Recent Andrews graduate Tyler Holloway has committed to the Mars Hill track and field program.
Recent Andrews graduate Tyler Holloway has committed to the Mars Hill track and field program.
Holloway was fourth in the shot put at the May 20 NCHSAA 1-A track meet in Greensboro. Holloway’s throw of 47 feet, 5.25 inches was a personal record.
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Matt Landreth
North Buncombe baseball coach Matt Landreth has resigned.
Landreth is a 2002 Black Hawks graduate who coached them for three years. During that time, he compiled a 41-34 record, including an 11-12 mark this past season.
Landreth is leaving North Buncombe to accept a coaching position at Greer (S.C.).
Candidates for the Black Hawks job are asked to contact athletic director Barry Owens at barry.owens@bcsemail.org.
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McDowell rising senior Zach Franklin.
McDowell rising senior Zach Franklin has committed to play college baseball for Western Carolina University.
Franklin (4-4 with two saves) was named the Mountain Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Year this past season after maintaining a 1.53 earned-run average with 93 strikeouts in 59.1 innings pitched. Opponents batted .170 against Franklin. One of his losses was a no-hitter that he threw versus MAC 3-A champion Reynolds.
Franklin was a first-team selection on the Citizen-Times All-WNC baseball team. He also played in the infield for the Titans (15-12) and is a member of the Impact Baseball Dirtbags organization.
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Kayla Sprinkles.
Kayla Sprinkles has been hired to coach the Andrews cross country teams.
Spinkles has previously been an assistant girls basketball and softball coach for the Wildcats. She teaches social studies.
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Max Johnson and Florida State football coach Jimbo Fisher.
Owen legend Brad Johnson’s son has picked up scholarship offers from Florida State and Miami before ever playing a down of high school football.
Max Johnson is a 6-foot-3, 175-pound incoming freshman quarterback at Oconee County (Ga.).
His father is a 1987 Warhorses graduate. Brad Johnson played college football for Florida State before going on to an NFL career with the Washington Redskins, Dallas Cowboys, Minnesota Vikings and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He won a Super Bowl for Tampa Bay in 2002.
Oconee County is located in Watkinsville, Ga., which is just south of Athens.
The Warriors’ coach? Pisgah alum Travis Noland, who was formerly a Western North Carolina head coach at Erwin and Tuscola.
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Kyleigh Roland batted .650 for the Reynolds Middle softball team this past season.
REYNOLDS – Kyleigh Roland was born with a bat in her hands.
Roland’s mom, Nikki, patrolled the outfield for Owen’s last state-championship softball team (2000).
Her grandfather, J.D. Hinson, coached the Warhorses baseball team to three NCHSAA finals and won a state title as a player at Enka (1970). His wife, Debbie, was an All-American basketball player at Warren Wilson. And their son, John, starred at Reynolds before going on to play baseball at Clemson and with the Houston Astros organization.
Roland has got it in her genes to be one of Western North Carolina softball’s most promising freshmen in 2017. She’ll be suiting up for Reynolds after leading the Reynolds Middle softball team with a .650 batting average this past season.
“I’m a huge softball fan. It’s a big part of my life and I try to stay involved in it as much as I can,” said Roland, who plays middle infield positions and catcher.
“I’m really looking forward (to high school softball). Hopefully I’ll continue to get better. All you can hope for is to get better.”
Roland has been to the Women’s College World Series and camped at the University of North Carolina. Not much overwhelms her.
Roland was named Reynolds Middle’s team MVP as a seventh and eighth grader. In addition to her batting average, she stole 19 bases, scored 14 runs and had 12 RBIs. Her ultimate goal for the next four years is to add to her family’s rich history in Western North Carolina athletics with a state championship of her own.
The Rockets announced earlier this week that 2010 Roberson graduate Ashley Green is their new coach.
As her ability evolves, Roland draws inspiration from her mother, who graduated from Owen in 2003.
“My mom has always encouraged me to be the best player I can be,” Roland said.
“And as long as I try my best, she’s always been there for me. She’s been a big influence and a big motivator.”
Roland first took up the game at age 6 and has been playing travel ball since she was 8. Currently, she is a member of the the WNC Rip City organization. Though 26 games this summer, Roland is hitting .546 with 12 RBIs, five triples and 10 stolen bases. Her fielding percentage is 94.9.
The only other sport Roland plays is basketball, but she said softball is her favorite.
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McDowell rising senior Zach Franklin has committed to play college baseball for Western Carolina University.
MARION – McDowell rising senior Zach Franklin weighed all his options.
The Mountain Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Year shook the rest off to play college baseball for Western Carolina University.
Franklin said Friday that he committed to the Catamounts after also giving a good, hard look to Charlotte, College of Charleston and North Carolina.
“(WCU) felt like a community. It felt like home,” Franklin said.
“It’s in the mountains and I just had a good feeling. I felt right about it and felt it was a good fit for me.”
The Catamounts are coming off their first Southern Conference tournament championship in 13 years. Subsequently, they got some big exposure with a NCAA Regional appearance at Clemson.
“That didn’t hurt,” Franklin said.
“But it wasn’t the main or deciding factor when I committed. It’s great to have this decision out of the way. Now I can just focus on trying to get better.”
Franklin is a right-hander whose fastball has touched 90 mph this summer. He also throws a curveball and changeup.
How good is his stuff?
Opponents were only able to bat 1.70 off of Franklin last spring. He was 4-4 with two saves for the Titans (15-12), which won over MAC coaches when it came time to vote for the league’s preeminent pitcher. Franklin kept up a 1.53 earned-run average with 93 strikeouts in 59.1 innings pitched.
He represented McDowell in last month’s State Games tournament and plays showcase ball for the Impact Baseball Dirtbags organization.
When Franklin is not on the mound, he has played second and third base.
“Western Carolina has always had such a great baseball tradition,” Titans coach Alex Smith said.
“It’s nice to see them back on the right track and recruiting a kid like Zach. Everyone is excited about this because we know they just picked up a kid who can contribute.”
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Tuscola rising junior Melody Hannah, right, and Mountaineers catcher Heather Carver.
Tuscola rising junior Melody Hannah, right, and Mountaineers catcher Heather Carver.
Tuscola rising junior Melody Hannah hardly made her college softball pick in the heat of the moment.
“I went to North Greenville (S.C.) two years ago and told my family that’s where I wanted to go,” Hannah said.
“The location is good. It’s close to home, The people are so nice, they have a lot of majors you can choose from and a new sports complex. The coach (Sarah Hall) is awesome. I just love it down there.”
Hannah has committed to pitch for the Crusaders midway through her high school career, and shortly after a dramatic turnaround season for the Mountaineers.
They were 13-8 last spring after winning only two games in 2015.
Hannah is a right-hander who used a fastball, changeup, screwball, curveball, dropball, riseball and drop curve to engineer a big improvement under first-year coach Tara Gibbs.
Hannah was an All-Western North Carolina Athletic Conference and Citizen-Times All-WNC player for the Mountaineers and maintained a 4.75 earned-run average with 101 strikeouts. At the plate, she batted .397 with 25 RBIs and three home runs.
“We showed what we could do, and now I think we’re all ready to fix our mistakes and have an even better season,” Hannah said.
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Cherokee rising junior Tye Mintz passed for 1,872 yards last football season.
CHEROKEE – Tye Mintz remembers back when everything in front of him was unfolding too quick to comprehend.
Not fondly, it must be said. But those days are long gone.
The Cherokee rising junior is settling into his third year as the Braves starting quarterback.
Mintz passed for 1,872 yards and 17 touchdowns with 15 interceptions in 2015. The 6-foot, 200-pound signal-caller’s faith in himself and everyone around him has never been higher in the lead-up to the Braves’ Aug. 19 season opener at Trinity Academy (Tenn.).
“Everything is really coming along great and I believe 100 percent in my team,” Mintz said.
“Everything happens pretty fast when you become (a varsity quarterback) and I struggled with that at times. But now I have complete confidence in my team. We’re just looking to progress and improve with every game.”
Holden Straughan (33 receptions for 404 yards), Isaiah Evans (25 receptions for 260 yards) are a couple of the receivers that Mintz will have to choose from.
The Citizen-Times will publish its annual Western North Carolina football preview in the Aug. 14 edition of the newspaper. More preseason information on Cherokee and 30 other mountain teams will be available then.
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Mountain Heritage’s Trey Robinson, right, and Adam Shuford.
BURNSVILLE – Arrogance is the last thing that Mountain Heritage rising junior Trey Robinson wants creeping into his locker room.
The Cougars are self-aware that they are the preseason favorite in Western Highlands Conference football.
That acknowledgment is a start.
Robinson was the 2015 WHC Offensive Player of the Year and has been deemed the league’s preseason player of the year in voting by coaches.
He passed for 1,007 yards and 15 touchdowns with seven interceptions last season, but Robinson was a Citizen-Times All-WNC pick largely due to his dual-threat capability. The son of longtime Cougars coach Joey Robinson ran 321 times for 2,264 yards and 30 touchdowns.
Trey Robinson is the mountains’ top returning rusher based off his performance from last season.
“Things have been going really good for us (in the preseason,” Trey Robinson said.
“We picked up a transfer from Madison (senior Junior Denton) and that’s working out really well. We don’t want to go into this season with a cocky attitude, but we’re looking forward to it.”
Joey Robinson holds a 78-92 career coaching record with the Cougars. They went 11-3 overall last year and made their first-ever state championship appearance in 2009.
The Citizen-Times will publish its annual Western North Carolina football preview in the Aug. 14 edition of the newspaper. More preseason information on Mountain Heritage and 30 other mountain teams will be available then.
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McDowell lineman Ishman Martino, left, wide receiver Tyler Banks, center, and offensive lineman Isaiah Burch are returning seniors for the Titans.
MARION – Change is the only constant at McDowell right now.
The Titans’ final season in the Mountain Athletic Conference is their first under a new coach. And since Andy Morgan came on board in March, some long-needed repairs and updates to the school’s stadium have been completed.
Morgan wants to fill that stadium with a winning team and is off to an encouraging start.
“We never dropped below 70 kids for workouts in the spring and we haven’t dropped below it this summer. It’s really been a pleasant surprise,” Morgan said.
“Having a new coach come in so late is never easy, but the attitude from the kids has been great. They’re starting to believe in the weight room and you can see them get better every day. They’re eager to do things right.”
Morgan is a 1993 Franklin graduate who began his coaching career at McDowell 18 years ago. He had been a teacher and coach at Roberson since 2005 prior to landing his first job as a head coach.
Morgan and his family have been in the process of moving to McDowell County this summer, all while he tries to plant some football roots as well.
The Titans return 13 starters (seven offense, six defense), a group which includes the rushing tandem of Terrion Camp (782 yards, three touchdowns in 2015) and Matthew Moss (702 yards, five touchdowns). Both backs averaged over five yards per carry in 2015.
They’ll be getting their handoffs from a new quarterback. Last year’s JV starter, Ben Ballew, and Tyler Banks are part of a four-man group fighting it out for the spot.
Banks (26 receptions for 382 yards and three touchdowns) and Justice (23 receptions for 252 yards and one touchdown) ranked second and third, respectively, among McDowell receivers a year ago.
The team has the potential to be “ginormous” up front, Morgan said. Tre Spearman is listed at 6-foot-6, 270 pounds and Isaiah Burch is 6-5 and 285 pounds.
The latest NCHSAA realignment was finalized in April. Starting with the 2017-18 school year, the Titans will be part of a split 3-A/4-A conference that includes Alexander Central, Hickory, Morganton Freedom, South Caldwell, St. Stephens, Watauga and West Caldwell.
Note: The Citizen-Times will publish its annual Western North Carolina football preview in the Aug. 14 print edition. A complete preview of McDowell will be available then.
More on this story to come….
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Terry Hughes
Special thanks to Asheville Christian Academy for this information and the photo:
Terry Hughes, ACA Soccer Coach accepts position as Assistant Director of Athletics
ACA’S soccer coach Terry Hughes has been named the school’s first Assistant Director of Athletics. Coach Hughes previously served ACA as a math teacher and in the maintenance and fields department. He has been at ACA for nine years leading both the boys and girls soccer programs. A plethora of CAA championships and a state championship for both boys and girls are among the many accomplishments Lion’s soccer has posted during Coach Hughes’ leadership. He was also named coach of the year by the Citizen Times last year and was the National Christian School Athletic Association Coach of the Year this past fall.
Coach Hughes will assist Director of Athletics Joe Johnson, who is starting his 13th year at ACA. His duties will include daily athletic administration tasks and assist Coach Johnson with a growing athletic program both in participation and in sports offered. The Lions will begin varsity tennis this year for boys and girls with other new sports are being considered as student numbers are able to support.
“The ACA community will benefit from Coach Hughes’ hard working and passionate style in a more diverse manner beyond just soccer. He will have the opportunity to help us continue our growth in all our athletic programs in a stable and consistent way. We are excited about this new position in our department and even more so with Coach Hughes answering the call.” Joe Johnson, Director of Athletics
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Asheville School rising sophomore Rachel Kuehn.
Special thanks to Asheville School for this information and the photo:
Asheville School’s Rachel Kuehn Plays in U.S. Girls Junior
ASHEVILLE, N.C. (July 22, 2016) Asheville School’s Rachel Kuehn competed in the U.S. Girls Junior golf tournament in Paramus, N.J. this week. In the first two rounds, Rachel shot 13 over par with rounds of 79-80, missing the cut to continue by only three strokes.
Rachel enjoyed and learned from the competition. “It was an amazing experience to get a chance to see how I can compete on a national level,” she said. “I got to meet a lot of new people and see how they practice and warm up. I have learned drills that I will be able to bring back with me to help my game.”
Rachel’s mother Brenda Corrie-Kuehn is no stranger to competitive golfing, having competed in many tournaments including U.S. Girls Junior Championships, U.S. Women’s Opens, and U.S. Women’s Amateurs herself. She is proud of Rachel’s hard work and she was excited to have the shared experience of this caliber tournament with her daughter.
“It really was a special week for both of us,” Brenda said. “As a parent who has played, I have no words to explain how it feels to have the opportunity to share this moment with her. I had so many emotions go through me this week that you would have thought I was the one playing in the tournament. Fortunately it was her and not me playing and I could not have been prouder of her play and demeanor.”
Rachel played hard, and although she missed the cut to continue, she had some outstanding moments of play. “During the first round, I was five over par going into the twelfth hole, a par 5. I hit my drive down the middle, had pulled my second shot a little left, and was left with a half wedge into the green,” said Rachel. “I was about 70 yards away from the pin, and I hit my wedge right where I wanted to and it went in for eagle.”
Rachel is happy that her game continues to improve. “[My game] has come leaps and bounds from where it was last summer. I hit the ball more consistently, and I hit it longer,” she said. “Although my putting struggled this past week, I feel that even it has improved as well.”
Rachel is playing in several more competitions this summer and fall. As she prepares, her mother leaves her with this advice: “Hard work pays off although it does not guarantee a win. Play the game because you love it, not because you have to. It will give you much more in return than you ever imagined and you will end up with relationships that will last a lifetime.”
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Cherokee rising senior Meona Feather underwent surgery to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament on Thursday.
Cherokee rising senior Meona Feather underwent surgery to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament on Thursday.
The 5-foot-6 guard is a former two-time Carolinas Athletic Association Player of the Year (2015 and 2016) and announced in June that she was transferring from Rabun Gap (Ga.) to her hometown school.
Feather averaged 16.2 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals a game last winter. She made 74 shots from three-point range.
The first day of official practice for NCHSAA basketball teams is Oct. 31.
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Madison rising senior Brooke Vilcinskas had surgery to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament on Wednesday.
One of the top female two-sport athletes in the Western Highlands Conference is recovering from a torn anterior cruciate ligament.
Madison rising senior Brooke Vilcinskas had surgery on Wednesday.
Vilcinskas was named to the Citizen-Times All-WNC softball team (at catcher) this past season. She batted .488 with 37 RBIs, 11 doubles, eight triples and one home run for the WHC champion Patriots (22-2).
She was an All-WHC performer in basketball as well. Vilcinskas led the Madison girls (17-9) in scoring (13.2 points per game), assists (5.2) and steals (3.8).
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Erwin receivers Kealin Goode, left, and C.J. Thompson.
ASHEVILLE – Erwin has more than enough offense to win a Mountain Athletic Conference championship.
If the Warriors can stay healthy. If an unproven line can protect the MAC’s preseason player of the year. And if the defense can grow from week-to-week.
Right now, those are some mighty big ifs for Warriors coach Mike Sexton.
“Those things are key for us especially the defense,” Sexton said.
“If we can slow people down, we’ve got a chance. You’ve got to feel good about a third-year starting quarterback (senior Damien Ferguson) and the weapons we have around him. Damien is special and he’s got a lot of help with our receivers and the backfield. They’ve worked hard to get where they’re at.”
Erwin sports 10 returning starters (six offense, four defense), including Western North Carolina’s top returning passer (Ferguson) and receiver (fellow senior C.J. Thompson).
Ferguson passed for 2,993 and 27 touchdowns with 11 interceptions in 2015.
Thompson (72 receptions for 775 yards and 10 touchdowns) and Kealin Goode (63 receptions for 595 yards and six touchdowns) combined for more than 130 receptions. Isaiah Poore (670 yards, nine touchdowns) balanced things out with his rushing.
The Warriors averaged 28.7 points per game, but only have two offensive linemen back who started on a consistent basis – Gamo Khan and Angel Nunez. Khan is the center.
Ethan Silver is the only returning starter for the defensive line.
Chris McDonald and Keylen Johnson will be counted on at linebacker
Thompson was a Citizen-Times All-WNC defensive back in 2015. He made 72 tackles (five for a loss) and four interceptions. Goode and Trey Martin should also provide some depth in the secondary.
For the second consecutive year, Erwin will undertake one of area’s most difficult nonconference schedules.
The Warriors’ first game is Aug. 19 at home against private-school power Davidson Day. They host Western Highlands Conference preseason favorite Mountain Heritage the week after that before back-to-back games against Tennessee schools Ooltewah (Sept. 2) and Science Hill (Sept. 9) and then a matchup with WNC Athletic Conference preseason favorite Franklin (Sept. 16).
Note: The Citizen-Times will publish its annual Western North Carolina football preview in the Aug. 14 print edition. A complete preview of Erwin will be available then.
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Asheville Christian Academy graduate Bailey Clark pitched two scoreless innings Saturday in his professional debut for the Chicago Cubs organization.
MESA, Ariz. – Asheville Christian Academy graduate Bailey Clark pitched two scoreless innings Saturday in his professional debut for the Chicago Cubs organization.
Clark was the starter for the Arizona League Cubs in a 7-4 win over the Arizona League White Sox. Clark struck out two batters while allowing two hits and no walks.
Clark is a 2013 Lions grad and 6-foot-5 right-hander who played college baseball for Duke. He was taken in the fifth round (164th overall pick) of last month’s major league draft and agreed to a $450,000 signing bonus with the Cubs.
The Arizona League Cubs are the rookie-league affiliate for Chicago.
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Pisgah’s Mason Herbert.
HOUSTON – Pisgah rising junior Mason Herbert pitched two scoreless innings Sunday for a save in the championship game of the 16 and under Marucci World Series.
Herbert and the Matthews-based Southern Baseball Academy beat a team from Northern California in the finals, 8-7.
Herbert’s relief appearance followed up a win in last week’s quarterfinals. Tournament games were played at Rice University and one of Herbert’s SBA teammates was North Henderson’s Kyle Decker.
Both players were All-Western North Carolina Athletic Conference selections for their high schools last spring. Decker and Herbert were also both named to the Region VIII States Games team.
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Former Reynolds football players Ryan McLaughlin, left, and Justin St. Onge are representing Haywood Community College in for this week’s Carhartt Bassmaster College Series National Championship.
REYNOLDS – Justin St. Onge and Ryan McLaughlin deal in a different kind of “tackle” these days.
But whether it’s fishing or football, the two former All-WNC defenders from Reynolds still make good teammates.
St. Onge and McLaughlin are in Campbellsville, Ky., for this week’s Carhartt Bassmaster College Series National Championship. They are representing a first-year program at Haywood Community College in only their fourth tournament together.
“At first, we had to work the kinks out,” McLaughlin said.
“We’ve blown up a trolling motor, dropped poles in the lake, you name it. We’ve been at the bottom and at the top. Everything feels like it’s starting to click now for us.”
Thursday is the first round of competition in Kentucky. The HCC team checked into its hotel Sunday and will spend the next few days trying to find all the good spots around Green River Lake.
St. Onge (North Carolina) and McLaughlin (Western Carolina) both pursued Division I football after graduating high school three years ago.
They gave up the game for their own individual reasons. The two childhood friends from Fairview were then drawn to HCC by its Fish and Wildlife Management Technology offerings. One thing led to another and the buddies were soon casting lines out of a boat owned by St. Onge’s father, Chris.
“It’s not the same as football. I don’t know that anything could replace that,” said St. Onge, who was the 2012 Mountain Athletic Conference Player of the Year at linebacker.
“Football didn’t work out for either one of us, but one of the reasons we started (the team at HCC) was we were both looking for that competitive thing. We both enjoy that.”
St. Onge and McLaughlin, who is an ex-lineman, placed 12th out of more than 70 teams at May’s Carhartt Eastern Regional in Richmond, Va. Their catch weighed in at 34 pounds, 11 ounces.
Community donations have been used to subsidize HCC’s first year of competition. Otherwise, St. Onge and McLaughlin have to pay for everything (artificial bait, tackle, boat fuel, meals and hotels) out of their own pockets. St. Onge estimated that the trip to nationals will cost each fisherman about $1,500 to $2,000.
Lake Lure is a nearby body of water that the HCC team fishes a lot. St. Onge and McLaughlin also travel from time to time to the Charlotte area and South Carolina.
“I feel that same way that Justin does,” McLaughlin said.
“Neither of us play football anymore, but we’re having a lot of fun with this. You can’t beat it.”
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Roberson graduate Braxton Davidson is an outfielder for the Single-A Carolina Mudcats.
The Raleigh News & Observer has published an in-depth piece looking at the third year of Roberson alum Braxton Davidson’s professional baseball career:
The 2014 first-round pick of the Atlanta Braves, drafted as a power hitter after a robust tenure at TC Roberson High in Asheville, has progressed to the Advanced-A level but hasn’t fully lived up to expectations along the way.
In the heat of summer with the Mudcats, however, Davidson, 20, has started to find his hitting rhythm — and a strong desire to shake off the growing pressure.
“Obviously with the first-round name under your name, they want you to succeed, and I feel like I’ve lived through the pressure throughout my whole life,” he said. “I’m trying to just be consistent and prove that I am a worthy first-round pick.”
For more on this story, go here.
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