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Inside: Park and Rec notices — page 2B
JUNE 10,
2009
KAYAKING
AUTO RACING
Hoschton teen has Olympic dreams
HARD WORK
Cannie Ash, of Hoschton, is currently training three times a day as she prepares for
a camp on June 21. The 18-year-old hopes to make the US Olympic Flatwater Sprint
Kayaking team for the 2016 Olympics.
By Brandon Reed
IN ABOUT seven years,
one local teenager is hoping to
give Jackson County residents
a special reason to watch the
Olympic games.
Cannie Ash, a home
schooled 18-year-old from
Hoschton, is focused on mak
ing her way onto the U.S.
Kayaking team and to the
Olympics in 2016.
Ash does flat water kayak
ing, the type that is done at the
Olympics. She recently took
part in the USA Canoe/Kayak
World Trials held in Chula
Vista, California.
Ash raced against 18 girls,
and is ranked third in the
nation in her age category.
That qualified her to attend
a camp in Lake Placid, N.Y.,
where she will be training
beginning June 21.
If she makes the time
standard, she will travel to
Moscow, Russia, to represent
the United States in the 2009
World’s Competition, where
teams from 30 different coun
tries will be competing from
July 31-August 2.
Cannie’s mom, Elizabeth
Ash, said her daughter’s love
for the sport started early.
“When she was little, we
drove by the lake one day,” she
said. “She saw some people
kayaking, and said ‘I want to
do that.’ She just fell in love
with it, and she’s progressed
and here we are. We’re very
proud.”
Cannie has won national
and international medals dur
ing her career.
Elizabeth said that Cannie’s
competing has taken hard
work and dedication, espe
cially with her goal of reach
ing the US Olympic team.
She is currently training three
times a day every day as she
prepares for the trip to Lake
Placid.
Something else it takes is
money. The average cost of
one year of coaching and trav
el is upwards of $7,000.
To that end, a chicken BBQ
will be held on June 27 at West
Jackson Fire Department to
help raise funds for Cannie’s
efforts. For more informa
tion, you can call 706-654-
7944, or you can go online
to www.sponsorcannieash.
com. The website also con
tains information on how to
sponsor Cannie as she moves
forwards.
With seven years to go,
Cannie still has a lot of work
to do to reach her goal.
But if her track record is
any indication, there’s a good
chance that come 2016, the
US Olympic Kayaking team
will include a determined
young woman from Hoschton,
Georgia.
JCCHS BASEBALL
Panthers start summer play strong
By Brandon Reed
SO FAR the summer has
been good for the Jackson
County Panthers varsity and
JV baseball teams.
Both teams took part in the
Greater Athens Classic tour
nament over the weekend.
VARSITY
It was a strong showing for
the Panthers in the Classic
City.
The Panthers were tied 3-3
with Hebron Christian when
the skies opened up three
innings in to open the tourna
ment.
The Panthers then went on
to record a 7-3 loss to the
Raiders of Habersham Central.
John Florentine recorded the
loss, with John Fernandez
and Quinn Grogan also taking
turns on the mound. Grogan
did not give up a run during
his time on the mound.
Kelly Moates, Rob Williams
and Trey Sorrells led Jackson
County at the plate.
The Panthers then went on
to defeat Banks County 2-0,
with Larry Evans throwing a
complete shutout.
JV
The JV Panthers recorded
a 12-0 win over Franklin
County to start off their tour
nament, with eighth grader
Jacob Banks recording the
win. They then lost 12-0 to
Hebron Christian, and then
rebounded with a 4-3 vic
tory over Jefferson with Matt
Bridgeman recording the win.
The JV Panthers wrapped
up their tournament with a
13-6 victory over Walnut
Grove.
“We were very happy with
the results of the weekend,”
said coach Tommy Fountain.
“Last year, we won two JV
games and one Varsity game
all summer. In a lot of our
tournament games, we were
lucky to get to play the entire
game. To have the varsity go
2-1 and the JV go 3-1 in the
first tournament of the sum
mer shows the work these
kids have put in over the past
year and the improvement
that’s been made.”
Fountain said the summer
play gives him and his players
a chance to see some schools
that might be nearby, but that
they don’t necessarily get a
chance to see otherwise.
“We haven’t gotten to play
a lot of the local schools the
past two seasons in the regu
lar season, so to get to play
and beat Banks’ varsity and
Jefferson’s JV was fun for
the guys. We’re hoping we
can get some of those local
schools scheduled in the regu
lar season. There’s a lot of
talk that goes on about who
has the better program and
such, but it’d be nice to see it
really decided on the field in
the regular season. For right
now, we’ll have to take play
ing in the summer.”
Fountain said he thinks a lot
of potential players coming up
through the parks and rec and
middle school ranks are find
ing out that it’s not a bad thing
to remain a Panther and be a
part of building the JCCHS
baseball program.
“I think my favorite part of
every summer is seeing these
new young guys produce,” he
added. “We’ve got some kids
that are going to be eighth
graders that are getting to play
with our JV this summer and
they’re having a blast and most
importantly are excited to be
Jackson County Panthers and
nothing else. We’ve got 34
guys this summer who believe
in what we’re doing. We truly
believe we’re making strides
See Panthers on page 2B
PITCH ON THE WAY
John Florentine, seen here from action earlier in the year, took to the mound against
Habersham Central in the Greater Athens Classic. Photo by Brandon Reed
FAST DRAGON
Jefferson native Ryan Crane hopes to make his second
career ARCA RE/MAX series start on Friday at Michigan
International Speedway. It will be the first start for
Crane on a track two-miles or larger in size.
Crane prepares for
second ARCA start
JUST A few months ago Jefferson native Ryan Crane was mak
ing his ARCA RE/MAX series debut at the famed Rockingham
Speedway.
Now Crane is preparing to attempt his second series start for
car owner James Finch at the Michigan International Speedway
Friday.
The two mile track at Michigan will mark the largest in size
the youngster has ever competed on but that doesn’t seem to faze
Crane or car owner James Finch one bit.
“We came out of Rockingham pretty well not to have ever
raced these types of race cars before,” Crane said. “I did have
a few rookie mistakes but that’s all part of gaining experience,
I suppose, and that’s one of the main reasons we wanted to go
to Michigan was to gain experience on a bigger track. With the
Phoenix Racing team already there with the cup car all weekend
it was the logical decision to make Michigan our next race.”
The #51 team will also be hitting the high banks of Michigan
with a different car compared to the one Crane piloted in his
series debut. A black Dodge Charger that the team has high hopes
of producing a better finish will be on track and that thought alone
has Ryan eager to hit the track.
“The guys from Phoenix Racing say this car will be better than
the one we took to Rockingham and I was pretty happy with the
piece we had there so if they say this one is better it could be a real
good weekend for us,” the Jefferson High School grad added.
Since Crane’s eighth place finish at Rockingham, Ryan Crane
Racing made the decision to scale back the super late model
program a bit to focus more towards the ARCA program. Crane
still plans to make several “big show starts” including the All-
American 400, Winchester 400, the Snowball Derby and the
26th annual World Crown 300 at Gresham Motorsports Park in
Jefferson in November.
Friday’s 200-lap ARCA event will be televised live on Speed
Channel, with the green flag scheduled to drop at 5 p.m.
WEIGHTLIFTING
IronDawgs win APC title
IT WAS a strong weekend
for the Georgia IronDawgs, as
they traveled to Peoria, Illinois
to take part in the APC
National Powerlifting and
Bench Press Championships.
All of the team members
that made the trip came home
with the gold and came home
with the 2009 team title.
The town of Jefferson was
well represented over the
course of the three days. Brian
Collins got almost 364 lbs. to
win the Master’s Men’s 40-44
year old Bench class, while
Michael Rubio took the Open
title at 100 kg. with a bench of
almost 601 lbs.
Rubio’s neighbor, rookie
Matt Rawlins, won the full-
power event in the men’s
raw Open 110 kg. class with
national records in the bench
(117.5 kg) and dead lift (202.5
kg.) and total (550.5 kg.,
almost 1214 lbs.).
The Georgians got off to a
good start on Friday when their
teenagers, Jacob Townsend,
an alumnus of North Hall, and
Tyler Brown, a 2009 graduate
of East Hall had record setting
days. Townsend set national
records in his class in the
bench press, the deadlift and
a world record in the squat at
almost 557. His total of over
1405 lbs. was also a national
record.
Brown set national and
world marks in all three lifts.
The strong performances for
See IronDawgs on page 2B