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♦ WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2006
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Huntington Middle School runner Caroline Mauldin runs in the inaugural Middle School
State Championship in Cochran Saturday.
Inaugural middle school cross
country championship held
Special to the Journal
The first ever middle school state
championship was held Saturday in
Cochran.
Houston County was represented
by one runner. Caroline Mauldin
of Huntington Middle School ran
and trained with the Warner Robins
High School girls cross country team
this year.
She won most of the races that
she entered and if she didn’t win she
was second.
“I told her before the race to stay
in contact with the top 10 runners
and with 400 meters to go run all
out,” said Warner Robins head cross
country coach David Erpelding. “She
stayed with the top five runners the
whole race and finished fourth over
all (and) with a time of 13:36, which
was her best time of the year.”
She has a bright future on the
high school level and we should see
great things happen in the next few
years. I hope that this will get more
middle school kids excited about
running and maybe one day we will
see more middle school teams repre
senting Houston County at the state
championships.
ENI/Gary Harmon
Northside offensive lineman work out at practice Monday. Among them is Will Zunino
(62) who is making his way back from a torn ACL.
LINE
From page iB
So how has that changed
the role of the lineman? Does
it make life easier when it’s
not a running play every
down? “On every play our
thing is we are going to butt
heads with somebody,” said
Stewart. “We’re putting bod
ies on bodies all the time.
Same thing.”
ZUNINO S RETURN
No one was more into
his post-practice running
Monday than Zunino. He was
more than just a spectator
during his recovery, and had
every intention of suiting up
before the year ended.
“I’ve been out the whole
season, my junior year,” he
said about that all-important
season for a high school pros
pect when scouts really start
to take notice. “My knee felt
Results of the
inaugural middle school state
championsip held Saturday in Cochran:
Girls team results
School Points
1. Bleckley County 29
2. Woodland 74
3. Kennesaw Mountain 100
4 North Hall 154
5. Schley County 181
6. West Laurens 243
7. Lee County 250
8. Pulaski County 272
9. Calvary Day School 288
10. Macon County 335
11. Baconton 384
Top 10 individual
1. Sarah Pray, Griffin Middle - 13:14
2. Weezie Chandler, Woodward Academy - 13:30
3. Jessie Dotson, Luelia - 13:33
4. Caroline Mauldin Huntington Middle - 13:36
5. Taylor Harrington, Bleckley County - 14:06
6. Ashley Barerra, Woodland - 14:14
7. Alice Arnold, Bleckley County - 14:17
8. Gabby Minick, Schley County - 14:24
9. Anna Vonck, Kennesaw Mountain - 14:26
10. Sherre Law, Bleckley County - 14:27
really good. Had a good day.
“I was definitely going to
be back this season. I am
probably going to use this
week to get ready and be
back next week.”
“It’s good to have him back
out there,” said Nix. “He
loves the game. It certainly
would have been a benefit
to us had he been out there
all year. You feel for young
men who work so hard when
something like that hap
pens.”
“Will was a great leader
last year as a sophomore,”
said Stewart. “He has great
leadership ability. Just being
back out here (Monday), he’s
already taken back up the
leadership.”
Stewart said he’s sure
Zunino would feel some sore
ness after practice, and Nix
said he was interested in
how the knee would respond
the next day. But from the
way he went about his work,
Stewart got the impression
the knee wasn’t even in the
back of his mind.
“He was able to come right
back out there and do a good
job,” said Stewart.
“I’m ready to get back in
the big-game scenario,” said
Zunino, who, if he does play
next week, would be in a play
in game that determines who
gets to represent 4-AAAA in
the state playoffs.
“It felt pretty bad, but I’m
there supporting my team,”
said Zunino about how it was
missing all the game action so
far. “I gave (Shedrick Jones)
some tips. I was in his ear
the whole time. He’s a good
player, and he’s going to be a
good player next year, too.
“They did really good.
We’re putting up points run
ning the ball. But when I
get back I know we’re going
to be able to power the ball
running a lot of pro in that
shotgun,”
SPORTS
Johnson attempting to
avoid being like Mark
Jimmie Johnson is
called worse names
every day.
Much worse.
Yet no NASCAR driver
Adam Van
Brimmer
Morris News Service
misses in Nextel Cup cham
pionships.
Martin has four runner
up finishes and four more
third-place showings in 20
full seasons on the Cup
circuit.
He is A 1 Gore on an elec
tion ticket, Marv Levy in a
Super Bowl, Tom Cruise at
the Oscars, and that single
gal who is every one of her
friends’ maid-of-honor all
wrapped into one.
And Johnson could be
Martin’s heir apparent.
Consider his Nextel Cup
career thus far:
Johnson finished second
in points three years ago,
his sophomore season.
He was runner-up again
the next year, 2004.
Last season, he went into
the series finale in second
and dropped to fifth.
With three races left in
the 2006 season, he is in ...
second place.
REUNION
From page iB
Grand National (Cup)
and Late Model Sportsman
(Busch Grand National)
races contested by some
of the greatest drivers of
that era including Richard
Petty, Bobby Allison, David
Pearson, Bobby Issac,
James Hylton, Wendell
Scott and many others.
Middle Georgia Raceway
PITCHERS
From page iB
two of which only had half a
bad game if that.
That duo was Dave
McKim and Chuck Poole.
McKim pitched from the A
Class and Poole from the B.
And both won with identi
cal records of 4.5 wins and
a half game loss. McKim
connected for 107 ringers
out of 200 for a 53.50 ringer
percentage. Poole’s num
bers were: 79 ringers out of
CLEATS
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Move over Mark, here
comes Jimmie.
Johnson, to his credit, is
optimistic -- or maybe it’s
denial.
“I’m closer than I’ve
ever been, numbers-wise,
to the lead in the Chase,”
he said Sunday following a
- you guessed it - second
place finish in the Bass
Pro Shops 500. “There is
still a lot of racing left and
the points are so close you
can’t afford to have a prob
lem or anything. But I’m
excited. I’m optimistic.”
Fate is teasing Johnson.
He is an experienced cham
pion on the off-road racing
series.
He won six titles on those
circuits as a teen-ager and
in his early 20s.
Yet Johnson has been in
a drought since moving to
stock cars in 1998. He won
more than $1.5 million in
four seasons on the Busch
Series and has 23 Nextel
Cup victories in his five
full seasons in NASCAR’s
premier series.
That’s six more victories
than anybody else over that
period.
Tony Stewart and Jeff
Gordon are next with 17
each, although Stewart
won titles in two of those
seasons and Gordon is
proven winner with four
championships.
Johnson, meanwhile,
doesn’t have a ring - Busch
or Cup - during the span
And that leaves Johnson
looking a lot like Martin.
wants to
be called
“Mark
Martin”
or “the
next
Mark
Martin,”
at least
as it
relates
to the
veteran’s
near-
was a state-of-the-art rac
ing facility and was perhaps
the fastest mile paved oval
on the NASCAR circuit at
that time.
In addition to its rich rac
ing history, MGR was the
site of the 1970 Atlanta Pop
Festival which was attended
by more than 300,000 who
gathered to hear rock per
formers including Jimmy
Hendricks and the Allman
Brothers Band.
Hollywood also came to
200 for a ringer percentage
of 39.50.
There were also four
other members of the Perry
club who contended. They
were: Mary Ann Gibbs and
Dane Clark who pitched in
the A Class, Eugene Davis,
who pitched in the B Class
and Jerome Kennedy, who
pitched in the C Class with
Ayer.
Gibbs finished 2-3 (113
ringers out of 200, howev
er, and a ringer percentage
of 56.50), while Clark was
sixth. His record was 1-5
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HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL
Johnson claims to feel
just the opposite of the reg
ular runner-up.
Martin sounds like
Chicken Little after every
crash or mishap - right
fully so considering his his
tory. Johnson, on the other
hand, won’t admit his sky
is falling even when it is.
Johnson went from sec
ond to ninth in points in
one race - the Chase open
er - and finished outside
the top 10 in the next four.
He never lost faith despite
the bad luck and past fail
ures, and with a victory
and two runner-up finishes
in the last three races is
back in contention.
“From the five years of
doing this and being in the
Chase or a championship
battle in all five seasons
so far, there is a lot of con
fidence we can fall back
on,” Johnson said. “Our
team has been a lot more
mature, stable this year in
the Chase than any other
year. “
No, Johnson is not a
cynic yet.
He just celebrated his
31st birthday in September.
He has many championship
chances ahead.
As well as plenty of time
to find his inner-Mark
Martin.
Adam Van Brimmer is
an Atlanta-based writer
for Morris News Service.
E-mail him at adam.
vanbrimmer@morris.com
or telephone him at 404-
589-8424.
MGR to film scenes for
“Greased Lightning”, a
movie depicting the life story
of Wendell Scott, NASCAR’s
first black driver. The track
also gained infamy when a
working “moonshine still”
was discovered in a cave
dug beneath the track.
For more information
about the 2006 Middle
Georgia Raceway Driver
and Fan Reunion visit the
NVRA website at www.
navraracing.org.
(66 ringers out of 200 for a
33 percent ringer percent
age). Davis was also sixth.
He was 0-5 for the tourney
with 42 ringers out of 200
for a ringer percentage of
21 percent.
Kennedy was 2-3. He had
35 ringers out of 200 for a
ringer percentage of 17.50
percent.
The Perry Horseshoe
Pitcher’s Club now has one
more tourney among its
members, Saturday, before
taking some time off for the
winter.