SportsWeek
Also Community, Religion and Classifieds February 19, 2015
Girls' Track
Katlin Sherman (left) and Ebony Williams (right) ran wire-to-wire in the 300-meter dash at the state indoor
track championships.
?Parkland girls repeat as
state indoor track champs
fy CRAIG T. GREENLEE
3R THE CHRONICLE
It really didn't matter
that Parkland wasn't at full
strength last week. The
Mustangs repelled all chal
lengers to win the team title
at the girls' Class 4-A State
Indoor Track and Field
Championships for the sec
ond year in a row.
As the meet entered its
final hour of competition at
the JDL Fast Track in
Winston-Salem, there was
no doubt about which team
would reign. The only
question was who would
finish second, third and
fourth.
Parkland piled up 89
points to win handily over
Apex (47) and Cary (46)
and Leesville Road (41).
'
"It was a job well
done," said Coach Antwan
Hughes. "The girls put
forth a lot hard work and
dedication on the track and
they
Hpcprt/pH
UVlJVt ?vu
every
moment
o f
excite
m e n t
that
came
their,
way dur
ing the Williams
champi
onships."
Individually, there was
no denying senior
hurdler/sprinter Ebony
Williams. After posting
runner-up and third-place
finishes at state meets in
previous seasons, Williams
delivered a sweetheart per
formance on Valentine's
Day - winning four gold
medals and being named
the state championship
MVP.
"I was surprised when
they.called my name," said
Williams, who signed with
Clemson. "Winning MVP
just topped everything off."
Williams bagged the
first individual state cham
pionship of her career in
the 55-meter hurdles. After
getting off to a slow start,
she accelerated after the
second hurdle to breeze to
a state-record (7.81 sec
onds) over runner-up
Gabriele Cunningham of
Mallard Creek (7.87).
"She beat me to the first
hurdle, but I didn't panic
because I was still within
striking distance" said
Williams. "Once I got my
speed going around the
third hurdle, 1 felt good
about my chances. I didn't
expect to set any records.
All I focused on was win
ning."
The 300-meter dash
proved to be a replay of an
on-going battle between
teammates, which takes
place every day at Parkland
practices. -
Williams and Katlin
Sherman matched each
other stride for stride, but it
was Williams (39.06 sec
onds) who prevailed by an
eyelash over Sherman
(39,09) at the end.
"Ebony and I are even
Sec Parkland on B2
Photo by Livingstone College Athletics
Cierra York of Livingstone glides to the basket for a
lay-up.
Ciena York of
Winston-Salem
helps Livingstone
women shine
BY CRAIG T. GREENLEE
FOR THE CHRONICLE
As a basketball player,
"Cierra York of Winston
Salem knows all about lean
times. That's because her
first three seasons at
Livingstone College are
memorable for all the
wrong reasons.
During that torturous
stretch of 82 games, the
Lady Blue Bears posted a
forgettable winning per
centage of 329.
Up until last weekend,
this current season was one
for the record books.
York's team was the siz
zling-hot topic of CIAA
women's
basketball. Livingstone
was 22-0 and No. 5 in the
USA Today Division II
national rankings for the
week of Feb. 10.
The dream season,
however, quickly turned
into a nightmare. The
school conducted an inter
nal investigation and dis
covered that the women's
team had used an ineligible
player.
Livingstone forfeited
18 games and its once-per
fect record went to 4-18.
On the day after the school
publicized its finding, the
Lady Blue Bears suffered
their first on-the-court loss
of the season to Johnson C.
Smith (70-66).
Kyra Crosby, a gifted
power forward who led the
team in scoring and
rebounding, has been ruled
ineligible. Initially, Crosby
played at Alabama then
transferred to Georgia State
prior to her arrival at
Livingstone.
York and Coach Anita
Howard declined to com
ment about the infraction
because the school's inves
tigation is still in progress.
Even with all that has
happened, York remains
upbeat. With two games
left to play in the regular
season, she's confident that
Livingstone will regroup.
See York on B2
JV Basketball
i 1 /
i
Mount Tabor subdues Reagan in JV play
BY CRAIG T. GREENLEE
FOR THE CHRONICLE
At every level of bas
ketball, rebounding is fun
damental.
In the case of the two
best junior varsity teams in
the Central Piedmont
Conference, rebounding
was the telling story.
Mount Tabor used its size
and muscle to subdue
Reagan in a convincing 76
64 road win on Feb. 10.
With the victory, the
Spartans clinched the con
erence championship with
>ne game left to play in the
egular season.
Coach Willie
larrison's crew had
'isions of closing out their
eason with an unblem
shed record in league play,
nstead, the season ended
>n a low note as the
ipartans suffered an ago
lizing 58-56 overtime loss
o Davie County in the sea
on finale on Feb. 13.
The War Eagles helped
beir cause immensely by
hitting eight 3-pointers for
the game. Early in the third
quarter, Davie went up 39
18, but Mount Tabor
clawed its way back into
contention in the final min
utes of regulation, which
ended in a 47-47 tie.
The Spartans had an
opportunity to pull out the
victory in the final seconds
of OT, but Isaiah Wilkins'
3-point shot attempt from
the right corner bounced
off the rim as the final
buzzer sounded. Kai Leslie
topped Mount Tabor with
19 points, Wilkins con
tributed 11 and Tyrek
McNeil finished with 10
points.
"We played well in the
third and fourth quarter.
That's what enabled us to
make a comeback," said
Harrison, whose team fin
ished the season at 16-4,
10-1 in conference play.
"Our ultimate goal was to
go undefeated in the con
ference, but we couldn't
get it done. We didn't want
the end our season with a
loss. There's really no rea
son to cry about it, espe
cially since we had already
won the conference two
nights earlier."
In a game that was
expected to be tightly-con
tested from start to finish,
Mount Tabor managed to
keep Reagan from gaining
momentum. Every time the
Raiders pulled to within 5
points of the lead, the
Spartans were able to score
enough points to maintain a
comfortable working mar
gin,
"Coming in, we knew
that we'd get Reagan's best
shot and we were ready,"
said Coach Willie Harrison
of Mount Tabor. "I thought
we outplayed them at both
ends. Even though we had
some foul trouble, we exe
cuted very well on
defense." ?
Up until the fourth
quarter, Reagan (18-4, 9-2
conference) never trailed
by more than 8 points. The I
Raiders were forced to play
catch-up because the
Spartans owned the boards.
Reagan rarely got off more
than one shot per offensive
possession. Mount Tabor,
in the meantime, main
tained its cushion by capi
talizing on back-door lay
ups and offensive put
backs.
"Our kids battled and
See Mount Tabor on B2
Raiders guard Trey McDaniel launches a jump over stretched-out arms of Mount Tabor's Bond Craver
(20).
I