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2B I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I dawsonnews.com
Wednesday, May 2,2018
Kennedy first at DCHS to sign for collegiate tennis
Colin Ochs Dawson County News
Dawson County High School senior Savannah Kennedy signed April 20 for a
scholarship at Piedmont College, where she will be playing tennis in the fall.
By Colin Ochs
cochs@dawsonnews.com
A new standard has
been set for Dawson
County tennis as Savanna
Kennedy became the first
student to sign a scholar
ship to play tennis at the
college level. The soon-
to-be high school gradu
ate will continue her
playing career at
Piedmont College in the
fall.
“Mid-junior year, right
before the season started,
I was like I want to play
college tennis,” Kennedy
said. “I’m not ready to
quit tennis after high
school. So that’s where
my ambition started.”
Along the way,
Kennedy always set goals
for herself.
Freshman year, her
goal was to play varsity.
Mission accomplished.
Sophomore year, her
goal was to be first sin
gles. Mission accom
plished.
And now her goal of
playing college tennis has
also been accomplished.
“(My teammates) led
me to reach my goals and
work harder,” said
Kennedy about her time
on the Dawson County
tennis team. “And then
my coaches really, really
helped me. Practice every
day, (they) pushed me
harder and without them,
we wouldn’t have this.”
The decision on where
to attend college came
down to a couple schools,
but as soon as Kennedy
visited Piedmont, she
knew that’s where she
wanted to be.
“Just looking at their
campus was amazing and
meeting their coaches and
some of the professors
and the tennis team. Just
everything,” said
Kennedy about what
finalized her decision.
“The people that are there
that make Piedmont real
ly pushed my decision
(towards them).”
Off the court, Kennedy
also excels as a student.
As a Division III school,
Piedmont is unable to
offer scholarships based
purely on athletics, so
Kennedy’s scholarship
comes from academics to
help offset the athletic
costs.
“If she didn’t have that
(academic) piece, we
wouldn’t be here today,”
said Head Girls Tennis
Coach Stephanie Gibbs.
“That speaks volumes of
her work ethic.”
Gibbs also spoke about
the growth of the tennis
program over the four
years Kennedy was at the
school. Her freshman
year, Dawson County had
four courts with no lights.
That has since doubled to
eight courts with lights.
The Lady Tigers made
four straight trips to the
state tournament with
Kennedy on the team, and
for the first time since
Gibbs became the coach,
Dawson County had
enough players to field a
junior varsity team this
year.
Because of Kennedy’s
skill set, she would often
practice with the boys to
face opponents that hit a
little harder, which helped
to improve her game. In
fact, according to Gibbs,
when girls first join the
team, they’re always a lit
tle bit intimidated to hit
with Kennedy because
she does hit with so much
power. But being the
teammate that she is,
Kennedy always made
time to hit with one of her
Lady Tiger teammates
should they be up for the
challenge.
“Even though she could
be working on her game,
playing a couple courts
down with the boys or
whomever,” Gibbs said.
“She was always willing
to come back and hit with
somebody that was just
kind of teetering on get
ting better, and not brag
gadocios at all about her
abilities.
“She’s just a really
good encourager.”
Kennedy’s first coach
was Peter Hill, a self-
taught tennis player who
works as an architect,
who she met by complete
chance while hitting balls
at the local park.
Kennedy was in the
eighth grade, practicing
for when she could try
out for the high school
team when Hill showed
up with a ball machine.
Kennedy and her friend,
who she was with at the
time, begged him for les
sons. Hesitant at first
since he only taught him
self to play by watching
the pros on TV, Kennedy
persisted and Hill finally
gave in, setting the course
for Kennedy’s success.
“He’s very, very good,”
said Nancy Kennedy,
Savanna’s mother. “He
taught her the basic
strokes. He taught her the
goal setting that goes
with tennis. That was just
amazing and just kind of
put it to her. You know,
there’s a difference
between a four-hour serve
and a forty-hour serve. As
she upped her goals, she
needed to up the hours on
the court and that’s how I
think she got better.
“He helped her under
stand that relationship
between time on the court
and your goals. That was
huge. That was pretty
much her start and then
she got in with the school
and the school coaches
took her from there.”
Hill worked with
Kennedy from the time
they met when she was in
eighth grade through her
sophomore year of high
school and was a huge
part of her success
according to anyone you
ask, including her father,
who said he couldn’t
believe where the time
had gone.
“I mean it’s like a blur,”
Scott Kennedy said. “She
was this big, swatting at
butterflies and now here
we are.
“The support of this
community and this
school. And like I said,
Mr. Hill, he taught her
what I told her, don’t let
anybody take anything
from you. If that’s what
you want, you can obtain
it. It’s not going to be
easy but if you work for
it, you can do anything
you want to do, so here
we are.”
Colin Ochs Dawson County News
Senior Cade Edwards (11) makes a pass in the
Tigers first round playoff game at Jackson County
on Friday, April 27.
Caleb Bonesteel, knock
ing it home for the 1-0
lead. The Panthers thought
they had tied it up three
minutes later, but the goal
was disallowed as the play
was ruled offsides and the
teams headed into the
locker room with Dawson
County up 1-0 at halftime.
Jackson County didn’t
waste any time getting
going in the second half,
putting the Tigers on their
heels right from the out
set. The play was exclu
sively in the Tigers end for
the first few minutes of
the half with the Panthers
best chance ringing off the
Jessica Brown Dawson County News
DCHS senior Sara Alford made history April 18 by
being the first student from the school to receive
an acrobat and tumbling scholarship. Alford will
be attending Limestone College in the fall.
FROM 1B
State
Our regular season record
wasn’t what we had hoped
it would be, but now we’re
starting a new season and
we need to become a new
team especially in the
beginning of the game.
Our mindset coming in
was to try to put pressure
on (Jackson County) early
because we don’t want to
fall behind in the playoffs
and have to play from
behind and struggle with
that uphill battie through
out a game.”
Senior Nathan Blythe
got the scoring started for
the Tigers in the 26th min
ute after he was able to get
on the end of a freekick in
to the box by freshman
FROM 1B
Alford
“Gymnastics and tum
bling has not always been
the easiest thing and she’s
worked harder than most
every other athlete I’ve
ever had to make her body
flexible because it was not
intended to be that way,”
Hageli said.
According to her coach
es, Alford has always been
a leader and looked out for
her teammates.
“Every so often in my
career of coaching I have
been given the privilege of
bonding with a gymnast,”
said Aliucci. “In my mind
and my circle of friends
[Alford is] in an elite
group of special young
ladies no matter where life
takes you I will always be
in [her] comer.”
Also always in Alford’s
comer is her grandmother,
Shirley Hawkins, who
took her to her gymnastic
classes for many years.
“Sara has always been a
leader from the time she
was itty bitty. No matter
what she has done she has
retold, reinstructed that
led her group that’s
around her. I’ve always
admired that about her,”
said Hawkins. “She’s not
afraid to attempt some
thing ...she’ll keep going
after it...until she finally
nails it.”
Being a great athlete
didn’t just happen over
night for Alford. She con
sistently pushes and works
on her skills every week.
Alford trains 16 to 20
hours a week and some
times more since she has
become a trainer at the
gymnastics school.
It’s also been a chal
lenge to find time to study,
but it hasn’t stopped
Alford from achieving a
crossbar before even 30
seconds had come off the
clock. Dawson County
was able to survive the
opening barrage without
conceding a goal and set
tled things down as the
two teams were held
scoreless for most of the
second half, despite
chances on both sides.
That was until the 29th
minute of the second half
when senior Dennis
Pyetsukh lobbed a ball
high up from near mid-
field, fellow senior Cade
Edwards was able to just
get a piece of the ball as it
was coming down to
change its direction ever
so slightly allowing it to
bounce over the goalkeep
er’s head and roll into the
back of the net.
“That was key,” said
Waters about scoring the
3.75 GPA.
“It says a lot about your
work ethic and your will
ing to stick with it and do
all those things but it also
says something about
what you’ve accomplished
in the classroom because
scholarships don’t just
happen because of your
athletic ability. They hap
pen because you have the
grades to go along with
it,” said DCHS Principal
Richard Crumley.
second goal. “We had
talked about it at halftime,
especially with the way
(Jackson County) was
playing and knowing what
we knew about them, we
knew we needed another
insurance goal...Which
especially for those first, I
don’t know what it was,
15, it felt like 15-20 min
utes there in the (second)
half. They were constantly
just pounding our half of
the field.
“Braden (Davison) was
a warrior back there just
keeping us in the game
with all the saves he was
making and once we final
ly got that (second goal),
it’s a slight sigh of relief
and then you also have to
think, OK, based off what
we’ve seen, they’ve really
got a chance to still swing
the momentum so we
Most importantly,
Alford’s father, Bart, said
Alford’s coaches taught
her life lessons, honor and
commitment but that there
was something more
important than the schol
arship that he was most
proud of.
“This scholarship’s
great but most I’m proud
of her is her relationship
with God because without
that none of this would be
possible,” said Bart.
made a few adjustments to
try to take away some of
the attacks that they were
building, dropped another
person back to be a little
bit more defensive and it
paid off.”
Davison made seven
saves for his second shut
out of the season, while
Pyetsukh converted a pen
alty kick to add another
insurance goal for the
Tigers just five minutes
after Edwards scored his
goal, and with less than a
minute remaining, Blythe
scored off a direct free
kick to put the Tigers up
4-0 and punch their ticket
into the Sweet 16 where
they will travel to North
Murray (13-1-2).
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FROM 1B
Track
each event qualified for the
state championships at
Hugh Mills Stadium in
Albany on May 10-12.
Those finishing in fifth and
sixth place would be alter
nates.
Lecours finished fifth in
the girls’ 1600-meter run
(5:42.28) and junior Anna
Lowe finished sixth in the
girls’ shot put (32’5”). On
the boys’ side, senior
Christopher Shelp was fifth
in the 1600-meter run
(4:28.3) and junior Cody
Wood was fifth in the
3200-meter run (10:15.38).
Other Tigers competing
in the state sectionals were
junior Noah Brock (12th in
the 100-meter dash and
13th in the 200-meter
dash), sophomore Ben
McGinnis (9th in the 1600-
meter run), junior Ethan
Cameron (11th in the triple
jump and 12th in the 110-
meter high hurdles), junior
SeVaughn Clark (14th in
the high jump), junior
Cooper Freeman (8th in the
pole vault), junior Jace
Erickson (10th in the pole
vault), sophomore T.J.
Wilson (10th in both the
discus and the shot put) and
junior Adam Maner (13th
in the shot put).
Also in competition for
the Lady Tigers was sopho
more Bri Ray (7th in the
pole vault) and sophomore
Kaselyn Martin (13th in the
100-meter hurdles).
The school record-set-
ting boys’ 4xl00-meter
relay team finished in ninth
place (44.55 seconds) and
the 4x400-meter relay team
finished 10th. For the girls,
the 4x100-meter relay team
finished 12th and the
4x400-meter relay team
finished in seventh place.
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