Fall Sports Preview — Southwest Conference
By Zachary Dzurick
Sports
Published Nov. 23, 2005

(Editor's note: See the published edition of West Life for a complete list of schools and conferences.)

North Olmsted Volleyball
Coach Jason Krucek's team finished 11-12 overall in his first year as the girls coach.

"The girls played great defense all season that kept them in many games. I was excited to see the improvement in the program from the bottom up. The younger players really worked to get better, and the program has a bright future."

Awards: first team SWC, Honorable mention All-district - Brittany Donelan (Jr.); Second team SWC - Alyssa Loparich (Jr); Honorable Mention SWC - Becca Holzworth (Sr), Caitlin Bayus, (Jr)

Donelan also set schools records with 51 digs against Brecksville, 576 digs for the season and she led the area in digs per game with eight.

"Watching Kara Lauver go from a season ending injury last year after the conference meet to running incredible times was a season highlight," Pochatek said. "My outlook for next season is without a doubt a positive one. Kaela's been cleared by her doctor to begin running again and all of my strong sophomores (Andria Bazilevich, Brittany Busse, Nicole Georgalis, Kara Gut, Kara Heitmann and Siobhan Hein) will be back next year, so things look very promising. Like I always say this time of year -- I can't wait until next year."

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Awards: Kara Lauver - second overall in SWC, first team SWC, Academic All-Ohio, third at district, regional and state qualifer, Academic All-Ohio, school record holder; Second team SWC/ regional qualifiers: Brittany Busse, Nicole Georgalis; Honorable Mention SWC/ regional qualifier - Kara Gut; Regional qualifiers- Alyssa Heitmann, Kara Heitmann.

"It was our highest finish in the conference in years," Strohl said. "The performance of the team exceeded my expectations. The big reason was consistent play of seniors Colin McKenney, Kyle McCarthy and Drew Skapes."

Awards: Colin McKenney - First team SWC, district qualifier, team MVP, team Birdie Award; John Bixler - SWC honorable mention, Coaches' Award; Kyle McCathy - team Most Improved player award, Honorable mention SWC.

Girls golf: Honorable Mention SWC - Sarah Hickernell, Christina Rodman.

Girls soccer: Mandi Bäck- First team SWC, SWC MVP, All Greater Cleveland MVP, First team All Ohio, All Midwest, All American; Shannon Eccleston - First team SWC, Second team All District, Katie Berry - Second team SWC, Honorable Mention All District; Kelsi Fisher - Honorable Mention All District; Meghan Hall - second team SWC, third team All District; Jenna Madison - second team all SWC; Honorable Mention SWC and all district: Amanda Spence, Amy Spence and Kori Wiedt.

Boys soccer: First team SWC- Casey Prusha; Second team SWC - Brad Stumpf, Dan Trapp; Academic All-State - Ben Stumpf, Andrew Sulzer; Honorable Mention All Greater Cleveland - Robert Heine, Brian Lauer, Justin Simon, Brad Stumpf, Dan Trapp.

Boys cross country: Second team SWC - Nick Edmonds, Cody Thomas; Honorable mention SWC- Dan Bullard, Jamie Roeder; District qualifiers- Edmonds and Roeder.

Football: First team SWC - Jeff Brown, James Foley, Jim Hunt, Kevin Kern, Steven Price, Pete Taylor; Second team SWC - TJ Murphy, Brett Scarl; Honorable Mention SWC - Brian Austin, Nicholas Stulock.

"Our finishing the season in second place when we were expecting this to be a 'rebuilding year', with 50 percent of the team being first year players, was definitely a highlight," Conner said. "Without a doubt, the outstanding players were Leah Babal and Katie Gallagher. First year letterwomen were: Jessica Campbell (Sr), Caitlin Beck (Jr), and freshmen Nicole Cantrell and Claire Campbell."

Awards: First Team All Conference - Katie Gallagher (Second in the whole conference); Second Team All Conference - Leah Babal; Honorable Mention All Conference - Jessica Campbell, Nicole Cantrell; District Awards - Second Team All District - Katie Gallagher;

Honorable Mention All District - Leah Babal and Jessica Campbell; Academic All Ohio - Leah Babal and Katie Gallagher.

"We needed to fill a big void in the setting position and Devon Skunta-Helmink did an outstanding job," Moses said. "We are disappointed in our second place conference finish, but Amherst was a great team and stayed focused the whole year."

Awards: First team SWC- Alex Brown, Lauren Whyte; Second team SWC - Amanda Paydock; Honorable Mention SWC - Meghan Mental, Sarah Mlady; All-District - Brown; Second team All-District - Paydock; Honorable Mention- Devon Skunta-Helmink; All-State second team - Brown.

"Although our overall record doesn't necessarily reflect it," Zebrowski said. "The team really came together by the end of the season and improved tremendously."

Awards: First team SWC - Chris Leemars, Art Norton; Second team SWC - Ryan Gratzer; Honorable Mention SWC - Justin Marquardt, Brad Tarr; Scholar Athlete - Gratzer

Awards: Most Valuable Player-Traci Edmunds; Captain Award-Jill Prexta, Alex Polgar; Most Improved- Kaleigh McMahon; Coach's Award- Anne Hertl; Most Dedicated- Maura Ruane; Lady Demon Award: Julie Wise; SWC Scholar Athlete-Jill Prexta; First Team All Conference SWC - Traci Edmunds, Anne Hertl; Second Team All Conference SWC - Kaleigh McMahon; Honorable Mention All Conference SWC - Maura Ruane, Julie Wise; Fourth Year Award: Jill Prexta; Third Year Award: Alex Polgar, Traci Edmunds, Anne Hertl; Second Year Award: Maura Ruane, Julie Wise, Kaleigh McMahon; First Year Award: Aimee Polgar; SWC Coach of the Year: Mary Beth Schneidler.

"After losing our top two runners from last year and adding a number of new varsity contributors this season, we finished about where we expected unfortunately," Haselwerdt said. " We knew we just weren't ready to compete with the elite teams of the conference this year. As a result, we focused more on improvement throughout the season, and we were pleased with what took place."

Conference Awards: SWC honorable mention- Aubree Bailey, Jen Tomasch.

Team Awards: MVP- Jen Tomasch; Most Improved- Kayleigh Majercak, Kelsie Majercak; Coaches Award- Molly Bartkiewicz; Scholar Athlete- Sheetal Kotha; Newcomer Award- Lauren Tafuri.

Season Highlights: Kelsie and Kayleigh Majercak improved a ton from their previous seasons to run several 5K and course PR's and to run varsity for the first time in their careers.

"They took this season very seriously and put in a lot of miles over the summer, and it showed," Haselwerdt said. "They are a great sign of what you can do if you dedicate yourself to something."

The coach was pleased with his captain even though she did not have the season that many expected for her.

"Molly Bartkiewicz struggled through injuries all season long, but led the team as a fine captain regardless of health or whether she was competing or not," Haselwerdt said. "She did all I asked this season and she did a fine job.

"All our matches in the SWC were very competitive," Horwatt said. "Finishing tied for second in the regular season was a big accomplishment for a team with only one senior. I am very proud of my student-athletes."

Awards: Second team SWC - Jake Kelly; Honorable Mention - Sean Flynn, Mike Benko

"I thought we had a tremendous season," Besu said. "We blew one game that cost us conference. We were very young and only lose two starters. We look to be able to contend for state next year."

Awards: First team SWC - Scot Sherwood, Danny Schade, Dave Schade; Second team SWC - Dylan Rooney, Pat Pavlik; Honorable Mention - Alex Field, Bobby Hilt; All Greater Cleveland First team/All Ohio/Team MVP - Danny Schade; AGC Third team- Dave Schade; AGC Honorable Mention - Field, Pavlik, Rooney, Hilt, Sherwood; Team Defensive Player- Field; Team Offensive Player - Sherwood; Most Improved - Hilt, Peter Klein; Coaches Award - Pavlik; Sportsmanship - Ryan Silver.

Awards: First team SWC second singles - Lauren Voiers (Fr); Second team SWC first doubles - Lauren Koehler and Laura Nedorost.

Westlake Girls Soccer
Coach Scott Jones's young team finished 10-8-1.

"A lot of young players were able to gain some valuable experience that will pay off next season," Jones said. "With such a young team, our seniors did a great job of leading us and providing a strong work ethic for the younger players to follow."

Awards: MVP Varsity - Tara McCrone; MVP Offense - Brooke Henderson; MVP Defense - Krysta Falasca; Coaches Award - Rachael Draper, Jacqui Dilillo; Most Improved Varsity - Jennifer Evans, Sarah Higgs, Alexis Steffas; First team SWC - McCrone; Second team SWC - Henderson, Dilillo; Honorable Mention SWC - Draper, Falasca; All Greated Cleveland First team - McCrone; AGC Second team - Henderson; AGC Honorable Mention - Dilillo, Falasca, Emil Vicarel, Amelia Serrat.

Westlake Volleyball
Coach Dan Berkheimer's team finished with a 16-8 record. Six of those losses were to state ranked teams. The Lady Demons were sectional champions.

"Individual and state records were set by Sharon Guzik, Katelynn Riley and Jessie McGrath, Brittany Tompkins and Ashley Dreher," Berkheimer said. "The team played very competitive volleyball in every match and survived the toughest schedule in Westlake history."

Awards: First team SWC - Sharon Guzik, Katelynn Riley; Second team SWC - Jessie McGrath; Honorable Mention - Heather Pyle, Ashley Dreher; First team District - Guzik; Second team District - Riley; Honorable Mention District - McGrath.