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In 2010, the local sports world saw historic Waite High School return to the limelight, a tornado destroy Lake’s field house, more state champions at Eastwood and Oak Harbor, and even some national champions. Here is The Press’s view of the top 20 events from last year —
1. Dominoes fall. The Northern Buckeye Conference forms out of the remnants (Eastwood, Genoa, Elmwood, Lake, Woodmore, Otsego) of the Suburban Lakes League, which has been in existence since 1972 and will fold after this school year. Rossford and Fostoria will join the NBC and Gibsonburg will leave the SLL to become the eighth member of the Toledo Area Athletic Conference next year. As Rossford was leaving the Northern Lakes League, the NLL considered Clay and Napoleon to fill the void and chose Napoleon. Next year, Clay will leave the Toledo City Athletic League to join the newly-formed Three Rivers Athletic Conference (St. John’s Jesuit, St. Francis de Sales, Central Catholic, Whitmer, Findlay, Lima Senior, and Fremont Ross). This all started when Lakota left the NLL for the Midland Athletic League because Fostoria St. Wendelin would no longer play football in the MAL, and the SLL could not agree on which school to fill the void.
2. Led by 6-foot-3 senior center Natasha Howard, the 24-3 Waite girls’ basketball team comes a field goal away from finishing as Division I state champion, losing 49-47 to Canton McKinley in the state final at Ohio State’s Value City Arena. Howard, chosen Ohio’s Ms. Basketball, is already a freshman starter at nationally-ranked Florida State University.
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Waite basketball players hold the Division I state runner-up trphy after
the 49-47 championship loss to Canton McKinley. (Press photo by Scott
Grau) |
3. On the fateful evening of June 5, an EF-4 tornado destroys Lake High School, including its field house, and damages other athletic facilities. As a result, Lake had new field turf installed at its football stadium before the season started and the basketball teams are playing home games at Owens Community College this winter. Last fall, the Cleveland Browns donated 100 tickets to Lake for a pre-season game and 50 of Coach Bob Abbey’s players were honored on the field during pre-game.
4. Even Eastwood track coach Gary White did not think his team could repeat as D-II state champions because of the number of athletes Dayton Dunbar was sending to Ohio State’s Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium. But the Eagles overcame the odds, scoring 38 points, six more than runner-up Peninsula Woodridge (32). Eastwood discus thrower Justin Welch won his third straight state title with a meet-throwing record of 197-1 and he also won the shot put with a meet-record distance of 62-11¾.
5. As a junior, Oak Harbor wrestler Ian Miller wins a D-II state championship at 145 and the Rockets as a team are state runners-up, finishing behind 12-time champ St. Paris Graham.
6. Fourth-ranked Genoa football finished 12-1, won its third straight SLL title and reached the D-IV state quarterfinals. The Comets have won 36 consecutive regular season games dating back to a loss to Oak Harbor in Coach Mike Vicar’s first season, and 24 straight victories in the SLL. Genoa leads with 11 football championships. In the history of the SLL since 1972, the Comets’ 12 championships are more than any other school. Eastwood (10) is next, followed by Gibsonburg (7), Otsego (7), Elmwood (6), Woodmore (5), Oak Harbor (4), and Lake, Northwood, and Lakota each have one.
7. The University of Michigan’s Emily Pendleton (Woodmore) goes for her third straight Big Ten discus title, but her sister Erin, also a Wolverine, took it by rewriting the school’s discus-throw record (184-9). Emily and Erin, the Big Ten Outdoor Freshman of the Year, were Michigan’s lone representatives at the NCAA D-I championships.
8. Derrick Vicars (Genoa) wins an NCAA D-II national championship in the discus throwing for the University of Findlay.
9. Toledo Public Schools cuts several sports and all freshman and middle school sports because of a budget deficit. As a result, Waite is left without a wrestling program, which in recent years had considerable success. Another result is Clay, Whitmer, and the Catholic schools leaving the Toledo City Athletic League starting next year because of the lack of competition provided by the remaining six TPS school in those sports that were cut. Next year, the CL will consist only of Waite, Woodward, Scott, Bowsher, Rogers, and Start.
10. Eastwood golfer Alyssa Shimel, a high school state champion, is invited by tournament director Judd Silverman to compete in a qualifier and finishes second allowing her to play as an amateur in the Jamie Farr LPGA professional tournament at Highland Meadows Golf Club in Sylvania.
11. Former Oak Harbor and Ohio State wrestler J.D. Bergman, a two-time state champion in high school and NCAA D-I runner-up as a Buckeye, begins his quest to become an Olympic wrestler for the United States in London, 2012.
12. University of Michigan red-shirt sophomore safety Jordan Kovacs (Clay), originally a walk-on at UM, finished the regular season as the Wolverine’s leading tackler (112) and earned Honorable Mention Big Ten. One of Kovac’s highlights of this season was recording 17 tackles during the Ohio State-Michigan game and intercepting a pass thrown by Buckeye quarterback Terrelle Pryor.
13. Former Oak Harbor state champions Cody Magrum (Ohio State) and Keith Witt (Kent State) both qualify to wrestle in the NCAA D-I championships their freshman seasons.
14. Clay junior weightlifter Canen Smith wins a state championship in the 155-pound weight class at the Ohio High School Division I, II, III State Powerlifting Championships in Kenton. Clay, with eight lifters, finished fifth out of 26 teams at the state meet.
15. Behind coaches Tom Kontak and Denny Meyer, the Lake-Genoa basketball saga continues into its second season. Becoming perhaps the biggest girls’ cage rivalry this region has ever seen, it is filling gymnasiums to the max. Meanwhile, Lake defeated Genoa four times over two seasons and the Flyers completed their second consecutive 20-0 regular season.
16. Oregon resident and Lake graduate Jodi Woessner sets pro bowling records on the PBA women’s tour, while another Oregon native, Troy Wollenbacher, bowls with exempt status on the men’s PBA tour.
17. Former Ohio University volleyball player Ellen Herman (Central Catholic), an Oregon native and Mid-American Conference all-time leader in kills and first team All-MAC choice four years, plays for the U.S. National Team and goes professional with VT Aurubis Hamburg in Germany’s 14-team premier league, the Bundesliga,
18. The Ohio Monarchs Gold, a wood bat summer collegiate team under the auspices of Oregon resident and General Manager Steve Timofeev and Coach Ed Mouch, wins its second National Amateur Baseball Federation College World Series championship in three years. Bowling Green State University first baseman Drew Kuns (Clay) is named MVP, the second time in three years a local has been chosen for the award. Then-Youngstown State outfielder/pitcher Cory Hornyak (Genoa) was MVP in 2008.
19. Two locals play key roles at the University of Toledo — 6-foot-10 preferred walk-on freshman center Richard Wonnell (Genoa) is a starter on the basketball team, and Andrew Elchert (Cardinal Stritch) fills a badly needed void handling the Rocket’s kicking duties.
20. Eighteen-year-old Angel Whiteman, Genoa, wins Gold in the 18-34 age division at the AAU National Taekwondo Championships in Fort Lauderdale. Tre Mettie, an 11-year-old from Graytown, wins Bronze in a youth division.
Also considered were items demonstrating the continued success of Clay baseball. First, we saw the resignation of Karl Knierim as Clay’s coach. Knierim was only the third baseball coach in the school’s 81-year storied hardball history, and he was replaced by the fourth coach, Garry Isbell.
Former Clay pitcher Justin Thomas not only makes eight appearances in the Major Leagues for the Seattle Mariners one year earlier, he appeared for an outing last year at the Toledo Mud Hen’s Fifth Third Field throwing for the Indianapolis Indians (Pittsburgh Pirates).
Michigan State University pitcher A.J. Achter, also a former Clay hurler, rotates into the Spartan’s starting rotation as an ace, is a Cape Cod summer collegiate league all-star entitling him to pitch at Boston’s Fenway Park, and then is drafted and turns professional.
Pic-Natasha-May
Waite 6-foot-3 senior Natasha Howard, now a starter at Florida State, heads downcourt during Waite’s Division I state championship game last March. Coach Manny May can be seen courtside. (Press photo by Scott Grau)
Pic-WaiteTrophy
Waite basketball players hold the Division I state runner-up trophy after the 49-47 championship loss to Canton McKinley. (Press photo by Scott Grau)
k-LakeFBfield
At Lake Community Stadium, new field turf was installed before the first home game hosting neighborhood rival Northwood. (Press photo by Ken Grosjean)
pic-LakeFBBrowns
In the rain at Cleveland Browns Stadium, the Lake football team pulls the flag across the field for the singing of the National Anthem before an exhibition game. (Photo courtesy of Matt Yunker, Community Outreach Coordinator, Cleveland Browns).
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