By Adam Baum, abaum@enquirer.comy On the surface, when Oak Hills junior Shelby Wall scored on a header Oct. 2 in a draw against Lakota East, it appeared to be just another goal. For Wall, it wasn't just another goal, it was a reminder that she's okay. "Every time she does a header you just cringe and look the other way because you're afraid," said Oak Hills head coach Kevin Spraul. "Everything's good, though, she's not afraid to put her head on a ball which after that severe injury I probably would have hung it up myself, but she's fearless." Wall's 18 months removed a traumatic brain injury she suffered playing soccer. Wall's club soccer team, Total Futbol Academy Elite 2001, was playing in a national tournament in Las Vegas against the No. 1 team in the country out of Michigan. "It was March of 2016. It was on a Sunday," said her dad, Bill Wall, who was with Shelby at the tournament. "It was our final game. We were playing the No. 1 team, kind of wrapping up a fun weekend. We'd been out as a team the night before. "It was really scary because it happened so quick. We played in the morning, I think at 9 o'clock. "Shelby was playing forward and she's streaking down the sideline with the ball and this defender came at a 90-degree angle and took her out. They didn't call a penalty but it was pretty malicious. Shelby went flying up in the air probably 6 feet and came down directly on her head. She was just motionless." Bill ran to her along with another one of the parents who happens to be a pediatrician. "Shelby was like foaming at the mouth, having some kind of seizure. They thought she broke her neck. She was all rigid. I thought that was it; we're done," Bill said. Shelby was loaded into an ambulance and taken to a local hospital. "They had to intubate her, did a CAT scan and found out there was no bleeding or swelling but she remained unconscious," said Bill, whose wife was at home with their other children. "That was 9:30 a.m. Sunday and she finally woke up at 5:30 on Monday morning. It was a very long night. When she woke up, she knew my name. She thought she was in North Carolina at the tournament before. She knew her birthday. She knew her phone number." Tuesday night, they let her fly home, and when she arrived at her house in the early hours of Wednesday, she was greeted by her teammates and coaches, though her struggles weren't over yet. Bill said, "The next morning we couldn't wake Shelby up. At the time she had been sleeping 20 hours a day." That landed her back in the hospital. "They sent us home (from the hospital) on Thursday or Friday. She slept probably 20-22 hours for a week straight and was pretty much a totally different person," said Bill, who described Shelby as doing and saying things that made no sense. "They called it a traumatic brain injury, so more than a concussion." FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE ARTICLE, CLICK THE LINK BELOW.  [Read More]

By Jim Owens, For the Enquirer Oak Hills' libero Thalia Georges celebrates after scoring a point in the girls volleyball match between Oak Hills and Sycamore at Sycamore High School. The Highlanders left victorious in straight sets 25-9, 25-11, and 25-12. FOR THE FULL GALLERY, CLICK THE LINK BELOW. #HighlanderStrong  [Read More]

WEEK OF OCTOBER 16: Hunter Keller - Junior - Girls' Volleyball Hunter had 13 kills and no hitting errors in two matches this week. She hit with an efficiency of .650 while also recording 4 blocks and 5 aces. WEEK OF OCTOBER 9: Abby Hulsman - Junior - Girls' Volleyball Abby led Oak Hills to two- 5 set wins over Lakota West and Lakota East. She recorded 31 with a hitting efficiency of .301. She also recorded 6 aces, 6 blocks and 19 digs. Dana Garadah - Junior - Girls' Soccer Dana helped the Highlanders earn a big shutout win over Walnut Hills this past Saturday. Dana has been a pivotal part on the back line this season. Dana is also currently taking 1 AP course and 2 Honors courses. WEEK OF OCTOBER 2: Kristin Murray - Senior - Girls' Volleyball Kristin led Oak Hills to a couple of conference wins with 63 assists, 23 digs, 4 aces, 2 blocks and 2 kills. She helped the team improve to a 14-4 overall record and 5-1 GMC record. Allen Nienaber - Freshman - Boys' Golf Allen leads the team after 27 rounds played with 9 hole season ave of 43. He was 2nd Team GMC this season. Macy Pitchford - Senior - Girls' Cross Country Macy ran a career best time this past weekend at the Fairmont Invitational. She placed as the teams number 3 runner improving her season best time by 43 seconds. Macy holds a GPA of 3.55 while taking all AP and Honors classes. WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 25: Joey Ryan - Junior - Boys' Golf Joey recently earned 2nd team All-GMC honors at the League Championship match. He also owns a 3.5 GPA, serves on Student Council, and swims for OH Swim Team. Julia Galloway - Junior - Girls' Tennis Julia Galloway went 3-0 this past week. She was 2-0 at second doubles and 1-0 at first doubles as she picked up a nice win over a strong Colerain doubles team. Emily Tirey - Sophomore - Girls' Soccer Emily scored 2 goals against Middletown, and had several great opportunities against Milford. Emily currently is tied for first in goals scored(4). She also excels in the classroom Jacob Berkemeier - Junior - Football Jacob caught 12 passes for 151 yards and 1 TD in Friday night's game at Lakota East. Currently he ranks 2nd in receiving yards in the GMC behind Oak Hill's receiver Kevin Hopkins. Jacob is also an excellent student. WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 18: Rees Hayes - Freshman - Boys Golf Rees has a 4.0 GPA and is a member of German National Honor Society. He has a 42 9 hole ave. leading his 16-3 Boys' golf team. Not only is he a 2 year Varsity Golf letterman, he also plays high school Baseball. Kate Schaible - Senior - Girls' Volleyball Kate finished a three match week with 12 kills and a .364 hitting percentage. In two of those matches Kate accumulated 13 aces, recording an average of 2.6 aces per set. Hannah Bacon - Senior - Girls' Soccer Hannah a Senior Co-Captain, helped lead her team to two big victories this past week. Hannah had 2 goals in our 3-0 win against Princeton, and 1 goal in our 2-0 win against Colerain. Hannah is also taking 3 AP courses and 2 Honors courses. Kayla Korn - Junior - Girls' Cross Country Kayla started off the season as the team's #8 runner. At the Milford invitational last Saturday she finished as the team's #3 runner. Placing 24th overall out of 123 varsity runners. WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 11: Ally Albertz - Junior - Girls' Soccer Ally earned her first career win vs. Seton in the goal at the varsity level Saturday. Ally was a big presence with huge saves in the goal this past week, against Seton and state ranked Mason. Ally is also taking 3 AP courses and 3 Honors classes. Mia Ziebro - Senior - Boys' Cross Country Freshman Mia Ziebro went 2-1 this past week with wins over Harrison and helped the team clinch a win over Fairfield. She put up a great battle against Sycamore, losing 7-5 6-2. Mia pushed her season record to 6-4 as Oak Hills' third singles player. WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 4: McKayla Klein - Freshman - Girls' Tennis Freshman McKayla Klein went 2-0 this past week at first singles with wins over Talawanda and Middletown. Her record is 4-2 at first singles. Drew Toon - Senior - Boys' Cross Country Drew ran a season best of 16:45 on Saturday at Greenville Treaty City Invite. He earned a 5th place individual finish, leading the Highlanders to a 3rd place team finish. Abby Hulsman - Junior - Girls' Volleyball Abby recorded 39 kills, 30 digs and 5 aces in three matches this week. She led Oak Hills to an upset win over Seton and another win against Milford to help Oak Hills improve to 6-2 on the year. Jackson Jalovec - Senior - Boys' Soccer Goalkeeper Jackson Jalovec's play in goal has helped the Highlanders to a 3-0 start. His 22 saves and .880 save percentage currently rank him #3 in the GMC. Maddie Clark - Sophomore - Girls' Cross Country In her first year running Cross Country, Maddie has finished 2nd on the team for the first two meets. She placed 8th at last Saturday's Lebanon Invitational. WEEK OF AUGUST 28: Abby Kromme - Senior - Girls Tennis Abby and her doubles partner, Erin Kallmeyer, went 2-0 as a team together this past week. They beat Taylor 6-0, 6-0 and Princeton 6-0, 6-1. Abby and Erin improved to 4-1 together this season as a doubles team. Abby has a 4.0 GPA and is president of the National Honor Society. Pierce Haucke - Senior - Boys Soccer Pierce scored 3 goals this week in our first two games of the 2017 season, including both in a 2-1 win over Talawanda and the first in a 2-1 win over Elder. Megan John - Freshman - Cross Country Megan won the Talawanda Invitational last Saturday, her first high school varsity Cross Country race. She ran a time of 19:47, currently the 5th fastest time in the GMC. Emily Tirey - Sophomore - Girls Soccer Emily scored a beautiful free kick goal this past week on the road at the city's 3rd ranked Mount Notre Dame. Emily is a vital part to our back line and team. Also, she currently is taking 2 AP courses and 4 Honors classes. Abby Hulsman - Junior - Girls Volleyball Abby Hulsman led the team to a 3-1 record this week, recording 30 kills, averaging 3.3 per game and hitting percentage of .347. She also recorded 26 digs, 2.9 digs per game and 3 aces. WEEK OF AUGUST 21: Abby Schutte - Senior - Girls Volleyball Abby had 9 kills on 13 attempts in a three set victory over Glen Este. She recorded 3 blocks and had a hitting efficiency of .538. AJ Kontsis - Freshman - Boys Golf He was a medalist in a Varsity match vs. Hamilton. James Schmidt - Freshman - Boys Cross Country In his first high school race, James surprised everyone by winning the Div. 1 JV race at the OHSAA Early Season Inv. in a time of 17:37. Olivia Quinlan - Junior - Girls Soccer This past Saturday vs. Turpin, Olivia excelled at the outside back position, proving to be very dangerous getting up and down the flanks and getting into the attack. Olivia also takes 3 AP classes. FOR THE COMPLETE LIST OF ALL-STARS, CLICK RIGHT HERE. #HighlanderStrong #AllIn  [Read More]

By John Snodgrass, jsnodgrass@enquirer.com It was a busy day of tennis across Cincinnati, Saturday, for the championship rounds of the annual GCTCA Coaches' Classic. The event consists of 50 teams and was spread across seven flights at 11 locations. Flight D was held out at Fairfield with Kings claiming the team championship with a score of 230. Oak Hills (195) and Fairfield (190) battled it out for runner-up. Fourth-place went to Badin (150) while St. Ursula B (150), Mercy (75) and Anderson (60) rounded out the field. Kings junior Haley Guerin won the first-singles tournament, defeating Badin junior Josie Link 0-6, 6-2 and 6-0. Second singles was claimed by Fairfield sophomore Amaya Turner. Turner beat Oak Hills junior Sydney Jones 6-4, 6-1 to win the title. Third singles went to St. Ursula senior Brittany Shine, defeating Kings senior Anna Muenchen 6-3, 6-3. Kings' team of Cecile Reich and Ally Coughlin won first double, beating Oak Hills' team of Abby Kromme and Erin Kallmeyer 6-4, 6-0. Second doubles was won by Badin's squad of Ashley Suttner and Carly Fields. The duo claimed a 6-3, 6-7 (6-8), 10-5 win against Oak Hills' squad of Mackenzie Hoy and Caroline Eichhorn. FOR THE COMPLETE LIST OF RESULTS, CLICK THE LINK BELOW.  [Read More]

WATCH ↓ To watch on OakHillsSports YouTube, click the link below. #HighlanderStrong  [Read More]

By Adam Baum, abaum@enquirer.com GREEN TWP. - There are many little things that add up to a distance runner reaching his or her potential - things like training regimen, endurance, health, and competition, to name a few. At Oak Hills High School, all those pieces are slowly finding their place on the girls cross country team. The one piece, maybe above all others, is the importance of the team. The more that team operates like a family, the better the individual parts will be. Christine John (née Wells) ran for Oak Hills back in the 1980s, so she understands all that. She actually ran on three straight teams that qualified for state, and today, she stills runs at the Highlanders' practices. Christine's daughter, Megan John, a freshman runner for the Highlanders, has quickly stormed onto the high school scene, already besting her mother's fastest time in just her first high school race. "She's doing better than I ever did," Christine said of her daughter. "My best time was mid-20 (minutes)." Megan ran 19 minutes and 47 seconds - a personal best - Aug. 26 in her first high school race at Talawanda. That first race, Megan's goal was to break 21 minutes and she shattered that. Then, in her third race of the year, Sept. 9 at the Princeton Invitational, Megan set a new personal best with 19:19, taking third place overall as her team took first place. "I knew she could win races, I just was surprised she broke 20 minutes that first race," Oak Hills coach Shellie Hageman said. "I knew she could break 20 by the end of the season. I had no idea it would be the first race." Megan started running in the third grade. Her mom directed a youth program called "Girls on the Run," a non-competitive program that introduces running to young girls. She quickly found a passion for it, and it was also something she knew her mom enjoyed. "I can't ever remember a time I didn't know she ran in high school," said Megan. "She never really talked about how she did. Sometimes she talked about how she wasn't the fastest but she was always on varsity and always scored for the team." FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE ARTICLE, CLICK THE LINK BELOW.  [Read More]

By Mike Dyer, WCPO.com GREEN TOWNSHIP, Ohio -- Audrey Hobstetter is never very far from the Oak Hills girls' volleyball team. Even if the sophomore has to miss a match like she did this past weekend, she sends encouraging text messages to her teammates. When the 16-year-old student manager is on the court, she lifts the spirits of everyone around her. "Audrey is always a positive face no matter what's going on," junior libero Thalia Georges said. "Even if we are down on each other she will always have her wise words of encouragement. She is a very big part of the team. She helps us stays positive. It's awesome." Hobstetter, who has Down syndrome, has a keyword that applies to her and her teammates in matches, in practice, in school and in life: Focus. "They have to focus every game," Hobstetter said. "They have to pay attention." The Oak Hills volleyball program had that theme in mind this week as they tie dyed shirts with the word "Focus" on the front. The varsity team planned to wear those shirts and tutus to school Friday and surprise Hobstetter early in the morning when she stepped down from the bus. Those outfits are in support of Hobstetter's participation in the annual Buddy Walk Saturday morning at Sawyer Point. Last season, the Oak Hills freshman team created shirts and wore tutus for Audrey in a royal princess court theme. The idea was taken a step further this year and included all of the Oak Hills girls' volleyball program and other students at the high school. "It helps them recognize that there is different people out there," Oak Hills freshman coach Elizabeth Firsich said. "Everybody can put their mind to anything and can do it. They take (Audrey) under their wing and treat her like any other teammate." Lynn Hobstetter, Audrey's mother, said the volleyball players and coaches have always been supportive of her daughter even going back to Rapid Run Middle School where she was able to serve in a regular match as an eighth-grader. "I think they're great," said Lynn, a special education teacher at Western Hills High School. "They're totally letting her be as included as she can and wants to be. They don't treat her any different than they would treat anybody else and that's the most important thing to a parent with special needs." FOR THE COMPLETE ARTICLE, CLICK THE LINK BELOW.  [Read More]

GET THE OAK HILLS SPORTS APP TODAY FOR ONLY 99¢! Download right here: Apple → http://appsto.re/us/89AFO.i Android → http://goo.gl/1qEyWG Go mobile & stay up-to-date with the latest Oak Hills Highlanders Athletics news with our official Mobile App! Oak Hills Mobile Sports provides iPhone & Android owners an interface with immediate access to information from OakHillsSports.com. Alumni, students, fans, family, and coaches no longer have to wait until they have access to a computer to keep up with their favorite team. What's in the App? Some of our features include: - Up-to-Date Schedules & Game Results - Complete Schedules & Results - Game & News Alerts & Notifications - Rosters & more! #HighlanderStrong  [Read More]