Dayton Arena will be busy

DAYTON — An 11-day hectic schedule continues this week at the University of Dayton Arena.

The arena is hosting the Ohio High School Athletic Association girls and boys state championship games along with the NCAA First Four games.

The NCAA First Four opens tonight with Howard vs. UMBC and NC State vs. Texas and continues Wednesday with Lehgh vs. Prairie View and Southern Methodist vs. Miami (Ohio).

The arena will host two Ohio boys state semifinals on Thursday and two more on Friday and all seven state championship games from Friday through Sunday.

The Ohio girls state tournament also was held at the arena last week with four state semifinal games and all seven state championship finals.

Geiss competes at nationals

BOSTON — Heartland Christian senior Rebecca Geiss finished 98th out of 170 high school girls finishers in the New Balance Indoor Nationals on Friday.

Geiss ran 10:58.73 in the championship 2-mile high school race at the TRACK, which featured six of the eight fastest high school times in the nation this season.

Geiss has placed three times in the 3,200-meter run at the state meet, including a runner-up finish in 2023.

Teays Valley (Ohio) and Indiana University signee Katy Zang won with a meet-record time of 9:37.15. She broke the national high school indoor record of 9:38.68 set by Mary Cain in 2013. Cain set that mark in a pro field and finished third.

Zang has had a rapid rise. A week earlier, she became the first Ohio girl to break 10 minutes in the 3200 meters by winning the Ohio high school state indoor meet in 9:42.84, surpassing her previous best by 35 seconds.

Zang followed up Friday’s record race by winning the championship girls mile on Sunday in 4:35.02, the sixth fastest indoor mile in high school history.

Last June, Zang was fifth in the Ohio Division I 3200 meters (10:37.59). She placed 30th at the Division I state cross country meet (18.58.57) in November.

YSU women to play in WNIT

YOUNGSTOWN — After posting one of its best seasons in the last two decades, the Youngstown State women’s basketball team’s 2025-26 campaign will continue in the Postseason WNIT.

The 48-team field for the Postseason WNIT was announced on Sunday evening, and the bracket was released on Monday. Youngstown State earned a first-round bye, and it will play the winner between Wake Forest and Maryland Eastern Shore in the second round. The date, time and location for the second-round game have not been announced. The first-round contest between the Demon Deacons and the Hawks will be played at 6 p.m. on Thursday in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Youngstown State earned the Horizon League’s automatic bid as the conference’s top team that was not selected for the NCAA Tournament or WBIT. This is Youngstown State’s fifth appearance all-time in the WNIT, following previous bids in 2012-13, 2014-15, 2018-19 and 2021-22.

With the WBIT run by the NCAA, the independently run WNIT is a third-tier postseason tournament. Home sites are determined by which teams bid the most.

The Penguins are 24-9 this season, and they finished as the runner-up in the Horizon League tournament for the first time in program history.