Top sports events of 2016: Once again, individual athletes excel on big stage

While Eastwood’s boys track team is one of the latest to win any kind of team state championship, going back to back in 2009 and 2010, this year there was only one event championship. However, it was four athletes who teamed up to top the podium in that event. The four were members of an Eastwood relay team that took the crown at OSU’s Jesse Owens Stadium in early June.

Here are the top 15 local sports events of 2016, according to The Press —

1. Josh Konieczny (St. John’s Jesuit/Dartmouth), 25, a Millbury native, teamed with Andrew Campbell Jr. to place fifth in the Olympic men's lightweight double sculls rowing competition on Friday, Aug. 12 at Lagoa Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The U.S. boat, which was piloted by Konieczny, took fifth in 6:35:07. The Americans were a close second behind Pierre Houin and Jeremie Azou of France at 1,000 meters — or halfway through the race — before Konieczny and Andrews began to tail off. The French duo won the gold medal in 6:30.7.

2. Three state wrestling champions. Clay senior wrestler Matt Stencel won the D-I state title at 220 pounds, capping a 45-1 season. Oak Harbor senior Brandon Garber (44-6) won a D-III state title at 285 pounds and Genoa freshman Dylan D’Emilio (51-1) won a 106 pound title at D-III. Forty-one of Stencel’s wins were by pin, including in the state title bout, in which he pinned Jared Campbell (Lakewood St. Edward) in 3:48.

3. The Eastwood 4x400 relay team of Logan Baugher, Sam Church, Ryan Reiter and Isaac Emahiser win a D-II state championship in track and field. Senior teammate Jonathon Bowlus was on the relay team, but had to leave for medical reasons. In addition, Eastwood boys relay teams took sixth in the 4x800 relay (Baugher, Billy Barker, Josh Harper, Church) and seventh in the 4x100 relay (Cooper Comes, Emahiser, Reiter, Tyler Brenot). Plus, Baugher placed eighth in the 800, Church was 12th in the 1600 and Reiter 14th in the long jump.

4. Bryan Smolinski, a Genoa native and 1989 Cardinal Stritch graduate is part of the U.S.A. Hockey Team that was inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame at a ceremony in Philadelphia. At the age of 26, his USA team faced Canada in the best-of-three finals of the 1996 World Cup, which were held in Philadelphia and Montreal. The Canadians, whose roster included Wayne Gretzky, Eric Lindros and Mark Messier, won the opening game, 4-3 in overtime. The U.S. responded with back-to-back 5-2 victories to clinch the series. Smolinski, who was drafted out of Michigan State in the first round of the 1990 NHL draft by the Boston Bruins, was a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins during the World Cup. Some of his teammates on that squad, coached by Ron Wilson, included Brett Hull, Chris Chelios, Mike Modano and Pat LaFontaine. Smolinski’s first NHL season was with Boston in 1992-93. He decided to end his career with Montreal after the 2008-09 season. He played in 1,056 games with eight teams and scored 274 goals with 377 assists.

5. St. Kateri Catholic Schools gets special use permit from Oregon City Council to build athletic fields on 15 acres the St. Kateri Schools owns at 1055 South Coy and 3521 Pickle. The property was a donation from the late George Tschann in 2011. In addition, Cardinal Stritch plays its first varsity football game ever on campus, losing to Hudson Western Reserve 64-62, but on this Saturday afternoon, the game was played on its practice field and JV game field, which was converted to a varsity home facility for one day. For over a half century, Stritch has had to play home football games on leased fields.
6. Woodville resident Ted James, 37, won back-to-back championships in the T-Class and the Tactical Class competitions at the Rimfire championships at Camp Perry. Saying he “just had a good day,” James out-fired over 220 competitors and recorded an aggregate score of 592-37x. James still holds the national record aggregate of 595-37x, fired one year prior at Camp Perry.

7. Oregon native Zena Cole finished sixth in the Olympic Paralympic discus and seventh in the club after taking a silver medal in the discus in the 2012 Paralympics. Cole, who now resides in Napoleon, is the original club thrower for the USA.

8. Tiffin University’s Jake Cramer (Oak Harbor) finished sixth in the 197 pound division of the NCAA D-II national wrestling championships at Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Also qualifying from Tiffin was Garrett Gray (Clay), who was the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Wrestler of the Year, Jared Chambers (Oak Harbor) and Mike Screptock (Clay).

9. For the second straight year, Natasha Howard (Waite/Florida State) plays in the WNBA finals—this year with the Minnesota Lynx and last year for the Indiana Fever. She is also selected to the USA Women’s Select Team, which trains alongside the USA Basketball National Team that competed at the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

10. Spring Arbor University junior goalkeeper Ashley Timmons (Lake) leads the nation in goals against average (0.2) (a school record and second best mark in NAIA history), registers 13 shutouts, gave up just four goals in 22 matches (1,800 minutes) as SAU finishes 22-1-1 and reached NAIA national championship game, losing to the University of Northwestern Ohio, 1-0, in Orange Beach, Alabama—their only loss of the season after winning 43 straight over two years. Twenty-two of 24 players on UNO’s roster were international recruits.

11. Owens Community College sophomore libero Brooke Gyori (Clay) is a first team All-NJCAA All-American and OCCAC Player of the Year in leading Owens (41-5) to a third place finish nationally. It was Owens highest finish ever at the NJCAA D-II level. Gyori will now head to NCAA D-I University of Tennessee-Martin in the Ohio Valley Conference.

12. Ball State junior goalkeeper Alyssa Heintschel (Clay) is first team All-Mid American Conference for the second year in a row, leading BSU to a 14-3-3 season and 9-1-1 in the MAC West—good enough for the MAC regular season championship. Heintschel had an 0.82 goals against average and her 0.79 career GAA ranks the best in BSU history. She had seven shutouts.

13. Citing funding issues, Owens Community College halts all athletic programs except its volleyball team and both basketball teams, leaving countless local soccer, baseball and softball players without a college team to play for.

14. Pitchers AJ Achter (Clay/Michigan State) and Chris Bassitt (Genoa/Akron) both see plenty of action at Major League level—Achter for the Los Angeles Angels and Bassitt for the Oakland Athletics. Achter is traded to the Detroit Tigers in December and will begin this season with the Tigers or their Triple A affiliate, the Toledo Mud Hens.

15. Oak Harbor wrestling reaches the D-III state dual tournament, but the Rockets were nipped in the quarterfinals, 30-29, by Rootstown. Delta went on to capture its fourth straight D-III state dual tournament team championship.

16. Clay became the eighth and final school in the Three Rivers Athletic Conference to get artificial turf on its football field, Ted Federici Field at Clay Memorial Stadium. Much of the estimated costs of $500,000 to lay the turf was waived by Maumee Bay Turf Center, owned by Clay graduates P.J. Kapfhammer and Brad Morrison.

17. Former Clay/Bowling Green State University basketball standout Kate Achter gets her first head coaching job in September, taking over the NCAA Division I Loyola-Chicago University program. Loyola plays in the Missouri Valley Conference. Achter’s Ramblers are 1-10 after closing out its non-league schedule with a 76-50 loss to Lamar.

18. Oregon resident and St. Ursula volleyball player Jamye Cox is selected as a member of the USA Volleyball’s 2016 U.S. Women’s Junior National Training Team. A first team All-Ohio libero, she led SUA to the state final four times and will continue her career at NCAA D-I Michigan State.

19. Wrestler J.D. Bergman (Oak Harbor/Ohio State) makes another run at the U.S. Olympic Team, but falls short, placing fifth at the U.S. trials. Bergman was a two-time All-American for the Buckeyes, finishing second at the NCAA D-I meet in 2008. OSU had eight wrestlers competing at this year’s Olympic Team Trials.

20. Matt York (Clay/Lourdes University) and Chandler Dippman (Clay/College of Wooster) play major roles as the Toledo Hawks win a National Amateur Baseball Federation College Division World Series championship. The Hawks defeat the St. Louis Bandits, 5-4, as York pitched 6.2 innings and Dippman had a key sacrifice bunt in the televised championship game. Going 5-1 in the wood bat tourney, the Hawks also had wins over the Capitol City Reds (Ont.) 10-5, Muskegon Clippers (Mich.) 8-3, Long Island Astros (NY) 7-0, and Oil City Stags (Mich.) and their only loss came to two-time CWS champion Crystal Lake Cardinals (Ill.) 13-4 in pool play. Also involved with the Hawks are Dylan Clifton-Lorton (Waite/OSU-Lima) and Kyle Kozlaker (Clay/Owens Community College).

21. University of Toledo left-handed senior pitcher Ross Achter (Clay) is named Mid-American Conference West Division Pitcher of the Year by pitching the Rockets to the program’s first-ever win over Big Ten member Indiana. The Oregon native struck out six and spread out six hits in a 3-1 victory over the Hoosiers. In the summer, Achter was invited and played wood bat summer collegiate baseball in the high profile Cape Cod League.

22. State wrestling placers include Genoa senior Damian D’Emilio (second, 126 pounds, 46-7), Oak Harbor junior Bruce Hrynciw (third, D-120, 36-4), Clay junior Nick Henneman (fourth, 120, 45-9), Northwood senior Jonny Wheeler (fifth, 126, 42-7), Oak Harbor senior Rhett Petersen (fifth, 145, 43-8), Genoa freshman Julian Sanchez (sixth, 113, 30-8), Oak Harbor junior Jake Huston (sixth, 152, 34-17), Oak Harbor junior Trevor Scherf (seventh, 138, 31-10), Gibsonburg sophomore Hugo Villarreal (eighth, 138, 42-10), Genoa junior Adam Bates (eighth, 145, 47-14), and Gibsonburg junior Madison Jaso (eighth, 182, 36-10). All wrestled in D-III except Henneman, who was D-I.

23. Oregon resident and St. Francis senior defenseman Angelo “Chini” Procaccini leads the Knights to a state runner-up finish in hockey after winning a state championship the year prior. Also playing for St. Francis was sophomore goalkeeper Zeke Fravor, also from Oregon.

24. Waite diver Anna Campos makes her third trip to state swim meet, and will be seeking her fourth trip this year this year. Last year, she finished eighth in D-I, scoring 329.95 in the semifinals and then 460.6 in the finals. In her fourth trip to state, Eastwood senior Alyssa Decker finished 14th in the D-II 100-yard butterfly and also qualified in the 300 individual medley. Also qualifying was the Oak Harbor 200 freestyle relay team of Taylor Byington, Abbie Mizerlle, Mikenzie Blunt and Paige Priesman.

25. No. 10 ranked Eastwood volleyball completes a perfect 22-0 regular season, then loses its only match to eventual state qualifier No. 6 Sparta Highland in the D-III regional semifinals. The Eagles finish 25-1.

26. Lake senior athlete Branden Short and Genoa’s Terry Perry won power lifting state championships at a competition in Kenton, Ohio. Short, set a state record for his weight class. Short, who weighed 214 pounds, won the large school 225 pound class with a record-setting total of 1,440 pounds (510 pound squat, 380 pound bench press and 550 pound dead lift).

27. Clay sophomore Mady Arquette becomes the first female in school history to qualify for the state tennis tournament (D-I). After winning a sectional championship, Arquette finished second at the Bowling Green State University district tournament.

28. Three local sophomores, inside linebacker Justin Schiets (Woodville), strong safety Andrew Parker (Woodville) and free safety/receiver/kick returner Jase Bowen (Millbury), all play key roles in leading top-ranked Central Catholic to 13-1 season and Division III state semifinal appearance.

29. Clay softball coach Brenda Radabaugh is a recipient of the Ohio High School Athletic Association’s Sportsmanship, Ethics and Integrity Award after completing her 16th season at Clay. In just the last four years, Clay has gone 100-15, won the Three Rivers Athletic Conference title all four years and made three regional tournament appearances.

30. Eastwood sophomore Katelyn Meyer won three individual medals at the D-II state track meet, placing third in the long jump, fifth in the high jump and eighth in the 100 hurdles. She also ran on the 4x100 relay team that qualified, which included Leah Tressel, Abby Schroeder, Nichole Swartz. Meyer is the first Eastwood girl to earn All-Ohio in three events and the first to qualify in four events.

31. Oregon resident and Whitmer senior Mitch Kubicki placed third in the 300 meter finals and also get a sixth place finish in the pole vault at the D-I state track meet.

32. Clay senior Haley Hess finished fourth in the 1600 with school record time of 4:58.76 at the D-I state meet. She finished her high school distance running career with three medals at the state cross country meet and three at the state track meet.

33. Woodmore sophomore Anatacia Torres placed fifth at the D-III state track meet and classmate Carly Rothert qualified in three events, the high jump, 100 hurdles and 300 hurdles, placing seventh in the high jump.

34. Northwood relay team of senior Kelsey Smothers, sophomore Allison Vogl, junior Allison Roach and freshman Trinity Fowler finish seventh at the D-III state championships.

35. Cardinal Stritch senior Kali Hardy finished eighth in the D-III 100-yard dash and 12th in the 200 dash, and teammates Lauren Loucks qualified for state in the high jump and Stella Dewitt in the long jump.

36. Oak Harbor’s Emma Barney placed eighth in the D-II long jump at state.

37. Local D-III state wrestling qualifiers who did not place include Oak Harbor junior Dylan Mansor (132, 37-10), Northwood junior Trevor Mack (170, 27-9), Oak Harbor junior Kian Thompson (182, 43-9), Oak Harbor junior Dylan Thorp (195, 40-10), Genoa junior Matt Herrick (195, 44-9) and Eastwood junior Tyler Tudor (220, 41-11). Oak Harbor sent eight wrestlers to state and Genoa sent six.

38. The 50th Anniversary of the Jim Derr Memorial Wrestling Tournament is held with a fundraiser raising $2,500 for Alzheimer’s research. Derr was an industrial arts teacher for 37 years before retiring in 1996. He taught nine years at Northwood High School and was instrumental in starting the school’s wrestling and football programs, but also had an impact at programs across the area. He passed away in 2002 after battling a combination of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and dementia.

39. Lake baseball coach Greg Wilker is inducted into the Ohio High School Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame. In 32 years, Wilker’s teams have won over 550 games, eight league championships, 19 sectional titles, six district championships and reached the state final four once.

40. Clay senior Sydney Hess (D-I), Eastwood senior Hannah Sponaugle (D-II) and Oak Harbor freshman Hope Sievert (D-II) qualify for the state cross country meet. Sponaugle, the Northern Buckeye Conference champion four years straight was making her fourth trip to state and did the best of the trio, finishing 39th of 179 runners in D-II.

41. Cardinal Stritch senior golfer Stephen Johnson qualifies for the D-II state golf meet at North Star Golf Club in Sunbury, Ohio.

42. Genoa (7-4), Eastwood (10-2) and Gibsonburg (8-3) qualify for state football playoffs, with Eastwood and Gibsonburg winning league championships, and only Eastwood advancing in the playoffs to the Division V regional semifinals after defeating Marion Pleasant, 35-28, in a regional quarterfinal.

43. Three local soccer teams, the Oak Harbor boys team (D-II) and two girls teams, Lake (D-II) and Woodmore (D-III), advance to regional tournament action, with Oak Harbor reaching the regional final—one game away from the state final four. The Rockets finished 18-2-1. In addition, league championships are won by boys’ teams from Oak Harbor, Cardinal Stritch and Lake, and girls’ teams from Oak Harbor, Woodmore, and Northwood.

44. Waite senior tennis player Vanessa Skoroukos wins her fourth straight Toledo City League Player of the Year Award as her team took all three singles titles on their way to a conference team championship.

45. Owens Community College 6-foot-5, 225 pound pitcher Grant Peters (Eastwood) is named Ohio Community College Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Year, plus he got national NJCAA D-II Pitcher of the Week honors. His 6-2 mark (3.93 ERA) helped Owens to a 30-15 mark, including 11-5 in the OCCAC in its final year of baseball. Peters, Jake Schmeltz (Eastwood), and Casey Gose (Genoa) make the All-OCCAC Team.

46. Five Cardinal Stritch baseball players, infielder Jude Neary, pitcher Sean Killian, pitcher/outfielder Stephen Johnson, outfielder/pitcher Drew Staczek and catcher/DH Joey Peternel play roles in leading the Toledo Post 553 Hawks to a 41-12 record, district championship and the Ohio American Legion state championship game, where they fell 6-5 in a 12-inning encounter to state champion Pickerington.