Auroraadvocate.com - Sports Wire: Fourth-graders grab four tourney titles, end 25-3

by Advocate Staffers

Aurora's fourth-grade boys travel basketball team concluded an excellent season by bringing home two tournament championships.

The locals defended their 2009 title by winning the Hudson Kiwanis tourney, in which they beat Green, Kenston and Medina in pool play, then Solon in the semifinals and Hudson in the finale.

The team then won the Jared Ellsworth tourney, beating Green, Solon and St. Sebastian in pool play and Hudson 35-27 after being down by 6 points at halftime.

The boys concluded their season with a 25-3 record, and have posted a 50-7 mark in the last two years. They won four tournament titles; the other two being Midwest Travel and Aurora Parks and Recreation.

Players are Cade Huffman, Cade Phillips, Evan Fromwiller, Andrew McClure, Cooper Devins, Zach Gerber, Dino DeRoia, James Robinson, Sonny Quaranto, Zach Elsawy and Gavin Blunt.

Coaches are Donny Blunt and Jeff Fromwiller.

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Aurora High School graduate John Trew, a sophomore at Ohio Dominican University in Columbus, was one of 10 basketball players named to the Association of Independent Institutions all-conference team. He averaged just over 9 points a game in the 2009-10 season. Dominican posted a 10-17 record.

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Auroran Mark Godale fared very well at a couple of recent distance running events. He placed seventh overall (3:23:51) in the USA Track and Field 50K national championship on Long Island, N.Y., and 12th overall (2:48) in the Austin Marathon in Austin, Texas.

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The Geauga Hockey Lady Maple Leafs placed second in the Laurel tournament in Greensburg, Pa. They played youth teams from Westmoreland, Pa., North Pittsburgh and Youngstown.

The squad entered the championship game with a 3-0 record, but lost to Westmoreland 1-0, giving up only three goals in the four games.

Aurora players were freshman Rachael Schwartz (goalie), eighth-grader Kelly Sheridan (left wing) and junior Courtney Rausch (defense). Coach Mark Schwartz also is an Aurora resident.

Girls who are experienced skaters and ages 11 to 15 can join a Geauga Youth Hockey Association team by calling Schwartz at 330-562-8765. The teams play at the Pond in Auburn Township.

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Aurora resident Nathaniel Schwartz and Reed Rosencrans are on the Geauga Youth Hockey Pee Wee AA team which won the division and playoff titles in 2009-10.

Schwartz is a sixth-grader at Harmon School and Rosencrans is a seventh-grader at University School.

The team compiled a 11-0-1 regular season record, then defeated Rocky River 3-1 in the playoffs championship game March 7.

Information about the Geauga Youth Hockey Association should call Schwartz at 330-562-8765. The teams play at the Pond in Auburn Township.

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Aurora Parks Coordinator Bill Fellenstein rolled the high series in a recent session of the Perrin Asphalt League at Kent Lanes. He totaled 766.

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Auroran Ariel McNair will head to Columbus with her Walsh Jesuit teammates for the Division II state semifinal game March 18 at 6 p.m.

The Warriors (24-2) will face Hathaway Brown (21-4). The finals are March 20 at 2 p.m. McNair tallied 5 points in Walsh's 53-44 regional final victory over Rocky River.

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The 25th annual Verizon Wireless Swim for Diabetes will take place at 55 Northeast Ohio pools at the end of April and into May.

Some of the closest locations to Aurora are Kent State University Health/Wellness Center (May 8 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.), Hiram College (May 14 from noon to 2 p.m.), Twinsburg Fitness Center (May 16 from 8 a.m. to noon) and Macedonia Recreation Center (May 16 from noon to 3 p.m.)

Information and online registration by visiting www.swimfordiabetes.com.

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After leading the Golden Flashes to their fourth regular-season league title in history, Kent State head coach Geno Ford was named the 2010 Mid-American Conference coach of the year.

In his second season at the helm, Ford led the Golden Flashes (23-8, 13-3 MAC) to a MAC regular-season championship and the No. 1 seed in last week's tourney.

"You have to credit our accomplishments to the players who performed at a high level and shared that one vision required for a team to be great," Ford said.

"We have great support from the University and Athletic Administration here at Kent State. Our success is made possible due to the commitment we receive from Director of Athletics Laing Kennedy and President Lester Lefton."

It is the seventh time in league history that a KSU head coach has been selected for the honor -- Jim McDonald, 1990; Gary Waters, 1999 and 2000; Stan Heath, 2002; and Jim Christian 2006 and 2008).

Meanwhile, KSU senior Anthony Simpson, a 6-foot-8 forward, was named the MAC's sixth man of the year.

He finished the regular season averaging 8.8 points and 5.8 rebounds per game. In MAC contests, he upped those averages to 9.9 points and 6 rebounds.

"Anthony has impacted our team more than any guy we've ever brought off the bench in my time at Kent," said Ford.

KSU's women's team had two standouts -- Jamilah Humes and Taisja Jones -- on the All-MAC team. Humes averaged 14.4 points a game while Jones was at 14.9 points.

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It was a shortlived MAC tournament for the KSU men's basketball team last week as it lost to Ohio University 81-64 in the first round of the MAC tourney.

Chris Singletary tallied 19 points to lead the Flashes, while Justin Greene and Rodriquez Sherman each added 12. Justin Greene grabbed 9 rebounds.

In the MAC women's tourney, KSU defeated Central Michigan 68-55, but lost to Toledo 51-49.

Against CM, Jamilah Humes tallied 24 points, Yoshica Spears had 11 and Taisia Jones 10. Against Toledo, Humes had 16 points and Jones had 12 points and 10 rebounds.

The men (23-9) will host a first-round NIT game tonight (March 17) at 7 against Tulsa.