Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of Great Britain during World War 2, once said the following about courage:

"Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees all the others."

In other words, you can possess countless good qualities, but if you don't have courage, you may never see them come to fruition. It takes courage to put what you believe to be the best of you on the line, to test it, and see how far it takes you. Courage means daring to do what you imagine.

The Brickies have been showing courage this winter and putting their best (... I say their best) on the line to see how far it could take them. A week ago, it took senior diver Daeges Morgan all the way to a 12th place finish at the IHSAA State Finals! This past week, it took our boys cagers on three road trips, the boys swim team to the first step of the IHSAA post-season, and TWWWOOOOOOOOOO grapplers to Indianapolis!!

The #BRICKRODE guided TWWWOOOOOOOOOO Brickies to Indianapolis on Friday for the 86th Annual IHSAA STATE FINALS! For the 2nd year in a row, sophomores Seth Aubin (113lbs) & Aidan Costello (170lbs) represented H-town on the biggest stage!!

16 individuals from each weight class qualify for state. 1st round action on Friday eliminates half of the competitors and those who get to compete Saturday are guaranteed a top-8 finish, which means PODIUM and ALL-STATE PLACING!

On Friday, Seth was up first in the afternoon session. Arriving at state for the 2nd time in as many seasons, Seth made the most of it with a 5-2 VICTORY to advance to Saturday's quarterfinal round!! In the evening session, Aidan, also making his 2nd appearance at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, PINNED his 1st round opponent midway through the 3rd period to advance to Saturday!! BOTH BRICKIES will earn a STATE MEDAL!!

Saturday, Seth ... already guaranteed a top 8 finish and ALL-STATE HONORS ... lost a tough first match 6-2 and moved into the consolation bracket. In his final two matches of the season, he faced twwwwooooooooooo opponenets with a combined record of 85-8 on the year. Seth FOUGHT HARD and wrestled with TREMENDOUS BRICKIE PRIDE, but was unable to come away with a 2nd victory on Indiana's biggest stage. Seth finished the 2023 season as an NCC CHAMPION, IHSAA SECTIONAL RUNNERUP, IHSAA REGIONAL CHAMPION, IHSAA SEMISTATE RUNNERUP and an 8th place finish at STATE!!! His individual record for the year was 37-9! WHAT A SEASON!!

For Costello, the script was similar to Aubin early, but different late! Aidan wrestled 41-1 Bloomington South senior Delaney Ruhlman in the quarterfinals and lost a heartbreaker 7-5. If the match would've had 30 more seconds, Aidan may have pulled it off. Ruhlman would eventually finish as the state runner-up. In the consolation semifinals, Costello was in control from start to finish and WON 7-0 to advance for a shot at 5th place! For 5th, Aidan was matched up with Kyle Harden from Cathedral ... someone he split 1-1 with in twwwoooooooo matches at the Al Smith Invite in December. Due to an injury sustained earlier in the day, Harden had to forfeit the final match ... which means Aidan Costello earned a 5th PLACE MEDAL!!! Adian finishes the 2023 season as an NCC CHAMPION, IHSAA SECTIONAL CHAMPION, IHSAA REGIONAL CHAMPION, IHSAA SEMISTATE RUNNERUP and a 5th place finish at STATE!!! His individual record for the year was 44-4!! INCREDIBLE!!

These twwwoooooooo SUPER SOPHS stand as pillars of our program and represented this small blue-collar town EXTREMELY WELL at the STATE FINALS!! Not just because of their finish on the mat, but also because of their conduct off of it!!

With TWWWOOOOOOOOO podium finishes, the Brickies scored 15 points as a team and finished 27th overall out of 107 schools represented!

CONGRATULATIONS SETH & AIDAN ... and to Coach Cook & staff for another UNBELIEVABLE winter of wrestling!! WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU!!!

#BRICKRODE

The VAC (Valpo Aquatic Center) served as host site for the 2023 IHSAA Boys Swimming & Diving Sectional! Competition in the 86th edition of the IHSAA Boys Tournament Series began Thursday with swimming prelims and concluded with both swimming and diving finals on Saturday!!

There are no "regionals" or "semi-state" in swimming, competitors that either place 1st in their event or achieve a qualifying time advance directly to the STATE FINALS held next weekend in Indy. For diving, the top 4 scorers advance to a mid-week regional ... hosted by Mishawaka High School ... and the top 8 from regionals move on to STATE.

Make sense? Of course it does :) ... now let's see how the Brickies did!

Out of 13 teams in attendance, Hobart placed 7th OVERALL with a team total of 151 points!

Chesterton won 7 of 12 events, wracked up 542 points - over 100 more than 2nd place Valparaiso - and took home the trophy ... their 25th consecutive championship. WOW

Some highlights in the water from the 2-day competition include the Hobart 200-yd Medley Relay team composed of junior Brett Herrin, senior Owen Finch, sophomore Christian Kertz & freshman Jaden Cano swimming a season-best to place 5th, Herrin earning a PODIUM FINISH in the 500-yd freestyle, the 200-yd freestyle relay team (Finch, Herrin, Kertz & freshman Lu Cohen) also earning a PODIUM FINISH in 7th place and the 400-yd freestyle relay team (Cano, Cohen, freshman Durgon Click & junior Ayden Witting) matching them!!

In the diving portion, the Brickies put 3 individuals in the top 11 and two on the podium ... including the Chairman of the Board, senior Eian Ferba who placed 3rd to QUALIFY for the IHSAA Diving Regional on Tuesday!! Joining Eian on the podium was junior Ethan Robles, who placed 5th!! Senior Jose Torres placed 11th to round out the Brickie contingent. You might say these 3 were ALL on the BOARD of directors :). GREAT JOB GUYS!!

What a day to be a Brickie! Our boys SHINED in front of the largest crowds ever seen at the VAC! CONGRATULATIONS to all of our Brickies on a GREAT winter season in the water ... to Coach Ken, Coach Katie, Coach Steve & Coach Jay for all of their hard WORK WORK WORK to help our boys be at their best!

... and GOOD LUCK to Eian on Tuesday!!

#JUSTKEEPSWIMMING

#LICENSETODIVE

The Brickies had a busy week on the hardcourt ... 3 games in 5 days was a good tune-up to simulate what our boys might have to face in the IHSAA Sectional in a little over a week!

On Tuesday, Hobart traveled to Calumet to face off with the Warriors. Early on, the Bricks were swishing as our boys jumped out to an 18-12 lead after 1 quarter of play! The pace slowed a bit in the 2nd stanza, but Hobart still clung to a 26-24 advantage at the break. The final 16 minutes saw a series of runs ... each time the Brickies would try to stretch the lead, Calumet would fight back ... all the way until the final minute of play! The Warriors trailed by just 2 (54-52) with 50 seconds left ... a FT by junior Anthony Hnilo made it 55-52. Another score by Calumet cut the deficit to 1 (55-54), but a basket by senior Keith Mullins gave Hobart a 3-point cushion (57-54) with 20 seconds left!! Calumet scored again to make it 57-56 with just 11 seconds remaining, but 2 clutch FTs by sophomore Jayme Hairston put Hobart back up 59-56!! A desperation heave by the Warriors fell short and the Brickies came home with a HARD FOUGHT 59-56 VICTORY!! Senior Vonzell Strayhorne had a MONSTER double-double with 24 points and 22 rebounds ... Hnilo added 18 points and 4 assists to help Hobart earn the "W"!!

Friday, the destination Highland for Hobart's final Northwest Crossroads Conference game of the season. During the first 8 minutes, the Brickies were LOCKED IN on D-D-D-DEFENSE and our boys held an 11-5 advantage! The host Trojans responded with an 11-6 quarter of their own in the 2nd and at the half it was 17-16 Hobart. Coming out of the locker room, Highland jumped ahead, but our boys FOUGHT and tied the game on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Mullins to knot the game at 24 with 1 period to go! The final quarter was INTENSE!! The Brickies took the lead 29-28 with 3 and a half minutes left and never looked back ... salting it away from the FT line for a 36-33 VICTORY!! Lopez was the only Brickie in double figures with 11 points ... Mullins scored 7 and corralled a team-high 6 rebounds in the win.

On Saturday night, the Brickie cagers were at Merrillville to finish out a full week of competition. Against one of the more athletic teams in DA Region, Hobart finally ran out of gas after running the gauntlet of 3 games in 5 days. The Pirates were fired up on their senior night and won convincingly 75-41. Strayhorne led the Hobart attack with 16 points and 7 rebounds.

Hobart is now 9-11 overall and 2-3 in NCC play. The Brickies will close out the regular season with two home contests this upcoming week ... vs. Whiting on Tuesday for the 11th annual Silent Night game and vs. Wheeler on Friday for SENIOR NIGHT! GOOD LUCK BOYS!!

#RISETOTHEOCCASION

On Tuesday, the Lady Brickies traveled to Lowell High School to face the host Red Devils and defending IHSAA State Champion Crown Point Lady Bulldogs. Senior Haylie Skripac was FANTASTIC in placing 4th in the All-Around competition! She finished 4th on the vault, 5th on both beam & floor, and 7th on the bars! As a team, the Lady Bulldogs were tops with 110.15. They also took the top 3 spots in the All-Around, but Skripac's 4th place finish was better than every other gymnast present!! Like I said ... FANTASTIC!!

Unfortunately, sophomore Elizabeth Crespo was not able to compete due to injury.

The excellence present at this meet no doubt will help prepare our girls for the kind of competition they'll see at next Saturday's IHSAA SECTIONAL. Crown Point, Lake Central, Valparaiso, Chesterton, Merrillville ... plus talented individuals from Wheeler and some other smaller schools ... makes the sectional level of gymnastics TOUGH!

Hobart has 1 remaining regular season meet ... a home contest against Lake Central on Tuesday. Another test and another chance to sharpen the skills & execution it will take to SHINE at the IHSAA Sectional on Saturday! GOOD LUCK LADIES!!

#STICKIT

After celebrating two student athletes signing National Letters of Intent a week ago, the SCOH got the bonus plan with two more getting it done this past week!

Cam Gonzalez will be continuing his academic and athletic career at Trine University! The Thunder compete at the NCAA Div III level and are members of the MIAA (Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association). Over the last few years, Cam was a mainstay on our boys varsity tennis team - helping the Brickies win the 2022 IHSAA Sectional Championship and advance to the Regional Finals for the first time in 50 years!! He also shines bright on the diamond as an impactful member of the Hobart baseball team that helped play a role in our boys advancing to the IHSAA Sectional Finals last spring!

Rylee Cotton will be continuing her academic and athletic career at Indiana University South Bend! The Titans compete at the NAIA level and are members of the CCAC (Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference). Rylee has defended the goal for the Lady Brickies soccer team for 3 years, earned ALL-NCC honors and was a 2021 ISCA All-District 2nd team selection!!

These student athletes have been great ambassadors of Brickie athletics and will no doubt continue to represent us well at the NEXT LEVEL!! CONGRATULATIONS CAM & RYLEE! WE ARE VERY PROUD OF YOU!!

Stay tuned for more updates ... the Brickies have quite a few student athletes making future plans to keep playing!

#ALLMYLIFE

After a PHENOMENAL weekend of wrasslin', the Brickies had a little more to celebrate on Sunday afternoon! Varsity wrestling coach Jason Cook was inducted into the IHSWCA (Indiana High School Wrestling Coaches Association) HALL OF FAME for his STELLAR career on the mat at both Valparaiso High School and Purdue University!!

Not to be completely outdone by Coach Cook, varsity assistant coach Zack Johansen was selected as the 2023 IHSWCA Randy Helfrich ASSISTANT COACH OF THE YEAR!!

WHAT A WEEKEND TO BE A BRICKIE!!

CONGRATULATIONS COACH COOK & COACH JOHANSEN - YOU GUYS ROCK ON THE #BRICKRODE!!!

#BRICKIEPRIDE

Over the weekend, senior pole vaulter Cody Johnston set a NEW PERSONAL BEST & HOBART HIGH SCHOOL RECORD after clearing a height of 17' 3/4" at an open invite in Chicago!! HOLY SCHNIKES THAT'S HIGH!!

GREAT JOB CODY!! KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK WORK WORK!! CAN'T WAIT TO WATCH YOU FLY THIS SPRING!!

#ALLMYLIFE

Monday

No Events Scheduled

Tuesday

Boys Diving Regional (Hosted by Mishawaka High School)

Boys Basketball vs. Whiting (Silent Night game)

Gymnastics vs. Lake Central

Wednesday

No Events Scheduled

Thursday

No Events Scheduled

Friday

Boys Basketball vs. Wheeler (SENIOR NIGHT)

Saturday

Gymnastics @ IHSAA SECTIONAL (Hosted by Valparaiso High School)