Two weeks since a solid showing at the state track meet, Bellmont’s Alexis Harvey was still in shape, and it showed in the Midwest Meet of Champions all-star meet at Northrop.
FORT WAYNE – A Hall of Fame coach is taking over the Canterbury girls basketball team.
Wayne Kreiger, who spent 33 years as the coach of the Columbia City girls basketball team, will replace his son Scott as the girls coach at Canterbury.
“I’m very excited to get back in that capacity,” Wayne Kreiger said Tuesday.
“It’s an opportunity to do some things that I feel that might help the kids in their journey to achieve basketball skills.
“Having worked with them, it’s a lot easier than coming in cold turkey. We developed a good rapport over the years, and I’m looking forward to it.”
Kreiger had been an assistant for Canterbury, which captured the Class A state title this season.
“I’m excited for him, I’m excited for the girls,” said Scott Kreiger, who was recently named the Canterbury boys coach.
“It was my hope that we would get somebody good to take over the program, somebody who would appreciate what we built there.
“Obviously since he’s been a part of it for the past couple of years, he knows what we’ve got invested in it and certainly has the experience and credentials to keep it moving in the right direction.”
Kreiger, 69, was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006. He has a 520-222 career record.
“I’ve been in coaching in one aspect or another all my professional life,” Wayne Kreiger said. “I love basketball, I have a passion for the game and seeing young athletes excel and help them to improve their game.
“Working with Scott in the assistant role was wonderful. We were able to do some really great things with the kids we had.
“The state championship was really special. Those are some of the reasons I was approached. I looked at it and decided I had the energy and passion to get back in.”
Kreiger left Columbia City in 2010. He then joined his son’s staff.
“It was fantastic,” Wayne Kreiger said of working with Scott.
“He worked as my No. 1 assistant at Columbia City for several years. When he left to go to the Canterbury position, we always stayed in contact and bounced some things off each other. We got back together over there, it was like old times. It was a great experience.”
He’s excited about what’s ahead for the Cavaliers.
“We lost Matte Troxel, our point guard, who really did a lot of things for us, but we have a number of returning players who have done very well and we expect to continue to do so,” Kreiger said.
