FOOTNOTE: EPD DAILY ACTIVITY REPORT information was provided by the EPD and posted by the City-County-County Observer without opinion, bias, or editing.
Aces track and field returns to full competition at Jim Vargo Invitational
The Purple Aces will participate in the one-day meet for the third straight season
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – After a week of split competition, the entire University of Evansville track and field team will compete this weekend at the Jim Vargo Invitational hosted by the Bellarmine Knights.
The Purple Aces will make the short trip southeast to Louisville for the Jim Vargo Invitational on Friday, April 5. UE’s full team will compete this week after a select handful of runners competed in the Raleigh Relays and the WashU Distance Carnival the week prior. Twenty-one teams are expected to compete on Friday including hosts Bellarmine, Berea, Butler, Campbellsville, Cedarville, Georgetown (KY), Illinois Springfield, IUPUI, Louisville, Miami (OH), Morehead State, Ohio, Pikeville, Southern Indiana, Spalding, Transylvania, Trevecca Nazarene, UIndy, Vincennes, and Wright State.
The Aces day will begin at 11 a.m. CT on Friday with the men’s hammer throw. Running events at the Jim Vargo Invitational start at noon CT and will continue until 6:15 p.m. The invitational is named for Bellarmine coach emeritus Jim Vargo who led the Knights to cross country NCAA Championship berths three times in the 2010s.
Last time out, Evansville had a small group of runners compete at both the Raleigh Relays and the WashU Distance Carnival. Freshman runner Nicole Prauchner (Neuhofen an der Ybbs, Austria) set two program records in her only events in Raleigh, running the 400-meter race in 58.97 seconds and the 800-meter race in 2:11.35. Distance runner Samuel Lea (Worchester, England) also set a program record at the WashU Distance Carnival in the 5K race with a time of 15:07.85.
Schedule updated as softball travels to Drake
Aces travel to Des Moines this weekend
EVANSVILLE, Ind. – With inclement weather on the forecast in Des Moines on Sunday, the University of Evansville softball team will face Drake in a 2 p.m. doubleheader on Friday with the series finale slated for Saturday at 2 p.m. ESPN+ will have the live coverage of all three games.
Last Time Out
– After dropping the first two games of the series against UIC, the Purple Aces rallied to take the finale in walk-off fashion, earning a 3-2 win
– Trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the 7th, Zoe Frossard and Taylor Howe both reached on walks before Jess Willsey forced a Flames error that scored Frossard to tie the game
– Alexa Davis re-entered the game for Howe and scored the winning run on a wild pitch
– Sydney Weatherford tossed another complete game on the way to her third win of the season
In a Zone
– Sydney Weatherford’s strong pitching continued against UIC as she allowed just two earned runs in 14 innings of work while picking up win #3 of 2024
– In her last six appearances, she has given up just five earned runs in 37 frames, good for an ERA of 1.02
– Her MVC earned run average is 1.37 while her season ERA is just 1.99
– Weatherford was at her best in the series against Valparaiso as she allowed one unearned run in 12 innings of work on her way to a pair of victories
Locked In
– Evansville’s top offensive performer has been Zoe Frossard, who leads the team in batting average (.344), on-base percentage (.474) and walks (21)
– Over the last 15 games, Frossard is batting .500 with 21 hits in 42 at-bats
– Her on-base tally is third in the MVC while her 21 walks is second and 19 runs is tied for 9th in the Valley
– She has started all 34 games for the Aces and has scored 16 runs in the last 15 games
Raising Her Average
– Batting .333 (14-for-42) in her last 14 games, Brooke Voss has seen her average rise from .146 to .244
– Over that time, Voss has accumulated 12 runs and six RBI
– Voss went 3-for-7 with two runs scored in the final two games of the UIC series
Indiana Dominates Big Ten Postseason Awards
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – For the second-straight season, Indiana swimming and diving swept the men’s Big Ten postseason awards as part of its five-award haul, the conference office announced on Thursday (April 4).
Indiana has captured 10 of the last 12 men’s postseason awards going back to 2022, as the Hoosier men have captured three consecutive Big Ten Championships and top-five finishes at the NCAA Championships.
The Hoosiers won the conference championship double, winning both the men’s and women’s titles for the first time since 2019. IU is one of two Big Ten programs to win both championships within the same season. Indiana’s men finished fourth at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships, and the women placed seventh, representing the Big Ten’s top national finishers at each competition.
Big Ten Men’s Swimming Coach of the Year: Ray Looze
Big Ten Women’s Swimming Coach of the Year: Ray Looze
Indiana head swimming coach Ray Looze is the only Big Ten head coach to win both the men’s and women’s coach of the year award in the same season, completing the feat for a third time this season. He was previously awarded both in back-to-back seasons: 2016 and 2017. Looze is now a 14-time Big Ten Coach of the Year, winning his eighth men’s award and sixth women’s award. He’s won the men’s award each of the last three seasons and seven times in the last nine years.
The Indiana women tied their program-record seventh-place national finish for a second-straight season and have placed top 10 in the NCAA team standings at seven of the last eight national meets. Junior swimmers Anna Peplowski and Ching Hwee Gan combined for three medals. Four relays reached the podium for the first time in program history, and all five scored for the first time since 2004.
IU’s men earned their fifth top-five national finish in six years. Fourteen Hoosiers combined for 43 All-America honors, both totals are Indiana’s most since 19 athletes from the 1974 squad totaled 50 honors in a second-place team finish.
Big Ten Men’s Diving Coach of the Year: Drew Johansen
Indiana head diving Drew Johansen repeats as the Big Ten Diving Coach of the Year, his third straight conference coaching award after also winning the women’s honor in 2022. Johansen is now a six-time winner, earning his fourth men’s coach of the year award.
Johansen led his squad to a dominant performance at the 2024 NCAA Men’s Swimming and Diving and Championships and was named the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Men’s Diving Coach the Year earlier this week. Hoosier divers scored 121 points, better than all but 10 combined swimming and diving programs, and 66 points better than the next-best diving program (Ohio State divers totaled 55 points). IU has eclipsed 100 diving points at back-to-back NCAA meets, earning 104 points in 2023.
At the NCAA Championships, the trio of juniors Carson Tyler and Quinn Henninger and sophomore Maxwell Weinrich combined for a program-record six medals from the three diving events – two gold, two silver, two bronze – and eight All-America finishes.
Big Ten Men’s Swimmer of the Year: Brendan Burns
Senior Brendan Burns caps his career with his third-straight Big Ten Swimmer of the Year award after perhaps his most challenging NCAA Championships yet.
On the third day of the meet, Burns repeated as NCAA Champion in the 100-yard backstroke in 43.86 despite swimming from lane one. Burns is a three-time national champion, also winning the 200-yard butterfly in 2022.
On the last day, Burns took on the daunting 200-yard backstroke, 200-yard butterfly double for the first time in his career and reached the podium in each event. Burns reached the podium in all six events he swam, including three relays.
Big Ten Men’s Diver of the Year: Carson Tyler
Junior Carson Tyler secured Indiana’s fifth Big Ten Diver of the Year award in six years after former teammate Andrew Capobianco won four between 2019-2023. Tyler was also named the CSCAA Men’s Diver of the Year and Big Ten Diver of the Championships.
Tyler won two NCAA Championships, repeating as platform champion after earning his first-career 3-meter title one day before, which was won by Capobianco last season. Combining the championships and a bronze-medal finish on 1-meter, Tyler totaled 56 points over the week – a total that outscored every other diving program.
Tyler won on platform with a score of 515.75, IU’s best-ever mark at an NCAA Championships.
Arrest for thefts from USPS collection mailboxes
In fall of 2023 the Evansville Police Department began receiving multiple reports of checks being stolen after being placed in United States Post Office collection mailboxes throughout the city. Detectives in the Financial Crimes Unit began an in-depth investigation with the assistance of EPD Adult Investigations, EPD Street Crimes Unit, the Federal Bureau of
Investigations, the United States Secret Service and the U.S. Postal Inspector. This multiagency collaboration exposed a multijurisdictional crime pattern that led to the April 3rd arrest of Michael Jerome Wright (44 yrs.) and Cortney L. Young (35 yrs).
This is an ongoing investigation which involves many checks totaling several million dollars.
The Evansville Police Department would like to thank all involved agencies along with EPD patrol and the Vanderburgh County Sheriff Office for their assistance.
The Financial Crimes Unit will continue to investigate this case and sort through the large number of stolen checks. If you have information or see any suspicious behavior that could be related to this type of illegal activity, please contact the Financial Crimes Unit at (812) 436-7991 or the EPD Tip Line at (812) 435-6194
USI Baseball falls to Murray to start homestand
EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Southern Indiana Baseball were frozen offensively in the final six innings by Murray State University and lost 13-6 Wednesday evening at the USI Baseball Field. USI is 13-16 overall, while Murray State goes to 19-10.
After falling behind 2-0 on Murray State home runs in the first and second inning, USI got on the scoreboard with a pair of runs in the bottom of the second to even the count, 2-2. USI junior centerfielder Terrick Thompson-Allen (Sioux City, Iowa) ignited the second inning rally with his fifth home run of the season, while junior catcher Logan Mock (Livermore, California) scored on squeeze play bunt by freshman leftfielder Ethan Rothschild (Evansville, Indiana) for the second tally.
The Eagles would break the tie in the bottom of the third when senior designated hitter Tucker Ebest (Austin, Texas) launched a three-run bomb to right field for a 5-2 USI advantage. The round tripper was Ebest’s fourth of the season.
The Racers would rally to tie the game, 5-5, with a pair of runs in the fifth and a single tally in the sixth. Murray State would grab the lead back for the first time since the top of the second, 8-5, when it picked up a trio of runs in the top of the seventh.
USI closed the gap to two, 8-6, in the bottom of the seventh when freshman leftfielder Cameron Boyd (Villa Hills, Kentucky) drove in Thompson-Allen with a two-out single to left field. The Eagles would leave the tying run at first when senior pinch hitter Tyler Kapust (Sellersburg, Indiana) struck out to end the frame.
Murray State would complete an offensive surge of runs in the final five innings by posting a run in the eighth and four more in the ninth to lead 13-6. USI would attempt to make a game of in the bottom of the ninth before the Racers closed the door on the 13-6 decision.
USI junior right-hander Adam Wiehe (Louisville, Kentucky) took the loss in relief. Wiehe (0-1) allowed three unearned runs on two hits and struck out two in one inning.
CenterPoint Energy crews faced with significant challenges from extensive damage in ongoing storm restoration effort
Evansville, Ind. – April 3, 2024 – In the aftermath of Tuesday’s severe storms that swept through southwestern Indiana, with winds in excess of 80 miles per hour, CenterPoint Energy and contract crews have been tirelessly working to restore power to thousands of customers affected by widespread damage.
Crews have restored power to 60% of the 24,000 customers left without power after Tuesday’s storms. As of 9:30 p.m., there are approximately 6,300 customers without power. Restoration may continue to take more time than usual as crews continue to uncover damage and encounter new challenges while making repairs.
CenterPoint Energy is using a wide range of resources to address severe vegetation damage, extensive debris, downed poles and lines and continued identification of a significant amount of previously unidentified damage. Additional outages have been caused by wind gusts today, further increasing the challenges of making necessary repairs and restoring service.
“While the progress may not yet be fully visible in the number of outages restored, our crews continue to work tirelessly to restore service as safely and quickly as possible,” stated Richard Leger, Senior Vice President, Indiana Electric at CenterPoint Energy. “The extensive damage from this storm has been unlike anything seen by many of our linemen – a great number of them with decades of experience.
Many of the challenges crews have faced are comparable to the type of damage experienced with multiple storm events:
• More than 150 downed poles in the Evansville metro area
• Multiple transformer replacements and spans of wire to be replaced
• Many orders require tree trimming and clearing of vegetation before repair work can begin
• Crews have encountered inaccessible poles, leading to increased repair times
The company is communicating with customers who will continue to experience extended outages into tomorrow, Friday and the weekend.
CenterPoint Energy would like to remind customers if they have experienced damage to the weatherhead
– the point of entry from the service drop to the home – the customer will need to have a licensed electrician make necessary repairs before power can be restored.
For the latest information on power outages:
• Report outages by texting the word “OUT” to 83212.
• Sign up for Power Alert Service® for information on individual outages.
• Follow @CenterPoint on X (formerly known as Twitter) and visit our outage map for general outage locations; and
• Visit CenterPoint Energy’s Electric Outage Center for electric safety tips and other resources.
EDITORIAL: CCO COMMENDS MAYOR TERRY’S APPROACH TO THE USE OF OPIOID FUNDS
EDITORIAL: CCO COMMENDS MAYOR TERRY’S APPROACH TO THE USE OF OPIOID FUNDS
by JOHNNY KINCAID
APRIL 4, 2024
Mayor Stephanie Terry’s proactive stance on utilizing the $1.3 million Evansville received from the federal settlement with opioid manufacturers, distributors, and retailers is commendable. Terry’s commitment to addressing the opioid crisis is clear.
Under the Winneke administration last year, YouthFirst, Inc. received substantial support to maintain social workers in schools and implement evidence-based prevention programs, while Forefront Therapy received funding to address drug use among pregnant mothers and bolster their clinic’s resources.
Mayor Terry’s decision to allocate all settlement funds toward combating the opioid crisis is a commendable move. By inviting proposals across various areas such as education, prevention, treatment, and enforcement, Terry uses her knowledge from past involvement with the Substance Abuse Council and demonstrates a comprehensive approach to tackling drug abuse in Evansville.
Furthermore, the mayor’s establishment of an ad hoc committee, comprising Deputy Mayor Lindsay Locasto, Communications Director Joe Atkinson, State Representative Ryan Hatfield, Superior Court Judge Wayne Trockman, LaRissa Madison, and Lisa Seif, to evaluate program effectiveness aligns with principles from Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health.