Wind chills are in the single digits as an Arctic mass of air hangs over Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky on this the first full day of spring. Some areas are even seeing snow flurries.
It’s 23 degrees with a wind chill of 9 at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, according to the National Weather Service in Wilmington. A stray snow flurry blew around overnight and could still drift this morning.
Lebanon schools up in Warren County have a two hour delay for grades 1-6 and there is no morning kindergarten. Kings Local is starting its elementary schools two hours later than normal, and Little Miami schools are on a 90-minute delay.
Winton Woods, ranked No. 5 in The Enquirer Division I area coaches’ poll, has won four consecutive games this month since a 56-49 loss to Princeton on Feb. 6.
“I think they are a tough matchup,” Princeton coach Jill Phillips said.
Princeton, ranked No. 2 in The Enquirer poll, has won eight consecutive games overall. Princeton defeated Hamilton 51-44 in the Division I sectional semifinals Feb. 21.
Kelsey Mitchell, a junior guard, had 13 of her 17 points in the first half Monday night. Mitchell finished with seven assists.
“I thought she did a great job in the first half getting us going offensively and defensively,” Phillips said. “…Her points are sometimes very quiet…but she gives us so much.”
Mitchell was named last week the District 16 Coaches’ Association Division I player of the year despite playing in just seven regular-season games due to injury.
Mitchell returned to the starting lineup from a foot injury Jan. 30 against Hamilton. She injured her foot at Lakota West Dec. 1.
Phillips said Monday night it was good to continue to get Mitchell back in the flow of the game this postseason.
Going into Monday’s game, Mitchell averaged 22.4 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 2.7 steals. Mitchell is ranked the nation’s No. 4 player in the 2014 class by the ESPN.com/HoopGurlz Super 60 rankings and was a preseason All-American by USA Today. She has been the District 16 player of the year three consecutive years.
On Monday, the Vikings started quickly against Kings. Princeton led 17-6 at the end of the first quarter and led 38-19 at halftime. Princeton led 58-29 at the end of the third quarter.
Sectional top seed Mason is coming off its first loss of the season against Princeton. Mason’s Madison Melnick battles for a loose ball against Princeton’s Jasmyn Hardin in the second quarter. The Vikings avenged a Dec.15 loss to the Comets. The Enquirer/Joseph Fuqua II
Kevin Goheen reports:
Mason, Talawanda, Middletown Madison, Summit Country Day and Cincinnati Country Day all earned No. 1 seeds at Sunday’s girls’ basketball sectional draw meeting at Wyoming.
The sectional tournament begins for area teams with games in Division II, III and IV on Feb. 13 while the Division I tournament starts up on Feb. 14.
The Division I sectional is a 32-team “super” draw field in which all teams are seeded and they get to choose one of five brackets that lead to the district tournament.
Mason, coming off its first loss of the season Saturday afternoon against Princeton, 64-55, will open on Feb. 20 against the winner of the game between Oak Hills and Woodward in the Cincinnati 1 bracket at Kings.
The Comets (18-1) are ranked No. 1 in the Enquirer coaches’ poll and No. 2 in the Associated Press state poll. They have one game left in the regular season against Colerain this Saturday. A win would clinch their first Greater Miami Conference title.
Princeton (13-7) is the second seed and will open against Northwest on Feb. 16 in the Cincinnati 3 bracket at Lakota East. The Vikings have been bolstered by junior guard Kelsey Mitchell’s return from a broken left foot that forced her to miss 15 games. Mitchell, regarded as the top-ranked player nationally in her class by multiple recruiting services, scored 30 points in the win against Mason.
Princeton has won three consecutive district titles, while Mason has been to the regional tournament three of the last four seasons. Mason lost to three-time reigning regional champ Kettering Fairmont last season.
Lakota West (16-3), Ursuline (15-4), Mercy (16-4) and Winton Woods (13-4) round out the top six seeds. No teams seeded higher than No. 14 are in Mason or Princeton’s brackets.
A Cincinnati man has been sentenced to eight years in prison for his role in a drug-trafficking organization that supplied marijuana to students in two Warren County school districts, the Warren County Prosecutor’s Office said in a news release today.
“Allen Honeycutt and his co-conspirators made hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars trafficking drugs to our young people. It is particularly satisfying to see him have to answer for his despicable actions,” said Prosecutor David Fornshell in a news release.
Allen Honeycutt. Photo: Warren County Jail
A Warren County jury on Thursday convicted Honeycutt, 59, on charges of trafficking, possession of marijuana, cultivation of marijuana, possession of criminal tools, and engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity. Common Pleas Court Judge Robert Peeler sentenced him to serve a mandatory eight years in prison and pay fines totaling $17,500. Honeycutt must also serve five years on probation after he gets out of prison.
Honeycutt was the last suspect facing charges among seven adults and a Mason High School teen, Tyler Pagenstecher, in an organization that was supplying marijuana to students in the Mason and Kings school districts, Fornshell said.
The case against Honeycutt has been ongoing since a year ago, when a Warren County grand jury returned a five-count indictment against him.
In an investigation of the drug ring, investigators had found three indoor growing operations that produced high-grade marijuana that the organization sold throughout southwest Ohio, Fornshell said.
Officers seized 600 marijuana plants, more than $100,000 in cash, and several hundred grams of harvested marijuana. The marijuana was worth an estimated $2.9 million. Investigators traced the network to Pagenstecher, who is serving at least six months in a state juvenile facility for trafficking in drugs.
Fornshell called Pagenstecher “the primary source for marijuana for students in the Mason school district, and a significant source of marijuana for students in the Kings school district.”
Milford used its size and experience to edge past a pesky Kings squad for a critical Eastern Cincinnati Conference road win.
The Eagles trailed most of the game but outlasted the Knights 55-49 to start a five-game road stretch to close out 2012. Milford had an edge with four senior starters and two sizeable forwards, while Kings started no seniors and lacked size inside.
Senior forward and Bowling Green commit Garrett Mayleben led Milford with 14 points, and senior guard Brennan Farrell added 13.
Kings overcame some sloppy play early to lead most of the game before Milford (4-2, 3-1 ECC) pulled away in the closing minutes. The Eagles’ second-half defensive adjustments and clutch free-throw shooting proved to be the difference in what coach Joe Cambron described as a crucial game.
“Our backs were against the wall,” Cambron said. “This was an absolute must-win for us to even have a shot at a conference championship.”
Kings built an early lead by using it speed on the perimeter to open holes in the paint. Sophomore guard Cameron Fails and junior forward Jamison Williams led the charge as the Knights settled into an offensive rhythm and opened a nine-point first-half lead. Milford responded to cut the lead with a few well-executed pick-and-roll plays but still trailed by five at halftime.
What’s new: Senior Nathan Bonzella, a 7-foot-2 center, is playing his first year of high school basketball.
Key players: Junior guard Josh Woody, sophomore forward Jared Wheeler, junior forward Matt James, senior center Nathan Bonzella, senior forward Nathan Pucke, senior forward Jacob Himes.
Outlook: Stevens says this year’s team is the tallest in his tenure, and with Bonzella it’s quite possibly the most talented squad in school history. “Yes, he’s a legit 7’ 2”, we measured him last year in my history class,” says Stevens of Bonzella, who joins Pucke, 6-foot-6, and Himes, 6-foot-8, in an intimidating front court. Woody and Wheeler are the Knights’ top returnees, along with James who returns after missing last season with a back injury.
Kings High School Seniors where volunteering to do landscaping around the grounds of the high school as part of a National Day of Service and Remembrance of 9/11. (Tony Tribble for the Enquirer)
Sue Kiesewetter reports:
Kings High School student Luke McLelland started his senior year with all 75 hours of his required community service hours finished.
But it didn’t stop the teen from joining his school’s Community Service Club, where he lines up service projects for classmates.
And that willingness to keep giving, said Superintendent Valerie Browning, is what the goal of the service requirement is all about.
“When I first came here I was really surprised – you don’t see that too often in public education,” Browning said. “As I became more and more exposed to it I realized how important service is for the kids, their growth and development.”
It also allows the community to see teenagers in a positive light.
“All too often we get into that mode of ‘Kids these days …” Browning said. “This allows people to see the positive side of our students.”
McLelland lined up three Habitat for Humanity houses his classmates could volunteer at during the senior class’ participation in the National Day of Service and Remembrance in September.
His was one of nine projects planned by seniors for seniors, who began the school day with a brief assembly before leaving for their work sites.
“The goal of community service is teaching kids the value of being active members of the community, not passive,” said Tim Guilfoyle, service club adviser. “I want kids to have the opportunity to lead other kids.”
Another service day – this one open to students in all grades – is being planned for spring by the service club.
“We spent the day building walls – hammering nails. We had 10 kids in each of three houses in Hamilton,” McLelland said.
“I love it. It’s super fun. I would much rather be outside spending time with my friends working than inside the classroom learning.”
St. Xavier and Mason, ranked Nos. 1 and 3 in the state and coming off of comfortable wins at last week’s Division I district meet, lead the pack of area teams and runners headed to Troy on Saturday for the boys’ regional cross country meet.
Beyond those two teams, however, it should be a toss-up in all three divisions for locals seeking to advance to the state meet. There are plenty of contenders but no clear-cut locks.
The top four teams and any individual in the top 16 not already on a qualifying team will move on to the state meet Nov. 3 at National Trail Raceways in Hebron, east of Columbus.
Saturday’s 3.1-mile races at Troy Memorial Stadium alongside the Great Miami River begin with Division III at 11 a.m., Division II at 11:45 a.m. and Division I at 12:30 p.m.
St. Xavier, according to the school records, is making its 30th consecutive regional meet appearance. The Bombers are ranked in the top 15 in the nation by MileSplit.com and are heavily favored to win their fifth regional championship and the third in the last four years. They are seeking a seventh consecutive state berth and their 25th in the last 26 years.
St. Xavier scored 19 points at the district meet. They were denied a perfect score of 15 when junior Alaeldin Tirba of Turpin and Oak Hills senior Blake Meyer placed fifth and sixth, respectively, broke up the Bombers’ quintet of senior Jake Grabowski, juniors Evan Stifel and Michael Hall and seniors Alex Kuvin and Michael Momper.
Mason senior Alex Notton and junior Tom Clark took the top two spots in their district race, with Notton out-leaning Clark at the line to win in 15:50, the fastest time of the district meet.
More than 600 marijuana plants valued at $5,000 with a street value of $3 million were seized in the investigation.
Paul McKibben reports:
The former Mason High School student involved in a potential $3 million marijuana ring was sentenced to at least six months at the Ohio Department of Youth Services this morning in Warren County Juvenile Court.
In July, then 17-year-old Tyler Pagenstecher pleaded guilty to two fourth-degree felony counts of trafficking in drugs.
Pagenstecher is no longer attending Mason High School and won’t be attending the school in the future, according to the Tracey Carson, spokeswoman for the Mason City School District. She said via email the case has not resulted in any policy changes, noting the district’s policies “address student drug use and possession effectively.”
“Our hope and expectation is that Mason City Schools will continue to do all we can to keep our schools and students safe from the dangers of drug use,” she said.
Pagenstecher turned 18 on Oct 7. He was not charged as an adult.
The Warren County Drug Task Force uncovered the ring, which officials say grew high-grade hydroponic marijuana from a Blue Ash furniture warehouse and houses in Norwood and Hamilton.
A Warren County grand jury indicted seven adults in the case. Authorities seized more than 600 marijuana plants valued at $5,000 with a $3 million street value.
Pagenstecher was the primary source of marijuana for students in the Mason district and a significant source of the drug at the Kings Local School District.
Authorities found $6,000 in Pagenstecher’s bedroom while executing a search warrant. They say the teen dealt about $20,000 of marijuana per month but he never sold on school property.
More than 600 marijuana plants valued at $5,000 with a street value of $3 million were seized in the investigation.
Paul McKibben and Michael D. Clark report:
The former Mason High School student involved in a potential $3 million marijuana ring is expected to be sentenced this morning in Warren County Juvenile Court.
In July, then 17-year-old Tyler Pagenstecher pleaded guilty to one fourth degree felony count of trafficking in drugs.
Pagenstecher is no longer attending Mason High School and won’t be attending the school in the future, according to the Tracey Carson, spokeswoman for the Mason City School District. She said via email the case has not resulted in any policy changes, noting the district’s policies “address student drug use and possession effectively.”
“Our hope and expectation is that Mason City Schools will continue to do all we can to keep our schools and students safe from the dangers of drug use,” she said.
Pagenstecher turned 18 on Oct 7. He was not charged as an adult.
The Warren County Drug Task Force uncovered the ring who officials say grew high-grade hydroponic marijuana from a Blue Ash furniture warehouse and houses in Norwood and Hamilton.
A Warren County grand jury indicted seven adults in the case. Authorities seized more than 600 marijuana plants valued at $5,000 with a $3 million street value.
Pagenstecher was the primary source of marijuana for students in the Mason district and a significant source of the drug at the Kings Local School District.
Authorities found $6,000 in Pagenstecher’s bedroom while executing a search warrant. They say the teen dealt about $20,000 of marijuana per month but he never sold on school property.
