With the calendar turning to August on Thursday it means summer vacation is over for Jackson County and high school students across the state.

It also means practice is here for fall sport athletes.

With a lot of outstanding athletes returning from last fall’s teams there promises to be a lot of highly competitive contests for Jackson County fans to witness this fall.

The Brownstown Central volleyball team advanced to the state championship match in Class 2A, and Brownstown Central senior twins Chance and Shane Ratliff advanced to the boys’ state cross country finals last fall.

There is one new athletic director in the county as Curtis While has filled that role at Crothersville High School, and Sarah Brown is the new assistant athletic director at Trinity Lutheran.

There will be several new head coaches around the county this fall.

P.J. Stein is the new boys’ tennis coach at Seymour High School, Kristy Wright is the new volleyball coach at Crothersville, and Kylee Wischmeier is the new girls’ cross-country coach at Brownstown Central.

Trinity Lutheran will have two new head coaches as Emilee Lang takes over the head coaching duties of the girls’ soccer team and Brooks Thoele is the new girls’ golf coach.

Girls’ golf practice officially began on Friday. The Seymour girls will play in an 18-team tournament at Bloomington on Monday, and the Lady Owls will host a tournament at Shadowood Golf Course on Tuesday with Brownstown Central and Trinity Lutheran among the eight teams playing in that.

All five Jackson County volleyball teams will be in with new sectional opponents this fall.

Seymour will be in a 4A sectional with Bedford North Lawrence, Floyd Central, Jeffersonville, New Albany, and Providence. Providence won the 3A state title last year and moved up to 4A.

Brownstown Central has been assigned to a 2A sectional with Austin, Brown County, South Ripley, Southwestern Hanover, and Switzerland County.

Trinity Lutheran and Crothersville are in a Class 1A sectional with Hauser, Jac-Cen-Del, Oldenburg Academy, Milan, and Rising Sun, and Medora has been moved to a sectional with Loogootee, North Daviess, Orleans, Shoals and Vincennes Rivet.

Seymour’s football team will be in a Class 5A sectional with Franklin, Columbus East and East Central, and Brownstown Central will compete in a Class 2A sectional with Clarksville, Crawford County, Eastern (Pekin), Paoli, Salem, Switzerland County and Tell City.

The Jackson Bowl will be played at Brownstown Sep. 27. The Owls will host Silver Creek for a scrimmage on Aug. 16 and open their regular season at Greenwood on Aug. 23.

The Braves will scrimmage Bedford north Lawrence on Aug. 16 and open their season at Corydon on Aug. 23.

The Seymour girls’ soccer team will be in a Class 3A sectional with Floyds Central, Jeffersonville, Jennings County and New Albany, and the Trinity Lutheran girls will compete in a Class 1A sectional with Providence, Salem, Shawe Memorial, and Southwestern Hanover.

The Seymour boys will compete with Bedford North Lawrence, Floyd Central, Jeffersonville, Jennings County and New Albany in a 3A sectional, and the Trinity Lutheran boys will battle Hauser, Shawe Memorial, Southwestern Hanover, and Southwestern Shelby in a Class 1A sectional.

Several of the county’s volleyball, tennis and soccer teams will compete in scrimmages next week. August 17 is the first day that the volleyball, soccer, tennis, and cross-country teams can open their seasons.

Brian Haenchen released his preseason class-by-class top volleyball picks in the Indianapolis Star on Sunday and had Brownstown Central and Barr-Reeve tied for second in Class 2A behind Benton Central.

Haenchen had Trinity Lutheran listed second behind Southwood in Class 1A. Southwood won the 1A state title last fall.

He had Hamilton Southeastern No. 1 in Class 4A and Roncalli No. 1 in 3A. Hamilton Southeastern was 33-0 and won Class 4A last year and has won 67 straight matches.