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Lakota West senior Jerome Hamilton finished sixth at the regional track meet at Dayton's Welcome Stadium on May, 23, 2012. A four-place or better finish would have qualified Hamilton for the state meet. Photo taken by Tony Tribble.

The Greater Miami Conference recently honored many Lakota student athletes for their success in track and field. Multiple athletes were honored more than once and several relay teams were also honored.

Several of the student athletes will also compete at the state meet Friday and Saturday to be held at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium at Ohio State University in Columbus.

On the boys’ side, Lakota West’s senior Nathan Haynes (800-meter run) and junior Will Wilson (high jump) will be competing at state. In those same events, Haynes was also selected to the all-GMC first team, while Wilson was an honorable mention. Both athletes also earned honorable mention honors with senior Will Clevidence and senior Reid Beck as part of the 3200-meter relay team.

Clevidence was also selected to the all-GMC third team in the 800-meter run. Other boy track athletes who were honored by the GMC include Lakota West junior Nick McGill (300-meter hurdles, honorable mention), Lakota West senior Jerome Hamilton (long jump, honorable mention) and Lakota East junior Jordan Combs (pole vault, all-GMC second team).

On the girls’ side, senior Lauren Buck (shot put, discus), sophomore Autumn Heath (100-meter, 200-meter dash) and junior Celeste Bronson (300-meter hurdles) will be competing at this week’s state meet. Both Buck and Heath were selected to the all-GMC first team in those same events. Bronson, on the other hand, was part of the 400-meter team with Heath, junior Kendra Thomas and sophomore Kellsa Mbah that was selected all-GMC second team.

Heath, Thomas, Mbah and senior Ariana Cooper were also part of the 800-meter relay team that was selected to the all-GMC first team. Mbah was also selected all-GMC second team for the long jump and honorable mention for the 200-meter dash. Thomas was given honorable mention recognition for the pole vault.

Meanwhile, the only athlete from the Lakota girls’ team to be honored was senior Amanda Shelby, who was honorable mention in the 3200-meter run.

In addition to the teams, Buck was named GMC co-athlete of the year and Lakota East’s John Lindeman was named GMC coach of the year.

Posted in: Sports, Spring sports |

Tags: Tags: 2012 Ohio High School Athletic Association State Track Championship, Amanda Shelby, Ariana Cooper, Autumn Heath, Celeste Bronson, Jerome Hamilton, John Lindeman, Kellsa Mbah, Kendra Thomas, Lakota East, Lakota East Sports, Lakota East track, Lakota West, Lakota West sports, Lakota West track, Lauren Buck, Nathan Haynes, Nick McGill, Reid Beck, Will Clevidence, Will Wilson

The Lakota East girls’ track team captured the Division I Southwest District track title at Winton Woods High School Friday. The Thunderhawks finished with 121 points, edging McAuley, which had 112 points.

The Lakota East girls' track team won a district title May 18, 2012. Photo provided.

“We knew it was going to be close, but that was huge for us at that point,” Lakota East coach John Lindeman told EastThunderhawks.com. “Winning this thing is huge for us – especially beating McAuley, because they’re one of the class teams in the city. Beating them shows we’re solidifying ourselves and giving us the confidence to go on to regionals next week.”

At districts, the Lakota East girls’ team won the 4×200-meter relay, the 4×100-meter relay, the 100-meter and 300-meter hurdles, as well as the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes.

The boys’ team finished in 10th place, but had qualified five athletes for this week’s regional meet at Dayton. Senior Tony O’Connor (1600-meter run, 4×800-meter relay), junior Matt Rice (3200-meter run), sophomore Ben Call (3200-meter run, 4X800-meter relay), junior Jordan Combs (pole vault) sophomore Devon Jackson (4×800-meter relay) and sophomore Jack Beggs (4×800-meter relay) all qualified for the regional meet from the Lakota East boys’ team.

The Lakota East girls’ team qualified six athletes for the regional, but also had a handful of district champions in senior Ariana Cooper (4×200-meter relay), junior Kendra Thomas (4×200-meter relay, 4×100-meter relay), junior Kellsa Mbah (4×200-meter relay, 4×100-meter relay), sophomore Autumn Heath (4×200-meter relay, 4×100-meter relay, 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash) and Celeste Bronson (4×100-meter relay, 100-meter hurdles, 300-meter hurdles).

Cooper (400-meter dash), Mbah (200-meter dash), Thomas (pole vault) and junior Kelly Burrows (3200-meter run) didn’t finish in first place but also qualified to compete in the regional meet in other events.

Seven Firebirds qualify for state meet

The Lakota West track team had seven members of its track team qualify for this week’s regional meet at Dayton. District champions included senior Will Clevidence (4×800-meter relay, 800-meter run), senior Nathan Haynes (4×800-meter relay), senior Reid Becker (4×800-meter relay), junior Will Wilson (4×800-meter relay) and senior Amanda Shelby (3200-meter run). Not finishing first, but qualifying in other events include Haynes (800-meter run), Wilson (high jump), senior Brady Holmer (1600-meter run) and senior Jerome Hamilton (long jump).

Regional meet

The regional meet is scheduled to take place at Welcome Stadium (University of Dayton) Wednesday at 4 p.m. and Friday at 4 p.m.

Posted in: Sports, Spring sports |

Tags: Tags: Amanda Shelby, Ariana Cooper, Autumn Heath, Ben Call, Brady Holmer, Celeste Bronson, Devon Jackson, Jack Beggs, Jerome Hamilton, Kellsa Mbah, Kelly Burrows, Kendra Thomas, Lakota East, Lakota East Sports, Lakota East track, Lakota West, Lakota West sports, Lakota West track, Matt Rice, Nathan Haynes, Ohio track district meet, Reid Becker, Tony O'Connor, Will Clevidence, Will Wilson

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

Team Justice, which was comprised of current and former Lakota West track athletes, finished second out of 723 individual and corporate relay teams at the Flying Pig Marathon earlier this month.

Three runners, J.J. Webber, Will Clevidence and Brady Holmer, on the four-man relay team are on the 2011 Lakota West track team. The other member, Aaron Gehring, is a 2010 Lakota graduate and current student at the University of Cincinnati.

The team made t-shirts for the competition that featured a flag of Japan and the slogan, “For the Weikerts.”

Nathan Weikert is a former track coach at Lakota West and a friend of the runners on Team Justice. Currently at Lakota West, Weikert teaches art, which is an area where the school district could make cuts if a levy isn’t passed this November. The Lakota Board of Education also has a $12.17 million reduction plan on the table that could cut a total of 28 full-time staffers on the high school level before the 2011-2012 school year.

Posted in: Schools, Student achievements |

Tags: Tags: Aaron Gehring, Brady Holmer, Flying Pig, Flying Pig Marathon, J.J. Webber, Lakota West, Lakota West sports, Nathan Weikert, Will Clevidence