6sports wingspan • march 30, 2012

pho

to b

y Ra

lph

Raes

eman

n

Senior Mitchell Cantrell takes a shot during a game against Erwin at the Christmas Tournament at East Henderson. West lost the game, 46-49.

Make a Point

Winter sports teams finish seasonsIn the last game of the season against East

Henderson on Feb. 9, the men’s basketball team had one final chance to earn a spot in the playoffs. The first time the two teams had played, the men won the game, 55-40. Despite their efforts, the team lost by four points, 47-51.

“The season was very long, but it was an extremely positive learning experience for ev-eryone. I was proud of how the team improved from where they started,” first-year coach Billy Phillips said. “The season taught the players to never give up. Next year we need to work harder and be more dedicated.”

Senior Jacob Creasman said, “I feel like our team has grown in other ways than just winning. Winning is not everything.”

By Erin Gromelski

Just another bandwagon fan

On Deck

MICHAELTURLINGTON

Conveniently located in the Etowah Shopping Center

HENDERSONVILLE EYE CARE

(828) 693-5205 On Call: (828) 777-6961

Dr. Matthew R. CannonDr. J.Douglas KilgoOPTOMETRISTS

1401 Haywood Rd.Hendersonville, NC 28791

www.hendersonvilleeyecare.com

pho

to b

y Ke

lly L

Itta

uer

At a match at Owen, senior Nathanael Littauer wrestles his opponent on the way to a win. “Now that wrestling season is over it is kind of remorseful. I want to start all over again,” Littauer said.

Breakdown

Men’s basketball team

The Lady Falcons only needed one final win to secure a spot in the state playoffs. The

team easily overwhelmed their last obstacle, East Henderson, 66-34 in the final game of the regular season. When the final buzzer sounded, coaches and players alike began to celebrate, but they knew their hardest game was yet to come. The team lost in the first round to Tuscola, 64-28. “We hustled after every ball and tried to finish our shots, but we had an off game,” soph-omore Rachel Hyatt said. “We were bested by a team that was better then us.”

Junior Ashley Spake said, “Overall we had a good season. We had our ups and downs, but once we came together as a team we saw im-provement in every game.This season was a learning experi-ence where we set ourselves up for winning.”

By Tiernan Turner

Women’s basketball team

Wrestling team

Seniors Josiah Gibbs, Dylon Johnson, Bradley Haley, Caleb Brown and sophomore Connor Courtney

qualified for the state swim meet in two relays and individual events. At the meet, Johnson competed in the 100-meter freestyle and 200-meter medley. He took second place, only .8 seconds behnid in his 100-meter freestyle. Johnson also dropped his time in the 200-meter individual medley and took third place with a time of 1:57.23. “I’m a little disappointed that I didn’t get first, but it was a great achievement to get second,” Johnson said. “My high school season is over, but not my swimming season. I swim year round.” In the 400 medley relay, the team took ninth, and the 200-meter medley relay team placed 15th. The boys took 11th place overall with 88 points. Divers Lee Fullam and Joseph Manzi, juniors, placed second and third respectively. Junior Kayla Ellsworth also competed in the diving competition.

By Julie Garrick

Swimming/diving teamIndoor track team

A sense of fear spread through junior Robert Purcell as the ski pole slipped from his hand.

During the 2012 Cataloochee Inter-scholastic Race Series, judges disquali-fied Purcell after he dropped his pole. After hearing the ruling, Purcell thought his winning streak, which had placed him into the Platinum Racer Di-vision, was coming to an end.

“I was going through the run a few weeks ago, and I dropped my pole,” Purcell said. “They gave me a disquali-fication. Then they looked up the rules, and I got my time back. It turned out that dropping equipment did not mean that I was thrown out of the com-petition. This was the most memorable moment of the season.”

The ski/snowboard team finished first among teams from the regional and different states. Purcell won the Giant Slalom Race at the Crescent Race Series, a six-weekend event at numer-ous ski venues in the region. Home-school student Haakon Mathisen, who represented West, ranked fourth.

“We take two runs each time we meet. After you go through, the judges take the best time of the two runs,” Purcell said. “Each individual racer’s score is added together to get the team standing. We have done well since we have been first in standing, and I re-ceived first place individually.”

Junior Evan Phillips said, “We have a lot of good people coming onto the team for the first time. It seemed they were doing really great for their first races. I think our good performance this year will carry into next year.”

By Lauren Stepp

Ski/snowboard team

Senior Jesus Vera and junior Daniel Carroll ended the wrestling team’s season at the individual state

championship tournament on Feb. 25. Vera, who came in sixth in the 120 lbs. weight class, and Carroll, who earned fourth place in the heavyweight division, were the only wrestlers from West to qualify for the state tournament.

“There were 16 heavyweights in my bracket, but I only wrestled five of them,” Carroll said. “I felt great after winning my matches, like I just accomplished something I really worked hard at.”

Both wrestlers faced difficulty in dealing with injuries sustained during the season.

Vera, who placed at the state tournament last year, had to default on his last two matches due to a knee injury. Carroll had to wrestle with a shoulder injury sustained at the regional tournament on Feb. 18.

“I tore my labrum in my shoulder at regionals, so my shoulder was hurting pretty badly,” Carroll said. “I just had to push through it and keep wrestling.”

By Tyler Bice

Record:8-18

Record:2-22

As senior Courtney Thomas stepped onto the runway to compete in the

pole vault competition at the North Carolina High School Athletic Associa-tion track meet at the Eddie Smith Field House in Chapel Hill in February, her heart seemed to skip a beat. It was Thomas’s second time competing in the state competition. Af-ter the event, she learned that she had placed 19th. “When I got on the runway, I started to get nervous, but that is kind of normal for me right before I com-pete,” Thomas said. “This meet was a little more nerve-racking than the rest I have competed in because it was at the state level. I was upset because I felt like I could have done better, but I was still happy because I did better than the year before. That helped. Last year I didn’t know what to expect, but this year it was more familiar.” Coach Walt Fletcher said the in-door season was successful. It helped

many runners prepare for the outdoor sea-son that began this month. “We had two wins this season at Polk,” Fletcher said. “Everyone this year really en-joyed the season, and that makes coaching so much easier. The kids were much more involved this season. Indoor track has defi-nitely helped our outdoor season. During the first two weeks of practice, there was a clear difference in the ones that were involved in the indoor season compared to the ones that were not.” The team sent 10 individuals to the state competition. “I think it was a very successful season. We had a better turnout and a couple of wins throughout the season. I would’ve liked to have taken .2 seconds off of my 800-meter relay guys because we were only .2 seconds away from second place at the state meet,” Fletcher said. “I’m incredibly proud because they dropped 18 seconds from their best time of the season when they went to the state meet. Beyond that we had a really good time this winter.”

By Amy Taylor

Ever since I began to follow sports, it felt like the only news

that I ever heard was bad. Sports stars like Michael Vick and Plaxico Burress were in the news because of the crimes that they had committed. Joe Paterno’s career as the head coach of the

Penn State football team col-lapsed when the news about Jerry Sandusky broke. I began to

wonder why I even kept up with the sports world.

Recently, I realized why, in spite of all the bad news, I continue to follow sports. I watch sports be-cause of players like Tim Tebow and Jeremy Lin. You will probably think I am a bandwagon fan, and you are probably right.

Most of the news con-cerning these two players is about their religious beliefs. This makes me respect them more as people, but it has no effect on how I see them as ath-letes. When I first began to hear about Tebow, I was not a big fan. Even though he won two national championships in college, everyone agreed that he would not make a good NFL quarterback.

However, Tebow was drafted, and he began to win games when he was made the starting quarter-back for the Broncos.

I jumped on the band-wagon because Tebow was not supposed to win. His throwing motion was not conventional, and the Broncos did not have any offense in the first 55 minutes of the game. Yet, he came away with wins. Tebow made football games exciting.

Lin also brings excite-ment to games, but he caught my attention for another reason. When I think of Harvard gradu-ates, I think of someone exactly like Lin. The only difference is that Lin plays in the NBA. It is amazing that someone who gradu-ated from Harvard and spent so much time on academics plays profes-sional sports.

These two athletes are not the only ones who make me enjoy following sports, but they do repre-sent everything that I care about in athletics. Sports would not be the same without the underdogs who pull out huge upsets.