Indiana

2024 is an Olympics year. Here’s a look at best Hoosier athletes of 2023 eyeing Paris.

Published

2 years ago

January 8, 2024

Press Room

2024 is an Olympics year. Here’s a look at best Hoosier athletes of 2023 eyeing Paris.

David Woods
| Special for IndyStar

If past is prelude, Chloe Dygert will win a gold medal in Paris.

Even if she doesn’t, that the Brownsburg cyclist is in position to do so this year is the kind of comeback story that draws billions of viewers to the Olympic Games.

Dygert is among 2023 honorees in this annual listing of top Indiana athletes in Olympic sports — three per gender in pro, college and high school categories:

PRO WOMEN

∎ Gold: Chloe Dygert, cycling. She won gold in the time trial at World Championships, three years after a career-threatening crash in the same event. She was so ill in Glasgow, Scotland, she almost didn’t race, crossing the finish coughing after a climb over cobblestones. Dygert also won gold there in individual pursuit, a non-Olympic event. She was so far ahead of defending champion Franziska Brausse that she passed the German on the final lap. After winning the 2019 time trial by a record 92 seconds, Dygert crashed at 2020 worlds in Italy, badly lacerating her left leg. She won team pursuit bronze at the 2021 Olympics but was sidelined repeatedly — by follow-up surgeries, Epstein-Barr virus, surgery for a fast heartbeat, another crash. She turned 27 on Jan. 1.

∎ Silver: Lilly King, swimming. The 26-year-old from Evansville remains formidable, if not invincible. At worlds, she won silver in the 50-meter breaststroke and gold in 4×100 medley relay . . . but was out of the medals (in fourth) in 100 and 200 breaststrokes. Before that, Indiana University’s 2016 Olympic gold medalist swept all three breaststrokes in nationals at Indianapolis.

∎ Bronze: Lee Kiefer, fencing: Notre Dame graduate, 29, won world bronze medal and ended 2023 ranked No. 1 in the world in foil. In 2021, the three-time Olympian became first U.S. foil fencer to win individual gold.

PRO MEN

∎ Gold: Yared Nuguse, track and field. Notre Dame graduate, 24, set American records indoors in the mile and 3,000 meters, outdoors in 1,500 and mile. At Diamond League final, he was second in the mile in 3:43.97, breaking Alan Webb’s 16-year-old American record. Nuguse was fifth at worlds in the 1,500, ranked No. 2 in the world by Track & Field News and placed sixth in T&FN voting for U.S. athlete of the year.

∎ Silver: Tyrese Haliburton, basketball. Pacers guard played for USA Basketball team that lost the bronze-medal game to Canada at World Cup. Haliburton averaged 8.6 points in eight games and led team at 5.6 assists. He said afterward he wants to play at the Paris Olympics. The 23-year-old tops NBA in assists and led Pacers to title game of in-season tournament.

∎ Bronze: Rajeev Ram, tennis. At 39, Carmel native teamed with Joe Salisbury for third straight U.S. Open doubles title and repeat ATP doubles title. Ram pushed career earnings past $9 million.

DOYEL: Rajeev Ram used lessons of father to reach No. 1 world ranking

COLLEGE WOMEN

∎ Gold: Addy Wiley, track and field. As Huntington freshman, she set collegiate 1,500 record of 3:59.17 and became No. 2 collegian ever (1:57.54) at 800 in span of five days in Europe. She was fifth in 1,500 at USA Championships and ninth in mile at road worlds. In 2023 calendar year, she ran to eight NAIA titles. Wiley, 20, is on 2024 watch list for Bowerman Award, track’s version of Heisman Trophy.

∎ Silver: Olivia Markezich, track and field. NCAA steeplechase champion for Notre Dame and third-fastest collegian ever (9:17.93). In other NCAA races, she was second in indoor 3,000 and third in cross-country.

∎ Bronze: Kelly Pash, swimming. Carmel swimmer was third in 200-yard butterfly at NCAAs and helped Texas to second place in team standings. Won five medals at Pan American Games, including silver in 100-meter butterfly and two relay golds.

COLLEGE MEN

∎ Gold: Andrew Capobianco, diving. After winning a third NCAA 3-meter title, IU diver finished fourth at worlds. Capobianco, 24, won synchro silver at 2021 Olympics.

∎ Silver: Jake Mitchell, swimming. Carmel Olympian won silver medal in 4×200 freestyle relay at worlds. At nationals, he was third in 400 free and fourth in 200 free. Mitchell, 22, was fifth in NCAA 500-yard freestyle for Florida.

∎ Bronze: Brendan Burns, swimming: NCAA champion in 100-yard backstroke, runner-up in 200 butterfly for IU. Big Ten swimmer of the championships for a third year in a row.

HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS

∎ Gold: Alex Shackell, swimming. First swimmer from Carmel girls program to win a world or Olympic medal, anchoring USA to silver in 4×200 relay at World Championships. As a sophomore, she set state records in 100-yard butterfly (50.89) and 50 freestyle (21.93), and she swam on two relays setting national records. At December’s winter juniors, the 17-year-old was first in seven events, bettering state records in six. In 200-yard butterfly, her 1:50.15 smashed national record for girls 17-18 and made her No. 5 of all time in that event. Her 49.49 in 100 butterfly nearly set another national record.

∎ Silver: Keagan Rothrock, softball. The All-America pitcher led Roncalli to third straight Class 4A championship game. She was 25-2 with 0.50 ERA and 334 strikeouts. She also batted .490 with nine home runs and 47 RBIs. Rothrock ended career with 1,080 strikeouts and state record of 13 perfect games (among 22 no-hitters). She is now freshman at Florida.

∎ Bronze: Lauren Harden, volleyball. MaxPreps national player of the year helped Hamilton Southeastern become fourth undefeated Class 4A state champion. The 6-3 outside hitter committed to Florida.

HIGH SCHOOL BOYS

∎ Gold: Josh Hedberg, diving. Noblesville 16-year-old won first individual senior national title on 10-meter platform, qualifying for February’s worlds at Doha, Qatar. In 2022, at age 15, Hedberg became the youngest U.S. male diver to compete at a worlds.

∎ Silver: Will Modglin, swimming. As Zionsville senior, he repeated as Swimming World’s high school swimmer of the year. He set national prep record of 45.08 in 100-yard backstroke and lowered state record in 200 individual medley to 1:43.74, completed three-year sweeps in both. Modglin is now a Texas freshman.

∎ Bronze: Kole Mathison, cross-country/track: In cross-country, Carmel runner helped Team USA to a bronze medal at under-20 worlds. In indoor track, he lowered state records in mile and two-mile to 4:06.48 and 8:47.11. And outdoors, he ran to a state triple — third in 4×800 relay, second in 1,600, repeat title in 3,200. Mathison redshirted at Colorado last fall.

Contact IndyStar correspondent at dwoods1411@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.

Source link

Click to comment

Indiana

Retro Indy: Five years ago Covid confined March Madness to Indiana

Published

4 hours ago

March 27, 2026

Press Room

Retro Indy: Five years ago Covid confined March Madness to Indiana

Just three days before Selection Sunday in March of 2020, the NCAA announced that March Madness, like so many other events that spring, would be cancelled due to the new virus upending life. The decision marked the first time in tournament history that the final weeks of the college basketball season would not be played, squashing Atlanta’s plans to host the Final Four.

When the following year rolled around, the NCAA decided that March Madness would not succumb to the virus once more.

With a vaccine only on the horizon and hundreds of Americans still dying each day, the organization announced in November of 2020 that while the tournament would go on, it would certainly not be business as usual. All 67 games, NCAA officials said, would be held in one location. Central Indiana was the first choice as Indianapolis had been on tap to host the Final Four April 3-5.

The plan, said NCAA senior vice president of basketball Dan Gavitt in a November 2020 IndyStar article was to present “a safe, responsible and fantastic March Madness tournament unlike any other we’ve experienced.”

In January the NCAA made it official: All games would be played in and around Indianapolis in a modified version of a bubble.

Holding the tournament in one place just made sense, NCAA officials told IndyStar. Unlike in a typical year when a winning team would travel multiple times before the championship, this system would minimize travel, which could inadvertently expose players and coaches to the virus.

Two months later when the tournament kicked off on March 18, 55 of the 67 games were scheduled to be played in Indianapolis venues, such as Gainbridge (then Bankers Life) Fieldhouse, Lucas Oil Stadium, Indiana Farmers Coliseum and Butler’s Hinkle Fieldhouse. Purdue’s Mackey Arena and IU’s Assembly Hall also hosted games.

While the first Covid vaccine had arrived a few months earlier, few people outside of first responders and the most vulnerable had been immunized, so in an effort to avoid large crowds, the Indianapolis sites all capped tickets at 25% capacity. That meant only 17,500 people could attend games at the largest venue, Lucas Oil Stadium. The college arenas allowed far smaller audiences, with IU limiting attendance to 500 people.

A week before the tournament began Marion County Public Health Department officials and Mayor Joe Hogsett asked attendees to make smart public health choices, such as social distancing and obeying the face masks mandate. Referees donned masks as much as possible as did coaches and players on the bench.

The NCAA regularly tested athletes, administering 28,311 tests Covid tests during the tournament, 15 of which came back positive.

Post-mortems after the tournament asked whether the NCAA had made the right call. Two high profile deaths occurred in the aftermath of the tournament — one a University of Alabama superfan who had traveled to Indy for the games and the other a St. Elmo bartender. But proving a direct link between their deaths and the tournament would prove impossible, and some public health experts said the NCAA had done everything it could to protect athletes and fans short of canceling the event.

A study conducted by IU, Regenstrief researchers and others that appeared in August 2021 in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that while mask wearing had theoretically been compulsory, about a quarter of attendees at the games were either not wearing masks or doing so inappropriately. Still, in an IndyStar article about the study Indiana Sports Corps president Ryan Vaughn termed the event “a resounding success.”

The following year, with a vaccine widely available and far fewer daily deaths from the virus, the tournament returned to a typical schedule, concluding in New Orleans’ Ceasars Superdome. More than 69,00 fans attended the final games, according to the NCAA. Local authorities had lifted the mask requirement by this point.

“Last year was about survival. Just having championships in any way, single site, keep everybody safe and be successful,” Gavitt said in an NCAA news release in late April 2022. “I think this year was about advancing.”

Source link

Indiana

Federal legislation that Braun calls ‘crazy’ is aimed at Bears and Indiana – Indianapolis Business Journal

Published

16 hours ago

March 26, 2026

Press Room

Federal legislation that Braun calls ‘crazy’ is aimed at Bears and Indiana – Indianapolis Business Journal

U.S. Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Greg Casar, D-Texas, say the bill would protect taxpayers from being extorted by team owners for huge subsidies. The legislation would likely face an uphill climb in the Republican-controlled Congress.

Source link

Indiana

Record warmth followed by strong storms tonight | March 26, 2026

Published

1 day ago

March 26, 2026

Press Room

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH-TV) – Strong thunderstorms likely later this evening with all severe weather threats possible. It is going to be warm and windy with record highs today. Much cooler air works into Indiana for the end of the week.

TODAY: Partly cloudy conditions later this afternoon with warm and breezy conditions. It is going to be a beautiful and summer-like day across parts of Indiana. We will look for high temperatures to climb into the lower eighties which will set a new daily high record. The record for today is 80 set back in 1907. Winds will be gusty out of the southwest near 20 to 30 mph.

TONIGHT: A cold front approaches the state bringing a really good chance of strong to severe thunderstorms. A few thunderstorms may develop out ahead of the main line and some of those thunderstorms could contain some large hail along with a tornado risk as well. We are under a level 3 risk of strong storms out of a level 5. So there is confidence that a lot of these storms could reach severe criteria. Threats would be damaging winds and large hail. The tornado risk is low across parts of Indianapolis but it is not zero. A slightly higher risk of tornadic activity is possible in northern sections of Indiana.

Heavy rainfall could also lead to some flooding in parts of the state. Areas may see anywhere between 1 to 3 inches of rainfall.

Best timing on the thunderstorm activity will be anytime after 8:00 p.m. and lasting until Friday morning around 4.

TOMORROW: A few early morning rain showers will be possible on Friday. The main weather story is that it will be much cooler. High temperatures will climb around 49 which is below our normal high of 56. Winds switch direction out of the northeast and it will be a bit breezy at times as well. Low temperatures late Friday night into Saturday morning will drop into the upper twenties.

7 DAY EXTENDED FORECAST: A chilly start early Saturday morning but we will see lots of sunshine for the afternoon. High temperatures will climb around 52 for the afternoon.

Cloud cover returns on Sunday but it will be dry for the most part. Look for high temperatures to climb into the lower 60s.

Warmer next week with temperatures reaching the low and even middle and upper 70s by the middle part of the week. A dry start on Monday with some scattered showers possible on Tuesday and Wednesday.