Newspapers / The Chowan Herald (Edenton, … / May 22, 2019, edition 1 / Page 10
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B2 THE CHOWAN HERALD, WEDNESDAY, MAY 22, 2019 SUBMITTED REPORTS RALEIGH — The N.C. Wildlife Resources Com mission is asking the pub lic to report any sightings of nine-banded armadil los to the agency. Commission biologists are seeking observations to help them determine the range expansion of ar madillos in the Tar Heel state. To participate, vol unteers who spot an ar madillo in the wild should upload and share their photos on the NC Ar madillo project, which launched today on the free online platform iNat- uralist. Volunteers can up load their photos via a computer at iNatural- ist.org or they can down load the free iNaturalist app, which is available for iPhone and Android. People who want to re port observations but do not want to use iNatural ist can send their ar madillo observations to armadillo@ncwildlife.org. The email should include: * A photo of the ar madillo * When it was observed (date and time) * The location where it was observed (GPS coor dinates are best, but a de tailed location descrip tion is acceptable) Armadillos are native to Central and South America but have gradu ally expanded their range into the southeastern United States. In 2007, the agency received the first confirmed sighting of a nine-banded armadillo in Macon County and in the Report armadillo sightings SUBMITTED PHOTO The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission is seeking any sightings of nine-banded armadillos. last 12 years has received more than 170 reports in 46 counties. The number of coun ties with confirmed ob servations is 27, stretch ing from Cherokee to Dare counties, and makes it likely the armadillo is expanding its range natu rally throughout North Carolina, rather than being helped by human intervention, according to Colleen Olfenbuttel, the Commission’s black bear and furbearer biologist. Watch for bird nests With shorebird nesting now underway along the coast, the commission re minds beach-bound visi tors to give beach-nesting birds, eggs and chicks a wide berth. “Sharing the shore” with beach-nesting birds can make a huge differ ence in how successful they are in breeding, nest ing and raising their chicks because these birds are very sensitive to human disturbance. Eggs and chicks are well cam ouflaged to protect them from predators, so they can easily be stepped on and crushed. Humans, as well as their pets, can up- set nesting birds by wan dering too close to nest ing areas, which may cause the adult birds to fly off, leaving the eggs or chicks vulnerable. “Birds have their ways of letting you know when you’re too close,” said Dr. Sara Schweitzer, the Com mission’s Wildlife Diversity Program coordinator. “They’ll do things like dive- bombing you, or calling loudly. Some species will pretend to have a broken wing to lure you or other perceived predators away from the nest and chicks.” Skimmers, terns, oyster- catchers and plovers are some of the bird species that nest on the beach. Populations of several of these species, such as the common tern, gull-billed tern and black skimmer, have plummeted in recent years —- mainly due to hu man disturbance and habi tat loss. However, in creased monitoring efforts and protections have led to stable or increasing numbers of nesting Ameri can oystercatchers and Wilson’s plovers along the North Carolina coast. BASEBALL Continued from Bl record the first out of the frame with a strikeout of Connor Wise. Hughson would last only 2/3 of an inning and the Ea gles added eight additional runs to go up 13-0. Jake Tynch, a sopho more, would be the Aces’ third pitcher in the frame. He allowed a run, but was able to end the inning. Edenton coach Robert Jordan gave credit to the Rosewood lineup. “We couldn’t get out of that first inning,” he said. “Tip your hat to them. They can hit the ball. It wasn’t like we were kicking it around.” The coach added that the Aces did contribute to the inning with walks. “They were just hitting the baseball,” he said. “Teams rarely overcome a 14-run inning. I was really proud of our guys — the way they battled back. We didn’t quit. We didn’t roll over.” Jordan noted that he told his younger players af ter the game to not forget how the loss to Rosewood feels. “I hope they use it to mo tivate themselves to con tinue to work hard and get better,” he said. Edenton scored three runs in the top of the sec ond via a two-out rally. With the bases loaded, Parker Clayton posted a two-run single to put the Aces on the scoreboard. Clayton would then come home on a Chace Kelly RBI single. On the mound, Tynch held his own as he pitched 41/3 innings. He was able to escape a bases loaded situation in the bottom of the second as he struck out Carson Hatem to end the frame. “He didn’t pitch a perfect game, but he had that men tality where he was going to battle,” Jordan said of Tynch. “He got into some jams, but made some pitches to get out of them. I was really proud of Jake.” The Aces added two runs in the fifth on a two- run double by Wes Privott and a run in the sixth on a bases-load walk that was forced by batter Gabriel Stulick. Rosewood’s Will Harris pitched six innings and posted seven strikeouts. Edenton is set two lose seniors in Kelly and Priv ott. Third round John A. Holmes 4, West Columbus 2: John A. Holmes starting pitcher Caleb Bunch pitched a complete game as the Aces defeated West Columbus on May 14 in the third round of the North Carolina High School Ath letic Association Class 1A baseball state playoffs at Hicks Field. Bunch held West Colum bus (17-7), the No. 6 seed in the Class 1A East Regional and defending 1A East Regional champi ons, to six hits over seven innings of work on the mound and registered nine strikeouts for the win. Entering the top of the seventh, John A. Holmes coach Jordan had a deci sion to make. Does Bunch go back to the mound? In the previous inning, West Columbus scored two runs during the frame against Bunch. One of the runs scored on a RBI double by Cole Benton to make it a 4-2 contest. With the sophomore do ing just enough to get out of the sixth, Jordan PHOTO COURTESY KIM ULLOM The Aces celebrate their 4-2 win over West Columbus on May 14 during the third round of the state playoffs at Historic Hicks Field. decided to keep Bunch, a right hander, in the game. Bunch would reward his coach as Bunch retired the Vikings in order — which included back-to-back strikeouts — to end the game. “What he showed [Tues day night] in the seventh inning — a bulldog came out of him,” Jordan said of Bunch. “He wasn’t going to have anyone else come into the game. He domi nated that last inning.” Jordan noted that Ryan White was waiting in the wings to relieve Bunch just in case. The coach believed that Bunch may have picked up the velocity on his pitches in the final inning. “That’s the way to close out a game,” Jordan said. Bunch was also able to escape a tight situation with Vikings on second and third with two out. He was able to force a groundout to end the West Columbus scoring threat. The Aces, the No. 3 seed in the regional, opened the scoring in the bottom of the first inning. After Parker Clayton reached base on a leadoff walk, senior shortstop Chace Kelly would bring home Clayton on a RBI double to give the Aces a 1-0 lead. Kelly would score later in the inning from third base on a wild pitch by West Columbus starting pitcher Cody Benton. The Vikings’ starting pitcher went four innings and struck out eight Eden ton batters. The Aces kept the pres sure on the Vikings on the base paths as Edenton had multiple stolen bases. Edenton took a 3-0 lead following a wild pitch that allowed Kelly to score from third. He had reached base in the inning on a single. TITLE Continued from Bl Coston and the 4x200 me ter relay team of Josiah Carter, Brooks, Coston and Pryce. Brooks finished third in the 300-meter hurdles. Pryce also earned the NCHSAA Sportsmanship award for his performance during the race. According to reports from the race, a runner ahead of Pryce fell. “I remember he was just like a few steps ahead of me. When I saw him fall, I was in shock because I had never seen someone fall before. I was worried about him, so I finished my race, went back and helped him out,” he said. Feels great to achieve victory at the state meet! “It feels great — I got a ring,” Coston said. Brooks added, “It felt good to be with my broth ers — we went out with a bang.” Hill said, “It felt good be cause last year I went all the way to state — came in second — but came back this year and came in first; brothers helped me out.” Pryce had a gold cross dangling on a necklace across his chest said, “It was just a blessing.” Let’s give credit where credit is due. “For me, everything be cause I prayed before ev ery race and asked Him to let it be His will, so it must be His will,” Pryce said. Relay holds a different type of pressure than just putting on spikes and run ning on the track. Drop the baton or miss the handoff, the entire team loses the race. “Pressure — there was a lot out there,” Brooks joked. “After I passed the baton off, I felt a whole lot better than what I had be fore I got the baton. It was better after I gave the ba ton to my other brothers to take control of it and fin ished it off.” During the Regionals, the relay teams dominated the competition almost like parents racing small children around the Court house Green. Though the Aces were triumphant at the state meet, the compe tition was a bit harder. “We still got out and got it done — it was a little bit of pressure,” Coston said. Rather than wasting time playing video games, the track team trained over the winter break leading into the spring season to improve their speed. “It really helped out dur ing indoor track with the same exact coach (Tamika Nixon) so that when came out for outdoor track, it was just home,” Brooks said. “It just felt like having a coach who was going to behind us 100 percent.” Pryce paid homage to Coach Nixon, who was named Coach of the Year. “After every mess-up or hiccup that we had, she al- ways told us that it’s al right; we got it,” he said. “That always kept us moti vated. Coach always made sure we knew that one hic cup will be alright because we will just keep getting back up and doing what we have to do.” Brooks added, “In prac tice, she would always make sure that the first thing on her agenda is whatever we messed up on, we got to fix before go ing on about our day. She helped us out tremen dously.” “It feels good,” Nixon said of the award. “I knew they had it in them and to bring it out of them. I feel good about it.” As to being role models for their peers at JAHHS, Brooks said, “Maybe a little bit. Seeing the young kids and people come out to the track meet and having fun like that track meet we had with the middle schools — seeing them see us run — we all had a good time. I think we are a great role model to this community — all of us in different sports but also in track.” Pryce said the track stars are getting a good ed ucation. “Yes, we are — teachers are doing what they can do for us and making sure that we know what we got to know to move onto the next level,” he said. Brooks said it is hard be ing a student-athlete, all of whom are college bound. “All of our coaches say you got a be a good student before being a good ath lete,” he said. “You got to get the work done in the building before you come out on the track, so that played a huge role.” Coach A. Downing added, “If you don’t stress academics, then they don’t participate. My thing is, I don’t want them just to be eligible to participate, I want them to be as good as they can be academically because at some point, your athletic career will end but academics can take you as far as you want to go.” Other area teams that deserve a high-five for competing at the state meet include Perquimans and Gates counties. Perquimans’ Ceo Rid dick, a senior, finished fourth (42.09 seconds) in the boys’ 300-meter hur dles to secure a medal — his first year out of the gate ever topping the hurdles. He’s the first Pirate to com pete in three events within the past several years. “The highlight of the meet was knowing that Ceo had posted his per sonal best time in the 1st heat of the 300 meter Hur dles, but having to clock watch to see exactly how good it was. It felt pretty good to see two Edenton hurdlers and a Perquimans hurdler on the podium,” Pi rates’ Coach Jonathan Nixon said. Here’s a bit more about Riddick — though he fin ished the preliminary heat of the 110 meter hurddles (16.67 seconds), he nar rowly missed making the finals of the 110 meter hur dles by about a half a sec ond. Also worth noting, the Pi rates’ 4x400 meter relay team — Riddick, Gabreal Tripp, Joseph Askew, and Quindall Freeman — ran a season best time (3:39.67 minutes) toplace 11th instate. “I am very pleased with not only the state quali fiers, but also with the our regional qualifiers. We qualified athletes in 12 events at regionals and 3 events at states,” Nixon said. “That’s pretty good for a team that does not have a track to practice on! It really shows how much determination and heart the Perquimans athletes have when practice is cen tered around running up and down stairs, through a cemetery or parking lot and lower body workouts to build up their strength.” Athletes and relay teams that finish in the top four in their event earn a medal. Gates County High School track team scored some personal bests at the big meet. State runner-up and bringing home a silver medal was the boys’ 4X400 meter relay team — Brian Riddick, Deronye Griffin, Cassius Gary, and Kevonte Leary — which crossed the finish line with a personal record (3:30 minutes). Worth noting, this same relay team was conference champions, regionals champions and say it again, 1A State Runners up. The girls’ 4X100 meter relay — Saniyah Pruden, Kyia Riddick, Jordan Lyon, and Ariana Matthews — finished 7th with a time of 52.02 seconds, also a per sonal record. Triple jumper, Tyrell Hol ley, finished 6th with a per sonal record of 42 feet 4 inches. Kevonte Leary and Brian Riddick competed in the 400 meter dash with 9th and 12th place finishes re spectively. STEAMERS Continued from Bl coaches for a 12-week period from late May until mid-August. Host families are being en trusted by both the organiza tion, as well as the players’ par ents, with the essential comfort of the player(s). In the very least, aclean, com fortable (linens, air condition ing, etc.), and private space (for example, bedroom with a door) fo? the player is required in order to be eligible as a Steam ers host family. It is expected that pleasant in teraction will take place be tween the player and family members also. At the same time, these play ers are young adults and de serve a place in the house where they can go to rest, relax, be alone, or have a private phone conversation, etc. Beyond this rudimentary re quirement, it is hoped that fami lies would extend welcome courtesies to thetr player(s) much like a visiting guest, such as some meals (when not with the team), use of TV/internet, etc. Naturally, each player-fam ily relationship will have its own dynamic but the goal is for a mutually positive experi ence on both ends with the Edenton Steamers always available for support and/or guidance. For information on becoming an Edenton Steamers host fam ily, please contact the Steamers office at 482-4080. FRIEDMAN Continued from Bl about the upcoming sea son but Roy Williams has managed to get commit ments from a stellar mix of talented prep stars and proven college transfers. Coach Williams will have the difficult task of getting them to play as a team but I wouldn’t trust any other coach alive to do the job better. I didn’t talk about them much this year but the Carolina Hurricanes and their coach Rod Brind’Amour deserve a lot of credit for the season they had. They may have been considered by some to be a “bunch of jerks” but their non-stop effort and exceptional play once again inspired a region that doesn’t care much about hockey to show up and tune in to cheer on their Canes. 1
The Chowan Herald (Edenton, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
May 22, 2019, edition 1
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