Loveland H.S. sports heading to finish line

As winter sports begin to wrap up, Loveland has seen mixed success. Wrestling and academic team have seen winning streaks and men’s basketball is fourth in the ECC with 6 wins and 5 losses. Women’s basketball player Katelyn Warden set a school record for number of three-point shots. Women’s basketball ranks 5th in the ECC bracket with 6 wins and 6 losses, and Men’s bowling holds #6 in the ECC with 4 losses vs 8 wins. Women’s bowling placed #7 in the ECC with 1 win and 9 losses. Several swimmers placed in the top ten in various competition, although the team as whole consistently ranked middle-of-the-road in their events.

“Our teams have been doing pretty well. This whole season has been what I call the rollercoaster: we have our ups and our downs. Every program will go on a winning streak and then they’ll hit a little bit of a losing streak,” athletic director Julie Renner explained.

Men’s swimmers saw an up in the athletic rollercoaster when they ranked #3 in the 200 yard medley. freshman Brandon Day placed #10 in the IM 200 yard and #2 in the 100 yard backstroke and #7 in the 100 yard butterfly.  Senior Vaughn Richter placed #5 in the 50 yard freestyle. Senior Joe Carver scored #3 in the 1 meter dive.

“Last week was the ECC tournament, and there were a couple individuals that stood out, like Courtney Mennen. Brandon Day stood out, too,” Mrs. Renner explained in reference to the recent ECC swimming tournament.

“My best moment this season was achieving second place at our ECC championship meet in the 100 backstroke and make the podium with our current relay. This season has been a great experience for me and has been a lot of fun,” swimmer Brandon Day said.

Women’s swimmer, freshman Nami Cannon, placed #7 in the 200 yard freestyle and #6 in the 500 yard freestyle. Senior Courtney Mennen ranked #10 in the 50 yard freestyle and #8 in the 100 yard freestyle and #10 in the 500 yard freestyle and #4 in the 100 yard backstroke. In the 1 meter diving category, freshman Riley Bullock placed #3, sophomore Erin Albert followed in #4, freshman Shelby Cline placed #6 and freshman Allison Reynolds came in #10. In the 100 yard backstroke, sophomore Sarah Klenke placed #2 in the 100 yard backstroke

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“Our wrestling team broke a record for the most dual wins in a season, and they were in the regional semifinals. They were up against Moeller, and Moeller beat them; however, their dual season record is 22 and 3. “I want to give them kudos to their team because there were a lot of people who thought they couldn’t have had a dual season like that,” explained Renner.

This year, our wrestling team is working through state duals and performing better than years past. Although they fell to Moeller, they consider their season a success. Renner expects some wrestlers to move onto state qualifiers

“This wrestling season for me has been been rewarding. The team as a whole has improved a lot from last year. I feel I have improved with them. We broke the seasonal dual win record and we got Coach Switzer his 150th win. Overall, it’s been a good year so far,” said wrestler and junior Cade Smeller. Wrestling is not the only team that has seen more success than in the past.

“Academic team is doing really well this year. They’re in the mix of possibly bringing an ECC championship home,” Julie Renner explained.

Academic team also saw one of the most successful seasons in recent years, currently holding onto 9 wins and two losses along with the first place in the ECC standings going into week, until loosing two back-to-back matches against Walnut Hills. They are now in 3rd place with a 9-3 record.

“It’s been great. The most thrilling moment was with Kings. They had a really good guy on the other team, who was virtually their entire team. We got really intimidated the first game, but we brought it back together the second game,” explained academic team member and junior Riley Owens.

Academic team will continue to the Academic Qualifying Tournament on Wednesday the 22nd at Turpin where they are likely to begin with a high seat in the tournament bracket.

“It’s competition out there. It’s hard sometimes, but we’re Tigers and we’re going to fight it out. I’m proud of what everyone’s been able to accomplish,” Renner said.