Forest Hills Journal from Cincinnati, Ohio • Page A5

DECEMBER 4, 2013 FOREST HILLS JOURNAL A5 Sports Forest Hills JOURNAL Editor: Melanie Laughman, mlaughmancommunitypress.com, 513-248-7573 McNick, Turpin get new wrestling coaches Anderson has deep, young team on mats By Mark D. Motz and Adam Turer mmotzcommunitypress.com Wrestling season opened last week and teams from the Forest Hills Journal coverage area hope to state busy through the district tournament in February and beyond. Anderson The Redskins have a solid young core and good overall numbers to begin the season. "We're going to be a good team," said head coach Luke Cripe. "We'll have some bumps early because we're young, but we'll get things figured out.

There's a good buzz going round about wrestling. It's the start of what should be an exciting season. We're on our way; we're where we need to be to keep getting better." Anderson has only three seniors on its 38-man roster. One of them Michael Johnson at 170 pounds is wrestling varsity for the first time, although he had a strong middle school career on the mats. Junior A.J.

Penley returns after qualifying for districts at 145 pounds last season. Also back is classmate Brady Brown, who looked like a district qualifier before sustaining injuries prior to the tournament. Juniors Frankie Jones (138), Grant Gallagher (160), Nolan Slagle (113) and Josh Knollmann (heavyweight), along with sophomore Jacob Saunders (195), should be strong in their respective weight classes. In addition to veteran Tim Allen on the coaching staff, Anderson now has former Lock-land head coach Brad Gaertner in charge of the JV and freshman teams, as well as two-time Lakota West state champion Matt Mclntire as varsity assistant. Cripe hopes the second-year Anderson Youth Wrestling program that attracted 20 kindergarten through sixth-grade students last year will continue to grow and eventually feed his program.

Anderson opened the season at the Franklin Invitational Nov. puts a move on Anderson's David Wise (bottom) during a 170-pound match. at Anderson High School Jan. 17.file photo Wise would later win the match, classmates Ty Javin (145) and fourth-year grappler Cameron Engel. Junior Nick Keri could fill any spot between 145 and 160.

Hamilton Badin should be one of the top teams in the Greater Catholic League Coed, with Purcell Marian and Roger Bacon in the mix as well. "We can make an impact on that this year, though," Moore said. "We have guys who are willing to work. It has the potential to be a good year for us." McNick opened the season Dec. 1 at the Williamsburg High School's Bob Guy Invitational.

The Rockets host the annual King of the Hill meet featuring Anderson and Turpin on Jan. 15. Turpin The Spartans have a new coach in Kyle Georg, a 2002 Glen Este High School grad and College of Mount St. Joseph football player who has coached in the Trojans youth program the last three years. He and assistant coach Jacob Corrill a former wrestler at the University of North Carolina inherit a team that finished fifth in the ECC last year and that has 13 wrestlers out this season.

Among them are a pair of returning senior district qualifiers in Nick Robinson who will start the year at 138 pounds -and Quinn Hoenie at 160. Also back are senior Bryce Malagari (145) and junior Sam Wulfekot-ter (220). Freshman Brady Eckert (138145) looks like he will make an immediate contribution on the varsity level. "It looks like we will be able to fill an 11-man roster, which means we're only giving away three spots in a dual meet, 18 points," Georg said. "Our guys are really talking about that in the King of the Hill (Jan.

15 at McNicholas) and having a real chance to win that for the first time in a long time." Georg said Glen Este and Loveland are the preseason favorites in the ECC, but added, "if we can get that ideal roster, I can see us as a solid third place." McNicholas wrestler Tyler Gumbert during the King of the Hill tri-match 30. The Redskins come home Dec. 4 to host Covington Catholic and Walnut Hills in a tri-match and host Edgewood, Hamilton and Western Brown Jan. 8. McNicholas Craig Moore begins his third Rocket incarnation, following runs as a student he's a 1988 graduate of the school and an assistant wrestling coach as recently as the 2009-10 season.

Now he's head coach, inheriting a team of 12 to start the season. "The program has struggled to find its place at McNick," he said. "We have 12 people out for the team and we won't have a program this year. My goal is to build that program, get the JV back in place and help wrestling make a name for itself at McNick." A pair of senior district qualifiers should help. Returning are Adam Baca at 126 to 132 pounds and Tyler Gumbert at 182.

Adam's brother Zach Baca returns at 152 pounds, as do Girls bowling Turpin girls opened ECC league play splitting with Mil-ford. Milford bested Turpin Nov. 25 at Cherry Grove Lanes. Down only 25 pins after match play, Turpin was unable to close the gap in the baker games. Leading Turpin was Krista Heggem with a 295 series.

The rematch at Eastgate Lanes was just as close, again Turpin was down after match play but rallied in the baker games to post a win. Leading Turpin was Alise Dum-ford with a 285 series. Overall Turpin is 3-1 and 1-1 in league play. PRESS Turpin opens the season Dec. 4 at Western Brown in a match also featuring Wilmington and Milford.

The Spartans have no home matches this season. Walnut Hills There is a different level of excitement surrounding the Eagles wrestling program this year. Walnut Hills is enjoying an athletic renaissance and the wrestling program is the latest team to benefit. Over the past five years, the Eagles have practiced at a gym in Lockland, an elementary schools in Carthage and Fairmont, and a church in Evanston. They had to borrow wrestling mats from neighboring schools.

Scavenging for mats and gym time is now a thing of the past. "We will finally get our own wrestling mat. We also get to practice in our newly renovated gym," head coach Emmerson Mincy said. "All of our newfound fortune has also been met with a sharp increase in our See WRESTLE, Page A7 units. After the game, the departments had a meet-and-greet session.

Proceeds benefited the Anderson Township Fire and Rescue Department and the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office. More than 100 area high schools attended the Munoz Foundation event; each school submitted a service challenge project. Grand prize winners among the projects as judged by the foundation will earn $2,000 to keep the project going and have the chance to be the first to ride Kings Island's new Banshee. For more information, please visit www.munoz-foundation.org. Mi'iMiiViSTn PREPS HIGHLIGHTS By Mark D.

Motz and Scott Springer mmotzcommunitypress.com sspringercommunitypress.com Girls basketball Anderson High School split its first two games of the season, drubbing Aiken 81-22 Nov. 23 before falling 52-49 against Fairfield Nov. 25. McNicholas High School edged neighborhood rival Turpin 56-55 to open the season Nov. 23.

Hannah Taylor led McNick with 25 points. The Rockets slipped to 1-1 Nov. 26, falling 57-47 to St. Ursula Academy. Turpin dropped to 0-2 after falling 38-27 at Oak Hills.

Catching up with College Athletes The Community Press Recorder, along with would like to give readers over the holidays the ability to catch up with local high school stars doing well in college athletics. In what has become an annual readership project, parents friends of college athletes are welcome to send a photo and brief description of their college athletes' accomplishments over the last calendar year to pressprepsgmail.com. Include the names of the people in the photo as they are shown, the college name and sport, par ents' names, where the athlete lives, what weekly newspaper they get at home and their accomplishments by Friday, Dec. 13. Photos will run in print Jan.

1 and be used in a cincinnati.com photo gallery. Questions can be directed to mlaughman communitypress.com. Charity basketball Turpin High School hosted the 9-1-1 For Fun charity basketball game Nov. 26, a school service project developed at the Munoz Foundation Youth Leadership Seminar Oct. 9.

Seniors played against local members of fire and police.