Cathy Pieroni might not have been in Tokyo to watch her son Blake win his second Olympic gold medal on Sunday night, but she did her best to make sure her voice was heard halfway across the world.
Cathy Pieroni watched Sunday nightâs 400-meter freestyle relay along with her daughter April and granddaughter at a hotel in Amelia Island, Florida. As Blakeâs teammate, Zach Apple, touched the wall, Cathy set off a wild celebration as the former Chesterton swim star won his second gold medal. The U.S. quartet won in 3 minutes, 8.97 seconds. Italy took the silver in 3:10.11 and Australia won the bronze in 3:10.22.
UNION MILLS â Wes Bucher felt the internal battle that all coaches feel.
The fourth-year South Central coach would finish a long day of teaching and practice and heâd get home to his family, knowing that he was shortchanging his wife and children. If he took the time to spend with his family, the basketball work would suffer. If he dove into film study when he got home, his family would be left waiting.
Family won out in the end as Bucher announced earlier this week that he was stepping down from the Satellites after going 66-36 over the last four seasons.
Ethan Ferba had big plans for the offseason.
The Hobart diver got a taste of competing against the best when he finished 26th at the IHSAA state swimming and diving competition last February in Indianapolis.
When Ferba returned to Northwest Indiana, he sat down with Hobart diving coach Katharine Rinas and the two put together a summer workout plan that would allow the then-sophomore to take his diving to the next level.
Then COVID-19 hit and pools around the Region shutdown, including Hobartâs sparkling new swim facility.
âWhen everything with COVID happened, it was bad,â Ferba said. âWe had a whole summer planned out for workouts. It made all those plans go away.â