Murad Nawaz had a solid freshman season playing first singles for Fairmont and advancing to the district tournament.
Saturday, the Fairmont sophomore became the school’s first boy to win a sectional tennis title since 1993, eight years before he was born.
The Elks junior made quick work of Nawaz last season.
“Over the off-season, I did a lot of training, especially on my strokes,” Nawaz said.
“This season, I’m having more fun, I’m more relaxed and I’m able to shake it off when I make a mistake.” Mistakes weren’t a problem for Nawaz at the sectional tournament as the top seed won all five of his matches in straight sets.
Two more wins and Nawaz will have achieved his primary goal for the season.
While sister Rheanna graduated three years ago, Morehart, a junior, is still playing catch-up to her many high school tennis accomplishments.
Big sister only won two sectional titles.
Doubles: The third seeds took it all in the D-I doubles final as Beavercreek’s Austin Staiger and Austin Chong, the Beavers first and second singles players, respectively, edged top-seeded Zachary Holbrook and Ryan Murphy of Centerville, 7-5, 6-4, to claim the sectional title.
Sharma and Reddy — like Morehart — had to beat their own teammates, Joe Keller and Reece Quigley, for the title as the dominating Miami Valley team finished first and second in singles and doubles.

Italian drought continues at Giro d’Italia.
In Alberobello on Friday afternoon, for example, while Giuseppe Fonzi’s long breakaway effort was slowly jumping the shark in deepest Puglia, a sizeable contingent of Italian reporters stood huddled around the region’s most famous ex-rider, Leonardo Piepoli, at one side of the press room.
When Francesco Moser walked by in his cycling kit, fresh from guiding guests from a race sponsor across the finish line, one almost felt a nation turn its lonely eyes to him.
Seven stages have now gone by without a stage win for Italy on the Giro, technically the worst start by the home nation in the history of the race, even if in 2010, Liquigas’ early team time trial win was the only Italian triumph before Filippo Pozzato claimed victory on stage 12 in Recanati.
"Italians, where are you?"
La Gazzetta lamented after a five-man break escaped up the road on stage 6 without a single local representative.
"I have riders who want to come to the Giro and then after a few stages, they already have sore legs," Scinto complained.
I’m furious.
After the stage, he sought to put the travails of Wilier-Triestina, and of all the Italian riders in the race, into context.
In 2017, there are just 43 Italian riders in the Giro – the smallest proportion in history – and only two Italian teams, the Pro Continental outfits Wilier-Triestina and Bardiani-Valvole.

People in the south-east of England are being urged to save water after months of rainfall as low as 30 per cent of the usual amount.
Affinity Water, which supplies to properties in parts of London, Kent and the Home Counties, suggested gardeners should sow “drought-resistant” plants and water from the roof should be stored in a water barrel.
The firm said that there had been low rainfall since July last year and that water in underground aquifers was below average.
The Environment Agency has also warned people to “use water wisely” following the prolonged dry spell.
One of the predicted effects of climate change is that the south and east of the UK will get drier while parts of the north and west will get wetter.
In a statement on its website, Affinity Water said: “Like all water companies, we depend on rain for the water we supply to you.
“Since July 2016 there has been low rainfall and the water in our aquifers and rivers that we use to supply your water has dropped below average.
“From January to March 2017, rainfall has been 50 to 70 per cent below the average for this time of year in our Central and Southeast regions.
“This means we have not seen the usual rise in groundwater levels that we would usually expect.” A long-range weather forecast by the Met Office suggests the next few months will be drier and warmer than average.
“The Environment Agency, water companies, businesses and farmers are working together to minimise any potential impacts to people and the environment should the dry weather continue.” Reuse content

Drought over, but eclipse event will raise fire danger.
John Saltenberger, a fire weather program manager at the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center, will make suggestions to the state about what, if any, fire restrictions there should be during August’s solar eclipse.
(KATU Photo) PORTLAND, Ore. — A surge of people coming to Oregon to view the solar eclipse will raise fire danger in the state, a fire forecaster told KATU.
Saltenberger tracks fire conditions.
Wildfires, he said, are caused by a combination of factors, including weather and an ignition source.
According to the National Park Service, 90 percent of wildfires in the United States are caused by humans, from unattended campfires, discarded cigarettes or arson.
Close to a million people are expected to travel to Oregon to witness a rare solar eclipse in August.
“It’s unprecedented,” he said.
Saltenberger makes recommendations to the state on what fire restrictions to make in the state.
In past years, campfires, barbecue fires and fireworks have been banned.

Bishop urges increased international help to tackle Somalia’s drought.
“The Somali government, international community and Somali diaspora should map out the most affected areas and find the best way to respond to the immediate needs of local population,” Bertin told Catholic News Service on May 12.
The bishop’s comments followed the one-day London Somalia Conference on May 11, which brought heads of states from East Africa and key partners together in the British capital.
The conference focused on accelerating progress on security sector reforms and building new international partnerships to maintain the country’s course of recovery.
“I do believe that Somalia can be in the near future the kind of good news that we badly need in the international community and in our troubled world,” Antonio Guterres, United Nations secretary-general, told the conference.
Apart from the more than 6 million people – nearly half of Somalia’s population – needing humanitarian assistance, an estimated 275,000 malnourished children are at risk of starvation, according to aid and development agencies.
“We are distributing emergency food in six villages in Somaliland.
While stressing the role of the Somali diaspora in rebuilding their country, Bertin urged the lifting of restrictions on “hawala,” traditional money transfer agencies, to allow the Somalis worldwide to contribute to the aid effort.
“The international community should be able to distinguish between terrorists and good people, good organizations which need to transfer money,” Bertin said.
Fears abound that the transfer agencies may be used to fund the al-Shabab extremist group operating in Somalia.

Drought conditions hit local farmers’ pockets.
HENDRY COUNTY, Fla. – One of the worst droughts in years has fewer local growers even going to the trouble of planting crops.
Local producers say it costs more to water plants than what they expect to get in return.
I’ve followed it all my life," Brittain said.
"There’s not another farmer left on this market that actually grows anything."
While many deal with extreme weather conditions every year, Brittian says it’s the worst he’s seen in 30 years.
Access to the wet stuff is getting harder every day.
Brittain’s water well is deeper than it’s ever been.
Wayne Simmons of LaBelle Fruit Company is precise on watering his citrus trees.
The last time Florida had this many counties under at least "severe drought" conditions was six years ago.

Drought is gone from much of US.
Much of the country is currently drought-free (shown in white).
Areas of Florida, too, continue to suffer from severe drought conditions—a stark contrast to early 2016, when it received record rainfalls.
Image via NASA.
At the end of April 2017, just 6 percent of the United States was afflicted by drought – the lowest level in 17 years of analysis by the U.S. Drought Monitor, according to a report from NASA’s Earth Observatory.
That is a substantial turnaround from a few years ago, when long and short term droughts spread across much of the nation.
Matthew Rodell, a hydrologist at NASA, said in a statement: Two parts of the country that have composed a big portion of [its] drought area in the last decade, Texas and California, now have mostly normal conditions.
Rainfall gave some respite in late 2012 before much of the country started drying out again.
By 2014, half of the U.S. was experiencing some level of drought.
Bottom line: As of the end of April, 2017, drought has disappeared from much of the United States.

BROWNSVILLE, Texas – Brownsville is in a minor drought.
“There’s no actual restrictions on any of our customers more than anything we want people to be aware of their water use and to start trying to make steps take measures to reduce that footprint and conserve some water,” Ryan Greenfeld, Public Relations for Brownsville PUB told News Center 23.
Brownsville PUB implements a voluntary water restriction every year effective on May 1st.
The water restriction is part of a drought plan.
“We want to take every step possible to make sure we can supply everyone with adequate and reliable service during the months to come,” said BPUB General Manager and CEO John S. Bruciak in a press release.
Including watering the lawn only twice a week from 7 a.m. or 7 p.m. through midnight.
It is also recommended to use a hand-held garden hose, soaker hose, hand-held bucket or water can, and hose-end sprinkler.
Using water for non-essential purposes such as washing paved areas or other hard-surfaced areas is discouraged.
4 Photos Copyright 2017 Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Soil management may help stabilize maize yield in the face of climate change.
"The things that were most effective at buffering against the different forms of yield instability were soil organic matter and water holding capacity," Davis says.
Davis suggests a number of practices to increase soil organic matter, including using cover crops, avoiding excessive soil disturbance, increasing crop rotation length, and adding composted manures.
"Cover crops are a great way for improving soil organic matter; even small amounts of cover crop biomass seem to have soil organic matter benefits," Davis explains.
The study, "Soil water holding capacity mitigates downside risk and volatility in US rainfed maize: Time to invest in soil organic matter?"
is published in the journal PLOS One.
"Soil management may help stabilize maize yield in the face of climate change."
ScienceDaily, 20 September 2016.
Soil management may help stabilize maize yield in the face of climate change.
"Soil management may help stabilize maize yield in the face of climate change."

Forecasters at NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center issued the U.S. Winter Outlook today, saying that La Nina is expected to influence winter conditions this year.
La Nina favors drier, warmer winters in the southern U.S and wetter, cooler conditions in the northern U.S.
"This climate outlook provides the most likely outcome for the upcoming winter season, but it also provides the public with a good reminder that winter is just up ahead and it’s a good time to prepare for typical winter hazards, such as extreme cold and snowstorms," said Mike Halpert, deputy director, NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center.
"Regardless of the outlook, there is always some chance for extreme winter weather, so prepare now for what might come later this winter."
Other factors that often play a role in the winter weather include the Arctic Oscillation, which influences the number of arctic air masses that penetrate into the South and create nor’easters on the East Coast, and the Madden-Julian Oscillation, which can affect the number of heavy rain events in the Pacific Northwest.
The 2016 U.S. Winter Outlook (December through February): Precipitation Wetter than normal conditions are most likely in the northern Rockies, around the Great Lakes, in Hawaii and in western Alaska Drier than normal conditions are most likely across the entire southern U.S. and southern Alaska.
Temperature Warmer than normal conditions are most likely across the southern U.S., extending northward through the central Rockies, in Hawaii, in western and northern Alaska and in northern New England.
Cooler conditions are most likely across the northern tier from Montana to western Michigan.
Drought improvement is anticipated in northern California, the northern Rockies, the northern Plains and parts of the Ohio Valley.
Snow forecasts are dependent upon the strength and track of winter storms, which are generally not predictable more than a week in advance.