Metro Second Section 11/25/13

P

The

Stritch runs to league title See page B-4

Clay seeks third straight title

November 25, 2013

R E S Sports S

See page B-2

Salinas, Haar share Co-Player of the Year honors

By J. Patrick Eaken and Yaneek Smith sports@presspublications.com Oak Harbor boys’ soccer finished a near-perfect and undefeated regular season, won a Sandusky Bay Conference championship, and then advanced to the Division II district semifinals.

After losing to Maumee, 2-1, in overtime in the district semi, the Rockets finished 16-1-1. Third-year coach Ken Filer and his senior midfielder, Tate Haar, are Alan Miller Jewelers Coach of the Year and Co-Player of the Year, respectively.

Haar was honored with the Sandusky Bay Conference POY award by league coaches, also.

Haar never complained about having to play midfield — often that is where the coach puts his most athletic and dependable athlete.

“We have a lot of team chemistry,” Haar said. “We had a couple of tournaments (before the season) and played alright and when we had tryouts, we found everybody’s strongpoint.

“After my sophomore year, we didn’t have a center midfielder, so (Filar) dropped me back and it worked out. I adapted to it really well. Knowing that (senior forward) Connor (Eli) was coming to fill my spot (at forward) made it easier. I worked harder knowing I’d have to be conditioned to play.”

After earning all-league and all-district honors last season, Haar scored 16 goals and set a single-season team record with 28 assists. He was instrumental in helping lead his team to a 15-0-1 regular season, one that saw Oak Harbor storm through every conference opponent unblemished.

Haar was one of four Rockets on the All-Press first team. Joining him are junior attacker Andy Burnette (26 goals, six assists), junior defender Brandon Schimming, and sophomore goalkeeper Kyle Draper.

“Nobody ever talks about how many goals they have,” Filar said. “They’re very unselfish and team-oriented.”

Schimming said, “(This season) has been tremendous. Everybody is team-first, nobody’s selfish. And nobody’s letting up, regardless if we’re down or up. Our goals are to get shutouts. We take tremendous pride in (playing defense) — it starts with us and we know that. The forwards thank us when they score and we prevent other teams from scoring and that helps the forwards.

“Coming into this year, we didn’t know what to expect. We had a lot of new people and there were some departures from last year. We just want to try our best and we’ll never give up.”

The fact that three of Oak Harbor’s first team players are underclassmen should bode well for Filar’s team next year.

“Kyle is very young,” Filar said. “He’s

Eastwood senior midfielder Joey Salinas (right) looks to defend Genoa senior midfielder James Waltos.

(Press photo

by Harold Hamilton/ HEHphotos. smugmug. com) a sophomore and he didn’t play goalkeeper until the last five games of the year. Kyle made some mistakes in the last five games, but he got better. He watches higher level games to see how to play (the ball). He attended the University of Akron camp and he’s getting better and playing well.”

Joining Haar as All-Press POY is another senior midfielder, Joey Salinas from Eastwood. The Eagles finished 8-7-1, losing to Northern Buckeye Conference champion Rossford, 3-2, in the sectional tournament.

Although Salinas won the top honor from NBC coaches, Ohio’s coaches gave Rossford junior midfielder Hector Aguirre a second team Division II award. Salinas is joined on the All-Press first team by Eastwood senior midfielder Steven Bradley and senior defender Andrew Davidson.

Woodmore, which won the NBC title a year ago, has one first team selection in Malachi Brown, a senior forward. He did not make all-league voting, but was the highest vote getter among all local schools in district voting, where he was among other first team all-league selections, so The Press honored him with an All-Press first team award.

Brown also excels in football, where the speedster caught 23 passes for 534 yards and seven touchdowns, averaging 23.2 yards per catch. That was second only to two Genoa receivers in yards per catch — Quentin Spiess (21 rec,, 621 yards, 29.9 yards, 2 TDs) and Casey Gose (19 catches, 453 yards, 23.8 per catch, 5 TDs).

All-Press soccer teams are carried over from league voting, with some choices adjusted based on district voting and voting when a team plays in two or more leagues.

2013 Alan Miller Jewelers All-Press Boys Soccer Team

Coach of the Year: Ken Filar, Oak Harbor

Co-Players of the Year: Joey Salinas, Eastwood Tate Haar, Oak Harbor FIRST TEAM

Andy Burnette Malachi Brown Joshua Mabus Lucas McCullough Anthony Moya Austin Jagodzinski Gabe Mendoza Tate Haar Joey Salinas Jeremy Likes Steven Bradley Brandon Schimming Andrew Davidson Nathan Witt Damon Plummer Kyle Draper

Oak Harbor Woodmore Genoa Eastwood Waite Cardinal Stritch Clay Oak Harbor Eastwood Lake Eastwood Oak Harbor Eastwood Genoa Lake Oak Harbor

Jr Sr Jr So Sr Sr Jr Sr Sr Sr Sr Jr Sr Sr So So

SECOND TEAM

Camryn Bench Cory Pierce Jake Schimming Corey Greenblat Tim Poiry Deric Anthony Austin Schumaker Danny Patel William Webb Samuel Hardy John Grayczyk Tyler Sievert Ian Fruchey Ryan Reiter Rudy Bowe Adam Buenrostro

Woodmore Lake Genoa Clay Oak Harbor Woodmore Genoa Lake Waite Cardinal Stritch Cardinal Stritch Oak Harbor Woodmore Eastwood Eastwood Cardinal Stritch

Fr Jr Sr Sr Jr Sr Sr Sr Sr Jr Sr Jr Jr Fr Fr Sr

A F F F M M M M M M D/M D D D GK GK

HONORABLE MENTION Seth Slater, Clay; Matthew Bohland, Clay; Patrick Ridley, Waite; Roberto Porras, Waite Josh Shefferly, Cardinal Stritch; Connor Eli, Oak Harbor; David Birchall, Oak Harbor Derek Wood, Oak Harbor; Tyler Bowlick, Oak Harbor; Allen Leuke, Oak Harbor Cody Sutter, Lake; James Waltos, Genoa; Jarrod Brossia, Genoa; Grant Weis, Woodmore Logan Baugher, Eastwood; Tim Heinzelmann, Eastwood; Jacob Montag, Eastwood Sean Mullin, Woodmore; Luke Heritage, Genoa; Jose Castillo, Cardinal Stritch Matt Szymanski, Cardinal Stritch; Dylan Dusza, Clay

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All Press Boys’ Soccer Team

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THE PRESS NOVEMBER 25, 2013

Gibsonburg grapplers seek third straight championship

By J. Patrick Eaken Press Sports Editor sports@presspublications.com Fourth-year Gibsonburg wrestling coach Justin Edgell (41-25) is confident his Golden Bears will contend for their third straight Ohio Wrestling League championship. “Van Buren finished very strong last season and they had a solid middle school squad,� Edgell said. “I expect the team race to be close with them this year. Cory Rawson was second in the league the last two seasons, so I would expect them to contend again as well. The league as a whole struggles with numbers but each team has two to three outstanding wrestlers. It will be an interesting season because I am not sure there truly is a strong favorite this year.�

Last year the Bears finished 17-11, including a perfect 6-0 in OWL dual meets.

In the league championship, Gibsonburg was followed by runner-up Cory-Rawson, Van Buren, and McComb. The Golden Bears were fourth at their own invitational, third at Hopewell-Loudon, sixth at Genoa and Cardinal Stritch tournaments, eighth at the Division III sectional meet, and 37th at the district meet. The 2012 and 2013 OWL titles are the only two league wrestling championships in school history.

Lost from last year’s Gibsonburg team to graduation are district qualifier Gage Collins (30-17), league champion and district placer Nick Metcalf (26-9), and league placer Austin Webb (14-13).

Top returning wrestlers include senior Jacob Auld (29-10), an OWL champion and district qualifier, sophomore Griffin Geary

Gibsonburg sophomore Griffin Geary (23-23), a district alternate, has an opponent in his grasp last year. (Photo courtesy of Innovations Portrait Studio/www.innovationsvisualimpact.com) (23-23), a district alternate, and junior Dan Henline (32-17), a league runner-up and sectional placer. “Jacob Auld is our senior captain and he finished the 2013 season very strong,�

Edgell said. “He is a two-time league champion and was a district qualifier last season. We are expecting some great things out of him as a leader on and off the mat.

Dan Henline will be our top junior for this

year. He has had some success the last two seasons, accumulating 42 total pins. He put in a lot of work in this off season and the coaching staff believes he is primed to have a breakout season.�

Also returning are junior Troy Ickes (11-23), a league runner-up, and sophomores Zack Kaetzel (5-4), a league placer, Marcus Kreais (14-15), a league champion, Damien Schmeltz (25-21), a sectional plac-

er, and Antonio Vasquez (17-24), a sectional placer.

New wrestlers include freshmen Isaak Arriaga, Jarret Wright, Brad Vitte, and Bryce Mendoza. Arriaga and Wright were middle school league champions and Vitte was a middle school league placer. “Our team is young, once again, with four freshmen and four sophomores but we have a lot of wrestling experience. Our biggest challenge right now is making sure that our guys separate themselves from each other, in regards to weight, in order for us to fill as many weight classes as possible,� Edgell said. “We have a fairly tough dual schedule with individual duals against larger schools like Toledo St. John’s, Port Clinton, and Fremont Ross. We also travel to Bowling Green to compete in the Bobcat Duals and Genoa for the North Coast Holiday Duals,� the coach continued. “Our young men will gain a ton of mat experience in the month of December against very good competition. As always we will be a well-conditioned, hardnosed team that scraps until the last second. As long as we are still standing in the third period, our wrestlers have the mindset that they have a punchers’ chance to win.�

Edgell’s assistant coaches are Greg Spoores, Richard Escobedo, Damen Escobedo, Ryan Widmer, Mike DeAngelis, and Gyer Blackmore.

The OWL coaches voted Van Buren as the pre-season favorites, and Gibsonburg is picked to finish second. In third is CoryRawson, followed by McComb, Arcadia, Northwood, Toledo Christian, Danbury, and Cardinal Stritch Catholic.

Clay seeking third straight Three Rivers championship

By Mark Griffin Press Contributing Writer sports@presspublications.com Clay wrestling coach Ralph Cubberly expects his Eagles to get some stiff competition from Central Catholic and Fremont Ross in the Three Rivers Athletic Conference this season.

But really, the Eagles are looking for more than just their third straight TRAC title in 2013-14.

After placing fifth at the Division I state tournament two years ago and 12th last season, Cubberly believes Clay can finish in the top 10 next spring “if we wrestle well and get the kids in the proper weight classes.� “We have a lot of quality wrestlers who work very hard and have experience in big matches,� said Cubberly, in his third season. “We have some great senior leadership.�

Cubberly said that senior leadership comes from Gavin Nelson, Aaron Henneman, Nick Stencel, Antonio Zapata and Jared Davis. “They all are great leaders who lead by example and do the right things,� Cubberly said. “They have a work ethic second to none, and the program is expecting good things from each of these individuals this season.�

The Eagles return five TRAC champions, nine starters and 26 lettermen from a year ago, including two-time state placer

Clay wrestler Nick Stencel at last year’s league tournament.

(Press file photo

by Scott Grau)

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Richie Screptock. The junior, a two-time TRAC champ, placed fourth in the state at 120 pounds last year and took seventh at 113 in 2012. He is penciled in at 132 pounds this season.

Davis, a 126-pounder, is a three-time state qualifier who placed seventh in the state at 106 two years ago. Stencel returns at 160 after taking fifth at the state tourney a year ago.

Zapata (285) was a state qualifier last year and Nelson (138) was a state alternate.

Sophomore 182-pounder Matt Stencel was a district placer, while Aaron Henneman (120), junior Caleb Nelson (145), senior Darren Todd (152) and senior Brian Richmond (195) are returning district qualifiers.

The rest of the projected lineup includes freshman Nick Henneman at 106, either freshman Diego Coates or sophomore Evan True at 113, junior Andy Howard at 170, Richmond or junior Kevin Witt at 195, and junior Tyler Koester at 220. “This team worked very hard this offseason by competing in the Lake Erie Freestyle Club, along with a three-week training camp in preparation for two (offseason) dual-meet tournaments,� Cubberly said.

The Eagles won the 25-team Ashland Summer Duals and placed second out of 45 teams in the big-school division at the Disney Duals in Orlando, Fla. A few Clay wrestlers also competed at the Cadet and Junior National Freestyle Championships in Fargo, N.D.

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THE PRESS

The Press Box

Woodmore junior golfer Alex Gedert, a Division III state qualifier.

Florida State center Natasha Howard. (Photo by Steve Musco courtesy FSU SID)

in three games played this season, joining redshirt sophomore Morgan Jones (22 vs.

Cincinnati) and Howard (24 vs. UNCG).

Howard added 10 points to round out the double-figure scorers, while redshirt junior Lauren Coleman had six.

Florida State was efficient from the floor once again, shooting 29-for-59 for 49.2 percent. Every player who saw court time earned at least two rebounds as FSU held a large edge on the glass against a much smaller Panther (0-3) squad, 51-31.

FSU and Howard headed back on the road for a big rivalry matchup with in-state foe Florida on Nov. 21 at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center in Gainesville, Fla. “This is always a fun rivalry,” Sue Semrau said heading into her 500th game as head coach at Florida State. “A lot of our

players are from Florida and some of theirs are from Florida, so there are some bragging rights on the line. At the same time, I think both of us look at this as an opportunity to test ourselves early.”

Semrau has announced the signing of 6-foot-2 athletic forward Ama Degbeon of Grünberg, Germany, who inked her National Letter of Intent on Thursday morning.

She is the person slated to replace Howard when the Toledoan leaves.

“With Natasha Howard graduating, there will be a void in the kind of size and athleticism where Ama will be able to step in and fill right away,” Semrau said. “She’s somebody that has that national team experience and playing against the best already.

She brings that to our program at a young age and we’re real excited about that.”

Woodmore junior Alex Gedert averaged 76.5 strokes per 18 holes this season, but that was before he played Ohio State University’s Scarlet Course at the Division III state golf tournament in Upper Arlington.

“I’ve never seen a course like that,” said Gedert, who played a practice round on the course beforehand. “It’s the most difficult course I’ve ever played. It’s really long, so you have to be a long hitter. The greens are so fast and they’re so undulated.

Even the two-footers aren’t straight.”

Gedert shot a 15-over 86 in his opening round, then followed that with a respectable 79. His 165 total put him in 19th place at the tournament.

“The experience was unbelievable and it exceeded my expectations,” he said. “You want to get there, and once you’re there you’re overwhelmed with excitement. It was really cool being there, and I enjoyed every minute of it.”

Gedert said the experience made him want to set bigger goals for his senior season.

“I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself,” he said, “but seeing how it played and how other kids played, I think I can get back and make a run at a title. I know I can, if I put all my work ethic toward it.

I just really want to motivate myself to do it. I want to make it back next year and give myself a chance on Saturday.”

Gedert was a first-team All-Northern Buckeye Conference performer this season and broke the school record for an 18-hole round when he shot 69 at the NBC meet at Green Hills in Clyde. He shot a 4-over 75 at the D-III sectional tournament at Green Hills to advance to the district tournament at Stone Ridge in Bowling Green.

Gedert took second individually at Stone Ridge after shooting a 5-over 77. Then it was on to the state tournament, where he struggled on a handful of holes the first day.

“I was a little frustrated, but I couldn’t get too frustrated,” Gedert said. “Seeing that course for the first time in competition, it’s a whole different breed of golf course.

I kept telling myself I wanted to do better and I wanted to keep improving. Then I had those four holes where the swing didn’t feel right and everything seemed more difficult in my mind. I regrouped and parred the last three holes.” (— contributed by writer Mark Griffin)

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Gedert looking to next year

Howard on her way up Florida State’s career scoring list Florida State 6-foot-3 senior center Natasha Howard (Waite) continues to move up the Seminole’s all-time career scoring list.

However, it was a fine shooting display by redshirt sophomore Morgan Jones that ignited a Seminole surge as the Florida State women’s basketball team hung on to defeat Cincinnati, 63-58, on Nov. 13, at Fifth Third Arena in Cincinnati. The ‘Noles improve to 13-8 all-time against Cincinnati.

During the stretch, senior Natasha Howard collected her second block of the game on an attempted shot in the paint by the Bearcats to give her 114 swats for her career, tying for fourth on the school list with former center Cierra Bravard (Sandusky Perkins). Howard finished with eight points overall, giving her 1,168 for her career to move her into 22nd on the FSU career scoring list.

The Florida State women’s basketball team got plenty of scoring production, highlighted by six double-figure totals as it delivered an 88-37 victory over Prairie View A&M at the Donald L. Tucker Center.

“I was really pleased with the way we came out early,” Coach Sue Semrau said. “I thought we set the tone early. In the second half we got pretty sloppy, we did some different things and I don’t think we moved our feet as well as we needed to and that’s something that we’ll grow into as we’re playing with a lead and without fouling.”

Freshman shooting guard Brittany Brown led the Seminoles (3-0) with 24 points on 8-of-15 shooting from the field.

The Fort Walton Beach, Fla., native becomes the first freshman at Florida State to produce a 20-point performance since teammate Natasha Howard dropped 21 against Arizona State on Nov. 27, 2010.

Brown’s 24-point effort makes her the third ‘Nole to reach the 20-point plateau

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THE PRESS

NOVEMBER 25, 2013

Fremont honors race teams with year-end banquet

By Brian Liskai Special to The Press Liskai2x@roadrunner.com Fremont Speedway wrapped up its 62nd year by honoring the teams who finished in the top 10 in points in all four divisions during a packed banquet Saturday, Nov. 16.

Fremont Speedway Promoter Rich Farmer also presented appreciation plaques to several push truck drivers and their director Jeremy Durnwald for all of their support and hard work during the season. In addition, several employees were honored for their years of service to Fremont Speedway including employee of the year John Cook.

Farmer also presented the Alex Burkett Business Award to Crown Battery, Engine Pro and Kenny Clark of Fremont Fence.

Farmer was pleased to announce he and the Sandusky County Fairboard had reached a new three year contract running through 2017.

Over 350 people witnessed the top 10 in points in all four divisions receive point fund money.

In the Fort Ball Pizza Palace 410 Sprints, Byron Reed earned his fourth track championship. The 2003, 2007 and 2008 champion competed in 15 features in 2013, missing only the non-wing event. Byron recorded 12 top 10 finishes and 7 top five finishes. Byron scored 3 wins in 2013 – on June 15th, Aug. 3rd and an All Star win on Sept. 13th. Byron now has 26 career Fremont wins and sits tied for 16th on the alltime win list. Byron’s average feature finishing position was 8th.

Following are the rest of the top 10 in the 410 sprints: 10. Bryan Sebetto, Fremont, Ohio – The 2011 track champion competed in 12 feature events in 2013. He scored his 23rd career Fremont victory against the All Stars on May 25th. Bryan had 8 top 10 runs and four top five finishes including a third against the World of Outlaws. His average A-main finishing position was 9th.

9. Dean Jacobs, Wooster, Ohio – Dean competed in 12 features in 2013. He recorded five top 10 finishes with a season best second against the All Stars on Sept. 13. He also had a third place run on Aug. 3. Dean’s average feature finishing position was 12th.

8. Stuart Brubaker, Fremont, Ohio – Last year’s rookie of the year and a three time 305 sprint track champion competed in 11 features in 2013. He scored a pair of top 10 runs including a season-best 6th on Sept. 7. Stuart’s average feature finishing position was 16th.

7. Duane Zablocki, Tiffin, Ohio – Duane competed in 12 features in 2013. He recorded a season-best fourth place finish on Aug. 3rd. His average A-main finishing position was 14th.

6. Brian Lay, Genoa, Ohio – He competed in 12 A-mains in 2013 and recorded 7 top 10 finishes including a season-best second on Sept. 7th. Brian’s average feature finishing position was 10th.

5. Caleb Griffith, Sandusky, Ohio – The 2003 305 sprint track champion competed in 14 A-mains in 2013. Caleb recorded 8 top 10 finishes and five top five finishes. He posted his first career 410 feature win on June 8th. He now has four career Fremont victories. He also scored a runner-up finish against the World of Outlaws. Caleb’s average feature finishing position was 11th.

4. Chris Andrews, Sandusky, Ohio – Chris competed in 15 features in 2013, missing only the World of Outlaws show at the end of the season. Chris scored his sixth career Fremont win on July 27th. He recorded 8 top 10 finishes and 6 top five runs. Besides his win he also scored a runner-up finish and a third. His average feature finishing position was 10th.

3. D.J. Foos, Fremont, Ohio – The 2013 rookie of the year and the 2012 305 sprint track champion competed in 15 A-mains this season, missing only the non-wing event. He recorded 8 top 10 finishes and 4 top five runs. His best finish was a second on May 18th. D. J’s average feature finishing position was 11th.

2. Craig Mintz, Gibsonburg, Ohio - The 2010 and 2012 Fremont champion and a two-time FAST champion tied with Byron Reed for the 2013 title but lost out on the tie-breaker – wins. Craig competed in 14 A-mains in 2013 and never finished out of the top 10. He recorded 7 top five finishes including three second place runs. His average feature finishing position was a remarkable 5th.

Stritch runner Kyle Killian. (Press photo

by Doug Karns/KateriSchools.org)

Stritch runner Robert Johnson. (Press Stritch runner Zach Matthews. (Press photo by Doug Karns/KateriSchools.org) photo by Doug Karns/KateriSchools.org)

Cardinal Stritch boys cross country are league champs

By Yaneek Smith Press Contributing Writer sports@presspublications.com Building a program requires hard work and patience, and most of all, a telling moment that indicates things are headed in the right direction.

For Coach Lee Mitchell’s Cardinal Stritch boys’ cross country team, that moment came last month when they won their first Toledo Area Athletic Conference title in nearly 15 years.

Mitchell, a veteran cross country coach, his Cardinals finished with 51 points, just ahead of Toledo Christian (52) and Gibsonburg (57).

Tim Lynn led the way with a second place finish in 18 minutes, 15.2 seconds, and teammate Nick Korducki was right behind him in third, running a time of 18:17.4, earning both of them first-team league honors.

Nathaniel Kuhn was eighth (18:42), Robert Johnson 17th (20:41) and Tyler Gawrych finished in 22nd (21:36) to round out the top five with Kyle Killian (23rd) Zach Matthews (30th) and Casey Flowers (35th) also competing.

Lynn qualified for regionals as a freshman and sophomore but failed this year because of injuries. Mitchell is hopeful that Lynn will be able to rebound next season.

“It was the first time Stritch has won the boys title since 1999, that was a really big accomplishment for (the athletes),” said Mitchell, now in his third year at Stritch. “Tim Lynn was a consistent No. 1

for us this season. He got some tendonitis in the Achilles’ tendon and towards the end of the season we had to sit him out of a few meets. He never fully recovered or completely bounced back.”

Korducki and Kuhn, both of whom are sophomores, rotated between the No. 2 and 3 positions this season and Mitchell says they have bright futures.

“They’re hard-working kids that get the most out of their talent,” Mitchell said.

“They did a lot of good things for us this season.”

Mitchell also credits Gawrych and Johnson, both of whom are seniors, with helping to provide a solid top five rotation that finished ninth at the district meet.

“Hopefully, we’ll get out of districts someday,” Mitchell said. “We went to districts and were ninth; we wanted to get into the top four. It’s not good enough to just be good in your league. You’re always trying to get to that next level.”

Mitchell also has high hopes for Zach Matthews.

“He’ll be back for us next year,” Mitchell said. “We’re hoping he can have a great junior year in track. He went to regionals in track in the 400 meters as a freshman. He’s a good athlete and we’re still hoping we can make him a better cross country runner.”

Mitchell says he is trying to make his program increasingly more competitive, not just in the TAAC, but in the district and regional meets.

“If you want to be above a third- or fourth-place team, you’re going to have to work your tail off,” he said. “We’d like to

be more consistent. We want to do things the right way.

“It’s good because the parents are involved (and) the administration is involved. I’m happy to be at Strich and we’re trying to get things better and be more consistent. We’re still trying to figure out how to accomplish those things here.

The parents want the kids to do well and the kids know that they’re expected to do something with themselves.

“There are schools like Liberty-Benton and Hopewell-Loudon, those schools are good at everything. How do you get kids to buy into that kind of culture? Right now, most of the sports are doing a lot better now.”

Much of Mitchell’s philosophy comes from the guidance he received during his days at Lakota from football coach Jerry Wasserman and cross country coach Myron Cline, both of whom are in the Ohio High School Coaches Hall of Fame in their respective sports. While competing for Cline, Mitchell led the Raiders to an eighth place finish at state in 1967.

Mitchell, who has coached for 31 seasons at eight different schools, says the year-round commitment is necessary to keep runners in tip-top shape and ensure that they’ll have a chance to compete at a high level each fall.

“For cross country, we start running by the middle of June,” Mitchell said. “We go all summer and the season ends the first Saturday in November. And there’s also indoor track — there is a huge commitment for any sport.”

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THE PRESS

NOVEMBER 25, 2013

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Soccer star, harrier reflects on simultaneous seasons

By Yaneek Smith Press Contributing Writer sports@presspublications.com For Oak Harbor junior Tyler Sievert, this fall turned into quite the season to run cross country, but he fell just inches short of one of his final goals.

After consistently finishing at or near the top of major invitationals for the duration of the season, Sievert nearly earned All-Ohio honors by finishing 34th with a time of 16 minutes, 55.43 seconds at the Division II state cross country meet.

Sievert finished lower than sixth just once, coming in 14th at the Tiffin Cross Country Carnival, one of the nation’s largest invitationals. In addition to winning the Cardinal Stritch Invite, Sievert was third at the Norm Bray Invite (17:17), fourth at the Lakota Invite and the Clay Eagle Invite, sixth at the Fostoria Invite and second at the Sandusky Bay Conference Meet. He consistently ran sub-17-minute times and set a school record with his best time of the season (16:13.23).

He also doubles as a soccer player, where he is second team Alan Miller Jewelers All-Press and second team AllSandusky Bay Conference, leading the Rockets to a 16-1-1 season, SBC title, and

Division II district runner-up finish.

In the cross country postseason, Sievert was fourth at districts and comfortably qualified for state with a 14th-place finish at regionals.

“I thought I had a pretty good season, especially for a junior,” Sievert said. “My goal was to make it to state and I was hoping to make it to the podium. I was seeded 36th, so I did a little bit better. Overall, I thought I ran a decent race. I thought it was a good experience.”

Coach Eric Buckman, now in his 10th year at the helm, said, “He’s one of top-tier athletes I’ve coached (as far as) potential and athletic ability. I’ve been at it for 10 years and I’ve had quite a few runners make it regionals but I never had someone make it to state. He’s definitely the best runner I’ve coached. The thing about Tyler is that he pushes himself so hard in practice every day. He’s that kind of an athlete — it’s just the way he practices.

“He’s running those extra miles with soccer, too. His ability to be coached and just to push himself is something. And he’s one of their top soccer players. You dream about having one athlete (like that). He’s really athletic and has a lot of heart.”

For the past two seasons, Sievert has been the top runner on a team that has fin-

ished second in the SBC three consecutive times. He says faring that well in a deep conference like the SBC is a testament to the hard work and effort put forth by the runners, but also to the job Buckman has done with the club.

“He puts so much time in to help us as runners,” Sievert said of Buckman.

“He has great workouts that he researches for us. He’ll take us to a course for bigger meets and walk it (beforehand). He pushed us mentally and physically. Without him as coach, we probably wouldn’t have done that well.”

As a team, the Rocket harriers finally got over the hump and qualified for regionals after coming up just short in the previous two years. Oak Harbor, behind the running of Sievert, Jake Wistinghausen, Bryce Buderer, Tim Poiry and Konnor Fletcher, finished fourth in a competitive district before coming in 12th at regionals.

Buckman credited Sievert and his four seniors, Michael LaFountain, Bryce Buderer, Tristan Epling and Quintin Babcock, with helping to provide steady leadership and guidance for the team.

“With Tyler, he’s definitely the outspoken leader of the team,” Buckman said. “I consider my seniors to be my leaders, but (Tyler) is in the mode of the captain. He

was always making sure the guys stretched before the races and he’s a vocal leader; he’s also the kind of kid that leads by example (and) he gets along well with the other kids.”

Buck says Sievert’s success stems from his work ethic and his constant involvement with sports. Besides competing in two sports during the fall, he competes with the Toledo Titans track team, members of the USATF National Junior Track & Field, during the summer. In fact, Sievert finished 10th in the 1500 and 15th in the 800 over the summer.

“You have to love (running),” Sievert said. “I’ve been running since fifth grade and I’ve always loved running long distance and that’s a huge part of this. And I take pride in my time and how the team performs. A lot of kids are stuck with a team that doesn’t push them or support them, but I don’t have to worry about that. I’m on a great team and it’s a positive atmosphere.”

Sievert also plays basketball and runs track, where he had much success last season. Sievert was first in the 800 meters (2:01.65) and second in the 1600 (4:34.49) at the SBC Meet. In fact, there’s a good shot that Sievert could letter in four sports this school year, a feat rarely accomplished by a high school athlete.

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