By Cort Reynolds
CANTON - Ada junior Klava Katayama came in fourth in the 50-yard freestyle and touched sixth in the 100 butterfly finals at the 43nd annual Ohio Div. II girls state swim meet at Canton's C.T. Branin Natatorium Friday evening.
A top eight finish confers all-state status.
In the 50 free finals, Katayama moved up from her strong fifth-place preliminary finish to end up fourth in 23.77.
Sophomore Nyah Funderburke of Columbus School for Girls won the 50 free in 23.46.
Katayama came in sixth in the 100 fly in 56.91, again moving up one place from her preliminary finish Thursday.
ADA — No. 19-ranked senior Clayton Davidson (Kirtland)was named First Team All-Ohio Athletic Conference at the 174-pound weight class in wrestling for 2018-19 in voting conducted by the league's eight head coaches.
Davidson was a perfect 6-0 with five pins and a decision by shutout in OAC dual meet competition.
He also won the league's Most Falls in least Amount of Time award with five falls in 15:03 in his six victories.
Davidson leads Ohio Northern with a 28-7 record and 10 pins this season.
The Polar Bears will return to action Friday and Saturday at the NCAA Division III Central Regional Championships at Crawfordsville, Ind.
Three ONU athletes were named OAC athletes of the week in their respective sports.
Alex Pizarro - men’s lacrosse
Senior goalkeeper Alex Pizarro (Boonsboro, Md.) has been voted the first Ohio Athletic Conference Men's Lacrosse Defensive Player of the Week for the 2019 season, the conference office announced Monday afternoon.
Former Ohio Northern track and field and cross country standouts Emily Richards and Matt Molinaro will represent the HOKA New Jersey-New York Track Club in the 1,000-meter run competitions at the 2019 Toyota USATF Indoor Championships this weekend at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Facility in Staten Island, N.Y.
Richards will make her first appearance at an indoor national championship after qualifying for the 2017 and 2018 USATF Outdoor Championships in the 800-meter run. She currently owns the fourth-fastest seed time entering the meet.
By Cort Reynolds
CANTON - Ada junior Klava Katayama finished fifth in the 50-yard freestyle and seventh in the 100 butterfly preliminaries to make it to the finals of both events at the 43nd annual Ohio Div. II girls state swim meet at Canton's C.T. Branin Natatorium Thursday evening.
Katayama finished fifth out of of 24 swimmers with a time of 23.86 in the 50-yard free preliminary heats, which garnered her a qualifying spot in the A finals Friday evening.
Sophomore Nyah Funderburke of Columbus School for Girls won the 50 free preliminary heats in 23.55.
By Tim Glon
MARIETTA — Ohio Northern got a career-high five 3-pointers from sophomore Emily Brock (Akron/Revere) and some key plays in the final minutes from senior Jenna Dirksen (Beavercreek/Carroll) to post a thrilling 59-55 victory at Marietta in the semifinals of the Ohio Athletic Conference Women's Basketball Tournament on Thursday night at Ban Johnson Fieldhouse.
The seventh-seeded Polar Bears (15-12 overall) advance Saturday's finals at 3 pm at top-seeded John Carroll and will be making their third consecutive appearance in the championship game of the tournament.
The third-seeded Pioneers end their season with an 18-9 mark.
