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On this date in area sports history …
Seven years ago on this date, March 17, 2002, South Charleston celebrated the Southeastern girls basketball team’s final four appearance. Complete story on the jump.
TROJANS ARE WELCOMED HOME
FOR FANS, TEAM IS A WINNER
SOUTH CHARLESTON — They didn’t come home champions Sunday, but Southeastern High School’s girls basketball team went where 192 other Division IV schools didn’t — to the state tournament.
And though it was St. Patrick’s Day, scarlet, gray and white were the only colors that mattered here. A wailing siren led a caravan of cars and mini-vans back from Columbus, the tournament’s site, emblazoned with flags and “go Trojans” messages on them.
Though Southeastern lost 39-34 to Shadyside in Thursday’s semifinal game, it returned a winner. About 100 fans, parents and relatives were waiting in the school’s gymnasium to celebrate the school’s fifth state tournament appearance.
“The dream to go to state is always a pipe dream,” first-year Trojans coach Mike Smart told the crowd. “Mid-season, it was a pipe dream for us. To get there was neat, and I hope these girls never forget it.”
Smart was hired last June, replacing Kirk Martin who guided the team to four previous state tournaments, the most recent in 1999. But for whatever mid-season jitters there were, Southeastern overcame them when it mattered most.
After sharing the Ohio Heritage Conference with Greeneview, the team heated up, as it usually does, winning sectional, district and regional championships. An off-night in Thursday’s game against Shadyside ended the run.
“I feel privileged and humbled, and I’m already feeling the pressure for next year,” said Smart, who was named News-Sun area girls coach of the year.
Bodie Lightle, who has been a Trojan assistant coach for 16 years, said this team differed from the other Trojan state squads. Where several previous Southeastern teams had the advantage of being together for several years, this one had to take steps to improve game by game as the season went on.
“We weren’t expected by as many people to make it there this year,” he said. “A lot of people don’t realize it’s hard work. That’s what counts. Keeping up the tradition is the ultimate goal, and we did it.”
The 2001-02 year has literally been a banner one for Southeastern teams. The football and volleyball teams made the Division IV regional finals, as did the boys basketball team, which missed the state tournament by a game after losing Friday 60-46 to Russia.
Southeastern girls team members included Brittany Smart, Brittany Barnhiser, Kati Kitchen, Rachel Clark-Haggy, Erica Paugh, Ashley Smart, Katie Hupp, Beth Eichelberger, Kristen Paulick, Chelsee McFarland, Rachel Cline, Mallory Smart and Ashley West.
Seniors Paulick, Paugh, Ashley Smart and Kitchen were given turns to speak to the crowd. The remarks were brief, but grateful. “I’ve never been part of anything like this, it’s cool,” Paulick said.
Paugh, who along with Kitchen was a member of the ‘99 state team, said she was grateful to her community and she thanked her parents, coaches and teammates.
The crowd was filled with potential future Trojans. Miami View eighth-graders Dakotah Waugh and Stephanie Roach were excited about joining the program next season.
“It’s a lot to follow, but, hopefully, we can take up the challenge,” Roach said.
Waugh said she was a little nervous about living up to the success of the team but is looking forward to it.
Perhaps the youngest Trojan in training at the event was 18-month- old Mackenzee Klontz. She’s about the age many of the girls on the current Trojan squad were when the team made its first state finals appearance, and she was getting in practice early, running up and down the floor.
First-year Southeastern athletic director Rick Woods has had his hands full keeping up with all the teams and their tournament exploits. As baseball coach, he now has the added pressure of keeping up the winning ways set by the fall and winter sports teams.
“I just pray it doesn’t rain for spring sports,” he said, smiling
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