Three District Champions in One Week!!

The Orrville boys & girls track teams pose with their district title trophies on the track at Midview High School. (Photo courtesy of Andy Vernon)

It was a pretty solid week for spring sports as Red Rider teams captured not one, not two, but THREE district crowns.

The baseball team beat Chippewa 6-5 to capture their 2nd straight district title while the boys and girls track team both took 1st place at the Midview district, making it a clean sweep.

• The girls track team only won 3 of the 17 events, but placed in all but 1 event, accumulating 127 points on the day, beating 2nd place Triway (115 pts.) and 3rd place Keystone (100 pts.).  They improved on their 2012 district showing (85 pts. and 3rd place).  They will move on to the Bedford regional this week.

• The boys track team netted 100 points on the day, besting 2nd place Northwestern (94 pts.) and 3rd place Norwayne (83 pts.) to win the Midview district for a 2nd year in a row.  They will move on to the Lexington regional this week.

• For up-to-date track results this weekend, check out Baumspage.com.  The link for boys results is here and girls results here. Good luck to both teams this weekend as they seek to continue the annual tradition of sending multiple athletes to Columbus for the state meet.

• The baseball team captured their 2nd straight district title this past week by defeating Chippewa, 6-5.  The Riders difficult OCC regular season schedule no doubt helped to prepare them for tournament play (as is the case in most sports).  The Riders will head to Massillon's Ducky Schroeder Field this Thursday to take on Wickliffe Thursday at 5pm.  If they win, they'll return to Massillon Friday to take on the winner of Youngstown Ursuline and Keystone.

• The baseball team now has 7 regional appearances in program history.  First was in 1976, then 1979, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2012 and now 2013.  Only the 1976 team made it out of regionals.  That team ended as state runner ups. 

And finally, it appears that from this link on the Orrville schools website that Orrville AD Kent Smith has submitted his intent to retire as a teacher in the district.  Not sure what this means, and not sure a final decision has been made, about his position as athletic director.  Pretty sure this means he will no longer be teaching, but may return as AD if an agreement can be reached, but that seems up in the air as well.  I've heard several other names already within the district who would take over the AD position in addition to their existing duties...but none of this is confirmed and seems to be changing on a daily basis.

The two failures of the levy certainly played a huge part in this as the athletic department secretary position was first reduced after the first levy failed, then eliminated totally after the levy failure earlier this month, and I believe additional duties were to be added to Kent's already full plate as teacher, AD and tennis coach.  I'm sure every teacher and administrator in the district will see their duties and responsibilities increase as a result of trying to provide the same level of service to our students will fewer staff on hand, and the AD role was no different.

Whatever the outcome is, Kent should be commended for his years of service to the school and community.  He's "first class" all the way and does things the right way.  It's unfortunate to lose someone with such tireless "Red Rider" spirit and I hope in some capacity he can still be involved with the school.  I have heard he will still be tennis coach, but as I mentioned above, this seems to be changing daily, so I guess we'll all find out together.

With the uncertain financial picture in the district right now, tough decisions like this have to be made, and the end result will be that good people will no longer be involved in the lives of our young people. This isn't just a "sports" thing either.  That's the unfortunate reality of levy failure.

Good luck to the track teams and the baseball team as they seek to punch their tickets to Columbus!!

Go Riders!!