Our very good friend, Johnny Kennedy, has a nice little site where he has all things South Lenoir athletics. Appropriately enough, it’s called SouthLenoirSports.com.
Go check it out. He’s got the 2008 team picture of the football team posted and I know he’d like to see some discussion on the site. Tell him ol’ Bryan sent you…
The man, the legend — Randy Capps — has another great post on his blog where he discusses the all-time greats and their performances. Do yourself a favor and check it out.
My take: I agreed with him nearly 100 percent — until he got to his last point about Barry Bonds. Is Steroid Man one of the top 20 players of all time? I’ll give you that one. But he’s not even one of the top 10 players in MLB history, in my opinion.
And I refuse to acknowledge he’s the home run king, either. The classiest man in the sport — Hank Aaron — will always be the King to me.
Thanks to our good friend Charles Alston for this info; Illinois has established a bass fishing tournament for its member high schools…
The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) Board of Directors at its regular June meeting on Monday (June 9) approved Terms and Conditions for the new Bass Fishing State Series to be inaugurated during the 2008-09 school term.
Sectionals in the series will be held on Friday of Week 42 (April 24, 2009), with the state final being held on Friday and Saturday of Week 44 (May 8-9, 2009). Sites for the event have not yet been determined.
Schools will be allowed to enter up to two boats, with up to three students in each boat, although only two may fish at any one time. The competition will run for up to eight hours per day. Each boat may weigh five fish at the end of each day’s competition. The complete terms and conditions are included in this PDF document.
“We are excited about the new bass fishing tournament,” said IHSA Executive Director Marty Hickman. “We believe it will be the first bass fishing tournament in the country sponsored by a state high school association. The tournament is a great way to reach out to high school students and give them an additional opportunity to compete in interscholastic activities.”
My take: Why not? The NCHSAA has attempted to make an activity like cheerleading a “sport”, so why not incorporate a legitimate sport that probably 30 to 40 percent of HS students (boys and girls) participate into the association? I know one thing: it’d be more fun to cover than some “sports” that I won’t mention here…
There’s no better way to say this, than a big, fat THANK YOU! In May, we had an eye-popping 81,688 page views, the most for a month in Freedom ENC history. In fact, it wasn’t too long ago that Kinston.com was only getting 300,000 or so page views for an entire month — of course, before the great Charlie Kraebel arrived in K-Town and kicked things into action for Kinston.com.
But that many for a simple blog is astounding. Thank you to everyone who made it happen by hitting their refresh buttons while LCC and their NL and SL baseball and softball games were taking place. You guys truly rock and I appreciate everything you’ve done to make this crazy thing a success.
Some of the best days included 7,436 on May 28, 6,458 on May 20, 5,165 on May 25 and 5,024 on May 29. Nearly all of that was driven by LCC fans checking in during the NJCAA D-2 World Series — who deserve the lion’s share of the credit here. But there were a ton of Hawk Krazees and Munn Maniacs (along with county and city folks checking in) who drove the traffic.
I realize this month will go down, since there are no prep or college sports going on, but that’s OK. I’ll (hopefully) have the All-Free Press baseball and softball teams completed this week, so we’ll post them here first. Also, the State Games of North Carolina regionals are being held in Kinston this weekend, and I’ll have the complete schedule and results here, too.
I’ve been trying to figure out a way to get Senior and Junior American Legion results and standings up here, too, although I have a good chunk of this month that I will be taking off for vacation — meaning someone else could step up and help?
Again — thanks for everything you guys do. It’s worth the extra work when we have successes like this!
Wednesday’s North Lenoir at South Lenoir softball game is not going to happen. The Hawks have a pseudo-playoff game on Thursday at home against Greene Central to determine the Eastern Plains 2A’s No. 1 seed, so the powers-that-be decided not to play the Wednesday game.
This means North Lenoir and South Lenoir will not meet on the softball field this year unless they play each other in the playoffs. We can hope, I guess…
My take: C’mon, now. We really can’t make this game happen? Can you imagine this happening in football or basketball? It wouldn’t.
The downside for TFP is this — that was our centerpiece story for Thursday’s paper. Now, obviously, it won’t be.
North Lenoir took care of business again tonight, downing Greene Central, 9-2, to win its 32nd straight game in Eastern Plains 2A action. The Hawks haven’t lost since the end of the 2005 season in baseball. C.C. Croom slammed two HRs while John Alphin shut down GC by striking out 11 and giving up three hits and one walk.
GC’s softball team upset NL, 5-4, to force a one-game playoff next Thursday in Wheat Swamp. The game will determine the EP2A’s No. 1 seed in the state 2A playoffs.
Don’t forget: it’s going to be a great week of prep action next week. NL and SL meet in prep baseball in Wheat Swamp on Tuesday, NL and SL meet in Deep Run in softball on Wednesday and the aforementioned NL-GC softball game is Thursday. And on top of ALL THAT, the 2A baseball playoffs begin Friday at NL and SL.
On another note, got some REALLY interesting quotes from NL coach Montague regarding Tuesday’s NL-SL baseball game. I hate scooping myself on my preview story, but these quotes were too good not to share with you bloggees:
“That game is for our athletic directors,” he said. “It doesn’t mean a hill of beans to me. If that game makes a lot of people real excited over a win, they lead really boring lives.”
AWESOME. Montague has to be one of the top 10 coaches I’ve ever interviewed for great quotes. Some others who immediately come to mind are Ol’ Jimmy at SL, Gulledge at KHS and former KHS football coach Lonnie Baker. That might make an interesting post sometime…
Updated: this is how the area conferences will look for the academic years 2009-13 (for the complete APPROVED realignment plan for all conferences in the state, click here):
3A
Conference 5 (likely the Eastern Carolina 3A)
C.B. Aycock
Eastern Wayne
North Lenoir
Southern Wayne
South Johnston
Triton
2A
Conference 2 (likely the East Central 2A)
Clinton
Croatan
East Duplin
Jacksonville Northside
Richlands
South Lenoir
Swansboro
Topsail
Conference 3 (likely the Eastern Plains 2A)
Farmville Central
Greene Central
Kinston
North Pitt
SW Edgecombe
Tarboro
Wilson Beddingfield
1A
Conference 4 (likely the Coastal Plains 1A)
Dixon
East Carteret
Jones Senior
Lejeune
Pamlico
SW Onslow
Conference 5 (likely the Carolina 1A)
Ayden-Grifton
Goldsboro
Goldsboro Rosewood
North Duplin
Princeton
Spring Creek
With rainy weather threatening tonight, I’ll keep you guys up to date with any postponements. Check back this afternoon for more updates as I get ’em.
KINSTON: All games at Wilson Beddingfield still on.
NORTH LENOIR: Home baseball game vs. Tarboro postponed to Thursday at 7 p.m.; Softball game at Tarboro postponed to Thursday at 7 p.m.
SOUTH LENOIR: Everything is a go right now.
PARROTT ACADEMY: Everything is on right now.
BETHEL ACADEMY: Baseball and softball games vs. Fayetteville Berean have been postponed to Thursday at 4 p.m.
GREENE CENTRAL: Home softball game vs. Goldsboro postponed to 5 p.m. on May 6; Baseball game at Goldsboro is also postponed until 5 p.m. on May 6.
AYDEN-GRIFTON: Home baseball game vs. Spring Creek postponed until tomorrow at 7 p.m.
My thoughts on the alleged recruiting inside Lenoir County athletics: It probably happens. But if it does, that doesn’t make Lenoir County any different than Mecklenburg County, Forsyth County or Wake County.
Here’s the dirty little secret: IT GOES ON EVERYWHERE.
Do I think Larry Powell “recruited” that talented class to Kinston? Actually, no. Those kids played for LP for three years in rec and AAU-type ball and wanted to stay together. I really don’t think there was ever a conversation that started with, “Do you want to play basketball at Kinston instead of (enter school name here)?” Bo, Quinton, AK and the twins (along with the misdirected Marcus Hemby) wanted to stay together as a group and see what they could do. What happened? A 3A state championship, albeit with only three of the “Six Shooters.”
Do I think Jim Montague (or his NL assistants) recruited Tyler Potter and Mike Wetherington? Again, I don’t think so. I don’t know MW at all, having only interviewed him for the first time on Friday. But I do know TP and his father and I think that TP was headed to NL after getting some varsity experience at Bethel. Remember, Bert Potter played ball at NL, so his heart was there — and I’ll never fault anyone for that.
But if recruiting does happen, it’s not just a Lenoir County problem. It goes on everywhere. Kinston has been a state-wide power in hoops for longer than I have been alive, so if a parent decides to send his kid to KHS to play for a team that is going to play USA Today top 25 teams, it’s going to happen.
With apologies to South Lenoir — where I’ll be covering a game tomorrow night, incidentally — North Lenoir has been the preeminent baseball power in the county for a while, with the hardware to back that statement up. Parents see the rings that NL has and might want their kid to play there.
When I was a kid growing up, you never had these type of problems. Where you lived is where you went to school. I could cite you examples of the mass transfers and junk that goes on in other counties (I bet my peers in Shelby, Fayetteville and other counties could do the same), but I’m not going to waste your time with it.
It’s this simple: re-draw the lines and stick to them. Then a lot of these problems would go away.
The third annual Lenoir County track meet was Saturday at Kinston HS and the SL boys and KHS girls each won for the third straight year each. The scores:
BOYS
South Lenoir 81, Kinston 48, North Lenoir 38
100-meter dash: 1. Thomas Dove, South Lenoir (10.78); 2. Ross Manley, Kinston (11.27); 3. A.J. Meadows, South Lenoir (11.31); 4. Dorsey Leach, South Lenoir (11.55)
200-meter dash: 1. Thomas Dove, South Lenoir (22.10); 2. Dorsey Leach, South Lenoir (23.66); 3. Joe Whitfield, North Lenoir (23.67); 4. Brian Bouie, Kinston (24.41)
400-meter run: 1. Jeremy Powell, Kinston (55.58); 2. Devin Grady, South Lenoir (56.09); 3. Romero Arnold, North Lenoir (59.54); 4. Rashad Field, Kinston (1:02.37)
800-meter run: 1. Jaryd Grace, South Lenoir (2:09.32); 2. Ontio Davidson, Kinston (2:11.26); 3. Zack Beard, North Lenoir (2:19.56); 4. Troy Smith, South Lenoir (2:24.41)
1,600-meter run: 1. Zack Beard, North Lenoir (5:14.00); 2. Lucian Hughes, South Lenoir (5:33.06); 3. Spencer Jones, South Lenoir (5:33.57); 4. Chris Collins, North Lenoir (5:40.19)
3,200-meter run: 1. Lucian Hughes, South Lenoir (12:28); 2. Spencer Jones, South Lenoir (12:30); 3. Zack Beard, North Lenoir (12:37); 4. Logan Floyd, South Lenoir (13:23)
110-meter hurdles: 1. Maurice Morgan, North Lenoir (16.65); 2. Roberto Perez, South Lenoir (21.58)
300-meter hurdles: 1. Maurice Morgan, North Lenoir (44.66); 2. Roberto Perez, South Lenoir (52.43)
400-meter relay: 1. South Lenoir (Dorsey Leach, Colin Field, Thomas Dove and A.J. Meadows, 43.90); 2. North Lenoir (45.40); 3. Kinston (45.83)
800-meter relay: 1. Kinston (1:37.14); 2. North Lenoir (1:42.00)
1,600-meter relay: 1. South Lenoir (Devin Grady, Troy Smith, Colin Field and A.J. Meadows, 3:52.41); 2. Kinston
3,200-meter relay: 1. South Lenoir (Jaryd Grace, Mikey Smith, Lucian Hughes and Troy Smith, 9:09); 2. Kinston (9:16); 3. North Lenoir (10:40)
High jump: 1. Tim Roberts, North Lenoir (5-4); 2. Tyler Cline, Kinston (5-2); 3. Devonte Swinson, Kinston (5-0)
Long jump: 1. C.J. Roberts, Kinston (19-8); 2. Joe Newborn, North Lenoir (19-1); 3. Tyler Cline, Kinston (16-8.5); 4. Demoran Garner, South Lenoir (16-8)
Triple jump: 1. Thomas Dove, South Lenoir (37-9); Demoran Garner, South Lenoir (36-11); 3. C.J. Roberts, Kinston (35-7)
Shot put: 1. Ethan Mills, South Lenoir (41-2.5); 2. Victor Toodle, Kinston (39-9); 3. Dorian Edwards, Kinston (36-8.5); 4. Erick Torres, South Lenoir (33-6.5)
Discus: 1. Ethan Mills, South Lenoir (127-9.75); 2. Josh Gooding, Kinston (125-4.75); 3. Dorian Edwards, Kinston (118-2); Erick Torres, South Lenoir (110-9)
GIRLS
Kinston 90, South Lenoir 39, North Lenoir 21
100-meter dash: 1. Javina Jennings, Kinston (13.06); 2. Shanice Dawson, North Lenoir (13.43); 3. Breyauna Kittrell, North Lenoir (13.84); 4. Niya Moye, North Lenoir (13.96)
200-meter dash: 1. Ebony Crouell, Kinston (28.31); 2. Shanice Dawson, North Lenoir (28.58); 3. Niya Moye, North Lenoir (29.28); 4. Keeshona Edwards, Kinston (30.33)
400-meter run: 1. Pricilla Weathington, Kinston (1:04.44); 2. Shamira Mills, Kinston (1:06.45); 3. Erika Mills, Kinston (1:07.96); 4. Sherika Heath, North Lenoir (1:11.00)
800-meter run: 1. Pricilla Weathington, Kinston (2:45.25); 2. Julie Johnson, South Lenoir (2:46.44); 3. Katie Jones, South Lenoir (2:49.41); 4. Meredith Smith, North Lenoir (3:17.32)
1,600-meter run: 1. Katie Jones, South Lenoir (6:39.46); 2. Shaquesha Campbell, South Lenoir (6:44.05); 3. Meredith Smith, North Lenoir (6:51.34)
3,200-meter run: 1. Katie Jones, South Lenoir (15:01)
100-meter hurdles: 1. Cassandra Stokes, Kinston (17.28); 2. Jasmine Taylor, Kinston (18.60)
300-meter hurdles: 1. Cassandra Stokes, Kinston (51.12); 2. Jasmine Taylor, Kinston (51.24)
400-meter relay: 1. Kinston (Ebony Crouell, J. Rhodes, Star Powell and Brittany Moore, 54.02); 2. North Lenoir (54.69)
800-meter relay: 1. Kinston (Jasmine Taylor, J. Rhodes, Brittany Moore and Javina Jennings, 1:50.78); 2. North Lenoir (1:54.83)
1,600-meter relay: 1. Kinston (Jasmine Taylor, J. Rhodes, Ebony Crouell and Venica Weathington, 4:36.41); 2. South Lenoir (5:11.00); 3. North Lenoir (5:30.00)
3,200-meter relay: 1. Kinston (J. Rhodes, Pricilla Weathington, Ebony Crouell and Kenya Offutt, 11:20); 2. South Lenoir (12:31)
Long jump: 1. Javina Jennings, Kinston (15-1.5); Erika Mills, Kinston (13-5.5); Connor Hardy, South Lenoir (13-4.5); 4. Jakeyria Pitts, Kinston (12-0.5)
Triple jump: 1. Erika Mills, Kinston (28-0.5); 2. Lindsey Floyd, South Lenoir (25-10); 3. Jakeyria Pitts, Kinston (21-1)
Shot put: 1. Shae Garner, South Lenoir (32-2.5); 2. Cookie Wingfield, Kinston (31-6.5); 3. Kendra Bell, Kinston (30-0.5); 4. Adrienne Lewis, Kinston (28-9.25)
Discus: 1. Shae Garner, South Lenoir (101-7); 2. Cookie Wingfield, Kinston (89-2.25); 3. Kendra Bell, Kinston (78-3.25); 4. Adrienne Lewis, Kinston (73-5.5)
Blogging with Bryan C. Hanks 