sports7
wingspan • march 30, 2012
JV Briefs
FULL SWING
JV soccer team opens season at 4-3-1 he junior varsity women’s soccer team began the season with a 4-3-1 record. “We began the year with a strong start,” sophomore Anne Ignizio said. “We lost to a few good teams, but we are young and do not have much experience. Being young pushes us to come together as a team. I have been really impressed with our captains Saige Kittel and Jessie Williams. They have worked hard to motivate us no matter what the score is. I believe we will have a winning season that will prepare all the sophomores for varsity next year.”
JV baseball team off to 3-3 start
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he junior varsity baseball team started the season with nonconference wins over Swain and Owen. The team’s record is currently 3-3. “All the sophomores and outfielders have played well at the beginning of the season,” freshman Taylor Geyer said. “We beat Owen and Swain by large margins without letting them get any momentum. That is what we need to do with all our opponents. Several players have kept us going even when we fall behind. There is always someone there to make a key play to save the game. We are tied up with wins and losses, but I think by the end of the year we will be one of the top teams.”
Next Up
photo used by permission of Lifetouch
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Batter Up In a home game agains nonconference opponent Hendersonville, Senior Aaron Goforth swings at a pitch. “Our team this year is very strong. I’m
Baseball team sets goal of winning WNCAC championship
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ast spring, the Falcon baseball team had high hopes for the regular season and the state playoffs, but the team finished the season with a 16-9 recordand a loss in the first round of the playoffs to Fred T. Foard. A year later, the Falcons are ready to claim the Western North Carolina Athletic Conference championship and make a deep run in the post-season. “We know that we are going to see every team’s best game, so we have to prepare,” Head Coach Brandon Ball said. “Every day, we try to
Softball team off to winning start
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SHAWN PHILLIPS staff writer
s the softball season begins, the players are anticipating a strong season. After a successful spring last year, with an overall record of 16-7, the softball team is more than ready to improve. “I feel very good about the season,” junior Sarah Wood said. “We didn’t lose any starting girls on varsity because we didn’t have any seniors. So we’re going to get stronger, and we’re going to be working harder to get better.” Mike Matthews is returning to coach the team and is looking forward to another year with the nearly identical team. “We have to hit a little better than last season, but I think if we play up to our potential we can be good,” Matthews said. “I’m hoping we’ll win more games and go farther in the playoffs than last year.” With only two seniors on the team, Matthews is expecting Natalie Rice and Sieara Bishop to lead the team for the second consecutive season. “I’ve been playing softball since I was about 5 years old,” Bishop said. “My favorite part is the competition. Record: I’m really looking forward to our senior night against Franklin, which is mine and Natalie’s last home game.”
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April 3 Home against Tuscola
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Softball March 30 Home against Brevard
Men’s Tennis March 31 Doubles Tournament at Hendersonville Country Club April 2 against North
Track March 31 at Polk April 3 at East Henderson
photo by Heidi Brickhouse
April 3 Home against Tuscola
April 2 at McDowell
The North Carolina High School Athletic Association recently made new requirements for the bats that players are allowed to use. Ball feels that the new bats will add more excitement to the games and make the scores lower. “We will have to play differently with the new bats because they do not have as much power as the old ones did,” Ball said. “Our team will have to bunt more, steal more, and hit and run a lot more. Last year, colleges enacted the same rule and the games had lower scores. We expect the same.” The team faces Brevard Record: today in a home conference game.
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Women’s soccer team features 1 senior ANGELA GROSS opinion editor
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ith three seconds left in the first half of an away game against North Buncombe, the women’s varsity soccer team turned to the only freshman on the team, Samantha Holmes. Holmes’ final shot of the half soared past the outstretched arms of North Buncombe’s goalie and gave the team momentum going into the half. West went on to win the game, 2-1. This season the team only has one returning senior, Kristina Anderson. However, the young team’s enthusiasm has already led the team to a 6-2-1 start. “I feel a great amount of responsibility to set a good example for the team,” Anderson said. “I expect a lot out of the players, but I expect even more out of myself. I am really excited to see how we do this season. I feel like our passing is the best it’s been in awhile. We aren’t intimidated by the tougher teams.” The team hopes to win several challenging conference games and make it to the second or third round in the playoffs. Record: Coach Craig Long said he is pleased with the communication the lady Falcons bring to the field, and he expects to challenge teams like Enka and A.C. Reynolds.
6-2-1
Team optimistic about season
Tennis looking for repeat title as conference champs
March 30 Home against Brevard
March 30 at T.C. Roberson
play against ourselves so we can improve. Our goal for this season is a conference championship and hopefully a state championship as well.” The team featured a strong pitching rotation last season, but several of the pitchers graduated with the Class of 2011. Ball feels that the juniors on the team will fill the holes on the pitching staff and give the team an advantage on the mound. “This season we have strong pitching and defense,” Ball said. “We lost some good senior pitchers last year, but we are expecting our junior pitchers to really carry us and fill those voids this year.”
MICHAEL TURLINGTON sports editor
Baseball
Women’s Soccer
pretty sure we’ll win conference this year,” teammate Josh Carter said. The team currently is 8-3 with a 2-1 conference record.
Forehand Return
Junior Landon Rimbault returns a shot during a match last spring against Franklin.
MARISSA TREIBLE junior editor
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SHANNON MILLER feature writer
ptimism is the name of the game for the men’s golf team this spring. With two promising freshmen, Nathan Ball and Brandon Capps, the team hopes to return to the regional competition this year. “I think we’ll do pretty well. We’ve got a good chance to go to regionals and state,” junior David Capps said. The team has only 10 players, including one senior, Jason Taylor. Juniors include Adrian Brinkley, Evan Phillips and Jordan Kitchen. “The season is really good because we have some really powerhouse players. Our top four are really good. They are really working together,” Taylor said. The team’s sixth match of the season was their first loss in several matches. “The loss was good in the respect that it helped to put their egos back in place,” Coach Jay Young said. “It helped to let them see that there was still room to improve.”
he men’s tennis team remains optimistic about the 2012 season, despite losing three of their top players from last season. “We lost three of our top four players when they graduated, but I think that we will be able to win conference this year,” team captain, senior Michael Turlington said. “All of the other conference teams lost good players, too.” Last year, the team finished first in the 3A portion of the Western North Carolina Athletic Conference with an overall record of 9-6. “We had a good season and we were able to win some tough matches,” Turlington said. “We lost the first round of playoffs when we played Asheville, but overall we had a pretty successful season.” Junior Landon Rimbault said, “We did pretty well last year. I think Record: we will do just as well this season because we have a lot of improved players on the team.”
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Women’s track team going for 11th consecutive conference championship HAILEY JOHNS junior editor
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s the gun sounded signifying the start of his race at the Asheville meet, junior Saban Nuw sprinted down the track toward the finish line. Moments later, Nuw learned that his time for the 55-meter dash during the 2011 spring track season had broken the county record. “I was put in the slow heat for some reason, and I felt all calm and collected, and I felt like I was ready to run. I just happened to get
that time,” Nuw said. “I was honestly surprised, and it shocked me. I was happy, though.” The 2012 spring track teams began practice on Feb. 14. Nuw said better conditioning will help the men’s and women’s track teams improve. Junior Hannah Owen, a distance runner, expects the women’s team to perform well and stay focused. “From what I’ve seen in practice so far I’m really impressed with how many people are serious about running this year,” Owen
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said. “There’s so many more athletes out on the track than there were last year, and I’m just really impressed with everyone’s hard work. It’s going to pay off at the meets.” The women’s team will be going for an 11th consecutive conference title. “This year I’m really focusing on bringing my half mile time down by running on my toes because I have the cross country runner form where I run on my heels, so this year my coaches are helping me stay more on my toes to help cut the seconds off,” Owen said.
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