WestChesterBuzz.com

To let West Chester and Liberty Township residents catch up with the news that they need to know, WestChesterBuzz.com will list and link to all of last week’s top local stories every Monday.

Beckett Park opens its west side after $2 million upgrade – The west side portion of Beckett Park officially reopened June 29 after a $2.09 million upgrade that included the construction of a new shelter, a “natural” playground, a small pond that can used as an ice skating rink in the winter and a 1.25-mile trail that loops around two newly enlarged lakes. Beckett Park is 150 acres and straddles Beckett Road near the Union Centre Boulevard intersection. WestChesterBuzz.com got its first look at the upgrade to the park last week.

Lakota names four new principals- Lakota officials recently announced that the school district will be adding new principals to four different schools following approval by the board of education. New principals include Brad Lovell (Creekside Early Childhood), Christina French (Hopewell Elementary), Stacy Millburg (Lakota East Freshman – associate principal) and Jason Jackson (Lakota West Freshman – associate principal).

AK Steel to cut 2013 pension contribution – Bloomberg News reported last week that West Chester-based AK Steel Holding Corp., will cut its estimated 2013 pension expense by one-third, or $100 million, after passage of a transportation bill extension lowered some required contributions. The bill stabilizes the minimum annual contributions to fund defined-benefit pension plans, while raising premiums paid to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., AK said.

Lakota West hires Brennan Ryan to lead wrestling program- The Lakota school district’s high school athletic department announced last Monday that it hired Brennan Ryan as its new head coach of the Lakota West wrestling program. Ryan, who has experience as a wrestling head coach at Roger Bacon and Madeira high schools, was hired to replace Tim Kessler.

Battelle for Kids honors 18 Lakota teachers – A total of 18 Lakota educators were recognized in late June for teaching excellence at the Ohio Educators Connect for Success Conference in Columbus, Lakota officials announced last Wednesday. Battelle for Kids honored the local educators as part of its “Celebrate Teaching” initiative that is used to find out what makes a teacher highly effective and how to best learn from their practices.

National VOA Museum gears up for tours – With the recent completion of some significant construction work, the National VOA Museum of Broadcasting announced that it will open for tours on the third Saturday of each month from 1 to 4 p.m. starting July 21.

West Chester Library breaks checkout record – The West Chester location of the MidPointe Library System broke its previous record for checkouts in a month this past June. The local library announced last week that it had 136,512 items checked out last month, trumping its old record set in July of 2008 by more than 4,000 checkouts.

List: Reach Out Lakota back-to-school supply needs – Reach Out Lakota released its supply list for its annual Back to School program last Wednesday. Currently, only a small percent of the needed supplies have been donated for the more than 450 registered children in the Lakota school district.

Photos: Jay Bruce signing in West Chester – Less than a week from the Major League All-Star game, Cincinnati Reds outfielder Jay Bruce took time for an autograph session at the Sports Gallery in West Chester Sunday. Hundreds of fans packed the local sports memorabilia shop to get a glimpse and have their photo taken with the two-time MLB All-Star.

Photos: Crazy Cardboard Boat Regatta in West Chester – Tony Jones of The Cincinnati Enquirer photographed one of West Chester Township’s largest outdoor events this past weekend. Additional photos from the community will be posted on WestChesterBuzz.com later this week.

Posted in: Board of Education, Business, Events, Government, News, Schools, Sports, Winter Sports |

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The Lakota school district’s high school athletic department announced Monday that it hired Brennan Ryan as its new head coach of the Lakota West wrestling program.

Ryan, who has experience as a wrestling head coach at Roger Bacon and Madeira high schools, was hired to replace Tim Kessler.

Kessler left the program in order to spend more time with his family, according to 2011-2012 Lakota West athletic director Gerry Weisgerber. Kessler had been the head coach since 2009 and a member of the Lakota West coaching staff since 1997. He and his wife have four children.

Ryan’s experience includes seven seasons from 2000-2001 to 2006-2007 as the head coach at Roger Bacon, four seasons from 2007-2008 to 2010-2011 as an assistant at The College of Mount St. Joseph and one season in 2011-2012 as the head coach at Madeira.

“I am absolutely thrilled and also greatly surprised to be named head wrestling coach at Lakota West High School,” Ryan said. “It is a little overwhelming to come to a program that has achieved so much success over the years.

“My goal is to come in here and continue those winning ways as soon as possible.”

Last winter, the Lakota West wrestling team finished second in the Greater Miami Conference. From the 2001-2002 season through the 2008-2009 season, the program finished first in the GMC seven times in eight years.

During his tenure at Roger Bacon, Ryan’s teams had a dual record of 86-24 and led teams to two different Cincinnati Enquirer Division II-III coaches poll city titles. At Mount St. Joseph, he was voted NCAA Mid-States Conference Assistant Coach of the Year, according to a release from Lakota.

“My style as a coach is to be aggressive and attack relentlessly for six minutes, and being in better shape than our opponents,” Ryan said. “When a match is over, win or lose, I would like our opponents to know that they just wrestled someone from Lakota West.”

Posted in: Sports, Winter Sports |

Tags: Tags: Brennan Ryan, Lakota West, Lakota West Brennan Ryan, Lakota West sports, Lakota West wrestling