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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 25, 2010
THE JACKSON HERALD
PAGE 5B
STRONG PERFORMANCE
Kara Perry pitched a complete game Tuesday in Jefferson’s region victory over
Elbert County. The Dragons are off to a 5-2 start. Photo by Ben Munro
Cross Country Previews
JHS girls’ runners
hope to build on last
year’s trip to state
Numbers continue to
rise for JHS boys’
cross country team
By Ben Munro
SPORTING A cast that includes four
seniors and a new coach, the Jefferson High
School Lady Dragon runners hope the cross
country trail leads back to state in 2010.
Katie Sellers takes over a girls’ team that
will be paced by seniors Alison Missler,
Kathy Buffington, Holly Baron and Laura
Price, as well as sophomore Cara Smith,
who led all Jefferson runners at state with a
22:19 — good for 37 th overall.
This year’s team — which has 10 run
ners — hopes to continue to build on
the foundation created by former coach
Melissa Mullis in 2009 when the Lady
Dragons finished 11 th last year in Class AA
with an aggregate time of 2:00:27 at the
state meet.
Sellers — an exercise enthusiast who
teaches a local fitness camp — said this is
an exciting season, especially for her since
it is her first year coaching.
“It’s just exciting for me,” Sellers said
in an interview earlier this month. “It’s my
first year coaching. It’s exciting. It’s a lot of
fun stuff for me.”
By Ben Munro
JEFFERSON’S BOYS’ roster continues to deepen
with 23 runners this fall as the Dragon runners hope the
season includes a trip to the state meet.
Coached by Allen Thompson, the Dragons are led by
Trae Timmerman, Alec Jameson, Michael Stephenson
and Jake Sherman.
Timmerman led JHS with a 18:34 last year at the
Region 8-AA meeting, finishing 14 th .
“The boys are excited to continue the momentum of
last season and strive for excellence to obtain their team
goals in October and November,” Thompson said.
In preparation for the season, both the Jefferson boys’
and girls’ teams attended the Piedmont College cross
country team camp in July and followed that with a
demanding foundational core program in the summer.
Now, it’s time to apply that training to actual meets.
The season begins Saturday as both the boys’ and
girls’ squads will ran in the Athens Christian Northeast
Georgia Championships.
Following a seven-meet regular season schedule,
Jefferson will host the Region 8-AA meet at Crow’s
Lake.
“The Dragons are excited to kick off a competitive
cross country season and look forward to hosting the
2010 regional championships,” Thompson said.
Prep Softball
JHS gets past Elbert, faces no.l
By Ben Munro
OVERCOMING THE pre
game jitters of its home opener,
Jefferson remained unscathed
in Region 8-AA play with a
5-1 victory over winless Elbert
County Tuesday.
“We were a little tense,”
senior shortstop Summer
Bartek explained “It was our
first home game.”
Bartek helped ease the ten
sion with a two-run blast to left
center in the third inning that
gave the Dragons (5-2, 2-0) a
4-1 cushion. It was Bartek’s
first home ran in high school
ball.
“I was just thinking we need
to get started,” she said after
the game, holding the homerun
ball. “We needed to get some
runs on the board.”
Coach Brad Puckett also said
the team started a bit tense, not
ing that this squad is still a little
young.
“I just think we tightened up
a little bit,” he said. “We start
ed out this way against Hart
County last week. “
Thanks to solid pitching per
formance, Jefferson wouldn’t
need many runs.
Kara Perry picked up a com
plete-game victory, notching
her second victory of the year.
Bartek said this Jefferson
team now “is absolutely going
in the right direction” at 2-0 in
region play.
“We have such chemistry on
the team,” she said. “Everybody
gets along. Everybody does
their part. At practice, it’s just so
much fun to have 13 girls who
are wanting to work as hard as
they possibly can.”
After the game, the Dragons
anxiously awaited a matchup
with three-time defending Class
AA champion Buford today
(Wednesday) at 4:30 p.m. in the
Wolves’ own tournament.
Bartek said her team is
embracing the role of under
dogs.
“It’s very much one of those
things that they have everything
to lose and we have nothing to
lose ... We get a chance to go
110 percent,” she said, noting
that there’s familiarity between
the two teams even though
they’re not in the same region.
Puckett pointed to the under
dog angle, too, saying that
nobody is giving Jefferson a
chance to win today’s game
with no. 1-ranked Buford (Class
AA.) And that’s fine with him.
“That’s what I told the girls,”
Puckett said. “Nobody’s giving
you a shot to beat Buford ...
14th Annual
Vineyard Festival
Buford today
Nobody’s even looking at that
game tomorrow. We’ve got to
step in there and fight the fight.”
The tournament will also
pit the Dragons against Class
A’s no. 8 team, Providence,
Class AA’s no. 9 team, Union
County.
Both those games are Friday.
The Dragons play Union County
at 6:30 p.m. and Providence at
7:30 p.m.
In action last week, both
Alexander and Barteck enjoyed
4-for-5 days in Thursday’s 10-2
victory over Hart County in the
region opener.
Morgan McKinney pitched a
complete game, allowing four
hits and one earned ran while
striking out five.
Jefferson scored four times in
the top of the third inning to take
a 5-0 lead and didn’t look back.
The Dragons pounded out 16
hits in the victory.
Bartek, who doubled twice,
drove home three runs.
Both Jordyn Whifield (1-for-
2) and Lindsey Miles had two
RBIs.
Prep Volleyball
Lady Eagles off to 4-4 start
THE EAST JACKSON Lady Eagle volleyball team expe
rienced mixed results last week, beating Madison County
and Walnut Grove but dropping two matches to West Hall.
They will host Alcovy and Gainesville Thursday. Start
time against Alcovy is 5 p.m., with the Gainesville match to
follow at 7 p.m.
Last Tuesday, the Lady Eagles fell 2-0 to West Hall in
set scores of 22-25 and 11-25 They rebounded in their
later match against Madison County, besting the Lady Red
Raiders 2-1 in sets of 25-17,21-25 and 25-20.
On Thursday, the Lady Eagles started off well, defeating
Walnut Grove 2-0 in sets of 25-23 and 26-24. Against West
Hall, East Jackson fared better than they did the first time,
but still came up on the short end of a 2-1 score, with sets of
25-21,13-25,25-20.
h
i
b
r
i
BACK OVER
Kiersten Meehan (12) sends the
ball back over the net at a recent
match. Photo by Mark Beardsley
Prep Volleyball
Volley Dragons move to 8-1 with road victories
JEFFERSON MOVED to 8-1 with victo
ries over Archer and George Walton Academy
(GWA) Thursday in a tri-match on the road at
Archer High School.
The Dragons defeated Archer 25-16, 25-18
behind Amanda Daniel’s 16 assists, six aces and
three kills. Cassie Metcalf had five kills and four
aces, while Eden Starnes added seven kills.
Jefferson then beat GWA 25-21,23-25,25-16.
Sarah Wood played a “very solid floor game,”
according to coach Mike Paul, as the Dragons
broke a school record for blocks in the match
with seven.
Daniel continued to be the playmaker with
22 assists, four kills and two aces. Other stand
outs were Metcalf (six kills, seven aces and
four digs), Taylor Cramsey (15 kills — eight
of which were in game three — three aces and
two blocks) and Starnes (four kills and two
blocks).
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