Division I regional track finals
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Thursday, March 5, 2009
Even Maurice Clarett has a blog
Yes, you read that correctly. Maurice Clarett, the former Ohio State University football star, has a blog.
Like most of the people who made comments, I was skeptical at first. But there’s no ghostwriter — it’s Clarett, who according to the Columbus Dispatch, dictates the entries to relatives who post them on his blog.
Here’s an excerpt from a post on March 4:
Incarceration is a huge inconvenience in anyone’s life. It has inconvenienced me in the area of having a personal relationship with my little girl. Instead of sitting back and just accepting the reality of me being locked away as an easy excuse not to reach out, I decided to become creative and write my own words of wisdom to her. I write weekly letters to her describing and explaining specific situations to her that I encounter. Then, I give her specific suggestions of how to potentially overcome the situations I know she will likely face in her lifetime. I describe to her how her mother and I keep our relationship strong from a distance. I enlighten her on the importance of a family structure. I advise her that she should look for friends that are like-minded, positive, and those who really enjoy life. I tell her that those mentalities are contagious. I’m not interested in letting popular culture raise my daughter. It will be a joint effort with both of her parents.
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State Wrestling Day 1
Here are updates in real-time live from the state wrestling meet at the Schottenstein Center in Columbus:
9:00: Here are the first-round consolation results from the Division II state meet:
FIRST CONSOLATION ROUND
DIVISION II
112: Andrew Romanchik (Parma Padua Franciscan) d. Cody Harting (Kenton Ridge) 6-0.
171: Todd Gaydosh (Parma Padua Franciscan) d. Nathan Silvus (Shawnee) 10-4
NOTE: AREA WRESTLERS ARE FINISHED FOR THE DAY. JOIN US AT 10 A.M. FRIDAY MORNING FOR MORE REAL-TIME UPDATES!
8:41: Here are the first-round consolation results from the Division III state meet:
FIRST CONSOLATION ROUND
DIVISION III
112: Zach Porter (Bellaire) d. Tim Arthur (Greeneview) 4-2
130: Joey Kiefer (Bedford St. Peter Chanel) p. Nick Ziegler (Mechanicsburg) 4:39
140: Jorday Deady (Triad) p. Max Pennington (Delta) 1:48
140: Kyle Reese (Mechanicsburg) p. Kody Crooks (Barnesville) 3:54
171: Brock Wagner (Greeneview) d. Brit Hunter (Akron Manchester) 6-5
DIVISION I
7:15: Here are the first-round results from the Division I state meet:
DIVISION I
145: T.J. Rigel (Tecumseh) d. Jerrel Valliant (Sandusky) 4-0
152: Justin Sneary (Tecumseh) m.d. Quinton Ryman (Columbus Marion-Franklin) 15-1
6:25: Here are the first-round results from the Division II state meet:
DIVISION II
103: Nick Brascetta (Graham) t.f. James Kunzler (Medina Highland) 24-6
112: Isaac Jordan (Graham) p. John Novak (Walsh Jesuit) 5:02
112: Ty Mitch (Aurora) p. Cody Harting (Kenton Ridge) 3:45
119: Sheldon Kegley (Graham) d. Cody Wiltshire (Rayland Buckeye Local) 10-4
125: Zach Neibert (Graham) m.d. Shane Troyer (Elida) 18-5) 18-5
130: Evan Storts (Shawnee) d. Trey Jacobs (Millersburg West Holmes) 2-1 OT
130: Felipe Martinez (Graham) p. Art Hobley (Steubenville) 1:44
135: David Taylor (Graham) t.f. Dan Kardasz (Lexington) 20-4
140: Matt Stephens (Graham) d. Matt Fee (Mentor Lake Catholic) 10-4
145: Brian Stephens (Graham) p. Joe Schindel (Akron Archbishop Hoban) 1:51
152: Huston Evans (Graham) p. Ronnie Hepner (Carrollton) 3:18
160: Kyle Ryan (Graham) m.d. Michael Gallik (Lexington) 11-3
171: James Mannier (Graham) p. Eric Bates (Beloit West Branch) 3:30
171: Brian Borac (Mentor Lake Catholic) d. Nathan Silvus (Shawnee) 14-9
189: Max Thomusseit (Graham) t.f. Jake Henderson (Lisbon Beaver) 22-7
215: Logan White (Graham) m.d. Justin Rippke (Maumee) 11-1
4:54: Here are the first round results from the Division III state meet:
FIRST ROUND
DIVISION III
103: E.J. Mowen (Greeneview) m.d. Luke Kern, Liberty Center 14-2
112: Bryce Baker (Mechanicsburg) m.d. Scott Spreng, Loudonville 11-3
112: Seth Powers (CVCA) d. Tim Arthur (Greeneview) 8-6
130: Marco Gualtieri (West Jefferson) p. Nick Ziegler (Mechanicsburg) 1:19
135: Brendon Klaus (Mechanicsburg) d. Devin Cartwright (Sycamore Mohawk) 7-4
140: Zach Noernberg (Cleveland Cuyahoga Heights) d. Jordan Deay (Triad) 8-3
140: Donny Montoney (Peninsula Woodridge) d. Kyle Reese (Mechanicsburg) 13-10
160: Peter Lewis (West Liberty-Salem) d. T.J. Keathley (New London) 7-1
171: Cody Rodgers (Mechanicsburg) p. Jake Conrad (W. Lafayette Ridgewood) 5:59
171: Drew Ames (Zoarville Tuscarawas Valley) d. Brock Wagner (Greeneview) 4-2
215: Josh Salyers (Mechanicsburg) p. Craig Ritz (Milan Edison) 5:17
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Islamic athlete breaking new ground in girls basketball
From the Boston Globe:
Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir walks quietly through the halls of the New Leadership Charter School. She is soft-spoken and polite. The youngest child of a devout Muslim family, the 5-foot-3-inch senior believes in modesty, and is determined not to call attention to herself.
Bilqis cannot help standing out. For one thing, she is the top-ranked student in her class. She wants to study pre-med in college with an eye toward being a cardiac surgeon. “The heart,” she says, “is most interesting to me.”
Then there is her presence on the basketball court, where she is a magnet for the eyes of all fans, and not just because she competes with her legs and arms completely covered beneath her uniform, and with a hijab (or head scarf) over the top of her head. The point guard dazzles every night with a game that is a nonstop whir of creative fury. She darts into the lane against much bigger players, flicking in layups and reverses and hitting teammates with no-look passes. She drains pull-up jumpers and step-back 3-pointers. Despite a steady diet of double-teams and box-and-one defenses designed to stop her, she is averaging, this season, an astonishing 41.3 points per game.
A fifth-year varsity player, Bilqis (pronounced BILL-KEACE) will attend the University of Memphis this fall on a full scholarship and will become the first player at a top tier Division 1 school to compete in full Muslim dress.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment | Categories: For your reading enjoyment..., Girls Basketball
Miller, Coles meet for MAC title
Two Springfield-area natives will battle tonight with the Mid-American Conference East Division on the line.
Bowling Green senior Nate Miller, a South grad, and Miami University coach Charlie Coles, a Yellow Springs native, will meet tonight at Millett Hall.
The Eagles (17-11) can secure the No. 1 seed for the MAC Tournament with a win and a Kent State victory over MAC East co-leader Buffalo. It’s also a big game for Miami, who are battling for one of the higher seeds in the upcoming MAC tournament.
The game can be heard on WIZE 1340 AM at 7 p.m.
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Daily Tournament Fix — March 5
Here’s your daily tournament fix for Thursday, March 5:
A day off: Area teams will get today, Thursday, March 5 off. The tournament will resume on Friday with Southeastern, Yellow Springs, Mechanicsburg, Northeastern and Graham all in action.
Drought’s over: Springfield High School, merged for the first time since 1960, got its first tournament victory, a 71-61 win over Vandalia Butler.
The Wildcats outscored the Aviators 18-13 in the second quarter by getting the ball inside.
“They started the game shooting threes,” Slagle said. “We knew they were going to do that. I thought we got the ball in the paint pretty well and that was the key. That was our gameplan, playing the paint. We did a much better job getting the ball inside and moving the ball unselfishly and I thought we did a good job with that.”
Vandalia Butler, which finished its season 6-15, got 21 points from 6-foot-8 junior center A.J. Pacher. Slagle was pleased with the way his team guarded the Aviators’ big man.
“I thought Trey did a good job on him, considering he’s giving up about seven inches,” Slagle said. “He’s a different player than (6-10 Centerville center Matt Kavanaugh). Kavanaugh is going to go right through you. He’s definitely skilled. I thought if we could be physical with him and make him work — he didn’t get anything easy. I thought every shot was contested and we actually blocked a couple. I didn’t think we did that poorly on him for giving up seven inches. Everybody helped out.”
It was his team’s unselfish play that was the difference.
“I don’t know the official stats as far as assists,” Slagle said, “but I know we passed the ball really well and that was a key.”
Two different tales: Shawnee grabbed a sectional victory over Tippecanoe in D-II action at Troy, but KR fell to Bellefontaine in overtime.
The Braves and Chieftains will meet in a D-II sectional final at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday.
Shawnee swept the season series, beating them 56-52 on Jan. 10 and 45-39 on Feb. 13.
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On this date in area sports history …
Eight years ago on this date, March 5, 2001, the South boys basketball team routed Lebanon in the sectional final. Complete story on the jump.
Published March 6, 2001
WILDCATS SHOW FANGS
SOUTH HIGH DEFEATS LEBANON TO ADVANCE IN TOURNAMENT
By GREG BILLING, News-Sun Sports Writer
FAIRBORN — In a microcosm, South’s 79-47 victory over Lebanon in a Division I sectional final Monday was summed up with one series of events midway through the first quarter.
In the big picture, the quicker, faster, stronger Wildcats put a world of hurt on the Warriors with a resounding victory in front of about 1,000 spectators at Wright State University.
“We knew they were a great team,” said South senior Elgrace Wilborn, who started the sequence of events that summed up the ‘Cats night. “We couldn’t lolly gag.”
South takes on Northmont in the district final at 3 p.m. Saturday at the University of Dayton.
With five minutes left in the first quarter — and South firmly in control — Wilborn blocked consecutive shots from Lebanon’s Jordan Langston. Wilborn, who finished with nine blocks, then stole the ball and hit teammate Byron Parks in stride downcourt for an easy fast-break layup.
“We tried to come out and run,” South junior Ty Walker said, “and not let them set up on offense.”
Rarely did the Warriors, 17-6, have a chance. And when they did, South, 18-5, was there with 13 blocks.
“The key was not letting them get good looks,” South Coach Larry Ham said.
Lebanon — which dispatched Tecumseh, 77-38, to reach the sectional final — hit just 20 of 70 shots from the field (29 percent) and 5 of 26 (19 percent) from three-point range.
Wilborn was a big reason — literally — as the 6-foot-8 center had five blocks in the first quarter.
“He changes the whole game,” Lebanon Coach Dave Merchant said. “Without him they are a good team. With him they are a great team.”
That showed in the first half as South was seldom threatened after the opening minute. After Lebanon’s Tommie Ault hit a three-pointer to open the scoring with 7:15 left in the first quarter, it quickly became clear it was South’s world and Lebanon was just living in it.
The Wildcats responded to Ault’s trey with consecutive three-pointers from Walker which ignited a 14-0 run. When Langston ended Lebanon’s scoring drought with 4:12 left, South led 14-5.
Walker, who also had five assists, accounted for all four of the Wildcats’ treys, but it was South’s transition game that did in the Warriors. The ‘Cats forced 18 turnovers from the Warriors — while committing 13 of their own — and often used their speed and quickness for point-blank shots. South — which led by as many as 36 points in the closing minute — finished 32 of 66 from the field (49 percent) and outscored Lebanon from the free-throw line, 11-2.
Walker and senior Mitchell Crossley led South with 18 points, while Wilborn — who just missed a triple-double — chipped in 17 points and a game-high 15 rebounds. Senior Jordan Copeland added 12 points and a game-high six assists, while Crossley added 12 rebounds.
Copeland’s biggest assist nearly brought down the house — and the backboard — with 2:22 left in the game. He was all alone on a fast-break but glanced over his shoulder to see if Wilborn was trailing. Copeland laid the ball off the glass and Wilborn finished it off with a two-handed slam — his sixth dunk of the night.
Langston led Lebanon with 12 points and was the only Warrior to hit more than three baskets.
LEBANON (47) — Jo. Langston 6 0-0 12, Merchant 3-14 0-0 8, Ja. Langston 1-4 0-0 2, Ault 1 1-2 4, Amburgy 2 0-0 4, Karnes 1 0-2 2, Pritchard 3 1-2 8, Flowers 1 0-0 3, Jacobs 2 0-2 4. Totals: 20 2-8 47.
SOUTH (79) — Brown 0 2-2 2, Parks 4 0-1 8, Wilborn 8 1-2 17, Copeland 4 1-2 12, Walker 7 0-0 18, Lewis 0 0-1 0, Clark 0 2-2 2, Crossley 8 2-3 18, Miller 1 0-0 2. Totals: 32 11-15 79.
Lebanon12 21 36 47
South21 36 53 79
Three-point goals: Lebanon 5 (Merchant 2, Ault, Pritchard), South 4 (Walker 4)
Records: Lebanon 17-6, South 18-5
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South 79
Lebanon 47
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