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Oak Harbor sophomore Ashley LaFountain dropped her first-round match at the Division II girls state tennis tournament in Columbus.
LaFountain, who went 1-1 at last year's state tournament, lost to Mollie Miller, a freshman from Portsmouth, 6-2, 6-7 (6-8), 6-1, at Ohio State's Stickney Tennis Center.
“Ashley knew it was going to be pretty tough to get through this girl,” said Oak Harbor tennis coach Rick LaFountain, Ashley's father. “We looked her up online and realized she had beaten several of the local players in the USTA. We knew beating her would be a real task. This girl is a four-star player, which are generally the top Division I kids. She has a real solid background and we were surprised we hadn't heard anything about her.”
Miller lost to defending champion Alyssa Ritchie, a senior from Waynesville, 6-1, 6-0, in the second round. Ritchie went on to easily defend her title, becoming just the 14th girl in Ohio High School Athletic Association history to win multiple state singles titles.
The 5-foot-7 LaFountain finished with a 33-3 singles record this season.
“A lot of it was mental because the girls were evently matched,” coach LaFountain said. “They were both lefties and they played a very similar game. Ashley's serve let her down quite a bit. She had 25-30 double faults in the three sets. I could see what she was doing, but I couldn't correct it in the middle of the match. Not to make excuses, but had she taken her game up a notch she could have beaten this girl.
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| Ashley LaFountain |
“At end of the second set, Ashley had just won the set and was sitting next to me and she said, ‘Dad, my feet are hurting. Maybe if I change my socks that will help.' She changed her socks and she made the mistake of looking at her feet and they were pretty well blistered up. Bang, bang, she was down 3-0 in the third set and by that point you're in trouble.”
Carlo plays last game
Rex Carlo is a senior football player at Clay High School. Prior to his senior year, he earned three varsity awards in wrestling, two in football, and one in track.
He was preparing to be an offensive and defensive starter on the football team his senior year, but the weekend before the start of the season he suffered a heart attack caused by a heart infection, myocarditis.
Friday night’s game was the last week of the official football season, and Carlo was planning to return to light duty play. It was Senior Night and the last home game of the year at Memorial Stadium.
Rex missed the first week of school as well, said his father Tony Carlo.
“His myocarditis cleared up quickly, but it is possible that it may have been caused by an immunization he received that same week. Many tests were run to find the virus or bacteria that caused the myocarditis, but nothing was found. Rex has been working on resting and strengthening his heart muscle since there was a small amount of damage. His prognosis is that he will be able to return to any level of activity that he chooses,” Tony wrote in an e-mail to The Press.
Lake ties for first
The Lake boys cross country team tied Tiffin Columbia for the top spot in the district championship, but received the runner-up trophy based on the finish of the teams' sixth place runner. The Flyers placed the top five runners in the first 18 places to advance to the Division II Regional Championships at Hedges-Boyer Park in Tiffin on Saturday.
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| Riley Breese |
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| Hunter Johnson |
Nathan Adkins finished fifth, Scott Brittenham ninth, Riley Breese, Steve Stanley, and Nathan Scanlan placed 16th, 17th, and 18th to finish the Flyers scoring. Ty Fasilius was 51st and Dustin Preble 52nd in the district championships.
The Lake girls finished ninth overall and were led by Hailee Greenlese's 27th overall place. Hailee's time was a personal best by 30 seconds. Stormi Roelle finished 46th, Amber Soncrant was 49th, Samantha Gomez was 50th, Angela Santana was 56th, Brooke Davies was 60th, and Samantha Curavo 61st.
Genoa Stadium paid off
Friday, October 22 was a big day for Genoa fans. First, the football team extended their winning streak to 38 regular season games and assured themselves of at least a share of the SLL championship for the fourth year in a row.
In addition, the final payment on the stadium debt was made to Genoa Bank. The loan, for slightly over $303,000, was taken out in 2004 to finish the field, install stands, lighting and other miscellaneous items. Six years later the loan was paid off entirely using profits from the annual Goal Post Gala fundraiser.
All of the money came from Genoa’s local businesses and supporters. The only school money used was for the restrooms attached to the Booster Barn which was paid for with money from the K-5 elementary school bond issue approved by the community in November 2008.
Dennis Mock, Genoa school superintendent, and Bill Skilliter, Booster president, both beamed with pleasure and expressed overwhelming gratitude to the community for their continuing support.
Genoa football starts tradition
Building on last year’s wearing of pink athletic tape to promote Breast Cancer awareness, the Genoa football team again wore pink tape on their wrists, ankles etc for their final home game against Otsego Friday night.
When asked about how it came about, Coach Mike Vicars said, “You need to talk to the boys, they are the ones that put this together, we had nothing to do with it.”
While players Garrett Scott and Derek Allgier were leaders in organizing the tribute, they were quick to point out that all of the seniors and several underclassmen worked hard to carry it through. When asked if anyone was apprehensive about wearing the pink tape they said no, not a single person. They admitted that while they needed to be tough on the field, they wanted to be known in the community for more than just football and show their gentle side by helping draw attention to a disease that touches one in four.
Even though the seniors had been planning this for a while, the underclassmen were pushing them to be sure they did something in October, Nation Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The field had several pink ribbons painted on it, and the cheerleaders wore pink as well as did many students and fans. It looks as though the football team may have a tradition going.
City League Hall
Five former Waite athletes, the most from any school, are being inducted into the Toledo City Athletic League Hall of Fame at the 29th annual dinner ceremony on November 8 at Gladieux Meadows on Heatherdowns Boulevard, Toledo.
The five from Waite are former Temple and Rice football coach Jerry L. Berndt (1957), father and son golfers Milton E. Carswell Sr. (’57) and Milton E. Carswell Jr., (’97) Bowsher and former Start basketball coach Gilbert Guerrero (’68), and former wrestling coach Jim Derr (’54) will be inducted posthumously.
Other athletes being inducted are Jeff Guyton (St. Francis DeSales, ’72), Christine Johnson (Libbey, ’81), Cornel Smith (Scott, ’85), Corvella Holmes (Scott, ’85), Denny Amrhein (St. John’s Jesuit, ’94), and Stephanie Heldt (Central Catholic, ’96).
Coaches being inducted are Leroy Bates (Libbey), Pam Edgell (Notre Dame Academy), Terrie Trumbull (DeVilbiss), and Bill Clark is being inducted as Distinguished Citizen. Since 1981, 284 athletes, coaches, and administrators have been inducted.
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