Szegedi, Cramer win NCAA, state championships

3.Gibsonburg sophomore Colleen Reynolds won the 400-meter dash at the Division III state track and field meet at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium in Columbus. Reynolds accomplished her goal, winning the 400 in a career-best time of 56.57 seconds. Her previous best was the 57.66 she ran to win the regional title the week before.

Oak Harbor senior wrestler Luke Cramer is awarded his state championship after a 16-4 major decision  victory in the Value City Arena. (Photo courtesy Joe Malorana/Impact Action Sports Photography/ImpactActionPhotos.com)
Oregon native Dylan Szegedi (St. Francis DeSales/Wayne State) won an NCAA Division II national diving championship	Senior forward Natasha Howard pours in 23 points and 12 re- bounds to lead Florida State to Top 25 win over Michigan State 60-58. (Photo by Steve Musco)

4.Super Bowls 2013 and 2014 have local flavor — Oregon based Maumee Bay Turf Center puts down the field turf for two consecutive Super Bowls. In 2012, MBTC installed the Speed S5-M synthetic turf system by UBU Sports at the Louisiana Super Dome, host of the 2013 Super Bowl between the Baltimore Ravens and San Fransisco 49ers. This year, the turf at New York’s MetLife Stadium was also installed by MBTC.

5.Natasha Howard (Waite), a 6-foot-3 Florida State center, is on the 2013-14 Naismith watch list and has been nominated for numerous other awards, reached milestone after milestone at FSU, was invited to World University Games Team Trials, as a junior was first team All-ACC last year. She became the 28th Seminole to reach the 1,000 point plateau in February. Former President G.W. Bush watched her and Baylor’s Brittney Griner battle in an NCAA tournament game in Waco, Texas.

6.Derrick Vicars (Genoa) led the University of Findlay track and field team on the final day of the Division II national champions, taking second in the shot put with a toss of 62 feet, 10 inches. to earn All-American honors. His brother, Marcus Vicars, finished 11th in the event as well with a distance of 55-5½.

7.Eastwood reaches state final four in softball, finishing the season 29-4 after losing to top-ranked Bloom-Carroll in the Division III state semifinal. The Eagles set a single-season school record for victories and defended their Northern Buckeye Conference championship. Ally Gabel was named the Alan Miller Jewelers All-Press Offensive Player of the Year.

8.Oak Harbor girls’ soccer reaches D-III state final four — the 10th-ranked Rockets finish 19-2-1, losing in the state semifinals. Freshman Emma Barney is Alan Miller Jewelers All-Press Co-Player of the Year with Jordyn Taylor (Lake), Courtney Niswander (Eastwood), and Kama Hardy (Cardinal Stritch Catholic), and Barney also earns second team All-Ohio honors while coach Renee Goldstein is Ohio’s D-III Coach of the Year.

9.Waite’s historic football program celebrates 100th year on gridiron. In that century, Waite won two national championships (1924 and 1932), earning an invitation to the White House after defeating Miami Senior (Fla.). But Waite’s last Toledo City League championship came 40 years ago (1963). During its heyday before World War II, the Waite team traveled across the country by train to play top programs from around the nation under legendary coaches such as Jack Mollenkopf and Don McAllister.

10.Northwood grad Jessica Grindle (Owens) is chosen an NJCAA All-American soccer player as Owens reaches the national finals with majority of its roster made of players from high schools representing the Eastern Maumee Bay region (11 players from Clay, Eastwood, Lake, Woodmore, Oak Harbor, and Northwood). Grindle led the team in scoring with 23 goals and five assists as the Express finished 17-2-2, winning a program record 15 consecutive matches and winning a regional tournament title. It is the first time an Owens athlete has been named an NSCAA All-American.

11.Clay sends seven wrestlers to state meet (junior Jared Davis (32-13), sophomore Richie Screptock (51-6), senior Damon Dominique (32-9), junior Nick Stencel (44-12), senior Edward Silva (39-9), senior Jarred Gray (22-7), and junior Antonio Zapata, 33-20), a total of 18 local wrestlers qualify, and seven place. Besides Oak Harbor state champion Luke Cramer, placing were Woodmore junior Evan Ulinski (second, 106, 49-4), Eastwood senior Randy Caris (third, 170, 57-4), Screptock (fourth, 120, 51-6), Stencel (fifth, 160, 44-12), OH senior Jarred Chambers (fifth, 152, 33-11), and OH senior T.J. Lawrence (seventh, 285, 33-14). Also qualifying were Central Catholic sophomore Nate Hagan (28-6), Oak Harbor senior Alec Bowlick (35-12), Genoa senior Drew Kennan  (62-6), Genoa senior Jake Fejes (53-10), Genoa sophomore Jay Nino (58-6), and Genoa junior Cody Buckner (33-11).

12.The Eastwood boys track team finished 13th at the D-II state meet, scoring 13 points, as two relay teams and two individuals place. The 4x400 relay team of junior Gabe Fredericks, junior Joey Salinas, senior Derek Snowden, and sophomore Devin Snowden was also fourth, finishing in 3:21.63 — less than two seconds off the championship time of a team from Dayton Thurgood Marshall (3:19.55). The 4x100 relay team of senior Isaiah Conkle, Devin Snowden, sophomore Brennan Seifert, and junior Steven Bruning finished sixth in 43.23 — less than a second behind the champions from Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary (42.26). The Eagle squad was less than one-tenth of a second behind the fifth place team from Chagrin Falls (43.14). Devin Snowden was seventh in the 300 meter hurdles final, finishing in 39.43 — over one second behind champion Dominic Lombardi (38.13), a junior from Columbus Bishop Watterson. Eastwood shpomore long distance runner Tim Hoodlebrink was fourth in the 800 (1:55.09) and in the girls meet, Eastwood senior Aricka LaVoy was sixth in the long jump (17-¾).

13.Clay’s Nicole Breeden finishes third in the discus at the Division I state meet with a throw of 141-1, while Clay junior Erin Gyurke was sixth in the 3,200, finishing in 11:04.23, and Clay freshman was eighth in the 1,600 (5:04.85). Woodmore thrower Megan Pendleton, the youngest of the Pendleton throwing dynasty, placed eighth at state in the state meet, throwing 127 feet, seven inches.

14.Genoa senior diver Bailey Dipman places fifth at the Division II state meet, compiling a mark of 385.75, nearly 10 points better than her score her junior year (375.55), even she also finished fifth.

15.Lake football coach Mark Emans state D-IV Co-Coach of year after leading the Flyers to an 8-3 playoff qualifying season. The Flyers lost to Caledonia River Valley, 36-25, despite first half jitters that set them back by four touchdowns at halftime. Emans, an Eastwood graduate and former Bowling Green State University linebacker, was also chosen by 10 coaches and 10 media members as the 2013 Alan Miller Jewelers All-Press Coach of the Year.

16.Wrestler Cody Magrum (Genoa/Ohio University) qualifies for NCAA D-I wrestling tourney for second straight year.

17.Clay girls cross country team goes to state behind the efforts of Haley Hess, Sydney Hess, Caitlyn Kuecher, Hannah Hess, Brooke Gyori, and Madison Miller—four of which are freshmen. 5 others from 3 schools go individually/Gyruke, a two-time qualifier, places high

18.Four teams make football playoffs — but all get tough first round draws. Genoa finishes No. 3 in final Associated Press pll, but plays No. 2 Bryan in first round, losing by one point. Kenton is narrowly defeated by No. 1 Kenton, and Kenton has the eventual state champion Clinton-Massie on the ropes in the state semifinal, but last quarter comeback sends Clinton-Massie to championship game, which it wins. Eastwood draws state champion Coldwater in first round and gives the Cavaliers its toughest fight during the playoffs. Northwood loses to Tinora, which defeated eventual state runner-up Wayne Trace during the season. Lake gets the No. 1 seed, Caledonia River Valley, and the Flyers outscore their opponents in the second half, but the comeback attempt falls short.

19.Clay 5-foot-9 freshman Ashley O’Neal earns first trip to state gymnastics meet by placing fourth on the balance beam, where she was 31st out of 36 at state. She, along with other members of the Clay team, are seeking a return trip this year.

20.Clay softball, which reached the Division I regional final, won a Three Rivers Athletic Conference title and during the season Coach Brenda Radabaugh reached the 400-win milestone with a 14-4 five-inning mercy-ruled victory over Pickerington North. Clay one game short of state final four

21.Clay 2011 graduate Canen Smith won a weightlifting championship at the American Powerlifting Championship Federation Master, Submaster, Junior, and Teen Nationals at the Adoba Hotel in Dearborn, Mich. Competing in the 181-pound men’s teen “raw” division for ages 18-19, he took first place with an overall three-lift total of 1,278.7 pounds. The runner-up totaled 1,113 pounds. Smith qualified for the World Powerlifting Congress Worlds in Prague, Czech Republic.

22.Former Ohio State wrestler J.D. Bergman (Oak Harbor) wins US Open title in the 96 kilogram weight class and continues lobbying to have the sport reinstated at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

23.Millbury native Josh Konieczny (St. John’s Jesuit/Dartmouth) starts campaign to become Olympic rower, helping the Dartmouth Big Green rowing team to an IRA national championship silver medal and a berth in the prestigious Henley Regetta in England.

24.Cody Pickard is a first team All-Ohio kicker after booting six field goals in a win over Fostoria, setting a new all-division state record for FGs in a game. He connected on 12 of 15 field goals for the season and followed his brother, Tyler Pickard, in earning all-state honors. Cody also was good on 64 of 67 extra points for a total of 109 points, which put him second on Ohio’s all-time single season record book for a kicker.

25.Eastwood outside hitter Alyssa Wolff (Eastwood) earns All-Ohio in volleyball, gets District 7, Northern Buckeye Conference, and Alan Miller Jewelers All-Press Player of the Year honors after setting a state record for kills in a single match (34 vs. Otsego). She finished the season with 360 kills (913 career), 289 digs, 40 aces, and 38 blocks.

26.Three girls soccer teams win league titles—Oak Harbor, Woodmore, Stritch

27.Wrestling returns to Waite after 3-year absence. Toledo Public Schools cut wrestling following the 2009-10 school year, and at the time, Waite was on a roll, winning City League championships in 2000 and three straight from 2003-05 under Coach Carmen Amenta. The program had 41 state qualifiers and 16 state placers, including state champion Mark Kerr (1986). The sport was reinstated by TPS for the 2013-14 season and already Waite is considered a contender for the CL championship.

28.Football coaching merry-go-round at Clay — Oregon Schools announce in January that successful Genoa gridiron coach Mike Vicars will be hired to coach at Clay, but Vicars never puts his “John Hancock” on the dotted line. Vicars then accepts the same coaching position at Delta, which is closer to where he was raised. In late May, it was announced that former Woodmore coach Mike Lee returns to area to coach at Clay.

29.Clay’s summer wrestlers are national runner-up at AAU Scholastic Dual Meet “Disney Duals” in Orlando, Fla., going 9-1 to finish behind Meridian (Ind.) in the Community I Division.

30.Eighteen Genoa High students combine to take second at the state power lifting meet at Kenton High School.

31.14-year-old Kateri student, Jasmine Daly, is the first female to win OAC state grade school wrestling title. The daughter of Mike Daly and Melissa Morales, she was been wrestling since she was 4-years-old. She took the Division IV 120-pound class in competition in Youngstown.

32.Graytown senior Dorothy Gackstetter wins multiple state championships and places at National Senior Olympics, finishing first in the 100 prelims and winning silver in the finals. At the state meet at Case Western Reserve University, she won Gold in the 100, shot put, discus, javelin, and long jump.