MANSFIELD — Last week started out brutally cold, but thanks to Richland County high school athletes and teams, it ended scorching hot.
Let’s take a look at some of the top high school basketball, wrestling and swim moments with this week’s MNJ Top Performers List.
-Bailee Nelson and Zy’Eir Davis teamed up to help the Mansfield Christian Flames clinch at least a share of the Mid-Buckeye Conference championship in a 58-19 win over Central Christian. Nelson led the way with 19 points while Davis added 17 to give the Flames a one-game lead in the conference standings with one league game left on the schedule. They can clinch the outright league championship on Feb. 1 at home against second-place Lucas.
-Tori Kidney, Georgia McFarland and Lily Cline gave the Crestview Cougars some very balanced scoring with 15 points apiece in a 66-13 win over St. Paul. For good measure, Makenzie Spoerr added 10 points giving Crestview four players in double-figures.
-Eve Schwemley scored 21 points while Serena Ramsey had 13 in a 55-41 win over River Valley putting the Whippets in position to clinch at least a share of the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference championship on Saturday night at Clear Fork. Schwemley added five steals, four rebounds and two assists in the win.
-The Colts put in in cruise control during a 53-20 win over Marion Harding. Mel Blubaugh had 11 points while Brinley Barnett added 10 and Asia Bechtel scored nine to help the Colts earn a 33-point victory setting up a shot to grab a piece of first place in the MOAC on Friday against Shelby.
-Bailee Nelson and Zy’Eir Davis were at the front of Mansfield Christian’s 51-20 win over Plymouth as Nelson scored 15 points and Davis added 13 while the defense put up one of its best performances of the season.
-Georgia McFarland scored 21 points in Crestview’s 52-17 win over Crestline. Makenzie Spoerr added nine and Tori Kidney had eight as the Cougars moved to one game above .500 on the season.
-The Lexington Minutemen put five players in double-figures in a 74-68 win over Wooster. Brayden Fogle led the way with 19 points while Joe Caudill had 13, Gavin Husty scored 12 and Seven Allen and Jakob Legron added 11 apiece giving the Minutemen their most balanced offensive night to date. Caudill pulled down 11 rebounds while Allen had eight to go with five assists and three steals.
-The Mansfield Senior Tygers saw some amazing offensive balance in a 72-71 overtime victory over Ashland. Kaylen Brooks led the team with 18 points while Rashad Reed Jr. and Kyevi Roane added 16 apiece and Andrew Brooks Jr. had 12. D’Vontae Johnson scored nine including four free throws in overtime to clinch the win. Roane posted a near triple-double with 11 rebounds and eight assists to go with two steals. The Tygers host Lexington on Tuesday in the biggest game of the season to date.
-Justice Thompson and Tyson Ringler proved to be a tough 1-2 combo in Crestview’s 58-53 win over Monroeville. Thompson scored 25 points while Ringler added 14 to lead the Cougars to an important Firelands Conference victory.
-The Shelby Whippets saw Landon Foltz score 17 points, Brayden DeVito add 16 and Michael Shepherd drop a career-high 15 in a 65-50 win over Highland. Shepherd also added 10 rebounds and DeVito handed out five assists in the MOAC victory.
-Davion Mack and Taylor Hahn led the Mansfield Christian Flames to a 51-49 win over St. Peter’s. Mack scored 20 points while Hahn added 11 and Josiah Schleusener and Evan Hager scored eight apiece to give the Flames a big win.
-The Plymouth Big Red earned an impressive 62-43 win over Mapleton behind Jarrett Burrer’s 22 points, Cainen Kilgore’s 13 and Lex Grose’s 12. The Big Red suffered a seven-point loss to the Mounties earlier in the season.
-Taylor Hahn and Evan Hager scored 20 points apiece and Davion Mack had 10 as the Mansfield Christian Flames picked up a 73-61 win over South Central pushing their winning streak to four games and their record to 9-7 on the season.
-The Lexington Minutemen picked up a slugfest 52-40 win over future OCC opponent Dover as Gavin Husty led the way with 15 points and Brayden Fogle added 13 to help Lex improve to 14-2 on the season.
-The Plymouth Big Red got even more revenge this week with a 44-42 win over Western Reserve. Jarrett Burrer and Cainen Kilgore scored 10 points apiece while Colton Sundstrom had nine. Plymouth lost to Western on Jan. 16 before turning around and beating the Roughriders nine days later.
-Brayden DeVito went berserk in a 65-48 win over Madison as he dropped 34 points to lead the Whippets to a big win. Landon Foltz added 10 points in the victory.
-Trindon Flenoury and Cardae Brown led the Ontario Warriors with 14 points apiece while Tre Fowler had 12 in an amazing 61-59 upset win over Crestview. Flenoury drained a 3-pointer with under 20 seconds left in the game to tie it and Fowler came up with a steal on the inbounds to score a layup as time ran out giving the Warriors the win thanks to a 10-1 run with under a minute to go in the game.
-Crestview’s Justice Thompson became the Cougars’ boys basketball program career scoring leader when he scored 18 points in a narrow 61-59 loss to Ontario on Saturday. Thompson made a free throw with 2:23 left in the game to help him pass Dave Groff on the all-time scoring lost as Thompson now has 1,335 points breaking Groff’s 60-year old record of 1,332 set back in 1965.
-Makaree Chapman and Tatum Stover led the Lexington Lady Lex to a 58-41 OCC win over Mansfield Senior. Chapman scored 24 points and added seven rebounds, five assist and two steals while Stover added 19 points, 12 rebounds, three assists and two steals to give Lady Lex one of the best games of her career.
-Alyssa Booker hit the biggest shot of her life in Shelby’s 69-65 win over Clear Fork. Her 3-pointer with 35 seconds left gave the Whippets their first lead of the entire game and completed a 16-point second-half comeback to net the Whippets at least a share of their seventh straight MOAC championship. Booker finished with nine points while Eve Schwemley had a monster game with 32 points including five 3-pointers and Serena Ramsey added 10. The Whippets will try to clinch the title outright on Friday at home against Ontario.
-The Clear Fork Colts earned a team championship at a very tough Joshua Hephner Memorial Wrestling Tournament at Austintown Fitch with 306 points finishing ahead of the host’s 303 points. Colton Wenger took home the 113-pound championship as he beat Highland’s Konner Blaney in the finals with a 4-0 decision. He is now 26-6 on the season. Sloan McGhee was third at 126 pounds as he won his third-fourth-place match with a 16-0 tech fall over Rootstown’s Alex Ely. He is now 25-7 on the season. Damon Hoskins was seventh at 132 while Anthony Oscar was third at 138 as he won his third-fourth-place match over North Royalton’s Sean Heil with a pin in 4:47. He is now 32-1 on the season. Keaton Hunter took sixth at 157 and Lakoda Leedy was fourth at 165. Blake Schlosser was the 175-pound champion as he beat Rootstown’s Brian Youngblood 14-13 in the finals to stay undefeated at 32-0 and also became Clear Fork’s all-time pins leader with 96 during the tournament. Tre Copeland finished off the top performers for the Colts with a second-place finish at 215.
-The Shelby Whippet wrestling team won the 15-team Centerburg Invitational with 208 team points finishing ahead of Olentangy Berlin’s 181 points. The Whippets had nine placers as freshman Corbyn Barth took fifth at 106 with a 16-1 tech fall in the finals while freshman Lucas Mohn took fourth at 114. Senior Triston Carr finished third at 126 with a 5:24 pin over Buckeye Calley’s Danny Khadre in the third-fourth-place match. Arthur Cain was the lone champion for the Whippets as he won the 144-pound weight class with a 13-3 major decision over Olentangy Berlin’s Chase Hemminger in the finals. Senior Denny Lafon took fourth at 150 pounds while junior Christian Santiz was second at 175, junior Gavin Hainline was third at 190 and sophomore Gavin Garrett was second at 285.
-Lucas’ Rayden Caudill gave the Cubs a solid second-place finish in the 190-pound weight class of the Centerburg Invitational. Caudill battled Licking Heights’ Jarrick Sexton in the finals to a 5-3 close decision giving him runner-up honors.
-Ontario freshman Tyler Turnbaugh led the Warriors to a solid day at the Sally George Wrestling Invitational at Pleasant High School. He was the 120-pound champion thanks to a 10-9 decision over Northmor’s Ethan Ames in the finals. Older brother Mason Turnbaugh became a three-time Sally George champion as he won the 150-pound title with an 11-6 decision over Jonathan Alder’s Ethan Kuhns. Senior Landon Sowards gave the Warriors three placers as he took fourth at 190 pounds.
-The Madison Rams saw four placers at the Sally George Invite as junior Jaxin Stancombe brought home the 285-pound championship with a pin in 2:34 over River Valley’s Drew Goldberg in the finals match. Sophomore Aiden Proctor took third place at 157 as he picked up a 23-3 tech fall over Westland’s Alex Dell in the third-fourth-place match. Junior Gavin Cupp took fourth at 175 points and Junior Ashton Mcglasson took fifth at 138 pounds.
-The Crestview Cougars saw Qwintin Howard take second place in the 132-pound weight class of the Thunderbird Wrestling Invitational on Saturday while Jack Stephens took third at 165 points as he won his third-fourth-place match with a 4:10 pin over Allen East’s Jacob Pinks.
-The Lexington Minutemen saw two placers at the West Holmes Wrestling Invite on Saturday as senior Owen Reamsnider took fourth at 144 pounds and junior Brandon Reaves took fourth and 150.
-Plymouth’s Noah Robinson took second in the 215-pound weight class of the Peg Leg Scuffle at Garaway High School while Zach Miller took third at 157 pounds and earned his 100th-career victory during the tournament. Hunter McClure finished third at 175 and Lucas Distl took fourth place in the 106 weight class. Plymouth took 87.5 points for the tournament.
-The Ontario boys swim team took home the team championship at their home invite on Saturday with 296 points. The 400 free relay team of Colten Montgomery, Alex Bilyj, Owen Walter and Grantham Trumpower won the event in 3:37.65. Montgomery took the title in the 100 backstroke in 56.43 while Trumpower won the 500 free in 5:02.62 and the 200 individual medley in 2:06.03 and Walter won the 100 butterfly in 59.24. Jackson Swiatek was second in the 100 breaststroke with a 1:08.47 and Carson Smith was second in the 200 free in 1:55.88.
-The Ontario girls swim team took second at their home invite on Saturday with 255 points finishing behind Tiffin Columbian’s 293. Tessa Crum won the title in the 100 backstroke with a 1:04.13 while Mirielle Trumper won the 500 free in 5:21.68 and the 50 free in 24.64, Joie Simmering won the 200 individual medley in 2:24.68. The 400 free relay team of Trumpower, Maddie Hedrick, Tatum Mottayaw and Crum took second in the event with a 3:57.12 while Simmering took second in the 100 free in 58.04. The 200 medley relay team of Ava Zehe, Addison Smith, Sasha Bulakovski and Alexia Sesco was second with a 2:07.22.
-Shelby’s Emma Montgomery was a two-event champion at the ultra competitive Ontario Swim Invite as she won the 100 butterfly in 1:01.85 and the 200 free in 2:00.53.
-Lexington’s 200 medley relay team of Cooper Watters, Peyton McFadden, Oden Bell and Joe Hathaway took first place with a time of 1:52.99 during a meet at Bucyrus against Bluffton, Ada and Upper Sandusky. Lex’s Trey Nickoli was first in the 200 free with a 2:02.29, first in the 100 free with a 52.91 and Bell was first in the 500 free with a 5:48.46 and third in the 200 individual medley with a 2:21.72 and Watters took first in the 100 backstroke in 1:00.36. Hathaway took second in the 50 free with a 23.80 and second in the 100 breaststroke in 1:12.14. The 200 free relay team of Logan Bartlett, Nickoli, Hathaway and Owen Garver won the event in 1:39.91 and the 400 free relay team of Bartlett, Nickoli, Bell and Watters won the event in 3:39.17.
-Lexington’s 200 medley relay team of Kayla Caldwell, Brynn Bruner, Maggie Nolan and Emily Woods took first place with a time of 2:03.62 during a meet at Bucyrus against Bluffton, Ada and Upper Sandusky. Caldwell won the 200 individual medley in 2:19.60 and the 100 breaststroke in 1:17.70 while Katya Prykhodko was second in the IM with a 2:39.38 and third in the 100 backstroke in 1:19.76. Bruner took first in the 100 free with a 59.63 while Nolan was second at 1:03.51. Julia Wyant took second in the 200 free with a 2:17.91 and third in the 500 free with a 6:09.40, Bruner was third in the 50 free with a 27.13 and Emma Caldwell was second in the 100 butterfly with a 1:08.43. The 200 free relay team of Emily Woods, Kayla Caldwell, Emma Caldwell and Wyant won the event in 1:50.06 and the 400 free relay team of Wyant, Prykhodko, Bruner and Emma Caldwell won the event in 4:03.43.
-The Lexington Lady Lex girls wrestling team saw two placers at the New Lexington Invite on Sunday. Sophomore Leah Van Meter took sixth at 135 while senior Addison Nicol took fifth at 145.
jfurr@gannett.com
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