February 14, 1977
HIGH LIFE
l^ague^Race Tight
Whirlies in struggle
Page 6
by Billy Tsintzos
The Grimsley varsity basketball
team through its “first 17 games
have claimed 13 victors against 4
defeats.
Early season victories by the
Whirlies over the likes of
Ragsdale, High Point Andrews,
and Raleigh Broughton ran the
Whirlie mark to 6-0. At this point,
the Holiday Basketball Tourna
ment at the Greensboro Coliseum
began.
The Whilries opened against
the Page Pirates in what was
billed to be the championship
game. Grimsley led the Pirates
throughout most of the evening as
Eric Summers’ offensive perfor
mance and the defensive play of
Hugh Elkins keyed the Whirlies
to their 64-54 victory. This ran the
Whirlie record to 7-0 and most
thought it would be 8-0 as they
faced Dudley in the championship
game. But the tables were turned
as the Panthers turned a
nip-and-tuck game into a total
rout as they smashed the Whirlies
77-53. The runner-up Whirlies
produced a punchiess perfor
mance as their fastbreak,
explosive offense never seemed
to click.
With this shattering defeat
fresh in the Whirlies minds,
Grimsley opened its’ conference
schedule against Winston-Salem
Reynolds. At Winston, the
Whirlies topped Reynolds 89-76
as they bounced back from the
shattering Panther loss in fine
form.
Next in line was the return of
the Panthers. Dudley, behind a
furious comeback, defeated the
Whirlies 84-82 in overtime. The
Whirlies at one time late in the
contest held a 10 point lead only
to see it vanish. Eric Summers led
the Whirlies with 25 points before
fouling out and David Cox also
contributed 23 points.
Grimsley’s next encounter was
against the free-wheeling East
Forsyth Eagles. Grimsley opened
the game strong as they pulled
into a big lead over the gunning
Eagles. As the game wore down,
so did the Whirlies. East turned a
rout into a game as they
repeatedly caused Whirlie turn
overs, but Grimsley held on to
win by 84-73.
The Whirlies then traveled to
powerful North Forsyth who had
been picked by a Winston-Salem
newspaper as the best team in the
state. In the Viking “snakepit”
Grimsley produced its finest
performance of the season as they
completely dominated the Vikings
en route to a 76-68 victory. Hugh
Elkins and Eric Summers posted
fine performances scoring while
David Cox dominated the board
pfay.
After the brilliant game, the
Whirlies were shocked by the
resignation of their head coach,
John Hickey, (Related story,
Benchwarmer). The task of
leading the Whirlies now fell into
the hands of assistant coach Phil
Weaver.
In their next outing, the
Whirlies were dull and listless as
they eked out a narrow 54-53
victory over Smith. Eric Summers
led the team 27 points as the
Mark Harris drives against Pirates
Whirlies continued to win.
Grimsley then entertained
High Point Central but it turned
out the Whirlies were too
friendly a host as the Bison upset
the Whirlies 72-64, The Whirlies
managed little in the form of
defense and the Grimsley offense
was dormant. Eric Summers was
again the Whirlie scoring leader
Cox fires against Dudley
Whirlies Defeat Tarheels
The Whirlie Swimming Team is
convincingly proving that it is
indeed “The Powerhouse of the
Carolinas.’’ The most impressive
win thus far into the season was
the 153-99 win over the Carolina
freshmen February 1. At the
Carolina meet the Whirlies lot
only two individual events to the
Bombers. The 200 Me.iley Relay
team was also victorious and the
1:43 they posted in the event was
one of their best times of the year;
the time is one second off the
state record set by Grimsley a
year ago in the state meet.
The team boasts a 4-0 high
school dual meet record with wins
over Page, High Point Central,
Kinston,, and Smith. For the
most part meets against other
high schools have been routs, the
average victory margin has been
in the neighborhood of 80 points,
in an attempt to gain experience
against some iop notch competi
tion Coach Sawyer has scheduled
trips to the Emory Invitational in
Atlanta, the Easter Seabord
Invitational in Greenville. North
Carolina, and North Carolina
State in Raleigh. The Emory meet
is the most competitive on the
season’s schedule. Only the
swimmers with outstanding times
are able to meet the entrance
requirements set for the meet.
oy Steve Theriot
The swimmers whose times
qualif ed them to travel to Emory
are John Grezeszczak who excells
in the 200 Individual Medley and
the 100 backstroke, Peter Gratale
who is outstanding in the 100
butterfly. Rusty Lambe who has
been victori, 's in the 500 and 200
freestyle events, Jim Raines who
is a strong freestyler, Robert
Bingham an excellent breastrok-
er, Mark Kronenfeld another
excellent freestyler, and Bruce
Procton a sophomore who is
showing great promise in the
breastroke and the freestyle.
The team depth the Whirlies
have amassed is the key to the
team s success. The swimmers
who provide the cushion that
turns the victories into routs are
Wes Benbow a consistent winner
in the 50 freestyle, Ronnie Styers
ar f.utstanding buttcrflier, Andy
HuJnell a super backstroker,
Chris Hipps a threat in the 500
freestyle, Chrrle Bauserman an
improving .-''ntestant in the
Individual Medley. Fred Highfill
a breaststroker. Tommy Theriot a
freestyler. Dave Trexler a
freestyler. and Gary Baldwin a
freestyle sprinter.
The Girls team is few in
numbers but big in effort and
their effort should pay off as the
season wears on. A disappointing
loss to Page leaves the team with
a 3-1 record which is about what
could be expected when one
considers how young the team is.
The girls who have been
outstanding in the meets thus far
into the season are Lynn Procton,
Beth Grantham, Carolyn Haines,
Emily Hcpler, and Cathy Jones.
The divers are a very important
part of the team m that they arc
consistant point scorers. Mark
Leitner. Teresa Maupin, and
Steve Jones have been the most
outstanding divers on the team.
The other divers who have added
depth to the diving have been
Amy Lore, John Caffey, Tyke
Barham. Peter Nefus, Tom
Tarduoguno, and Joe Ray.
as he connected on 20 points.
Now, the Whirlies. coming off
two lackluster pertormanccs,
faced the inspired Page Pirates.
In the early stages of the contest.
Page was unstoppable as their
red-hot shooting enabled them to
gain a 10 point lead over the
shell-shocked Whirlies. But the
second half saw Grimsley leave
the dressing room with “fire in
their eyes” as they quickly
hacked the Pirate lead away until
the third quarter ended with a
deadlock at 53-53. In the fourth
quarter, "iceman" Hugh Elkins
connected on several crucial free
throws as well as collecting on
many steals. Mark Harris also
was blazing hot down the stretch
as the Whirlies pulled it out
72-69. Harris played an outstand
ing game as he blasted 20 points
and Elkins followed with 15 points
as he played a superb all-around
game.
Grimsley, now with a head full
of steam, turned a close game
into a rout as they bombed
Winston-Salem Reynolds 73-52.
Eric Summers led the Whirlies
with 19 points.
The next encounter was the big
one, the Whirlies would face its
nemesis, the Dudley ■ Panthers.
The opening stages saw the
Whirlies and Panthers fight
nip-and-tuck towards the latter
moments of the first half, the
Ahirlies spurted towards an eight
point half time lead.
Dudley quickly dissipated that
Ictid in an opening second half
explosion. Grimsley then saw the
momentum change as well as the
lead as the Panthers again
defeated the Whirlies for teh
third time 64-61. Throughout the
game, Grimsley could not .seem to
get a decent break from the
officials as all the calls swung to
the Panther side. David Cox led
Grimsley with 19 points. This
game caused the Whirlies to
tumble into second place behind
North Forsyth and Page as
Grimsley owns a 6-3 conference
record.
Most Improved
Smith
Shocks
Grapplers
by Steve Theriot
“No one has any sympathy for
us because we have been tvinning
for so long.” This was Coach
Barbour’s explanation of the
rcacdon to his team’s two recent
losses. I he 19-46 loss to Smith on
.lanuarv 18 ended an undefeated
streak 57 matches long over a five
year period. The cause of the two
defeats is undoubtedly the
inexperience of the team. As
matiy as eight sophomores start
ill any given match. The season is
nonetheless not that bleak, the
team has an overall record of
6-2-1. Next year the Whirlies will
be ready for all comers after
having gone through this period
of “building character.”
Clarence Mitchell has been the
most outstanding wrestler thus
far into the season. He is
undefeated in dual meets in the
119 pound class. Clarence has
also won the championship at all
of the tourneyments the team has
gone to. Also undefeated has
been Scot. MacDonald in the 112
pound class, Willie Crouch in the
98 pound class, Ricky Buckner in
the 126 pound class, Roy Lee in
the 145 pound class, and Jimmy
Bowen in the 185 pound class.
The team opened the season
with a win over Charlotte
Independence 38-18. Their next
opposition was North East
Guilford who went down 41-23,
then High Point Central 57-15 and
Page .30-27. Reynolds fought to a
.32-32 tie and North Forsyth fell
64-0 to set up the event that was
five years in calming. Smith beat
the team 19-46. The Whirlies
rebounded and beat High Point
Central 47-13 before they fell to
Page.
Swimmers off the blocks
I —.
I The basketball player of thc|
• month goes to senior guard Markj
j Harris. Harris has improved]
•immensely since the early season!
las he seems to have lost the jitters j
[which he had suffered from. Nov/«
|hc is a very capable and explosivel
jplaycr. He also is an excellent!
■outside shooter and can be deadly j
jagainst a zone defense. His best]
•effort of the season came in an!
[important clash against arch-rivalj
[Page in which he scored 20 points'
jand played a super defensive!
•game with several steals. Let’s)
jhope he, as well as the Whirlies, |
•continue to^play well. j
J.V. Girls:
Improvement
Noted
by Lisa McDowell
■fhc Girls Junior Varsity
Basketball Team has not been
covered as thoroughly as some
other sports teams. This does not
mean they do not deserve equal
acknowledgement, for each
member should be proud of their
accomplishments. The record
now stands at
Mr. Smith, who coaches the
girls, feels that they all work very
hard and that their fundamental
skills have improved tremendous
ly. Most of the games that were
lost were very close games, such
as the Page game which was
lost by Grimsley in overtime. Now
the team is very anxious to
conquer the Pirates.
Some of the team members are;
sophomores; Glenda Hall, Andy
Barday, Vicki Blalock, and Alison
Pentz. Some Juniors who are on
the team are; Terri Miller, Sherry
Williamson, Neece Haith, and
Jackie Barrier.
Many of these girls will move
up to the varsity team next year
and hopefully carry with them
their skill and determination.