June 12, 2003

SPORTS

Wimberly leaps to 8th at state

Except for 1998, athletes from Yellow Springs High School have participated in the state Track & Field Championship every spring for the past 40 years.

Last week, eight YSHS athletes competed in four events at the Division III meet at the University of Dayton’s Welcome Stadium on Friday and Saturday, May 6 and 7.

Though the athletes managed to break several personal records, sophomore Evin Wimberly, the lone Lady Bulldog at the meet, was the only athlete to score points. She soared six and a half inches past her previous best to finish in eighth place and win a medal in long jump.

Wimberly came into her event with a personal best jump of 16' 5", the 16th best in the state. When she reached 16' 11" on her second jump on Friday, a smile came over her generally stoic face. But she wasn’t quite satisfied with her preliminary results, which put her at seventh place heading into the finals with three more jumps. On her seventh try Wimberly jumped 16' 11 1/2", earning a spot on the winners’ platform.

As her father, Maurice Wimberly, grabbed his camera and made a beeline to the awards circle, he commented about his daughter’s character as an athlete. “In general she’s quiet, but she becomes a different person when she’s competing,” he said. “One of the coaches from another team said she’s a quiet storm.”

Wimberly attributed her improvement to her training to spring higher off the ground and increase her speed on the way into the jump. And she does not intend to stop here. “Next year I hope to be jumping 17’s,” Wimberly said.

The YSHS boys 3200 relay team started off the morning on Friday with a solid time of 8:15.73 to finish 13th in the state. Dylan Borchers ran the first two laps under two minutes, followed by Aaron Cobb and Travis Dean, who held the team in the top eight.

As Dean handed the baton to David Warren, a runner from another team ran into Dean, sending both runners to the ground and, Dean said, reminding him of his football days. But Warren received the baton and took off for the last leg, facing stiff competition from the other teams. The Bulldogs finished within two seconds of their previous best time.

Though the boys 1600 relay team was able to hang in the top three for a good part of its preliminary event, the team missed qualifying for the finals by two places. The Bulldogs finished 10th with a time of 3:29.95, their second best time of the season.

Cobb led off with a promising first lap, gutting it out in the back stretch to hand off to Brent Robinson, with the ’Dogs in second place. Robinson, Borchers and anchor Andrew Richlen each followed with level split times, but Richlen said he lost his kick at the end.

“I was feeling good before we ran, but I got too winded and didn’t have nothing to push me at the end,” he said just after the race.

In his first high school track season, Rory Hotaling came in 10th in the 3200 run on Saturday. Though he came into the race with the 16th best time, he was able to improve his place by six places, huffing out a 70-second kick in the last lap to pass a runner just before the finish.

Though none of the runners placed in any of their events, coaches John Gudgel and Vince Peters said they were proud of their team.

“In the long run they’ll look back and say, ‘I made it to state and had an opportunity to run against some of the best,’ ” Gudgel said.

—Lauren Heaton

Tee-ball, t-shirts, lightning

By Jimmy Cheshire

Perry League opened last Friday with a wonderful evening of tee-ball for some 65 to 70 of our community’s beautiful children. Though cloudy and moist — we felt little spits at the beginning of the evening and then again at the end — we made it through the night high and dry.

One mother was taking pictures with a flash, which scared us: we thought it was lightning and we’ve been convinced to close up shop, to roll up our bedrolls and head for home with the first flash of lightning.

We had an animated and serious discussion about this a few years back: Should we play or not? Should we stay on the field or not? A couple of parents had seen a flash or two of lightning and worried. Is it safe? Is it not? We reported on this discussion in the Yellow Springs News — we elected to stay on the field. About a third of the parents and their children opted to go home — and there was a passionate and thoughtful letter to the editor in the News the very next week enjoining us to cease play whenever we saw any lightning. The risk, the letter writer said, was too great, and we agree.

So, “if lightning strikes, we strike camp” is our new cyber-pink (the color of our 2003 t-shirts) tee-ball policy.

So, come on out. The mud’s mostly dried. The sun’s mostly shining. The kids are mostly wonderful and so’s our game, our beginner’s baseball game for all of our community’s children regardless of race, color or creed. You’re all welcome, wanted and in fact, needed. That’s the Perry League, Yellow Springs’ tee-ball program for kids ages 2–9, at Gaunt Park every Friday night from 6:30 to 8 p.m. for the rest of the summer.

We’ve still got some beautiful new t-shirts for sale (“fuchsia,” Branson Pyles calls it), some free caps and a ton of good times for any and all. You can start anytime. Just come on out when you can. And bring that everlovin’ child of yours, too.

Sea Dogs ready for 2003 season

The Sea Dogs, the Yellow Springs summer swim team, has started practicing at Gaunt Park Pool. Membership is open to swimmers age 5 and up. Swim practice is held daily at 8 a.m. for children 11 and older and at 9 a.m. for children 5 to 10.

Meets are held Tuesday and Thursday evenings beginning June 17. The season ends July 17, followed by the league championship meet on July 26 at Wittenberg Unviersity.

For registration information, call 767-9280 or talk to one of the coaches at morning practice. Membership fees are $75 for a single swimmer or $100 per family. Scholarships are available.

Major League baseball report
Rain served as the bookends of the last week’s Major League baseball games, but in between the kids played a whole lot of ball.

On Thursday, June 5, the Yankees and the Athletics played a tremendous game that saw the lead change in almost every inning.

The A’s came out on top, 16–15, as Cody Evans recorded his third win of the season. Batting leadoff, Lucas Blanchard-Gleuckert walked three times and scored 2 runs. Asa Casenhiser added a single, an RBI double and scored twice. Meg Hild crushed a line drive single in the fourth inning, driving in a run and bringing the Yankees within striking distance. However, the A’s pitching and defense held off the Yanks on to win the game and the A’s improved to 4–0.

The Yankees’ offense continued to roll when they defeated Cedarville 15–5, on Saturday, June 7.

Andrew Ferguson pitched more than three innings of shutout baseball before being tagged for 5 runs in the fourth. Raphael Allen came in to close the game, giving up just one hit and no runs.

Joey Bailey had a very productive game, reaching base in each at bat and scoring 3 times. Anthony Pettiford, who scored twice, also had a single and a double.

Meanwhile in Yellow Springs on Saturday, the A’s outbattled the Cubs 16–9, in the early game. Alex Turner, normally a relief pitcher, pitched a complete game while going two for two at the plate, with a triple, a single and two runs scored. Ryan Phillips, playing his last game for the A’s, had two hits and scored twice. Jerimiha Stubblefield went three for three, with two singles and a double, and scored 3 runs. Jericho Stubblefield also went three for three, with two singles and a triple, and scored twice. Sara Adkins scored twice.
In their first away game on Saturday, the Reds beat Cedarville, 14–1.

—Compiled from reports from Reggie Stratton, Rick Nickles and Bob Morrison

Minor League baseball report

Big hitting and rare defensive gems were the stories in the recent minor league games last week.

The Pirates were tough competition in their opening game against the Indians Friday.

Rookies Aaron Reporter-Harshaw, Aidan Shackleford and Ahmad Wagner got hits and scored in their first minor league appearance. Veterans A.J. Wagner, Andrew Sherwood, Alex Beer and Jacob Roe returned to control the infield. Jake Fulton, a junior catcher for Yellow Springs High School, joined the Pirates coaching staff. Several new, young Indians, Aidan Ceney, Bryson Lee and Cayden Tong-DeFusco, made their debut against the Pirates, and each got at least one hit.

The Indians led early but the Pirates staged a furious comeback to tie the game. The Indians pulled it out in the last inning after newcomer Bryson Lee sacrificed Bryan Smith into scoring position and Will Turner drove in the winning run.

The highlight of the game was a bases loaded triple play. Indians shortstop Nicky Sontag caught a line drive, threw to Robert Harden at second to double up the runner. Robert then threw to Bryan, who tripled up the runner at third.

On Saturday the Indians played the Cards and benefited from strong hitting and fielding from all players.

Alex Myers had several timely hits and fielded well. Mary Lewis was also strong at the plate, and Nicky Sontag added to his record of smooth defense and solid hitting. Will Turner had an unassisted double play. Cayden Tong-DeFusco provided good backup in the outfield, keeping the long hits from doing much damage and hitting the ball well.

The Reds also played the Giants Saturday. Strong first inning offense featured hits from Marty Scherr, Zeb Reichart, Zyrian Arnett and Addison Pettiford. Unfortunately that was it for offense.

With the exception of a third inning lapse in which the Giants batted around, the defensive performance was good, with Addison Pettiford contributing an unassisted triple play. It was something to watch.

—David Turner