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Daniel Koch: From prep standout at St. John to Ironman

NEW YORK - He was a star athlete in high school. Now, Daniel Koch is conquering new and brutal athletic challenges. The St. John Central product is a successful businessmen in New York City. While not investing time in the real estate business, Koch is investing it in athletic training. Koch was a three-sport star with the Fighting Irish. As a senior, he helped SJC go 9-1 in football while earning the school’s lone OHSAA playoff berth. He then finished third in the D-III state wrestling tournament while capping his brilliant career with a sixth-place finish in the state track meet ...

Lewicki brings enthusiasm to WJU baseball

WHEELING — You can’t fake passion. Ryan Lewicki has it. Be it the game of baseball or Wheeling Jesuit University, Lewicki oozes passion. The John Marshall grad is the new head baseball coach at WJU. He didn’t take the post until Feb. 6, giving him virtually no time to prepare for the current season. That is a major challenge when you have 36 new players to deal with. Lewicki was formally introduced last Saturday at Wheeling Jesuit’s First Pitch Dinner. The posh event also honored Terry Edwards. He started the Cardinals’ baseball program after a long and successful ...

Jesuit hoop team made history in 1988-89 season

WHEELING - Time flies, especially if you are a Cardinal. This March marks 30 years since the Wheeling Jesuit University men’s basketball team made history. It was then when Coach Jay DeFruscio’s locally-flavored squad won the school’s first regular-season conference title before making its initial national tournament appearance in Kansas City. That 1988-89 squad won its first 22 games and finished with a stellar 31-4 mark. Three Cardinal starters were OVAC products: Shawn Straughn and Dave Foose from Bishop Donahue and Martins Ferry’s Doug Kepreos. Straughn finished his ...

WHEELING — The Cardinals are starting to take flight. It hasn’t been the best of seasons for Wheeling Jesuit University men’s basketball. That comes as no surprise. Highly successful head coach Dan Sancomb was bizarrely dismissed last spring. His termination remains a head-scratcher to this day. Sancomb’s large shoes were filled by John Peckinpaugh. He was an assistant at NCAA D-I Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne a year ago. Prior to that, Peckinpaugh spent three seasons as the head coach at NAIA Division II Indiana Tech. If replacing one of the premier coaches in NCAA D-II ...

River grad Bell reaches coaching with 500 victories

WHEELING - Forty-eight years is a long time. In prep coaching circles, it is an eternity. But for Bob Bell a near half-century of coaching high school basketball as flown by with no end in sight. The former River High hoop great reached a major milestone recently. Bell collected his 500th varsity coaching win via a 55-46 triumph over Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin. He began his coaching career as jayvee mentor for Kent State High School, shortly after finishing his collegiate playing career for the Golden Flashes. His first head coaching position was with Skyvue in 1975. “Reaching ...

Panther Classic has 29-team field despite no teams from W.Va.

Despite not having a school from West Virginia, the Ohio Coatings Panther Classic Wrestling Tournament has a field of 29 teams entered for Saturday’s event at Buckeye Local High School in Connorville. The Mountain State is staging its regional tournaments this weekend for area teams in East Fairmont (Class A/AA) and Morgantown (Class AAA). The top 4 qualifiers in each weight class advance to the state tournament in Huntington on Feb. 21-23. Nineteen of the entrants are from the Buckeye State. The other 10 are from Pennsylvania. Ohio squads in addition to the Panthers are ...