Sidelines: Bowling Green girls in national cross country meet

1/13/2005

Members of the two-time defending state champion Bowling Green girls cross country team recently took an all-expenses-paid trip to Portland, Ore.

It wasn t completely a care-free excursion. The Bobcats did what they have been accustomed to doing better than any other Ohio Division I program compete.

BG was among 20 teams in the first Nike Team Nationals. With sophomore Christy Titus leading the charge, the Bobcats who went by the name Team Ohio placed 15th.

Titus finished 21st in the 5-kilometer race with a time of19:32.64. She was followed by Kylie Korsnack (67th, 20:30.47), Shannon Titus (71st, 20:34.39), Barbara Powers (73rd, 20:38.0), Alyssa Glenn, (81st, 20:44.62), Kelly May (88th, 20:51.34) and Paige Lane (113th, 21:19.41).

Kinetic RC, a team from Saratoga, N.Y., captured the girls race, while Kroy XC Club, a team from Elmhurst, Ill., won the boys race. The boys race involved 21 teams representing 16 states, including 16 state champions.

Megan Jamieson was expected to have a breakout sophomore season at Ottawa Hills.

After seeing playing time as a freshman, the 5-9 Jamieson played well early in this season, averaging 22 points and 9.6 rebounds in the first three games.

Then Jamieson suffered a season-ending injury, tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee.

Ottawa Hills coach Sean Mercer considers the loss of Jamieson a devastating blow to the perennial contenders in the Toledo Area Athletic Conference.

We ve struggled to [replace] her leadership, scoring and rebounding, Mercer said. She almost averaged a double-double, so that s really huge for a school our size.

The Bears entered the week having gone 3-4 without their top post player. They are 5-5, including a 2-2 showing in the TAAC entering today s clash with Toledo Christian.

Mercer said players like Rachel Garber and Gabrielle Hajjar have been called on to do a little more. Garber, a 5-9 senior, is averaging 13.2 points, and Hajjar, a 5-5 senior, has responded by averaging 9.7 points.

Northview is not the same team that reached the Division I state semifinals a year ago.

All but one starter from that team graduated, which left Northview coach Jerry Sigler in search of a few good replacements.

Danielle Bly, a 5-9 senior, was pegged to step right in and provide some offensive punch. Bly, who came off the bench and scored 19 points in a quarter during a game last season, was showing signs of being a reliable scorer before she suffered a broken hand during the Christmas break in a nonbasketball-related accident. She was averaging eight points this season.

She was our most consistent perimeter shooter, Sigler said. She had good range.

Bly is expected to miss up to three weeks. In the meantime, the Wildcats (10-1) entered the week leading the Northern Lakes League at 6-0.

An eight-team hockey tournament hosted by St. John s Jesuit will take place tomorrow through Sunday at Tam-O-Shanter in Sylvania.

The Titans, Central Catholic, Archbishop Moeller and Elyria Catholic make up one half of the tournament bracket. Trinity, Dayton Bluehawks, Lake Catholic and St. Xavier form the other.

A total of 14 games will take place, with four scheduled for tomorrow, eight on Saturday and the championship and consolation games on Sunday. Play begins tomorrow at 7 with Elyria Catholic taking on Central Catholic and Dayton facing St. Xavier, followed by Moeller meeting St. John s and Trinity taking on Lake Catholic.

Citing the time requirements of his job as a head professional, Bob Krueger has resigned as St. John s Jesuit tennis coach, a position he has held since 1988.

Under Krueger the Titans won or shared 12 City League titles.

Krueger, 53, said that 40 to 50 of his former players continued playing tennis in college. St. John s graduates Matt Arthur and Josh Weinstein collected a state doubles championship in 1996, and several others reached the state finals.

Krueger said the workload involved with his primary job, as head professional at Westowne Tennis Club, has grown to the point where he had to give up coaching the Titans.

He will continue coaching the Notre Dame Academy girls team because the girls season takes place during the fall and doesn t conflict with his busy season at Westowne. Notre Dame s Neela Vaez became Krueger s first state singles champion when she won this past fall.

Many of the state s top swimmers will participate in the Northwest Ohio Championships beginning at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Bowling Green State University.

In previous years the field has had more than 500 swimmers. The event was formerly called the Northern Lakes League championships.

Contact Donald Emmons at:demmons@theblade.comor 419-724-6302.