Poland sports briefs

Sports activity fee set

The Poland Local School Board instituted an activity fee, effective July 1, 2012, for athletics in grades 7-12. The fee is for students who choose to participate in extra-curricular activities that are supervised or coached by an individual employed by the district. Club athletic programs will be exempt from the activity fee. The Spring Sports payment needs paid in full by March 4. Please make check or money order payable to: Poland Board of Education, Attn: Athletic Fee, 3199 Dobbins Road, Poland, OH 44514.

Poland girls advance

The Poland seventh-grade girls advanced to the AAC title game after winning two games. On Feb. 2, the squad traveled to Newton Falls where they met Champion in the first round. The Bulldogs rallied from an early second-quarter deficit to outlast the Flashes, 34-27. Bella Gajdos scored 10 points, Alexis Hughes netted seven points and Maggie Sebest added 6.

On Feb. 4, Poland met Austintown Red in the second round of tournament action at Poland Middle School. The Bulldogs won 32-18. Hughes had nine points, five rebounds and four steals. Gajdos chipped in seven points to go with four steals, Sebest added five points and six rebounds.

Softball sign-ups set

Austintown girls softball league (slow-pitch) sign-ups, which are open to all Mahoning Valley girls, will be at the Austintown Township hall Feb. 16-17 from noon until 4 p.m.

Sports parent meeting set

The Poland High School athletic department will be having its spring sports parent meeting for any high school athlete involved in a spring sport. The meeting will be held on Feb. 25 at 7 p.m. in the high school auditorium. For more information, call the high school athletic department at 330-757-7021.

7th-grade girls win regular-season finale

The Poland seventh-grade girls basketball team capped an undefeated regular season with a 31-19 defeat of Austintown Red on Jan. 30. Gajdos scored 17 and had four steals to lead the Bulldogs. Alea Nicholudis chipped in four points and six steals. Hughes added six points, The win secured the No. 1 overall seed in the All-American Conference tournament.

7th-graders win title

The Poland seventh-grade girls captured the outright AAC American Division championship Jan. 28 with a 35-18 defeat of Austintown Blue. Bella Gajdos led all scorers with eight points to go along with seven assists. Maggie Sebest had seven points, seven rebounds and five steals. Juliana Blangero and Alexis Hughes both netted six points to pace Poland.

Poland grad Umbel is academic all-district at BW

Baldwin-Wallace University senior Academic All-Ohio Athletic Conference guard Ben Umbel (Poland High) has been named as a Capital One Academic All-District 7 selection. Umbel, who carries a 3.91 grade point average and has already been accepted into a number of medical schools, is a two-year starter who also started five games as a sophomore following his transfer from YSU.

This season, Umbel has started all 21 games for the 16-5 overall Yellow Jackets and averages 5.6 points and 4.2 rebounds-per-game, is second on the team with 71 assists, first with 17 blocked shots and leads the OAC in steals with 46.

Umble now qualifies for the national Capital One Academic All-America ballot.

Neighbors wants winter sports news

It’s winter sports season. Your young athletes haves started playing, and it promises to be a great season filled with game-winning shots, wrestling tournaments, strikes and spares, balance beam routines and swim meets. Neighbors wants to be there every step of the way. If you’re a winter sports coach or the parent of an athlete, we need you help. In order to get teams and players the recognition they deserve, we want to showcase them in our pages. If you send it, it will get in.

You can email us at neighbors@vindy.com. You don’t have to be a writer — just send us the information and we’ll put it all together. When emailing pictures, send them as JPEG files as large as possible. Provide caption information and where people are located from left to right, front row to back.

The sports news we’re looking for ranges from varsity high school teams down to middle school and even elementary and recreational leagues. And not just basketball — we want wrestling, bowling, swimming, gymnastics and hockey, too.