Huron’s Sara Sage continues to impress in just her sophomore year at UCLA - the ninth-ranked team in the nation.

Sage recorded eight kills for UCLA, as the ninth-ranked Bruins swept Western Michigan, 25-17, 25-14, 25-15 on Saturday night, but then fell to seventh-ranked Hawaii 25-23, 25-18, 25-22 on Sunday to gain a split on the weekend.

Sage played in 26 matches and 78 sets as a freshman last season, including making 18 starts. She was named to the Pacific-10 Conference All-Freshman honorable mention team. She led the Bruins in blocks in a match four times.

At Huron, she was a four-year letterwinner and three-time All-Ohio, All-District and All-Sandusky Bay Conference selection. She led Ohio and broke the single-season school kills record as a junior with 531. She’s recorded 1,343 kills in her career, which is third all-time in Ohio.

Pretty impressive being that she was injured nearly two years of her high school career.

Stay tuned for a College Insider feature on Sage in upcoming weeks.

swalker@MorningJournal.com

Avon Lake's Trey Stross is coming home this college football season.

For the first time in his college career, Stross and the University of Iowa Hawkeyes invade The Ohio State University's Horse Shoe on Nov. 14, making his first trip back to Ohio to play football since graduating from Avon Lake in 2005.

"This will be the first time I get to go home and play in front of a lot friends and family," said Stross, who was red-shirted the last time Iowa played at Ohio State. "It'll be nice to have a little homecoming. It's definitely going to be a fun game."

Stross is back for his senior season and he hopes to finish his college career on a good note after battling injuries nearly every year in college.

"My career definitely hasn't been the fairy tale picture I had going in," Stross said. "Nobody can predict injury. It seems like every year I'd be doing real well and then I would have a hamstring injury or something to set me back."

This season, Stross is focused on remaining injury-free so he decided not participate in track and field after doing the high jump for two years.He had an indoor best of 6-foot-7 and outdoor best of 6-8, which ranks him 10th best in Iowa school history.

"I feel a lot healthier," Stross said. "My leg feels stronger. I'm not getting those tweaks or pulls like I used to."I didn't do track this past year to give me a whole spring and summer to get my leg stronger and in better shape so I can take the wear and tear of a football game."

Stross says his goal after college is what every football player dreams about.

"Going to the NFL is every player's dream when they play college football," Stross said. "You always want to keep on playing. Even with all my injuries, tweaks and bruises, I haven't lost that dream. Scouts say they need to see me stay healthy for a year so that's what I gotta do."

Iowa will open its season ranked among the nation's elite, having earned a position in the USA Today Coaches' Top 25 poll. The Hawkeyes are currently ranked No. 21.Iowa returns 16 starters from last year's team, losing eight starters.

It opens its season against Northern Iowa on Sept. 5 at Kinnick Stadium, which will be televised on the Big Ten Network.

Last season, Stross finished with 13 receptions for 109 yards and one touchdown in a injury-plagued junior season.His highlight was catching a six-yard touchdown pass in Iowa's 31-10 Outback Bowl win over South Carolina on New Year's Day.

The Hawkeyes finished with an 9-4 record and finished with a 20th ranking in the AP Poll, ESPN and USA Today poll.As a sophomore, he nabbed 16 passes for 272 yards, which included a career-high four touchdowns.

He had TD's against Indiana, Penn State, Northwestern and Western Michigan. The touchdown against Northwestern was a 53-yard diving catch that became ESPN's top play of the week.

The TD at Penn State was extra special because his grandma, a Penn State fan who hasn't been able to attend many games, was able to see him score at Beaver Stadium, despite while playing injured.Stross, who also grew up a Penn State fan, said his grandma always envisioned him scoring a TD at Beaver Stadium. It just happened to be on the opposing team.

As a red-shirt freshman in 2006, he played special teams and nabbed his first career TD pass against Wisconsin.He finished with 13 receptions for 189 yards.

At Avon Lake, he helped lead the Shoremen to a Division II Ohio State Championship in 2004 and three straight Southwestern Conference Championships.He was a Golden Helmet Award winner and two-time first team All-Ohio selection. He left Avon Lake with 100 receptions for 2,257 receiving yards, which includes 31 touchdowns.

He originally committed to play safety at Maryland, but his desire to play wide receiver in the Big Ten weighed out and he chose Iowa, who highly recruited him his senior year.

swalker@MorningJournal.com

Norwalk's James Kasten and his Vanderbilt University cross country team are flying high in Nashville, Tennessee.

Kasten, who is entering his senior year at Vanderbilt, is part of a cross country team that notched the highest overall team grade point average (3.755) among NCAA Division I programs. That earned him and his teammates USTFCCCA's All-Academic honors.

Kasten, who is 6-foot-7, has a GPA of 4.0 individually. He has a personal best of 15.50 in the 5K (3.1 miles) and 26.10 in the 8K (5 miles), and keeps improving every time out.

"I've improved my times quite a bit," Kasten said. "I've been breaking times that I didn't think were possible before. Running in big meets like SEC's and the Pre-Nationals has been fun."

Kasten is one of just two seniors that will return this season. He knows the team is in rebuilding mode so he will concentrate on his individual times.

"My goals are to improve my personal records. I'd like to be more competitive in the SEC this year and be in the upper half of runners. I'd like to run 25.30 in the 8K."

This past season, Kasten and the Commodores finished third at the Belmont/VU Opener, and followed that with a win at their Commodore Classic. Vanderbilt also qualified 18th at the Greater Louisville Classic, and 13th at the NCAA South Regional.

Kasten finished 20th (27.27) individually at the Commodore Classic after placing 42nd his sophomore year. He placed 75th (26.23) after taking 91st his sophomore year and notched 158th (26.11) at the Greater Louisville Classic after placing 217th a year before.

His sophomore year was his first year running and he earned the Best Newcomer award at the postseason banquest, which is pretty impressive for someone that didn't make the team his freshman year. Kasten, whose been running cross country since middle school, ran with the team as a freshman, but didn't make the cut to compete in meets.

"Dedication and competitiveness is the biggest difference at this level," Kasten said. "College is a lot more competitive than in high school. People are very serious and especially at the upper rankings, a lot more intense."

Kasten, who is also a licensed pilot, pursued a flying license right out of high school. He has his own plane — a 172 Sky Hawk — and would like to eventually get his Instrument Flight Rating (IFR) and a Commercial license. He became interested in flying planes at 14 years old and went after his pilot license the moment he graduated high school.

For now, he says flying planes will remain a hobby, after he graduates this spring with a Economics and Computer Science degree. He then plans on going to graduate school to get his Ph. D, in hopes of becoming a professor for Computer Science.

swalker@MorningJournal.com

Last year's football season was bittersweet for Amherst's Alex Knipp.

Knipp played and started at free safety on a Ball State team that recorded a school-best 12 wins, which included the MAC West title with an 8-0 record. That earned them the school's first-ever national ranking, their first-ever spot in a MAC Championship game and a chance to play in a major bowl game.

The bitter part was Knipp and the Cardinals fell short of their goals. Their goals of a MAC Championship and a major bowl win didn't happen as Ball State fell to Buffalo, 42-24 in to the MAC Championship game and then lost to Tulsa, 45-13 in the GMAC Bowl.

"It was a big disappointment for us," Knipp said. "We worked real hard and went 12-0, won our side of the MAC and then we made it to the MAC Championship game, which was our goal to win — but it didn't happen."

Knipp is using those two losses as motivation and is more determined this year as he returns for his third-straight year as the starting free safety. He even started four games as a freshman and played in every game that season.

"I feel great, I've gotten a lot of experience over the last three years," Knipp said. "I have set high standards for myself so I'll help the team however I can."

After a 12-0 start, which was the best in Ball State history, Coach Brady Hoke resigned to take the San Diego State University head coaching job, which promoted offensive coordinator and former NFL coach Stan Parrish to the helm. Despite the two losses, Knipp feels he was the right choice.

"I know coach very well, he recruited me," Knipp said. "He's a great coach. He came right in and was a perfect fit for us when Coach Hoke left. We couldn't be happier. All the players respond well to him."

Parrish, who was the assistant football coach at Ball State from 2005-08, has a Super Bowl ring and a College National Championship. He was the quarterbacks coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2002 and 2003 and helped lead the Buccaneers to their first-ever Super Bowl championship in franchise history in '02. He was also the quarterbacks coach at Michigan in 1997 when the Wolverines won the National Championship. He has also been a head coach at Wabash, Marshall and Kansas State.

Parrish has his work cut out for him, as expectations aren't so high this year. Ball State was picked to finish fifth in the MAC-West Preseason Poll, behind Central Michigan (1), Western Michigan (2), Northern Illinois (3) and Toledo (4). Only Eastern Michigan was picked to finish worse.

"We're just focused on North Texas, our home opener," Knipp said. "That is what our main focus is on right now ... Our goal every year is to win a MAC Championship, but we know it's going to take a lot of hard work."

Knipp will soon graduate with an exercise science degree, but isn't looking too far down the road just yet.

"It's definitely a goal to make it to the NFL," said Knipp, who said if that doesn't work out, he wants to be a fireman. "I'm more focused on this season, but if it happens it'll be great. I've worked hard, so whatever happens happens."

After nine TV appearances last season, including seven nationally televised, the Cardinals are scheduled to appear in six games on ESPN networks this season. Knipp knows the spotlight and pressure to produce his senior year is upon him.

"Being a senior, I have to be more vocal and more of a leader," Knipp said. "I was always the type that led by my play and I think that speaks louder, but I'll have to be more vocal as a team leader this year."

Last year Knipp tied a season-high with 13 tackles and recorded his first-career sack against Tulsa in the GMAC Bowl game. He finished the year with a team-leading 96 tackles (58 solo/38 assists) and also added two interceptions.

At Amherst, Knipp will be remembered as Lorain County's first-ever back-to-back 2,000 yard rusher. He finished with 5,531 all-purpose yards and 63 touchdowns. Fifty-three of those touchdowns came on 4,435 rushing yards for his career. He also finished with 139 career tackles, eight interceptions and holds 14 school records.

Another Amherst graduate Brandon Kish will be a freshman on Ball State this season. He rushed for over 600 yards last year as a senior.

College notes can be sent to Steve Walker at swalker@MorningJournal.com.

The COLLEGE INSIDER in the Morning Journal is back!

Starting Wednesday, August 12, The Morning Journal brings back the COLLEGE INSIDER with Steve Walker. The weekly column will produce feature stories and updates on area athletes playing sports collegiately. Please feel free to send me any ideas or athletes playing at the college level. You can email me at swalker@MorningJournal.com.