Watauga High School's new volleyball coach has officially rounded out her coaching staff for the upcoming season. Kris Hagaman announced that Erin Flynn will coach jayvee volleyball and be a varsity assistant, and Robin Isaacs will be a varsity assistant coach. Flynn teaches fifth-grade at Green Valley Elementary School, and Isaacs is a business teacher at Watauga High School. The announcement comes just in time for fall practice which begins on Monday, August 2nd and ends August 4th.
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The Mountaineers have a new wide receivers coach, and it's a familiar face too. Trey Elder, who was a quality starting and backup quarterback for the ASU football team, is back with the Mountaineers. Elder had been the wide receivers coach at Byrnes High School, his other alma mater, this past year, after serving as a graduate assistant in 2008 for the Mountaineers. Elder posted a 7-1 record as a starter while at ASU from 2004-2007, winning three national championships along the way. He was most noted for guiding the Mountaineers to a 29-23 victory against Furman in the 2005 Division I-AA semifinal, which led to an eventual national championship. He was also a stellar signal caller for Byrnes, being named Mr. Football for South Carolina in 2003. He led the Rebels to an undefeated season and the 4A Division II state championship with a 40-14 victory against Conway that year. He will now be the position coach for his brother, Blake Elder, who is entering his senior season with the Mountaineers.
Don't look now, but Madison Bumgarner, a South Caldwell alumnus, is putting together a very effective season for the San Francisco Giants. The southpaw notched his fourth win in a row on Saturday night after going seven strong innings, giving up two earned runs on five hits, with three walks and seven strikeouts as the Giants defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks 10-4 at Chase Field in Phoenix. He's only given up seven earned runs in his last 33 2/3 innings of work, and his earned-run-average during that stretch stands at 1.89. On the year, Bumgarner is 4-2 with a 2.43 ERA.
Moving from one new job to the next, Avery County has a new athletic director. David Wright will take over the reigns from Matthew Bentley who is leaving to go to Cranberry Middle School. Wright was a long-time principal at Riverside Elementary and Avery Middle School, and he and his wife both teach in the Avery County school system. Bentley also has a son, Dixon, that is a kicker for James Madison University. We at MTN want to wish David Wright and Matthew Bentley the best at their new positions!
A Watauga High School baseball player was named to the all-state team this week. Cal Hardee, became the second Pioneer player to be named to the North Carolina Baseball Coaches Association Class 4A All-State team. Hardee, who is heading to ASU to continue his playing career, batted .402 during his senior year, collecting 35 hits, six doubles, two home runs and 22 RBIs. He was also now slouch on the mound, whiffing a team-leading 74 men in 63-innings last season. He also collected 10 wins over the past two seasons to help the Pioneers win back-to-back conference championships. In addition to that, Hardee played in the East-West Senior All-Star game in Charlotte and the North Carolina-South Carolina All-Star Showcase in Myrtle Beach, SC.
The Watauga Junior League All-Star team captured the District 7 championship last night in convincing fashion at Optimist Park in Boone. The Watauga All-Stars jumped on the Wilkes team early and often as they scored seven runs a piece in the first and second innings. In the first inning, Shawn Buchheit found a pitch he liked and sent it over the left field fence for a three-run homer that keyed the seven run inning. Then in the second inning, Matt Lambert hit a three-run shot of his own. Tyler Sturgill and Buchheit followed Lambert's blast with back-to-back RBI singles, and then Jeffrey Gainey brought two more home with another single. Lambert kept the Wilkes lineup in check from the mound as he pitched a complete game, allowing just two hits while striking out four en route to the 16-1 win. Parker Church and Levi Ray provided Wilkes with their two hits of the night and Mackenzie Walter scored their lone run. Watauga now moves on to the state tournament and plays the District 2 champion Saturday in Brevard at 2:30 pm. Congratulations to both the Watauga and Wilkes teams for their fine performances in the District 7 tournament.
The District 7 Junior League All-Stars from Watauga and Wilkes played game one of their championship last night at Optimist Park in Boone. The Wilkes All-Stars hadn't lost a game all tournament and could have claimed the championship with a win last night. But, the Watauga squad had other plans as they scored three runs in the sixth inning to break a 2-2 tie. Watauga struck first when Shawn Buchheit hit a two-run homer in the fourth inning. Wilkes would answer back with a two-run shot of their own in the fifth when Levi Way went deep. But in the sixth inning, Buchheit singled in a run, and then Jeffrey Gainey and Carson Isaacs both executed squeeze bunts that brought Tyler Sturgill and Buchheit home for the 5-2 lead. Sturgill also pitched a complete game, holding Wilkes to four hits and two runs in the 5-2 victory. The two teams meet again tonight to decide who wins the District 7 title.
After losing their head volleyball coach recently, Watauga High School has at least filled one coaching vacancy after they hired a new men's soccer coach. William McKay was named the new men's soccer coach at Watauga, replacing Uwe Erhlech, who was one of the victim's of the recent budget cuts. Erhlech was a language teacher and coached both men's and women's soccer last season for the Pioneers. In his only season at Watauga High School, Erhlech was 4-16-1 with the men's team last fall and he was 10-7 with the women last spring. While it was Watauga's first losing season in men's soccer since 1994, both the men's and women's teams still made the state playoffs. McKay takes over the coaching reigns after spending 13 years at Mountain Heritage High School. McKay is a Harvard University graduate and a science teacher. He was named Coach of the Year in the Western Highlands Conference in 1999 and in 2004. The Cougars, under McKay's leadership, were 20-3 during that 2004 season and they also reached the quarterfinal round of the Class 2A state playoffs. Watauga is currently conducting a search for a female coach to take over the women's program next spring.
The North Carolina Baseball Coaches Association has named its 2010 All-State team. Three players from the region made the cut. West Wilkes' Luke Gragg was named First Team All-State. Gragg helped the Blackhawks win their first state championship in school history. West Wilkes, who was led by former Watauga High player and assistant coach Ben Wellborn, captured the Class 1A State Championship by defeating Dixon. Gragg batted .667 with 13 doubles and 48 runs-batted-in. Also selected to the all-state team was former Hickory star and current Boston Red Sox player Tyler Barnette. Barnette was a second-team selection. He was 8-2 with a save and a 1.41 earned-run-average. In 71 innings of work, he struck out 100 men. Offensively he was good with the wood too, batting .311 with seven home runs. Finally, making the all-state team was A.C. Reynolds Phillip Treadway. Treadway was also a second-team selection. He smashed a school record 15 home runs, drove in 32 runs, and batted .489. Meanwhile, Tyler Bumgarner of South Caldwell was named Honorable Mention.
Just days after getting former Gonzaga University point guard G.J. Vilarino to commit to play at ASU, the Mountaineers are back on the recruiting trail again, nabbing another guard. Jason Capel's latest prized recruit is Michael Neal from Oak Ridge Military Academy. Neal, a 6-foot-1 guard, will be a senior in the fall after transferring from Northern Guilford. Neal, who was hampered by injuries last year, has made a verbal commitment to play at ASU. He becomes the third player to verbally commit to play at Appalachian, joining rising sophomores G.J. Vilarino, and seven-footer Brian Okam, a native of Nigeria, who will transfer in from Rutgers. Both Vilarino and Okam will be not be eligible until the 2011-12 season because of NCAA transfer rules.
