The purpose of education-based athletics is ultimately to help kids learn more about how to be successful in life. Perseverance is vital in the game of life. This winter, our boys cagers, girls gymnasts and one particular diver have WORK WORK WORKed HARD to overcome difficulty, failure & opposition ... and this past week saw them achieve success!

Now that you've all persevered the intro ... it's time for BricksCenter!

On Tuesday night, senior Ethan Ferba joined 19 other divers @ Valparaiso High School for the IHSAA Diving Regional to compete for a spot in Saturday's STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS! Ethan qualified for the regional competition after WINNING last week's IHSAA Sectional for the 2nd consecutive year!! In order to advance to STATE, he needed to place in the TOP 8 @ the VAC (Valparaiso Aquatics Center).

DONE!! Ethan was AWESOME at Tuesday's regional ... flirting with a top 2 finish all night and ending up just outside the top 3 to earn a 3rd consecutive trip to the IHSAA STATE FINALS!!

Saturday morning, competition began at 9AM down in Indy at the IUPUI Natatorium. At STATE, all 32 qualifiers get 5 dives. From there, the top 20 scorers get 3 more ... and then only the top 16 advance to the finals. In Ethan's first trip to state in 2020, he performed well in completing all 5 of his initial dives, but finished smack dab in the middle of the 12 athletes who did not make the cut and finished 26th overall. In 2021, his improvement was evident as Ethan advanced all the way to the finals and placed 16th. What might 2022 bring?

After 5 dives ... 10th place & advanced!

After 8 dives ... 10th place & heading into the finals!!

Ethan's 9th dive was a DOOZY and pushed him all the way up to 8th on the leaderboard! Remember, this is in fact the state finals and other divers have some doozies of their own. In spite of how brightly Ethan SHINED, he dropped to 9th after 10 dives and that's exactly where he finished - 9th place in INDIANA!! NOT TOO SHABBY!!

Something to keep in mind ... in early January, Ethan broke his hand attempting a high-difficulty dive at practice and no one even knew if he'd be able to finish the season. He not only got back on the board, but WON the IHSAA Sectional for the 2nd straight year, qualified for STATE and tied 1980s graduate Dean Hale with the HIGHEST EVER FINISH for a Brickie diver at the state finals!!! WHAT A STORY! WHAT A FINISH!! WHAT A WAY TO CLOSE OUT A REMARKABLE CAREER for someone who 1st stepped onto a board as a freshman in high school!!!

CONGRATULATIONS ETHAN - WE ARE VERY PROUD OF YOU!! CONGRATULATIONS ALSO GOES OUT TO COACH RINAS FOR HELPING HIM ACHIEVE EXCELLENCE!!

#LICENSETODIVE

#CHAIRMANOFTHEBOARD

On Tuesday, the Lady Brickies headed West to face state ranked Lake Central. Competing without a full team for the 5th consecutive meet, our girls were simply AMAZING!! Senior Aisha Arias was FANTASTIC with a 2nd place finish in the all-around and a SEASON BEST score of 36.650! This total was 0.200 over her previous best - UNBELIEVABLE!! Aisha won the vault, placed 2nd on both beam & floor, and took 3rd on the bars. Junior Sarah Romeo finished 5th in the all-around with a 32.350! A 4th place finish on vault, 5th on floor, 6th on the beam and 7th on bars gave Sarah one of her best scores of the year!!

Freshman Elizabeth Crespo got in on the action as well by placing 1st on the beam in the JV portion of the competition!!

On Saturday, Hobart traveled to Chesterton High School to compete in the IHSAA Sectional!

To say that our gymnastics sectional is a tough one could be the understatement of the year. A team from this sectional has won 12 of the last IHSAA State Championships ... including the 2021 title by Valparaiso. Crown Point entered as the state's #1-ranked team and claimed their 1st championship by day's end.

The Lady Brickies performed the best they could versus the stacked field. Junior Sarah Romeo had an OUTSTANDING routine on the floor to earn a top-20 place in that event ... she also finished 28th on the beam and 36th on bars! Freshman Elizabeth Crespo got her feet wet on the biggest stage in NWI and finished 39th on the vault. Unfortunately, they were the only two Hobart competitors able to perform after senior standout Aisha Arias - who had her best performance of the year on Tuesday - suffered an injury while warming up on the floor exercise. A tough way to end her decorated career for the Lady Brickies, but not an end that takes anything away from how AMAZINGLY she performed over the last 3 years! All of our girls gave it their all and should hold their heads high for their effort - we are certainly VERY PROUD of them!!

Of the 16 schools represented, Hobart finished 13th. Valparaiso and Lake Central advanced ... along with sectional champion Crown Point ... to next week's regional.

CONGRATULATIONS TO COACH CRESPO AND OUR GIRLS FOR A GREAT SEASON!

#STICKIT

Closing out the regular season with 3 games in 4 days is about as tough as it gets, but this winter has helped prepare the Brickies for ANYTHING ... and our boys SHINED!!

On Tuesday, Hobart traveled to Whiting to square off against the Oilers. In one of their BEST overall performances of the season, the Brickies DOMINATED from the start and cruised to an easy 59-25 VICTORY! Senior Jaydon Hence led all scorers with 17 points and secured his 1st double-double of the year with 11 rebounds! Classmate Miki Djankovich scored 14 points and freshman Noah Ehrlich added 13 points and 3 assists. Senior Josh Tejeda pulled down 10 rebounds and dished out a team-high 6 assists in the win!

Thursday was the final Northwest Crossroads Conference game of the regular season for Hobart ... down in DeMotte against the KV Kougars. KV entered the contest with 15 overall wins on the year and only 1 blemish in conference play. In an extremely competitive contest, it was all tied up at 16 after 8 minutes ... 28-25 at the half ... and 47-39 heading into the 4th! Our boys BATTLED HARD for 32 minutes and pushed the Kougars to the brink! Unfortunately, KV had just enough fire-power to hold off any potential Hobart rally and held on for a tough 63-51 win. Our boys may have finished with fewer points on the scoreboard, but they weren't defeated - it was a great game. Ehrlich was Hobart's leader with a season-high 15 points ... Hence added 13.

On Friday night, the Brickies wrapped up regular season play over at Wheeler. On the Bearcats' senior night, it was Hobart who got to CELEBRATE as our boys put on a clinic against the Porter County rivals! The Bricks swished on Friday to the tune of 48% from 3-pt range - led by Ehrlich burying 7 out of 10 from long-range leading to a game & career high 24 pts!! Hobart held a COMMANDING 40-20 lead at the half and ROLLED to an easy 74-40 VICTORY!! Djankovich (16pts), Hence (12pts) and freshman Jayme Hairston (10pts) also reached double figures for the Brickies in the win!!

Our boys appear to be playing their BEST at just the right time with post-season play beginning next week! IHSAA Sectional play begins Tuesday over at Portage High School with Hobart taking on the host Indians at 7pm. Tickets can be purchased at the gate.

GOOD LUCK BOYS!! DON'T STOP NOW!!

#MAKETHEMBELIEVE

No Events Scheduled

Tuesday

Boys Basketball vs. Portage @ IHSAA SECTIONAL (Hosted by Portage HS)

Wednesday

No Events Scheduled

Thursday

No Events Scheduled

Friday

Girls Track & Field @ Purdue (HSR Qualifier)

Boys Track & Field @ Purdue (HSR Qualifier)

Boys Basketball @ IHSAA SECTIONAL (If advance on Tuesday)

Saturday

Boys Basketball @ IHSAA SECTIONAL (If advance on Friday)