It was a tough week for Marion-area high school baseball and softball teams. The only squad still playing this postseason is Highland in baseball.Marion Harding wrapped up the boys tennis season by earning a piece of the Mid Ohio Athletic Conference regular season championship, beating Pleasant 4-1 with all four wins coming in three sets in the finale.Dozens of area athletes made it out of track and field districts and will compete this week in Division II and III regional meets held around the state.Not counting relays, there were 15 individual district champions in track and field. Fans are asked to pick their favorite boys and girls accomplishments among this group for the Marion Star’s latest athlete of the week polls. Folks are encouraged to vote as often as allowed at MarionStar.com and its app through early morning on June 1.Here are the nominees:Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.

Marion Star Boys Best of the Week Performer Poll

• North Union’s Wyatt Davis went 20 feet, 8 inches in the Division II long jump.
• Highland’s Jett Black went 14 feet in the Division II pole vault.
• Mount Gilead’s Will Baker ran 4 minutes, 21.83 seconds in the 1600 meters and 9:29.3 in the 3200 in Division II.
• Mount Gilead’s Kasen Wallace went 12 feet in the Division II pole vault.
• Northmor’s Cowin Becker went 22 feet, 6 3/4 inches in the Division III long jump.
• Northmor’s Thomas Detwiler went 45 feet, 4 inches in the Division III shot put.
• Northmor’s Owen Yunker ran 16.17 seconds in the 110-meter hurdles in Division III.

Marion Star Girls Best of the Week Performer Poll

• River Valley’s Finley Blevins went 11 feet in the Division II pole vault.
• North Union’s Gabby Lindsey ran 57.86 seconds in the 400 meters and 25.8 in the 200 in Division II.
• Pleasant’s Taydon Obenour ran 16.3 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles in Division III.
• Northmor’s Layla Castle ran 2 minutes, 23.09 seconds in the 800 meters in Division III.
• Northmor’s Natalie Hunter went 10 feet in the Division III pole vault.
• Elgin’s Kadence Gear went 5 feet in the Division III high jump.
• Mount Gilead’s Abby Leonhard went 35 feet, 1 inches in the Division III shot put.
• Mount Gilead’s Gwen Hershner went 9 feet, 1 inch in the Division III pole vault.

Last week’s winners

There were 795 votes in last week’s girls poll, and Highland softball’s Saylor Squires won it with 346 votes for 44 percent. Squires hit a double and two singles, plus pitched a 6-hitter with 6 strikeouts and 3 walks in a tournament win over Buckeye Valley. Other nominees were Gear, River Valley softball’s Samantha Woods, Lindsey, Marion Harding softball’s Raina Smith and Ridgedale track’s Maddie McKenzie.

There were 685 votes in last week’s boys poll, and Highland baseball’s Kort Sears won it with 386 votes for 56 percent. Sears pitched a no-hitter with a pair of walks and nine strikeouts, plus hit a double in a win over Ontario. Other nominees were Cardington baseball’s Josh Goers, North Union track’s Griffin Osborne, Pleasant baseball’s Owen Lowry, Ridgedale track’s Brogan Weston and Becker.

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Text and Video produced by James Chung

Pranav Iyer, Founder and CEO of AMAZN HQ, sat down with AsAm News to share his story from NFL dreams to creating the premiere media company showcasing Asian American sports talent.

Born in Cupertino California, Pranav was first inspired by sports during an elementary book report. He told us “Looking through the library and ended up stumbling upon a book about Brett Favre. The recess after that book report was the first time I really actually played football.

I fell in love with football from that day and my dream in life is to play in the NFL.” 

He kept playing football through high school, landing an opportunity to play at Chapman University. While at Chapman, Pranav was the only Asian American on the team. Feeling a renewed sense of his Indian American identity he made it a point to help educate his peers and proudly represent his culture.

He pursued sports journalism while in school which first sparked his idea for creating AMAZN HQ.

“There were so many inspirational trailblazing athletes of Asian descent that came before me that I could have looked up to had I known their stories. Two, there were so many athletes my own age who were doing the same things as I was in different areas of this country that were Asian that if I had known who they were, I could have felt so much less isolation in my journey. I was like, ‘There’s something like this that needs to be started,’” Iyer stated.

He bought a camera and reached out to start filming games. Dealing with the ups and downs of the Pandemic, Pranav went to grad school and eventually got a job at ESPN. After gaining valuable experience at ESPN, he began working on AMAZN HQ full time. He and his partners created their own basketball showcase highlighting the best Asian hoopers across North American and has even partnered with the NFL, NBA, and Team USA.

While being able to cover the biggest Asian American athletes in the world, he still prides himself on telling the stories of the unsung heroes, the ones on the grassroots level making a difference. When speaking about the original content on these athletes he told us 

When other times no one else will give them that opportunity or they’re not telling the other side of their story, right? It’s not just about the numbers but it’s also about like, wow they’re doing something historic for their community.”

With his journey just getting started. Pranav had one goal for starting AMAZN HQ that still stands true “To show sports fans, non-sports fans what is possible for them in life.”

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ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Section Five high schools are gearing up for a busy week of playoff action. Despite Memorial Day giving students a break, the sports schedule is packed with events that fans won’t want to miss.

Baseball fans can look forward to the Triple-A best-of-three series between McQuaid and Fairport starting Tuesday at Monroe Community College. Classes A, B, and D will play their quarterfinals on Tuesday, while Double-A and C will compete in the semifinals on Wednesday. Finals for Classes Double-A through D are set for Friday.

In softball, Classes Triple-A, Single-A, C1, and C2 have their quarterfinals on Tuesday. Semifinals for B1 and B2 are also scheduled for Tuesday. Thursday will see the semifinals for AAA, AA, A’s, the C’s, and the D’s, with finals planned for Saturday.

Girls lacrosse action kicks off with Class B and C quarterfinals on Tuesday. The Class A and D semifinals are set for Wednesday, with championships scheduled for next week. Class C and D’s championships are scheduled for Tuesday, June 3, while A and B are planned for Wednesday, June 4. On the boys’ side, all classes will host their quarterfinals on Tuesday, with semifinals beginning Friday. Title games are planned for next week. Class C and D’s championships are scheduled for Monday, June 2, while A and B are planned for Tuesday, June 3.

Flag football is set to crown a Class A champion Tuesday night at 6 pm in a matchup between Penfield and Fairport. Classes B and C will have their championship games on Wednesday. All flag football finals will take place at Monroe Community College.

News10NBC will provide highlights and scores throughout the week. Classes are determined by school enrollment, and more information on that can be found here.

AI assisted with the formatting of this story. Click here to see how WHEC News10NBC uses AI

Sheridan played in the state tournament in just their first year of existence.

Click here to see results from the state tournament.

Northeast: (Quadrant Record listed first, then Overall Record)

Thunder Basin 5-1, 20-8

Sheridan 4-2, 19-11-2

Campbell County 3-3, 33-5

Worland 0-6, 3-26

Northwest: (Quadrant Record listed first, then Overall Record)

Kelly Walsh 4-2, 14-13

Cody 4-2, 13-17

Natrona County 4-2, 16-16

Jackson 0-6, 1-25

Southeast: (Quadrant Record listed first, then Overall Record)

Cheyenne East 5-1, 28-10

Wheatland 4-2, 18-11-1

Cheyenne Central 3-3, 24-12

Torrington 0-6, 7-22

Southwest: (Quadrant Record listed first, then Overall Record)

Laramie 5-1, 19-11

Rock Springs 4-2, 11-17-1

Green River 2-4, 9-18

Cheyenne South 1-5, 2-17

Softball Scores from last week:

Natrona County 10 Laramie 9

Cheyenne Central 20 Sheridan 17

Cheyenne East 13 Cody 3

Campbell County 10 Rock Springs 0

Cheyenne Central 9 Natrona County 5

Cheyenne East 11 Campbell County 3

Laramie 9 Sheridan 8

Cody 11 Rock Springs 8

Campbell County 19 Laramie 18

Natrona County 14 Cody 12

Campbell County 12 Natrona County 11

Cheyenne Central 5 Cheyenne East 0

Campbell County 10 Cheyenne East 6

Campbell County 29 Cheyenne Central 9

Campbell County 17 Cheyenne Central 12

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Jill Clark remembers the game like it was yesterday. 

She and her Ardmore teammates were tied in the waning seconds against DAR in the regional finals, and with a trip to sub-state on the line, Clark took the ball with 8 seconds left and drove the lane. 

By the time the final buzzer had sounded, Clark had scored a career-high 41 points to propel the Tigers to a 78-76 victory. 

“That is the one high school memory that I will never forget,” said the 2025 Limestone County Sports Hall of Fame inductee. “Playing on the road at DAR was always tough and that game was no different. They were ranked third in the state when we played them. As a kid growing up, it is a basketball player’s dream to hit a shot at the buzzer to win a championship.  And then to see all of our parents and fans storm the court celebrating was something that will forever be stretched in my memory.”

Clark’s performance at DAR was one of her many highlights as a three-sport star at Ardmore, where she was a multi-year starter in basketball, softball and volleyball.

 She averaged over 20 points per game during her last three years playing basketball. During her senior season, Clark averaged 21.1 points, 7.8 rebounds and 6.3 assists per game while leading the Tigers to a 23-7 record. She was named to the Class 3A All-State team and was a USA Today Honorable Mention All-American selection.  She was an All-Area and All-County selection in both softball and volleyball. 

She was also the center fielder for the softball team that won the 1993 state championship. 

“I had great teammates throughout high school,” said Clark. “We were close. A lot of us played fast-pitch softball in the summer together. The Ardmore community was great. They really supported us. I enjoyed playing for Coach (Mike) Jackson. He is a great person and pushed us girls to be the very best we could be.”

Jackson says that Clark was an intense competitor. 

“Jill simply didn’t like to lose. I coached her in basketball and softball. In basketball, she made it tough for our opponents to get the basketball past mid-court. She scored a lot of her points on layups because she had so many steals in the backcourt. I could play her anywhere on the softball field. She was that good of a softball player. She was a really good player in all the sports she participated in at Ardmore,” said Jackson. 

A highly recruited athlete, Clark had 26 college basketball scholarship offers but wanted to stay close to home and chose Martin Methodist College to continue her basketball career. 

“My goal was always to play Division 1 basketball. I attended Coach Pat Summitt’s basketball camps at the University of Tennessee during the summers in high school and made some all-camp teams. Attending those camps inspired me to work hard and hopefully one day earn an opportunity to play collegiately at the highest level. Martin Methodist was a junior college when I graduated from high school and only about 30 minutes from home. I felt like that pathway was best for me to achieve my goal. If I could improve my skills during my two years there, I might earn the scholarship I was hoping for. Everything was going well during my freshman year, but unfortunately, I broke my ankle during the preseason and took a redshirt year. I decided to then change my athletic focus back to softball. I transferred to Calhoun Community College and played softball. I am glad I did because it allowed me to reunite with some of my high school teammates who were on the softball team. It was a great experience and we won a lot of games in softball while I was at Calhoun,” said Clark. 

Clark says that being inducted into the Limestone County Sports Hall of Fame is an unbelievable honor. 

“I was blessed to have so many wonderful teammates and coaches in high school. Plus, I had wonderful parents who encouraged and supported me throughout my career. Ardmore is a great community and I am proud to call Ardmore home. It is where my children go to school, so this honor is extra special on so many different levels. It has been over 30 years since I wore the Ardmore High School jersey, but I get to represent my alma mater one more time as the second Ardmore High School female athlete to be inducted into the Limestone County Sports Hall of Fame. I am so thankful and blessed to receive this honor,” said Clark.