There were plenty of sports headlines over the past year locally so please enjoy a wrap-up of 2022.

One of the biggest stories early in the year was the incredible success of the Franklin County boys varsity basketball team. In Mark Foster's first year, the Wildcats continued a record-setting hot streak that rose to 15 straight wins. During the 15th, at Ross (Ohio), Chad Cox became FC's all-time scoring leader. The team made it to the sectional finals at Connersville only to see Lawrenceburg win in a come-from-behind effort. Cox won Eastern Indiana Athletic Conference MVP and is currently redshirting at IU East.

On the wrestling mat, Colin Troyer, Cole Freese and Andrew Merritt went to semistate at New Castle.

Cox's senior year was far from over as he had a high jump story to tell in track and field. After winning events throughout the spring, Cox qualified for the state finals at IU-Bloomington along with classmate Jacob Schatzle returning to the state in long jump. Schatzle won the Greenfield-Central Regional by leaping 21 feet, 10 inches on his third try. Sprinter Christian Stortz nearly qualified. All three were all-EIAC.

Cox made things interesting at state, nearly cracking the top three but settling for fourth. Schatzle placed 10th. In March, Stortz (23.75 in the 200 meters) and Schatzle (7.15 in the 60) had set new indoor marks for FC track. Several FC athletes also competed at the Unified Track & Field State Finals.

Senior Kacie Williams had a clutch 7-5, 7-6 win in the sectional finals at Connersville over Rushville to give coach Katrina Huerkamp and the FC girls tennis team back-to-back titles. The Cats beat East Central at regional before falling to eventual state-qualifying Oldenburg Academy.

On the ball diamonds, FC softball won over 20 games and moved on to the Corydon Regional after defeating Rushville 9-1 in the sectional championship. There, they fell via walkoff to host Corydon in the bottom of the ninth. The baseball team nearly joined them after suffering a 7-6 extra-innings loss to Connersville in the sectional title game at Rushville.

Freshman Brooke Stang was voted EIAC MVP after breaking Wildcat single-season records for hits and runs scored and swiping 25 bags. Kensee Ferman now holds FC's single-season mark for RBIs. Pitcher Michaela Ferman joined them on the all-EIAC squad.

Adam Daugherty, Brant Ertel and Xander Rodriguez were all-EIAC baseball players. Daugherty was team MVP and top pitcher while Rodriguez was top hitter and Ertel academic all-conference.

Dancz Catz were national champions in the kick category, winning several other awards as well.

FC end-of-year awards were: Team of the Year - boys basketball; Male Athlete of the Year – Schatzle, Cox; Female Athlete of the Year – Jenna Bruns; Male Performance of the Year – Jack Stirn; Female Performance – M. Ferman; Breakout Athlete – Tiffany Billman; Mental Attitude – Bridger Bolos, Anne Becker.

FC placed 6th in final EIAC all-sport rankings for 2021-22.

In the fall, FC's girls golf continued its winning ways under new coach and alum Taylor Erfman. The ladies were second only to eventual state-qualifying Batesville at both conference and sectional.

The girls soccer team had a memorable moment at the South Dearborn sectional, winning a 0-0 contest over Madison in the sudden-death second penalty kick round. Sophomore Audrey Weaver put FC ahead by converting a kick, then goalkeeper Maegan Pearson saved the tying attempt.

Lawrenceburg was too much to handle in the finals as the Tigers won 9-0. Academic All-State were Bethany Melugin, Felicity Bohman, Dani Bulach, Joey Eckstein, Madi Lake and Erica Weaver.

FC volleyball compiled 16 wins, knocking off Connersville at the Lawrenceburg sectional before falling to an unbeaten Greensburg squad. Lauren Stacy and Stephanie Billman were Academic All-State (gold level) while Kassidy and Kiersten Schell were silver level.

Wildcat football battled with an overall young roster and ended 3-7. Losses included East Central (state 4A champs) and Lawrenceburg (3A runners-up). In the sectional game, FC nearly pulled off a win over Indian Creek, but a late 2-point conversion was called back on a penalty. Offensive lineman Ben Becker was named Class 3A Junior All-State.

All three winter sports at FC have winning records as the new year begins.

Other college signees included: Schatzle (Purdue-Fort Wayne/track), JD Stokes (Bluffton/basketball), Bolos (UIndy/football), A. Becker (Grinnell/softball), Josie Rolfes (IU/rowing), Rodriguez and Chase Burton (Wittenberg/baseball) and Ertel (George Mason/baseball).

In alumni news, pitcher Kamryn McCool set many records for the Mt. St. Joseph softball team as she helped the team win its first-ever NCAA Div. 3 regional championship. Anna Schatzle competed in Div. 3 pole vault national championships for Ohio Northern, placing 20th. Noah Hammond earned the Heartland Collegiate Defensive Player of the Year award at Mt. St. Joe's, putting his name in the football record book with 10.5 sacks.

Also, Wes Cox and the late Jon Hancher were inducted into the FCHS Athletic Hall of Fame. The FC Youth Football 2nd graders completed their undefeated season by capturing the Tri-State Youth Football Association “Super Bowl” victory over East Central Trojan Black. The FC annual baseball fundraiser “Night with a Legend” was held at Third Place in early December; sadly, keynote speaker Tom Browning passed away just nine days later at his home in Kentucky.