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The athletic departments at Lakota West and Lakota East high school recently named athletes of the week. For Lakota West it was its third pair of student athletes, who were awarded this fall season. Meanwhile, Lakota East recently named its first athletes of the week for this school year.

Taking the honor at Lakota West are a pair of soccer players in senior Wesley Hartoin and junior Kelsie Lee. Hartoin was awarded for scoring the only goal in the Firebirds’ 1-0 win at St. Xavier this past Thursday, Sept. 1. Lee, who is a goalie, was honored for shutting out Turpin last Tuesday, Aug. 30.

Lakota East gave the honor to a pair of senior golfers in Allie Dunham and Tyler Overberg. Dunham (photo) has been the top scorer on the girls’ team and has led the Thunderhawks to wins against Fairfield, Wyoming and Hamilton. Overberg has been the No. 1 golfer on the boys’ side, which has finished in second place in the Middle Inv., third at the Mason Inv. and third at the Anderson Inv.

Posted in: Fall sports, Sports |

Tags: Tags: Allie Dunham, athletes of the week, golf, Kelsie Lee, Lakota East, Lakota East athletics, Lakota East golf, Lakota East Sports, Lakota West, Lakota West athletics, Lakota West soccer, Lakota West sports, tennis, Ty Overberg, Tyler Overberg, Wesley Hartoin

The Lakota East girls’ tennis squad won its third straight match of the season when it defeated Wyoming, by the score of 4-1, on the road.

No. 1 singles player junior Taylor Holden (photo), for the second consecutive day, won her match 6-0, 6-0. On Wednesday, Holden defeated Wyoming’s Ashley Berg.

Lakota East improves to 4-1 on the season and was already 1-0 in the Greater Miami Conference. The Thunderhawks will be back in action Thursday and will face Colerain (4-3 overall, 1-1 in GMC) on the road at 4 p.m. Lakota East returns home to face Middletown (3-3 overall, 0-2 in GMC) Tuesday, Aug. 30, at 4 p.m.

Girls’ Tennis – Lakota West falls to Indian Hill – The Firebirds, still without their No. 1 singles player Brooke Broda (away at tournament), lost their second match of the season. Lakota West fell to Indian Hill Wednesday, by the score of 3-2. Filling in for Broda at No. 1, Lakota West junior Nicole Soutar won her match 6-1, 6-3 against Indian Hill’s Kasey Schumacher. Lakota West (1-2 overall, 1-0 in GMC) will be back in action Thursday at Middletown at 4 p.m. The Firebirds next home match will be Tuesday against Fairfield (0-4 overall, 0-2 in GMC).

Girls’ Soccer – Lakota East loses opener – Lakota East lost it season opener when it hosted Seton Wednesday night. The Thunderhawks lost by the score of 2-0. Next up, is a road match at Milford Saturday, Aug. 27, at 12 p.m. Lakota East will be back home next Thursday, Sept. 1, against Turpin at 7p.m.

Posted in: Fall sports, Sports |

Tags: Tags: daily sports roundup, girls' tennis, Lakota East, Lakota East soccer, Lakota East Sports, Lakota East tennis, Lakota West, Lakota West sports, Lakota West tennis, Nicole Soutar, Taylor Holden, tennis

Both the Lakota East and Lakota West tennis teams won their first matches against Greater Miami Conference opponents on Tuesday. Lakota East swept Princeton 5-0, while Lakota West defeated Colerain by the score of 4-1.

The Thunderhawks improved to 3-1 overall and 1-0 within in the GMC. Lakota East No. 1 singles junior Taylor Holden handed Princeton’s Valeta Brown her first loss of the season with a 6-0, 6-0 win. Holden’s teammate Maddy Mueck also swept her opponent Megan Grender, at No. 2 singles, 6-0, 6-0.

Meanwhile, Lakota West No. 1 singles junior Nicole Soutar (photo) defeated Colerain’s Julie Thinnes 6-0, 6-0. As a team, Lakota West improved to 1-1 overall and 1-0 within the GMC.

Next up, Lakota East will visit Wyoming at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 24, while Lakota West visits Indian Hill Wednesday at 4 p.m.

Boys’ Golf – Kings/Mason Invitational – Lakota East and Lakota West competed in the Kings/Mason Invitational at Four Bridges Monday. The Thunderhawks finished third out of 15 teams, behind Moeller and Springboro. Lakota West finished in eighth place. Lakota East senior Ben Gallow was among the top scorers. Gallow finished with a three-over-par 75, which was one stroke behind Mason Eckerly of Moeller and Matt Kern of Springboro for first place.

Boys’ Soccer – Lakota West falls to Moeller – The Firebirds lost its season opener at Moeller Tuesday, by the score of 2-0. Lakota West will have another chance to earn its first win of the season when it visits Worthington Kilbourne at 7:15 p.m. Lakota West will have two more road matches after Saturday and won’t host an opponent until Sept. 6 when it faces Turpin.

Girls’ Soccer – Lakota West ties Ursuline – The Firebirds finished their season opener in a scoreless tie with Ursuline. It was also the first match for Lions. Lakota West will host Kings this Saturday at 7 p.m.

Posted in: Fall sports, Sports |

Tags: Tags: daily sports roundup, girls' tennis, Lakota East, Lakota East golf, Lakota East soccer, Lakota East Sports, Lakota East tennis, Lakota West, Lakota West golf, Lakota West soccer, Lakota West sports, Lakota West tennis, tennis

The Lakota West Athletic Department recently named junior James Gately and freshman Sharon Danquah its second athletes of the week of the 2011-2012 fall sports season.

Last Monday, Aug. 15, Gately led his team for the first time this season in scoring. The junior shot a 2-over-par 38 at Potter Park G.C. as Lakota West defeated Hamilton, by the score of 159-to-190, in head-to-head play.

Meanwhile, freshman Sharon Danquah won her first varsity tennis match (No. 3 singles) against Ursuline senior Madison Dewitt by the score of 6-0, 6-2 Aug. 17. The win was extra impressive considering, Danquah picked up a tennis racquet for the first time two years ago.

For a profile piece on Danquah and to find out her unique story on how she learned to play tennis, visit WestChesterBuzz.com’s story “Lakota West freshman excels on court despite late start.”

Posted in: Fall sports, Sports |

Tags: Tags: athletes of the week, girls' tennis, golf, James Gately, Lakota West, Lakota West athletics, Lakota West golf, Lakota West sports, Lakota West tennis, Sharon Danquah, tennis

During the summer of her seventh-grade year, Sharon Danquah and her father, William, were watching tennis on television. Both enjoyed watching the sport, even though neither played.

William, who moved to the United States from Ghana just a few years before Sharon was born, would tell his daughter of players he admired – like Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe. All the while, Sharon preferred to hear about today’s stars – like Caroline Wozniacki, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.

Then, one day, during that summer, while the two watched, Sharon told her dad she wanted to seriously play the game.

“’She said, ‘Daddy, I want to be a tennis professional,” William recalls in his thick accent. “I said, ‘Ah, it is very hard.’

“So I went to Wal-Mart. I bought two racquets, one for her and one for me. That was the first time we touched a racquet.”

William, who had played badminton and ping pong as hobbies in Africa, taught his daughter how to hold the racquet.

“We basically learned from watching,” said Sharon, who is now a freshman at Lakota West. “Me and my dad first started together and then he got much better than me because he was watching longer than me.”

William learned so much from watching television that he became Sharon’s coach, a title he held for a year and a half before recently hiring her a personal coach.

The father-daughter duo would play two, sometimes three times a day, usually practicing for an hour or two every morning and every evening. (more…)

Posted in: Fall sports, Sports |

Tags: Tags: Brooke Broda, Bryan Skoog, Caroline Wozniacki, Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Lakota West, Lakota West sports, Lakota West tennis, Nicole Soutar, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Sharon Danquah, tennis, William Danquah

The Cincinnati Enquirer sports department named its spring athletes of the year Tuesday, June 28. Among the six athletes named Enquirer Players of the Year, three are from Lakota East High School.

Those three include junior pitcher Michael Conrad (baseball), senior pitcher Sara Pearson (softball) and junior singles player Zach Mueck (tennis).

“They’re part of what has been the best athletic year ever at Lakota East, from the fall to the winter to the spring,” said Lakota East athletic director Richard Bryant told the Enquirer. “All three were absolutely dominant in their sports.”

>>>PHOTOS FROM ENQUIRER ALL-STAR PHOTO SHOOT<<<

Conrad was one of the two aces on the Thunderhawks’ baseball team that captured the state title earlier this month. He finished the year with a 5-1 record, a 1.11 earned run average and tied a Lakota school district record with 115 strikeouts. His performance this season has already landed the junior pitcher college offers. In June, Conrad has received offers from Indiana University, the University of Toledo and Ohio University.

>>>GAME PHOTOS OF SARA PEARSON<<<

Senior softball pitcher Sara Pearson led Lakota East to a No. 1 ranking in the state coaches’ poll, a 28-3 overall record in 2011 and East’s first-ever Greater Miami Conference championship. Pearson, who will continue her career at the University of Memphis, won 22 games, struck out 264 batters and held a 0.30 ERA this season. She also hit six home runs, had an on-base percentage of .434 and a batting average of .363.

>>>MATCH PHOTOS OF ZACK MUECK<<<

Junior singles player Zach Mueck finished as the state-runner up in Division I state singles tournament for the second consecutive season. Mueck, who recently verbally committed to Xavier University, finished the year with a 29-1 record. His only loss was in the state final to Evan Bechtel of Toledo St. John’s.

The other three spring Enquirer Players of the Year included La Salle teammates Ethan Bokeno and Rodriguez Coleman (boys’ track and field) and Withrow junior D’Monami Gardner (girls’ track and field).

For the entire story, visit “Enquirer spring sport all-stars.” The story can also be found in today’s Cincinnati Enquirer.

Posted in: Sports, Spring sports |

Tags: Tags: baseball, boys' tennis, Enquirer Players of the Year, Lakota East, Lakota East Sports, Michael Conrad, Mike Conrad, photo gallery, photos, Sara Pearson, softball, tennis, Zach Mueck

According to the Pulse Journal, Lakota East senior Jesse Rait and junior Zach Mueck have verbally committed to continue their athletic careers in college. According to the report, from Pulse Journal sports reporter Steven Matthews, Rait has committed to play baseball at Bowling Green State University and Mueck has committed to play tennis at Xavier University.

According to the Greater Miami Conference website, Rait had a .381 batting average and a .461 on-base percentage this season. He also led the state championship winning Thunderhawks in hits and runs batted in.

Rait was also considering Wright State University and Miami University, according to Matthews.

Meanwhile, Mueck, who will be a senior next school year, has committed to Xavier after being named as the Greater Miami Conference boys’ tennis Athlete of the Year for the second straight season. Mueck also finished as the Division I state runner-up the past two seasons.

Mueck’s teammate Freddy Abunku signed a national letter-of-intent to play tennis at Xavier in late March. Mueck was also considering The Ohio State University, University of Kentucky and the University of Notre Dame, according to Matthews.

Posted in: Sports, Spring sports |

Tags: Tags: Bowling Green, Bowling Green State University, boys' tennis, Freddy Abunku, Jesse Rait, Lakota East, Lakota East Sports, tennis, Xavier, Xavier University, Zach Mueck

The Greater Miami Conference recently honored its student athletes by releasing its all-conference teams. Yesterday, June 8, the baseball and softball All-GMC teams were posted on WestChesterBuzz.com. In total, Lakota had 45 athletes named to all-conference teams this spring sports season.

Overall, it was a very successful spring sports season for the Lakota school district. In baseball, Lakota East won the GMC and the state championship. Lakota East also won a GMC title in softball, while Lakota West shared the GMC title with Oak Hills in boys’ volleyball.

In boys’ tennis, Lakota East junior Zack Mueck (photo) was named the GMC Boys’ Tennis Athlete of the Year. Mueck’s teammate’s Freddy Abunku, who will continue his career at Xavier University, was named to the All-GMC First Team. Lakota West senior Aaron Madaris and Lakota East senior Akash Unakantha were both named to the All-GMC Second Team. Also, Lakota West sophomore Nick Lang was named to the All-GMC Third Team.

In boys’ volleyball, Lakota East senior Wesley Meyer was named the GMC Boys’ Volleyball Athlete of the Year. Lakota West senior Rio Onuki, Lakota West junior Alex Vohland and Lakota East junior Michael Ricke were all named to the All-GMC First Team. Meanwhile, Lakota West junior Alex Baker and Lakota East senior Anthony Fiorenza were named to the All-GMC Second Team. (more…)

Posted in: Sports, Spring sports |

Tags: Tags: Aaron Madaris, Akash Unakantha, Alex Baker, Alex Vohland, Anthony Fiorenza, Arianna Cooper, Autumn Heath, boys' tennis, boys' volleyball, Brady Holmer, Caitlin Graska, Freddy Abunku, Ian Trau, J.J. Weber, Kellsa Mbah, Kendra Thomas, Lakota East, Lakota East Sports, Lakota West, Lakota West sports, Lauren Buck, Madeline Eroskey, Maria Brafford, Michael Ricke, Nathan Haynes, Nick Lang, Reid Becker, Rio Onuki, Taylor Avery, tennis, track, volleyball, Wesley Meyer, Will Clevidence, Will Wilson, Zack Mmueck

For the second straight season, Lakota East’s Zach Mueck finished as the state runner-up in the Division I state singles tournament. Mueck advanced all the way to the state final where he lost to Toledo St. John’s Jesuit senior Evan Bechtel by the score of 6-3, 1-6, 6-3.

Mueck won his first two matches in the state tournament on Friday before winning in the state semifinals by the score of 6-2, 7-6 (7-4) against Lexington senior Nick Wong.

Mueck, who is a junior, lost in the state final in 2010 to Worthington Kilbourne’s Kevin Metka by the score of 7-6 (11-9), 6-3.

Meanwhile, Lakota East teammate and Xavier University commit senior Freddy Abunku lost his first round match on Friday, May 27, at the state tournament losing to Lodi Cloverleaf freshman Jacob Dunbar by the score of 7-6 (7-5), 6-1.

Posted in: Sports, Spring sports |

Tags: Tags: boys' tennis, Lakota East, Lakota East Sports, state final, state finals, state semifinal, state semifinals, state tournament, tennis, Zach Mueck

The Lakota West baseball team saw its postseason run end with a 5-3 loss to Grove City in the Division I regional semifinal at Dublin Coffman High School on Friday, May 27.

Lakota West only managed to register two hits and committed three errors in the loss.

“We just didn’t get it done,” Lakota West head coach Bill Dreisbach told Cincinnati.com. “I think more breaks went against us than for us today.”

The Firebirds advanced to the regional final after winning four postseason games en route to a district title. Three of those wins were against teams – Anderson (No. 4 seed), Mason (No. 7 seed) and Glen Este (No. 5 seed) – who were each favored to defeat the eighth-seeded Lakota West squad.

Lakota West finishes the season with a 17-12 overall record and a 9-9 record within the Greater Miami Conference.

Tennis – Mueck advances in state tournament – Lakota East No. 1 singles player junior Zach Mueck won both of his matches at the Division I state singles tournament at Hillard Davidson High School on Friday. Mueck defeated Shaker Heights senior Tommy Marx by the score of 6-1, 6-1 in the first round before defeating Dublin Coffman junior Hiromi Nakayama in the second round by the score of 6-2, 6-1. Meanwhile, Lakota East teammate and Xavier University commit senior Freddy Abunku lost his first round match at the state tournament losing to Lodi Cloverleaf freshman Jacob Dunbar by the score of 7-6 (7-5), 6-1. The state semifinals and finals are scheduled to take place this morning, May 28.

Track – Division I regional meet – The top four finishers in each category at the Division I regional meet at University of Dayton’s Welcome Stadium on Friday automatically qualified to compete in the state competition, which will be held at Ohio State University’s Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium June 3-4. Three of Lakota’s athletes did just that; Lakota West junior Nathan Haynes finished third in the boys’ 800 meters, Lakota East junior Lauren Buck finished fourth in the shot put and Lakota East freshman Autumn Heath finished second in the girls’ 100 meters. Other top Lakota performers include Lakota West senior J.J. Webber, who finished fifth in the 1600 meters, Lakota West sophomore Hannah Womack, who finished sixth in the girls’ high jump and Lakota West sophomore Will Wilson, who finished seventh in the boys’ high jump.

Posted in: Sports, Spring sports |

Tags: Tags: Autumn Heath, baseball, Bill Dreisbach, Freddy Abunku, Hannah Womack, J.J. Webber, Lakota East, Lakota East Sports, Lakota West, Lakota West sports, Lauren Buck, Nathan Haynes, Nathaniel Haynes, regional meet, regional semifinal, regional semifinals, state tournament, tennis, track, Will Wilson, William Wilson, Zach Mueck