By Cort Reynolds
CANTON - Ada senior Klava Katayama capped her fine Bulldog career by finishing in the top four of two events at the Div. II Ohio state swim finals Friday in Canton's C.T. Branin Natatorium.
Katayama finished third in the 50-yard freestyle (23.56), and also touched fourth in the 100-yard butterfly (56.12) Friday night. Both were career-best finishes for her at the state meet.
The Ohio Northern women's lacrosse program is still in its adolescent years. The sport was introduced at ONU in 2016, and since that time head coach Beth Hemminger has been pleased with the steps the Polar Bears have taken.
Hemminger hopes to see more steps taken in 2020.
"We saw a lot of growth last year, and there definitely was improvement," Hemminger said. "… I think we've gotten over that hump. We have a group of girls that are extremely competitive and want to win, and they understand what it takes to do that."
Cody Cruzen has returned to his alma mater as an assistant football coach. He will coach the receivers and will serve as special teams coordinator.
Cruzen was in New Hampshire at Division II Saint Anselm (N.H.) during the 2018 season where he was the team's defensive backs coach and special teams coordinator. During his time out east he coached a pair of all-conference selections in the secondary and on special teams.
By Cort Reynolds
CANTON - Ada senior Klava Katayama finished second in two events during the preliminary round Thursday at the 44th annual girls Ohio Div. II state swim meet, advancing to the finals Friday at Canton's C.T. Branin Natatorium with her strong showings.
Katayama finished second in both the 50-yard freestyle (23.58) and 100-yard butterfly (55.57) events Thursday night.
By Cort Reynolds
BATH - Fourth seed New Knoxville defeated Ada 55-14 in Div. IV first round sectional girls basketball play Wednesday evening at Bath.
With the loss, the 10th-seeded Lady Bulldogs finished their campaign 7-16 overall, a six-game improvement over last season. Meanwhile, NK improved to 16-7 with the convincing win.
The Rangers advance to the sectional finals Saturday, Feb. 22 at Bath vs. Midwest Athletic Conference foe New Bremen (14-9). The Rangers won their previous league meeting in a defensive battle, 34-26.
