August 14, 2003
The Kings Mountain Herald
GARY STEWART / HERALD
Kings Mountain Middle School football coach Monty Deaton, left, watches his offense go through practice drills
Monday afternoon.
KM spikers hone to battle
for State 3A playoff berth
By GARY STEWART
Editor of The Herald
With two-time North
Carolina Player of the Year
Shonda Cole gone, Kings
Mountain High's volleyball
team will have to depend on
a quicker, more balanced
attack as it enters the 2003
season.
Third-year coach Suzanne
Grayson'’s Lady
Mountaineers were sched-
uled to open their season
yesterday with a non-confer-
ence match with East
Gaston. They host East
Rutherford next Tuesday.
The Mountaineers have
compiled a 47-7 record over
the past two seasons, with
siX’of those losses coming at
the hands of state power
Fred T. Foard, and the sev-
enth against an East Chapel
Hill team which has been
the Eastern 3A champion the
past two seasons.
Posting a third straight 20-
win season will be difficult,
as will qualifying for the
State Tournament because
only two teams from the
Southwestern Foothills 3A
will be going this year. But,
if hard work is any indica-
tion of success, count on the
Mountaineers being there.
“The kids have worked
really hard,” says Grayson,
who coached the team to the
State 3-A title in 2001.
“They've been working out
all summer. They went to
camp and went to a presea-
son tournament at the
University of South
Carolina. They're a great
BARIA ADAMS
group of girls that work
hard, but still have a lot of
work to do.”
Grayson has a good nucle-
us back from last year’s
team, but Mountaineer fans
won't likely see the power-
ful front line attack that
they've been accustomed to
in the past.
Baria Adams, a middle
blocker, will probably be the
biggest obstacle up front for
KM opponents. She’s one of
five returning seniors.
Ashton Teague is a good
all-around player, as are
Lauren Horne, Jackie Jarvis
and Ashley McDaniel.
The key to the KM attack
should be junior setter Blair
Heffner. Junior Alex
Dawson, an outside hitter,
also returns along with
Heather Lappe. But, at pres-
ent, Lappe is injured.
BLAIR HEFFER
Three sophomores that
moved up to the varsity late
last season will be counted
on heavily. They are Kala
Buchanan, LaRonda
McClain and Kristyn
Funderburke. The 12th
member of the team is fresh-
man Brittany McClain.
“We're a lot younger this
year,” says Grayson. “We
still don’t have a starting
lineup set so people are
working to secure a starting
position.
“I think we're quicker this
year, and we're more evenly
talented. We lost a lot last
year. We're having to replace
Pam Parker, Danielle Gill,
Shonda Cole and Mollie
Hamrick on the front row, as
well as our setter Courtney
Osteen.”
The Mountaineers have
gone through several scrim-
mages already, and will get
a big test of their talent level
on Saturday, August 23
when they compete in the
Best of the Best tournament
at Davidson College.
“In our scrimmages we've
had some bright spots,” says
Grayson. “We ‘ve had some
strong defense and strong
hitting, then some times
when there were lapses in
offense and defense.”
Grayson expects tougher
than usual competition in
the SWFH, simply because
the two playoff positions
will be determined by the
regular season standings.
There won't be a conference
tournament this year.
Fred T. Foard, the defend-
ing State champion, is the
preseason favorite, Kings,
Mountain is likely to be in a
tough battle for the second
spot with R-S Central and
St. Stephens.
“R-S lost only one player
and they were very tough
last year,” Grayson said.
“Foard is always a power-
house. They have such a
strong program. The girls
that play there are used to
hard work and used to hav-
ing a great program, so I
think they’ll keep their tradi-
tion up.”
Grayson will be assisted
on the varsity this year by
former KMHS standout
Tami Welch. Cori
Cunningham, who coached
in Alaska and taught at
Kings Mountain Middle
School last year, moves to
the high school as English
teacher and JV coach.
Etters, Bridges win Member-Guest
golf tournament at KM Country Club
Justin Etters and Chad
Bridges shot a 68-66--134
Saturday and Sunday to win
the annual Member-Guest
Golf tournament at Kings
Mountain Country Club.
Eric Spicer and Thomas
Monroe finished second
with a 71-67--138.
John Gamble and Scott
Salzer won the first flight
with a 74-68--142. Bruce
McMillion and Jeff
Cloninger finished second
with a 74-72--146.
Daniel Honeycutt and
Brent Bishop won the sec-
ond flight with a 78-75--153.
Terry and Brad Leonard
were second with a 79-75--
156.
John McGinnis and Mike
McHale shot a 81-76--157 to
win the third flight. Curt
Collins and Max Bowden
were second with an 82-77--
159. ]
Greg Robinson, Thomas
Monroe and Daniel
Honeycutt won Friday's
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Page 7A
Philbeck to
second base
for Wilkes
By GARY STEWART
Editor of The Herald
Kings Mountain’s Elan Philbeck has signed a national let-
ter of intent to play baseball at Wilkes Community College
in Wilkesboro
Philbeck was a three-year starter at second base for the
Mountaineers and will play the same position at Wilkes for
Coach Cam Huestess. He
plans to play at Wilkes for
two seasons and then trans-
fer to a four-year college.
Philbeck was one of the
most consistent players for
the Mountaineers the past
four years at KMHS under
coaches Tony Leigh and
Stephen Fisher. During his
freshman season he started
at shortstop while Matt
Bridges was completing the
wrestling season. After
Bridges joined the team,
Philbeck saw action on the
varsity and JV team.
He hit .293 last season and
hit .343 for Kings Mountain's
American Legion team.
His junior season, Philbeck
was a member of the KMHS
team that won the Team
Scholar Athlete Award from the North Carolina High
School Athletic Association for having the best grade point
average of any 3A school in the state.
This past season, Philbeck won the NCHSAA Scholar
Athlete Award as an individual.
He will be leaving for Wilkes on August 18, and said he
looks forward to joining the team. Wilkes will play a 16-
game fall schedule. During the regular season next spring
they will play against teams such as Louisburg,
Rockingham Community College, Spartanburg Methodist
and Lenoir-Rhyne.
Philbeck said he chose Wilkes because of its academics
and baseball.
“Most of the other places I visited were just talking about
baseball,” he said, “but up there they took me around the
school and were really nice. I feel like I can do pretty good
ELAN PHILBECK
‘up there.”
After he signed with Wilkes, Philbeck said he received an
offer from Limestone College, a four-year school in Gaffney,
SC. He said after two years at Wilkes he may transfer to
either Limestone or Appalachian State. His career goal i is to
be a teacher and coach.
Looking back on his high school career, Philbeck said he
was pleased with his personal achievements.
“But I wish we could have won a few more games, espe-
cially last year,” he said. “We had a lot of seniors and really
expected to win a lot more than we did.”
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Schedule for area high
school football teams that
will open their regular sea-
son Friday night:
Cherryville at Bunker Hill
Concord at NW Cabarrus
Mitchell at McDowell
Salisbury at East Rowan
W. Caldwell at Watauga
Forest Hills at
Weddington
Albemarle at West
Montgomery
Alexander Central at
Davie County
Anson County at Monroe
Bandys at East Lincoln
Jay Robinson at Central
Cabarrus
Parkwood at East Meck
Salisbury at East Rowan
A.L. Brown at S. Rowan
Lake Norman at S. Iredell
Highland Tech at Hibriten
Lincolnton at Maiden
Newton Conover at St.
Stephens
West Lincoln at Fred T.
Foard
North Gaston at Murphy
N. Iredell at Mt. Airy
Charlotte Christian at
North Lincoln
Olympic at Piedmont
Statesville at W. Iredell
Mt. Pleasant at S. Stanley
South Meck at Forestview
W. Stanly at Sun Valley
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