c
Photos by Charmane Delaverson
Bryant Feggins Kevin Thompson Fred Johnson
Area prepsters nominated
for McDonald's All-America team
Special to the Chronide
Three area prep school standouts have been nominat
ed as candidates for jhe 1989 McDonald's All- American
High School Basketball Team. Two of the candidates play
for the Glenn Bobcats, the other competes for the Carver
YeUowjackets.
Bryant Feggins and Kevin Thompson are the candi
dates for Glenn, while Fred Johnson is the nominee from
Carver. These three are among 1,500 high school players
in the country who have been nominated by the McDon
ald's All-American Basketball Team Selection Committee.
That prestigious group is composed of high school basket
ball coaches and sportswriters. As nominees, they are in '
running to be one of the 25 members chosen to that All
American team.
Feggins and Thompson are among the most feared
inside combination in the state. Both have already signed
to play at North Carolina State and both played on the
Winston Lake AAU Junior Olympic team that placed sev
enth in last year's nationals.
Feggins, a 6-6 forward, is the Bobcats leading scorer
at 20.3 points a game. Thompson, is a major force in the
pivot on offense and defense as a 6-9 power forward. He
averages 19.1 points a game for Glenn. Feggins and
Thompson are coached by Napoleon Cloud*
Johnson plays forward and center for the Yellowjack
ets. The 6-6 performer scores 12.3 points a game and leads
his team in rebounding. Johnson is coached by Alfred Poe.
Cunningham whips the Rams into aerobic shape
By CRAIG T.GREENLEE
Chronicle Sports Editor
Pick up on this.
There's a uny woman who plays
drill sergeant in molding the WSSU
football team into aerobic shape. Her
work-outs are designed to help the
Rams go the distance and cut down
on injuries that reduce playing time.
Sharon Cunningham, a local aer
obics instructor and assistant recre
ation director at the 14th St. Recre
ation Center, is the lady in charge. At
5-2 1/4, 115 lbs., she's doesn't have
the hulk and bulk of her students, but
she does get their undivided attention.
Cunningham puts the Rams
through the paces of stretching and
stai^na enhancing exercises twice a
week at 6 o'clock in the morning in
- the old gym located^ next to the C.E.
Gaines Center on the WSSU campus.
The sessions last for one hour.
Sharon has been an aerobics
instructor in the Winston area for five
- _years. Three of those years, she has
^uidttTWSSU players to
of fitness during the off-season as the
team prepares for spring football drills.
Cunningham" started the early
morning work-outs with the blessings
of former Rams coach Bill Hayes.
seen fit to have her continue working
with his players in the off-season.
"The coaches know what the
benefits (of aerobics) are," Cunning
ham says. "They know that it helps
endurance and helps reduce injuries.
And now the players know that it's
beneficial for them. Those early
morning work-outs are a like a pill
you take to get you going and keep
you going strong."
Aerobics, Cunningham points
out, enables one to increase
Please see page C8
asassaasmaSBSa
wi
Aerobics Instructor Sharon Cunningham gets the football Rams to "work that body" during an exhibition at halftlme during the WSSU-North^rolln^A&T^ba^
ketball game last week. Having fun during the work-out Is WSSU defensive back Cornell Wallace (19).
Junior Varsity Basketball
Mt. Tabor's Spartans leave RJR
Demons standing in the dust
College Wrestling
CIAA tournament scheduled
to start tomorrow at WSSll
By Chronicle Staff
Ml Tabor's Spartans shook off a
pesky defensive effort by the
Reynolds Demons to claim a 61-44
victory in county junior varsity bas
ketball action last week.
The Spartans took the final
advantage in the third quarter when
they were able to shut down RJR's
inside game and create some offen
sive opportunities off of their defense.
"The key for us was playing good
defence in the second half," says
Frank Martin, Spartans coach. "In the
first half, Mika Smith killed us inside.
But we made some adjustments at the
half and were able to stop their low ?
post game. The way we played
defense in that second half was the
best we've played in a while."
Mt. Tabor was sparked by Thad
Young's 15 points and Bill Sandford's
11. Stephon Kee added 10 and Peter
Milner scored nine points for the vic
tors. Defensively, Young was a terror ?
around the basket as lie repeatedly
either altered or blockcd shocks when
RJR shooters would go to the basket.
At times, Mt. Tabor appeared to
Photo by Craig T. Greenlee
Mt. Tabor's Thad Young fires
up a jumper against RJR's
Mlka Smith.
be on the verge of breaking the game
open. But the Demons responded with
an attacking full-court defense that
kept them in contention.
In the second quarter, RJR trailed
17-11 and used a half-court pressure
defense to battle back and tie the
score at 20-all with 1:20 left in the
half. But The Spartans maintained a
slight edge at intermission, 27-23.
. "Pressure is our game," says RJR
coach Norman Trzaskoma, " and
we're good at it This team feels that
if we're within eight points of the lead
going into the last quarter, we can win
because we get results when we apply
the pressure. We had to go with pres
sure because our half-court defense
wasn't doing very much for us. They
were getting second shots and we
weren't hitting the shots that we were
getting."
The Demons proved that their
defense works to produce fast breaks
that result in mismatches for the
, cppbikkm. However, RJR was never
able to totally close the gap because
of inconsistency at the foul line. On
the night, the Demons sank 16 of 31
* Please see page C5
By Chronicle Staff
The CIAA Wrestling Tourna
ment has shifted gears again will
take place tomorrow at the C.E.
Gaines Center at Winston-Salem
State University. The first round of
the tourney gets underway at 10
ajn. and the finals will begin at 2
p.m.
Originally, the tournament had
been scheduled to be held at Liv
ingstone College on Saturday (Feb.
18). But that site was changed
because Livingstone is located in
Rowan County, where a measles
quarantine has been recently lifted.
Because of public health concerns,
the tourney site was then changed
to Winston- Salem for that same
day.
However, a conflict arose
when it was discovered that the
Winston-Salem State basketball
team is scheduled to play North
Carolina Central on Saturday after
noon at the Memorial Coliseum.
That game is being televised live
by Black Entertainment Television
at 2 p.m. As a result Fair revested
to have the tournament date moved
up one day to avoid the conflict.
This year's tournament will be
a little short of schools. Only
defending champion Winston
Salem State, Virginia State, and
Norfolk State will be competing.
At stake in this competition are
automatic qualifying berths to the
NCAA Division II nationals for the
conference champions in each
weight class.
The '89 CIAA tournament was
originally slated to be a five team
affair wi|h the three schools men
tioned above plus Livingstone Col
lege and Elizabeth City State.
However, the Bears wrestling team
decided to pass up this year's tour
nament because of the measles out
break. Livingstone hasn't competed
since late December. Coach Blaine
Gorney felt that by the tirtie the
quarantine was lifted, his team
woul&i't have ample time to pre
pare for the tournament It has been
reported that Gorney will request
that the NCAA grant his wrestlers
another year of eligibility because
they missed so much of this sea
son. Elizabeth City, on the other
hand, dropped out because they
didn't have the funds to support
their wrestling team any longer.
Coming into the tournament,
the Virginia State team is rated
ahead of the Rams and Norfolk
State. That rating was determined
last month when the schools faced
off in CIAA dual matches in
Petersburg, Va. In the team compe
tition, the Trojans bested WSSU,
30-18, while the Rams won by a
22-18 margin over Norfolk State to
claim the No. 2 spot
Those rankings aren't a major
concern for Rams coach Mel Fair.
"As a team, we are very strong,
especially in the lighter weight
divisions," Fair says. "At the CIAA
duals, we were tied with Virginia
State (18-18). But we didn't wrestle
in three weight classes, so we for
feited, and that was the difference."
This time around, though, the
Rams have a full cast that's eager
to successfully defend the team
title and send a few folks to the
nationals which will be held March
. Please see page C3