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Gymnastics girls flip through successful season

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By Lindsey Houck

The gymnastics girls, with a record of 4-1, hoped to push through sectionals and finish their season on a strong note. The team has received the highest score this year since the beginning of last year.

The team as a whole placed seventh out of eighteen teams at sectionals; however, they did not place high enough to take them to the next level of districts.

Individually, senior Hannah Scheilder placed tenth on the floor overall, which is taking her to districts for the individual competition.

“Our team had a very good season. We give a lot of credit to our coaches for bringing us as far as they did this season,” sophomore Gabi Odak said.

Overall, individually and as a team, the girls had an incredible season. Scheilder finished the season scoring highest overall on the team in bars, beam and floor. During the off season club in which Scheilder participates, she is a level 9 out of 10. Sophomore Sara Kasper followed behind her being a level 8 out of 10, scoring highest as an All-Around, meaning she performs all events: vault, bars, beam and floor.

Junior Abby Wagner and senior Jen Rinaldi consistently scored high on the beams as their best event. Odak placed highest overall on the beams against rival Cuyahoga Falls. Odak and Rinaldi both also placed high on the bars throughout the season behind Kasper and Scheilder. The third scoring on vault was senior Emily Hudia. The highest scoring on the floor was between junior Abby Wagner and senior Erin Kolke with Kolke being more advanced in tumbling, while Wagner was more graceful and advanced dance wise.

“Overall, we had a great season and we definitely got a lot closer.  We bonded a lot with each other and over ice cream,” sophomore Maria Cistone said.

Sports

Boys wrestling competes at NOC Tournament

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With another intense season coming to a close, the varsity wrestlers prepare for the journey to the state tournament.

All wrestlers are familiar with this part of the season, which is when the “grind” is in full swing.

The Bulldog wrestlers are 5-1 in dual meet matches, having their only loss handed to them by Brunswick. They have defeated Austintown Fitch, North Royalton, Cuyahoga Falls and Medina and outscored their opponents 267-146 in total team points.

In the Aurora Invitational, the wrestlers took second place overall.

At the Tuslaw Duals, the Bulldogs took second overall with three wrestlers who went undefeated on the weekend: senior Nick Planicka, junior Kyle Jenkins and sophomore Jared Tatgenhorst. Kiyal Izaldine was 8-1 at the tournament.

When the wrestlers traveled to Firestone for the Bill Dies Memorial Tournament, they finished 19 out of 44 teams. Three Bulldog wrestlers placed at this prestigious tournament: senior Nick Planicka took fifth, sophomore Joey Andrassy finished sixth and senior Anthony Valore won eighth.

At the wrestlers latest tournament, the NOC Tournament, they placed seventh out of the 18 teams competing. Five wrestlers placed top eight in the conference: Kyle Jenkins third, senior Justin George third, Joey Andrassy third, senior Ian Finegan sixth and Anthony Valore sixth.

“We did some good wrestling as a team and as individuals,” sophomore Joey Andrassy said, “but the season is not over. We have to do our best wrestling next weekend at sectionals to move onto districts and then states. It was a fun season but it will be better if we finish well.”

Senior Nick Planicka is finishing up his fourth year wrestling for the Bulldogs.

“I really enjoyed this season,” Planicka said. “It was really great being a senior and a leader on the team. It is a shame that I am not going to be able to wrestle with my teammates next year. On the bright side, the season is not over: we still have sectionals to work for. I believe that every member of this varsity line up can make it deep into the post-season tournaments.”

Sports

Athlete of the Month

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Some students excel in more than just academics, even though academics are the main focus of high school. Athletics play a huge role in high schools and many student lives.

Each month,  the high school chooses two players: one boy and one girl. Their coaches choose them to be featured in “The Player of the Month” column.

This month, a member of the girls bowling and the boys basketball team will be featured.

This month’s male player is junior Nathan Bower-Malone, who leads the bulldogs with 252 points.

“Nathan is a remarkable player and an even better teammate,” coach Andrew O’Keefe said.

Bower-Malone is the team’s best scorer on any given night. He is an excellent student, an active member of student council and is also involved at the Stow Campus of Christ Community Chapel.

Bower-Malone will be recognized with numerous awards at the end of the season as the leading scorer on the team. He is currently tied for first place in the conference.

“We are fortunate as a school and as a basketball program that Nathan still has his senior year and season ahead of him,” O’Keefe said.

This month’s female player is senior Sarah may (Katie) Schlea, from the girls bowling team. She has had high series in two of their tournaments. Schlea bowled a 544 in the G-Men Classic and a 528 in the Black Tiger Tournament.

“Katie is our only left handed bowler and has improved her average to a 171,” coach Paula Duncan said.

Duncan said, “Katie does not give up, and can turn a game around after a slow start. She always has a smile and encourages the other players to do better. Katie got to anchor the last tournament because of her high series.”

Sports

Coaches send bowling team to victory

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One sports team having a strong season this year at the high school is bowling. Both boys and girls have great players on the teams, showing their best bowling abilities this season.

“The bowling is scored in a very distinct way. Five [players] out of eight bowl a regular game in the first round. The second round the same five [players] can bowl or be replaced by the other three. After ten games of regular bowling, three baker games are bowled. Five [players] bowl one game, the first [player] who bowls the 1st and 6th frame, second [player] bowls second and seventh frame and so on. The anchor bowls the fifth and tenth frames. Total scratch score determines the win after all 13 games are bowled,” Coach Paula Duncan said.

Duncan has been coaching for 14 years now. She works at Echo Hills in the multiple Handicap classroom with Kindergarten and first graders.

She also bowls in her free time on a Casino League at Sto-Kent Family Entertainment.

Duncan loves being a coach and the many great things it brings to her life.

“[The most enjoyable part of coaching is] the friendships that are formed by the teams, with each other, coaches and parents,” Paula Duncan said.

Looking back on their past season, they won the NOC conference. Now they are currently 5-5 this season.

The team captains this year are seniors Natalie Menke and Rachel Huber.

Out of the many talented bowlers, they have a few special players who help bring a special spark to the team. Sophomore Meghan Ritzinger has the highest average of all the girl bowlers.

Sarahmay (Katie) Schlea is the teams only left handed bowler. Being with the bowling team her whole high school career is senior Alyssa Bedilion.

The biggest rival for the girls is Mentor. Last year, they had to beat them to win the NOC conference, holding tension between the two school teams. They will also be the biggest competition for this year, seeing as their average is 200 pins higher than Stows.

The girls plan on going to states, if they pull it together at the sectionals. If they aren’t able to go as a team any of the girls would be capable of bowling a high series at districts.

The boys bowling coach, Glenn Duncan, has been coaching bowling for the past 14 years. He has worked full time at Land O Lakes in production for 23 years.

He has been in leagues for the past 40 years with his wife Paula.

Just like his wife, he gets to watch many great things as a coach for the boys bowling team.

“[The most enjoyable part of coaching is] watching the kids improve. Beating their previous high scores and series,” Glenn Duncan said.

The boys struggled slightly early on in the season but have been picking themselves up with better scores lately.

They recently finished second in the G Man Tournament behind last years runner state runner up, Struthers High School.

The team captains for the boys bowling team are seniors Tommy Gallagher and Nick Powell.

They are led by their starting five: senior Tommy Gallagher, senior Nick Powell, junior Chris Ferguson, junior Sam Croy and junior Kevin Kunz.

Their six man is sophomore Scott Hopkins. They also bring up a few.

JV boys on occasion have some extra help, which includes sophomore Christian Studt and freshman Alex Snowberger.

Throughout the past, Cuyahoga Falls has always been their fiercest competition. This year they will also have Brunswick, Brush and Mentor as rivals.

The boys bowling team believes they will have a chance for states if they continue to improve as they have been lately.

Both Paula and Glenn Duncan hope for a great ending to the season and look forward to coaching the new team next year.

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