Incredible achievements mark 2014’s top sports events

2.Two state track champions. After winning the Division II state title in 2009 and 2010 and finishing second in 2008, Eastwood finished third at the D-II state meet with 38 points behind Dayton Dunbar (47) and Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy (46). The Eagles won a state championship in the 4x400 meter relay, finishing in three minutes, 18.09 seconds. The 4x400 team consisted of Tim Hoodlebrink, Joe Salinas, Brennan Seifert and Devin Snowden came in nearly two seconds ahead of second place Dunbar. Genoa’s Logan Bryer, now throwing at the University of Kentucky, brought home a state title in the D-II shot with a winning of 55 feet, 8 inches, which was not a season best. He found out the following Monday that he had competed at the state meet with mononucleosis.

The-Genoa junior Jay Nino celebrates a Division II 220 pound state championship victory. (Press file photo by Harold Hamilton/HEHphotos.smugmug.com)

3.Two pitchers make Major League debuts. Chicago White Sox pitcher Chris Bassitt (Genoa) and Minnesota Twins hurler A.J. Achter (Clay) both recorded their first Major League win against Detroit. Bassitt, a Curtice native, posted a 1-1 record and 3.94 ERA in six games — five starts, but in the offseason was traded to Oakland. Achter pitched in seven games, posting a 3.27 ERA in 11 innings of relief.

4.Wounded Warrior champion. Melissa Coduti, a 2000 Northwood graduate and U.S. Air Force veteran now 32-years-old, competes for Team USA in Wounded Warrior paralympic-style world events. She began training for the inaugural Invictus Games, a four-day event held in London in September. More than 400 competitors from 13 nations took part in the event, which was championed by none other than Prince Harry himself. Coduti returned with a gold medal in the 100 meters (15.7 seconds) and silver medal in heavyweight power lifting with a 132-pound bench press.

5.Drafted. Former Waite and Florida State 6-foot-2 star forward Natasha Howard made her preseason WNBA debut, and she led the Indiana Fever with 14 points on 6-of-12 shooting. Howard made FSU program history by becoming the school’s highest WNBA draft pick at fifth overall. At FSU, Howard earned honorable mention All-America honors from the Associated Press and the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association, and was a second team Senior Class All-American. She finished her Florida State career with a program-record 41 double-doubles, including a single-season record 15 in her senior season. One of the most remarkable individual feats was when she accumulated five 30-plus point games her senior year. All five high-scoring efforts came against ACC competition, including a school-record 40 points in an 83-59 win at Syracuse.

6.SEC champion. Genoa grad and University of Kentucky junior thrower Brad Szypka captured the Southeastern Conference title by throwing the 16-pound shot 63-10½, becoming the first Wildcat athlete to win the conference shot put title in a decade. Szypka placed fifth at the NCAA D-I national meet in New Mexico, throwing the shot a personal-best 64-¼. He earned the UK men’s team its only four points of the meet.

Minnesota Twins pitcher A.J. Achter (Clay/Michigan State), (Photo courtesy of Brace Hemmelgram/Minnesota Twins).

7.Kylee Ault, a 2012 Clay grad, is a member of the Bowling Green State University co-ed cheerleading squad that won ESPN’s nationally-televised 2014 College Cheer and Dance Championships in Orlando, Fla., beating runner-up and defending champion Hofstra and third-place Southeastern Louisiana. Hofstra had won the last five national titles and eight of the last 11.

8.Woodville’s Zach Sandwisch is a starting linebacker on Central Catholic’s D-III state championship football team. In what is now considered one of the most exciting state championship games ever, Central defeated Athens and it’s quarterback, Ohio State recruit and Ohio’s 2014 Mr. Football, Joe Burrow, 56-52. Sandwisch’s name is repeated over and over by Sports Time Ohio television broadcasters when Central’s defense is on the field, as he leads the Fighting Irish with 10 tackles (four solo, six assists), including one tackle for a loss.

9.Upset in tournament — two state-ranked Clay girls teams. Clay softball finished 28-3 overall, a perfect 14-0 in the TRAC, won sectional and district titles, but lost in a regional semifinal, 8-6, in eight innings to No. 4 Elyria (23-7), when senior pitcher Brooke Gallaher was called for an illegal pitch five times by the third base umpire, twice with runners on third base who were allowed to score. Gallaher had not been called for that all season and even Elyria fans were stunned that it was even called at all. Clay girls’ soccer was just as impressive, going 15-0-2 in the regular season, winning a TRAC title, their second in three years, and a sectional championship before falling in heartbreaking fashion to Notre Dame Academy, 2-1, in double overtime in the D-I district semifinals. The Eagles had defeated NDA during the regular season, but NDA scored the winning goal in the last minute of the second overtime of the tournament game at Findlay’s Elmer Graham Stadium.

10.Dog bird hunting champion. A former three-sport athlete at Waite who is now an East Toledo businessman, 56-year-old Oregon resident Dan Steingraber, dog Scout, and human partner Kevin Keisel of Pennsylvania won first place at the United Field Trailers Association Flushing Doubles National Championship in dog bird hunting competition.

11.Kent State wrestler Ian Miller (Oak Harbor) finishes fourth at the NCAA Division I national tournament and entered the 2014-15 season ranked third in country in his weight class. In the Mid-American Conference, where he will have to defend his championship, he is ranked No. 1

12.Half century in the making. Under first-year coach Dan Chipka, Waite football won a Toledo City League co-championship, the school’s first gridiron title since 1963 — a gap stretching 51 years. The Indians finished 5-5 overall and 4-1 in the City.

13.Ultimate Fighter. Woodmore grad Johnny “Brutal” Bedford is taking his national television exposure and getting mixed martial arts fights at major venues across country. Since his graduation in 2001, Bedford signed with the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He was a competitor on Spike TV’s “The Ultimate Fighter: Team Bisping vs. Team Miller.” On June 28, Bedford fought Rani Yahya at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas.

14.Greco/Freestyle champion. Six-foot-2 then-Clay junior Matt Stencel, who placed second at the D-I state wrestling tournament in Columbus in March, at age 16 pinned all five opponents in the first period in the Greco events, and he easily went 5-0 in the freestyle events to win two first place titles at 195 pounds at the ASICS Vaughan Cadet Nationals in Fargo, N.D. Stencel helped Ohio take third in the freestyle team standings and finish fourth in the Greco team standings. He was one of just two Ohio wrestlers to win one of the 17 weight classes in the Greco events.

15.Milestone. Lake baseball coach Greg Wilker gets win No. 500. During his 30-year tenure, Wilker's teams have won seven league titles in three different conferences, five district titles and one regional championship. Wilker eclipsed the 500-win threshold in the Flyers' 19-4 defeat of Port Clinton.

16.Waite wrestling returns — wins Toledo City League title in first season back as a varsity sport after a multi-year absence. Cardinal Stritch Catholic, a one-time small school state powerhouse, cancels its wrestling season for 2014-15 — athletic officials cite a lack of participation as the reason.

17.Eastwood downs both Genoa and Lake to win the Northern Buckeye Conference football championship — Eastwood, Genoa qualifies for the playoffs but both lose in their respective first round regional quarterfinal games. Gibsonburg finishes 9-1, but finishes behind Tiffin Calvert in the Toledo Area Athletic Conference race and fails to make the playoffs because of a weak schedule that did not include Calvert.

18.Alyssa Heintschel, a multi-year all-state soccer star at Clay, takes over starting goalkeeper job mid-season as a freshman at Ball State and gets her first collegiate shutout.

19.East Toledo wrestling family member Shawn Contos is an assistant coach for the NCAA D-I national champion Penn State wrestling team.

20.Five local athletes, including four from Oregon and one from Woodville, contribute to nationally-ranked St. Ursula volleyball season that reached D-I state semifinals. Sophomore Jayme Cox, from Oregon, is first team all-state as a sophomore.

21.Clay’s Grace Winckowski reaches D-I state track medal podium in two events.

22.Gibsonburg’s Reynolds twins, Kendall and Colleen, both place at D-III state track again.

23.Lake cheerleading squad wins a state championship at Bowling Green State University’s Stroh Center and Northwood cheerleaders are runner-up.

24.Clay’s Jody DeMeo qualifies for state in gymnastics, where she places.

25.Four local girls soccer players earn All-Ohio, including Karleigh Clere (Clay), a Division I first team selection as a sophomore.

26.Lake equestrian team wins its fourth straight state championship.

27.Genoa’s Cody Pickard continues his family’s kicking tradition started by his older brother, Cody is named All-Ohio and sets several state records.

28.Clay’s Haley Hess named All-Ohio in cross country, places at state meet.

29.Clay doubles team becomes school’s first state qualifiers in tennis.

30.Woodmore softball pitcher Madeline Phillips, now at Urbana University, named first team All-Ohio in Division III.

31.Gibsonburg senior Sam Kohler named first team All-Ohio in baseball.

32.Oak Harbor diver Bryce Buderer finishes 10th at state, swimmer and teammate Cooper Hicks finishes eighth in swimming, and both earn All-Ohio.

33.Four local athletes are on Heidelberg men’s soccer that qualifies for NCAA D-III national tournament.