Boy’s Baseball is swinging right into their 2015 season. The Bull- dog’s have an entirely new coaching staff this year.
“Our new coach was a great choice; he really brings great ideas where we need it. The sky’s the limit,” senior Parker Henderson said.
Aaron Debord is the head Varsity coach. He is a 2005 graduate of Wo- odridge High School and a varsity letterman in baseball and cross country. He went to The University of Akron and majored in Political Science and Criminal Justice. Debord was previously the head varsity coach of Akron-Firestone High School.
The boys kicked off the season on Feb. 23 with tryout week and will continue practicing until their first home game against Field High School on March 19.
“I am looking forward to a great sea- son. I really think we are going to surprise some people this year. Our new coach has brought an intense, hard working attitude that everyone is accepting and buying into,” junior Owen Fankhauser said.
This season, the Bulldogs hope to start rebuilding the tradition of winning through their hard work and attention to small detail.
The Bulldogs have nine seniors this year. They are Parker Henderson, Gino DeMarino, Tyler Hallam, Randy Smith, Andrew Groves, Brian Soldierson, Jake Lapchynski, Justin George and Nathan Allen.
“We have a great group of kids that we expect to push each other on a daily basis,” coach Debord said.
Two members of the senior class will continue their baseball careers at the NCAA level. Gino DeMarino and Parker Henderson have already signed letters of intent to their universities.
DeMarino will be attending Cleary University in Howell, Michigan and Henderson will attend Baldwin-Wallace Col- lege in Berea, Ohio. Both seniors, who look to have a big season for the Bulldogs this spring, feel they will receive a great education and have an opportunity to compete for playing time this fall.
“Our number one goal this season is to win the NOC with it being our last year in it,” coach Debord said.
The Bulldog’s have a very tough schedule this season. They take on the defending D1 state champions, Jackson High School, on April 3, along with many other talented teams. In mid-April, the boys take on their rivals, Cuyahoga Falls and Hudson.
“I am looking forward to playing our toughest rivals because I feel like we are going to give them a good game this year,” senior Tyler Hallam said.
As the boys continue to push each other, they grow and get better everyday.
“We are focused on working hard and playing to the best of our abilities. If on a day to day basis we can outwork our opponents and continue to believe in our process, then the wins will take care of themselves,” coach Debord said.
Debord is extremely excited for what this season will bring the team.
Coach Debord said, “The kids have shown an incredible willingness to learn and work hard. We can tell they want to get
better and are preparing to win like they never have before.”
The boys are swinging their hearts out for a successful season. Coach Brian Banas and Selena Kim are looking forward to another exciting season of boys tennis. This year, they hope for a more triumphant season than last year as they finished with a record of 4-12.
The boys open the season with a four to one loss to Woodridge on Monday, March 30 and have been rained out a few matches since then.
Last year, the boys shared the NOC Lake Division title with Brush.
“We look forward to another tough contest with Brush during the NOC league season,” Banas said.
They have a young team this year but also have returning players, sophomore Spencer Crawley at first singles, junior Ben Koch, junior Jaret Wilmoth, senior Alex Petrovski and senior Ben Switalski.
“We are a young team with a lot of potential,” Crawley said.
The program added five freshmen this year’s team, in- cluding Zach Zline and Cody Kowalczyk who will be seeing some varsity action.
“The youth on our team is exciting because we have a nice group of players who will be able to learn and improve together over the next couple of seasons,” Banas said.
Their biggest goal is to continue to develop their young players as they build toward tougher competi- tion in the Suburban League next year.
“I want our team to do the best it can, and personally, I would like to make it to districts,” Crawley said.
The team always look forward to the NOC Tourna- ment at the end of the season.
“We hope we can capture another league title for Stow, particularly since this will be our last season of NOC competition,” Banas said.
The girls track and field team has enjoyed their success the last couple of seasons and hope to keep the trend going. The official start to their season will be at the Don Faix Invitational hosted at Crestwood High School on Apr. 4.
“Our team this season looks really strong already. We have some awesome talent coming in from a few freshmen, and our upperclassmen are truly much stronger than they have been in our past seasons. I’m really excited for this upcoming sea- son,” sophomore Kayla Thompson said.
With losing a couple important seniors, the girls are still confident in leading the team to victory once again with a help of returning athletes.
Among those athletes is senior Sam Shaver, the defending Northeast Ohio Conference River Division MVP. Shaver qualified for states in not only the 200, but also qualified for nationals in the 800 relay and sprint medley relay. She also holds four school records total in individual and relay events.
Another key returner is senior Tiffany Pryce, who has qualified for states in hurdles in past years. She is also a two-time national qualifier in the sprint medley relay and shuttle hurdles relay.
Added to the mix is junior Jessie Stout and sophomore Kayla Thompson. Stout has quali- fied for nationals in the long jump and 800 re- lay, while Thompson was a national qualifier in the sprint medley relay last season.
“My goal this season is to help the team get our 6th NOC win, and I hope we can get as many people we can to states and nationals,” Thompson said.
In the past five years, the Lady Bulldogs have won the River Division championship in the NOCs. This may be the final year for the NOCs, but the girls are looking to claim one last title.
Returning seniors along with Pryce and Shaver are Abigail Dunn, Allison Brewer, Caitlin Helfeldt, Cassidy Wood, Courtney Bradford, Kelly Vantrease, Mara Diewert and Shelby Brown.
Stow has finished second overall in the Division I district meet for the last two years and have compiled a dual meet record of 55-11, with the help of head coach Aaron Morris.
“I am looking forward to another undefeated season and hoping our team places first at districts,” sophomore Chrissy DeMarino said.
In sports, it is very hard to be as successful as soft- ball has been. As winners of three straight N.O.C. River Division championships, this year’s team is looking forward to continuing its success under head coach Doug Hawkins.
Coach Hawkins is a 10-time returning head varsity coach for the girls and knows exactly how to lead a team to success.
“It has been very fun playing for Coach Hawkins,” senior Sadie Jones said.
Jones is a four-time returning varsity player and knows what it takes to win.
“Coach Hawkins is pretty laid back, meaning we can play relaxed. Taking off a lot of pressure has been a huge part of our success the past few years,” Jones said.
While winning three straight champi- onships, one may assume a fourth is easy to get; however, it is far from easy.
“Our two biggest goals are to win N.O.C. again and to make it to regionals. We have some pretty tough teams on our schedule this year like North Canton Hoover, who has won states four times in a row; however, we are very confident in ourselves, and we feel like we can com- pete with any team,” Jones said.
After losing three important seniors, the team leans on all four classes to pro- duce wins for the team this season.
“We have a really deep and strong line- up,” junior Landry Slider said. “Everyone plays their part well and if we continue
to play the way we know we can, we can accomplish what we have the past three years and even more.”
On April 1, the team traveled to Parma to take on Valley Forge in their first game. In a five inning, 28-1 victory, the girls proved they have tons of power.
“I really look forward to playing Hoover because they will be a challenge for us,” Slider said. “I’m also always very excited to play our rival Cuyahoga Falls.”
The team stands at 9-1 as of April 22 following their impressive 4-3 victory over division opponent Twinsburg.
This victory makes the team now 3-0 in division play.
During the weekend of April 23-26 the girls will compete in the “Rock-N-Fire” tournament with their first game being played at Hoban High School with a 7:00 p.m.
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