By Cort Reynolds
NAPOLEON - Ada senior Klava Katayama won two individual events handily to lead the Bulldog girls to a strong fifth-place finish at the season-opening Napoleon Wildcat Invitational meet Saturday.
Katayama swam to victory in the 200 freestyle and 100 butterfly events. She won by a whopping 9.04 seconds in the 200 free, and touched the wall 8.74 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher in the 100 fly.
Ada freshman Carlie Oldfield took fourth in two races, while junior Paige Cole took home a fourth and seventh.
By Cort Reynolds
OTTOVILLE - The visiting Ada boys basketball team battled hard but lost at tough Ottoville 68-51 Saturday night in a non-league contest.
The Big Green improved to 2-1 with the home victory, while the Bulldogs fell to 1-3 with the defeat.
"It was a great effort from our guys for 3.5 quarters," said Bulldog fourth-year head coach Dre White. "It was a single possession game in the fourth quarter, and then we ran out of gas."
By Cort Reynolds
CRIDERSVILLE - The Ada girls basketball team rallied late but came up just short in a 49-43 loss at Perry in a non-league battle Saturday afternoon.
The defeat dropped Ada to 1-3 overall, while the Lady Commodores earned their second victory.
Perry led 24-11 at halftime and extended the margin to 40-20 heading to the final quarter. A 23-point Ada outburst in the final period helped the Bulldog girls inch within four points late, but the rally was not quite enough.
By Cort Reynolds
KALIDA - The visiting Ada boys basketball team lost 47-40 at Kalida Friday night in a non-league defensive battle.
The Wildcats improved to 1-1 with the victory, while the Bulldogs fell to 1-2 with the defeat.
"We fought like heck; I am proud of our effort," said Ada fourth-year head coach Dre White. "Little things made the difference. We had some untimely errors and missed free throws."
Kalida led 15-10 after the first period, yet the Bulldogs inched within 23-21 by intermission. The Wildcats stretched the lead to 36-28 after three quarters, then hung on to post the win.
The Ohio Northern women's soccer coaching staff was honored by the United Soccer Coaches Association as the Great Lakes Region Staff of the Year.
The award is given to one coaching staff in each of the country's eight regions.
This marks the second time Northern head coach Mark Batman has won the regional staff of the year honor. The coaches were also recognized following the 2017 season.
The Polar Bears went 18-3-3 in 2019, advancing to the third round of the NCAA Tournament. ONU won both the Ohio Athletic Conference regular-season crown — with a perfect 9-0-0 mark — and the tournament title.
By Cort Reynolds
COLUMBUS GROVE - The Ada girls basketball team fell behind big early and lost 73-30 at Columbus Grove Thursday night in the Northwest Conference opener.
The defeat dropped the Ada girls to 1-2 overall and 0-1 in the NWC. CG improved to 3-1 and 1-0 in league play with the convincing win.
Grove raced to a 17-2 lead and extended it to 39-6 at intermission. The lead reached 64-18 after three periods before Ada won the final stanza, 12-9.
CG bombed in 11 three-point goals to pace their offense to its highest-scoring game of the young season.
