The final stage of two construction projects affecting our athletic fields is underway. Demolition of the third floor press box has begun, and construction of the new exterior stand-alone press box will begin soon.

Materials from the press box will be salvaged and used to reconfigure the outside of the Larkin Center. This project will complete the update of the home-side bleachers in Murphy Stadium.

The final stage of the Pioneer Athletic Center has begun, with construction of the interior locker rooms starting this week. When finished, sports such as baseball and soccer will have access to locker rooms for the first time.

Two juniors win speech contest

Juniors Stephen Wilson and Logan Applewhite last week won the top two spots in the Clarksville Speech Contest sponsored by the Clarksville Rotary Club. Stephen received $125 for his first-place prize and will advance to the district level contest, which will be held  March 23 in  Bedford, Ind . Logan received $75 for placing second.

Students express thanks to veterans, benefactors

For a service activity during Catholic Schools Week, the students wrote cards to patients at the Louisville VA Medical Center, thanking them for their service and wishing them well. The students also wrote thank you letters to Providence benefactors, thanking them for their support which brought about the various improvements to our campus the last few years.

House activities update

The House of Spirit sponsored a Valentine's Day fundraiser to help police purchase stuffed animals for child victims of crisis/trauma. The fundraiser, which ended today, featured sales of suckers that included a nice note.

The House of Loyalty is sponsoring its annual WaterStep used shoe drive to raise money to help bring clean drinking water to impoverished countries. The drive is today through Feb. 22, and boxes are set up at the student entrance for House points. Students may also donate used cleats, and the soccer cleats will be donated to children at Amigos De Jesus, an orphanage in Honduras.

Mr. Riddle demos hardware

Mr. Jack Riddle, PHS IT manager, was the guest speaker at the new Intro to Computer Science class recently. He showed samples of various types of computer hardware and explained their purpose and how each functions.

is one of six finalists for the 2019 St. Mother Theodora Excellence in Education Award from the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. In his 14th year as Spanish teacher at Providence, he also is the World Languages Department chairperson and the sponsor of the Spanish Club. Mr. Mathews said he is honored to receive the nomination and become a finalist, and he sees the award as validation of his job as a ministry. Read more.

The Boys Basketball team heads into the postseason in less than two weeks, so this month's Pioneer Profile focuses on two members of the team, senior Hayden Burke and junior Sterling Huber. Both Hayden and Sterling grew up playing basketball, with Sterling learning to play as a toddler on his mini-basketball goal, sparking a lifelong love of the game. Hayden also played football at Providence, and Sterling plays baseball.  Read more .

Girls Dive sends one to regional

By Coach Jim Pfeiffer

Our 2018-2019 Girls Swim & Dive team got off to a fantastic start with new swimmers freshman Sydney LaMaster and sophomores Paris O'Steen, Peyton Richey, and Hannah Bissig helping veteran swimmers  seniors

Lauren  Tomlin, Meg LaMaster, Abby Glotzbach , and Daryl Hunton , and juniors Liberty Russell and Lauren Stapp with great performances at Switzerland County, Southwestern High School, Tell City Relays, and the Floyd Central Invitational among others. But attrition through injuries, one transfer, and the good ol' flu bug slowed us down a bit.  Our season culminated with a very strong set of relays from the team of Meg, Daryl, Liberty and Lauren Stapp at sectional.

Dive came on strong with the addition of freshmen Kadie O'Bannon and Catherine Pfeiffer and junior Nadia Brooks to veteran diver junior Claire Culwell. No school records were set, but many kept moving down their personal bests throughout the year. 

Highlights included Catherine and Kadie mastering the final hard dive --the back dive at the Jennings County meet. To have these two young ladies accomplish the hardest dive of all at a meet, not at practice, in front of about 100 spectators was quite the highlight. Claire also mastered the back dive and was able to compete and do well in 11 dive meets in Kentucky. Nadia finished second in the Floyd Central Sectional and went on to regionals and finished 18th overall in the Bloomington Regional at Bloomington North High School.

At swim sectionals, Lauren Stapp swam her personal best in the 50 freestyle, and Meg swam her personal best twice in a row and nabbed 11th place overall in the 100 breaststroke, beating three other ladies for that position by less than a second. Liberty learned the art of stealing spots by continually out-tapping other competitors at the finish. The result was we had the highest scores in total points in many years by Liberty, Daryl, Meg and Lauren and a first time ever, co-MVPs with Lauren and Meg. At dive sectionals, Nadia placed second and advanced to regionals, where she placed 18th.  The future looks bright for 2019-2020.

Boys Swim & Dive starts its sectional tomorrow, with preliminary races on Thursday and the finals on Saturday. Diving sectional starts Saturday also.

Girls Basketball improves over season

By Coach Brad Burden

The Girls Basketball team finished the season 10-14. The season ended with a 27-24 loss to top 10-ranked Eastern. The girls showed a lot of improvement through the whole season as Eastern had beaten them by 23 earlier in the year.

Junior Natalie Boesing had a record-breaking year. She averaged 21 points per game and set school records for points in a game and season. Junior Brigid Welch had many big games with several double-doubles. Juniors Kaylee Kaiser and Maggie Purichia and sophomore Lauren Castleberry improved throughout the season. Newcomers freshmen Brooklynn Nolot and Amanda Upton and junior Maria Popson all got their first taste of high school basketball and were big contributors.

With no seniors graduating, the girls are motivated to work hard and have a special season next year.

Freshman Boys Basketball wins  tourney

By Coach Jeff Byrne

The Freshman Boys Basketball team had a great season going 14-4, including eight wins over 3A schools and winning the end-of-season tournament. The team was successful despite its nine players getting pulled up to either JV or varsity at one point or another throughout the season. Every player showed a lot of growth from the beginning of the season.  

 

Wrestling sends player to semi-state

By Coach Randy Lynch ex-'81

The Wrestling Team concluded its season at the Evansville Semi-State on Saturday with junior Chase Aldridge dropping a tough match to Indiana No. 10-ranked Brownsburg 1-5 in the 126-pound class. Senior Nathan Grantz was an alternate in the 160-pound class after losing in the first round at regional and placing fourth at sectional but did not get pulled in to compete at semi-state. Both had great seasons with Chase, who was the sectional champ in his weight class and third at regional, finishing 39-5 and Nathan 25-6. Senior Noah Liter and freshman Kaden Connin advanced to the regional after Noah placed fourth in the 145-pound class and Kaden placed third in the 120-pound class.

Despite its limited numbers, the 2018-2019 team made an impact, with every wrestler earning at least 10 wins for the season and four of the five wrestlers advancing to regional. The team graduates two seniors, Noah and Nathan, and hopes to build on this season's success next year.