Whiteford's Miracola is All-State first team
3/19/2003JACKSON, Mich. - Whiteford senior Anthony Miracola was named Class C All-State by the Associated Press in Michigan yesterday.
Miracola, a 5-7 ball-handling wizard, transferred to Whiteford this season from Start. He helped the Bobcats to a 23-1 record and the school's longest winning streak (23 games). Mir-acola scored 511 points and set a school record for free-throw percentage (87.7). He also set the school record for 3-pointers with 69.
“When he's got the ball, it's like it's an extension of his arm,” coach John Rice said.
Drew Naymick, a 6-10 center from North Muskegon, heads the Class C list.
Naymick, bound for Michigan State, holds just about every blocked-shot record in Michigan. He set the single-season state record of 148 as a junior, and his career total was 508 through this year's district tournament.
Naymick averaged 18 points and nearly 11 rebounds for North Muskegon, 19-1 in the regular season.
COLUMBUS - Liberty Center's Greg Badenhop, a 6-4 senior who averaged 21.3 points per game, was named first-team All-Ohio on the AP Division III team released last night.
In Division IV, Tiffin Calvert's Tony Mass was named coach of the year while Van Buren's Tristan Tagliapietra, a 6-1 senior who averaged 18.9 points per game, was named to the second team.
Mass guided Calvert to a 20-0 record and its first No. 1 ranking ever in a state poll.
Two Marcuses - Columbus Wellington's Marcus McCants and Marcus Butler of Mansfield St. Peter's - grabbed the top player awards in Division IV.
In Division III, Sugarcreek Garaway's Tyler Renner and David Dees of Dayton Christian shared the player of the year award.
The coaches of the year in Division III were Marion River Valley's Mark Bollinger and Brian Mudd of Clarksville Clinton-Massie.
McCants, a 6-2 senior, averaged 21.6 points, 9 rebounds and 4.8 assists a game for Columbus Wellington, which is making its first trip ever to the state tournament this week.
A 6-3 junior, Butler averaged 24.2 points, 12.7 rebounds, 6.5 assists and 4.1 steals a game at St. Peter's. He had 13 double/doubles and one triple/double this season.
Renner set a state record as he hit 82.27 percent of his shots from the field. The 6-6 senior from Garaway, which captured the state's poll title, averaged 20.8 points, 8.1 rebounds, 2.4 steals and 2 blocked shots a game.
Dayton Christian's Dees is a 6-4 senior who was the top scorer in the Dayton area at 29.1 points a game. He has signed to attend Liberty University.
With Clay and Whitmer leaving the Great Lakes League after this school year to join the City League, the GLL will not only take on a new look, but a new name.
Lima Senior and Marion Harding will join current members Findlay, Fremont Ross, Napoleon and Sandusky in a six-team league to be known as the Greater Buckeye Conference.
Clay and Whitmer were charter members of the GLL when it was formed in 1956. Other charter members were Bowling Green, Fostoria, Rogers and Sylvania.
GLL commissioner Larry Morrison will step down as of July 1, and the commissioner of the GBC will be Carl Fisher, a longtime coach and athletic director at Fostoria and currently interim AD at Tiffin Columbian.