After 30 years as a wrestling coach, Springfield's Tim Dishong will be looking to find something else to fill the winter months.
Dishong has announced his retirement after 22 years. He has been a part of the Blue Devils' coaching staff for 28 years and has been involved in coaching for 30.
"This is going to be it," Dishong said. "I'll miss the relationships with the kids and the coaches. I never worried about winter taking a long time. For me it goes fast because I'm always in the gym coaching wrestling. We have fun all the time. I love the interaction with the kids at practice and at meets and on the road."
Dishong said he made the decision because he wants to spend more time with his family. He said his son Brian, who is a doctor, will be living in Alabama.
"I wanted to free myself up so I could go see him," Dishong said.
Dishong will be inducted into the Ohio High School Athletic Association's wrestling hall of fame at the state meet next month.
"That's pretty cool," Dishong said. "I saw my coach, Mr. Hoover [Dick Hoover], get in 20 years ago. I saw that and so I'm pretty excited about it."
Dishong said he told the team prior to the season that he was retiring.
Recknagel tradition
The Northern Lakes League wrestling tournament included a special moment between a son and his coach/dad at their home mat at Rossford on Saturday.
Rossford senior D.J. Recknagel pinned Anthony Wayne's Alex Bridges in the final of the 189-pound weight class to win his third NLL title.
Ron Recknagel, Rossford's coach and D.J.'s father, won two NLL titles as a Bulldog. His son is just the second three-time league champ in school history.
"I want my kids to do better than I did," Recknagel said. "I won two titles. He won three. I'm good with that. I went to the state tournament once. I want him to go twice. It's very emotional. I'm so proud of him as a dad and a coach."
Recknagel had won the 171-pound weight class last year and Bridges had won at 189.
"Alex is one of my real good buddies and he's a heck of a wrestler," D.J. said." To get that pin felt so great. That's the best way to do it."
Recknagel (30-1) pinned Bridges with 1:09 left in the first period. He bounded up after the fall and pounded his chest before embracing his dad.
Rossford was competing in its last NLL tournament before moving to the Northern Buckeye Conference next year.
Sectionals begin
The road to Columbus for area wrestlers begins Friday and Saturday with sectionals.
Division I competion is Saturday, with Clay hosting.
Wrestlers from Bowling Green, Findlay and Fremont Ross are included in the eight-team D-I field at Marion Harding.
The top four placers in each of the 14 weights divisions at all D-I, D-II and D-III sectional sites earn berths to next week's districts.
In Division II sectional at Napoleon, a strong nine-team field includes three state-ranked teams -- No. 2 Oak Harbor, the Sandusky Bay Conference champion; No. 5 Wauseon, the Northwest Ohio Athletic League champion; and No. 8 Central Catholic, the City League runner-up.
D-II sectionals will also be held at Shelby and Lima Shawnee.
Most area D-III tream will be at Archbold, Elmwood and Huron high schools.
Genoa, Lake and Woodmore will send its wrestlers to Huron.
D-III sectionals are also set for Carey, Plymouth and Lima Central Catholic.
The D-I district tournament is set for Lorain High School, the D-II district is scheduled for Marion Harding, and the D-III qualifiers from Archbold, Elmwood and Huron will be at district event at Owens Community College.
HOCKEY
Districts underway
District tournament action opened on Monday when Whitmer took a 4-2 victory over Clay at Tam-O-Shanter.
Thursday night Findlay faced Fremont Ross, while and Central Catholic played Maumee. Thursday night, Anthony Wayne faces Springfield at 6, and Northview meets Perrysburg at 8. On Saturday Bowling Green takes on Southview at 6 p.m., then St. John's Jesuit plays Ottawa Hills at 8.
Awaiting Whitmer in the quarterfinals is top-seeded St. Francis de Sales, which drew a first-round bye. The Knights play Whitmer at 8 p.m. Tuesday, following a 6 p.m. quarterfinal between the Findlay-Ross winner against the Central-Maumee winner. Wednesday's quarterfinals have the St. John's-Ottawa Hills winner facing the BG-Southview winner at 6, and the Northview-Perrysburg winner meeting the Anthony Wayne-Springfield winner at 8 p.m.
The semifinals are 7 p.m. Feb. 25 and 26, and the championship at 7 p.m. on March 5.
Generals win White
Anthony Wayne' (22-7-2) took the Northwest Hockey Conference White Division tournament title, beating Maumee 7-0 in the semifinals, then edging Bedford 7-6 in a shootout.
Zach Ulrich, Chris Watkins and Aaron Podbielniak scored in the shootout for the Generals .
Against Maumee, AW was led by the goal scoring of Cal Johnson and Aaron Podbielniak. Chris Podbielniak made 24 saves in net to record a shutout.
Bedford had advanced to the championship game by beating Central Catholic, 6-3. The Irish won the regular season title.
Fremont Ross won the Blue Division tournament title, while Springfield won the regular season title.
BOWLING
BG boys, girls win NLL
Bowling Green's girls and boys teams each dominated last Saturday to claim Northern Lakes League bowling championships at Interstate Lanes in Rossford.
With their respective tournament wins, each Bobcate team earned 24 points added to the two points awarded for each match won during the regular season.
On Saturday, the BG boys had the top four individual series en route to a winning score of 3,894. Rossford was second at 3,558.
Juan Ybanes led the Bobcats and the tournament with games of 215 and 204 in his 613 series. Cameron Walter bowled a 214 and 589, Jon Saddler had games of 209 and 206 in his 588 series, and Ryan Chesser contributed 204 and 577 to the effort.
After going undefeated during the season, the Bobcat girls totaled 3,246 and topped second-place Anthony Wayne by 674 pins.
BG was led by Kelsey Parker with a 207 game and 531 series, Denise Miller added games of 183 and 182 in her 504 series, and Eclipse Stockwell had a 181 and 491.
Most of the NLL teams will be competing this weekend in the sectional in Napoleon. The girls will compete Friday and the boys on Saturday. The top six teams advance to the district at Interstate Lanes on Feb. 25-26.
SWIMMING
Perrysburg, Napoleon rule
Perrysburg's boys and girls swimming teams claimed Division I sectional swimming titles at Napoleon. while the host Wildcats swept the Division II crowns.
Perryburg's Bryce Fowler won the 50 free (25.07) and 100 free (55.86), while Alex Kloster took the 200 free (1:59.17) and 500 free (5:15.16).
Napoleon's Spencer Witt also won the 200 individual medley (2:06.31) and 200 free (1:34.80). Wauseon's Jacob McElrath took the 200 free (1:51.55) and 500 free (5:02.15).
Perrysburg's Kelsey Mefferd, Shannon Hambro, Karissa Gordon and Nichole Henderson got the Perrysburg girls rolling with a win in the 200 medley relay. They also won the 200 free relay.
Mefferd had victories in the 200 IM (2:25.10) and 500 free (5:26.51).
Napoleon's girls won all but two events. The Wildcats' Erika Vocke won the 200 free (1:59.33) and 100 free (54.6).
First Published February 17, 2011, 6:03 a.m.
