ASHLAND — The fall sports season is about a month old now for college teams, and plenty of local high school graduates already have been turning in some noteworthy performances.
Former Ashland Arrows Karli Shepherd (Winthrop University volleyball) and Tyler Sabo (Ohio State University golf) are off to quick starts at the Division I level.
Meanwhile, Crestview’s Kenedi Goon (Tiffin University volleyball) and Mapleton’s Bryar Ramey (Ohio Wesleyan University football) both have been key for their squads.
Three AHS grads are also contributing big for Ashland University this fall, including McKinley Mendenhall (soccer), Klaira Paramore (golf) and Kristian Gehrisch (football).
Those and more are featured below, where Ashland Source has gathered a breakdown of some of the Ashland-area high school graduates who are making solid impacts this fall on the college level.
Area high school athletic directors and local readers have submitted names of current college athletes to the Source. Anyone with information on other former Ashland County-area athletes consistently in action this fall can send them to doughaidet19@gmail.com.
Ashland
– Now a senior for the Division I Winthrop volleyball team, Karli Shepherd continues to pile up big career stats for the Eagles (3-7). The former all-state standout for the Arrows has 59 kills and 30 digs to begin this season, numbers that have helped push her over 600 kills and 300 digs during her time on the college scene.
On Sunday, Shepherd was named to the Bash in the ’Boro Invitational All-Tournament Team after leading Winthrop in kills in all three of the team’s matches for the weekend event (34 total). Already an All-Big South performer in her career, Shepherd is set up for a big finish.
– It was a breakout redshirt freshman season last fall for Ohio State golfer Tyler Sabo. The former AHS All-Ohioan helped key the Buckeyes to the NCAA Championships, and with five seniors from that squad graduating, Sabo has been counted on as a veteran this year.
He was No. 1 in the team’s qualifying for its first and second events and was one of three Buckeyes named to the preseason list of Big Ten Players to Watch this season.
In OSU’s season-opening action, the Folds of Honor Collegiate, Sabo turned in a sturdy three-round performance at 71-72-72, tying for 12th overall with a 2-over-par 215. The Buckeyes were seventh out of 15 teams in the event.
– After the Ashland University women’s soccer team turned in a historic season in 2023 – advancing all the way to the Sweet 16 and tallying a program-record 19 wins – the Eagles have fired out to another fast start at 4-1. Once again, a massive factor in the success has been senior McKinley Mendenhall.
The former Arrows star entered this season sixth in AU history in career assists (25) and ninth in career points (63). She’s already got a goal and three assists through the team’s first five games.
– For the Division I Ohio University football team, sophomore Kadin Schmitz has been contributing each week. The defensive end has 10 tackles for the Bobcats (2-2) – at least one in all four games – and already has 2.5 sacks as well.
– On the women’s golf links for AU, junior Klaira Paramore is building onto a career during which she’s already earned All-Great Midwest Athletic Conference honors.
At the Ohio Dominican Champions of Women’s Golf, Paramore helped key the Eagles to a second-place finish out of 15 teams by tying for fifth overall with a two-round 149 (73-79).
Earlier in the season, she tied for 16th overall at the 54-hole Midwest Ladies Collegiate (74-76-78 – 228), where AU was fourth out of 16.
– Also at Ashland, senior defensive tackle Kristian Gehrisch is one of six captains for the football team in 2024. The Eagles are off to a 1-2 start (1-0 GMAC) after topping Hillsdale College on Saturday for their first win of the season.
Gehrisch has three tackles, a tackle for loss and a sack through his first three weeks of action.
– After getting his feet wet last fall as a freshman member of the Division II football program at Hillsdale College, wide receiver Jon Metzger has found himself to be even more of a factor this season.
The all-time leading receiver at AHS, Metzger has nine catches for 169 yards through three games for the Chargers (0-3, 0-1 GMAC). His six receptions against Michigan Tech in Week 2 matched his season total from last year.
– At the Division III University of Mount Union, Emma Packard has begun her sophomore season. She took third place in the seven-team Mount Union Fall Invite with an 81, helping the Purple Raiders collect the team title.
Packard also had a solid effort recently at the two-day Donald Ross Invitational. She tied for 11th with a 168 (84-84) as UMU took the runner-up spot in the nine-team event.
– A sophomore golfer for Division III John Carroll University, Kamden Mowry was back on the links this month. During the season-opening Ted Barclay Invitational, Mowry fired a 3-over-par 75 while playing as an individual.
– Ella Argo is a freshman member of the Division III Bluffton University women’s soccer team and already has gotten time in seven games for the Beavers (3-3-2). Argo collected her first career collegiate assist in a 3-2 defeat against UC-Clermont.
Crestview
– The Division II Tiffin University volleyball team continues to benefit from the standout career of former Cougar Kenedi Goon. Now a senior for the Dragons (7-4, 2-1 GMAC), Goon is powering the squad as its runaway leader in kills (136) through 11 matches.
The GMAC first-teamer also has collected 47 blocks and 24 digs thus far, and her next match will be the 100th in which she’s played during her college career.
– Ross Kuhn has been among the top seven cross country runners at Hillsdale College for a few years now, and his senior season began recently with a pair of events.
The Chargers kicked off the campaign with a dual meet against Findlay at home, where Kuhn placed sixth in the 5K in 15:44. That was followed by a Hillsdale team title Sept. 13 in the 14-team Warrior Challenge, with Kuhn securing 21st overall for the 8K in 26:14.
– Also on the cross country course this season is former Cougar Morgan Welch. The junior competes at NAIA Grace College and has contributed in a pair of meets thus far.
The Lancers opened their year with a runner-up placement out of 22 teams in the IWU Twilight Invitational, where Welch took 29th overall in 24:03. A week later at the Warrior Challenge, she placed 33rd in 24:33, as Grace was third out of 13.
Hillsdale
– Ty Williams has been a steady contributor for the last two seasons on the football team at Hillsdale College, and that doesn’t look to be changing. The oft-blocking senior H-Back has four catches for 57 yards through three games for the Chargers (0-3, 0-1 GMAC), gathering two of those receptions Saturday against Ashland.
Thus far, Williams has played in 31 games during his career at HC, which followed a record-setting output as a Falcon in Jeromesville.
Loudonville
– The Mount Union men’s golf team has gotten steady contributions this season from Owen Hinkle. The senior and former Redbird tied for seventh overall Sunday to help the Purple Raiders win the Mount Union Fall Invitational, carding a two-day 154 (73-81).
In the Donald Ross Invitational, Hinkle’s two-round 162 (79-83) was good for a tie for 32nd, and the senior also tied for 45th at the Malone-Glenmoor Fall Invitational when he totaled a three-round 241 (77-82-82).
– At Division III Geneva College, Katie Seboe is off and running in her sophomore season. The middle hitter has turned in plenty of solid numbers for the Tornadoes (4-9), including a career-high 13 kills against Kenyon on Sept. 6.
Seboe has 28 blocks and 11 digs among her totals so far, one year after playing in all 23 matches as a freshman.
– Isaac Gessner is carding numbers as a sophomore for the NAIA Mount Vernon Nazarene men’s golf team.
He led the squad with a two-round 147 (72-75) to place 13th at the Ohio Christian University Fall Invitational, and also took 63rd at the three-round Malone Glenmoor Fall Invitational with a 255 (85-87-83).
Mapleton
– The Division III Ohio Wesleyan University football team is off to a 2-1 start (1-1 North Coast Athletic Conference) and once again is getting key efforts from former Mountie Bryar Ramey.
Now a senior, Ramey has collected 20 tackles and a sack already, with 11 tackles coming in the season-opening game against Otterbein, a 26-7 win.
The linebacker has cleared 100 career tackles with the Battling Bishops and will be trying to play in 10 games for the fourth consecutive season.