2022 year in review

To ring in the new year, the Tribune Chronicle and Vindicator sports staff put together a top-10 list of some of the biggest sports stories of 2022 in the Mahoning Valley:

Canfield and South Range win first football state championships

The Canfield Cardinals and South Range Raiders capped off their incredible fall seasons by winning their first football state championships in program history.

Canfield only lost one game all season long, a 16-13 decision against Chaney on Sept. 16, but ran the table all the way to their first state championship appearance since 1993. Behind another stellar performance from Broc Lowry, who caught a touchdown, passed for a touchdown, and ran for three touchdowns, the Cardinals defeated Bloom Carroll, 35-14 at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton. The Cardinals finished the season with a 14-1 overall record and scored 484 points throughout the season while only allowing 184.

South Range took it a step further than the Cardinals and completed the 2022 season with an undefeated record of 16-0, beating an undefeated Ironton team 53-27 to capture their first state title in school history in their first-ever state championship appearance. Billy Skripac capped off an impressive high school career with 331 passing yards and three touchdowns while scoring three touchdowns on the ground.

South Range wins first state team wrestling title; South Range's Ray Cmil and Chalker's Landen Duncan wrestle for a state championship

The Raiders also had a ton of success on the wrestling mat by winning the program's first team title.

South Range defeated Edison in the Division III state championship with a narrow 38-36 victory at the beginning of February. But it was just the beginning for the Raiders' postseason success.

A few weeks later, the Raiders took eight total wrestlers to the state wrestling tournament and came home with three top-eight placers. Both 106-pounder Hunter Newell and 165-pounder Logan Cormell tallied 7th place finishes while Raymond Cmil battled for a state championship. In a close 5-2 decision, Cmil lost to Wayne Trace's Hunter Long in the 132-pound finale, capping off an incredible senior season with his highest finish at the state tournament.

Chalker's Landen Duncan, who is the lone wrestler at Chalker, mirrored Cmil's run to the state finals but fell to Legacy Christian's Dillon Campbell via pin one minute and seven seconds into the match. It was a storybook-type run for the lone Wildcat and he's hoping to make another similar run this season.

Youngstown State's Jaleel McLaughlin set all-time NCAA mark

Since his arrival to Youngstown State, tailback Jaleel McLaughlin was out to show he belonged at the Division I level. By the end of his three-season stint with the Penguins, the speedster put himself into the NCAA record books.

As part of a 227-yard performance at Missouri State, McLaughlin broke the previous NCAA career rushing record set by Mount Union's Nate Kmic of 8,074. McLaughlin finished his stellar career with 8,166 yards between YSU and his seasons with Notre Dame College.

McLaughlin ended his YSU career with All-American honors from every major outlet to cover FCS football.

Canfield's Nick Plant wins second straight 800-meter title and sets state record

To cap off an illustrious high school career, Canfield's Nick Plant won his second straight 800-meter state title in March and also broke the all-time state record while doing so. Plant ran a 1:48.93 in the Division I state championship race at Jesse Owens Stadium at Ohio State University to put the exclamation point on his high school career. The previous record was set by Mark Sylvester in 2001.

Cardinal Mooney's Rocco Turner wins Division III state golf title

The Cardinal Mooney junior shot a 1-over 145 over the course of two rounds at North Star Golf Club in October to win the Division III state golf title.

Turner shot a 74 on the first day of the state tournament before shooting a 71 on Day two en route to winning his first state title by four strokes. His second round was one of only two under-par rounds carded for the entire tournament and he earned First-Team All-Ohio honors.

Turner led the Cardinals to a ninth-place finish in the tournament.

Valley stars shine at state championship track meet

Two distance runners and a team of sprinters followed up Plant's success at the state championship track meet in June by capturing state titles.

Maplewood's Caleigh Richards and McDonald's Megan Hipple continued their racing rivalry from the local races to the biggest stage at Ohio State. Richards captured the 1600-meter race with a clocking of 4:57.53, almost a full second faster than second-place finisher Claire Rethman from Ft. Loramie. Then, Hipple captured the 3200-meter race with a 10:55.09 clocking. Richards finished shortly behind in fourth place with a time of 11:07.77.

The Valley Christian 4×100 relay team of RaQuan Bell, Phillip Spradley, Kwane Austin, and Marquez Gibbs captured another state title for the Eagles with a time of 42.82. It was the team's second straight title in the 4×100 event as they narrowly beat out Springfield Central Catholic.

Michael Turner plays in College World Series and gets drafted by White Sox

The Champion alum had a special two-month span between June and July. First, after transferring to Arkansas from Kent State, where he spent four years, Turner helped the Razorbacks go on a postseason run to the College World Series. It was Arkansas' third appearance in four years. The Razorbacks finished the season 46-21 and Turner hit for a .323 average as a catcher with a team-high 83 hits and 53 RBIs.

Then in July, Turner was elected in the ninth round of the 2022 MLB Draft by the Chicago White Sox with the 281st overall pick.

YSU Women's Basketball wins Horizon League regular season crown

Youngstown State was able to party like it was 1999, as the Penguins clinched their first regular season conference championship since winning the Mid Continent back in '99. The Penguins eventually made a WNIT appearance for their efforts.

The title came by way of a stellar offseason in the transfer portal, as the Penguins bolstered their roster with forward Lilly Ritz, who earned All-Horizon League First Team honors, as well as guard Megan Callahan, a regular starter.

With much of that roster back, and with another successful offseason, the Penguins are in the hunt for another crown in the 2022-23 campaign.

Phantoms ink top prospect Sascha Boumedienne

Around Thanksgiving, the Youngstown Phantoms added a top prospect to their ranks. While he won't suit up in a Phantoms uniform until next fall, Sascha Boumedienne is a highly-touted Swedish defenseman who will be making waves across the USHL. While still too early to tell what his impact will be, Boumedienne is currently projected to be one of the top defensemen in the world in his NHL Draft year (2025). The Phantoms have made it a priority to become a top North American junior hockey destination, and signings like this are a great step in making that happen.

Chaney sends two to Power 5 ranks

Chaney's football program went on hiatus in 2011, but returned in 2019. After the Cowboys' best season since its return to competition, the school continued its tradition of producing collegiate-level talent, as Chaney stars Jason Hewlett and DJ Waller signed their national letters-of-intent to continue their football careers at the University of Michigan.

The Cowboys finished the season 10-2 with a Division III regional quarterfinal loss to Kenston. Chaney was also the only team to defeat eventual state champion Canfield this past season, defeating the Cardinals 1-13 in September.

Honorable Mentions:

-- The Cleveland Guardians win the AL Central with the youngest roster in the MLB

-- The Cleveland Browns add QB Deshaun Watson from the Houston Texans and sign him to a record-breaking contract. However, Watson was suspended the first 11 games of the season after being sued by more than two dozen women for alleged sexual harrassment and sexual assault.

-- Fourteen-year-old Warren native Gianna Clemente qualified for and played in three straight LPGA tournaments. Clemente also finished as the runner-up at the USGA U.S. Junior Girls' Championship.

-- After a 3-7 season in 2021, the Youngstown State football team finished with a 7-4 record and just missed out on the FCS playoffs.

-- The Howland and Cardinal Mooney boys soccer teams made a run to the state semifinals, but ultimately came up short of returning to the state championship.