Satch Sullinger to step down as Northland boys basketball coach

Satch Sullinger, who coached the Northland (Columbus) boys basketball team to the 2009 Division I state championship, will step down at the end of the season.

Four days after leading the Vikings to a fifth consecutive City League championship Feb. 19, Sullinger announced that he'd be resigning because "it's time."

Sullinger coached the Vikings the last 11 seasons and has a career record of 257-137, including 170-74 at Northland. His son, Jared Sullinger, is a freshman for nationally ranked Ohio State.


ST. EDWARD, WADSWORTH SHINE AT DISTRICT
Of the 56 state qualifiers from the Lorain district wrestling tournament which concluded last Sunday, 47 are from northeast Ohio.



District champion St. Edward (Lakewood) is sending 10 wrestlers to the state tournament Thursday through Saturday and runner-up Wadsworth is sending nine. The difference in the team race at district was in the semifinals, where St. Edward went 10-1 and Wadsworth went 6-4.

Edgar Bright (112 pounds), Dean Heil (119), Nick Barber (135), Mark Martin 152), Domenic Abounader (160) and Greg Kuhar (heavyweight) won district titles for the Eagles. Kagan Squire (125), Nate Ball (140), Clay Wenger (145) and Nick Tavanello (215) took first for the Grizzlies.

GARFIELD HEIGHTS FALLS
After recently becoming the No. 1-ranked team in the Division I state poll, the Garfield Heights boys basketball team lost to Strongsville 86-79 in overtime in its regular-season finale Feb. 26. Aaron White, an Iowa recruit, scored 36 points and Gurjeet Gill contributed 27 to help Strongsville hand Garfield Heights its first loss after a 19-0 start. Ray Hamilton, who will play football for Iowa, added 18 rebounds for Strongsville.

UPPER ARLINGTON WINS ANOTHER SWIMMING TITLE
The Upper Arlington (Columbus) girls swimming and diving team won its seventh consecutive Division I state championship last Saturday in Canton's C.T. Branin Natatorium. The Bears scored 286 points win the title. Abby Chin won the 200-yard freestyle championship (1 minute, 49.38 seconds) and the 500 free (4:48.93) and also swam on the 200 free relay (1:34.12) and 400 free relay (3:26.71) which each finished first. The 200 free relay time was a state record.

TOP PERFORMERS
* Zach Pannell, Westerville South boys bowling: Pannell bowled a perfect 300 during his first game at the Central District bowling tournament last Saturday. Pannell, who followed with games of 225 and 224, finished second at HP Lanes with a 749 to advance to the state tournament.

* Maddie Martin, Pickerington Central swimming: Martin was named the swimmer of the Division I state girls meet after she won the 100 butterfly in a state-record 53.34 seconds and placed second in the 100 free (50.86).

* Enri Small, Columbus School for Girls basketball: Small finished with 26 points, 17 rebounds and three assists to lead the Columbus School for Girls basketball team to a 47-34 victory over Newark Catholic in the second round of the Division III district tournament Feb. 25 at Granville.



COMING THIS WEEK
* State boys and girls bowling tournament, Friday and Saturday: Defending state girls bowling champion Boardman (Youngstown) will be among the field at the 16-team state tournament Friday at Wayne Webb's Columbus Bowl. Westerville Central, which lost to Boardman 3-1 for last year's championship, also will be competing. The boys state tournament will be held Saturday.

* State gymnastics meet, Friday and Saturday: Brecksville-Broadview Heights and Strongsville, which took the top two spots at the state gymnastics meet last year, are back at the state meet. The team competition will be held Friday at Hilliard Bradley, with individual competition slated for Saturday at the same site.

* State wrestling tournament, Thursday through Saturday: St. Edward and Wadsworth have the largest contingents expected to compete at the Division I state wrestling tournament, which will be held Thursday through Sunday at Ohio State. Perry (Massillon), which has eight state qualifiers, and Olentangy Liberty (Powell), which has seven, also should be a strong finisher. In Division II, Graham Local (St. Paris) will have 10 competitors while Walsh Jesuit (Cuyahoga Falls), Olentangy (Lewis Center) and Crestwood (Mantua) all have seven. St. Peter Chanel (Bedford) is among the favorites to win the Division III title with seven qualifiers.

RECRUITING NEWS
Watkins Memorial (Pataskala) senior cross country runner Morgan Reichert signed a letter of intent earlier this week to compete for Ohio University. Reichert, who also considered Bowling Green, Miami and Louisville, finished 30th at the Division I state meet last November. … Thomas Worthington senior Kristi Gegas will sign to play field hockey for Ohio University on Wednesday, according to ThisWeekSPORTS.com. Gegas, a midfielder, is a four-year letterwinner who helped the Cardinals earn a state runner-up finish last fall.

BRIEFLY
The Dublin Jerome ice hockey team is within one win of the state tournament after beating Archbishop Moeller (Cincinnati) 1-0 last Sunday at the Dispatch Ice Haus. Blair Comfort scored the game's only goal for the top-seeded Celtics, who got 30 saves from goalkeeper Josh Howell. The Celtics will play Olentangy Liberty (Powell) in a district final on Saturday at the Dispatch Ice Haus, with the winner making it to the state tournament.
… Michael Kreft of Solon won the Division I state boys diving title (506.25) last Saturday in Canton. Haleigh A. Bartlett of Cuyahoga Falls won the Division I girls diving competition (482.35) last Thursday. Columbus Academy (Gahanna) senior diver Natalie Ritter won the Division II state title Feb. 23. She scored 454.80 to top a field that also included Elyria Catholic's MacKenzie Tweardy (452.60), Wauseon's Kendall Weber (442.00) and St. Francis DeSales' (Columbus) Andrea Acquista (437.75).

Jarrod Ulrey covers Central and Northern Ohio for MaxPreps.com. He covers prep sports for ThisWeekSPORTS.com and can be reached at julrey@thisweeknews.com.