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Crutchfield enjoys time in Florida

FORT LAUDERDALE — Jim Crutchfield embraces a challenge, make that major challenges. Fourteen years ago, he took over a 4-23 West Liberty men’s basketball team. He turned the Hilltoppers into 20-game winners in his initial season at the helm. The Clarksburg native followed that program-changing campaign with 12 more seasons of remarkable success, compiling an amazing 359-61 mark for an .855 winning percentage, highest in college basketball history. His teams won 20-plus games every season and more than 30 on five occasions, including leading the Hilltoppers to the national title ...

Barnesville grad helps to shape Olympic success

BARNESVILLE — Nicole Detling is one of the finest athletes in Barnesville High history. Now, some 25 years later, Dr. Detling is helping elite athletes excel at the highest of levels. Detling was a track and hoop star for the Shamrocks before taking her vast athletic and academic talents to Ohio Wesleyan. She is now training Olympic athletes, including 44 in the recently concluded Winter Games in South Korea. After graduating Ohio Wesleyan, Detling earned her master’s degree from Ithaca College and her doctorate from the University of Utah. Soon after, she helped to form a ...

Joseph remembered for more than track and CC

SHADYSIDE — In nearly 20 years in this profession, I’ve written a handful of memorial columns. And in full disclosure mode, none are easy, but the one you are about to read was by far the most difficult. Monday afternoon at Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown, the Ohio Valley sports community lost not only an impactful person, but also one of its biggest supporters. Shadyside resident Arthur “Butch” Joseph — a member of the OVAC Hall of Fame — died at the age of 73 after a corageous battle with an illness. Though Joseph liked all sports and coached many, it was in ...

OV Coaching Clinic moving to Weir High

WEIRTON — The third annual Ohio Valley Coaching Clinic is on the move. The popular football session is the brainchild of Ohio Valley native and current Emporia State University defensive coordinator Bryan Nardo. The first two clinics were staged in Wheeling and met with solid success. This year’s event will be held at Weir High. It is scheduled for Thursday, March 22 from 6-9:30 p.m. The reason for northward relocation? “The move to Weir was brought up last year at the end of the clinic. Coach (Tony) Filberto and Coach (Troy) Fetty both talked to me after the clinic to tell ...

Ejections occurring all too frequently in hoops

COLUMBUS — Sportsmanship has been a hot-button issue with the Ohio High School Athletic Association for many years. The OHSAA has poured a lot of effort into its ‘Respect the Game’ moniker. Unfortunately, as it’s pertained to this basketball season, the message has evidently fallen on deaf ears. Ejections are occurring all across the Buckeye State at seemingly an alarming rate and the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference membership hasn’t been immune either. As of earlier this week, five OVAC members — Barnesville, Bridgeport, St. Clairsville, Shadyside and Shenandoah ...

Young Hartlieb taking artistic gymnastics to new heights

SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ. — Big things can come in small packages. Austyn Marsala Hartlieb is 11 years of age and packs just 51 pounds on her 4-6 frame. The diminutive dynamo, however, performs at a huge level when it comes to gymnastics. So much so, Hartlieb, with deep Ohio Valley roots, has a resume already stuffed with championships. The most recent title came earlier this month in a prestigious and talent-laden tournament in California. Hartlieb is the daughter of Mark and Angela Hartlieb. Mark is a Bellaire native and former baseball standout at St. John Central, owning the ...