There have been some huge collegiate performances put together this spring by a variety of Ashland-area high school graduates.
Top highlights have come from Ashland graduates Anna Watson on the Division I golf course for Eastern Michigan and Brennen Hunt on the baseball field for Division II Ohio Dominican; and Hillsdale graduates Jay Luikart in Division I baseball for Wright State and Jordan Taylor in Division II track at Findlay.
Below, Ashland Source has gathered a breakdown of those four athletes, among many others who are consistently performing this spring on the college level.
Area high school athletic directors and local readers have submitted names of current college athletes to the Source. Anyone with information on other former Ashland County-area athletes in action this spring can send them to doughaidet19@gmail.com.
Ashland
• Anna Watson’s spring season for the Division I Eastern Michigan women’s golf team has been a sensational one. The senior has routinely been the top golfer for the Eagles, highlighting her play in mid-March at the 10-team Bobby Nichols Intercollegiate in Tennessee, where she placed third overall with a three-round 227. That effort was the fifth time in 35 career tournaments that Watson placed in the Top 5.
Other highlights this spring for Watson have been top finishes on the team at the Georgia State Invitational (tie-26th with a two-round 154), the Rio Verde Invitational (tie-46th with a three-round 225) and the Atlantic Invitational (tie-7th with a three-round 222).
• A pair of brothers have been keys to the success this season of the Division II Ohio Dominican baseball team, as senior shortstop Brennen Hunt and junior pitcher Chase Hunt both have been busy this spring for the Panthers (18-16, 9-9 Great Midwest Athletic Conference).
Brennen has been one of the most potent bats in the GMAC, tallying 39 runs, 24 RBIs, nine doubles and six home runs in 34 games. In his final season, he’s batting .403 with a .444 on-base percentage and eight stolen bases.
Hunt was the GMAC Player of the Week in early March and has at least one hit in 30 of 34 games this spring.
His younger brother Chase, meanwhile, is second in innings pitched for ODU this season at 36.1. He carries a 1-1 record and the Panthers are 6-2 in his eight starts. The lefty has 24 strikeouts.
• A sophomore pitcher on the softball team at Division II Eckerd College, Brandilyn Reymer has seen plenty of action this spring. The right-hander has 17 appearances and nine starts in the circle, totaling 58 innings and a 3.20 ERA for the Tritons (12-24, 6-15 Sunshine State Conference).
• Danielle Honaker placed 31st in the Mid-American Conference Championships in the fall for the Division I Akron University cross country team, and she’s been in action this spring for the Zips on the track. Most recently, the redshirt junior placed fifth at the Northeast Ohio Open in the 1,500 meters in a career-best 4:48.28.
• Emma Packard has opened her spring play on the golf course for Division III Mount Union with a bang. The freshman’s first few weeks of play have been highlighted by her first career college medalist performance, which helped the Purple Raiders take first April 7 in the Terrier Invitational at Tanglewood Golf Club.
Mount Union won the event by 37 strokes with a 323, as Packard’s 76 led the field.
• Also on the links has been former Arrow Max Watson, a senior who has scored in all six spring tournaments so far for Division II Florida Southern.
The Moccasins recently were ranked among the nation’s Top 10 teams, and Watson’s top efforts came during the Saint Leo Invitational (led the team with a 17th-place finish at 3-under-par 213 over 54 holes, including 18 birdies) and the First Federal Southeastern Collegiate (28th-place finish at 2-over 218).
• At Division II Ashland University, Klaira Paramore has added to her highlight reel a few times on the links this spring. The sophomore and former four-time state qualifier at AHS topped a field of 53 golfers in late March at the Klash in Kentucky, firing a two-round 147 that beat everyone else by five strokes as the Eagles easily won the nine-team event.
Paramore added an 11th-place overall finish (two-round 153) in the 14-team NC4K Classic in Grove City, where AU took second, and this past weekend was eighth overall at the Gannon Spring Invitational (two-round 159). Ashland, ranked 10th in the country, won the eight-team tournament by 12 strokes.
• A freshman golfer at Division III Ohio Northern, Aidan Chandler turned in two solid days earlier this month in the Polar Beaver Invitational. His 152 landed him in 21st place out of 81 golfers in the event.
• A freshman on the Ashland University track and field team, Landon McFrederick has been in action in the jumps. His 21-feet-2 distance in the long jump earned him second place at the Wooster Invitational, while his 6-4 clearance in the high jump last week at the Tiffin Carnival was third.
• A two-time Ohio Cardinal Conference Player of the Year, Hailey Lang is in her freshman year at Ohio State University. Thus far, she’s hitless in three at-bats, but reached base for the first time on a walk against New Mexico State.
The Buckeyes are 21-17 overall and 3-9 in the Big Ten.
• Former Arrow Drew Schaly is in his senior season at Division III Baldwin Wallace University, where the Yellow Jackets are having a historical season. They began this week 24-4 overall and 9-1 in the Ohio Athletic Conference, and after their 3-1 start to the season, they were ranked No. 1 in the country in Division III for the first time in program history.
Schaly, who has battled arm issues, has seen action in four games, striking out three in 2 2/3 innings pitched.
• Kamden Mowry has continued a strong start to his golf career at Division III John Carroll. The freshman was one of three JCU linksters to tie for third and fire a 1-under-par 71 at the OAC Spring Preview.
The next two days, he posted a 150 at the two-round Muskingum Zanesville Invitational.
Crestview
• After earning solid playing time in her first two softball seasons at Division I Akron University, appearing in 50 total games, Autumn Bailey has continued to be a solid contributor for the Zips this spring. The junior outfielder has played in 26 games, starting 17, and has one of the team’s top batting averages at .273.
Bailey has scored 10 runs, driven in seven and had three doubles in a four-game stretch for Akron (19-23, 7-8 Mid-American Conference).
• A junior for the Division II Hillsdale College men’s track and field team, Ross Kuhn turned in a runner-up finish earlier this month at the MSU Spartan Invitational. Kuhn sprinted his way to a 1:57.35 clocking in the 800 meters.
Hillsdale
• Jay Luikart is rounding out his senior season at Division I Wright State with huge results on the baseball diamond. The utility player is among the top power hitters in the entire country and has started in all 36 games for the Raiders (20-16, 10-5 Horizon League).
Luikart had a five-hit, five-RBI game March 13 against Toledo and two-homer games March 30 against Oakland and Tuesday at Ohio State. In one 15-game stretch, he piled up eight home runs, never going more than two consecutive games without a round-tripper, and he also was named HL Batter of the Week on March 19.
On his way to becoming a three-time All-Horizon League performer, Luikart is tied for fifth in all of Division I in RBIs (55), tied for 10th in home runs (16) and tied for 15th in hits (59). He is second in the HL in slugging percentage (.752) and OPS (1.205) and has scored 38 runs while compiling a .376 batting average. This is the third consecutive season Luikart has had double-digit home runs.
• On the track at Division II Findlay, Jordan Taylor has been part of a record-setting spring for the Oilers.
In last weekend’s Tiffin Track Carnival, the senior’s 11.65 time in the 100-meter dash earned her first place and an NCAA provisional standard. It also tied a 22-year-old program record.
At the same event, Taylor was part of the 4×200 relay that was first in 1:39.91, a time that broke a 30-year-old Findlay record.
A week earlier in the South Florida Invitational, Taylor again was part of Oiler history, as her 4×100 relay unit was fourth in 45.51 — a new school record that met the NCAA provisional. The senior’s 4×400 quartet also was third in 3:42.78 — another new school record and NCAA provisional.
Meanwhile, as an individual, Taylor’s 200 time of 23.61 broke a 22-year-old UF record, met an NCAA provisional and was the seventh-fastest in Division II this season.
• After beginning her college career at Otterbein University, where she was a two-time All-Ohio Athletic Conference performer, Bryn Grabowski is now one of the key arms in the circle for the Ashland University softball team.
The junior is one of a quartet of pitchers for the Eagles with at least 16 appearances this spring, as she features the lowest ERA out of that group (2.52), along with a team-best 6-4 record. Grabowski has struck out 30 batters in 64 innings for the Eagles (16-21, 9-9 Great Midwest Athletic Conference).
• Another former Falcon pitcher has been in action in Division II, as Olivia Betson is in her senior season at Walsh University. Currently 1-2 for the Cavaliers (11-25, 3-8 GMAC), she’s got five starts and 10 appearances, totaling 39 innings, 26 strikeouts and a 5.38 ERA.
For her career at Walsh, Betson has compiled 139.1 innings pitched in 74 appearances and has 98 strikeouts.
Loudonville
• On the golf course for Division III Mount Union, Owen Hinkle has turned in a few solid individual performances this spring so far.
The junior tied for 26th out of 58 linksters with an 82 in the Mount Union Spring Invitational in mid-March, then followed that earlier this month by tying for 15th with a 79 in the Phipps Spring Memorial.
Mapleton
• Kaylee Haines is in her sophomore season playing for Division I Niagara University. In 16 games played for the Eagles (16-17, 7-5 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference), she has notched five hits, two runs, two RBIs and a .371 on-base percentage.