Commentary: Ashland’s 2025-26 year of athletes among best in school history

ASHLAND – The sports record books at Ashland High School got an unforgettable (and historic) makeover during the 2025-26 school year.

With graduation in the rearview mirror – and at least 25 members of the AHS Class of 2026 committed to continue their athletic careers at the college level – Ashland Athletic Director Jason Goings said this school year was unprecedented in stacks of different ways.

“When we did our first (college commitment signing day) in November, I think there were seven athletes in that group and I was thinking, ‘Wait a minute, that’s pretty big,’” Goings said. “And I knew there were a lot of kids that hadn’t made decisions yet that were on that track to compete collegiately.

“The things that this class accomplished were well above any class that I’ve known since I’ve been here, and this was my 11^th year.”

The Arrows perform in 23 different sports combined between boys and girls teams. At least one athlete from 15 of them this school year will compete at the next level.

Goings said the group of at least 25 college-bound sports commits was roughly 10 more than any graduating class since he arrived at AHS.

Not only was the talent good enough to translate to college, but these Arrow athletes were peppering their names into the record books at a breakneck pace.

Steve Paramore, superintendent of Ashland City Schools, has been part of Arrow sports in one way or another for better than 30 years. A 1999 AHS graduate, he won an individual golf state championship in 1997 and was part of Ashland’s state-winning golf team in 1998.

Paramore remembers the powerhouse 1990s for the Arrows, when swimmer Rob Henikman and pole vaulter Greg Steele both won multiple individual state titles, Bobby Castor won another individual boys golf crown and when the Ashland softball team was a state runner-up.

That era also featured the rise of star thrower Beth Mallory, who won her first of four state titles in 1999 (discus in 1999, 2001 and 2002; shot put in 2002).

And while Paramore admitted the state championship-winning finishes might not have come this school year, he said the parallels to the athletes coming through Ashland lately and the ones featured back then are pretty similar.

“Kids that grew up in the 90s are different than kids that are growing up right now,” he said, “but I think everybody adapts and they understand that athletics is both mental and physical.”

Paramore said that, more and more, Ashland’s athletes are realizing there are athletic opportunities at the next level worth pursuing, even if they’re not in Division I.

“It was a pretty prolific group this year,” he said. “… They’re all good kids and that’s the biggest thing; you’re gonna be measured by your character down the road, not by how many points you scored. But sports teaches so much character that that’s a reflection of things they’ve learned.”

The things that this class accomplished were well above any class that I’ve known since I’ve been here, and this was my 11^th year.

ashland high school athletic director jason goings

Football

Of course, the headliner for it all this year was Nathan Bernhard, who graduated early in January so he could begin his college quarterback career this spring in the Big Ten at the University of Maryland.

Bernhard – who got his first college offer the winter of his freshman year from Penn State – now holds Ashland career records in passing yards (8,817), passing touchdowns (tied for first with 76), total yards (10,991), total touchdowns (127), completions (631), attempts (1,006), rushing yards by a quarterback (2,174) and rushing touchdowns by a quarterback (51).

“A player like that is generational, so it just brings the talent level of everybody up,” Goings said.

Under Bernhard’s guidance, the 2025 Arrows set the program record for points per game (41.2) and will carry a 15-game home winning streak into this fall.

Graduated senior wide receiver Gabe Baith ended with the AHS record for career catches (177) while linebacker Gunner Lacey collected his own career Ashland standard with 416 tackles.

Lacey will continue his career at Ashland University alongside newly graduated teammates Budda Martin (lineman) and Carson O’Brien (kicker) – all of them All-Ohioans in 2025.

Basketball

It seemed that a week didn’t go by without a big moment happening on the hardcourt during the wintertime for the Arrows.

On the girls’ side, Ashland’s Kennedy Lacey continued to burn a path of excellence for future standouts to follow. Still only a junior, she was named the Ohio Cardinal Conference Player of the Year for the second time while taking over the school’s all-time scoring record (currently 1,245 points).

Lacey also was the program’s first player to be named first-team All-Ohio since Joy Roberts in 1979. Ironically, that was the last time Ashland’s girls had a perfect record in league play before this year, when the squad rolled to a 14-0 mark in the OCC (20-4 overall).

Senior post player Camryn Cox joined Lacey on the All-Ohio list (honorable mention) and stands 10^th in AHS scoring history (765 points), while senior Madison Hoffman also closed her career inside the program’s Top 15 scorers (742) despite missing the team’s final 12 games due to a knee injury.

Hoffman – also with the second-most 3-point shots made in team history (96) – is committed to the NCAA Division III University of Mount Union, where she hopes to play both softball and basketball.

Ashland’s boys hoops team grabbed headlines constantly due to a pair of showstopping seniors.

Paxon Ediger broke the program’s single-game scoring record in a win over Mansfield Senior (44 points), then put up 38 in the team’s next meeting with the Tygers – tied for the fifth-most points in an AHS game.

The senior guard also broke a school record by connecting on 41 consecutive free-throw attempts before closing his career with 1,275 points – fourth in Arrow history.

Ediger was named OCC Player of the Year and second-team All-Ohio, helping Ashland (14-9, 10-4) to a share of the OCC title – just its second league crown since 2015.

Gabe Baith, meanwhile, also finished as one of the most prolific scorers in team history, as his 1,036 points rank him eighth in the AHS books. This year marked the first time in 118 years of boys basketball at Ashland that two players reached 1,000 points in the same season.

Baith’s 179 career 3-pointers made were just 11 off the team record of 190, held by Isaac White.

Soccer

For those curious about which Ashland program boasted the most college-bound seniors, that honor went to the AHS girls soccer squad.

All told, the Arrows will have five freshmen on college soccer teams in the coming months, including three at NAIA Mount Vernon Nazarene University (Amelia Hunt, McKenzie Cool and Maddie Beattie) and one each at NCAA Division II Lake Erie College (Haylee Bond) and NCAA Division III John Carroll University (Adi Helbert).

Unsurprisingly behind that talented pack, Ashland (11-6-1, 6-1-0) won its first outright OCC title since 2019. Bond was named an OCC co-Defensive Player of the Year.

The AHS boys soccer team showcased plenty of talent as well behind an 11-7 record (5-2 OCC). The team had the OCC Defensive Player of the Year in junior Gary George and also featured college commits Kaden Howman (Division III Baldwin Wallace University) and Brady Anderson (Division II University of Findlay).

Golf

The Arrow golf teams had plenty in common on the links this fall, as both were led by three-time team MVPs and picked up conference titles.

The AHS girls secured back-to-back league crowns for the first time since 2019-2020 and were led for the third straight season by Elleni Miller, who earned OCC Player of the Year laurels.

The Ashland boys, meanwhile, picked up an OCC co-title with Lexington – the Arrows’ first of any kind since claiming three in a row from 2019 through 2021 – and Reed Emmons was the squad’s top performer.

Just a few years into his time as a golfer, Emmons will continue his career at Ashland University, where he will be joined by Miller.

Wrestling

The Arrows were about as dominant as they’ve ever been on the mats in 2025-26.

Not only did they lock up their third consecutive OCC title, but they did it in historic fashion, scoring a likely OCC-record 425.5 points at the league tournament to win it by more than 105 points.

The runaway crown also gave AHS the most OCC championships in league history (nine) and set the squad in motion toward a huge finish.

Five Arrows qualified to the state tournament – seniors Budda Martin and Talon Boyd and juniors Guardian Miller, Mason Bauer and Max Ohl. Ironically, all five of them reached their 100th career wins on the mats during the season as well – the most ever for any area team in a single year.

Miller (state runner-up at 150), Bauer (third at 138) and Martin (seventh at 215) gave Ashland three state placers for just the third time and helped the Arrows to their highest-ever team finish in Division I (10^th place).

Boyd is committed to wrestle at Ashland University while teammate Blake McCarty will compete at Division III Waynesburg University.

Back at AHS for one final season, Bauer and Miller very well could chase down a variety of school records as part of a talent-laden Class of 2027.

Track and Field

Ashland undoubtedly had one of its most talent-laden groups of athletes in the history of its boys and girls track and field programs.

Senior and Ashland University commit Dakota Kruty returned to state in the long jump and was the OCC’s Boys Combined Athlete of the Year.

Junior Greyson Blough, meanwhile, seized a fourth-place medal at state in the shot put – the highest placement for the AHS boys in Columbus in nine years.

On the girls’ side, star juniors Sadie Walter (OCC Runner of the Year) and Oaklynn Burns (OCC Girls Combined Athlete of the Year) both made state as well, with Walter setting new AHS records in both the 100- and 300-meter hurdles and Burns tying Ashland’s best-ever leap in the long jump.

Walter’s runner-up finish in the 100 hurdles was the school’s best outdoor finish at state in a decade. She also was fourth in the 300s and qualified to Columbus in the 100 dash, making her just the third Arrow ever to make state in three events in the same spring.

Senior Frankie Rupsis also came to the end of her storied athletic career as a high jumper. Committed to NAIA Indiana Wesleyan University, she qualified to state in cheerleading, diving, indoor track, outdoor track and gymnastics during her time as an Arrow.

Bowling

A year ago at this time, one of the best collections of high school boys bowlers ever to come through Ohio – Ashland’s 2024-25 squad – had just wrapped up its second consecutive title at the United States High School Bowling National Championships in Indiana.

Five members of that team returned as seniors this school year, and while the Arrows didn’t repeat their state- and national title-winning outputs of a season ago, they left behind a massive impression on the sport.

Featuring the last three OCC Bowlers of the Year in Luke Rhine, Landon Dreibelbis and Max Oeken (committed to NAIA Marian University) the Arrows qualified to the state tournament for the sixth year in a row, placing seventh.

Ashland also had Mikey McKinney and Adam Reynolds for one final season – two seniors who were critical contributors during the program’s unforgettable last four years.

More from the Arrows

Ashland collected a few other big moments in 2025-26 as well.

In girls swimming, junior Madi Meeting and sophomore Hadley Bechtol were named OCC co-Swimmers of the Year. Senior Sam Wolfe was the OCC Diver of the Year for the boys.

Meanwhile, the spring saw AHS feature a girls flag football team for the first time. The Arrows finished 6-3 for the season and already have a college commit in the sport, as Kaya Hendershott will compete at NAIA Defiance College.

On June 24, the OHSAA made girls flag football a fully recognized sport for the 2026-27 school year, so Ashland already has made itself one school to watch in Ohio for it.

All told, the Arrows took home six team titles in OCC action for the school year, and the competition cheerleading team also earned state runner-up for the second year in a row.

Goings spoke about how Ashland’s athletes have turned themselves into sought-after talents – not just for their proficiencies in the sports world, but for what they’ve done in the classroom, too.

He said many of the college-bound graduates were extended better scholarship offers because of it.

“The fact that our kids are set up to have the opportunity to (earn scholarship money in multiple ways) is what stands out the most, just with the way our athletes are such good scholars,” Goings said.

“It all starts with good families, good parents, the community support. Then you sprinkle in a little bit of athletic talent and, hey, you’ve got yourself potential recruitable athletes there.”