News

CHUCK FREEBY TO RECEIVE IHSAA MEDIA SERVICE AWARD
An award-winning journalist from the Michiana area, Chuck Freeby of WHME-TV and Radio in South Bend will be honored this week with the 2010-11 IHSAA Distinguished Media Service Award for District I.

Freeby’s contributions to Indiana high school sports will be recognized on Tuesday (May 10) at the Northern Indiana Conference Track and Field Meet at Elkhart Central High School. IHSAA Commissioner Bobby Cox and Sports Information Director Jason Wille will make the presentation.

Freeby is well known for his passion for area high school sports. Since becoming Sports Director for WHME in 2004, he’s called play-by-play on the prep football and basketball “Game of the Week”, various college sports events, including Notre Dame baseball, and provided morning sports reports on Pulse FM. He is also a part of the LeSEA Broadcasting Network’s “Harvest” show, reporting international news every weekday.

In addition to his full-time job, he’s also assisting at WNDU-TV, a place he previously worked for 17 years and chartered the “Friday Night Flights” and “Roundball Roundup” during the respective high school football and basketball seasons.

Born in South Bend, he is a 1982 graduate of Elkhart Central High School and went on to earn a B.A. in American Studies from the University of Notre Dame in 1986.

While in college, he served as a color commentator for WTRC Radio in Elkhart. Upon graduation, he worked as a producer for WGN Radio in Chicago, an assistant producer for ESPN Sports and a sportswriter for The Elkhart Truth.

Chuck and his wife, Diane, have six children: Peter, Christopher, Mary, Jeanie, Rosie and T.J. They live in South Bend.

This is the 26th year the IHSAA has recognized outstanding members of the Indiana news media from each of its three legislative districts for excellence in the coverage of high school sports. Freeby is the third individual to be honored this school year following Dave Calabro of WTHR-TV Channel 13 in Indianapolis, the District II recipient, and Walt Ferber of WITZ Radio in Jasper, the District III winner.

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SPRING SPORT TOURNAMENT DRAWINGS AHEAD
State tournament drawings for three spring sports are scheduled over the next 11 days at the IHSAA Office.

Softball is set for Thursday, May 12, at 8 am ET / 7 am CT. In girls tennis, the regional, semi-state and state finals matchups along with the individual singles and doubles assignments will be drawn on Monday, May 16, at 8 am ET / 7 am CT. Sectional pairings, drawn by each of the 64 host sites, will be announced later that day. The baseball drawing is set for Tuesday, May 17, at 8 am ET / 7 am CT.

Please note that pairings in each sport will be posted to the IHSAA.org website as soon as possible following each drawing. There is no webcast scheduled for any of the three sports.

Softball State Tournament | Girls Tennis Team State Tournament | Baseball State Tournament

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NFHS ANNOUNCES BASKETBALL RULES CHANGES
Penalties for fouls during throw-ins have been changed in high school basketball, effective with the 2011-12 season. The throw-in revision, as well as several other rules changes and editorial revisions, were approved by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Basketball Rules Committee at its April 11-13 meeting in Indianapolis. All rules changes recommended by the committee were subsequently approved by the NFHS Board of Directors.

NFHS News Release

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STATE STATISTICAL LEADERS
The following lists of statistical leaders are compiled by VarVee.com, the IHSAA’s official statistics gathering partner. The IHSAA encourages each of its member schools to participate by registering at www.varvee.com and updating statistics by each Monday through the end of the season.

Baseball: State Leaders
Softball: State Leaders

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NEWS & NOTES FROM AROUND THE STATE
Have an interesting note? A conference or school record, coaching milestone or something else of interest? Please e-mail IHSAA Sports Information Director Jason Wille at jwille@ihsaa.org.

McCutcheon scored four two-out runs in the top of the ninth inning in a 9-5 victory against Noblesville last Tuesday to give baseball coach Jake Burton career victory No. 700. He joins a group of five Indiana high school baseball coaches with 700 or more victories.
Burton is 700-333 in 33 seasons, including state championships in 1999 and 2003.

With his team’s 16-6 win over county rival Taylor on April 29, Western baseball coach Ty Calloway picked up the 600th victory of his 34-year career. According to the Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association Record Book, Calloway is one of 10 coaches in state history with at least 600 career wins.

The Indiana Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (IIAAA) honored three athletic administrators at its annual conference in March in Indianapolis. Ed Gilliland of LaPorte High School was the recipient of the High School Athletic Administrator of the Year Award. Gilliland has been the Athletic Director at LaPorte High School for the past 14 years and is a past president of the IIAAA. John Evers of Castle High School was the recipient of the Charles Maas Distinguished Service Award named after the organization’s first president. Evers has spent 31 years at Castle High School with the last 17 years in athletic administration. Tom Cullen of East Washington Middle School was selected as the 2011 Jr. High/Middle School Athletic Administrator of the Year for the state of Indiana. Tom has been athletic director at East Washington Middle School 15 years where he also serves as assistant principal.