Memorial set for longtime Medina coach Keith Sooy

A memorial for longtime Medina boys basketball coach Keith Sooy, who died March 23, will be held Saturday, April 18, at Rich Clevidence Gymnasium at Medina High School.

There will be a visitation from 1-3 p.m., with a service at 3 p.m. Refreshments will follow from 4-6 p.m. Sooy was Medina’s head coach from 1987-98. His career record for victories at the school was surpassed this past season by Chris Hassinger, whom Sooy hired to coach in the program.

Sooy also coached at Buckeye as an assistant and was still in that role at Highland this past season. He was 79.

Track

Medina’s boys and girls teams each finished third in a quad meet at Peninsula Woodridge on April 4. Host Woodridge won the boys meet with 81.5 points, followed by Tallmadge (65), Medina (58) and Uniontown Lake (51.5). Lake won the girls competition with 85.5 points, followed by Tallmadge (63), Medina (56.6) and Woodridge (51).

Medina’s boys were led by senior Jackson Riffle, who won two events and was part of two winning relays. Riffle won the 200-meter dash and the long jump and was on the winning 4x100-meter and 4x400-meter relays.

For the girls, freshman Esme Rodriguez won the 100, junior Mariana Cunningham won the 200 and senior Kendall Perfect won the pole vault. The 4x800 team of junior Alanya Yanmaz, Julia Black, Zulay Roballar and Julie Dietrich won by a wide margin.

The Bees’ scheduled season opener, the Earlybird Invitational at Austintown Fitch High School, was canceled March 27 due to cold temperatures below 30 degrees at the scheduled start time. The Bees had a dual meet March 31 at Walsh Jesuit. The boys teams tied with 29.5 points apiece, while Walsh won the girls meet 37-23.

Medina will start its major meet season at home April 11 at 10 a.m. at Ken Dukes Stadium. The 17-team event will include local rival Highland, future Suburban League foes Copley, Revere, Tallmadge and Twinsburg, current Greater Cleveland Conference foe Mentor, private school powers St. Edward, St. Ignatius, Magnificat at St. Joseph Academy, a rematch with Woodridge and another chance to take on Fitch.

Softball

Medina started its season with a 12-0 win over Shipley, Pa., in Florida. The Bees got a two-hit shutout from Brooke Housum, who struck out eight batters. Ryann Allar led the offense with a triple, home run and three RBI.

Flag football

Medina started its inaugural season in one of the state’s fastest-growing sports with three wins in five games. That included a season-opening 20-0 win over Oberlin. The Bees fell in their second game that night, 24-18 to Elyria. Hailey Perdue, Morah Shumar and Courtney Snow each scored for the Bees. Perdue returned an interception for a touchdown and threw a pair of touchdown passes.

On March 29, Medina beat Black River 32-14 and Elyria Catholic 30-12. Gabi LaVolpa scored five touchdowns for the Bees in the doubleheader. Perdue returned another interception for a touchdown and Shumar added a pick-six of her own. The wins moved Medina’s record to 3-2, two games behind unbeaten Midview – with Sandusky and Strongsville also without a loss – in the league standings. Next up for Medina is a match with winless Cloverleaf on April 12 at Sandusky.