From The Repository: Glen Oak thrives after the transfers, court case:
The pre-printed T-shirt read “Sweet 16” on one side and “Still cuttin’ down nets” on the other, a not-so-subtle reminder that the team with no returning starters was still alive when seemingly everyone left them for dead.
“It’s storybook for us,” GlenOak coach Paul Wackerly said after a thoroughly convincing, and thoroughly satisfying, 63-38 victory over Hoover in Friday’s Division I district final at Perry High School. “I can’t be happier.
“Ain’t nobody thought we were going to do this. They never gave us anything, but we did. We believed it.”
Then they did it.
"The same is true of GlenOak, which graduated one starter from last year’s state semifinal team, lost three to transfer (while accusing Wackerly of bullying tactics) and another to injury (junior Aniyah Hall, who tore her ACL in December). The seniors who stayed — senoir Mackenzie Green, Lemire and Kamryn Vance — kept things together and Wackerly again worked his tournament magic.
“We took the high road,” Wackerly said of the accusations. “We never said anything. We never gave our side of the story. The kids stayed with it and I told them that stuff stays in the locker room. “I’m kind of old school. I think it pays off for kids to do that kind of stuff.”
Only 16 Division I teams will still be practicing next week. Hard to believe GlenOak is one of them.
“Words can’t describe this feeling,” Green said. “It’s the best feeling in the world. With everything we’ve been through — Coach Wack, the coaching staff, the parents, us — we deserve this moment.”
