Avon Lake’s Christine Chiricosta became the winningest player in Bowling Green tennis history in the Falcons’ win over Butler.

Chiricosta posted a win at the top singles flight, in the process becoming the winningest player in BGSU tennis history. Chiricosta now has a combined career total of 154 wins as a Falcon, breaking the record of 153 set by Deidee Bissinger (1997-2000).

Chiricosta and her doubles partner, sophomore Maddy Eccleston, battled the Bulldogs’ Stephanie McLoughlin and Gabrelle Rubenstein through a tight match at the top flight, before the BU duo came out on top by the narrow score of 9-8.

In singles play, Chiricosta battled Natali Jaimes through a two-hour, 40-minute match. Jaimes took the opening set by a 4-6 score, but Chiricosta battled back to take a 7-5 win in the second set and a 6-4 verdict in the third. The win moved her past Bissinger onto the top of the BGSU record list.

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Perkins graduate Cory Leslie broke the Ohio State school record in the mile with his first-place time of 3:57.97 on Saturday at the PSU National, an NCAA automatic qualifier and the second-best mile performance in the nation so far this season.

Leslie ran a blistering time of 3:57.97 in the mile at the Penn State National Invitational, shattering the Ohio State school record on his way to a first-place finish for the 23rd-ranked Ohio State men’s track and field team.

In addition to breaking his own personal record and the OSU school record, Leslie also bettered the National Invitational meet record and Horace Ashenfelter III Indoor Track record time (previously 3:59.15).

"Performance of the day undoubtedly goes to Cory Leslie," Ohio State head coach Robert Gary said after the meet. "He was outstanding today in running an auto qualifier and breaking the Buckeye record. I am very proud of Cory — I have been disappointed in my coaching (of him), but it seems we are now on to the right recipe."
Leslie’s sub-four minute performance earned the Buckeye junior the mile title ahead of former Ohio State All-American Jeff See (second, 3:58.15), Penn State All-American Ryan Foster (third, 3:58.15), and teammate Chris Fallon, who set a PR with his fourth-place time of 4:05.71.

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Westlake’s Ann Ryan scored a career-high 16 points in the opening round of the Pro Rehab-Hubbard Company Tournament as Allegheny topped the century-mark in points for the first time since 1994 in a 103-100 overtime win over Defiance College.

Ryan, who saw limited minutes last year as true freshmen, has been a key player in the Gators’ rotation coming off the bench and had her most productive game in her young career shooting 8 of 14 en route her career-high of 16 points. She also pulled down a team-high nine boards with six coming off the offensive glass.

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Elyria’s Promis Cabbil had 12 points and six assists, but Baldwin-Wallace fell, 75-68 to Wilmington College on Saturday.

In the second half, Wilmington opened by outscoring B-W 7-4 to build its biggest lead at that point at 40-24 when junior guard Antonio Bowman made one of two free throws at 16:54. The Yellow Jackets came right back with a 6-0 run to close to 40-30 when Cabbil made a driving layup at 15:02.

Cabbil chipped in with 12 and a team-high six assists. B-W kept up the pressure and closed to seven points at 52-45 when Kevin Krakowiak made a three-pointer at 5:43, but on the ensuing possession Wilmington freshman guard Klarke Ransome scored, was fouled and made the free throw to push the lead back to 10 points at 55-45.

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Oberlin’s Morgan Jones led Ohio Dominican with a team-high 17 points, but the Panthers missed 13 of 17 free throws and couldn’t hang on to a first half lead, falling 78-69 to Lake Superior State in a GLIAC game Thursday night.

The Panthers fell to 4-13 (1-10 GLIAC) with the defeat.

Ohio Dominican was able to trim the lead to four points on a pair of occasions in the opening five and a half minutes of the second half. Kapron’s turnaround jumper kept ODU within five at 49-44 at the 12:37 mark, but LSSU took over from that point, scoring the next seven points to build a 56-44 advantage with 10:43 left. The lead remained above eight until the 1:56 mark when Jones buried a jumper from the free throw line to make it 67-61. The Lakers answered with a three on their next possession, though, and ODU could not challenge down the stretch.

Jones led five Panthers in double figures with 17 on 8 of 14 shooting. Oberlin native Aaron Gibbs also had his third double-double in the past four games with 10 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.

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Monroeville’s Liz Tyler scored 15 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead Ashland over Wayne State, 81-61 on Thursday night. Tyler made 7 of 8 shots from the floor.

The win was the Eagles’ fourth straight and puts them at 12-5, 7-3 in GLIAC action. AU is also ranked eighth in the region, which if the season ended today, would get the Eagles into the NCAA Division II playoffs.

The Eagles face a crucial game on Saturday when they host Findlay. The Oilers defeated the Eagles, 80-77 in double overtime on Jan. 5. This game will play large in the GLIAC race and the regional seeding. UF is in first place in the GLIAC South and won Thursday night at Lake Erie.

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Perkins graduate Cierra Bravard scored 11 of her team-high 21 points in the final 6 1/2 minutes and Alexa Deluzio hit a pair of key 3-pointers, helping the No. 21 Seminoles hold off Boston College 102-93 on Thursday night.

Deluzio finished with 20 points and six assists for Florida State (17-4, 5-1 Atlantic Coast Conference). Courtney Ward had 20 points, 14 in the second half.

When BC’s leading scorer and rebounder, 6-foot-6 Carolyn Swords, fouled out with 8 minutes to play, the Seminoles knew it was time to go inside to the 6-4 Bravard.

"When we got Swords fouled out, I knew Cierra was going to dominate the paint because no one, no one was going to stop her," Deluzio said. "The good thing about our team is we don’t have two set scorers that we have to rely on. Anyone can score. I feel like we’re all clicking."

The Seminoles, who won for the eighth time in nine games, had six players in double figures in a game that was wide open until BC’s post players got in foul trouble.

"I thought it was a very up-tempo game," Boston College coach Sylvia Crawley said. "Florida State usually likes to walk the ball up the floor. We tried a few things to get them to speed up."

But it all changed when BC had no one to defend Bravard.

Swords, who entered averaging 18 points and 8.9 boards per game, was held to four points and three rebounds.

"I think our kids did a good job of delivering it inside," Florida State coach Sue Semrau said. "We had a big, strong kid in there that was hard to defend."

After BC tied the game 81-all with just more than 7 minutes to play, Bravard hit three free throws and Deluzio nailed a 3-pointer from the left corner, pushing the Seminoles ahead by six with 4 1/2 minutes left.

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Mount Union’s nationally ranked women’s basketball team avenged an earlier loss to John Carroll with its best offensive game of the season and claimed a 94-79 decision in Ohio Athletic Conference action on Wednesday.

North Olmsted’s Kori Wiedt scored 18 points, while Westlake’s Rosa LaMattina added 10.

With the win and an Ohio Northern loss on Wednesday, the Purple Raiders (15-3, 8-3) are now in sole possession of second place in the OAC.

Mount Union, which is ranked 18th by D3Hoops.com and is tied for 22nd on the ESPN/USA Today poll, will return to action on Saturday when it hosts Capital at 2 p.m.

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Edison’s Tristan Stoll was chosen as the Ohio Athletic Conference Men’s Wrestler of the Week, after his undefeated week, while wrestling at Baldwin-Wallace.

Stoll earned his award for going undefeated at the Mel Berry Duals at Thiel College last weekend. He recorded three pins and his other victory came by forfeit. Stoll now has 10 pins on the season and improved his season record to 17-4 overall.

Earlier this season, he captured the individual title at 197 pounds in the season-opening Messiah Tournament with a 4-0 record and also finished second at the Rochester Institute of Technology Tournament.

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Richey-Obey is pictured second from left on bottom row.

The Hampton University bowling team competed in its first tournament this weekend, finishing third in the Frederick E. Underwood Lady Bulldogs Classic played at Bowie State University.

The Lady Pirates went a combined 5-3 on the weekend, going 3-2 on Saturday’s 5-person team match action before going 2-1 in Sunday’s Baker match play.

On Saturday, Hampton lost 852-892 to Howard, before recording 1,005 points in a bye. The Lady Pirates then defeated St. Peter’s 898-876 before falling 880-881 to North Carolina A&T. Hampton closed out Saturday’s action by beating Salem International 768-631 and Coppin State 698-630.

Southview graduate Jazzminn Richey-Obey finished fifth overall with 1,189 total pins in six games on Saturday, averaging 198.0 pins per match. She topped 200 pins three times, including a 230 in the Lady Pirates’ bye.

She also bowled a 219 against Howard and a 203 against Coppin State.

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Perkins’ Chris Waldock is enjoying his freshman season in the pool at the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Waldock placed second in the 200 butterfly (1:54.15) and fourth in the 100 butterfly (50.90). He was also a member of the winning 400 freestyle relay team.

At Perkins, he earned four letters and captained one season. He was also the state champion in the 100 butterfly, setting the state record, and 200 medley relay. He won 13 conference and five district titles.

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Avon Lake’s sisters Christine and Nikki Chiricosta, and the rest of Bowling Green’s tennis team returns to action this weekend, heading to Louisville, Ky., for a pair of dual matches as the ‘spring’ portion of the season begins. The Falcons will face the University of Louisville today, and then have a match against West Virginia University on Saturday.

The Falcons had a successful fall schedule, competing in a total of four non-scored tournaments. BGSU players had a combined record of 61-24 in singles and an aggregate 28-13 doubles mark during the fall schedule.

Christine, a senior, is expected to play at the top singles and doubles flights again this spring. She went 11-2 in singles action in the fall, and teamed with sophomore Maddy Eccleston for a doubles ledger of 8-4.

Christine had a total of 20 wins in the fall, second on the team behind only her sister Nikki. Christine had 21 victories, going a team-best 12-2 in singles and posting a 9-4 doubles mark.

Following this weekend’s matches, the Falcons will return to Northwest Ohio to begin the home portion of the dual schedule. BGSU will face Cleveland State on Friday evening, Jan. 28. That match will begin at 6:00 p.m. at the Perrysburg Tennis Center.
Stay tuned for updates.

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Perkins’ Cory Leslie is running well at Ohio State.

Leslie won the 3000m in a time of 8:23.08 for the Buckeyes in the Buckeye Classic last Friday.

Leslie, a redshirt sophomore, is Ohio State’s 1000m school record holder with a time of 2:22.48, done last year in indoors at the Notre Dame Meyo Invitational. The two-time Ohio State Scholar Athlete was also an Academic All-Big Ten selection.

Earlier in the season, Leslie placed 10th at the 6.4k Mountaineer Open (20:11.96), 57th at the 8k Big Ten championships (25:09) and 75th at the 10k Great Lakes championships (32:07).

In outdoor as a freshman, he finished 19th in the 3000m steeplechase at the NCAA championships in a time of 8:54.38, took 11th-place in the steeple at the Big Ten championships and was a member of the Ohio State 4x800m relay team that posted a then 2010 world-best time of 7:17.68 at the Drake Relays.

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Elyria Catholic graduate Nicole Loudin is joining the Fredonia State athletic department as an assistant women’s softball coach.

Most recently an assistant coach at Ithaca College, Loudin will be added to the coaching staff led by head coach Lorrie Corsi. Loudin will also have facilities management duties in the athletic department.

Loudin has been an assistant coach at Ithaca since 2008, where her duties included recruiting, strength and conditioning, and game-day coaching. The Bombers, coached by 2010 National Fastpitch Coaches Association Hall of Fame inductee Deb Pallozzi, posted a 34-15 record last spring. They were ranked No. 11 in the nation and finished seventh in the NCAA Division III World Series.

While at Ithaca, Loudin earned a master’s degree in Science Exercise and Sport Sciences with a concentration in Sport Psychology. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Baldwin Wallace-College in Berea, where she was a two-time All-American in softball.

After one semester at Bucknell, an NCAA Division I program, Loudin transferred to Baldwin-Wallace, where her mother is a professor, and made an immediate mark on the 2003 Yellow Jackets softball team. She hit a single-season school record 10 home runs with 41 RBI and a .388 batting average as a freshman, and was named Ohio Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year.

After four years, she had a .383 career batting average with 37 homers and 123 RBI. The home runs and RBIs are school records. She also established two Baldwin-Wallace program firsts. She was the first B-W freshman softball NFCA All-American. After her sophomore season, she again was named All-American in softball and added the distinction of Academic All-American by the College Sports Information Directors of America. It was the first time a B-W softball player had received both awards.

Loudin, while at EC, broke four Ohio High School Athletic Association state records, including 10 home runs in a single-season, five consecutive games with a home run, 22 career home runs, and a .540 career batting average.

Before coaching at Ithaca, Loudin served one year as junior varsity head coach and varsity assistant coach at Euclid (Ohio) High School. She has also coached in the Ohio Emeralds Softball Organization and the Lorain Community College Indoor League.

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Amherst graduate Ben Gilles was named the Player of the Night in a pair of hockey wins for Ohio University's Club Hockey team.

The Bobcats (19-3-2) swept Penn State, defeating the Nittany Lions, 4-1 on Friday and 5-2 on Saturday.

Gilles, a junior defenseman, was previously a member of Johnson & Wales University in the ECAC Northeast.

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St. Mary graduate Catherine Spisak scored a game-high 15 points and grabbed six rebounds as Baldwin-Wallace defeated Ohio Athletic Conference rival Ohio Northern University, 56-54 on Saturday at the ONU Sports Center. The victory moved B-W into first place in the OAC.

With its win, B-W is now 11-3 overall and 6-1 in the OAC. Ohio Northern dipped to 12-4 overall and 7-2 in the OAC.

Spisak scored on a short jump shot to give the Yellow Jackets an early lead. The Yellow Jackets rebuilt its lead to nine points at 25-16 at the 2:33 mark when Spisak made a pair of free throws.

The lead grew to 12 points at 38-26 at the 12:50 mark when Firelands graduate Ali Stack made a layup.

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Perkins graduate Cierra Bravard scored 12 points for the Seminoles, but No. 21 ranked Florida State lost to third-ranked Duke 87-70 victory on Friday night.

The Blue Devils (16-0, 2-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) got 15 points each from freshmen Haley Peters and Tricia Liston, while Chelsea Gray added 13.

Courtney Ward led Florida State with a game-high 25 points, while Alexa Deluzio added 17 for Florida State, which closed within three points with 12:28 left only to see Duke quickly regain command.

Duke took the lead at 18-16 on Thomas’ 3-pointer that ignited a 25-8 run, culminating with a 3-pointer from Liston that put the Blue Devils ahead 40-24.

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Behind a career night from Oberlin’s Morgan Jones, Ohio Dominican won its second straight game, defeating Urbana 80-73 on Wednesday night.

Jones set a new career-high with 24 points, hitting all four of his three-pointers, and matching his career-high with seven rebounds. Oberlin native Aaron Gibbs had his seventh career double-double with 10 points and a season-high 13 rebounds.

The Panthers (4-10) won despite hitting just 40 percent of their shots (26-of-65), compared to 44.8 percent (26-of-58) for the host Blue Knights. Ohio Dominican made a season-best 21 free throws though, hitting 80.8 percent from the line, including 16-of-20 in the second half.

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Keystone’s Jessica Schaffer, a senior outside hitter, was named to the American Volleyball Coaches of America (AVCA) Division III Northeast Region team and earned honorable mention All-American accolades, while playing volleyball for the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT).

It is the second time she has received these honors in her illustrious career, doing so in 2007.

Schaffer had a great final season for the Tigers, leading RIT with 548 kills (3.89 per game) and placing second with 409 digs. The 548 kills are sixth best in a season at RIT. A model of consistency, Schaffer recorded at least 10 kills in 32 of RIT’s 38 matches this season, and recorded 23 double-doubles. She recorded a season-best 20 kills on three separate occasions.

Schaffer finishes her RIT career second all-time in program history with 260 service aces, third with 1,923 digs, and third with 1,833 kills. She holds school records with at least 10 digs (113) and double-digit kills (99) in a match. Career-highs include 30 kills in a match, 30 digs, and 11 service aces.

In 2010, Schaffer earned All-Empire 8 honors for the third time in her career. She was a second team selection in 2006 and earned first team honors in 2007. In addition, she was the 2007 New York State Player of the Year and was an honorable mention AVCA All-American.

In 2007, Schaffer slammed 629 kills and recorded 616 digs, both third best in one season at RIT.

Schaffer was a two-time Empire 8 Rookie of the Week, and five-time Player of the Week. In addition, Schaffer was a three-time RACA Athlete of the Week. She was a three-time tournament MVP and earned All-Tournament Team honors eight times in her illustrious career.

This season, RIT finished 22-16 and advanced to the Empire 8 semifinals. In four years, Schaffer helped lead the Tigers to a 109-50 record, four trips to the Empire 8 Tournament, and a berth in the 2007 NCAA Tournament.

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Pictured: Jasmin Filiagi, courtesy of RowePhotography.com

Coming off a 2010 season in which Cleveland State won a school-record 44 games and a Horizon League-record 22 conference games, the Vikings softball team has added seven players (three locals) for the 2012 season.

Joining the Vikings locally will be Elyria Catholic’s Jasmin Filiagi, Brookside’s Salena Kauffman and Elyria’s Cynthia Woodard.

Filiaggi has been a three-year starter in left field at Elyria Catholic. She earned second team All-Northeast Ohio and first team All-Lorain County honors after a junior season in which she stole 36 bases and scored 21 runs.

"Jasmin will add a tremendous amount of speed to our lineup," Elyria native and CSU head coach Angie Nicholson said. "She has so much to offer because of her speed and I can’t wait to show her how to really use it. She will be fun to work with and, once she learns to add a few more tricks to her offensive side, she will really cause trouble."

Kauffman was chosen as a catcher for the 2011 North American Select Team for the CUP Tournament in the Netherlands. Also a third basemen, Kauffman is a two-time All-Lorain County honorable mention and was a conference second team selection in 2010.

"Salena is another hard-working student and athlete," Nicholson said. "She will be a great leader behind the plate for us. I can’t wait to see her develop over the next few years."

Woodard, an infielder and outfielder, led Elyria with a .459 batting average last spring. She hit 10 doubles, four triples and home runs and batted-in 18 runs last year. She will be the fifth Elyria grad to join the Vikings in the past four years, joining Megan Bashak, Andrea Nagy, Tess Sito and Ashlee Stolarski.

"Cynthia is built for strength, and that is what she has," Nicholson said. "Once she adjusts to the speed and strength of the college game, she will develop into an all-around player. I don’t think she’ll have any problem catching on to our style."

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Kenyon College men’s swim team found time to rack up 194 points during a quad meet win over Washington University (187 points), the U.S. Coast Guard Academy (130), and Baldwin-Wallace College (65).

The competition included nine swimming events. Kenyon won five of those events, all of which were relays.

Perkins’ Jimmy Chapman was a member of all five of those relay teams. The five teams and their winning times included: the 200-yard medley (1:37.70), the 300-yard backstroke (2:42.77), the 300-yard breaststroke (3:02.96), the 300-yard butterfly (2:42.22), and the 500-yard freestyle (4:20.88).

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