The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
NDCL trio make college choices
One of The News-Herald coverage area’s most versatile track and field athletes and a pair of soccer players will take their talents to the college level next year from NDCL.
Emma Liberatore will continue her track and field career for Division II Ashland, while Hannah Megyesi and Emilio Spetic will respectively play for the women’s and men’s soccer sides at D-III Mount Union.
Liberatore, a skilled 400 runner and long jumper for the Lions throughout her career, made her biggest postseason splash in 2019 in high jump. She qualified for state in D-II as an at-large and made the most of it, placing fourth with a best effort of 5 feet, 5 inches.
Despite losing her senior campaign to cancellation due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, Liberatore graduates with the most individual-event state qualifications in girls track and field in school history with two in long jump (2018 and 2019) and one each in high jump and 400 (2018).
The two-time secondteam News-Herald girls track and field all-star has two of the school’s four top fours at state in girls track and field with the aforementioned fourth in high jump last season and a third in D-II long jump as a sophomore in 2018, when she went 17-8 ½. Those two finishes also make her the only jumper — boys or girls — in school history to crack the top four at state in those events.
The Ashland women’s track and field squad, which featured one NewsHerald coverage area product this year in Mayfield graduate and 2016 D-I shot put state champion Gianna DiPippo, was third at the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic
Conference indoor meet in February and finished its indoor campaign ranked 18th in the country in D-II.
Liberatore was also a basketball standout for the Lions, averaging 16.1 points and 7.5 rebounds as a senior as she was a third-team News-Herald girls basketball all-star.
Spetic, one of this area’s premier playmaking central midfielders, had 10 goals and four assists this past fall for the Lions, who went 9-5-7 and advanced to a D-II regional final, bowing out with a shootout loss to Warren Howland. He was a first-team News-Herald boys soccer all-star and second-team D-II allCleveland honoree for a side that advanced to regional competition for the first time since 2002.
Mount’s men’s side went 10-4-5 this past fall.
Megyesi, a senior midfielder, netted seven goals as the Lions went 11-8-1 and advanced to D-II regional competition.