A great week for Whiteoak High School, et al.

Rory Ryan
By Rory Ryan
The Highland County Press
This has been an impressive week for Whiteoak High School. Longtime baseball coach Chris Veidt was selected to the 2024 class of the Ohio High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame, and cross-country runner Landen Eyre won the Southeast District Division III Cross Country Championships at the University of Rio Grande for the second straight year.
Both accomplishments made me happy for Whiteoak High School. As a former four-year starter on the Wildcats' baseball team and four-year cross-country runner (mediocre at best in both), I understand the commitment that it takes to excel. In fact, it's hard work. There are no shortcuts to success.
Coach Veidt always stresses that it's about trusting the process. As HCP sports editor Stephen Forsha quoted the coach: "We started this process from scratch in 1992. I was the fourth head coach the seniors had in their four years in the program.”
That "process" has had very impressive results these past 32 seasons.
Coach Veidt has a career record of 462 wins and 346 losses for a 57.2 winning percentage.
His Whiteoak teams have won:
• 12 Southern Hills Athletic Conference championships;
• 16 Sectional championships;
• Four District championships;
• One Regional championship; and
• Earned a trip to the Division IV Final Four in 2018.
Coach Veidt has received many honors, including:
• Southern Hills Athletic Conference Coach of the Year five times;
• Southeast District Coach of the Year nine times;
• State Coach of the Year two times: 2013 Mizuno All-Ohio Coach of the Year, and 2023 Augusta All-Ohio Coach of the Year.
• 2018 National High School Baseball Coaches Association Region 4 Coach of the Year.
Coach Veidt has had 26 Whiteoak Wildcats players earn All-Ohio honors. He has had 25 players go on to play college baseball.
His Whiteoak teams have been state-ranked 10 times, including a first-place poll ranking in 2018 and a No. 2 final poll ranking in 2023.
Bright Local Schools District Superintendent Jason Iles spoke highly of Coach Veidt and what he means to the WHS baseball program.
"The amount of time Chris spends behind the scenes with his players and program is truly remarkable,” Iles said. “No one sees the amount of work he puts in during the offseason. A true meaning to the quote 'trust the process.'"
Longtime local baseball umpire, attorney and former county prosecutor Jim Grandey made this observation: "Well done, Coach, and greatly deserved." I agree.
I met Coach Veidt during his first year at Whiteoak. He was a new coach, and I was a new sports editor. After watching his coaching style in just one game, I knew immediately that he knew baseball. He stressed fundamentals. He positioned his defensive players accordingly to each opposing hitter. I think that 1992 team may have had a talented senior shortstop named David Puckett and senior pitcher named Brian Allen. (It's been a few years, so I could be wrong.)
Coach Veidt's teams are among the best in making the baseball extracurricular an extension of the classroom and the community the team represents.
"Chris Veidt coaches the game of baseball the way every coach should," HCP sports editor Stephen Forsha said. "Veidt’s teams are always prepared; he gets the very best out of his players, and his program is second to none. Whether it be on the field during games or following the games, his players are some of the most respectful players you will meet in high school athletics.
"What stands out the most is how much Coach Veidt cares about his players and the community in which he coaches. The fact that all his assistant coaches are former players of his says something about the type of person he is, and how well-respected he is in the Mowrystown community.
"In all my years of covering sports in Highland County, no coach has been more accessible to contact, or wants to promote their team or players more than Coach Veidt. He truly cares about his players, community and program, and he respects the game of baseball more than any high school head coach I’ve had the opportunity to work with in the past 16 seasons."
In spite of opportunities to coach elsewhere, Coach Veidt has stayed loyal to the school district and athletic department that game him an opportunity to leave his assistant coaching position at Wilmington College (where he coached from 1987-91).
Not only has Coach Veidt built a credible Whiteoak baseball program year in and year out, he's also led the effort to establish an award-winning baseball and softball complex in Mowrystown. His hard work led to the Whiteoak field being honored with the inaugural Field of the Year Award, presented at the annual Ohio High School Baseball Coaches Clinic in January 2018.
How I'd love to take a few grounders at second base on that infield! In 1976-79, we had a hard dirt infield (no grass, but maybe a little weed – after all, it was the '70s) mixed with some gravel tracked in when some idiot would do donuts across the diamond now and then. Players raked the infield before games to avoid the inevitable bad hops.
Whiteoak baseball has come so far since those days. Thanks to Coach Veidt.
Congratulations, Coach, on a well-deserved honor. You are forevermore a true Hall of Famer. Go 'Cats.
* * *
• Looking back again to my early years of sports writing in southern Ohio, I was happy for McClain football Coach Keith Penwell, whose Tigers ended a seven-year losing streak Friday, Oct. 20 in the annual Rotary Bowl game. Coach Penwell's Tigers defeated Hillsboro, 21-13, at McClain Field.
Coach Penwell was a fine athlete in his own right for McClain. I'm thinking he may have been a three-sport athlete in basketball, baseball and football. No doubt, he was familiar with legendary McClain coaches like Rick Van Matre, Otis Wagner and Dan Raike. Maybe even Troy Dawson.
I suspect Coach Penwell learned something about coaching from each one of them. Congratulations, Coach Penwell, and best of luck in the state playoffs.
* * *
• Another tip of the cap is in order for Hillsboro High School's Corbin Winkle.
Winkle was named the Frontier Athletic Conference Boys Cross-Country Runner of the Year.
Thanks to Coach Rob Snavely for his assistance throughout the season.
* * *
• Also, a bit of housekeeping is in order because of the hard work of a trio of HCP folks: Stephen and Caitlin Forsha and Jimmy Jones. To me, the high school football regular season always seems to end just as it's really getting under way. But to all those who travel southern Ohio for 10 straight Friday nights, it's not that simple. It's a lot of long hours and hard work.
Thanks, Stephen, Caitlin and Jimmy for another fantastic season of covering high school football for our readers.
* * *
• Lastly, I'll add this nugget from a book I'm reading.
It's called "The Men in the Trojan Horse" by Kurt Singer. He ends a chapter with this gem: "I have faith that democracy is strong enough to tolerate nonconformist truth seekers. If democracy and truth are the same – as I'm convinced they are – why are so many of us fearful that anyone left of center or right of center is a menace to the country?"
This was written in 1953. It still applies in 2023. The more things change, the more they stay the same. Thanks for reading The Highland County Press.
Rory Ryan is publisher and owner of The Highland County Press and a 1979 graduate of Whiteoak High School.