MEDINA — Tom Harrington will have the opportunity to coach his current and former players a final time.
Harrington recently completed his first season as coach of the Buckeye boys basketball team, but for years he was Joe Mackey’s lead assistant at Brunswick.
Tom Harrington
The schools will combine with Black River tonight to make up a team at the “Hoopla!” Medina County Senior All-Star Game and will be opposed by old Suburban League rivals Cloverleaf, Highland and Wadsworth as well as Medina.
The doors to Medina’s Richard H. Clevidence Gymnasium will open at 6 o’clock tonight. The girls 3-point shooting contest and game will begin the 27th annual event, followed by the boys version.
The Ohio High School Athletic Association sent out a memo earlier in the season to point out a longstanding state rule that permitted only three players per school in an all-star game had been abolished. “Hoopla” officials decided to move forward with a limit of four players per school.
Composing Harrington’s team will be Black River’s Allan Benson, Derek Hawley and Brandon Heath; Brunswick’s Michael Quiring, Zach Cebula, Kevin Simmons and Aaron Badowski; and Buckeye’s Nathan Polidori, Liam Murray, Nick Wills and Justin Lowry.
Opposing them will be Highland coach Adam Cestaro’s unit of the Hornets’ Joe Wiencek, Isaac Matejin, Brandon Shaw and Collin Levandowski; Cloverleaf’s Timmy Schuerger, Michael Martin, Levi Grimm and Jeff Gilbert; Medina’s Jimmy Clark and Matthew McNaughton; and Wadsworth’s Alec Booth, Kyle Larj, Connor Montgomery and Daniel Weinerman.
The 3-point contest should be a dandy, as Cebula, Benson, Schuerger and Medina junior Jackson Sartain will compete. The quartet combined for an eye-popping 235 threes this season.
The girls game will have an unusual feel, as Division I state champion Wadsworth will not be represented. The Grizzlies have their season-ending banquet tonight, meaning first-team All-Ohioan Jodi Johnson, Jenna Johnson and Laurel Palitto will not be in attendance.
Medina coach Karen Kase will pilot the Patriot Athletic Conference/Greater Cleveland Conference team of the Bees’ Jessie Holzman and Margaret Swiecicki; Brunswick’s Farrah Benner, Danielle Razzante and Jessica Skrzypek; and Buckeye’s Kayla Glancy, Sam Hritz and Morgan Hama. Black River did not have any seniors this season, while Medina’s Clover Kaple is recovering from ACL surgery.
Opposing them will be Highland coach Mike Moser’s contingent of Cloverleaf’s Kassandra Kemp, Kayla Wilson, Erian Hamilton and Anna Winnicki and the Hornets’ Madison Less, Kathleen Kirchner, Sam Catron and Alli Esker. The Colts’ Lexi Civittolo chose not to play, while Highland’s Marlee Profitt is recovering from ACL surgery.
The 3-point contest will feature Cloverleaf’s Jillian Miglich, Benner, Glancy and Medina’s Delaney Cullen.