and Newton?
IS IT TRUE that the system of governance called Communism just celebrated its 100th birthday?…it was just pointed out that in its 100 years of existence that Communism has been responsible for the death of 100 million people?…isn’t that a legacy worth fighting against ever infesting the minds of Americans even if it is called by another name?
EDITOR’S FOOTNOTE:  Any comments posted in this column do not represent the views or opinions of the City County Observer or our advertisers
Commentary: Telegram For The President
By John Krull
TheStatehouseFile.comÂ
INDIANAPOLIS – Voters sent a message Tuesday.
They sent it to President Donald Trump, who has frittered away his first 10 months in office engaging in one pointless and avoidable quarrel after another.
And they sent it to the Republicans in Congress, in governors’ offices and in Statehouses across the land who have tolerated and at times even encouraged and abetted Trump’s destructive divisiveness.
The message was clear.
Enough.
There is no other way to read the results from the elections in Virginia, New Jersey and New York than as a repudiation of Donald Trump.
The president’s incessant need to have people pay attention to him, all the time, every hour, every minute, every second, means that he inevitably was going to be the issue when voters cast their ballots. He just sucks all the oxygen out of the room, out of the house, out of the country.
One Hoosier Republican who is being heavily courted by the GOP to run for office here in Indiana told me privately he was resisting the pleas for that reason.
“Any Republican on the ballot is going to have to take a position on Trump,†he said. “And whichever position he takes – for or against – he’s going to lose votes. You just can’t avoid dealing with Trump. Any Republicans who think they can are fooling themselves.â€
If this Republican is right and next year’s election turns out to be a referendum on the president, that won’t be good for the GOP.
It certainly wasn’t on Tuesday.
Virginia was perhaps the most important bellwether. Once a solidly red – Republican – state, it has edged into the purple category in recent years.
At the very least, Tuesday’s results continue that trend.
Democrats captured the governor’s and lieutenant governor’s offices. They also all but erased a 32-seat deficit in the Virginia House of Delegates, the state’s legislature. Control of that assembly now will be determined by recounts in close contests because Democrats made gains even in districts previously considered safe for Republicans.
Trump was the issue. Exit polls showed that between 55 and 60 percent of Virginians who cast their ballots disapproved of the president and the direction he is taking the country.
That’s why Virginia Democrats could claim the governor’s race even though their candidate, Ralph Northam, has all the charisma of a piece of stale cheese.
But it doesn’t take much personal magnetism to point at a picture of Donald Trump and say, “I’m not him.â€
Last year, Trump lost Virginia to Democrat Hillary Clinton by six points. This year, Northam beat Republican Ed Gillespie by nine points.
That matters because turnout among Democrats normally drops significantly in non-presidential election years.
Trump, though, has energized Democrats in ways no Democratic candidate possibly could. He’s become the best recruiter the Democratic party has ever seen.
That likely will have implications across America, including here in Indiana, where Republicans Luke Messer and Todd Rokita are in the middle of an all-out mud wrestling match to see which will challenge U.S. Sen. Joe Donnelly, D-Indiana, in the general election next November.
Both Rokita and Messer have pursued Trump’s voters with all the dignity and discipline of a pair of rabid dogs. In the process, they’ve managed to drive disaffected Hoosier Democrats – many of whom were furious about Donnelly’s vote to confirm Trump U.S. Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch – back home and persuade moderate Republicans and independents at the very least to sit on their hands.
What’s even worse news for Republicans is that Trump’s polarizing effect could put other offices into play. The results in the Virginia House of Delegates contests demonstrate that just about any race – right down to dog catcher – can be cast as a referendum on the president.
That’s the good news for Democrats.
The bad news is that saying “I’m not Donald Trump†may be a message that wins at the ballot box, but it doesn’t give the party any mandate to govern. As Trump himself has demonstrated, rage may encourage them to vote, but it doesn’t help get things done.
That’s the meaning of Tuesday’s elections.
Democrats have a chance.
Republicans have a challenge.
And whichever party responds best could shape the future of the country.
John Krull is director of Franklin College’s Pulliam School of Journalism, host of “No Limits†WFYI 90.1 Indianapolis and publisher of TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.
Hammer Announces His Candidacy For County Commissioner
CCO Editors Footnote: The City County Observer requested an original copy of Steve Hammers speech announcing that he is an official candidate for District #2 Vanderburgh County Commission seat in the Republican primary.  Attached is the unedited copy of his announcement speech.  An impressive group of enthusiastic supporters of Steve Hammer jammed into the main dinning area of the Roco Bar-North to hear his officials announcement that he s running for the Vanderburgh County  Commission seat in the Republican primaryÂ
STEVE HAMMER UNEDITED ANNOUNCEMENT SPEECH
“Thank you all for coming this evening. I have something I want to share with you…I am not a politician! I’m a Christian…a husband, a father, a businessperson, an employer, a taxpayer, and a lifelong resident of northern Vanderburgh County. I’m a graduate of Central High School and I have a business degree from the University of Kentucky. I have extensive experience as a commercial and residential real estate investor and restauranteur in our community. My wife Ashley, is an outstanding cardiology Nurse Practitioner at St. Vincent and a wonderful mom to my son, Will and daughter, Addie. More importantly, we choose to raise our family here, because of our ties and love for our community.
It’s a soul-searching endeavor to decide to run for office because it’s a serious responsibility to ask your neighbors to put their faith and trust in you. I don’t take what I’m asking of you lightly.
So WHY is it so important to do this… Here are a few of MY why’s…
I love Central High School, “The oldest high school in continuous operation west of the Allegheny Mountains†That was engrained in us by David Koehler, Sr. as anyone who went to Central in the 1980’s knows. I love the West Side Nut Club Fall Festival the first week in October. I go every day at lunch and see friends from childhood on up to today. I love the Pigeon Creek Greenway. I’ve ridden my bicycle up and down it hundreds of times. I love our seats behind the bench at Purple Aces basketball in the winter at the Ford Center. I love the Ohio River and the sandbar with all the boating community. I love our local restaurants, like Jaya’s, Cork N’ Cleaver, Penny Lane Coffee House and House of Como.
Now here’s a not so good why…
My friend, Todd Tucker from Evansville Living, told me that the site coordinator for BRU Burger downtown said to him that this BRU Burger was the most difficult location for their company to open of ALL their locations. BRU Burger has stores in Lexington, Kentucky, Cincinnati, Ohio and Indianapolis, Indiana among others. That’s simply mind-boggling to me that we’re that difficult to do business with. It makes no sense. That will change when we are elected.
I am blessed to have THE best campaign committee, full of 25 strong and diverse local
business leaders, political advisors and friends. I wouldn’t be standing here tonight
without them. They are here in the room in blue Hammer for Commissioner
sweatshirts. My biggest accomplishment thus far is convincing each of them to join me
on this journey.
The three County Commissioners are responsible for the administration of county business. We need additional reasonable men and women in public office, people with a proven work ethic and the moral standards to do what’s right for our county to prosper. I know what it means to start a business, to meet a payroll, to hire passionate folks, to LISTEN to customers, clients and employees and to make sensible and sometimes difficult, decisions. I hope that over the course of the 2018 election season you will see that my education, business background and passion for our community make me an excellent choice to lead us forward. With your help and advice, we will make decisions that serve us all.
I want to give back to the community that’s been so good to me and my family, if you choose to honor me with your vote. We have many things we can accomplish, if we just take thoughtful, common sense action. If elected, I plan to serve on your behalf to the best of my ability every day that I’m in office, free of grandstanding and political patronage. That is what government should be!
Lastly, I am humbled by the support I have received from people all over the county. It is greatly appreciated and I will not let you down! My name is Steve Hammer, and I’m a CITIZEN candidate for Vanderburgh County Commissioner. I’ve been told the pizza is pretty good here so please enjoy the rest of the evening. Thank you.â€
Steve Hammer
Candidate For The Vanderburgh District #2 County Commission
Members Of The Steve Hammer For County Commission are: Mike Stepto, Chairman and Ron Mayer, Treasurer. Abby Bauder Maravich, Alfonso Vidal, Andrew Alexander, Chad Howard, Chad Will, Charlie Steber, David Montgomery, David Nussmeier, Justin Groenert, Kena Campbell, Kirk Byram, Kristie Mossberger Alexander, Les Hammer, Mike O’Daniel, Rick Martin, Steve Nussmeier, Tiffany Nunn Stepto and Todd Chamberlain.