Sidelines Notebook: Cross country league meets set for Saturday

10/14/2010

League cross country tournaments take center stage Saturday, when the regular season concludes in the area.

In City League action at Ottawa Park, St. John's Jesuit will bid for its seventh straight boys team title against rival and 2010 favorite St. Francis de Sales, while Notre Dame will likely have the inside track in its attempt at a ninth consecutive CL team crown.

The 2009 respective individual City champions were St. John's Greg Turissini (15:57.3), now a senior, and Notre Dame's Lexi Aughenbaugh (18:44.73), now a junior.

The CL boys race begins at 10 a.m. Saturday, and the girls race starts at 10:45 a.m.

In the Northern Lakes League, the Northview boys and girls will be gunning for their fifth and third straight team titles, respectively, at the Forrest Creason course at Bowling Green State University.

Individually, last year's NLL boys champion, Northview's Jacob Barnes, has graduated, and the 2009 girls winner was current Southview sophomore Lexi Lopez.

The NLL girls race is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Saturday, and the boys race is slated for 3:15 p.m. at BGSU.

In what will be the final the Suburban Lakes League cross country championship meet, Elmwood's boys and girls will each be looking to defend their respective titles Saturday at Howard P. Ells Park in Bettsville. The meet begins at 10 a.m.

Wauseon will be the site of Saturday's Northwest Ohio Athletic League championships, with the Delta boys and the Liberty Center girls each looking to repeat their 2009 team titles. The girls race starts at 10 a.m., and the boys follow at 10:40 a.m.

In the Toledo Area Athletic Conference, the Ottawa Hills boys and Toledo Christian girls will enter as defending champions Saturday at Maumee Bay State Park. The girls race begins at 11 a.m., and the boys start at 11:30 a.m.

The Ohio High School Athletic Association tournaments open next week, with district meets for Division I, II, and III boys and girls scheduled around the state on Oct. 23. Most qualifying teams and individuals from around northwest Ohio will advance to regional competition on Oct. 30 in Tiffin.

The state girls tennis tournament has moved to the district phase, with several local qualifiers hoping the qualify for state berths out of tourney play at Port Clinton and Sandusky high schools, which concludes on Saturday.

In Division I singles, included in the field as Nos. 1 or 2 seeds out of last week's sectional play are Central Catholic senior Anna Scherting, Notre Dame senior Megan McNamara, Anthony Wayne junior Courtney Krieg, and sophomre Sarah Jankowski, Northview freshman Megan Miller, and Perrysburg junior April Weaver. Miller recently topped Weaver in the Northern Lakes League's No. 1 singles final.

The D-I doubles field includes other area Nos. 1 and 2 seeds, including the Central Catholic teams of senior Morgan Delp and her junior sister Sydney Delp along with the Irish pair of senior Maria Mitchell and junior Shannon O'Hearn. Joining them are the Perrysburg pair of senior Megan Roberts and junior Cammy Messenger; the Anthony Wayne pair of junior Meghan Draheim and sophomore Joie Hoeflinger; the Southview team of senior Neha Vyas and junior Genna Haider, and the Clay team of juniors Abbey Herrera and Ann Klewer.

In D-II action, the singles bracket includes Ottawa Hills junior Drew Fillis and her sophomore teammate, Hannah Pike. In D-II doubles, the district bracket includes the Ottawa Hills team of junior Nancy Rumpf and sophomore Shivani Batt, and the Maumee Valley team of freshmen Rochell Issa and Nora Jaara.

Along with two-time state champion Ottawa Hills, which has qualified for the Division III boys state golf tournament at the North Star Golf Resort in Sunbury, three other northwest Ohio teams and three individuals will participate at state competition Friday and Saturday.

Joining Ottawa Hills in the D-III tourney at Sunbury will be coach Eric Heitkamp's Van Buren team of seniors Colin Stacy, Jude Palmer, and Josh Bishop, junior Zeke Wiechart, freshman Sawyer Junge, and coach Steve Williman's Liberty-Benton team of junior Ian Hart, sophomores Nick Curto, Andrew Kotey and Austin Ingleston, and freshman Jarrod Neiling.

Also reaching the D-II event as individual qualifiers were senior Duncan Campbell of Fostoria St. Wendelin, and sophomore Connor Dudley of Fremont St. Joe. The D-III girls tourney at Ohio State University's Gray Course will include Woodmore sophomore Mikayla Baer.

In the Division II tourney at the OSU's Scarlet course will be coach Gregg Merrill's Napoleon team, which includes seniors Colton Barnes and Chad Cromer, juniors Brandon Lambert and Andrew Taylor, and sophomore Zach Hoops.

In Division I, the girls tournament proceeds to the district level today at Eagle Creek in Norwalk. Qualifying out of last week's sectional tournament were teams from Findlay, Perrysburg, St. Ursula, and Southview.