Merrillville High School - Merrillvue Yearbook (Merrillville, IN)

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Cross Country Team Finishes Sixth in the Conference, Eighth in the Sectionals Cross Country Coach, Lloyd Ahlbrand, with his Co-Captains, Dick Engelhart and Jim Nichols. Lettering Harriers, left to right: Jim Rudd, Gail Luttinen, Jim Aeschliman, Jim Nichols, Dick Engelhart, Roger Levy, Doug Brush, Clay Ekaitus.

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Cross Country Team, TOP ROW (1. to r.) K. Castald, M. Ackerman, B. Lavery, J. Waters, R. Levy. FRONT M. Kelly, D. Stockier, R. Harter, B. Sobat, J. Metcalf, J. ROW — G. Luttinen, C. Ekaitis, J. Aeschliman, D. Engel- Coster. MIDDLE ROW — J. Rudd, R. Zellers, B. Kiburz, hart, J. Nichols, D. Brush. Pirate Harriers Improve This year’s cross country team, under the able coach- ing of Lloyd Ahlbrand, improved greatly over last year’s team. They lost no lettermen through graduation, but 1961 record setter, Russ Clark, moved to Minnesota. The Pirates finished in the same place in the Calu- met Conference this year that they did last year, in sixth place out of twelve teams; but they finished 13 places ahead of last year’s mark by racking up an eighth place position in the sectionals, where 24 teams partici- pated. Jim Aeschliman set a new school record for the 2- mile course in the triangular meet with Portage and Dyer by crossing th e finish line after 10 minutes, 10 sec- onds of running. He chopped 9 seconds off Russ Clark’s old record of 10 minutes, 19 seconds. The harriers opened the season slowly, but gradual- ly gained speed as the weeks went on. They lost their first meet to Hobart and Griffith, but picked up fast as they whipped the Red Devils of Lowell by a 23 — 32 score in their next match. By the end of the season the Pirates had beaten eight teams and had lost to seven, not including the invi- tational. One of the outstanding harriers for the team was sophomore Roger Levy, who placed first for the Pirates in both the Calumet Conference meet and the Gary area sectional meet. 28 Scoreboard Sept. 13 Hobart 19, Griffith 63, Merrill- ville 65 14 Merrillville 23, Lowell 32 18 Crown Point 15, Merrillville 53, Wirt 67 24 Merrillville 23, Andrean 40 27 Portage 25, Merrillville 36, Dyer 62 Oct. 2 Calumet 21, Chesterton 34, Mer- rillville 84, Lowell 106 3 River Forest 21, Merrillville 34 9 Merrillville 29, Edison 30, East Gary 70 1 1 Merrillville 29, Highland 32 Hobart Invitational — Merrillville placed 15th out of 24 South Bend Invitational — Merrillville placed 7th out of 18.

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Varsity Wrestling; FRONT ROW, left to right: Ran- dy Gill, Sammy Kim, Scott Patellis, Mgr. Tom Novot- ny, A1 Bodak, Tommy Kim, Mike Yelachich. BACK ROW: Roger Fieser, Jerry Wojahn, Tom Martin, Bill Frank, Gregg Johnson, Coach Jim Kaiser, Keith Freidland, Jim Vargo, Joe Jones, Mike Dugle, Denny Eaton. Grapplers Struggle Through Losses Grappler Denny Eaton attempting a sit-out from Rog- er Fieser. The Pirate grapplers finished their worst season in Mer- rillville wrestling history with a 1 and 6 won-lost record. The Buccs’ lone victory came against the Eagles of East Gary, 27 — 14, in the last meet of the season. The Pirates finished ninth out of eleven in the Calu- met Conference, finishing ahead of East Gary and Chester- ton. The champions were the Lowell Red Devils. Sammy Kim, Denny Eaton, and Tom Martin were lead- ing wrestlers, each getting at least a third place in the Crown Point sectionals. Eaton will be the only one re- turning to wrestle next year. The 1962-63 season was a rebuilding one for the Pirates. Next year will show the results of the efforts made by new wrestling coach, Jim Kaiser. Reserve Wrestling; KNEELING, left to right: Bill Kesler, Joe Coster, Kerry Halsted, Mike Yaros, Pat Miller, Bob Johnson, Tom Nelson, Nick Bella. STANDING : Coach Jim Kaiser, Mgr. Tom Novotny, Tom Murry, Craig Johnson, Bob Kaser, Fred Maihof- fer, Ray Loftain, Charlie Deible, Gary MacPherson.