Late February and March is always one of a sports lover’s favorite times of the year. High

school and college tournaments in various sports, professional golf starting to get serious, (is

the Masters really only 5 weeks away?), the urge to get out your golf clubs, baseball spring

training for the Boys of Summer, warmer spring air and longer days spurring people to get

outside (move those clocks ahead one hour March 14th at 2:00 AM!), all are good for one’s

soul after a long, hard winter!

Congratulations to Versailles boys bowling team for finishing 3rd in the state high school

D-II tournament, a competition won by Mechanicsburg. Senior Tyler Gehret was crowned state

champion after rolling a 684 series, with Sam Bensman 8th at 651, Landon Henry 9th at 647,

and Justin Heitkamp adding a 570. For an occasional bowler like myself, a 684 is reachable if I

bowl 5 games! Coldwater’s girls won the state championship in D-II, with both D-I tourneys

scheduled for this weekend.

In D-II wrestling Greenville’s boys finished 8th in the Graham Local Sectional, with perennial

state champion the host Falcons easily winning once again. Moving on to the District at

Wilmington High School this weekend are 120 pound sectional champion Drayk Kallenberger,

2nd place finisher Colton McCartney at 285, and third place qualifiers Aiden Dispenette at 113

and Ben Hartzell at 138. Hopefully these Wave grapplers will be able to wrestle their way

through tough competition and qualify for the state meet!

Tiger Woods’ accident continues to draw major national attention. The question on every

Tiger fan’s mind is if and when he can recover from a shattered ankle and fractured tibia-fibula

to the point where he can be competitive in the future. At age 45, coming off his fifth back

surgery a month or two ago, as a retired chiropractor I would also be concerned with any

further damage to his spine, something which hasn’t been mentioned as of yet.

In high school basketball tourney action, Tri-Village’s Lady Patriots advanced in D-IV to the

“Sweet Sixteen”, facing Legacy Christian in the regional semis, the winner taking on the

survivor of the other semi between Fort Loramie and Minster. Talk about a loaded regional,

that’s some serious small school basketball!

On the boys tourney trail, T-V and Versailles continue the journey in District Finals Saturday.

The top-seeded Patriots match up with Hamilton New Miami at Vandalia-Butler’s Student

Activity Center in D-IV action, while the Tigers, a nine-seed who’ve peaked at the right time,

face off with Mariemont in D-III play at Northmont High School. Good luck to all teams as the

pressure mounts to keep playing in win or done situations.

In D-II MVL champion Tipp City takes on Indian Hill while long-time Greenville foe TrotwoodMadison tests Cincinnati McNicholas. In D-I, Miamisburg, Centerville, and Wayne secured

district final berths with sectional wins. An exciting time of the year, with college conference

championships and NCAA tournament brackets not far off. The only downer this year

continues to be the restrictions that prevent the majority of fans from attending these great

high school and college events. Hopefully next year things will be back to normal! Until next

time, stay healthy and active!