Diverse skill set recognized with new Medina County Hall of Fame inductees

MEDINA -- A football player, tennis player, pole vault star, sprinter, NASCAR driver, volleyball player and strong Medina flavor are found within the Medina County Sports Hall of Fame's 2025 induction class. To be honored along with All-Gazette athletes at a June 20 banquet at The Galaxy Restaurant in Wadsworth, the individual inductees selected Thursday were former Black River football/baseball player Andrew Vaughn, Medina tennis player Patrick Thompson, Bees pole vaulter/gymnast Alex Wasik, Brunswick sprinter Brianna Neitzel, auto racing veteran Matt Tifft of Highland and former Medina athlete and volleyball coach Sherry Gifford Martin. Team recognition will go to the 1991 Medina girls soccer team, while the Al Thomas Award, given annually to someone who contributes in a non-playing or non-coaching manner, will be presented to longtime Medina youth football team director and public address announcer George Smiley. The inductees were chosen in a vote of Gazette sports staff members, county high school athletic directors and Medina Breakfast Kiwanis Club members, who have been hosting the annual event since 1986. The 5-foot-10, 216-pound Vaughn, a 2014 Black River graduate and arguably the best athlete in school history, still owns county records with 6,097 yards rushing, 72 rushing touchdowns, 530 points and 82 total touchdowns. A three-time All-Gazette choice in football and two-time pick in baseball, Vaughn rushed for 2,342 yards and 33 total TDs as a senior in 2013. His individual game rushing totals of 352, 344 and 343 yards ranked second through fourth in county history at the time he graduated. In baseball, Vaughn hit .392 with a .611 slugging percentage and 69 stolen bases in his career with the Pirates, leading the county in doubles, steals, runs and slugging as a senior as Black River recorded its first winning season in eight years. Vaughn went on to play football at Ashland University, where he had 2,631 rushing yards, 590 receiving yards and 156 points while helping the Eagles win a pair of Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference titles. Thompson, a 2002 Medina grad, teamed with Mike Noreika to win the 2000 D-I state doubles title as a sophomore. The only county doubles team to win a state crown, boys or girls, the Bees notched their unprecedented victory after being a sixth seed coming out of district play. Thompson finished fourth in the D-I state singles tournament as a junior, behind three future college All-Americans, and reached the quarterfinals as a senior. He was a first-team All-Ohio pick on two occasions and a second-team choice once while earning Gazette MVP three times and All-Gazette honors all four years. Thompson went on to qualify for the NCAA doubles tournament twice while at Ball State, spent time coaching at the pro level and is now an assistant with the Cleveland State men's program. Wasik, a 2011 Medina grad, won a D-I state pole vault title as a senior and was second as a junior. She also was an accomplished gymnast, finishing sixth in the state on the uneven parallel bars and 18th in the all-around as a sophomore. Wasik went on to have an outstanding pole vault career at Villanova, where she was a four-time regional qualifier and two-time Big East champion. She set school records indoors and outdoors and also competed at the World University Games in South Korea in 2015. Neitzel, a 2012 Brunswick grad, is one of the most decorated sprinters in county history, winning the D-I 400-meter state title as a junior and finishing second as a senior. She also was third in the 100 as a senior, fifth in the 400 and fifth in the 100 as a sophomore and fourth in the 4x100 as a freshman. Neitzel, who still holds county records in the 200 (24.58) and 400 (54.70) and school marks in the 100, 200, 400 and long jump, also won an indoor state title in the 60 and was runner-up in the 400. She went on to be a three-year starter at Ohio State before suffering a career-ending injury, earning All-Big Ten honors in the 4x4. She chose the Buckeyes over North Carolina, Michigan and Cincinnati. Tifft, a 2014 Highland grad, went from the Barberton Speedway all the way to the Daytona 500 to make his NASCAR Cup Series debut as one of the 40 best stock car drivers in the world in 2019. He recorded his first top-10 finish that year, placing ninth at the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway. Later that year, a seizure at Martinsville Speedway prior to a race caused Tifft to pause his career. Undeterred, he joined with fellow driver B.J. McLeod to form Live Fast Motorsports and became the youngest owner in NASCAR history. He was later named to Forbes' 30 under 30 list. Tifft returned to the track in August 2023 and has competed on various circuits. Gifford Martin, a 1983 Medina grad, earned four letters each in volleyball and track and two in basketball before continuing her volleyball career at Malone, but her real success has come as a coach. In addition to having been in charge of varsity programs at Bay, Medina and Trinity, Gifford Martin has spent decades leading Junior Olympic programs to success across the country. She has had 14 teams qualify for national championship tournaments, with eight top-10 finishes. The aptly named Smiley seemingly has been around youth football forever, first while calling games for the Medina Colts and later doing the public address announcing for Bees freshman and junior varsity contests. Working closely with good friends Dan Mahon and Dave Schultz, Smiley brought his own special brand of excitement to the booth in the early days and still contributes today. The 1991 Medina girls soccer team, coached by Jill Santee, reached the D-I state semifinals before falling 4-1 to Westerville North, which then lost to Cincinnati St. Ursula Academy in the title game. Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4046 or rnoland@medina-gazette.com. Follow him @RickNoland on X.