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WINTER SPORTS PREVIEW • SIDNEY DAILY NEWS • NOVEMBER 2012 • PAGE 2

��Yellow Jackets face challenging schedule

Veteran talent returns on swim, bowling teamsBY TONY ARNOLD

Regardless of the sport – the strength of scheduleat Sidney can typically be counted on to be prettystrong. For head coach Greg Snyder and the boyshoops team – the Yellow Jackets slate this year willbe extremely tough and will include a solid GWOCschedule along with some steady non-conferencegames.“We play an incredibly difficult schedule. We start

off the season with some of the toughest teams in thearea. Then we don't have a home game for 32 days -and of course the GWOC North is always a difficulttask. We also play some new non-conference teamsthis year and we look forward to playing those teamsthis year and in the future.We are proud to play allof these tough basketball teams, and we hope tomake ourselves into one of those good teams,” ex-plained Snyder.The new non-conference opponents include the

likes of Wapakoneta, St. Marys, Tippecanoe, Tecum-seh, and Urbana“We have to get better defensively. With the scor-

ing that we've lost from last year, we will need guysto step up and we will need to hold teams down togive ourselves the best chance to win. Our kids haveworked extremely hard, and if we can get that kindof effort throughout the entire season, I think we canbe very successful. We are going to stress ball move-ment and player movement on offense. Defensivelywe are going to stress playing entire possessions. Toomany times last year we were very good defensivelyfor the first 15 seconds. However, we would eithergive up an offensive rebound or have a mental lapse.We are going to work to eliminate those mistakesthis year,” said Snyder.While a young and inexperienced Sidney team

struggled a season ago – the Jackets welcome backsome talented performers from last year’s team.Senior guard Tyree Manley was an outstanding

performer last season earning second team GWOCNorth. Manley tossed in 11.5 points a game whilegrabbing 3.7 rebounds and dishing out 2.3 assists agame."Tyree is someone that we will look toward to do a

lot of things this season. I can't imagine anyoneworking as hard as Tyree did this offseason. He hasset a great example for his teammates to follow,” saidSnyder.Yellow Jacket classmate, Preston Heath also re-

turns for Sidney. Heath, who plays forward, scored4.1 points a game last season."Preston adds versatility and toughness to our

lineup. He plays with a lot of energy and can domany things well,” said Snyder.

Sidney also returns a pair of reliable juniors totheir roster. Jalen Herd is a guard who averaged 4.0points per game while grabbing 4.7 rebounds."Jalen did a very nice job defensively last year.

This year we are going to ask him to add to that andbe more aggressive on the offensive end as well," ex-plained Snyder.The other junior is Gold Barnes – who established

himself a shot-blocking machine a season ago.Barnes swatted 3.6 blocks per game last season, topsin the GWOC North. His presence in the paint willdefinitely be counted upon again this year."Gold obviously did a great job defensively last

year. He's a difference maker in the paint. Just likeJalen, we want Gold to be more of a threat on offensethis year to really help diversify our offense," saidSnyder.Snyder and his Yellow Jackets will rely on a pair of

sophomore guards to make solid contributions at thevarsity level this year. Eric Beigel and Conner Echolsboth saw varsity action a season ago and will likelysee plenty more this year."Eric and Conner got a taste of varsity ball last

year. This year their roles will be significantlygreater this year. I think they'll do a nice job for us.They're smart basketball players who can do a lot ofdifferent things,” explained Snyder.Senior Jacob Davis is a forward for the Yellow

Jackets who Snyder likes both his athleticism anddefensive effort."Jacob is extremely athletic and we think he can

provide a spark for us - especially defensively," de-scribed the Yellow Jacket coach.Senior forward James Daniel, junior center Zach

Scott, and junior guard Scott Stewart could all be dif-ference makers for Sidney."James (Daniel) will get thrown right into the fire

this year. We expect him to step in and produce rightaway.With the loss of Andre Spillers, we are lookingtoward Zach (Scott) to step up and provide somevaluable minutes inside. Scott (Stewart) really had aterrific summer. He provides tenacity on defensethat I hope our other kids can duplicate."

Sidney Girls BasketballHeading into the season – girls basketball coach

Megan Mummey is fairly optimistic. With a nice ros-ter of returning players – she has reason to be.The Yellow Jackets who finished 4-16 a year ago

return a strong core of players alongside some new-comers who will be looking to produce.“I really think we can be a contender for the

GWOC North. I have high goals for this team andthink with determination and hard work we can getthere,” said Mummey.Sidney will have plenty of depth in the critical

guard position. The top three returning players froma season ago put up plenty of scoring productionwhile playing guard.Leading the way is senior Konner Harris. The

Jacket guard suffered a torn ACL injury a season agoand played only 12 games. However, she proved justhow solid of a player she is. Harris tallied an averageof 16 points a game.“She will be our go to player. She is the most

skilled player on the court. I think she improved herdefense in the off season and will be a big contribu-tion to our success this season,” said Mummey.Lauren Elmore is another senior guard who aver-

aged double digits scoring and was solid on defensive– particularly when forcing turnovers. Elmore scored

Continued on page 3

SDN PHOTO/TODD B. ACKER

SHS SENIOR boys for 2012 are (l-r) Preston Heath, Tyree Manley, Daltyn Gibson, James Daniel and JacobDavis.


SHS SENIOR girls are (l-r) Kelia Ford, Konner Harris, Aaliyah Wise, Monique Hanayik and Lauren Elmore.

ten points a game andrecorded an average oftwo points a game.“She needs to get more

confident in herself. Shehas great vision of thecourt and takes great careof the ball for us. Sheneeds to be more aggres-sive on defense,” saidMummey.Monique Hanayik is the

third senior guard return-ing for Sidney. Hanayikaveraged eight points agame last season and de-veloped into a top shelf de-fender with her aggressiveeffort.“I would like to see her

step up and shoot the ballmore this year. I think sheis very dominant on theleft side of the floor,” saidMummey.Senior forward Aayliah

Wise will be relied upon inthe post for the YellowJackets.“Aayliah is a great

physical player who needsto stay out of foul trouble.Her athleticism makes herdominate in the paint,“said Mummney.Senior Kelia Ford is a

guard who returns for Sid-ney and will be looking tosee more action this sea-son.Junior Lindsay Stur-

wold is a forward the Yel-low Jacket coaching staffanticipates seeing valu-able minutes from.“Lindsay has a great 10-

15 foot jumper that shehas improved on this sum-mer. I would like to get

her scoring more downlow and getting those bigrebounds,” said Mumm-ney.Also returning is junior

guard Miaya Foy who pro-vides plenty of energy –particularly on the defen-sive side. “Miaya is veryaggressive and will helpus defensively,” saidMummney.The Jackets will also

look to some new playerson the varsity roster tomake a meaningful im-pact. A couple of the play-ers are transfer students.Sylvia Hudson is a

transfer from ThurgoodMarshall who will play forthe Jackets this season.“She is a versatile

player who can finishdown low,” explainedMummney.BreannWells is a soph-

omore transfer from Hous-ton. Mummney describesthe forward fundamen-tally sound in the post.Also joining the varsityroster is athletic freshmanguard Kaitlyn Davis –who the Sidney coachingstaff anticipate will con-tribute in the scoring col-umn.Mummney is quick to

point out that the YellowJackets will need to dis-play depth across theboard in order to be suc-cessful.Looking for other girls

to step up and score be-sides Harris and Elmore.Having 5 seniors we needto have leadership off and

on the court,” said Mumm-ney.

SidneySwimmingThe Sidney girls swim

team welcomes back fivereturning letter-winnerswhile the boys team wel-comes back ten returnees.For the girls senior Alli-

son Neu returns in boththe breaststroke and thefree for the Yellow Jackets.Junior Maddi Homan re-turns in the breaststroke,Individual Medley, andFree Junior Ardy Li is areturnee in the butterfly,Individual Medley, andFree. Classmate MaleenaMiller returns to swim theFree, Backstroke, andBreaststroke; SophomoreKieran Freistuhler is backin both the Breaststrokeand Free.Additionally, newcomers

on the girls team will adddepth to a small roster.Sophomore Alexa Good-win brings with her somehigh school experienceand does the Butterfly andFree. The new additionsto the roster include a pairof seniors in Gro Marthi-nussen and Morgan Smithalong with four freshmenwhich include Zoe Boyer,Cara Cobb, Karen Cabreraand Kierra Hoover.The boys team features

ten returning swimmers.Leading the way are four-year varsity swimmerswhich includeWagnerHuskey who does the Indi-

vidual Medley (both the200 and 400IM),Butterfly,Backstroke and Free andJohn Trygstad IndividualMedley, Breaststroke, andFree (200 and 500).Also returning from the

senior class is Austin Oderin the Breast and Freestrokes; Alex Bowman andDavid Young are Backstro-kers and Free stylers.Returning Juniors are

Eric Barnes in the Freeand Back; Conner BowersFree and Backstroke; andveteran Newell Voress inthe Individual Medley,Backstroke and Free.Sophomore AndrewJensen Free, Backstrokeand Breaststroke; IanStephens in the Free andBreaststroke.Joining the swim team

this year includes juniorIan Harvey and AaronJenson who is a seasonedswimmer with YMCA ex-perience in the Back,Breast and Free.“We have a good core of

returning lettermen withgood skills in theirstrokes. The problem willbe in the numbers as eachteam has very little depthand that hurts in puttingtogether relays. The teamhas many good swimmersthat will do well in theirindividual events and areready to start the season.I anticipate good times forseveral swimmers that areworking hard to get their

best times. This is a toughleague in a tougher dis-trict and our swimmersare getting ready to com-pete,” said Coach.

SidneyBowlingFirst year bowling

coach Greg Hines looks to-ward the Yellow Jacketseason with plenty ofpromise.While the Sidneyroster saw some key de-partures to graduation –the Jackets return a teamwith plenty of potential.“We are proceeding into

this new season of bowlingwith a lot of promise. Ourbowling team has a solidfoundation and a lot of ex-cellent returning bowlersfrom last season.We didlose a few great bowlersdue to graduation, butthat will not hinder ouroverall performance thisseason,” explained headcoach Greg Hines.Hines along with the

junior varsity coach ZacWatson will look to a num-ber of capable bowlers toget the job done this year.“We will continue to

promote the pride thisSidney Yellow JacketsBowling Team has carriedfor the past few years,”said Hines.A strong girls team fea-

tures some top performersled by senior Shelbie An-

derson who finished 16that State last year. Ander-son bowled a 578 Serieswhich was just two pinsshy of 3rd Team all Ohio.The girls bowling team

will include other key per-formers including Ash-leigh HarrisHollie James, Michelle

Abbot, and Emily Hix.On the boys team – the

Yellow Jackets also have asturdy squad includingDevon Huffman, JacobBlankenship, Kyle Lloyd,Kegan Latimer, LukeGoubeaux, and Cody Joyce“There are many others

who are expected to per-form very well throughoutthe season. I have onlyseen what they have hadto bring to tryouts so far.Our focus will be set uponimproving the averages ofeach and every one of ourathletes this year. In thesport of bowling, the ath-letes can be their ownworst enemies. Gettingfrustrated about one badframe can cause them torepeat their mistakes overand over again. Focus andrepetition on their ap-proach and release of theball will be a high prioritythis season to achieveoverall improvement,” ex-plained Hines.Sidney gets things

going with a home open-ing match against Steb-bins on November 7,beginning at 4PM.

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��Yellow Jackets continued from page 2

SDN PHOTO/'LUKE GRONNEBERG

SIDNEY SENIOR boys swimmers are (l-r) DavidYoung, Austin Oder andWagnerHuskey.

SDN PHOTO/'LUKE GRONNEBERG

SIDNEY SENIOR girls swimmers are (l-r) Allison Neu, Ardy Li and Gro Marhi-nussen.

BY FRED HERRON

DEGRAFF - Don Epps,coach of the RiversideVarsity Boys Basketballteam, believes there’smore to the game thanjust learning how to playand winning. Whenasked what attitude orfocus he tries to instillinto his boys, other thanthe skills necessary toplay, he responded bysaying “good citizens. Re-spect their community;pride and respect forschool and community.”

Epps requires his boysto wear shirts and ties.He wants his squad tolearn to be good role mod-els and wants others tosee them as gentlemen.“Have responsibility,”Epps said. “Do what’sbest for the team.”This will be Epps sec-

ond year at Riverside. Hetaught for 35 years at theschool where he alsocoached a lot of differentsports there. Since retir-ing, he’s focused exclu-sively on coaching theRiverside Varsity Boysbasketball team. Lastyear, the team finishedwith a 7-14 record overalland finished fourth in theNWCC.This year, challenges

abound for the Pirates,but there are also a fewbright spots. “We lost80% of our scoring andrebounding from lastyear,” Epps explained.“However, we have decentsize and depth, alongwith some quickness andstrong senior leadership.With a lot of hard workwe want to be competi-

tive in all of our gamesthis year.”Epps also said that he

is “trying to get them toaccept their role. Whenyou get your turn, fulfillyour role. Do it regard-less if you like it or not.”This is a general life prin-ciple for Epps, who knowsall too well that life pres-ents people with manyresponsibilities that onedoesn’t necessarily like,but must do anyway. “Wehave kids who are really

going to the wall to ac-complish these things.”Again, with losing that

80%, Epps says that histeam is shy on experienceand needs to work.“We’re trying to develop afeeder system at the Jun-ior High level to get kidsready for the High Schoollevel,” Epps said. Thehope is to develop this asa program wide systemwhere kids can get thenecessary skills devel-oped at an earlier age.

When it comes to strat-egy, Epps said that hehas a motto on hissquad’s defense: “I can’tlet my teammates manscore.” Defensively, Eppsreally wants to get afterthat and not let the otherteam penetrate the paint.“We’re going to try to

win,” Epps said, who isn’tjust about teaching lifelessons to his players.He’s going to have histeam play spread offense.“We’ll be slow,” Epps said.

He’s going to try and getthe ball down the floor

and read the defense. It’sContinued on page 5

BY TONY ARNOLD

Sidney wrestling has long been synonyms withsuccess and for long-time coach Jim McCracken andthe Jackets this year should be more of the same. TheJackets return a loaded line-up.“We will challenge once again for the GWOC North

team title. Vandalia Butler will be the biggest road-block for Sidney as the Aviators return most of theirstarters from a year ago. Coach Peck and his coach-ing staff do a wonderful job every year preparingtheir team to be “tournament ready” in early Febru-ary for the GWOC Tournament. In the GWOC mostof the quality teams in the running for the overalltitle will come from the central division; Beavercreek,Centerville, Fairmont and Wayne will all have toughteams that will compete well. The southern divisionwill be challenged by Miamisburg, Springboro,Lebanon,” exaplained McCracken.Sidney features talent, depth, and experience.

Mason Calvert (Sr. 138/145 lbs.) is a three-year let-ter-winner.Calvert had an outstanding junior year, sixth at

State, GWOC Champion, first-team All-Area. 47-8record school record; most wins and most matches ina season. He was named Most Valuable Wrestler andled the squad with 191 takedowns. Mason is a stu-dent of wrestling, his formula for success is to workhard daily. Look for bigger and better things out ofMason as a senior,” said McCracken.Jacob Lochard (182/195 lbs.) is a senior and three

year letter-winner, a District Qualifier with a 19-14record.“His outstanding post-season a year ago should

springboard Jacob to a very good senior year. Heplaced fifth at GWOC. Lochard should score bigpoints at both the GWOC and District meets. TheJackets will look to Lochard for leadership both onand off the mat throughout this season. Jacob alsoplays football and baseball,” said McCracken.Jacob Shrap is a senior (113 lbs.) two year letter-

man, two-time District Qualifier, fifth at GWOC.“A hard worker throughout his wrestling career,

former Coaches’ Award winner, Sharp will be a big113 pounder this season, look for him to win matchesat the District level in the post-season. A small butmighty football player,” said McCracken.Maurice Ickens (Sr. 285 lbs.) is a two-year letter-

man that qualified for the Districts.Ickes has improved as much as any Sidney

wrestler ever to put the black and gold on over hiscareer.Watch for Maurice to improve his 13-19 recordfrom a year ago. His desire to win is a driving force tohis success. Ickes also plays football,” said Mc-Cracken.Rhett Rosengarten (Jr. 132/138 lbs.) is a two-year

letterman with a 16-15 record.“His fourth place at the GWOC played a big part in

the Jackets GWOC North title. Rhett gives 100%every time out, he’ll be a key to our overall team suc-cess. He’s a 4.0 student student athlete who alsoplays football,” said McCracken.Ryan Penley (Jr. 152 lbs.) is a two year letterman

with a 20-11 record 2 yr.“Ryan had a great start to last year but needs to

peak @ the GWOC and post-season tournaments.Penley has all the tools to be a “good one” at Sidney

High. He could make a huge impact for the Jackets.Ryan plays baseball,” said McCracken.Noah Straman (Jr. 195 lbs.) is a one –year letter-

man.Noah is much better than his 5-20 record shows.

He reminds me a lot of Steven Jones (2011 SHS grad-uate). He works very hard, giving 100% every trip tothe mat.When Straman believes he can winmatches, he will, confidence is his biggest issue. Noahalso plays football,” said McCracken.Dayvon Madden (Jr. 125/132 lbs.) is a returning

letterman who was 10-8 last year.Great strength and quickness, he could be a good

wrestler in the future. Madden needs to take thesport of wrestling seriously, and work hard to becomea champion,” said McCracken. Alex Will-man (120lbs) is a sophomore who lettered last yearwith a 27-13 record while being named Rookie of theYear.“A very good student/athlete, 4.0 GPA, Alex works

hard both in the classroom and on the mat.Willmanhas worked hard to improve his strength the past (2)years. He was a district qualifier and placed 5th atthe GWOC Tournament.Watch for Alex to have an-other very good year for the Jackets,” said Mc-Cracken.Garrick Ginter (Soph. 160 lbs.) lettered with an

outstanding 23-9 record a season ago.“He placed fourth at the GWOC Tournament, one

of the big point scores for Sidney winning the GWOCNorth title. Ginter has the tools to be a very goodwrestler for the Jackets. He wrestled in some tough

pre-season tournaments placing very well. Look forGarrick to do well this season,” said the Jacket coach.Jared Tangeman (Soph. 126 lbs.) qualified for the

district meet a season ago for the Yellow Jackets.“Tangeman is just what a coach looks for in a stu-

dent/athlete. He’s a good learner that shows up dailyand works hard. I would call him an over-achiever in2012. An excellent cross-country and track runner.Look for Jared to improve in wrestling as his careergoes on,” said McCracken.“In the post-season all Division number one teams

in the Dayton area will once again compete at theFairfield District. The top four wrestlers at the Dis-tricts will qualify for the State meet. Last year Sid-ney peaked well at the GWOC Tournament placingfifth overall. Six of our eight District qualifiers areback this season. Both Derek Spangler and CodyDavis will be impossible to replace, both were fourtime District Qualifiers winning over 100 matches intheir successful careers. Both were also two times di-vision one first team All-Area.We do have good depthin the middle weights this season, but those are hardshoes to fill. We should have a good quality wrestlerin most of the weight classes this year, returningeleven lettermen. Sidney may actually be tougher ina dual meet setting than in a large tough tournamentsuch as Top Gun or the GMVWA. Individually wehave a few kids that should win matches at the Dis-trict level. With a lot of hard work, dedication, andcommitment perhaps a couple of Sidney Wrestlerscan qualify to the State meet,” said McCracken

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Sidney Wrestling Team shows loaded line-up

Riverside coach teaches life lessons, good play


SHSWRESTLING Seniors for 2012 are (l-r) Jacob Sharp, Jacob Lochard, Maurice Ickes and Mason Calvert.

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going to be a read andreact; see what the otherteam is doing defensivelyand exploit their weak-nesses and mistakes.Another angle to Epps

strategy this year will beto keep his players fresh.He wants to have hissquad ateight orninedeepandemployliberalsubsti-tutions,rotatingthe players at three min-utes playing time at anygiven time in order topreserve their freshness.The only exception wouldbe if the any player werehot. Then they wouldstay in the game, maybefive minutes. By doingthis, Epps believes thathe’ll keep players andparents happy, becauseall the kids on the teamwould get ample playingtime and the playerswould be less likely to getoverly tired. This wayEpps believes that he is

investing in the futureand developing for thenext year.Of special mention was

junior letter winner, Dal-ton Bollinger, who aver-aged 11 ½ points, 9rebounds, and 4 assists agame last season. Epps

said that he is a strongpost man inside withgood mechanics. Thisyear, Epps is impressedwith senior letter winner,Luke Greene, a PointGuard. He worked realhard over the summer. Atop newcomer is senior,Triston Mechling, whoEpps said is not skinny,and can be a dual threatat post with Bollinger.“We teach points per

possession,” Epps said.“Aim for the high percent-age shots, not outsideshots.” That way, Epps’

squad has a betterchance of coming awaywith points in every pos-session.Other top newcomers

for the Pirates includesenior, Grant Miller, jun-ior, Kolt Shough, andsophomore, Tanner Lane.This year in the North

West Central Conference,Epps explained “we look

for Fairbanks, LimaPerry, and Lima TempleChristian to be up nearthe top of the standings,with the rest of the mem-bers of the league beingvery competitive.Wewant to finish in theupper layer of the leaguestandings and if we don’twin it, we want to helpdecide who does.”

SDN PHOTO/CHRIS MCDONAGH

LEHMAN'S SOLOMON King-White gets some air against Riverside at Lehman last season.

Riversidecontinued from page 4

“We teach points perpossession. Aim for thehigh percentage shots, notoutside shots.”

— Don Epps

�� JC State runner-up team remains formidable


BY TONY ARNOLD

JACKSON CENTER – Last year Jackson Centerhad a remarkable season, finishing the regular sea-son undefeated and advanced all the way to the StateChampionship Game – finishing as the State Run-ner-up.Lost to graduation is Andy Hoying – a two-time

conference player of the year and last year’s co-playerof the year in the state of the Ohio. However, theJackson roster remains loaded led by the combina-tion of seasoned veterans and some gifted under-classmen. JC is considered by most a top preseasonleague favorite. The Tiger depth certainly appears tomake them the team to beat again this year.Going into this season – JC Coach Scott Elchert

feels the Shelby County League will once again be avery talented conference.“As far as the league – there is an unbelievable

amount of parody. I felt that way last year and forwhatever reason last year we were fortunate enoughto come through unscathed. If somebody would havetold me that prior to last year – I would have saidyou are crazy. I feel that way this year. I feel thatevery team has a nucleus of good players and I feelthat when you have a nucleus of good players you area dangerous team. I could go through all seven teamsand every team has two very solid players at least tobuild around,” said Elchert.The Tigers have the tremendous benefit of having

a pair of four-year starters returning this year. TreyElchert and Alex Meyer have been staples in the JCstarting line-up and return again this year. Elchert isan efficient point guard with a nice touch from down-town and Meyer is a pure scorer who creates oppor-tunities off the dribble.“They both have a lot of games under their belt

and are seasoned veterans and returning startersand veterans at key spots as guards. Coaches will tellyou in this day in age as the game has evolved thatguard play is extremely important. Trey is our quar-terback as a point guard and we do put Alex at thepoint at times and when he’s not he’s very versatilewhere we can utilize him.We look to do even more ofthat than we have in the past. With losing Andy(Hoying) Alex we be called upon to pick up more ofthe offensive slack,” explained Elchert.Eric Ryder returns as a second-year starter for the

Tigers. Ryder who plays well in the paint and has anose for running down the ball will be relied uponeven more so this year. With the departure of Hoying– Jackson will be looking to fill a void of about 10boards a game.“We definitely need him to add more to his offen-

sive output on a game by game basis. The thing thatputs Eric in that position to be an outstanding re-bounder is that he is one of those guys that can goget rebounds outside. He’s not just a vertical up anddown guy – he can see the ball and go get it. Our ex-pectation for him is that he becomes a big rebounder,”said Elchert.Sophomore Gavin Wildermuth returns for the

Tigers as an athletic guard who made nice contribu-tions at the varsity level a season ago.“What we will be looking from Gavin is more con-

sistency in the things he does well. He’s a goodshooter but he also needs to make sure he is drivingthe ball to the hole because he’s athletic and he’sstrong and when he wants to he’s as good as anybodywe have as driving the ball to the hole,” said Elchert.Jackson will be looking for valuable minutes from

a senior roster that includes Levi Winner.Winner iscoming back from a series of shoulder injuries but ifhe remains healthy – Elchert considers him a con-tributor as a player capable of playing both insideand outside.“He’s been mentally tough to get through that. I

believe if we can keep him healthy – he’s going to bea great addition to this squad,” said Elchert.Seniors Nathan Wahrer, Nathan Hensley, and Joey

Frey are all players who played the majority of theirminutes at the JV level last year and according toElchert had a nice summer of basketball.“Nathan Wahrer is strong and plays smart position

defense, Nathan Hensley is as quick as anybody onthe team and Joey Frye is scrappy,” said Elchert.Freshman Drew Sosby is a promising player for

the Tigers.“He’s a nice perimeter player who can shoot and

handle the ball. He’s competitive with great courtawareness,” said Elchert.Jackson Center opens up the season against Hous-

ton.“The way we build our team is on great defense

and making good decisions with the basketball. Thatisn’t going to change so hopefully we can continue todo that,” concluded Elchert.

Girls BasketballMaKaine Huffer is back for her second season as

the head coach of the varsity girls team.The Tigers lose an exceptional player in Brooke

Richard to graduation. Richard was the area scoringchamp a season ago tallying an average of 21.9 agame. However, Richard was the only senior on last

year’s squad and the Tigers resturn some playmak-ers. JC finished last year’s regular season 8-14.“The requirement to be successful this year is

turning up our aggressiveness on defense, rebound-ing, and having several big scorers step up this year,”explained Huffer. “It is more difficult to guard fivegreat scorers than only one great scorer. It may be achallenge for some of these girls to step into a scoringrole but each one of them has the ability and athleti-cism to accomplish it.”Senior Hannah Meyer returns for the Tigers and

will be playing her fourth year with the varsity team.Meyer hit 50 of 143 (35 percent) last season for Jack-son. Classmate Jess Wren is a JC guard with a lot ofupside.“Hannah will have to step-up offensively and de-

fensively this year. Her and Jess have key roles forbeing the leaders of this team. They both need to re-alize that there are going to be tough times andthings may not go their way in a game but it is im-portant to maintain that senior leadership. Hannahis great shooter and can also knock it down off thedribble,” said Huffer.Haley Elchert is a sophomore who plays the role of

both forward and guard. She connected on 33 of 51(64.7 percent) from the free-throw line last season.Elchert is an all-around player who has the ability tocreate some match-up problems.“Haley is a very versatile player. She will more

than likely be a post player for us this year but occa-sionally will step out on the perimeter.With herheight and her aggressiveness you can expect her todo big things for us this year,” explained Huffer.Courtney Zimpfer is a sophomore guard who saw

Continued on page 6

SDN PHOTO/LUKE GRONNEBERG

JACKSON CENTER senior boys basketball players are (l-r) Front Row: Nathan Hensley, Joey Frye, TreyElchert and Nathan Wahrer. Back Row: Levi Winner, Eric Ryder and Alex Meyer.

BY TONY ARNOLD

BOTKINS – BotkinsTrojans Head CoachBrett Meyer welcomesback four senior letter-men from the varsitysquad and another fourunderclassmen from asuccessful junior varsityteam a season ago.The Trojans, who

posted a 10-12 mark lastseason, return a sturdygroup. Senior HeathGeyer was a ShelbyCounty League Honor-able Mention Selectionthis past season. Themultipurpose Geyertossed in 8 points a gamelast season and was sec-ond on the team in re-bounding. Geyer, whostands 6-2, is a versatileplayer for the Trojans,and will run the offenseat the point guard posi-tion.Josh Schwartz aver-

aged eight points a gamelast season and will seeaction both inside andoutside this year forBotkins. They are joinedby Seth Hoying who willprovide a solid outsideshooter and GabeLawrence who accordingto Meyer will play postbut also has a nice touchfrom outside shooting theball.“They played together

now for a while. Heath

and Josh are two year let-ter winners so they havebeen around. Seth wasplaying some varsity as asophomore before he torehis ACL.We have a solidcore of players returning.They have a lot of experi-ence and play well as ateam,” said Meyer.Botkins fielded a solid

junior varsity squad aseason ago. The playerswho were successful con-tributors at that levelwill be relied upon heav-ily this year as they makethe transition to the var-sity level.Three juniors and a

sophomore are expectedto contribute at the var-sity level. Junior RogerMiller will play the guardposition and provides astrong outside game pres-ence for the Trojans.Classmate Alex Robertswill also be a guard andprovides strength on de-fense, while Brock Ful-lenkamp will help manthe post. SophomoreMitch Goubeaux will pro-vide an offensive punchand help handle the ball.“Those four led us on

our JV team last year.Mitch (Goubeaux) hitsome big free throws forus last year in our firstSectional game againstLoramie. He started get-ting some minutes (onvarsity) at the end of the

year. Alex and Roger gota few minutes down thestretch as well. They haveall been playing at the

varsity level during thesummer,” said Meyer.With a solid core of re-

turning players – Meyer

stressed the importanceof limiting turnovers andplaying good defense.“Definitely taking care

of the ball is going to behuge for us and give usmore possessions.We areprobably going to haveHeath at the point thisyear and he ran it prettywell this past summer –we expect him to takecontrol of the team,” saidMeyer.Meyer likes the

strengths of his teamwhich includes their ex-perience and their abilityto collectively play welltogether.With a rosterthat lacks a lot of overallheight – reboundingcould be a little bit of aconcern.The Trojans who have

made a habit of playingwell come tournamenttime the last few yearswill navigate through an-other regular seasonschedule.“We have a lot of those

returning guys back whoare ready to play. Of

course, the ShelbyCounty League is alwaystough and every night isa battle and we have a lotof MAC teams on our offnights when we are notplaying an SCL team.Welike the competition andwe love to play goodteams,” concluded Meyer.Botkins, who will start

things off this seasonwith a tournament atBen Logan, enjoyed a suc-cessful summer.“We start off at the

Ben Logan tournamenton Friday and Saturday.We turn around and playRussia on Tuesday andthat Friday is our Home-coming already withRidgemont.We addedRidgemont this year withthe new 22 game sched-ule. This will be our firsttime playing them but wedid see them at basket-ball camp.We went to theFindlay camp and playedpretty well there. It’s re-ally good and usually youcan get a pretty goodgauge on how you do atthat camp and we werehappy – we did prettywell there.

GirlsbasketballDon Mack has been a

long-time coach in theBotkins girls basketballprogram. Mack returnsfor his second year as thevarsity head coach. Priorto that Mack served threeyears as a varsity assis-tant, six years as the jun-ior varsity coach, andseven years as a juniorhigh coach.This year Mack greets

back a half a dozen sen-iors from last year’s Tro-jan team that finished8-13.

Continued on page 7

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valuable playing timelast season. Zimpfer hasestablished herself as asolid defender for theTigers.“Courtney has great

defense, she will be some-one we can count on toguard the opponent’s bet-ter player. Offensively, wewill need her to step upand handle the ball for usand take control, “saidHuffer.Junior post player Eliz-

abeth Sailor is currentlyout of the lineup whilebattling an injury. Sailorif a player the Tigers hopewill be able to success-fully return to the lineup.“We look forward to the

day she returns. She is ahard worker and will do

anything you ask her todo, “said Huffer.Junior Kaneta Schaub

is a guard who bringsplenty of energy to theteam.“Kaneta is a little spit-

fire. She's a hard workerand will do exactly whatyou tell her to so,” saidHuffer.The Jackson roster will

feature a group of fresh-men looking to contributefor the Tigers. PeytonEsser and Pauline Meyerare guards for JacksonCenter and Nicole Fogt isa post player.“We look forward to a

few freshmen stepping upand being a threat for usthis year. Nothing is set

stone yet, but we have acompetitive freshmanclass this year,” said Huf-fer.The Tigers will com-

bine some veterans andsome young players who

will need to play criticalvarsity minutes.“We are a young and in-

experienced team but wehave the drive and workethic to be a great team,”said Huffer.

JacksonCenter

continued from page 5


JACKSON CENTER senior girls basketball players are Jess Wren (left) and Hannah Meyer.

��Botkins Trojans retain experienced core



BOTKINS SENIOR boysbasketball players are-front Row Heath Geyer(left) and Seth Hoying.

Back Row: JoshSchwartz (left) and Gabe

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BOTKINS GIRLS basketball seniors are (l-r) Front Row: Claire McCullough, Caitlin Lane and Logan Pitts.Back Row: Jill Schneider, Casie Bergman and Hannah Koch.

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Hannah Koch, Claire Mc-Cullough, CassieBergman, Logan Pitts,Jill Schneider, andCaitlin Lane are all sen-iors on the Botkins roster.“We have six total sen-

iors so I’m expecting a lotout of them. Five of themlettered last year. Thesenior class is a very goodgroup of kids and I expecta lot out of them. I’vebeen with them for fouryears – so they knowwhat I expect and theyknow what I expect,” saidMack.Logan Pitts returns for

the Trojans after beingnamed a Shelby CountyLeague Honorable men-tion selection a seasonago.“Our leading scorer is

coming back in LoganPitts. She received countyhonorable mention lastyear and has done somethings on her own tomake herself a betterathlete so it’s kind of neatto see,” said Mack.In terms of the perime-

ter game – Mack is look-ing for some solid effortsfrom some other seniors.I’m really looking for-

ward to Cassie Bergman,Claire McCullough, andHannah Koch to step itup from outside the arc.I’m really looking for bigthings from those three,”explained Mack.Three juniors are on

the roster and are ex-pected to make contribu-tions, Michaela Kramer,Andrea Goettemoeller,and Emily Brown.“Whatever we ask of

these kids they are goingto do and try their best atit,” explained Mack.The Trojans made

strides last season afterfinishing 4-17 the yearbefore. Botkins strung to-gether a nice win streakto level their mark at 8-8on the year before drop-ping to four high qualityopponents down thestretch.“Last year we built

some momentum gettingto 8-8 and all of a suddenwe finished the year withLoramie, Anna, Loramie,and Coldwater. That kindof deflated.We finished 8-13 overall and lost in thefirst round tournamentgame to a good Mechan-icsburg team,” said Mack.As Mack scans his ros-

ter he identifies rebound-ing as a potential con-cern. The Trojans lost twoseniors who were botharound 5-10.“Rebounding is a major

concern when I look atthe roster. We also needto become better shoot-ers,” said Mack.Botkins opens up with

a rare Saturday nightgame for the seasonopener. Parkway travelsto Botkins for the seasonopener for both teams onSaturday, November 24.To make things evenmore interesting – formerBotkins boys coach andgood friend of Mack,Doug Hughes is now thevarsity assistant girlscoach at Parkway, whileDoug’s wife is the varsitycoach.“We want to see how

many people we can getfor that game. I’ve seenthat gym filled for onegirls game and I’d reallylike to see how many wecan possibly get for thisone. It’s a great way tokick off the season andcreate a great atmos-phere for the kids and getthings off to a greatstart,” said Mack.

BotkinsSwim TeamOver the past couple

years – Botkins has verymuch been on the map inthe state of Ohio in theworld of swimming anddiving. Top Trojan per-former Logan Bauer wasthe Division II State Div-ing Champion last yearand was the runner-upthe year before.While Bauer graduated

last season – fourth yearBotkins coach HeatherThaman welcomes backplenty of talent.“We have eight meets

this season with many ofthem against teams fromaround the area.With usonly having two practicedays at the pool eachweek I think that thekids really make themost of the time that wehave in the pool. Thisseason the athletes haveset some high goals forthemselves and I am hop-ing that we can achievethese goals,” explainedThaman.Cody Buehler returns

as a fourth year senior

and team captain.Buehler will swim the 50free and 100 backstrokeand be a member of therelay teams. Additionally,a pair of seniors returnafter taking last year off.Adam Buehler is a seniorwith a strong trackrecord.“He took last year off

and is now back and willbe swimming the 100 flyand will a member of therelay teams. Adam was amember of the 2011 boysDistrict Qualifying relayteam,” explainedThaman.Andy Egbert is another

senior who took last yearoff and has a huge upsidein terms of potential.“I am looking to Andy

to be the team leader forthe boys. He will be focus-ing on the 50 & 100freestyle and relay teams.He is hoping to qualify toDistricts in the individualfreestyle events. Andywas a member of the2010 & 2011 boys DistrictQualifying relay teams,”said Thaman.

Lucas Buehler isa sophomore who will becompeting on the teamfor the first time. Buehlerdoes have experience atthe recreational level andwill swim the 100 breast-stroke and be a part ofthe relay teams. A pair offreshmen will be countedupon this year as well forthe Trojans. Dillon Un-derwood will swim theshorter distance freestyleevents and 100 breast-stroke. Kyle Maurer willcompete in the freestyleevents.“I think that the boys

team even though theyare small we will havemost of the events cov-ered and should competewell with most teams onour schedule. The leader-ship of the seniors com-bined with theirexperience and the expe-rience of our freshmenshould make the boysvery competitive. Three ofthe six boys are returningVarsity Letter winners,”explained Thaman.The Botkins girls team

on the shoulders of bothtalent and depth shouldbe a formidable team thisyear. The roster isstocked with plenty ofcontributors.“We have a lot of expe-

rience both from return-ing swimmers and new-comers and I think thatthe combination will betough for their competi-tion to handle. The girlsare very excited aboutthis season and can’t waitfor the first meet. I thinkif their drive and motiva-tion stays throughout thewhole season they maysurprise some teams,”said Thaman.Heather Brown is a re-

turning senior who willswim the100 backstrokeand be a member of all 3relays. Emily Holbrook isa first year senior swim-mer who will swimfreestyle events.The Trojans have five

juniors who be an impor-tant part of the team thisyear. Rachel Cooper is ajunior with plenty of ex-perience. She will swimthe 100 breaststroke andbe a member of the relayteams.Rachelle Maurer also

has plenty of experienceand will swim the 50freestyle and be memberof the relay teams. Mau-rer is a serious contenderfor the school record.Josie Weatherhead is

also a junior who willswim the shorterfreestyle distances andthe 100 backstroke.Hanna Oakley will swimthe 200 IM and 100 back-stroke. Bethany Christ-man is a junior who willcompeting on the team

for the first time. Christ-man will swim the 100butterfly and be a mem-ber of the relay teams.Sophomore Bailey

Schnippel returns for theTrojans and will swimthe long distancefreestyle events such asthe 200 & 500 freestyle.She dropped over two

minutes last season andis hoping to break theschool record in the 500this year,” said Thaman.Four freshmen join the

team this year includingAmber Buehler will swimthe 100 breaststroke andthe 100 freestyle.Keirstyn Rogers special-

izes in the freestyle andwill most likely be swim-ming any of the 50, 100,or 200 freestyle. CJCathcart will swimfreestyle and backstroke.Tayler Weatherhead willcompete in the freestyleand backstroke.“Of the first year swim-

mers only Amber andKeirstyn have previousswimming experience.I’m looking forward to seewhat all the other girlsbring to the pool. I thinkthat Bethany will do well,because her sister was aformer swimmer,” saidThaman.

��3 letter winners return for Russia Raiders


Botkins continued from page 6



BOTKINS GIRLS swim team.

BOTKINS BOYS swim team.


RUSSIA SENIOR boys basketball players are (l-r) Trevor Sherman,Treg Francis, Bryce Dues and Austin Ga-riety.

BY TONY ARNOLD

RUSSIA – Raider head coach Paul Bremigan lostsix seniors from last year’s team that finished 14-9and advanced to the Division IV District Final. How-ever, Russia returns plenty of solid performers in-cluding three letter-winners and a deep roster ofplayers competing for minutes at the varsity level.Leading the way among the returning players is

Treg Francis, a second team all county performer aseason ago. Francis tallied 13.1 a game while can-ning 38 triples in the regular season.“Treg will have to be multi-dimensional for us this

year. We know that he will be the focal point of oppo-nents defenses and he realizes that he will have tohelp us in all parts of the game and be a leader forus. Treg’s ability to lead by example will be impor-tant to us this year,” said Bremigan.Trevor Sherman returns for the Raiders after run-

ning the offense a season ago at the point guard posi-tion.“He will be used in that spot again this year but

will also be playing on the perimeter. We are lookingfor Trevor to continue to be a good defender and aleader on the floor. The experience he gained lastyear will help us tremendously,” said Bremigan.Bryce Dues returns for the Raiders as an athletic

player with plenty of capabilities. Dues, is a versatilethreat for the Raiders with the ability to play strongin the paint but also flexible enough to roam theperimeter for the Blue and Gold.“Bryce is an athletic kid with exceptional jumping

Continued on page 8

ability and has good courtsense. He is able toguard the perimeter aswell as the post. His postpresence is important tous this year, said Bremi-gan.The Raiders should

feature plenty of depthand a number of playerscompeting for minutes onthe varsity team. SeniorAustin Gariety is a playerBremigan describes as agood shooter who had agood summer before hisfinal year.“He’s a hard worker

that wants to make themost of his senior season.We are hoping he canhelp us on the boards andalso on defense,” saidBremigan of Gariety.The Raider roster in-

cludes four juniors whocould be critical to thesuccess of the Raiders.Isaiah Counts had elbowsurgery in July and hisstatus still remains un-sure.“Isaiah is a good ag-

gressive defender whoplays hard. We are hop-ing he gets to play thisyear. His aggressive stylewould really help us,”said Bremigan.Classmate Chase Ham-

monds has shown ademonstrated capabilityto shoot from outside forthe Raiders.“Chase is a good

shooter and aggressivedefender. His shootingcan help us when we seezone from opponents,”said Bremigan.Additionally, the

Raiders are looking tolean on Kyle Poling – par-ticularly when it comes topost play and battling forboards.“Kyle is a very good re-

bounder who is also phys-ical. With our lack of sizethis year, he could defi-nitely help us,” saidBremigan.Austin Tebbe is a

player who plays withplenty of energy and hasthe ability to play a ei-ther the wing or post po-sition for the Raiders.“He makes a lot of hus-

tle plays that make a dif-ference in a game. He isa tough kid who playswith a lot of heart,” saidBremigan.Nolan Francis and

Adam Hoying are a pairof sophomore players onthe varsity roster this

year. Francis has provento be a capable ball han-dler while Hoying pro-vides versatility.“Nolan is a good ball

handler who gets to thebasket quickly. He is alsoa good shooter which is agood inside out combina-tion for us. He will playpoint or wing for us thisyear,” explained Bremi-gan. “Adam is a smartplayer who can play in-side or out. He will playpost for us this year andhas really improved fromlast year. He is a good de-fender with the ability toguard posts and wings.”Despite losing six play-

ers to graduation – anup-and-coming rosterprovides Russia withdepth again this year.“I usually like to play a

lot of players. This willcreate a great atmos-phere for improvement.We don’t have much sizebut will be able to use ourquickness and athleti-cism at both ends of thefloor. Our posts are ath-letic kids. A lot dependson how well we reboundand defend. I think theShelby County Leaguewill be improved thisyear and very competitivewith Jackson Centerbeing the favorite,” con-cluded Bremigan.

Russia GirlsBasketballAllan King enters his

third year as the varsitygirls coach at Russia andthis year promises to be amemorable one.The Raiders have expe-

rience by the buckets – asthey were crowned theDivision IV Districtchampions a season agowith no seniors on theroster. Last year markedthe first district title in11 years for the Russiagirls.“We expect to continue

to build the foundation ofa successful program,something these seniorswere charged with assophomores when I cameto Russia. Our effort andattention to detail willdetermine our success indoing so. The keys for ustaking the next step willbe to improve in threemain areas, rebounding,turnover margin, andscoring,” explained King.Russia fills the roster

with a formidable bunch.Senior post player ShanaMeyer is a two-yearstarter who averaged 6.9points, 8.1 rebounds, andan impressive 1.3 blockedshots a season ago. Sen-ior guard AshleyBorchers tossed in 6.0 agame, grabbed 4.6 boards,and swatted 1.4 shots,and recorded 1.9 steals aseason ago.“Shana and Ashley are

a pair of seniors with theability to score, rebound,and play defense. Shanaand Ashley are solid lead-ers. They do the work inthe offseason, they comeand practice hard everyday and they alwaysshow up on game day.They do most of theirleading by example,which is the best kind,”explained King.A big lift this season

will be the return of sen-ior Bethany York – a pow-erful post player andexcellent defender for theRaiders. After missing allof last season due to in-jury York returns thisseason. A couple seasonsago as a sophomore –York was an All-Districtperformer while leadingthe Raiders in points, re-bounds, steals, andblocked shots.“It will be interesting

to see how Bethany fitsinto this group. The lasttime she played two yearsago we were a completelydifferent team. She onlyreally had the opportu-nity to play about a weekwith this group last year,and it was so early on itis hard to tell how thingswill shake out. She hasyet to practice with thisgroup and I am reallyanxious to see how herathleticism and abilitiesmesh with those on thecourt. I think it opens upoptions for us all over thecourt and I plan on doingsome things to highlighther abilities,” said King.Also returning for the

Raiders is junior CamillePuthoff who serves as asteady point guard forRussia. Puthoff was aSecond Team All-Countyperformer last season av-eraging 8.0 points, 4.5 as-sists, 1.6 steals, and 4.0rebounds a game.“Camille has been our

starting point guard sincea few games into herfreshmen year. In oursystem we ask a lot ofher.We give her no help

against pressure and justexpect her to make plays.She has grown so muchin her first two years andI see her growing evenmore this season. She hasthe ability to be one ofthe best point guards inour area. I think this yearyou will really see hercome into her own mak-ing plays for others aswell as herself. I thinkshe is a player to watchthis season.Last year’s leading

scorer is also back for theBlue and Gold. Sopho-more Kylie Wilson was asource of consistency lastseason, starting every-game and producingsome glossy numbers.Wilson tallied an averageof eleven points andseven rebounds a game.“Kylie jumped out to a

great start last year andby six to seven gamesinto our season everyonekeyed on her inside. Shesaw double teams, de-nials, etc. from that pointon. It slowed her scoringdown some but I think itreally helped her learn

the game as a whole andshe will be better off forit. She will have a targeton her back in everygame for the next 3 years,but I feel like she is usedto it at this point and haslearned how to have suc-cess in spite of it,” saidKing.Sophomore Taylor

Daniel saw varsity actionin every game a seasonago and averaged 4.6points, 3.4 rebounds, anda pair of assists last year.King points to a Claire

Sherman and ClaudiaMonnin as a couple ofplayers who played keyroles coming off thebench a season ago asbeing players pushing forplaying time.“It is great to have a

large group returning be-cause you feel like youhave a jumping off pointfor the season. HoweverI've learned in the pastthat each year is inde-pendent of the past andeven if you have the sameplayers that dynamics ona team change from yearto year,” concluded King.

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��WINTER SPORTS PREVIEW • SIDNEY DAILY NEWS • NOVEMBER 2012 • PAGE 8

Russia continued from page 7

BY TONY ARNOLD

HOUSTON – Longtime Houston coach JohnWilloughby became just the third county coach toreach the 300 career win milestone a season ago.Willoughby’s Wildcats went 11-11 a season ago – giv-ing the Houston coach 308 career wins.“Even though we are still young - 7 of our top 8

players are juniors - the three returning players weremajor contributors and statistical leaders on lastyear's squad. We look to be a competitive team in ourleague and in the area,” explained Willoughby.Last season Houston was strong defensively – fin-

ishing second in the area limiting opponents to 45.8points a game and also shot the ball well connectingon 46.2 percent of their attempts.“We must begin the season with that same defen-

sive attitude and play; then get even tougher as the

season moves on. We do have some very good defend-ers; plus the arm length to make shooting and pass-ing challenging,” said Willoughby.Leading the way for Houston this year will be a

trio of returning lettermen.“Key performers must play at their high level con-

sistently game-in and game-out.As always, team play and togetherness will deter-

mine this team's success,” said Willoughby.Junior Jesse Phlipot – a 6-4 wing-player is a well-

rounded player who earned first-team all county hon-ors a season ago. Phlipot scored 13.1 a game lastseason while canning 54 percent from the field andgrabbing nearly 8 rebounds a game.“Jesse has worked hard on his game. He has be-

come more explosive on the perimeter, able to get bythe defender with a quick move. He has become amore rounded player by improving his post moves.

He has learned to enjoy the contact in the post areaand has expanded his game to take advantage of thephysical play. Where Jesse has improved as a playeris by his leadership. He leads by his exemplary effortand condition and his love for playing basketball,”said Willoughby.Jake Braun is a key for the Wildcats. The 5-11

guard was a sturdy performer a season ago – leadingthe Wildcats in steals, assists, and three-pointers.“Jake may be our best on-ball defender. He is

stronger this year, and we are looking for Jake to be abig threat for us,” said Willoughby.Rounding out the returning letter winners is Nate

Ritchie a 6-2 wing player. The Wildcats will lean onRitchie for his presence in the paint along with hisability to help clean the class on the boards.“Nate is one of our top athletes. He has a unique

Continued on page 9

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knack for offensive rebounding. Last season Natewas second in all rebounding categories. We look forNate to continue his rebounding skills; along withletting his natural ability to score,” said Willoughby.The Wildcat roster is lined up with plenty of other

capable players. TJ Martin stands 6-3, and is a seniorwho Willoughby points to being an X-factor for theWildcats.“TJ has the capability of being a dominate player.

He has to learn to play up to his abilities every timehe steps on the court. He can guard multi positionson the floor and is an active rebounder. Offensively,TJ must use his deceptive quickness to his advantagein the post,” explained Willoughby.Junior Evan Winner is a junior guard who

Willoughby describes as having plenty of quicknessand brings excitement to the team.Winner will bethe point guard and will be relied upon to help createopportunities on the offensive end.“He is a threat from deep and able to shoot from

well beyond the three-point point line. A key will begetting consistent performance from Evan,” saidWilloughby of Winner.Additionally, Austin Sarver is a junior post player

who Willoughby says is a strength inside – with theability to score in a variety of different ways includ-ing from downtown. Jamie Riffel is a junior whoWilloughby describes as a streaky shooter who attimes is capable of hitting four or five shots in a row.David Nagel is a junior post player who is quick toaction when going after a loose ball.“It’s imperative that we get steady and reliable

play from the new-comers,” explained Willoughby.Additionally, Willoughby points to the importance

of being ready to go right out of the gate, with theseason opener coming against Jackson Center.“Since we do have some experience back and our

schedule is loaded at the beginning, we must beready to play at a top level at the beginning of theseason.

Houston GirlsGreg Ward and the Houston Lady Wildcats are a

little short on numbers heading into the basketballseason this year.Ward knows his Wildcats and theirfortunes will rely heavily on the ability of differentplayers stepping up this season.Three players return for the Wildcats including

Kortney Phipps, Alyssa Stang, and Monique Booher.Senior center Kortney Phipps will be counted upon

heavily for her experience and leadership. Phippsprovides leadership and a proven track record ofplaying varsity basketball.“Kortney will be a third year starter, her experi-

ence will be relied upon to help develop our youngerplayers and will be a quick shot blocking presence inthe post,” said Ward.The Wildcats return another senior - Alyssa Stang

– who will play the forward and center position.“She will be called upon to provide inside defense

and scoring. The scoring, defense, and reboundingshe can provide will be important for our success,”said Ward.Monique Booher is a junior forward for the Wild-

cats who will likely play a versatile role this year.“Monique will provide us with help inside and out-

side. Her size will be needed as a post presence andher ability to score outside will give much neededscoring,” said Ward.While the role of the returing players will be criti-

cal – several new players to the varsity team willneed to step-up as well.Angela Gilkeson is a Wildcat senior forward who

features plenty of speed and a strong work ethic.“Angela will provide quickness and an eager posi-

tive attitude,” said Ward.Nicole Maier is a sophomore point guard who could

play a significant role for the Wildcats. Maier’s devel-opment as a sophomore throughout the season couldprove to be a difference-maker.“There are big shoes to fill with the departure of

last year’s seniors. She (Nicole) has shown greatpromise during our summer shootouts,” said Ward.A couple juniors will very much be in the mix for

the Wildcats. Heidi Cox is a forward for the Wildcats

and Terri Powell is a guard.“Heidi is a quick instinctive player that can cover a

lot of ground because of the space she can cover. Terriwill be needed as an outside shooter, especially afterlosing our 3 shooters from last year,” said Ward.The Wildcats could see a variety of different play-

ers from throughout the program fill their roster thisyear.“Because of our lack of numbers we will be using

most everyone in the program at sometime duringthe season. The other players that can see playingtime this season are: Morgan Ferryman, MadisonYoung, Ashley Peeples, Amber Meyer, Macey Stang,

Micalah Hensley, Kayla New and Jenna Winner,” saidWard.With the departure of some key players to gradua-

tion the Wildcats anticipate some early growingpains – but Ward is quick to point out that the wayhis team responds will be critical this year.“We will be a young team looking to replace our

scoring from last year. If we can survive early grow-ing pains and the players buy into how hard we willhave to work and play we will see tremendous im-provement this season. Our success will depend onfinding those players who are going to step up andscore this season,” concluded Ward.


HOUSTON HIGH School girls basketball seniors are (l-r) Angela Gilkeson, Kortney Phipps and Alissa Stang.


HOUSTON HIGH School boys basketball senior TJ Martin.

Houston continued from page 8


Versailles poised to make another runBY FRED HERRON

VERSAILLES - “I’m looking forward to this sea-son,” says Scott McEldowney, coach of the Versaillesboys varsity basketball team. “We’re hoping to re-peat a better last year.”McEldowney is referring to his team’s impressive

22-3 overall run last year. They also went 7-2 in theMAC and placed second overall.“We again have high expectations for the upcoming

season,” McEldowney explained. “Although we lostthree starters to graduation, we have four lettermencoming back, including our second- and third- leadingscorers and rebounders: Chad Winner 14 points pergame, 5rebounds, and Kyle Ahrens 13 per game, 6 re-bounds. We also have a lot of good newcomers comingfrom a highly successful JV team last year. This isone of the most athletic teams we’ve had at Ver-

sailles, and we hope to again make a deep run intournament.”In reference to the Tiger’s place in the MAC, McEl-

downey further explained, “The MAC will again bevery difficult with Ft. Recovery, St. Henry, andDelphos St. John’s returning key players.We hope toput ourselves in this mix, along with all the otherhighly competitive teams in the conference.”This will be McEldowney’s seventh year as head

coach of the Varsity Boys basketball team, so he nodoubt has a good handle on the Tiger’s potentials thisseason. McEldowney has been at Versailles for 23years where he was the freshman coach for twoyears, Junior Varsity coach for twelve years, and thana varsity assistant for two more years. In fact, McEl-downey seems to have been about basketball for mostof his life. One year out of High School, he played atEdison, and then started coaching the second year.

One change to McEldowney’s staff this year is theloss of one of his two assistants, Michael Bashere.Bashere took on a head-coaching job over atGreenville. McEldowney has decided to remain withonly one assistant, Kevin Ahrens.“The kids are typically self motivated,” McEl-

downey said. He tries to get the kids to “stay positiveon the floor the whole time” and to “try not to shownegative emotion. To put the team before self.“We’ve got really hard working kids at Versailles,”

McEldowney went on to say. “Good at motivatingthemselves.”According to McEldowney, his team has “really

good athletes.” And that “the chemistry is prettygood.” They are “good at accepting younger players.”Younger players that come on to the team to helpthem out.

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Versailles continued from page 9McEldowney said that two of the kids, senior Chad

Winner, and Sophomore Kyle Ahrens, are “in the gymwhenever it’s open; 24/7.” They are both second andthird in scoring and second and third in rebounding.The Tigers top scorer and rebounder, first and secondin those categories, was Mitchel Campbel. He gradu-ated and went on to Findley, Ohio on a football schol-arship where he is playing Division II football.With the loss of impact players, come challenges

and areas for growth and improvement. The pointguard position is a little bit of a concern, and McEl-downey also has his Tigers working hard defensively.This year, McEldowney plans on having his squad

open the floor: up tempo, half and full court pressure,get the ball out, and run the floor. He wants to “takeadvantage of (his team’s) athleticism and quickness.”“So many teams in the MAC are more ball con-

trolled,” McEldowney said. They are “trying to slowthe game down. We try to speed it up.”Even though McEldowney’s team got beaten last

year in the senior regional finals by Summit CountryDay, they take pride in knowing that the team thatknocked them out went on to actually win state, andno other team played them as close as Versailles.“We had a sub par night shooting,” McEldowney

said. “It’s a game we had a good shot to get there andwin it.”Another special achievement from last season was

that Ahrens and Winner were both first team allMAC.One of the go to people this season will be Junior,

Damian Richard, whom McEldowney said was “one ofa bunch putting up points last year” and that he is a“really good third scorer.” McEldowney also said thatthe Junior Varsity team, members of which will be onhis Varsity team this year, “was pretty good lastyear.”Top newcomers this season are Seniors Dominic

Richard and Craig Pothast, and then juniors, NickCampbell, Jacob Wenning, Evan Philpot, and RyanKnapke. In addition to Ahrens,Winning, andRichard, Heitkamp is another returning letter win-ner.Girls BasketballJacki Stonebraker, Coach of the varsity girls bas-

ketball squad at Versailles, believes “it will be an-other tough race for any team to stay undefeated inthe MAC. New Knoxville, Minster, and Marion Localshould be at the top! (We) lost one senior, a shootingguard, from the outside, but I think we have somegirls that can step up.” Namely, Danielle Langston.This will be Stonebrakers 10th year as head coach.

She emphasizes to her players to “play with an ag-gressive attitude. Never say die.” She said thatwhen playing every game in the MAC, “you have tohave to have a determined attitude or you’ll getbeat.”However, even though Stonebraker emphasizes

this tough and determined, “never say die” attitudeon the court, she strongly emphasized that that theteam’s attitude is also “very family oriented,” thatthey are “like sisters. They do a lot together.” Stone-breaker went on to say that “getting along off thecourt can help the on the court,” and that the “coach-ing staff does a lot to develop the whole kid, and do alot for the community.”When it comes to the lady Tigers strengths and

areas that need improvement, Stonebraker com-mented, “we are very versatile this year. We hope toimprove defensively and play with more pressure.”She said that they needed to work on their post play.They are going to “concentrate on getting the ball in-side. She also hopes to improve her squads outside

shooting. Stonebrakers emphasis will be on keepingthe midrange game, those twelve to fourteen footshots, going strong. “We’re really strong there.”Stonebraker mentioned that sometimes the girls willwant to go all out and try to shoot three point buck-ets. But Stonebraker feels that those mid rangeshots are where they are strong and can garner morepotential points. Additionally, Stonebraker will focuson “a lot of posts.”Last year was a great season for the Lady Tigers,

even though they were knocked out in the first roundof the tournaments. They went 14-7 overall and 5-4in the MAC. As to their disappointing tournamentshowing, Stonebraker said that it was “one of thoseupsets when you show up not ready to play.” Buteven with such a great season, Stonebraker com-mented that previous season was a kind of rebuildingyear for the team. So this season they’ve got eight ornine strong athletic juniors, vets, and three sopho-mores stepping up.Returning letter winners are senior, Meagan Win-

ner, a Guard whom Stonebraker describes as “talland thin,” and “a pretty good shooter” at the 12-14 ftrange. Other returning letter winners include jun-iors, Katie Heckman, a go to in the Post, Chloe, a goto Point Guard on the outside, Amanda Winner atGuard, Olivia Schlater, also at Guard, CourtneyPrenger, a Small Forward, and then three moreguards, Kayla McEldowney, Rachel Kremer, andBrooke Pothast.One top newcomer to the team this year is junior

Emily Harman who Stonebraker said plays the postand was on the Junior Varsity Team last year. Othertop newcomers are sophomores, Lauren Bruns, aGuard, Christa Puthoff at Post, and Taylor Winner,also a Guard.

VERSAILLES' Katie Heckman is shown in action lastseason.

PHOTO BY/KYLE SHANER

PHOTO BY/KYLE SHANER

VERSAILLES' Kyle Ahrens is shown in action last season.

�� WINTER SPORTS PREVIEW • SIDNEY DAILY NEWS • NOVEMBER 2012 • PAGE 10

New Knoxville boys: speed over sizeBY FRED HERRON

NEWKNOXVILLE -Coach Kort Fledderjohannof the NewKnoxvilleRangers, boy’s basketballteamwants to emphasizeto his players that “just be-cause you’re outsized, youcan’t let that stop you.”Size is an issue on thisyear’s team. The playersare young, and there isn’t alot of size to work with. So,in order to stay competi-tive, Fledderjohann’s em-phasis is going to be speed.“We’re going to play uptempo,” he said. “And thegoal is to be competitiveevery game.”However, as Fledderjo-

hann said, “With youthcomes inconsistency.” But,he wants his team to con-tinually learn to competeagainst the bigger kids.His strategy is to play up-tempo and spread the floor.“With smaller size comesquickness,” said Fledderjo-hann. “We want to takeadvantages of the mis-matches that creates.” Inaddition to playing up-tempo and spreading thefloor, Fledderjohann saidthat his teamwould play alot of man-to-man.

Despite their youth andsmaller size, Fledderjo-hann said, “I have a goodgroup of young players towork with. Our strengthwill be at the guard posi-tions. Overall the MACshould be more competitivethis year with multipleteams having the ability tocompete for the champi-onship. Versailles and St.Henry will be two of thetop teams,with Ft Recov-ery, Minster,Marion, andDelphos St. Johns all re-turning key players fromlast year.”Last year the Rangers

finished 9-12. Unfortu-nately they lost two of theirimpact starters, Seth Kuck,a rebounder, and LucasLeffer, their top scorer.Thankfully, according toFledderjohann, “we have agroup of young kids readyto step in and compete.”This years returning let-

ter winners are seniors,JakeAllen andAndrewAr-nett, as well as juniors, BenKuck and Ryan Lageman.Top Newcomers are senior,SpencerWolf, junior, IsaacKuntz, and sophomores,ShaneTopp,AdamHowe,and Jalen Fullenkamp.

Girls BasketballIt takes a great leader to

lead a team to success inspite of difficult challenges.Last year, despite beingconsidered a rebuildingyear by CoachTimothyHegemier, the NewKnoxville Lady Rangersfinished an impressive 21-4overall, and at 7-2 in theMAC,where they finishedsecond. Hegemier againhas great ambition for hissquad this year, aiming tofinish in the top three orfour in the league.Hegemier, eight-year

varsity coach of the LadyRangers, stresses defense.He wants his girls to “getas physical as you can. Youhave to play physical andplay hard defense to win.”Despite the last year’s

impressive season and thisyears ambitious hopes,Hegemier still considersthis year to be yet anotherrebuilding year. The rea-son, according to Hegemieris that “there are no seniorson the team. Our numbersare low this year and therewill be no junior varsitysquad.”The solution? “The

freshmen will have to step

up and fill the void,”Hegemier explained.Hegemier also has highhopes for junior PointGuard,Haley Horstman.She was a starter last year,and Hegemier said thatshe is getting interest fromsome colleges. Last year, asa sophomore,Horstmanhad received the Player oftheYear honor in theMAC.Hegemier is hoping thatshe will do a lot to carry hisyoung, rebuilding team.In addition to Horstman,

Hegemier will have junior,Paige Lehman taking theinside. Sophomore,MegReineke will play the wing,and Kaylen Schroer will bein the mix. And then, ac-cording to Hegemier, the“fifth spot is wide open.”He’ll have to bring up twofreshmen willing to step into cover the fifth spot andto be available on thebench if and when it’sneeded. Freshman playersavailable for the spots in-clude Rachel Leffel,Madi-son Lammers,AbigailLageman, and Catlin Mag-ato.“All around we need ex-

perience,” said Hegemier.With no seniors this year,and going with two juniors,

two sophomores, and twofreshmen, he said, “theyhave a lot to learn.” Thetwo juniors on the teamwill certainly be the go topeople this season in orderto make another impres-sive run.It was a difficult blow to

lose three seniors last year.Those losses included twosix footers,Haley DillonandTiana Heidt.“I think we’ll start off

slow,”Hegemier said inlight of a tough schedule.“We’ve got our hands fullthe first five or six games.”


NEW KNOXVILLE Senior basketball players are JakeAllen (left) and SpencerWolf.

BY MATT ZIRCHER

ANNA - Besides Jackson Center, the Anna boysbasketball team were the hottest team in the countyat the end of the season as the Rockets won 10straight after a 4-5 start before falling to the Tigersin the regular-season finale.Most of those faces from that team, however, have

graduated, leaving head coach Nate Barhorst with anew-look squad this season.Anna does, however, have one returning starter in

senior Chandon Williams, who shot 51 percent fromthe field and had 29 steals during the regular season.“We’re looking for big things from Chandon this

year,” said Barhorst. “He’s a very versatile playerand a prototypical scorer. He can drive to the basket,slash and finish strong at the glass. He came on latefor us last season and showed that he can really be ascorer for us as well as be a key on defense.”“Chandon is the only one for us that had a lot of

varsity experience last year,” added Barhorst. “Weneed for him to help provide leadership and to getthe others involved in our style of play.”Guard Brad Boyd is the other senior on the roster

and he is coming back from another knee injury hesuffered during the summer. “Brad seems to be re-covering very well and is already farther along thanexpected. We will be counting on him for leadershipand his outside shooting.”There are seven juniors on the team, led by 6-4

post player Joel Albers. “Joel gives us a great postpresence inside and should be able to help pick upthe slack we lost to graduation. He has the potentialof being a “double-double” kind of player.”Carter Bensman will run the point. “He has great

poise and moxy on the court. He can drive to the bas-ket or shoot from the outside. He’s starting to evolvea leadership role that teams look for in a pointguard.”Nick Ihle gives the Rockets another presence in-

side according to the coach. “He has a good sense ofthe game and understands his role out on the court.”Josh Robinson will be out early for Anna due to a

finger injury suffered during football season. “Joshwill see time at the wing and forward for us. He’slong, athletic kid who can play inside and outside.We really need him to be explosive for us.”Brady Cates has “really worked hard in the off-sea-

son and improved his jump shot. He’s an explosivekid and can get up and down the court.”6-5 T.J. Saunders will also see some time inside.

“T.J. is very athletic and a guy that can crash theboards. We continue to keep working with him on hisgame inside.”Guard Nick Doseck rounds out the junior group.

“Nick is a grinder on defense and really gets after op-posing players. He brings that grit you need tohave.”There are five sophomores pushing for varsity time

including guard Christian Williams, Chandon’sbrother. “He’s got quickness, balance and good courtvision. He can get into the paint to dish as well asfinish, but also knows when to pull it out and run of-fense.”“Derek Scoggin is another sophomore that has re-

ally come around and grown and he will compete forfloor time. He gives us another option in the post.”Other sophomores in the mix include Evan Romie,

Grant Glover and Mikey Omlor.“We still have a lot of guys vying for spots on this

team,” said Barhorst. “Guys are pushing each otherfor major roles, which may change things as we headinto the start of the season.”“We should be able to get up and down the floor

with this team, so transition will be key,” addedBarhorst. “I feel like we should be able to breakteams down off the dribble and I think it will be criti-cal for us to be a good rebounding team despite a per-ceived lack of size.”Like many county coaches, Barhorst sees a compet-

itive race this season.“I think you have to look first at the defending

champs in Jackson Center,” said Barhorst. “Theystill have a lot of talent coming back, their guard playis one of the best in the area and they have Ryder in-side. Fairlawn has a good senior class, Russia alwayscomes at you, and Loramie should bounce back.”Along with the resumption of a series with Coving-

ton, Anna has added another Midwest Athletic Con-ference team to the schedule in St. Henry.“We thought that adding St. Henry would give us

another tough opponent to help us get ready for thetournament,” said Barhorst. “A lot of schools in theDivision III tournament are comparable to them.There’s not one game on our schedule that you canpoint to and say that’s a definite win.”Girls BasketballIt’s been quite a run for the Anna girls basketball

team.The Rockets were just a few points short from

going 56-0 the last two years, having lost by a pointat Tipp City in finishing 27-1 and winning the Divi-sion III state title in 2010-11 and then fell in over-time to Columbus Africentric in the state title gamein 2011-12, again finishing 27-1.Overall, Anna has won 16 or more games in each of

the last seven years, with four of those more than 20wins.“Going to the state tournament in back-to-back

years is amazing enough, but to make three straighttrips would be quite a feat,” said coach Jack Billing.“You have to have a lot of luck, stay injury free andbe playing well at the right time. The last two years,

we’ve been hitting on all cylinders at the right time.”The Rockets return three starters and seven sen-

iors this season, including Billing’s daughter, Natalie,who averaged nearly 17 points and 12 rebounds pergame while shooting 51 percent from the field.“Natalie’s been a four-year starter for us and has

over 1000 points already in her career,” said Billing.“We’re counting on her to be a big scorer and re-bounder for us again this season.”Another senior is point guard Erica Huber. “Erica

is like another coach on the floor and does a great jobof running the offense and making things happen.We need for Erica and Natalie to be leaders on thisteam and help out the younger players.”Other seniors for Anna include Kelli Ehemann,

Katie Niekamp, Sydney Rioch, Emily Watercutterand Kayla Blankenship.“We’re looking for all of our seniors to step up this

season,” said Billing. “Sydney will really help us onthe boards and play good defense for us while Emilyis probably one of the best shooters in our program.Kelli and Katie always give it everything they haveand they will give us quality minutes off the bench.”Juniors on this year’s squad include Krista

Blankenship, Courtney Landis and Rachel Noffsingerwhile underclassmen Cayla Bensman, CourtneyEsser and Avery Bensman also figure in the mix.“Cayla had a good season for us, but she struggled

at the state tournament and looked like a freshmanout there,” said Billing. “She’s played a lot of summerand AAU ball, though, so she has a lot of time underher belt now and I think she’s going to be a good onefor us this year.”“We’re going to be strong and physical, get the ball

up and down the floor and make teams play fullcourt,” said Billing. “We going to try to make teamsplay faster than they are comfortable doing.”“We need to find another person to build around

Natalie, Erica and Cayla,” added Billing. “If we playsome defense and have a little luck, we could have avery good season.”

Anna once again plays one of the toughest non-league schedules around the area this season, facingLima Bath, Miami East, Marion Local, Carroll, Mid-dletown Madison, Tipp City and Minster.“Our schedule is brutal, but I believe if you want to

be the best, you have to play the best,” said the coach.“We picked up Bath, Carroll, Madison and MiamiEast this year and all four of those teams have beenvery successful in recent years. Playing those kind ofteams has helped us prepare for our tournamentruns and only makes you better. The girls enjoy thechallenge.”“Going to 22 games this season is a good thing,”

added Billing. “The girls get tired of practice andthey are used to playing 40-50 games during thesummer in AAU. If you are winning, I don’t think thekids get tired of what you doing, no matter what thesport.”Along with the nonleague slate, the Rockets will

also face two county teams that made the regionalslast year in Fort Loramie and Russia.“Loramie has a very good squad, they’re deep and

they’ve worked hard in the summer and Russia hassome real talented kids on their roster along withsize and quickness,” said Billing. “I think Botkinswill be improved and you have to be ready to playevery night in this league.”

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Anna faces ‘new-look’ squad this season


ANNA SENIOR girls basketball players are (L-R) back row: Katie Niekamp, Natalie Billing, Sydney Rioch andEmilyWatercutter. (L-R) front row: Kelli Ehemann, Kyla Blankenship and Erica Huber.


ANNA SENIOR boys players are ChandonWilliams (left) and Brad Boyd.

BY MATT ZIRCHER

MINSTER - Veterancoach Mike Lee has justfour letter-winners re-turning this season, butthose four bring a greatdeal of experience for theWildcats.“Only having four let-

ter winners back isn’tmany, but the ones wehave are kids that havebeen in the system formultiple years,” said Lee.“They have developed thenecessary skills at thevarsity level to be solidcontributors. It’s a goodgroup that we will needto see improvement fromday one after another latestart due to the footballplayoffs.”There are five seniors

on this year’s squad, ledby three-year lettermanDevon Poeppelman. A

forward, Poeppelman av-eraged 11 points pergame last season.“We are looking for

solid leadership fromDevon and more offensiveaggressiveness,” said Lee.“He’s is a great kid and issomeone we will lean onin the early going.”Guard Adam Niemeyer,

a two-year letterman,also returns after beingnamed First Team All-Midwest Athletic Confer-ence as a junior,averaging 11.5 points pergame.“Adam is an athletic

point guard that will di-rect our offensive setsand we hope to be able torotate to a number ofspots on the floor,” saidthe coach. “Like Devon,we need Adam to be moreaggressive at the offen-sive end of the floor.”

The other three seniorsare guard AndrewKnapke, forward VinceBrown and guard KurtisThobe.“Andrew is a quality

kid that will be able tohelp us offensively, in-cluding shooting and tak-ing care of the ball. Vincehas put in a bunch oftime preparing for hisfinal season and if he

stays within himself, heshould help us at bothends of the floor. Kurtiswill help us defensivelyand he is able to playmultiple spots on thefloor.”A pair of juniors that

lettered last season re-turn in forward EthanWolf and guard BrandonHoying.“Ethan has added bulk

and a bit more size, so wewill lean on him to get usbuckets in the paint andrebound the basketball,”said Lee. “He is an ath-letic kid that has a bunchof potential.”“Brandon lettered for

us after getting off to adecent start at the juniorvarsity level. If he devel-ops consistency in takingcare of the basketball, he

should help us in manyareas at both ends of thefloor.”Sophomore forward

Drew Ripploh should alsobe a factor for the Wild-cats this season.“If Drew plays aggres-

sively at both ends, hewill get quality time,”said Lee. “He possessesthe size (6-5) that we


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Fairlawn boys team rich in experience

��Four letter winners return at Minster

BY MATT ZIRCHER

While there will be a new face on the Fairlawnsidelines this season in Justin Tidwell, the Jets re-turn plenty of experience to be a factor in the countyrace.There are five seniors on the Fairlawn roster, led

by guards Trey Everett and Anthony Gillem. Everettaveraged nearly 13 points per game and was secondin the county in assists as a junior. This fall, he wasone of the top soccer players in the area in leadingthe Jets to their best tournament finish ever.“Trey is a tremendous athlete and is Mr. Do-It-All

for us,” said Tidwell. “We going to look for him tobring the ball up the court, defend the post, play inthe post and is going to be that guy for us.”Gillem averaged 21 points during 11 regular-sea-

son games and shot 38 percent from three-pointrange and 84 percent at the line despite a wrist in-jury.“We’ve been working with Anthony a lot on his de-

fense,” said Tidwell. “He’s lights out scoring wise, butwe need more from him on the defensive side. He’sback to his normal self from the wrist injury andstroking it like it did before.”“You never want an injury, especially with a com-

petitor like Anthony, but it made his other team-mates figure out how to score without him,” addedthe coach. “Hopefully those guys were able to gainsome confidence from that and will carry that over tothis season.”Other seniors for the Jets are Jesse Hughes along

with Grant Covault and Ryan Lessing. “Jesse is atremendous on-ball defender and he’s been reallyworking on improving his shot. Grant and Ryan willplay big roles for us defensively and, hopefully, hitsome big shots for us.”Junior Luke Brautigam will see time inside for

Fairlawn. “Luke gives us some height and he canshoot, but he’s not as aggressive offensively right nowas we hope for him to be as the season goes along.”Junior guards Wesley Bolton and Brad Caudill also

figure into the mix. “Both can slash and shoot welland we’re looking for them to help us defensivelyalso.”Sophomore Joey Cockroft gives the Jets size. “He’s

a big, thick kid that can get up and down the courtand set some good screens for us.”“We don’t have a lot of height overall, so we’re

going to look to get it out and run a little bit with ourspeed,” said Tidwell. “We have good experience re-turning, especially with Trey, Anthony and Jesse.”Tidwell looks for the county race to be strong.“Jackson lost just a couple of players from their

state team and I think Houston will be up there withJesse Phlipot back. Anna graduated a lot, but theyhad a good JV team last year, and you can’t count outRussia or Fort Loramie. The race is going to be tight.Shelby County is filled with great coaches and play-ers and every night will be competitive.”Like nearly everyone else, Fairlawn added two

games to this year’s schedule, including a renewal ofa backyard rivalry with Miami East.“There’s already a lot of buzz for the Miami East

game,” said Tidwell. “Everyone is excited, especiallywith the good basketball tradition that they have. Iexpect a packed house and a great atmosphere withthat one.”“Bring our A-game and playing good defense every

night is going to be a key for us,” added the coach. “Ifwe don’t bring it, we’re going to be in a world of hurt,regardless of how much talent we have or how ath-letic we are.”

Girls BasketballRandy Tyler is the new Fairlawn girls basketball

coach this season, but he is familiar with the pro-gram, having coached at the school at the junior highlevel.The task for Tyler is a tall one as the Lady Jets

have won just one game over the last three seasons.Tyler, though, is optimistic with what he has seen

from his team over the summer and in the early pre-season.“We were very competitive in our summer camps

and have carried that over so far into fall practice,”said Tyler. “We’ve done a lot of bonding as a teamand these girls have worked hard. Hopefully, that allwill translate into some success this season.”Fairlawn has three seniors on this year’s roster in

Olivia Cummings, Haley Slonkosky and EmilyBoerger.Cummings is coming off of a strong season on the

volleyball court and was one of the top performers in

the area last spring in the shot put.“Olivia uses her size very well and understands

how to use that to position herself on the boards,”said Tyler. “She also does a good job of setting up forshots inside. We’re hoping for big things from herthis season.”Slonkosky will run the point for the Jets. “Haley

did a great job in our games during the summer ofrunning the point and learning our new offenses. Weneed her to take the shot when she’s open and to ableto find the open man when she’s not.”Fairlawn also has three juniors in Kelsey Oates,

Allison Watkins and Dana Stanley.“Kelsey has a lot of playing experience for us. She

will be at the wing for us and had a lot of successthere during the summer.”Four sophomores round out the roster in Abbie

Roe, Allison Watkins, Megan Dudgeon and MadelineFogt.“Abbie started quite a few games last season and

will be the two guard for us this season. She has

great speed and that’s something you can’t coach. Weneed to use that speed to the best of our ability.”“Allison also has varsity experience and has

picked up things quickly for us. She’ll see time atthe two and three and maybe at times at the pointto give Haley a break.”“Megan and Madeline both have real good size

and give us some depth inside. We should have agood mixture of size and speed out there this sea-son. Not a very deep team, but a well-roundedteam.”Building a program is tough, but it’s even

tougher considering that two county teams have ad-vanced to the state final four in the last two sea-sons.“Anna has been to state the last two years and

have a good deal of the team returning again thisseason,” said Tyler. “Loramie went to state twoyears ago and they, along with Russia, went to theregional last year. It’s a tough league with a lot oftalent and you have to be ready to play every night.”


FAIRLAWN HIGH School senior girls basketball players are (l-r) Emily Boerger, Haley Slonkosky and OliviaCummings.


FAIRLAWN SENIOR boys basketball players are (l-r) Jessie Hughes, Anthony Gillem,Trey Everett, Grant Co-vault and Ryan Lessing.

BY MATT ZIRCHER

FORT LORAMIE - Last season was not a typicalone for the Fort Loramie boys basketball program.After advancing to the regionals two years ago and

winning 17 games in 2010-11, the Redskins won justfive times in 2011-12 overall and only once outside ofleague play.Coach Karl Ratermann, though, looks for a return

to form this season.“We just wanted the guys this spring and summer

to go out and play more,” said Ratermann. “We’retrying to get the program back on track by just get-ting guys more involved in the offseason and creatinga good environment going into the year.Senior Seth Guillozet will be called upon for a

leadership role, just like he did as the quarterback ofthe football team this fall. “Seth did an excellent jobin the quarterback role and we’re counting on him todo a lot of the same positive things for us on the bas-ketball court. He’s a very talented player, a heck of ashooter and has a lot of the intangibles you like tosee your seniors have.”Seven juniors are on this year’s roster, including

Craig Fullenkamp, who will run the point, guardTroy Benanzer and Logan McGee, who will see timeat the wing and post.“Craig, Troy and Logan all were starters by the

end of the season, so while we’re still young, we dohave experience coming back,” said Ratermann. “Wethrew them into the fire and they all performedwell.”6-7 Kyle Pleiman gives the Redskins size inside.“You can’t coach size like that,” said the coach.

“Kyle has been working really hard and been improv-ing every day. He has a nice stroke.”Also inside will be Tyler Kazmaier. “Tyler had a

very good junior varsity season last year and we’relooking for him to real get involved inside.”Rounding out the list of juniors is the Rittenhouse

brothers, guards Trey and Tanner.Sophomore Ty Frilling also will see action as will

6-3 Grant Olberding. “Ty is very athletic kid and hasa nice shot. He played with us this summer and he’sprobably going to get a good look for us. He could bevery productive for us at the varsity level.”“Grant probably won’t see a lot of minutes on var-

sity, but he may be able to give us decent minutes attimes.”Ratermann sees skill level as one of the strengths

to this year’s squad.“We have some guys that can handle the basket-

ball and can shoot it,” said Ratermann. “We’re notvery big, but we have a group of guys that have anedge to them, a chip on their shoulder and they’llbring that to the court and not back down from any-body.”“We need to be able to rebound the basketball,”

added the coach. “If we can do that and get out and

go a little bit, that will be a key for us.”Ratermann looks to Jackson Center as the team to

beat in the county race this season.“Jackson did lose Andy Hoying, who was a fantas-

tic player for them for four years, but they haveeveryone else back. They’re very talented and Scott(Elchert) does a great job. The rest of the league willbe extremely competitive and we have to be ready togo every night.”Outside of the league, the Redskins will again

played a difficult slate, one that includes seven Mid-west Athletic Conference teams (Fort Recovery, Mar-ion Local, Minster, New Bremen, New Knoxville, St.Henry and Versailles), Lehman and a visit to DaytonJefferson in February.“The nonleague schedule is tough, but we look for-

ward to the challenge,” said Ratermann. “Jefferson,though, will be unlike any other opponent we willface. We were fortunate enough to get them on theschedule and it will be a great experience for ourteam.”“We like our prospects to getting back to the win

ning ways of Loramie basketball,” said Ratermann.“The kids have taken a lot of pride in their work andI think they are up to the challenge to getting back tothe tradition that’s expected.”

Girls BasketballIt was a tale of two seasons last year for the Fort

Loramie girls basketball team.After falling in the Division IV state title game in

2010-11, it was a different type of start in 2011-12 asthe Redskins battled injuries and inexperience in be-ginning the season 7-6.From there, however, Loramie turned it on as a vic-

tory over Fort Recovery kicked off a 12-game winningstreak that didn’t end until the Redskins lost to Tri-Village in the regional finals.Nearly everyone returns this season and that has

coach Carla Siegel excited.“This year is the opposite of last,” said Siegel. “We

graduated seven seniors from the state team, includ-ing all five starters, and it was a bare cabinet withjust three players having any varsity experience com-ing back. Now, all but one player returns and thecupboard is fuller this year.”Leading the list of returnees is junior guard Dar-

ian Rose, who averaged just over 14 points per gameand had over 50 steals a season ago. “Darian can doa little bit of everything for us, from playing pointguard to power forward. She has a great knowledgeof the game and can help out in any situation.”


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need inside.”“After averaging in the

high 40s as a team lastyear, we need to developmore consistency offen-sively this season and ifthat happens, we will beable to compete withteams on our schedule,”added Lee.As usual, the MAC

race will be a strong one.“The overall league is

right back up again thisyear,” said Lee. “You havemultiple teams with abunch of experience backand some outstanding in-dividual talent. Withouthedging on an overallwinner, I think there arequite a few teams thatcould vie for the title.”Along with the MAC

schedule, Minster willface seven teams fromShelby County,Spencerville, Ottoville,Mississinawa Valley,Wa-

pakoneta and St. Marys.The Wildcats also play atDivision I Troy on Febru-ary 16.“The addition of Troy

just gives us an opportu-nity to compete against aquality program year in

and year out and togauge our effectiveness ofhow far we have come asa team since the begin-ning of the season,” saidLee. “It certainly will bea challenge for our ball-club.”


MINSTER SENIOR boys basketball players (l-r) Vince Brown, Devon Poeppelman, Kurtis Thobe, AndrewKnapke and Adam Niemeyer.


FORT LORAMIE senior boys basketball players are Jason Streib (left) and Seth Guillozet.

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Minster continued from page 12


Fort Loramie eyes ‘return to form’

BY FRED HERRON

NEW BREMEN - “Our expectations are highgoing into the season,” commented Coach AdamDougherty embarking on his second year ladingthe New Bremen Varsity Boys Basketball Team.“These guys invested a lot time during the summer.We hope to get better every day and play our bestin March. We are going to be a very long team thatshould be able to guard people.”And even though, according to Dougherty, “we

lost a lot to graduation a year ago,” they “returnfour guys with big game varsity experience. Oursuccess will be determined in how ready ouryounger and inexperienced guys are to contributeand how well our parts gel together.” Doughertysays that his team “has a lot of talent” and that itwill just be “how well it fits together.”Last year Dougherty led his squad to a 13-9

overall record, but finished 4-5 in the conference.But Dougherty has established an impressive 101-53 coaching record during five seasons in NorthCarolina and last year at New Bremen.Dougherty said his players are “good kids who

work real hard.” He also said that their success asa team depends on how well the group works to-gether. His squad is good at post game rebounding,but they need to work on perimeter shooting, teamdefense, and shot selection.As far as strategy, Dougherty will run a motion

offense and half court man defense. They set a lotof ball screens and emphasize ball movement.Last year, the team lost a lot of members to grad-

uation, but they do have two returning starters,Luke Schwieterman and Parker Manger, in addi-tion to four letter winners. Letter winners includeSeniors Luke Schwierterman, a 5’10 Guard, JustinHeitkamp, a 6’6 Forward, and Parker Manger, a 6’1Guard, as well as sophomore, Carson Manger, a 6’1Guard. Another possible starter this year is Jun-ior, Ben Homan, a 6’6 forward from the Junior Var-sity squad. Other members of the team includeSeniors Trevor Kitzmiller a 6’5 Forward, Sam Wen-dal, a 5’8 Guard, and Alex Speelman a 6’4 Forward,

Junior, Brent Goettemoeller a 6’5 Forward, andsophomores, Trey Naylor, a 5’10 Guard, and NolanFox, a 6’4 Forward. And, according to Dougherty,the player most likely to be a surprise this year isManger, because he has had a huge summer andhas worked really hard in the off-season.Dougherty commented that their “season ended

too soon last year.” New Bremen was ousted in aSectional Final loss to St. Henry 61-38. In additionto ball handling skills and shot selection issues,

one of the challenges to going further is that thereisn’t a lot of depth at the Guard position, andDougherty will be looking to add greater depththere.Dougherty’s coaching staff includes, Dane cook,

Craig Griesdorn, and Rob Sniegowski.Top teams in the MAC will be Versailles, St.

Henry, Delphos-St. Johns, and Fort Recovery.Continued on page 15

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Senior forward ReggiBrandewie is also backafter averaging 11 pointsand five rebounds a con-test last year. “Reggiand Darian will probablybe our go-to players thisseason. They both havegood knowledge of thegame, have that experi-ence under their beltand understand our sys-tem.”The Redskins have

two other seniors on theroster in Paige Ordeanand Amanda Holdheide.“Paige had a tremendoustournament run for usand we’re counting onbig things from both herand Amanda this sea-son.”Loramie has a big jun-

ior class with nine alto-gether, including Rose.Guard Meg Wester-

heide will take over thepoint guard spot. “Megis a good ball handler, isvery quick on the floorand I love her defense.”5-11 forward Renae

Meyer will be in thepost. “Renae has goodhands and reboundswell.”Other juniors include

Megan Imwalle, JulieHoying, McKenzie Mid-dendorf, Hannah Meyer,Elizabeth Barhorst andAmy Holthaus.

“Megan will be ourbackup point guard andshe’s a great outsideshooter,” said Siegel.“Julie is coming backfrom an ACL injury andwe hope she can carryover her success on thevolleyball court.”Sophomore Hallie Be-

nanzer also figures tosee playing time as wellthis season.“Hallie got thrown

into the fire when wehad all of the injurieslast year and we likedwhat we saw from her,”said Siegel. “She gainedsome experience thereand played with the var-sity players this sum-mer.”“We always pride our-

selves on defense and Ithink that will be one ofour strengths this yearalong with experience,”said the coach. “Thosetwo things combinedalong with our speed willallow us to push it theintensity a little furtherthan we did last year.”Loramie will play

seven Midwest AthleticConference schools thisseason in Fort Recovery,Marion Local, Minster,New Bremen, NewKnoxville, St. Henry andVersailles along withLehman and Miami

East. New to the sched-ule, though, is amatchup at Mechanics-burg in January.“We’re playing in the

Classic in the Countrynext year, so we had aneed for a one-year con-

tract to make room forthat,” said Siegel. “Mostschools want two-yeardeals, but Mechanics-burg agreed to it. Weplayed them in the sec-tional finals last seasonand I have a lot of re-

spect for Christie Do-dane, their head coach.”As far as the league

goes, Siegel feels Anna isthe team to beat.“Anna has won the

league the last two yearsand they have a good nu-

cleus coming back. Rus-sia made the regionalslast season and theyhave a lot coming backas well. I imagine thethree of us will be bat-tling for the title.”

Fort Loramie continued from page 13


FORT LORAMIE senior girls basketball players are (l-r) Paige Ordean, Reggi Brandewie and Amanda Hold-heide


NEW BREMEN senior boys basketball players are (l-r) Alex Speelman, Sam Wendel, Justin Heitkamp, ParkerManger,Trevor Kitzmiller and Luke Schwieterman.


Grand expectations for New Bremen basketball

BY FRED HERRONJohn Spencer, second

year coach of the SidneyChristian Academy’s var-sity boys basketball team,said that he emphasizesacademics above all else.“Academics first. Also thewell being of the players.The players need emo-tional balance, handlingthe wins and the losses inthe same way.”The reason for the aca-

demic focus is that Chris-tian Academy requires ahigher grade level fromstudents in order to com-pete in athletic events.Because of that, the play-ers cannot relax theirstudies in order to playsports, or for any otherreason.As far as basketball

goes, Spencer said that hissquad “is moving in theright direction again.” Histeam had gone on to win

four games last year fromzero wins the year before,to finish 4-15 overall, andthey also garnered aleague record of 1-5.“The Eagles are return-

ing three of the fivestarters from last year,”Spencer noted. This in-

cludes the “team’s secondleading scorer DerekSpencer.” Spencer alsocommented, “big menIsaac Abbott and AaronAmsden will be countedon a lot for rebounding,shot blocking and scoring.Their experience from last

year has given themplenty of optimism aboutthis season. Second yearpoint guard DerekSpencer will be asked tocontrol the tempo and pullthe trigger a little more onthe long ball.”Andrew Ditmer, John

Kindig and Nick Gibsonare all coming back again

this year. Spencer said,Continued on page 18

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So what attitude should the New Bremen boysbring to their game? Dougherty says come “preparedto play for each other…playing for the end of theyear…play your best.”

Girls BasketballThis is Coach Chris Burden’s first year as head

coach of the New Bremen varsity girls basketballteam. He is replacing Randy Eckert who hadstepped down. Burden had spent the past two yearsas head coach at Indian Lake but is a native of NewBremen. He sees the job as a great opportunity tospend more time with his young family, which in-cludes a six-year-old daughter, and a three-year-oldson. “Coaching is very time consuming,” Burdensaid. “It’s good to be back home, spending time withfamily.”Burden said of his new squad that “Our success

will depend on how confident we are and how wewill compete this year. We had a great summer ad-justing to change in coaches and are ready to takethe next step.”In fact, Burden says of his girls that he stresses,

“believing in themselves.” He wants them to “comeinto practice, work hard, and get better. We canplay. We can win. We can compete.” He also saidthat his team needs to “Want to get better.”The good thing, according to Burden, is that they

have “experience playing at the varsity level. Wewill have a lot of experience returning this upcom-ing season.”Returning letter winners from last season are:

seniors, Haley Moeller at Guard/Forward, Kyla Ot-ting at Guard, Hannah Holdren at Guard/Forward,Meagan Brandt at Guard, and Amber Paul also atGuard. Then there are juniors, Karli Jones atGuard/Forward, and Melissa Thieman at Forward.Top newcomers will be seniors, Samantha

Luedeke at the Guard position and Lauren Bertkeat Forward. Also up and coming this year are twojuniors, Kim Brown at Center and Janelle Elking atForward.Burden said that some areas that need attention

for growth would be ball handling. As an answer, hehas some drills planned and he hopes the result willbe that ball handling will actually become one oftheir strengths. An extra challenge for the squadwill be adjusting to a new coach and a different sys-tem. However, Burden said, “We had a great sum-mer adjusting to change in coaches and are ready totake the next step.”Speed will be another important factor for suc-

cess, according to Burden. He said that they need to“get down the floor as fast as we can. Last year, wehad trouble scoring.” Burden plans on his girlsplaying man-to-man and playing physical ball. Apositive is that the New Bremen varsity girls didn’tlose any seniors.Last year, the New Bremen girls went 7-14 over-

all, and 1-8 in the MAC. Haley Moeller was 2ndTeam All MAC, Kyla Otting was also 2nd Team AllMAC, and Hannah Holdren received HonorableMention All MAC.As far as the prospects for this year, Burden said

“The outlook will be a tough one again in the MAC.There are many teams that can vie for the confer-ence title. You will have to come ready to play eachand every night.”

Swimming/DivingCresta Ritter, New Bremen swim coach, wants

her team to know that they “need to give their all,all the time.” She doesn’t want them to go into theseason thinking they can’t compete. She wantsthem to truly believe that they can indeed be com-petitive, even if they are playing against biggerschools.Ritter explained that the bigger schools have

more opportunity to practice and develop and so it’smore difficult for New Bremen to stay competitivein their arena, or to go on to the state level. But shewants them to believe they can compete anyway.However, when it comes to the smaller schools withsimilar practice schedules like New Bremen, Rittersays that they always do well. Despite the chal-lenges though, New Bremen still had four district

qualifiers last year, including Lexi Richater andChristi Wisvari.When it came to the boys on the New Bremen

swim team, Ritter had this to say: “I look for theboys swim to be strong this year, even though weare down in numbers. There are eight members onthe swim team and six of them are returning letter-men. One of them is a returning swimmer and oneis a newcomer freshman. This makes the leadershipand experience of our swimmers an important partof this team. Not only am I looking to the three sen-iors to stand out, I am expecting the underclassmen,including the one freshman on the team, to step upand be standouts on the team. The experience isthere, now all they have to do is take advantage ofthe opportunities given to them. Since we are lowon the number of swimmers on the team this year, Ifeel that we are going to have to take advantage ofevery scoring situation we have. In the past, wewere able to put swimmers in just every event andfor the most part those swimmers would score. Weare not going to be able to have that luxury thisyear, so when we have swimmers in an event, theyare going to have to swim their best and try theirhardest to put themselves in a scoring position sothat we can compete with the other schools at themeets. My goal for this boys team this year is toqualify at least one of the relays and hopefully someindividuals to the district competition at BowlingGreen State University in February.”And then, for the girls, “this year, seven of the 15

members on the team are returning lettermen whowill bring strength, talent and experience to theteam. These seven returning letter-winners are

ready to accept the challenge to step up their swim-ming and take as many points as possible in a meet.I am not only excited about the talent that is re-turning to the swim team this year, but I am alsoexcited about the talent the underclassmen and firstyear swimmers bring to the team. Of the othereight members on the team, seven of them are re-turning, non-letter winners, or freshmen that haveswam for the summer program for many years andhave the talent and experiences this team needs toproduce results. I feel that this year’s team can bevery competitive and I am looking for good thingsfrom this group of girls. They are hard workers andthat will show in the end. My goal for this team isthe same as our boys’ team: to qualify at least oneof the relays and hopefully some individuals to thedistrict competition at Bowling Green State Univer-sity in February.”Last year, the New Bremen girls finished 31/38,

and the boys finished 27/40.Returning letter winners for the boys include

sophomore, Sam Wisvari, juniors, Drew McClurgand Morgen Parlett, and the seniors, Alex Feltz,Jacob Rutschilling, and David Zirkle. Returningletter winners for the girls are sophomoresStephanie Brandt, Veronica Hirschfeld, and KaylieSquires, junior, Mackenzie Howell, and seniors, Na-talie Heitkamp, Jill McClurg, and Kristen Sprague.Top newcomers for the boys are freshman, Vince

Wilson, and sophomore, Kyle Swiger. And then, topnewcomers for the girls are freshmen, Aly Elking,Paige Kuck, and Julia Niekamp.

New Bremen continued from page 14



NEW BREMEN senior girls basketball players are (l-r) Meagan Brandt, Amber Paul, Haley Moeller, HannahHoldren, Sam Luedeke, Lauren Bertke and Kyla Otting.

SDN PHOTO/LUKE GRONNEBERGSDN PHOTO/LUKE GRONNEBERG

NEW BREMEN boys swim team. NEW BREMEN girls swim team.

�� Christian Academy coach emphasizes academics


�� SIDNEY

Boys BasketballDecember

1…………...........………at Beavercreek4………………………………....Wayne7………………………..West Carrollton11…………………………at Springboro14…………………………..at Trotwood18………………………at Bellefontaine21……………………………….at Piqua28………………………...at Tippecanoe29………………………….at Tecumseh

January4………………………………. at Butler8……………………………………Troy11………………………….at Greenville12………………………………..Stivers18……………………………..Trotwood19………………………………Lehman25…………………………………Piqua26…………………………..at St. Marys29…………………………..Wapakoneta

February1…………………………………..Butler8…………………………………at Troy12………………………………..Urbana15…………………………….Greenville

Girls BasketballNovember

23……………………………...at Russia24………………………………Lehman28…………………………..Beavercreek

December5………………………………at Wayne8……………………………..at Houston10……………………………..at Urbana12……………………at West Carrollton17…………………………….Tecumseh19……………………………Springboro22……………………………..Trotwood29……………………………..St. Marys

January5…………………………………..Piqua9………………………………..at Butler14……………………………..St. Henry16………………………………..at Troy19…………………………….Greenville23…………………………..at Trotwood30……………………………….at Piqua

February2…………………………………..Butler4……………………………...at Botkins6……………………………………Troy9…………………………...at Greenville

WrestlingDecember

1…………………..Sidney Duals (SMS)6………………at Butler, Stebbins, Tipp15…………..at Pickerington Invitational20….Indian Lake, K. Ridge, Troy (SHS)28, 29………..at Wright State GMVWA

January5……………………at Beavercreek Inv.8….at Greenville, Northridge, Trotwood18, 19………at Alliance (Top Gun Inv.)24………………………….Piqua (SHS)

February1, 2……………………at Butler GWOC7…...Northmont, West Carrollton, Xenia (SHS)

Boys/Girls SwimmingDecember

8…………………………………...Alter9………………………………..Tri-meet15………………………………..Urbana

January5…………………………….Sidney Inv.6…………………………..Bellefontaine12……………………………...Fairmont19, 20……………..At Trotwood/Classic26, 27……………………..GWOC/TBA

February2………………………………….Celina8 (Boys)………....at Trotwood/Sectional9 (Girls)…...at Washington TWP Rec Center/Sectional

15 (Boys)...at Miami University/Districts16 (Girls)…….at Miami Univ./Sectional

BowlingNovember

30………………………at BellefontaineDecember

3…………………………at Beavercreek8 (Girls)…………...at GWOC/Preseason9(Boys)…………...at GWOC/Preseason13………………………………..at Troy14…………………………..Miamisburg15………..at Team USABowl. Tourney17…………………………Bellefontaine21…………………………………Piqua

January2…………………………………..Butler4………………………..West Carrollton5…………………….at Buckeye Classic7……………………………at Trotwood11……..at Bearcast High School Classic16…………………………………..Troy18…………………………….Greenville25……………………………….at Piqua29………………………………at Butler

February1………………………………Trotwood5…………………………...at Greenville9 (Boys)………….at GWOC Postseason10 (Girls)………...at GWOC Postseason

LEHMANBoys Basketball

November21…………………………...at Fairlawn23…………………….Tri scrimage

Meet30……………………………….Minster

December1…………………………..at Ridgemont8……………………………...at Newton14…………………….at Jackson Center15…………………………..at Riverside21……………………………..Versailles22………………………...at Miami East28, 29………….at Piqua/Holiday Tourn.

January4………………………Franklin Monroe5……………………….Catholic Central11………………………...at Ft. Loramie12…………………..at Temple Christian19……………………………...at Sidney22…………………Waynesfield-Goshen26………………………………Houston

February1………………………at Troy Christian8…………………………………...Anna9………………………………….Bethel12…………………………..Tri-Village15……………….at Upper Scioto Valley19………………….St. Marys Memorial


23……………………………..Riverside24……………………………...at Sidney29……………………………at Houston

December1……………………….at Minster H.S.8……………………………….Fairlawn11…………………………Marion Local

15………………………...St Henry H.S.18…………at Upper Scioto Valley M.S.22………………………Ridgemont H.S.28. 29..at Piqua Schools/WPTW Holiday Tour.

January3……………………………..Ft Loramie5…………………...St. Marys Memorial12……………………..at Versailles H.S.15……………...at Catholic Central H.S.17………………….Jackson Center H.S.19…………………………….Anna H.S.26……………………New Bremen H.S.31………………..at Troy Christian H.S.

February2….at New Knoxville H.S./Varsity Only5………………………Tri-Village H.S.9……………………….at Bradford H.S.

Swimming/DivingDecember

1……....at Lima Central Catholic School8………………………..at Greenon H.S.9……………………………….at Sidney22………..at St. Joseph Central Catholic

January5………………………..Urbana & Elida11….Franklin, Miami East, Ft. Recovery19…at Miami Univ./SW District Classic25………………………..Dixie, Minster

February3..at Butler H.S./Trimeet @Wright State8(Boys)……..at Trotwood/Madison H.S.9 (Girls)…….at Trotwood/Madison H.S.15 (Boys)………at Miami Univ./District16 (Girls)……....at Miami Univ./District

WrestlingDecember

8………………………...at Lincolnview15…………………………..at Versailles22………at Catholic Central-Springfield29……………..at Lima Central Catholic

January5……………………………at Plymouth12………………….at Tri-County North17……………….at National Trail/Quad19……………………………….at Triad21………………..at St. Charles Catholic24……………………………...Tri-Meet

February9…………………………...at Covington

CHRISTIANACADEMYBoys Basketball

November30………………………..at Ohio Eagles

December7…..…………………….Dayton Temple8……………………………East Dayton14…………………….Milford Christian15…………………………..Ohio Eagles20…………………..Xenia Bible Baptist

January4………………...at Miami Valley Saints5………………….Springfield Cavaliers11………………………..at East Dayton12…………………....at Xenia Christian18………………………..Seton Catholic19…………………………Botkins CYO22…………………..Xenia Bible Baptist25…………………………...Grand Lake29…………………………Botkins CYO

February1….……………….Miami Valley Saints2……………………….at Spring Valley5………………………….Spring Valley8……………………...at Dayton Temple9……Prospective OCSAA 1st Rnd TBA12…………at Horizon Science (Dayton)14………………………...at Grand Lake13……...Winter Sports Awards Banquet


30………………………..at Ohio EaglesDecember

7………………………...Dayton Temple10……………….at Dominion Academy14…………………….Milford Christian15…………………………..Ohio Eagles

January4………………...at Miami Valley Saints8…………………………Troy Christian12……………………at Xenia Christian18………………………..Seton Catholic19…………………………Botkins CYO25…………………………...Grand Lake29…………………………Botkins CYO

February1…………………..Miami Valley Saints2……………………….at Spring Valley5………………………….Spring Valley8……………………...at Dayton Temple9……Prospective OCSAA 1st Rnd TBA12…………at Horizon Science (Dayton)14………………………...at Grand Lake

March4.………Winter Sports Awards Banquet

RussiaBoys Basketball

December1………………………………St. Henry4……………………………...at Botkins7………………………...Jackson Center8……………………………...at Minster11……………………………….at Anna14…………………………...Ft. Loramie18………………………………Houston21…………………………...at Fairlawn27………..at Buckeye Ins. Cassic(Piqua)

January5………………………………..Ansonia11……………………………….Botkins12…………………...at Catholic Central18…………………….at Jackson Center19………………………at New Bremen22………………………………….Anna25………………………...at Ft. Loramie26…………………………..at Versailles

February1……………………………….Fairlawn8……………………………..at Houston12………………………...Newton Local16…………………………Marion Local


23………………………………..Sidney24…………………Mississinawa Valley27…………………………….at Botkins

December1………………………...Jackson Center6………………………………...at Anna8…………………………..Marion Local13…………………………...Ft. Loramie15…………………………...at Fairlawn20………………………………Houston22……………………….New Knoxville27...at Buckeye Ins. Gr. Holiday Classic (Piqua)

January8……………………...at Jackson Center12…………………………….at Minster17………………………...at Ft. Loramie19…………………………..at Versailles21……………………………….Botkins24……………………………...Fairlawn

28………………………….at Covington31……………………………at Houston

February2………………………Franklin Monroe5…………………………………...Anna

NEWKNOXVILLEBoys Basketball

November30…………………………..Ft. Loramie

December7………………………...at Waynesfield8……………………………….…..Anna14……………………………..Versailles21…………………………...at Shawnee22…………………………………...Ada28…………………………..at St. Marys29………………………….Spencerville

January4………………………………St. Henry5……………………………...at Botkins11………………………at Marion Local12…………………….at Jackson Center15…………………………..Wapakoneta18…………………….Delphos St. Johns25………………………at New Bremen26…………………………..Ft. Jennings

February1………………………………..Parkway2……………………at Temple Christian8………………………...at Ft. Recovery15…………………………….Coldwater16………………………….at Crestview22…………………………….at Minster


23, 24..at Bath/Kewpee Tip Off Tourney27………………………..At Ft. Loramie

December6………………………………...Minster11…………………………Upper Scioto13………………………….at Versailles18………………………At Spencerville22………………………………..Russia29……………………………….Botkins

January3……………………………at St. Henry8………………………...at Waynesfield10…………………………Marion Local17………………….at Delphos St. Johns19……………………….Jackson Center22…………………………..Wapakoneta24…………………………New Bremen26…………………………..at St. Marys31……………………………at Parkway

February2………………………………..Lehman5……………………………..at Houston7…………………………...Ft. Recovery14………………………….at Coldwater

RIVERSIDEBoys Basketball

December1………………………………...Botkins3………………………...Tip Off Classic8……………………...at Jackson Center14…………………………..at Fairbanks15……………………………....Lehman21…………………Waynesfield-Goshen22……………………………….Botkins28, 29………...Bradford Holiday Tourn.

January4…………………………..at Ridgemont5…………………………..at Northridge8…………………………at Indian Lake11……………………...Marion Catholic12………………………………Ansonia15………………………………….Triad18………………….Upper Scioto Valley19……………………………...Fairlawn22…………………..West Liberty Salem25…………………..at Temple Christian

February1………………………………...at Perry9………………………………..Houston15…………………..at Dayton Christian


23…………………………….at Lehman29…………………..West Liberty Salem

December1……………………………...at Botkins6………………………………Fairbanks8………………………...Jackson Center11…………………………...at Fairlawn13………………at Waynesfield-Goshen18……………………...Benjamin Logan20……………………...Catholic Central28, 29………...Bradford Holiday Tourn.

January3……………………………..Ridgemont7………….at Northwestern (Spring-

field)10…………………...at Marion Catholic14………………………………….Triad17……………….at Upper Scioto Valley24…………………………Bellefontaine26……………………………...at Bethel28…………………………..Indian Lake31………………………………….Perry

February2………………………………..Houston7………………………...at Northeastern

MINSTERBoys Basketball

November30…………………………….at Lehman

December1……………………………Spencerville8………………………………….Russia14…………………………..at St. Henry15…………………………….at Botkins22………………………………….Anna28…………………………....at Houston

January4…………………………..Marion Local5…………………………….at Ottoville11…………………………...at St. Johns12…………………………...Ft. Loramie18…………………………New Bremen19……………....at Mississinawa Valley25……………………………at Parkway26…………………………..Wapakoneta

February1…………………………...Ft. Recovery2………………………...Jackson Center8…………………………...at Coldwater9………………...at St. Marys Memorial15……………………………..Versailles16………………………………..at Troy22……………………….New Knoxville


24…………………….at Jackson Center27…………………Mississinawa Valley

December1………………………………..Lehman6………….at new Knoxville (Var. only)8…………………………………at Troy13……………………………..St. Henry20………………………….at Versailles22………………………..at Ft. Loramie26, 27…………………...at Elida Tourn.29………………………………...Kalida

January

3………………………..at Marion Local5………………………………….Celina10……………………………...St. Johns12………………………………...Russia17……………………....at New Bremen19…………………………...at Ottoville24……………………………....Parkway31……………………….at Ft. Recovery

February7……………………………...Coldwater9…………………………………...Anna12…………………………..Wapakoneta

SwimmingNovember

30………………...at Troy Christian Inv.December

1……………………at Van Wert Relays8…at Ft. Recovery/N. Bremen/St. Marys11……………...at Bellefontaine/Botkins15…………………….Home Meet/TBD29…………………at Lima Holiday Inv.

January12…………...at Wapakoneta/Celina Inv.25……………at Dixie/Lehman Catholic26………….Marion Local/New Bremen30………….at Elida/Lima Sr./St. Henry

February2……………………....at Coldwater Inv.

VERSAILLESBoys Basketball

December1……………………………….at Celina7…………………………..New Bremen8……………………………...Covington14…………………….at New Knoxville21…………………………….at Lehman28, 29…………………...Holiday Tourn.

January4………………………………..Parkway5………………………….at Ft. Loramie11…………………………..at St. Henry12………………....Mississinawa Valley18………………………….Ft. Recovery19………………………...at Tippecanoe25………………………at Marion Local26………………………………...Russia

February1……………………………...Coldwater2………………………Franklin Monroe8……………………………….St. Johns9……………………………..at Ansonia15…………………………….at Minster16………………………….at Greenville


23, 24.…………………………at Celina29………………………...at Tippecanoe

December1…………………………...at Covington6………………………..at New Bremen8……………………………….Arcanum11…………………..at Franklin Monroe13……………………….New Knoxville18…………………………………..Bath20…………………………….....Minster29………………………...at Ft. Loramie

January3……………………………..at Parkway10……………………………..St. Henry12……………………………....Lehman17……………………….at Ft. Recovery19………………………………...Russia24…………………………Marion Local26…………………………….Greenville31………………………….at Coldwater

February2…………………………….Miami East7………………………….....at St. Johns9……………………...at Jackson Center

WrestlingDecember

1………………....at Sidney Dual Tourn.11……………………..Indian Lake Dual15………………………..Versailles Inv.28-30……...at GMVWAHoliday Tourn.

January3……………………………...Greenville10………………………...at Brookville11…...Tri Meet with Bluffton/Allen East18……………………....at Bellefontaine23…………………….State Dual Tourn.26……..at Upper Arlington/Beavercreek30…………………….State Dual Tourn.

February2…………….at Delphos/MAC Tri Meet5…………………………...at Covington6……………………...State Dual Tourn.9……………………...State Dual Tourn.15, 16……………...at Lehman/Sectional22, 23……………..at Kettering/Districts28, 3/1……………....at Ohio State/State

SwimmingDecember

1………………..at Van Wert/Relay Inv.8……………...at Tipp City/Beavercreek15..At Wright State/Vandalia Butler Inv.18……………....at Van Wert/Coldwater22……………………………...at Celina28...at Greenville/Ft. Recovery/St. Henry29………………....at Lima Holiday Inv.

January12……....at Wright State/Dayton Carroll19, 20…….at Miami Univ./SW Dist Classic (Optional)

February2…………….at Coldwater Cavalier Inv.20-22……..at Canton Branin Natatorium/State

NEW BREMENBoys Basketball

November30…………………………….Allen East

December1………………………....Troy Christian7……………………………at Versailles14………………………………Parkway15……………………………….at Anna21……………….at St. Marys Memorial22……………..at Lima Central Catholic28………………………..at Indian Lake29…………………………...Ft. Loramie

January4………………………...at Ft. Recovery11…………………………….Coldwater12………………………….at Covington18…………………………….at Minster19………………………………...Russia25……………………….New Knoxville26………………………..Jackson center

February1……………………………at St. Henry2………………………………...Botkins8…………………………..Marion Local9………………………………….Celina15………………….at Delphos St. Johns16………………………..at Spencerville


23………………………..at Indian Lake24……………………………….at Anna29………………………..Troy Christian

December1………………………………….Celina6………………………………Versailles10……………………………….Botkins13……………………………at Parkway15………………….at Delphos Jefferson18………………….....at Jackson Center22………………………...at Tri Village29…………………………....at Houston

January3…………………………...Ft. Recovery5………………………….at Ft. Loramie10………………………….at Coldwater12………………….St. Marys Memorial17……………………………….Minster24…………………….at New Knoxville26…………………………….at Lehman31……………………………..St. Henry

February5……………………………Spencerville7………………………..at Marion Local

14…………………….Delphos St. Johns

SwimmingJanuary

12…………at Celina/Celina Wapak Inv.

HOUSTONBoys Basketball

November30…………………….at Jackson Center

December1………………………………...Newton7…………………………………...Anna8……………………at Franklin Monroe11………………………at Fort Loramie14……………………………...Fairlawn18……………………………...at Russia28……………………………….Minster29……………………………at Ansonia

January4………………………………...Botkins5…………………..Mississinawa Valley11……………………….Jackson Center12……………………………...Bradford18……………………………….at Anna19…………………………….Covington22…………………………Fort Loramie25…………………………...at Fairlawn26…………………………….at Lehman

February2…………………………Troy Christian8………………………………….Russia9……………………………at Riverside15…………………………….at Botkins


23…………………………at Covington27…………………….at Jackson Center29………………………………Lehman

December1…………………………………...Anna4…………………………..at Tri-Village6………………………..at Fort Loramie8…………………………………Sidney13……………………………...Fairlawn20……………………………...at Russia27……………………………….Botkins29…………………………New Bremen

January3………………………...Jackson Center5…………………………….at Bradford8………………………………...at Anna12…………………………Fort Loramie17…………………………...at Fairlawn19……………………………….Newton24………………at Mississinawa Valley31………………………………...Russia

February2……………………………at Riverside5………………………...New Knoxville7……………………………...at Botkins

BOTKINSBoys Basketball

November30, 12/1……………..at Benjamin Logan

December4………………………………….Russia7……………………………..Ridgemont11…………………….at Jackson Center14………………………………….Anna15……………………………….Minster21………………………...at Ft. Loramie22…………………………..at Riverside

January4……………………………..at Houston5………………………...New Knoxville11……………………………...at Russia12……………………………at Parkway15……………………………...Fairlawn22……………………….Jackson Center25……………………………….at Anna

February1………………………….....Ft. Loramie2………………………..at New Bremen8…………………………….at Fairlawn9…………………..Waynesfield-Goshen15………………………………Houston16……………………………….at Perry


24………………………………Parkway27………………………………...Russia29…………………………..Indian Lake

December1………………………………Riverside6……………………...at Jackson Center10……………………....at New Bremen13………………………………….Anna15………………………...at Ft. Loramie17…………………Waynesfield-Goshen20……………………………...Fairlawn27……………………………at Houston29…………………….at New Knoxville

January3…………………………at Spencerville12……………………….Jackson Center14………………………at Bellefontaine17……………………………….at Anna19…………………………at Ridgemont21……………………………...at Russia24…………………………...Ft. Loramie31…………………………...at Fairlawn

February4…………………………………Sidney7………………………………..Houston

Swimming/DivingDecember

9……………………………….at Sidney11………………………at Bellefontaine29………………….at Bellefontaine Inv.

January19, 20…………at SW Classic/Trotwood

February2………….…………….at Lima YMCA

JACKSON CENTERBoys Basketball

November30………………………………Houston

December4……………………………Indian Lake7……………………………….at Russia8………………………………Riverside11……………………………….Botkins14………………………………Lehman21……………………………….at Anna28…………………………...Ft. Loramie

January4…………………………….at Fairlawn5………………at Waynesfield-Goshen11……………………………at Houston12……………………….New Knoxville18………………………………...Russia22…………………………….at Botkins26……………………....at New Bremen29…………………………Marion Local

February1…………………………………...Anna2……………………………...at Minster8………………………….at Ft. Loramie9……………………at Temple Christian15……………………………...Fairlawn


24……………………………….Minster27………………………………Houston

December1……………………………….at Russia6………………………………...Botkins8……………………………at Riverside13………………………..at Indian Lake15……………………………….at Anna18…………………………New Bremen20…………………………...Ft. Loramie27…………………………...at Fairlawn

January3……………………………..at Houston5……………………………...Covington8………………………………….Russia12…………………………….at Botkins15………………at Waynesfield-Goshen17…………………………….at Lehman19…………………….at New Knoxville

24………………………………….Anna31………………………...at Ft. Loramie

February2…………………………………...Perry7……………………………….Fairlawn9………………………………Versailles

FT. LORAMIEBoys Basketball

November30…………………….at New Knoxville

December1………………………………..Ansonia7…………………………….at Fairlawn11……………………………....Houston14……………………………...at Russia21…………………………….....Botkins22……………………………..St. Henry28…………………….at Jackson Center29………………………at New Bremen

January4…………………………………...Anna5………………………………Versailles11………………………………Lehman12…………………………….at Minster18……………………………...Fairlawn22……………………………at Houston25………………………………...Russia26………………………….Ft. Recovery

February1……………………………...at Botkins2………………………..at Marion Local8………………………...Jackson Center9………………………at Jefferson Twp.15……………………………….at Anna


24………………………at Marion Local27……………………….New Knoxville

December1…………………………….at Fairlawn6………………………………..Houston8………………………….at Miami East13……………………………...at Russia15……………………………….Botkins20…………………….at Jackson Center22……………………………….Minster27………………………………….Anna29……………………………..Versailles

January3……………………………...at Lehman5…………………………..New Bremen8……………………...at Mechanicsburg10……………………………...Fairlawn12……………………………at Houston15……………………….at Ft. Recovery17………………………………...Russia24…………………………….at Botkins31……………………….Jackson Center

February7………………………………...at Anna9………………………………St. Henry

ANNABoys Basketball

November30……………………………...Fairlawn

December7……………………………..at Houston8……………………...at New Knoxville11………………………………...Russia14…………………………….at Botkins15…………………………New Bremen21……………………….Jackson Center22…………………………….at Minster28, 29……..at Versailles/Holiday Tourn.

January4………………………….at Ft. Loramie5…………………………..Marion Local11…………………………...at Fairlawn12…………………………...at St. Henry18……………………………....Houston22……………………………...at Russia25……………………………….Botkins

February1……………………...at Jackson Center2…………………...West Liberty-Salem8……………………………...at Lehman9……………………………...Covington15…………………………...Ft. Loramie

Girls Basketball24…………………………New Bremen27…………………………...at Fairlawn

December1……………………………..at Houston4………………………………....at Bath6………………………………….Russia13…………………………….at Botkins15……………………….Jackson Center22…………………………...Miami East27………………………...at Ft. Loramie29………………………...Graham Local

January5…………………………..Marion Local8………………………………..Houston14……………………………...Fairlawn17……………………………….Botkins19…………………………….at Lehman21……………………………..at Carroll24…………………….at Jackson Center26……………………at Madison Senior31………………………...at Tippecanoe

February5……………………………….at Russia7…………………………….Ft. Loramie9……………………………...at Minster

FAIRLAWNBoys Basketball

November30……………………………….at Anna

December4…………………………………...Triad7…………………………….Ft. Loramie14……………………………at Houston15…………………………….at Newton18……………………………Ridgemont21………………………………...Russia22…………………………...at Bradford28, 29………at Parkway/Holiday Tourn.

January4………………………...Jackson Center11………………………………….Anna15…………………………….at Botkins18………………………..at Ft. Loramie19…………………………..at Riverside25………………………………Houston26………………………...at Miami East

February1……………………………….at Russia2…………………..Waynesfield-Goshen8………………………………...Botkins12……………………….Mechanicsburg15…………………….at Jackson Center


13………………………………..Urbana24…………………………….Covington27………………………………….Anna

December1…………………………….Ft. Loramie8……………………………...at Lehman11……………………………..Riverside13……………………………at Houston15………………………………...Russia20…………………………….at Botkins27……………………….Jackson Center28, 29………at Parkway/Holiday Tourn.

January5………………………………...Newton10………………………...at Ft. Loramie14……………………………….at Anna17………………………………Houston19……………………………at Ansonia24……………………………...at Russia29…………………….at Mechanicsburg31……………………………….Botkins

February2……………………………….Bradford4………………..at Waynesfield-Goshen7……………………...at Jackson Center


BY ROB [email protected]

SIDNEY — This season is already a success for theLehman boys basketball team.The number 4 uniform is being filled once again by

Connor Richard, who was seriously injured in a caraccident last season and was told at the time hemight not play again.“It is just great to see him out here, let alone play-

ing basketball,” Lehman coach IsaiahWilliams said.“It is amazing how far he has come. It is definitely amotivator for the other kids, because they know whathe has been through.”In fact, the 5-foot-9 senior guard who is always a

threat from 3-point range, has come back so far he iscurrently in the starting lineup.“Right now, he is 100 percent,”Williams said. “I

think he is just going to get better. He is getting bet-ter every day in practice. It is amazing where he isat.”The Lehman starting lineup will include sopho-

mores Jackson Frantz (6-2) and Greg Spearman (6-1);5-11 junior DrewWesterheide, 6-4 junior James Regoand Richard.“Those are the five guys we are going with right

now,”Williams said. “But, we don’t have a set lineup.”The remaining seniors include 6-5 post Michael

Jacob, 6-0 guard Tharron Goins and 6-1 guard DylanLong; the juniors off the bench are 6-0 John Husa, 6-2Josh Smith, 6-7 Nathan Hall and 5-8 Seth Bensman;and rounding the roster is 6-1 sophomore NickRourke.“The thing is we have a lot of varsity experience,”

Williams said. “We have a lot of guys returning whohave played.”But, the Cavaliers did lose much of their offense,

including the dynamic duo of Alex Baker andSolomon King-White, who combined for almost 50points a game last year.“We lost a lot of our scoring,”Williams said. “I ex-

pect us to be a very balanced team last year.”Along with that, King-White was the floor leader

and it was not unusual for him to record triple-dou-bles.“We are going to do point guard by committee,”

Williams said. “I think we have a lot of good athletes.”Lehman will still be an uptempo team.“We are going to get up and down the floor,”

Williams said. “I think we have pretty good depth.”And once again, pressure defense will be a big part

of that.“We will play defense all the way to the bus in the

parking lot after the game,”Williams said with asmile.While the Cavaliers don’t play in a league, they

face a competitive schedule and again play in theB.I.G. Holiday Classic in Piqua.“We like having the opportunity to play in that

tournament,”Williams said. “We play whoever coachRoll (athletic director Richard Roll) puts on the sched-ule. I am sure it will be a strong schedule like it al-ways is.”Next year, Lehman will become a member of the

league the football team played in this year.“We will be an associate member,”Williams said.

“We will be eligible for all-league awards and thingslike that. The kids are excited about that.”But, for now, the focus is already on the postseason.“That’s what we are playing for,”Williams said. “We

want to be the best team we can be in February andMarch.”Most importantly, No. 4 will again be a big part of

that.Lehman Girls BasketballLehman Catholic first-year girls basketball coach

Kim Miller knows not being hired until the summerhas put the program behind.But, she sees progress from the Lady Cavaliers on

a daily basis as they prepare for the season."We only had a couple open gyms in the summer

because of my late hiring," she said. "But, we have al-ready seen tremendous growth from this team.Wemade a lot of improvement from our first scrimmageand feel like we can have a lot of success."Miller admits the first step will be increasing the

numbers. Lehman has just 11 girls in the programthis year."We are playing a varsity only schedule," she said.

"We have scheduled some other (JV) games for ourgirls to play."Junior guard Julia Harrelson probably brings the

most experience to a team that has no seniors.She saw valuable playing time as a freshman, be-

fore starting last year.The other juniors include Jenna Kronneberg and

Jordi Emrick."We probably do (expect a lot from Julia Harrel-

son)," Miller said. "But really, we feel like all the jun-iors have given us great leadership. Jenna(Kronneberg) missed last season with an ACL injury."The sophomores are Brooke Jones and Ava

Schmitz."Brooke (Jones) and Ava (Schmitz) both saw a lot of

playing time last year," Miller said. "Along with Julia,they are the girls that saw quite a bit of playingtime."Rounding out the roster are freshman Kendall Eck,

Taylor Schmidt, Allie Hall, Emmalae Rego, MarianneHissong and Cassie Lee."With not having a JV team, they are all going to

be able to get playing time," Miller said.Miller said the Lady Cavaliers have not decided on

their style of play just yet."We want to do something to play to our strengths,"

she said. "We have a lot of quick, athletic girls, sohopefully we can take advanatage of that to get someeasy baskets."As always, Lehman will play a very strong sched-

ule."We do have a lot of tough teams on there," Miller

said. "But, we feel like these girls are going to beready for it and be very competitive. Next year, wewill have a chance to compete for a league title andwe are excited about that."Right now, Miller just wants to grow the program."We want to continue to build the program and

keep getting better," Miller said.Something, she has already seen on a daily basis.

Lehman swimmingand divingLehman swimming and diving coach Scott Ellis is ex-cited about the team he has this season.Both the boys and girls will have ten swimmers.“It has been about 10 years since we have had

these kind of numbers for the boys,” Ellis said.

“We are excited about that.”Seniors Mitchell Bosse and Ethan Jock were dis-

trict qualifiers for the boys a year ago.Rounding out the roster are senior Nick Cummons,

junior Rob Heckman, sophomores Travis Thornton,Dave Kruse and Kyle Caulfied and freshman NathanBosway, John Myer and Alex Wismann.Seniors Lauren Bosway, Stephanie Ulbrich and

Sloane Glover were all district qualifiers for the girlslast year.Rounding out the roster are senior Haley Baker,

juniors Lindsey Bundy, Katie Heckman and ElainaSchneider; sophomore Alex Schmitt; and freshmanCaroline Heitmeyer and Cassidy Hemm.“I am excited about our schedule,” Ellis said. “We

have a really tough December schedule, which willprepare us for the Classic, the largest high schoolswim meet in the country.We are looking forward tothe challenge.”

WrestlingLehman has nine wrestlers out.They include Joseph Simpson (126), Tyler Mentges

(126), Mitchell Schlater (138), Ian Smith (145), Clay-ton Malone (152), Skylar Brown (160), Nate Vogann(170), Quinton Malone (195) and Allen Armstrong(285).

��Lehman starting season on a successful note


LEHMAN SENIOR boys basketball players are (l-r) Connor Richard,Tharon Goins, Michael Jacob and DylanLong.




LEHMAN SENIOR girls basketball players are (l-r) Jordi Emrick, Jenna Kronenberger and Julia Harrelson.

LEHMAN BOYS and girls varsity swim teams.

LEHMAN SENIOR wrestler Quinton Malone.

Whether you’re a competing athlete -- or just pursuing your own personal fitness challenge -- the UVMC Center for Sports Medicine can help you reach your goals. UVMC’s experienced team of professionals works together to help you with comprehensive injury care and conditioning aimed at safe, rapid return to activity. Please call 667-2614 or 440-7152 to learn more about the Center’s specialized programs.

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UVMC sports medicine physicians and other sports medicine professionals are available for consultation, evaluation and treatment.

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2338

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Christian Academy continued from page 15“All these guys know their roles and have im-

proved over the last season. Andrew has played fouryears varsity basketball and we are expecting somequality play and minutes from (him).”On top of this, the Christian Academy “Eagles have

some exciting newcomers playing this year: CodyMeador’s will stretch the defense with his 3-pointshooting and physical play. Nathan Brown’s ballhandling and tenacious defense will help the Eagleson both ends of the floor. New transfer, Triston King,is an athlete who brings energy and fresh legs to adefense that desperately needed some relief lastyear.”This year, Christian Academy has brought on Don

Southam as an assistant coach for the team. Spencersaid, “Don brings five years varsity girls experienceand took the girls to the ACSI State Championshipgame in 2010, where they were runner-ups.”“The excitement is building and the guys have

been working hard in the off-season,” Spencer said.“Expect to see the Eagles continually add to theirwin column and take the entire program, as well asthe players, to a whole new level.”As far as competing in a league this year, Spencer

said, “Christian Academy has recently formed aleague with Spring Valley Stallions, East Dayton Ea-gles and Dayton Temple Tigers. All of these teamsare from the Dayton area and are strong every year;we know that the league play will be tough, asSpring Valley has dominated this young league withtheir size and experience. Dayton Temple will be an-other strong team, with Christian Academy and EastDayton all closing in on this very competitive league.”Spencer said that he is developing his team and

that they “look good for the next few years. This yearwe’re hoping to be above .500. We could make a runnext year, but maybe even this year. We have a greatcore of guys to maybe get things done this year. Younever know until you play the game.”Spencer has run a motion offense in the past, but

he is hoping to help his squad to learn more offensivestyles. “I’m a defensive minded guy,” Spencer said.“We’ve always been good defensively.” So the agendais to spread the floor and shoot both inside and out-side. The previous year, they could only shoot inside,so this is an area of improvement for the team. Withgrowth at the Point Guard position, developing theoutside shooting game is a very real possibility.Spencer is very exited about that, because, as he said,“Teams like to press you if they think they can stopthe ball.”A difficult loss for the team was David Wilcox who

had the most rebounds in the area last year. Hegraduated and went on to Ohio Christian College inColumbus. “I’m hoping that Isaac (Abbott) will fill infor him.” Spencer said. “He’s grown from 6’3 to 6’5.”This year’s go to guys will be Junior, Isaac Abbott,

and sophomores, Nathan Brown and Derek Spencer.The whole group of returning letter winners is

Senior, Andrew Ditmer, Juniors Aaron Amsden andIsaac Abbott, and then sophomores, Craig Smith,Derek Spencer, John Kindig, and Nick Gibson.In addition to Brown, top newcomers include Sen-

ior Cody Meadors and sophomore Triston King.

Girls Basketball“I think that we’re going to have a big growing

year with a fast learning curve,” said Coach D.J.Heintz, girl’s basketball coach at Christian Academy.“It will be a lot of fun to watch.”Heintz, who is also a High School math teacher at

Christian Academy, is in his first year as coach forthe girl’s basketball squad. He replaced formercoach, Don Southam. Southam coached the girl’steam for four years and then retired, opening thedoor for Heintz to step in.In looking ahead to the upcoming season, Heintz

said that confidence would be one of his major em-phases. “Having the faith and the confidence to be-lieve in themselves.”That, and defense. “We will be a strong defensive

team this year,” Heintz said. “I want to emphasizethat. We’re a little small, but we’re quick. I want touse that to our advantage.“We’re young,” Hentz had to say about offense. The

major focus there will be finding a consistent offen-sive threat; someone that can put up 10, 15, 20 pointsa game. “Losing 1000 point scorer, and 4 year starter,Holly Spencer, and 4 year starter Lauren Jenkinswill create some big holes to fill,” explained Heintz.Heintz will be looking to last year’s second leading

scorer, sophomore Kayla Curlis, who is 5,2, to maybedo this for the team. “She’s got a great shot,” Heintzsaid. He also indicated that a couple of other sopho-mores, returnees Makenzie Milks and Betsi Fordcould “give some consistency and offensive presence.”Also returning this year is Makaley Brown.“All three missed some time last year due to vary-

ing reasons,” explained Heintz. “Betsi is an athleticball handler will play a key role in our offense. Ken-zie Milks is progressing very quickly and has achance to be a scorer for us. Makaley gives great ef-fort on the court, but is relatively inexperienced.Overall, the experience and athleticism of this sopho-more class will most likely determine the outcome ofour season. Staying healthy and on the court is thekey to their success. Our only senior this year,Michaela Strelow is a first year player with someheight. Chasity Inman is playing again after takinga year off. She is a determined player and can be akey defensive player for us. Storme Smith, anothersophomore, is also playing for us this year.”Heintz will be implementing a high-pressure de-

fense with full court press, and hopefully some quickbuckets and transitions. He is going to start thingsoff with strong man-to-man play.Last years team went 9-7 for the season, and no

doubt Heintz is looking to only grow from there.


CHRISTIAN ACADEMY senior boys basketball players are Cody Meadors (left) and Andrew Ditmer.

sdn winter sports preview 2012

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