Monday, October 9th, 2006

Minster wins prestigious Alabama cross country invitational championship

By Gary R. Rasberry
Compiled by Gary R. Rasberry
After showing that it boasts one of the best programs in the state of Ohio, the Minster girls cross country team showed they can take on the best nationwide.
The Wildcats captured the prestigious Gold Elite Championship at the Eighth Annual Jesse Owens Invitational held at the Oakwille Indian Mounts in Lawrence County, Alabama on Saturday, taking on a field that includes teams from Tennessee, Mississippi, Virginia, Georgia and Alabama.
Minster captured first place with a score of 68 points. Virginia powerhouse Lake Braddock was second with 95 points with five-time defending Alabama 5A state champion Scottsboro third with 117 points.
The Wildcats placed all seven of their runners in the top 40. Bernadette Burke was sixth - out of 161 runners - in the race with a time of 18:28.42. Katie Dahlinghaus was 12th with Brigitte Sherman 13th. Jenna Fausey took 23rd with Lei Bornhorst 26th and Jessica Albers 29th. Lauren Fausey rounded out the crew with a 36th-place showing.
The Wildcats returned home Sunday and will get ready for the Midwest Athletic Conference meet on Thursday in Coldwater.

TENNIS
Casad heads to districts
Celina first singles ace Kelly Casad advanced to the Division II district tournament in Port Clinton this week after taking third at the sectional held at the Collett Street Courts in Lima.
Casad, the only NetDog to make it to Saturday, ensuring a district trip, defeated LCC's Ashley Swick 6-1 and 6-4 in the consolation match to earn third place.
The championship match was a Western Buckeye League tournament rematch between Elida's Jaime Hilborn and Shawnee's Stacy Moon. Hilborn made it two straight over Moon, winning 6-0 and 6-1.
District play in Port Clinton will begin Thursday.
GIRLS SOCCER
Bulldogs get 11th win
Celina entered Sunday's tournament draw on a high note with a 5-4 win over Toledo Central Catholic in Toledo on Saturday, raising their record to 11-2-1 on the season.
Courtney McKirnan scored two goals to led the Bulldog attack. Eryn Langenkamp added a goal off a direct kick with Sarah Ausland and Shelbi Nation scoring the other goals.
Cayla Hellwarth had two assists for Celina while Allison Braun and Nation also were credited with assists.    
Celina wraps up the regular season on Tuesday at Wapakoneta.
VOLLEYBALL
Redskins split home trimatch
St. Henry hosted Chaminade-Julienne and Piqua on Saturday, with the C-J Eagles taking the trimatch with a 2-0 record.
The Redskins lost to C-J 25-23 and 25-19 while Piqua lost to the Eagles by matching 25-20 scores.
St. Henry earned the split by beating the Indians 25-16 and 25-12.
The Redskins host Fort Recovery on Tuesday in league play.
Bulldogs sweep UA tri
Celina picked up two matches over the weekend in a tri-match held in Upper Arlington.
The Bulldogs beat Mount Vernon 25-9 and 25-17 before beating Upper Arlington 25-16 and 25-14.
Celina hosts Defiance on Tuesday.
Tigers 20-0
Versailles ran its record to 20-0 on the season with a three-game win over Oakwood on Saturday.
The Tigers won with scores of 25-11, 25-12 and 25-13.
Versailles wraps up the Midwest Athletic Conference and regular season this week at Parkway on Tuesday and at Coldwater on Thursday.
Additional online stories on this date
VERSAILLES - Two brothers, who dreamed of one day taking over the family farm when their father retired, died Saturday morning when the grain auger they were pushing came in contact with overhead power lines. [More]
In the past six years, 54 percent of the career technology students earning degrees in a nine-county area were Tri Star Career Compact students, based out of Celina. [More]
Subscriber and paid stories on this date
First-time festival draws chili lovers to fairgrounds
John Wurster smiles like a proud father as he stirs a Crock-Pot filled with fragrant chili.
He glances surreptitiously at fellow competitors - his mother Susie to the left, his sister Kim Koesters to the right and co-worker Jim Jones across the room.
Celina has been awarded a $750,000 grant from the state to help pay for the demolition of part of the Mersman building on West Wayne Street.
The ci
A Celina-area man remains incarcerated on a $2 million bond after he rammed two cruisers while attempting to outrun authorities.
Chad Rammel, 19, 3
The Lake Improvement Association (LIA) may join with the West Central Ohio Conservation District, a group that is forming a nonprofit trust to buy land for permanent conservation areas.
A report from the U.S. Surgeon General in late June directly linked secondhand smoke to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
Mercer County Health Commissioner Dr. Philip Masser discussed the new study with other health officials around the state at a recent conference in Columbus.
Celina City Council will be asked to consider setting up two tax increment finance (TIF) agreements to pay for sidewalks and curbing in the city at a regular council meeting later this month.
COLDWATER - The last three years, Coldwater has had a major road block hosting their own varsity volleyball invitational - the Ottawa-Glandorf Titans
Compiled by Gary R. Rasberry
Celina's chance to tighten its grip in the Western Buckeye League title race took a slight bump on Saturday as it managed just a 1-1 tie at Defiance in a game that was postponed from Thursday due to unfavorable field conditions.
ROSSBURG - Jeff Leka of Buffalo, Ill., made virtually a clean sweep at the UMP Nationals at Eldora Speedway this weekend, setting the quickest qualif
Compiled by Ryan Hines
The sectional volleyball pairings for Grand Lake area teams were announced over the weekend as the postseason begins for local teams on October 21st.