MANSFIELD — State championships were won, milestones were reached and a couple of former high school stars got to live out their dreams.
It was a good sports year for north central Ohio.
The Richland Source sports staff couldn’t decide on just 10 top stories from 2014, so we came up with the top 14 of ’14. Here’s a look at the first seven, in no particular order. We’ll roll out the other seven top news-makers tomorrow.
Dom-inant: Lexington’s Dominique Clairmonte finished fifth in the 1,600 meter run at last spring’s Division II state meet, finishing in 4 minutes, 55.32 seconds. She became one of just a handful of female runners in area history to run a sub-five minute mile.
It turns out Clairmonte was just warming up.
The junior capped one of the greatest cross country seasons in state history when she won the Division II state title at National Trail Raceway in early November. Clairmonte won every event she competed in during the high school season and cruised to a state title by a whopping nine seconds, crossing in 18 minutes, 17.10 seconds.
If that wasn’t enough, Clairmonte then competed in the elite Nike Cross Nationals in Portland, Ore., in early December and finished 35th nationally.
Flames On: Mansfield Christian won a Division III boys soccer state title in dramatic fashion at Columbus Crew Stadium in November. The Flames raced out to a 3-0 halftime lead over Grandview Heights, saw the lead vanish in the blink of an eye in the second half, then captured the gold trophy when junior Sam Paul headed in a Stevie Brown free kick in overtime for a 4-3 win.
MCS became the first program in Richland County history to hoist the gold trophy. Mansfield Christian was runner-up in 2013 and has made four Final Four appearances (2000, 2011, 2013, 2014). The good news for coach Stephen Armstrong, who won a state title in his rookie season, is that most everyone returns next year.
Plymouth Rocks: Tyrell Edmiston and Tyson Beebe made history on the same night early last February. The Plymouth stars each scored his 1,000th career point in a 74-55 win over Seneca East. Edmiston threw down a two-handed dunk early in the first quarter to become the eighth player in Plymouth history to score 1,000 points. Just 45 seconds later, Beebe stroked a 3-pointer to join his classmate in the 1,000-point club.
With Edmiston and Beebe leading the way, the Big Red are off to a 6-1 start this season.
Tyger Roars: Jesse Palser wasn’t the most celebrated wrestler in north central Ohio last winter, but the Mansfield Senior standout came tantalizingly close to reaching the top of the podium at the state meet.
Palser fell to Cincinnati St. Xavier’s Joe Heyob 3-2 in an ultimate tie-breaker in the Division I final at 170 pounds. He capped a remarkable season with a 42-2 record.
Palser came within one second of winning the title in the second overtime before Heyob earned an escape to tie the score at 2-2.
Now a senior, Palser won his weight class at the Tom Ellis Classic (hosted by Madison) and was eighth at the elite Ironman earlier this season. He likely would have finished much higher, but suffered a knee injury in the quarterfinals and lost by injury default in the seventh-place match.
Tygers Roar: The Mansfield Senior boys basketball team overcame all sorts of adversity to win a district championship for the first time since 2006. Senior High lost 6-foot-7 forward Robert Jones to a medical condition early in the season. Jones eventually left for Colorado, where he had surgery and played the second half of the high school season. The Tygers then lost 6-6 center Donovyn Benson and had to forfeit the Ohio Cardinal Conference championship for using an ineligible player.
Still, Senior High circled the wagons and advanced to the Elite Eight for the first time since winning a regional crown in 2005. The Tygers hammered state-ranked Toledo Bowsher in the regional semifinals before falling to eventual state champ Lakewood St. Edward in the regional championship game.
Twice as Nice: Lexington’s Hannah Stevens etched her place in the state history books when she was named the Division II state meet’s most valuable female swimmer for a second straight year. Stevens defended her state championships in both the 100 yard backstroke and the 100 freestyle. During an illustrious high school career, Stevens was All-Ohio (top 16 finish at state) 15 times with four state championships. She broke her own state meet record when she swam the preliminaries of the 100 backstroke in 53.87 seconds.
Stevens hasn’t slowed down since arriving on the University of Missouri campus. She is ranked eighth nationally in the 100 and 12th in the 200.
Special Day: On the night his late father was honored at Temple Christian, Nick Standridge had a career day. Standridge scored five goals in Temple Christian’s 9-6 win over Willard in late August. Standridge’s father, Jeff, passed away in July at age 40. He was a long-time supporter and assistant coach. The team hung a banner in Jeff Standridge’s honor during a pregame ceremony. Nick Standridge led the area in scoring with 52 goals last fall.
