{"id":102706,"date":"2018-05-16T08:46:35","date_gmt":"2018-05-16T13:46:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=102706"},"modified":"2018-05-16T08:46:35","modified_gmt":"2018-05-16T13:46:35","slug":"champions-improvement-and-thank-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2018\/05\/16\/champions-improvement-and-thank-you\/","title":{"rendered":"Champions, improvement and thank you"},"content":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/<\/strong>independent sports editor<\/em><\/p>\n

The 2018 spring sports season is rapidly coming to an end. The regular season is in the books and tournaments are underway, and it seems like a good time to reflect a bit on what\u2019s transpired, and to thank a number of people for their help.<\/p>\n

Tri-champs in the NWC<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

It came down to the final game of the Northwest Conference baseball season. Crestview needed a win over Delphos Jefferson to capture a share of the Northwest Conference championship. In an odd twist, rival Lincolnview was forced to root for the Knights to win in order to also claim a share of the conference title.<\/p>\n

The Knights won the game 5-0, creating a three way tie for the title. While NWC baseball championships seem to be commonplace at Crestview, it was Delphos Jefferson\u2019s first title since 2003, and Lincolnview\u2019s first since 1990.<\/p>\n

Congratulations to all three teams.<\/p>\n

Lady Cougars are champs<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Congratulations to the Van Wert Lady Cougars track and field team for winning the 2018 Western Buckeye League championship, the first since 1976.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not easy to win a league title, especially in the Western Buckeye League did it, and set up the program for future success.<\/p>\n

Well done Lady Cougars.<\/p>\n

Crestview shows improvement<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

As I noted last week, Crestview\u2019s track and field program is showing signs of improvement, and head coach Jim Lautzenheiser believes it all goes back to the kids.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are definitely a more cohesive and dynamic team in May than we were in late February and early March,\u201d Lautzenheiser explained. \u201c Our student-athletes have been willing to be coached, and they\u2019ve worked hard to improve on little details throughout the season.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve reached a point where most of our competitors have hit personal records multiple times since the end of April in their events,\u201d Lautzenheiser added. \u201cOur goal is for them to continue this stride at OHSAA districts, and hopefully beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n

A young and improving roster should bode well for the future of Crestview track and field.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur roster is heavily saturated with freshmen and sophomores this season so, along with battling the extended winter weather, our biggest challenge was transitioning some young competitors into veteran positions in relays and individual events,\u201d Lautzenheiser said. \u201c We were blessed with some key veteran leaders in our different coaching groups (hurdles, sprints, throws, jumps, distance).\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe time will tell that their biggest impact on this year\u2019s roster will likely be felt in the next one or two seasons for our maturing Knights tracksters.\u201d<\/p>\n

A heartfelt thank you<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The VW independent enhanced and expanded its local sports coverage slightly over a year ago and it\u2019s been a big success.<\/p>\n

To all of the coaches, thank you for your time answering questions after games\/matches\/events (win or lose), and for answering questions and providing information for our regular stories and features.<\/p>\n

The list of coaches includes Keith Recker, Rich Nouza, Alex Schmidt, Emily Holliday, Kim Doidge, Keith Rydell, Mark Bagley, Rob Adams, Ben Collins, Jeff Kreischer, Kevin Decker, Charlie Witten, Greg Steinecker, Mark Collins, Jared Owens, Tammy Gregory, Jeff Bagley, John Dowler, Jeremy Best, Mark Gregory, Carl Etzler, Morgan Hicks, Jim Wharton, Jim Lautzenheiser, Matt Langdon, Anson Moody, Tyson Thatcher, Brad Doidge, Daryl Dowdy, JaNahn Evans, Brett Hammons, Dan Williamson, Steve Pardon, Neil Korte, Eric Fishpaw and Matt Langdon.<\/p>\n

Athletic Directors Craig Hershey, Dave Bowen and Greg Leeth have been a huge help as well, and are some of the best in the business.<\/p>\n

Other thanks go out to Bob Barnes, Jerry Mason and Wyatt Richardson for providing outstanding pictures of local high school sporting events. I have to admit I\u2019m not much of a photographer, but these three do excellent work and it\u2019s very appreciated.<\/p>\n

WKSD\u2019s Kenny Stabler, Shawn Gerber and Jason Williamson, along with WERT\u2019s Scot Alan and Ron Burt have been a huge help to me as well, and it\u2019s my pleasure to fill in for any of them when needed.<\/p>\n

Of course, thank you for reading VW independent sports. If you have any thoughts, comments, suggestions or concerns, feel free to email me at sports@thevwindependent.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent sports editor The 2018 spring sports season is rapidly coming to an end. The regular season is in the books and tournaments are underway, and it seems like a good time to reflect a bit on what\u2019s transpired, and to thank a number of people for their help. Tri-champs in the NWC It […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-06 03:22:21","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102706\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}