The baseball team was an aggressive contingent who played .500 ball and had flashes of brilliance. The most notable individual performance was the show that Ryan Mote put on at Cambridge City Lincoln in April when he went 8-of-11, scored six runs and drove in two more to lead the Cougars to Eastern Indiana Invitational Championship. That weekend earned him Athlete of the Week recognition.
Also earning that recognition was Taylor Wilkerson who pitched a two-hit shutout and provide the all-important insurance runs with a two-run dinger when the Cougars defeated Waldron 6-0 in April.
Not getting the same level of recognition was the Cougars senior ace - Lincoln Hacker. He too performed well at the plate and with his arm, winning games with both. Not to be denied is catcher Shan Rogers who also had time on the hill.
The golf team had three standout golfers who let them to a 14-2 record in dual meets. Both losses came at Greensburg Country Club where the Pirates prevailed.
The most frequent medalist for South Decatur was Chris Scheidler and Dylan Wolterman was medalist at the Mid-Hoosier Conference championship played at Wyaloosing Creek. Also providing consistent low scores was Jon Allen.
In track and field, Jordan Clark and Jordan Hamilton both provided good sources of points all season in the throws with Clark topping it off with second-place finishes in the discus at sectional and regional meets to qualify for state championship competition. Clark also claimed fifth in the shot put competition at the East Central sectional.
Another consistent performer who qualified for regionals was Chris Bierhaus in the high jump and the distance races.
The fourth member of the team who earned scoring performances at East Central was Tyler Mote.
All year long, the senior sprinter dominated scoring in the sprints and in the long jump. At the Mid-Hoosier Conference meet, Mote swept the sprints winning the 100-, 200- and 400-meter races and finished fourth in the long jump with a leap of 19’1 1.2”.
In the 100-meter race, he had a time of 11.59 seconds which he betterED the following week at East Central. Still the level of competition increased and Mote was relegated to second place.
In the 400-meter race, Mote ran nearly the same time at sectionals but was unable to catch Dylan Groves who defeated Mote for third place by .003 seconds.
In the 200, Mote placed third to punch his ticket to Connersville in the event but settled for 11th place in a field of 24. With the exception of Gilberto Leija of Indianapolis Scecina, all eight runners in the championship heat were from schools who play in Class 1A.
The same was true in the 100 where Mote finished 13th.
During the season, Mote bettered the school record by running the 400 meters in 51.19 seconds to break his own record set In the Mid-Hoosier Conference track meet held in May 2008.
That feat earned Mote one of his three designations as Athlete of the Week, a feat matched by Clark with his state appearance.
The Daily News’ selection boiled down to the two harriers with the final nod going to Mote for performing at a very high level in four events. Only when Mote ran into the competition from Indianapolis-area mega-schools, did his position in the sprints falter.
For his record-breaking and his consistent performance in all four of the events he regularly ran, The Daily News names Tyler Mote as South Decatur’s Male Athlete of the Spring.
