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Batten, Brown, Rogers receive academic honors
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
Cross-country/track
The Rochester School Board approved the hiring of Eric Linn as both the new Rochester High School cross-country coach and the Rochester Middle School track coach.
Linn replaces Scott Stalbaum as head cross-country coach.
Linn has previous cross-country head coaching experience at Caston.
Linn was Stalbaum’s assistant coach on the cross-country team in the fall of 2020. RHS won the girls TRC title last fall and advanced to the New Prairie semistate, where they finished 13th.
RHS boys striders Peyton Hiatt and Dylan Steininger advanced to the semistate as individuals, and both are expected to return this fall.
Stalbaum also resigned his track assistant coaching position. Alex Gudeman, who had been the Rochester Middle School head track coach, will replace Stalbaum as RHS assistant track coach.
Ron Shaffer will be a volunteer assistant coach for the high school track team. Alicia Helt and Jacob Nigh will be assistant coaches for the middle school track team.
Rochester opens its high school track season with a home meet against John Glenn at 5 p.m. April 8.
Boys golf
Bailey named coach: The Rochester School Board approved the hiring of Dan Bailey as the new Rochester High School boys golf coach at its February meeting.
Bailey will be the only head coach and earn all of the coaching stipend. Previously, he shared coaching responsibilities and the coaching stipend equally with Lyle Lingenfelter.
Jake Ruff and Kevin Renie will be volunteer assistant coaches.
The Zebras open their season with the Rochester Invitational at Round Barn Golf Club at Mill Creek at 7:30 a.m. April 10.
Diving
Butler steps down: Rochester diving coach Alison Butler has resigned, effective the Feb. 15 Rochester School Board meeting.
Butler also stepped down as the Rochester cheerleading coach.
Football
Kelly’s resignation official: Rochester football coach Sean Kelly’s resignation was officially accepted at the Rochester School Board meeting Monday.
RTC first reported that Kelly was stepping down on Feb. 26.
RHS athletic director Ryan Johnson told RTC in an email that he is still accepting applications for the football head coaching position.
The Zebras are coming off an 0-8 season in 2020.
Girls basketball
Batten, Brown, Rogers earn academic honors: The Indiana Basketball Coaches Association has named all three Rochester senior girls basketball players – Kim Batten, Mercedes Brown and Kaitlin Rogers – to its honorable mention Academic All-State team.
They were among 267 girls basketball players statewide to receive the honor. In addition, 35 girls made the first-team Academic All-State honors.
“The IBCA Academic All-State program is one where academic prowess and athletic prowess both are considered in the selections,” the IBCA said in a statement. “Items such as grade-point average and academic class rank are considered along with athletic performance in areas such as points per game, rebounds per game and assists per game.”
Coaches may nominate seniors who meet criteria that include a 3.5 GPA or higher on a 4.0 scale and a class rank in the upper 25 percent of one’s class.
“Once nominations were received, an IBCA committee reviewed the information and determined awards for first team and honorable mention,” the IBCA said.
Rochester girls basketball seniors, from left, Mercedes Brown, Kaitlin Rogers and Kim Batten celebrate with the championship trophy after the Lady Zs beat Manchester 45-37 on Feb. 6 in the Class 2A, Sectional 37 final. All three were named honorable mention Academic All-State Wednesday.
