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Green celebrates Jacob Ramey scoring the team's first run in what ended up as a 6-5 loss to Willoughby South in the Canton Div. I Regional Final.
Another scholastic sports season has come and gone and, boy, what an exciting year in the Suburban League.
There were many pleasant surprises, including: The Copley football and boys basketball teams, the Cloverleaf girls basketball team, the Highland girls softball team, and we can’t forget about the Tallmadge football team.
Let’s do some house cleaning for our final SL Notes of the season.
Track and Field
One of the better stories during the season has been the success of the girls track team at Green. Coach Dan Gourley’s team captured its first Suburban League title and now is sending seven girls -- one shy of the school record -- to the state championships this weekend.
At last week's regional meet in Austintown, Green had two girls advance to states in the pole vault. Junior Morgan Kelly and sophomore Morgan Estes were outstanding as Kelly leaped to 10-8 while Estes hit a personal record 11-8, and almost made her 12-0 jump.
This is the seventh consecutive year that Green has sent someone to states in pole vault, but the first time the school will send two to compete in the event.
Junior Amanda Pinheiro qualified in the long jump at 17-04.75, finishing fourth.
Making states has been particularly gratifying as Penhiero just missed a trip to states as a freshman and was injured for most of her sophomore season.
The 1,600-meter relay team smashed the school record. It's time of 3:56.18 was .01 behind second place Brecksville. The team broke the school record at the district meet and then again last week at the regional.
The team consists of senior Amy McLaughlin, freshman Emily Hooker, junior Kristen Bergmeyer, and sophomore Erika Rector.
The Green girls finished the regional in 11th place overall with 26 points with 14 girls in 11 events.
Meanwhile, Cloverleaf senior Jennifer Foster was tremendous again in the regional meet as she won the pole vault with a jump of 12 feet. Foster finished 2ndin the high jump at 5-9. Foster will make her third trip to the state meet.
Down in Wadsworth their hammer, senior Hannah Gospodinsky, won the regional meet in shot put with a throw of 43-5. Hannah advances for a second time to the state tournament.
On the boys side, the Copley Indians are sending two athletes to the state meet. Senior Roosevelt Dotson will make the trip thanks to his 6-9 high jump, 1 inch from the school record. Junior Nicholas Pupino ran a 9:24.0 in the 3200 meter run to earn a trip to Columbus as well.
Barberton
“It was a great experience being in the SL, the athletic directors, coaches and administrators all got along great,” said Barberton Athletic Director Jay Glaze. “It is an extremely competitive league so the decision for us to leave will give all of our sports a chance to do great things."
Barberton had a lot of success in the Suburban Leauge in boys basketball and wrestling, but struggled in many of the other sports.
“We loved the league as we got to play our neighbors, but we will use this as a positive for our program as we will be creative with our schedule,” said boys basketball coach Ken Rector.
In wrestling, the Magic summer team won the dual meet tournament in Coventry last weekend.
Barberton outscored Coventry, St. Vincent-St. Mary, GlenOak and Green.
Cobey Fehr and Aaron Tschantz were undefeated for the weekend.
Baseball
The two SL baseball teams that made it to their respective regional tournaments last weekend lost before advancing to the state semifinals.
Green lost on Saturday to Willoughby South in the Canton Div. I Regional Final, but had another remarkable season finishing 23-5 and 12-2 in the SL.
“Saturday’s loss was heartbreaking. The kids were very disappointed that their season ended so abruptly,” said Green coach Jon Wallace. “For the seniors, some who were on the 2009 final four team, they leave with an overall record of 64-17."
During their high school careers, the seniors also garnered two Suburban League titles, two district titles, and a trip to the final four.
“They have been great role models for our younger players and will be sorely missed,” Wallace said.
Over in Tallmadge, the baseball team lost 7-3 in the regional semifinal to eventual regional champ Hoban.
The story of the game was five costly errors that led to five unearned runs for the Knights.
“We had a great season, 18-8, but we're looking forward to getting better over the next nine months as we return six starters and 10 lettermen next season,” said Tallmadge coach Kenny Linn.