Wayne County Sports Hall of Fame to induct silver anniversary class June 20

The Wayne County Sports Hall of Fame will induct its 25th class June 20 at Greystone Event Center in Wooster. This is the first of a two-part series on the Class of 2026.

Andrew Bender

By the time he graduated from Wooster High in 2002, Andrew Bender could say he was one of the best in Ohio, whether he was sticking people as a safety in football or carrying a stick for the General lacrosse team that captured the 2002 Division I state championship.

On the gridiron, Bender lettered three times, intercepted a school-record nine passes as a junior and was named second-team All-Ohio as a senior, also earning All-Federal League honors.

Lacrosse proved to be the ideal fit for Bender’s blend of skills. At Wooster he lettered four times and was a three-time All-Ohio pick who saved his best for last. In 2002 Wooster captured the Div. I state title, with Bender being named Offensive MVP of the title game, as well as the Midwest Player of the Year and an All-American.

At Ohio State he was a four-year mainstay for the Buckeye lacrosse team as a two-time all-conference pick. His senior year Bender was named OSU’s MVP, and he also was a finalist for the Big Ten Medal of Honor and a team captain before playing a season of Major League Lacrosse with Chicago.

Ryan Berg

In the early 1990s, if you wanted to win the Wayne County Athletic League boys basketball crown, you had to get by Dalton and Ryan Berg.

While he dabbled in football, including earning honorable mention all-state as a senior, his true calling was on the hardwood. Berg not only scored 1,945 points over his four-year varsity career, but at the time that was the most points ever scored by a WCAL player (he currently sits third all-time).

His ability to put the ball in the basket made him a three-time first-team league and all-district selection. And when he led Dalton to the state Final Four his junior season, he was named Div. IV Co-Player of the Year in Ohio.

Berg followed that up with another trip to state and a first-team All-Ohio selection as a senior, losing out on Player of the Year honors to 7-footer Jason Collier, who went on to play in the NBA.

He started for the University of Toledo as a true freshman, but a back injury midway through the year was the beginning of the end as he had to give up basketball after two seasons.

Jenna (Pew) Mack

Any Smithville High coach from 2006-10 would say having Jenna (Pew) Mack on the roster was critical to team success — she earned 12 letters across three sports (volleyball, basketball and track) and was All-Ohio in all three.

In basketball Mack was a standout from the beginning, and as a senior she led the Smithies to state. Selected to play in the North-South game, she ended her hoops days by earning MVP honors in the game.

Spring saw her on the SHS track and field squad, with her stellar career capped by a 10th-place state finish in the discus.

It was volleyball, though, that carried Mack through an eight-year journey. At Smithville the All-Ohioan matched her basketball performance by helping her team make the state Final Four.

Continuing at Div. II Wheeling Jesuit, Mack was a four-year starter on teams that went 145-18. She was named WVIAC Player of the Year as a junior and Mountain East Conference POY as a senior, and she became just the second player in school history to be named an All-American. Following graduation, she was chosen to represent the U.S. in a tournament in the Netherlands.

Mack also has coached at Chippewa and Highland high schools.

Abby Kacsandi Majesky

When she was at Wooster High School, Abby Kacsandi Majesky didn’t have a whole lot of time to consider her accomplishments — she was too busy going from sport to sport as a three-sport, four-year letter-winner for the Generals. Once she zeroed in on one specialty — the high jump — she became a national champion.

As a General, the 2006 WHS grad excelled in soccer, basketball, and track and field and also was considered a leader, captaining both the soccer and hoops squads. On the hardwood, Majesky was a two-time All-Ohio selection, also earning two All-Ohio Cardinal Conference honors and captaining back-to-back OCC championship teams.

In the spring that’s what she used — her spring — as Majesky high jumped her way to three trips to the state meet. She placed sixth in the Div. I high jump as a junior, then returned as a senior in 2006 and finished fourth. Upon graduation she held the school high jump record.

At Ashland University, Majesky fit right in with the Div. II powerhouse track and field program from 2008-11.

Lettering three times indoors and three times outdoors with the Eagles, Majesky captured a number of Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference titles in her specialty. Her athletic career reached its apex at the 2010 Div. II National Indoor Track and Field Championships at Adams State in Albuquerque, New Mexico when she leaped 5 feet, 9 ¾ inches to claim the national title.

As a senior Majesky was named the 2011 Ashland University Female Student-Athlete of the Year and also was honored with the GLIAC Commissioner's Award, which honors outstanding performance on the field, in the classroom and in the community.

Sawyer Polen

At Triway High School from 2007-11, Sawyer Polen could do it all — and did.

In the long list of outstanding male athletes at Triway, Polen became the first to letter all four years of high school in three different sports. He was a two-time captain in football and a first-team All-Ohio receiver his senior year, ending his career with numerous THS records. In basketball he was a two-time all-league selection, but it was baseball where he truly stood out above the rest.

When his four seasons on the diamond were over, he had set six Triway records and was second all-time in two more. The accolades were many including being selected to play for Team Ohio in the national tournament and a scholarship to Kent State University to continue his education and baseball career.

At Kent he continued to excel, starting at third base as a freshman for the Mid-American Conference champion Flashes. Kent didn’t stop there, as they advanced all the way to the College World Series, where Polen hit .400 over three games in Omaha.

After his sensational freshman campaign, Polen moved to shortstop the next three years and finished his Kent State career with a .278 batting average, 38 doubles, 10 triples, nine home runs and 123 RBI. He was named the winner of Kent State’s Merle Wagoner Award in 2015 as the school’s top male athletes based on leadership, academics and athletics.