Saturday prep round up
By Matt Lofgren

It was quiet Saturday for the most part in area high school sports, with many teams taking off the labor day weekend.

In volleyball, Amherst took the Norwalk invitational by storm, beating Beaumount and Norwalk to get into the final. There, the Comets beat Lexington in straight sets to win the tournament.

In non-conference play, Avon beat Medina Highland 3-0 with the help of Sara Ladegaard who had 17 kills, and 9 digs. Admiral King played in a tri-match against Columbia and Euclid. The Admirals beat Euclid, but fell to Columbia. Deidre Noble had a combined 15 kills and 2 blocks in the matches.
The Keystone-Margaretta match went the distance, ending in a 3-2 Margaretta victory. Alyssa Stechow of Keystone put up 10 blocks, while team mate Casidy Gregory was 35-39 hitting with 13 kills. Finally, Firelands went 2-0 in a tri-match with Oberlin and Open Door.

In boy’s soccer, Green beat Avon Lake, despite a good effort by goalie Logan Crist. North Olmsted destroyed Canton McKinley, 11-0. Adam Koehler and Mike Grazia both had a hat trick and Josh Sandoval scored 2. Oberlin and Norwalk played to a scoreless tie with the help of Josh Kocsis of Oberlin in front of the net. Kocsis had 5 saves. Westlake and Rocky River also ended in a scoreless tie. Wellington edged EC 1-0 with a goal by Nick Dowdell, assisted by Kyle Bartolovich.

Girl’s soccer had a plethora of non-conference games. Norwalk did a good job of breaking down the Admiral King’s defense. The Truckers got 7 goals past the Admirals, compared to one lonesome Admiral King goal by Michelle Bailey. Norwalk’s Lisa Patusky had 4 goals. Elsewhere, Firelands beat Oberlin 4-0 with a team effort by the Phoenix’s. Trinity blanked Brookside despite a solid 18 saves by Melanie McCowan.

The Chris Green cross country Invite saw the likes of girls from Seneca East, Perkins, Bellevue, Oregon Clay. Seneca East took home a 1st place trophy with the help of Brittany Stockmaster 19:08. Samantha Jarrett of Perkins finished in 21:05 which was best in the area. At the Ashland invitational, Amherst took 1st with a score of 58. Five Amherst girl’s runners finished in the top 25. Elyria Catholic’s boys took first place and the girls took ninth place at the Bucyrus Elks Invitational. Alexa Rick finished a team best 6th place with a time of 20:45.

The Chris Green Invite also was for boy’s cross country teams. Sandusky took 3rd with a score of 82, beating 4th place Perkins and 7th place Margaretta. Billy Fry finished an area best 5th place with a time of 16:42. Finally, EC boy’s also took to the course at the Bucyrus Elks Invitational looking for a win. The Panthers got a big win thanks to a first place overall finish by Marty Cooledge who posted a time of 16:07.