The Pony Express The student newspaper of Center Hill High School
February 2019
Center Hill High School
Volume 2, Issue 4
District Champs Kaeden Laws sinks 3-pointer to beat OB By Sarah Claire Miller Staff Writer After two prior losses this season to Olive Branch, the Center Hill High School boys basketball team beat Olive Branch Feb. 15 for the District 1-5A championship. Kaeden Laws’ last second 3-pointer pushed the Mustangs ahead of the Quistors, 49-48. The next day on Twitter, Laws,
who had a total of 16 points in the game, said he was giving all glory to God for the buzzer beater and victory. “Coach told us not to give up and we came back from 10 points down in the 4th and won at the buzzer,” the 6-foot-4-inch small forward tweeted. “I love my team, I love our fans and we love our city. NOW LET’S GO GET THIS RING!!” As they continue their journey
to reach their goal of a state championship, the Mustangs will play at home Feb. 23 in round one of the MHSAA playoffs. In the meantime, The Pony Express caught up with the CHHS sophomore to ask him about the social media buzz – good and bad – his game-winning shot created. Q. What was going through your mind with the .3 seconds left on the clock?
A. I was thinking about where I could get to get my shot off and win this game. Q. How badly did you want to beat OB? A. I wanted to beat OB really badly because it’s the most we’ve prepared to beat a team as long as I’ve been here. At the beginning everything started going downhill with bad calls, but then coach brought us all together.
Q. What’s the next step? A. I think we’re playing Saltillo next, but we will practice and watch film, practice some more, and keep getting better from there. Q. What are your remarks on what people are saying about you scoring after the buzzer went off? A. I don’t have nothing to say, but the trophy is ours.
CHDT ranks 10th in nation By Max Lankford Staff Writer On the heels of winning double state titles in pom and hip hop in December, the Center Hill Dance Team placed 10th in hip hop at the Universal Dance Association competition in February. “This is the third year in a row that we have made it to finals,” sophomore Kaitlyn Wilty said. “Being 10th in the nation shows that CHDT works extremely hard. It shows that we have hardworking athletes.” To prepare for Nationals, held annually at Disney World in Orlando, “We practiced every day before we left,” Wilty said. “We ran every day to get our stamina up to have as much energy in the routine.” Once they arrived at the theme park, Nationals was not all fun and games. “What most people don’t know is that we never get to actually go to a park and ride rides and stuff until after the competition,” said Brittnie Sandridge, one of the team’s three co-captains. “We practice, compete, practice, compete. Then once we’ve worked and done what we came to do we can play and have fun.” Sandridge said winning would not have been possible without the dancers’ collective desire to do their best. “We just work as a team and our coaches really push us to keep wanting more,” she said. “One of our mottos that our coach says after every practice is ‘Stay Humble. Stay Hungry. Keep working hard.’ We make
Photo by Katie Whitaker The Center Hill Dance Team won double state titles in hip hop and pom and is also now ranked 10th in the nation in hip hop.
sure to keep setting goals and we work till we reach them and every single girl gives it their all because we love to dance and we love each other.” CHDT sponsor Kerry Matthews also attributed the team’s performance to help from dancers at the University of Memphis, ranked No. 2 in the country, and coach Chrissy Rodefer, who came on board last May. “Our new coach really raised the bar in terms of the difficulty of the choreography,” Matthews said. “The more difficult the choreography, the higher your team scores. Chrissy does a really good job of taking the judges’ comments and critiques and applying them to the choreography before semis and finals.” Now that they have their third national ranking, “It feels so good to be able to leave my legacy to
CHDT knowing that all of our hard work has paid off, and that
not only my leadership but other alumni have set examples for the
younger girls to be great leaders also,” Sandridge said.
Cheer earns 17th in first-ever Nationals By Sarah Claire Miller Staff Writer After their first-ever trip to Nationals, the Center Hill High School cheerleaders are now ranked 17th in the country. Cheer competed in the UCA Large Varsity Game Day division in February. “Nationals has been a dream of CHHS Cheer for many years,” said Kristie Cohea, who co-sponsors the squad with Melissa Smith. “We feel that making it into semi-finals and placing 17th out of 40 in the nation speaks volumes to the girls’ dedication to building a tradition for CHHS Cheer.” Smith said the experience was
memorable. “The moment they called our name out in the ESPN Championship Stadium is a moment we will always remember,” she said. “To see the joy and the tears on the girls’ faces after finding out that they had achieved what they set out to do was priceless. We could not be more proud of them.” Reed Simmons, a sophomore, said she and her teammates have been perfecting their routine for the past six months. “This was the first time we went and we improved our team a lot this season,” she said. “We learned our original routine back in September and have been improving it based
on the judges’ input from regionals and state.” Simmons said the work was worth it. “We ended up making it to semifinals our first year, and we’re all really proud of the routine we put on the mat,” she said. Sara Hissong, a junior, said their performance at Nationals speaks well of CHHS Cheer. “Not only is it our first year going, but we also got into semifinals,” she said. “Most teams take years to get to semifinals. We practiced almost every day after school. It was so worth it. We are going to work 10 times harder.”