Local Sports

CLEVELAND — Coaches cast their ballots earlier this week and the North Coast Athletic Conference released Thursday its 2025 preseason poll for field hockey. Within the 10-team standings, the Kenyon College Owls were predicted to finish fourth. That fourth-place position was up one spot from the team’s fifth-place finish one season ago. The 2024 Owls were 10-6 overall and 6-4 …

GAMBIER, Ohio – The North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) announced its 2025 men’s soccer preseason coaches’ poll Tuesday afternoon, with Kenyon College earning the No. 2 spot in the ranking.  The Owls, who collected two first-place votes and tallied 71 points, trailed only Denison University, which secured six first-place nods and 78 points to top the poll. Kenyon sits ahead …

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio High School Athletic Association and its six District Athletic Boards have awarded $200,000 to 200 recent high school graduates as part of the OHSAA’s Scholar-Athlete Scholarship Program. In addition, the OHSAA has sent $1,250 to each member high school, a grand total of $1,020,000, to assist with items needed by each school’s athletic department. The money …

Ontario has hired Bret Simmermacher to be its next varsity baseball coach. Simmermacher has area ties as a former baseball coach at Crestline and Shelby. Most recently, he was the head coach at East Ridge High School in Clermont, Florida. A Crestline native, Simmermacher spent a season in the minor leagues back in 1986 as a left-handed relief pitcher for …

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The golf season begins Monday for member schools of the Ohio High School Athletic Association, which marks the OHSAA’s 120th year for interscholastic athletics in Ohio. All other fall sports begin practice next Friday, August 1, with the regular-season start dates listed below. Updated season information, calendars, regulations and tournament information for the fall sports is posted at www.OHSAA.org. …

 Beginning with the 2027 season, a double first base will be required in high school baseball games to minimize the risk of collisions by runners and fielders.  This rule revision was one of 10 proposed by the NFHS Baseball Rules Committee during its annual meeting held June 8-10 at The Alexander hotel in Indianapolis. The rules changes were accepted by …

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio High School Athletic Association and Beemok Sports and Entertainment have announced that the OHSAA girls and boys tennis state tournaments will return to the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason for the next three years. The professional tennis facility in Southwest Ohio hosted the OHSAA tennis state tournaments from 2014 through the spring of 2022 before …

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio High School Athletic Association has announced the divisional breakdowns for the upcoming 2025-26 winter sports seasons. Girls and boys basketball divisions are the only new assignments compared to last season, as those two sports are subject to the OHSAA’s competitive balance process and recalculate divisions every season. Divisional breakdowns remain the same next season for swimming, …

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Several significant changes highlight the 2025 Ohio High School Athletic Association football playoff regulations that were approved Thursday by the OHSAA Board of Directors. The number of qualifiers per region will be 12 instead of 16, with the top four seeds in each region earning a first-round bye. In addition, the first three rounds of the postseason will …

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio High School Athletic Association and Hometown have announced an extension of their partnership that makes Hometown the official ticketing partner of the OHSAA through 2031. With its headquarters in Columbus, Hometown is an all-in-one digital platform for ticketing, fundraising and event management for over 700 OHSAA member schools. The renewed agreement reflects the success of Hometown’s …