Ohio

Nellie Cathryn Strand September 24, 1913 to August 14, 2012. Nellie Cathryn Strand was a wonderful mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother who lived to be 98 years old (just one month shy of 99), outliving her husband Paul and two of her children, James Edwin Strand and Lawrence Richard Strand. Born in Meridian, Mississippi, Cathryn would live in several southern states before meeting her husband-to-be Paul, while working at a drugstore in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1933, they left Ohio to be married before a judge in Mobile, Alabama.

Claudia Peschiutta GLENDALE -- On a spring day in 1935, Mrs. Harris gathered her Fremont Elementary School students for their class picture. About three years ago, the smiling boys and girls in that photograph caught the attention of Georgia Reichenbach, who saw them while going through a box of old photographs in an antique store in Florida. The sentimental retiree had no connection to Glendale or Fremont Elementary, but she paid the $2 for the photograph and took it home to Ohio, hoping to reunite it with one of its rightful owners, one of the 31 students pictured.

gnp-sgvpreviewTextIM290GR8SGV previewNews-Press GLENDALEBaseball: Winners of two of the last three crowns, San Gabriel Valley All-Stars head back to Babe Ruth World Series. SCHEDULE Friday, Denham Springs, La. vs. San Gabriel Valley, 8 a.m. Saturday, Muskingum Valley, Ohio vs. San Gabriel Valley, 2 p.m. Monday, San Gabriel Valley vs. Columbia Basin, Wash., 8 a.m. Tuesday, San Gabriel Valley vs. Stamford, Conn., 4:30 p.m. — All times Pacific Standard Time GLENDALE — It's almost become an annual tradition for the San Gabriel Valley Babe Ruth All-Star team.

Finishing in grand style, the North San Gabriel Valley All-Stars baseball team buried Castro Valley 13-1 at Watsonville High on Aug. 4 to win the Pacific Southwest Regional Tournament championship and a ticket to the Babe Ruth World Series in Newark, Ohio, next week. Blake Gailen, who plays on the NSGV squad, was named the tournament's most valuable player. A member of the Glendale Community College baseball team and the grandson of La Crescenta resident Aleda Cowan, Gailen said he and his teammates are ready for the next level of competition.

GLENDALE — In the buildup to his title fight against Willie Lee on Saturday, undefeated Glendale welterweight Vanes “The Nightmare” Martirosyan been a visible presence around Youngstown, Ohio, appearing at promotional and press events and even conducting a media workout on Tuesday at the gym of Youngstown favorite son and middleweight champ Kelly Pavlik. But for all the fanfare and sideshows leading up to Saturday, Martirosyan is clearly focused on his ultimate goal — leaving the boxing tradition-rich town with Lee’s North American Boxing Federation super welterweight title, as well as the North American Boxing Organization welterweight belt that will also be up for grabs.

GLENDALE — Every August, Newark, Ohio plays host to what has become one of the summer's biggest baseball events. Hundreds of players flock to the city for the annual Babe Ruth 16-18 World Series, with a championship in sight and glory on their minds. Win or lose, hundreds of those same players will leave with a lifetime of memories following an experience unlike any other they've faced during their short baseball careers. "This is kind of a life-changing deal," San Gabriel Valley Coach Phil Torres said.

GLENDALE ? The following are updates on area athletes at the collegiate level . ? Michelle Summers (Hoover High, 2004) senior third baseman, Southeast Missouri State softball: Summers capped her splendid collegiate career by earning All-Ohio Valley Conference first-team honors. Summers picked up the accolades for the second straight campaign after picking up second-team honors last year. Summers finished with a team-high 13 home runs, tying her for third in conference.

Dave Mendoza had visions of spending his 40th birthday on the white-sand beaches of Cancun, Mexico, relaxing and enjoying the scenery of one of the most beautiful vacation spots in the world. But he scrapped his dream vacation last week when the assistant coach for the San Gabriel Valley baseball team watched his squad advance to the Babe Ruth World Series in the 16- to 19-year-old division. Mendoza, the new athletic director and longtime assistant baseball coach at Crescenta Valley High, will instead celebrate his birthday on Sunday in Newark, Ohio, site of the World Series, which will be held Thursday through Aug. 16. Instead of sightseeing in Cancun, Mendoza will be touring Newark, which is the home office to the Longaberger Co., makers of world-renowned handcrafted baskets.

Nellie Cathryn Strand September 24, 1913 to August 14, 2012. Nellie Cathryn Strand was a wonderful mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother who lived to be 98 years old (just one month shy of 99), outliving her husband Paul and two of her children, James Edwin Strand and Lawrence Richard Strand. Born in Meridian, Mississippi, Cathryn would live in several southern states before meeting her husband-to-be Paul, while working at a drugstore in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1933, they left Ohio to be married before a judge in Mobile, Alabama.

GLENDALE — When Karen Darabedyan takes center stage inside the World Extreme Cagefighting octagon for the second time, second time or not, he said he’ll still have plenty of butterflies leading into his fight. “I’m always pretty nervous before a fight,” said the Glendale fighter. “I think it brings out the best in me.” But when Darabedyan faces off with Bart Palaszewski on Saturday night in Columbus, Ohio as part of the live Versus telecast of WEC: Bowles vs. Cruz, he will do so with a major fight under his belt, a full training camp behind him and as a different mixed martial artist.

GLENDALE ? After his successful World Extreme Cagefighting debut, Karen Darabedyan is set to return to the cage on March 6 as part of WEC 47 where he is scheduled to face Bart Palaszewski. ?I?m really hungry,? said Darabedyan, who fought for the first time under the WEC banner in November, defeating former WEC lightweight (155 pounds) champion Rob McCullough via split decision. ?I just want to showcase everything I?ve got.? Darabedyan and manager Darin Harvey confirmed the fight with the News-Press on Sunday night and faxed over the signed contract to face Palaszewski on Monday.

GLENDALE —Vanes “The Nightmare” Martirosyan has scored impressive knockouts and dominated opponents with regularity over the last four-plus years, but what the Glendale-based welterweight did to Willie Lee on Saturday night at the Beeghly Center in Youngstown, Ohio came with an extra reward — two of them, to be exact. Martirosyan scored a third-round technical-knockout win over Lee to capture the North American Boxing Federation and North American Boxing Organization super welterweight titles, the first of his professional career, which has seen him amass an unbeaten record of 26-0 with 17 knockouts since debuting in April, 2005.

GLENDALE — In the buildup to his title fight against Willie Lee on Saturday, undefeated Glendale welterweight Vanes “The Nightmare” Martirosyan been a visible presence around Youngstown, Ohio, appearing at promotional and press events and even conducting a media workout on Tuesday at the gym of Youngstown favorite son and middleweight champ Kelly Pavlik. But for all the fanfare and sideshows leading up to Saturday, Martirosyan is clearly focused on his ultimate goal — leaving the boxing tradition-rich town with Lee’s North American Boxing Federation super welterweight title, as well as the North American Boxing Organization welterweight belt that will also be up for grabs.

GLENDALE ? The following are updates on area athletes at the collegiate level . ? Michelle Summers (Hoover High, 2004) senior third baseman, Southeast Missouri State softball: Summers capped her splendid collegiate career by earning All-Ohio Valley Conference first-team honors. Summers picked up the accolades for the second straight campaign after picking up second-team honors last year. Summers finished with a team-high 13 home runs, tying her for third in conference.

GLENDALE — No doubt about it. That's the impression the San Gabriel Valley All-Star baseball team left following its first game of the Babe Ruth 16-18 World Series in Newark, Ohio. The final damage was an impressive 13-0 no-hit, mercy-rule-shortened victory over Denham Springs of Louisiana on Friday. While the tournament's defending champions didn't intentionally set out to make a bold statement, the win was a welcomed sign following a first-game defeat in the opener of last year's World Series.

gnp-sgvpreviewTextIM290GR8SGV previewNews-Press GLENDALEBaseball: Winners of two of the last three crowns, San Gabriel Valley All-Stars head back to Babe Ruth World Series. SCHEDULE Friday, Denham Springs, La. vs. San Gabriel Valley, 8 a.m. Saturday, Muskingum Valley, Ohio vs. San Gabriel Valley, 2 p.m. Monday, San Gabriel Valley vs. Columbia Basin, Wash., 8 a.m. Tuesday, San Gabriel Valley vs. Stamford, Conn., 4:30 p.m. — All times Pacific Standard Time GLENDALE — It's almost become an annual tradition for the San Gabriel Valley Babe Ruth All-Star team.