Sports
Crossville Chronicle Friday, November 21, 2014
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www.crossville-chronicle.com
WINTER SPORTS PREVIEW
Ed Greif/Chronicle
Ed Greif/Chronicle
The District 6AAA girls basketball coaches are, from left, Greg Tipps, SMHS; Mindy The District 6AAA boys basketball coaches are, from left, Neil Capps, SMHS; Kevin Odom, Cookeville; Shane Johnston, Rhea County; Radhika Miller, CCHS; Bryan Bray, Cookeville; Will Foster, CCHS; Chris Sullins, Warren County; Mike Phillips, Haley, White County; and Shea Panter, Warren County. Rhea County; and Eric Mitchell, White County.
District 6AAA hoop coaches predict season
By Ed Greif
pre-season polls.
For the second year in a row, the basketball teams from Cumberland County and Stone Memorial high schools will be competing in District 6AAA with Cookeville, Rhea County, Warren County and White County. Year one of the four-year configuration saw the Lady Jets and the Panthers claim district tournament championships, move through Region 3AAA play, but lose in the substate round to the Blackman girls and boys. The returning coaches joined some newcomers at the annual District 6AAA media confab at the First National Bank in Crossville. After lunch, the girls and boys coaches talked about their teams, with both the coaches and media representatives voting on the
The Lady Jets were picked by both the media and coaches to claim the district championship. White County and Rhea County were voted in a second-place by the media with Cookville fourth, Warren County fifth and SMHS sixth. The coaches tabbed Rhea County, White County and Warren County second through fourth, while Cookeville and SMHS tied for fifth. "I am privileged to be a part of District 6AAA. I've learned a lot in four years and appreciate the way we work together," said Miller, who will be assisted by Andrew Miller, Leslie Eldridge, Travis Issacson and Kim Cram-Torres. Andrew Miller will be the freshman coach.
Chronicle sports editor
Girls preview
CCHS lost "the nucleus of the team" last year in senior Rebecca Teeple, but the Lady Jets "must create continuity and try to foster leadership" this season. She noted five of her players have had nose surgery over the years, including sophomore Klaire Varney. Makenzie Iles has broken her nose four times and will have surgery in the future. "They are a great group, very competitive and very aggressive," said Miller, who has three seniors on the roster, Gina Dick, Victoria Lee and Skylar VanWinkle; six juniors, Madison McLaughliln, Kelsie Eldridge, Alli Hydre, Makenzie iles, Courtney Smith and Bailey Davis and a boat-load of sophomores, Destiny Carlton, Klaire Varney, Sydney Clark, Lindsey Norrod, Hannah Brown, Bethany Dyer, Lexi Lee, Bekah
Capps, Emily Pugh, Mattie Hinch and Kali Turbett and just two freshmen, Sydney Tabor and Marce Kerley. Bryan Haley returns as coach for White County. "Thanks to Cumberland County for hosting this today," said Haley, who is in his 11th season as the Warriorette coach. His assistant coaches are Katy Pinion and Zac Hennigan. He lost four seniors from last season, including two to Roane State and one to UAH, and has only a couple players back with any varsity experience. He has five seniors, Shelby Johnson, Bella Taylor, Hannah Howard, Emilee Howard and Alex Lewis, along with juniors Brittany Jones, Logan Quillen, Madison Gardenhire and Kristen Brown; sophomores Abby Ratliff, Deandra Luna, Macy Cash, Kaleigh Bray and Brooke Stoglin; and freshman
Hannah Leftwich. Shane Johnston returns as the Rhea County Lady Eagle coach, assisted by Cherly McClendon, Kenny Keener, Erick Baird and Tommy Mitchell. "We're excited about the season and have five of the top eight returning. We have to lean on them heavily," he said. "We have two who miss early because of the state cross country meet. The sophmores are very, very quick." He has five seniors listed on the roster, Megan Revis, Kenzie Freeman, Shelby Thurman, Micayla Keen and Amber Levi, who is approaching the 1,000-point plateau. He has two juniors, Jessee Wallis and Molly Morgan, along with six sophomores, Faith Davis, Makayla Bustos, Hope Baker, Lauren Clark and Holly Brown and flock of freshmen, Alison Sekura, Caity Blevins, Micah
Black, Madison Martin, Yuri Lopez, Emily Smith, Kaitlyn Osterbur and Ashton Cameron. Mindy Odom is the Lady Cavalier coach. Her assistant is Janie Brock. "We have three players with varsity experience," Odom said. There are just two seniors, Emily Craighead and Syvanna Maberry; three juniors, Toiya Gwynn, Courtney Savage and Megan Whitson; six sophomores, Taylor Brooks, Grace Marek, Riley Masters, Bailey Matthews and Darya Shelton; and four freshmen, Madaline Case, Tia Gwynn, Makayla Null and Megan Smith. Warren County's Shea Panter is one of the two new coaches on the girl's side this year. "I am very honored to be a part of this group," she See 6AAA, page 2C
CCHS, SMHS wrestling teams compete in different regions By Ed Greif
Chronicle sports editor
Wes McNeely
Brian Parker
The Cumberland County and Stone Memorial wrestling teams will continue to compete in different regions than their basketball counterparts for 2014-'15. The basketball teams are in the sixteam District 6AAA with Cookeville, Rhea County, Warren County and White County, while the grapplers compete in Region 3, District 5 (Sevier County, Seymour and SouthDoyle). District 6 teams are CCHS, Heritage, Maryville, SMHS and William Blount. "It was rough being in Cumberland County for eight years as a wrestling coach because the Chat-
tanooga region is loaded and your state placers all come out of the area. So it makes it harder for our kids to go compete with the rest of the state because they get smothered," said Coach Wes McNeely. Those teams Coach Mac referred are in Region 4, District 7 (Cleveland, McMinn County, Rhea County and Walker Valley) and District 8 (East Hamilton, Bradley Central, Ooltewah and Soddy-Daisy). Cookeville continues in Region 5, District 10 with Lavergne, Oakland, Siegel, Smyrna, Stewart Creek, Blackman and Riverdale, while Warren County is in District 9 with Coffee County, Franklin County, Lawrence County, Lincoln County, Shelbyville and Tullahoma.
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Some of SMHS former opponents – Alcoa, Greenback, Kingston, Livingston, McMinn Central and Sequoyah — are in Region 8A/ÅAA for both individuals and duals. Girls wrestling started in Tennessee six years ago at a few schools. Now, there are more than 30 schools participating. The state is split into three regions, east, middle and west, with the top four from each region advancing to the state tournament. CCHS and SMHS are in the east region with Chuckey Doak, Cocke County, David Crockett, East Ridge, Elizabethton, Happy Valley, Hardin Valley, Northwest Academy, Sullivan East, Sullivan South, Tennessee High, West Greene and Knox West.
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