Chris Souder’s ‘best year’ of his coaching life
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Chris Souder
BY MIKE FIELDS (March 9, 2016)
Mercer County Coach Chris Souder is having a ball during March Madness, and it keeps getting better.
Tuesday night, Souder watched Mercer County’s boys beat Casey County to win the 12th Region title. His son Conner, a senior, plays for the Titans.
Wednesday afternoon, Souder guided Mercer County’s girls to a 68-39 victory over Leslie County in the opening game of the St. Elizabeth HealthCare/KHSAA Sweet Sixteen in BB&T Arena. It was the Titans’ 30th win — a school record — and put them in the state quarterfinals for the first time.
“This has been the best of year of my coaching career,” Souder said. “The fact that we won the region, and that I got to watch my son also win the region and knowing he’s going to step on the Rupp Arena floor next week.
“I played at Harrodsburg (class of 1984) and it was always a dream of mine to get (to Rupp), but I was never able to get there. For Conner to get to achieve that, it gives me cold chills every time I talk about it.”
Souder also has family ties on his girls’ team. Emmy Souder and Seygan Robins are his nieces.
PrintABOUT MIKE FIELDS
After working as a sports writer for 41 years, I needed a break from the daily demands and deadlines of the newspaper business. So last June I retired from the Lexington Herald-Leader after covering approximately 4,000 high school sports events in my career. Now, eight months later, I’m rested and ready for a part-time return to the game. To reintroduce myself: I was born in Pikeville, grew up in Bardstown, graduated from the University of Kentucky, worked at newspapers in Eustis, Fla., Lake City, Fla., Henderson, Ky., and Evansville, Ind., before coming to Lexington in 1980. Email me at mfields@khsaa.org
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