Nathan Dixon, JR Forsee seek state mat titles

New Richmond High School seniors Nathan Dixon (220 pounds) and JR Forsee (285 pounds) will be competing in Thursday's Ohio High School Athletic Association Division II wrestling championships at Ohio State University. Lions head coach Deron Shinkle discusses their season and their chances of a podium finish in Columbus in this video.

State pairings

220 Weight Class: 
 1. GO-1 Nathan Dixon, New Richmond, (12), 32-8
 2. BG-4 Kordell Chaney, Sandusky Perkins, (9), 41-8
 3. HE-3 Austin Bentley, Carrollton, (11), 36-10
 4. AL-2 Logan Sharp, Beloit West Branch, (11), 22-6
 5. HE-2 Jalen Robinson, Columbus Mifflin, (12), 22-6
 6. AL-3 Mason Hilling, Peninsula Woodridge, (11), 36-10
 7. GO-4 Anthony Welty, St. Paris Graham Local, (12), 31-13
 8. BG-1 Zane Krall, Wauseon, (12), 38-3 (12:II-220-2nd)
 9. AL-1 Sean Rutherford, Norton, (10), 36-3 (12:II-182-7th)
10. HE-4 Troy Caldwell, Plain City Jonathan Alder, (10), 47-8
11. GO-3 Frank Heimkreiter, Hamilton Ross, (12), 43-6
12. BG-2 Bailey Faust, Lexington, (10), 47-2
13. GO-2 Brandon Davis, Greenfield McClain, (12), 44-6
14. BG-3 Beau Swank, Bellefontaine Benjamin Logan, (11), 20-4
15. AL-4 Billy Post, Conneaut, (12), 45-3
16. HE-1 Greg Moray, Steubenville, (12), 34-0 (12:II-220-4th)

285 Weight Class: 
 1. BG-1 Chase Henderson, Franklin, (11), 40-5
 2. HE-4 Jason Clinker, Dover, (12), 26-13
 3. GO-3 J.R. Forsee, New Richmond, (12), 28-5 (12:II-285-7th)
 4. AL-2 Connor Sharp, Beloit West Branch, (12), 33-3 (12:II-285-3rd)
 5. GO-2 Evan Loughman, Thornville Sheridan, (10), 39-10
 6. AL-3 Drek Brumley, Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary, (10), 34-6
 7. BG-4 Josh Rohrbacher, Sandusky Perkins, (11), 29-14
 8. HE-1 Alex Farrow, Whitehall-Yearling, (12), 48-1
 9. AL-1 Billy Miller, Perry, (11), 41-2 (12:II-285-4th)
10. GO-4 Kevin Phelps, Wilmington, (12), 41-13
11. HE-3 Alonzo Jewell, Columbus Hamilton Township, (11), 37-6
12. BG-2 T.J. Lawrence, Oak Harbor, (10), 31-11
13. HE-2 Dustin Kuhlwein, Plain City Jonathan Alder, (12), 44-4
14. BG-3 Beau Harmon, Bellefontaine Benjamin Logan, (12), 44-2 (12:II-285-8th)
15. AL-4 Travis Gosnell, Akron Coventry, (12), 46-7
16. GO-1 Hayden Bottorff, Washington C.H. Miami Trace, (11), 44-3

Two Wrestlers extend their season one more week!

Nathan Dixon and JR Forsee will be headed to Columbus Thursday to do battle for the State Championship! Nathan Dixon won the District Title at 220 lbs., he pinned every opponent he faced! Nathan is on a mission to win a State Title, which would be the first in NR Wrestling history!

JR finished third at 285 lbs. , he will be making his third trip to Columbus! JR is a seasoned veteran in Columbus and should be standing on the podium Saturday night! Good luck to both young men on their journey.

Now the hard part. We got to watch four seniors wrestle their last match Saturday. The toughest part of being a wrestling coach is watching your seniors step on that line for the last time. You don't know when it will happen, you just know it will happen. Seniors Clay Loadman, Kevin Reid, James White and Justin Patrick put on a Lions Wrestling singlet for the last time Saturday. They put forth an effort that would make any coach proud. These young men should have no regrets, they represented their school, family and team with pride and honor. The wrestling room will not be the same next year. Hold your heads high men, you are Lions forever! WE ARE NR!!

Lady Lions Reach Sectional Finals

The Varsity Lady Lions Basketball Team has reached its second sectional finals in three years with a 68-42 win over Bethel-Tate last night. Josie Buckingham set a single-game school scoring record with 42 points to go along with her 23 points and 7 blocks. Alexis Meyer played key defense on the Bethel stars and also added 11 points. Tina Lawrence contributed 7 assists and was a rock on the defensive end. Bailey Workman also added 7 assists and splashed a big 3 to give NR the lead for good. Maren Hance dished 5 assists and was dynamic in the open floor vs the pressure applied by Bethel. The Lady Lions will play #1 seeded Talawanda Saturday at 4:30 at Withrow High School for the Sectional Championship.

Boys Basketball v Batavia

The Varsity Boys Basketball team beat Batavia High School 61-40 Saturday afternoon at the SBAAC crossover tourney. Leading the way for the Lions were John Ernst with 14 points, CJ Grogan with 13 points and was 9-10 from the FT line, Sam Leffler with 8 points, Josh Heiden with 8 points, Evan McKinley pitched in 5. Chad Nort added a big 7 boards. Daman Abner scores his first varsity points of his career. Very well rounded team effort by the Lions. The Lions take to the State Tournament next Saturday @ Mason v Indian Hill. Game time is at 12:30.

Lions finish Sectional runner-up, eight still in the hunt for March Madness!

The Wrestling Lions had a strong weekend at sectionals Friday and Saturday. The top four placers in each weight class move on to districts next weekend @ Goshen. Eight Lions will wrestle next Friday and Saturday with the ultimate goal of wrestling in the State Tournament March 1st and 2nd. The team finished second behind Ross.

The Lions had three champions, Kevin Reid, James White and JR Forsee. Two runner-ups, Clay Loadman and Nathan Dixon. Nathan Rostetter and Justin Patrick finished third. Tristan Williams finished fourth, Bobby Bingham, AJ Rostetter and Roney Berwanger finished sixth. WE ARE NR!!

Tournament Win for Lady Lions

The Varsity Lady Lions Basketball team won its first-round sectional tournament game over Wyoming today, 50-35. After a slow start through two and a half quarters, NR took off mid-way through the 3rd led by Josie Buckingham who finished with a triple-double: 25 pts, 18 rebs, 10 blk. Freshman point guard Maren Hance chipped in 12 points while Tina Lawrence dished 6 assists to go along with her 5 points. It was a good win that earned them the chance to take on Bethel-Tate on Thursday in the second round at 730.

Swimmers finish strong in district meet

New Richmond High School swimmers finished strong in the Ohio High School Athletic Association district swim meet at Miami University Feb. 16 including school record performances by the girls 200 medley and 400 freestyle relay teams.

The 200 free relay consisting of Jessica Nazareth, Ashlee Lewis, Megan Woolum and Kara Burns finished in 16th place and set a school reocrd with a time of 1:51.74 and the 400 yd. free relay team consisting of Paige Anderson, Alicia Bailey, Jessica Nazareth and Megan Woolum who finished in 17th place with a time of 4:11.66. All the girls in each relay swam their personal best times.

Lady Lions swimmers (from left) Claire Burns, Alicia Bailey, Megan Woolum, Paige Anderson, Kara Burns, Ashlee Lewis, Jessica Nazareth and Ann Bishop turned in school record performances in the 2013 district meet at Miami University.

The 200 medley relay consisting of Claire Burns (backstroke), Kara Burns (breaststroke), Ann Bishop (butterfly), and Megan Woolum (freestyle) finished in 22nd place with a personal best time of 2:08.93. They missed breaking a school record by .76 of a second.

Kara Burns finished in 17th place in the 500 freestyle with a time of 5:48.10.

"Kara is a Senior and she was successful in going to Districts all 4 years," noted NRHS swim coach Judy Middeler. "In her career, she has managed to break three school records and has been a great catalysts in getting other girls to take swimming serious and to work hard enough to get to Districts."

New Richmond High School swim coaches Judy Middeler and Joseph Middeler with  swimmers (Back row from left)  Tyler David, Henry Bezold and Cole Bird  and (Front row from left) Derek Gelter, Nick Flake and Colt Reese after their strong performances in the 2013 OHSAA district swim meet at Miami University.

The NRHS boys swim team also recorded strong finishes in the district meet with Tyler David finishing in 10th place in the 500 freestyle with his personal best time of 4:59.35. He placed 26 overall in the state with that time. Tyler finished in 11th place in the 200 freestyle with his best time of 1:51.33.

The boys 200 medley relay consisting of Tyler David (backstroke), Henry Bezold (breastsroke), Cole Bird (butterfly), and Derek Gelter (freestyle) finished in 22nd place with a personal best time of 1:56.43. All 4 boys had their best split times for the season.

The 200 free relay consisting of Nick Flake, Derek Gelter, Cole Bird and Tyler David finished in 21st place with a time of 1:42.00. All 4 boys had their best split times for the season.