Rivals in high school, they are now teammates. Again.
For the second time in two months, Indian Creek’s Candace Danz and Center Grove’s Lauren Rau are joining forces on an all-star team.
This time, it’s for the Hoosiers Reunion All-Star Classic, set for June 3 at the Historic Hoosier Gym in Knightstown.
A showcase for the state’s top players and a tribute to the 1986 movie “Hoosiers,” the All-Star Classic is a boys and girls doubleheader. Home games for the fictional Hickory Huskers were filmed in the Historic Hoosier Gym.
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Danz and Rau will play for the Terhune Tigers, which includes Indiana Miss Basketball Jackie Young of Princeton.
The girls game tips off at 6 p.m., followed by the boys game at 8.
The occasion will mark the second time Danz and Rau have teamed up as all-stars.
On April 24, they played for the south team in the 28th Annual North/South Indiana All-Star Classic at Vincennes University.
Danz, the Daily Journal’s 2015-16 Johnson County Player of the Year, averaged team-highs of 17 points, 6.2 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 2.7 seasons her senior season for Indian Creek.
A Marian University recruit, Danz finished her career with 1,650 points.
Rau, a first-team member of the Daily Journal’s All-County Team, averaged team-highs of 14 points, 4.4 assists and 2.0 steals her final season with the Trojans.
A versatile point guard, Rau will continue her career at Lipscomb University.
Vaulting to gold
Zach Peters, a junior at Center Grove High School, competed at the recent 2016 Junior Olympic National Championships for gymnastics in Battle Creek, Michigan.
And for the fourth straight year, he won the vault championship.
Competing as a Level 10 (16-older), Peters also won the floor exercise and was eighth in still rings.
He finished third in the all-around.
Grizzlies players honored
In the wake of a record-breaking season, six Franklin College softball players have been honored by the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference.
Senior outfielder Katie Struewing, junior designated player Savannah Blevins, junior outfielder Megan Lalioff and sophomore pitcher Olivia Paszek were named first team All-HCAC after helping the Grizzlies’ win a school-record 25 games.
Struewing is a Greenwood graduate, and Paszek is a Franklin Community graduate.
Sophomore outfielder Morgan Burch and junior shortstop Jasmine Hannah were named honorable mention.
Franklin finished third in the HCAC regular-season standings and advanced to the conference tournament for the second time in the past four years.
Former Warrior lands job
Justin Cooper, a former standout wrestler at Whiteland Community High School, has been hired as the new head varsity wrestling coach at Columbus North High School.
A 2006 graduate, Cooper was a two-time semistate qualifier and was ranked No. 1 in the state his senior year at 189 pounds.
Cooper went on to wrestle one year at the University of Indianapolis and went on to finish his career at NAIA Lindsey Wilson College in Kentucky.
Cooper has been an assistant coach at Whiteland and Lindsey Wilson. He teaches physical education at Taylorsville Elementary School in the Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp.
