By Eric Lusk
Sports Editor
elusk@elkintribune.com

The Tribune and Yadkin Ripple sport desks officially move into summer mode this week.

The 2008-09 high school sports season is complete for schools in our area, coming to a close with Forbush’s play in Saturday’s 2A girls soccer state championship match in Raleigh (the Falcons lost a heartbreaker in sudden death, 2-1).

This has been a rich year of high school sports in towns like Elkin, Ronda, Boonville, Dobson and East Bend. We had state champions all three seasons, from East Wilkes tennis and cross country in the fall to Elkin and Starmount swimmers in the winter and then to East Wilkes, Starmount and Surry Central track athletes in the spring.

There have been thrill-of-victory moments galore, whether you cheer for the Elks, Rams, Cardinals, Falcons or Golden Eagles. And there were agony-of-defeat times as well. Some teams exceeded expectations, others fell short of them, and some did exactly what everyone thought they’d do.

Most of all, hundreds of students-athletes — and their coaches and fans — made memories that will last a lifetime and learned a thing or two about life through the classroom that is prep athletics.

As we close the books on 2008-09, here are some things that stand out to this sports editor who tried his best to cover as much of it as possible:


• The year of the Rams: There was plenty of Starmount orange and navy splashed on our pages over the past nine months, and with good reason. The Rams had one of their best overall sports campaigns in the 40-plus year history of the school.

In the fall, the volleyball and football teams both won conference titles and advanced to the state semifinals. Girls tennis player Carla Cave was a conference singles championship. Soccer player Mauricio Lopez was voted conference MVP, helping the Rams advance back to the playoffs.

In the winter, swimmer Julianna Prim three-peated as state champion in the 100 butterfly and placed second in the state in the 50 free. She also played basketball for a resurgent Lady Rams team that pinned the only regular season loss of the year on conference champion Ashe County. Matthew Walker, fresh off an amazing football season (conference MVP for defense), wrestled to third in the state.

The spring culminated with the baseball team repeating as conference champions and the softball team unseating rival Forbush as conference tournament champs (and sharing the season crown with the Falcons). Antonio McClelland won a state title in the long jump and teammate Aaron Combs collected a silver in the 800 meters, blowing away his previous best in the event and coming within a few tenths of earning the top prize.

Corey Campbell gave Starmount another tennis championship, winning the boys conference title in singles with an undefeated league record.

And these are just the highlights from Rams Nation.

Even a number of junior varsity teams at the Boonville school fared well, like in football and girls soccer. This amazing year will be tough to replicate in 2009-10, but Starmount should be strong in a number of sports again over the next year.


• Ponytail power: In many ways, this also was the year of the female athlete in our area. To take nothing away from the great sporting achievements among our boys (Elkin, Starmount football; East Wilkes, Elkin and Starmount track, Starmount baseball, etc.), center stage this year often belonged to the ladies.

East Wilkes girls tennis posted an unbeaten season, winning the school’s first-ever state title in the sport. Seniors Brianna Fulp and Jessie Elmore also captured a state title in doubles.

Sophomore Carol Blankenship from East blazed to conference and region titles in cross country in the fall, placing third at state. Teammate Anna Hayes also ran strong on the 5K trails, finishing in the top 11 at state for the fourth straight year. The duo joined Carrie Blankenship and Candace Blankenship on a Cardinals 4x800 relay that repeated as state champions this spring.

Starmount’s volleyball team reloaded well enough to retain its conference championship and advance back to the Final Four in the 2A playoffs, led by seniors Jordan Raye, Meme Brown and Jana Matthews.

Elkin girls soccer had its best season in school history, riding conference MVP Kali Brooks and other standouts like Madison Spagnoletti and Hannah Bertke to a 17-3 record, a share of the Northwest 1A title and a second-round state playoff appearance.

Surry Central girls tennis was ranked in the top 10 statewide most of the fall, and track and field athlete Raven Stanley won state gold in pole vault. East Wilkes volleyball secured a state playoff triumph for the first time in several years. East Wilkes girls basketball won 19 games, including 11 in the tough Northwest 1A.

We’ve already mentioned Julianna Prim, Carla Cave, Starmount softball, Starmount girls basketball, etc.

The athlete who outdueled Prim in the 50 free at state? Elkin’s Lakenn Reynolds, who swam one of the best races of her prep career in the waters at NC State. Reynolds and teammates Laurenn Singleton, Sarah Singleton and Bethany Eaton also placed second in the state in a pair of relays.

Again, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Girls sports are definitely strong in this area.


• Gridiron glory: It was fun — and a huge challenge — to cover Elkin and Starmount’s football playoff drives back in November and early December. The Battle of the Bridge rivals just kept winning in the post-season, each advancing to the Final Four of their respective playoff brackets. It’s the first time that has ever happened to our knowledge, keeping us on our toes at The Tribune trying to do justice to both teams (and keep things as even-handed as possible).

There were many editions during this stretch where we just split the front of the sports page in half, giving the Rams one side and the Elks the other. Thanks to folks like local photographer Tim Weatherman and freelance writer Andrew Millaway for helping us cover all our bases.

We’re looking forward to having the Rams and Elks back in the same conference next year. That should ramp up the energy level for the Battle of the Bridge game even more.


• The Dan Merritt effect: The distance running coach, who has trained Tri-County kids for years and years, wore plenty of hats in 2008-09. In the fall, he served as an assistant to Anita Tharpe’s cross country program at East Wilkes. His proven training methods played a big role in Eric Blackburn winning a state title on the boys side, and Carol Blankenship taking third in the girls race (and the girls faring well as a team).

In the spring, Merritt joined Scott Wood’s track program at Elkin as an assistant coach. He took a group of mostly novices at the 800 meters and turned them — Russell Stewart, Andrew Steiner, Zach Millsaps and Aaron Rabin — into conference and region champs, and silver medalists at state.

The Buckin’ Elks 4x800 time at state on Friday, May 15 would have won every 1A championship meet from 1995 through 2007.

That next Friday, with Elkin’s season complete, Merritt was back in Greensboro for the 2A championships, wearing a Starmount hat and enjoying the day with some of his former East Wilkes runners.

The hat was in honor of Starmount junior Aaron Combs, a runner whom Merritt has helped train on the side in recent years. Combs came to Merritt and said basically “make me faster.” Combs was quick enough on May 22 in the 800 meters to earn silver, with a time that’s considered “elite” for 2A runners at the national level.


• Coaches do make a difference: There were a number of amazing coaching stories this season. Hats off, of course, to Elkin’s Richard Grissom and Starmount’s Scott Johnson for a magical autumn of football on both sides of the Bridge.

How about East Wilkes’ Aaron Simmons? His girls tennis team won a state title and his boys had a state championship caliber squad. The Cardinal boys lost only to eventual 1A champion Mount Airy and perennial 1A power Hendersonville in the playoffs.

Doubles players Ethan Lyon and Houston Callaway nearly joined their girls counterparts as state champs, advancing to the finals in Cary before losing to rivals from Mount Airy. All that, and Simmons became a dad for the first time in the midst of it all.

Jon Symons kept Starmount volleyball among the state’s elite. Billy Brown enjoyed his third straight season of at least 18 wins with East Wilkes girls basketball. Joe McCulloch turned his Elkin girls soccer program into conference co-champs in only the fourth year since its revival.

Kristi Gaddis led Starmount to a repeat conference title in boys track and field. Mike McCann piloted Starmount’s baseball team back to another conference title — this time winning the crown outright. Heather Courts had Starmount’s softball diamond buzzing, snatching the MVAC tourney title from Forbush and winning 23 games in all again only three losses.

And we could go on and on and on. A very rich year indeed, which we will continue celebrating in the next few weeks as we release our Tribune All-Area teams.

Though it is sad to see it all end, The Tribune and Ripple sports desks will enjoy “summer mode” for a couple of months. Of course, preseason practices for fall sports will be here before you know it. And the race will be on again.

No matter what happens, 2008-09 is going to be tough to beat.