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PAGE 2B
THE JACKSON HERALD
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 2, 2017
Track and field
Pender finishes fifth at
USTFA Junior Nationals
Jefferson's
Clay Pend
er has proven
himself among
nation's best
high school
half-milers.
The Dragon
track star fin
ished fifth in
the 800 meters
over the week
end at the Unit
ed States Track
and Field Junior Nationals
at the University of Kan
sas, earning All-American
honors. He ran a time of
1:56.57.
Still, Pender saw room
for improve
ment.
“After look
ing at the
competition, I
expected a top-
three finish,"
Pender said. “I
made it to finals
and didn’t ran
my best race.
It was a great
experience and
I learned a lot
from my race and learned
a lot about other runners
all over the nation as they
go through the same long
summer days as I do.”
Pender, the Jefferson
school record holder in the
800 meters, finished second
at state in the Class 4A 800
meters in May, running a
career-best time of 1:55.56.
He has his sights set on
lowering his 800 meter
time below 1:50 this year,
while running 48 seconds
in the 400 meters and 4:15
in the mile.
“My goal is to win state
in two events to get 20
points for the team that
will hopefully help win a
team state championship,”
he said. “I’m excited about
this year’s track team that
will be stacked with tal
ent.”
PENDER
ALL-AMERICAN
Jefferson’s Addison Kelly finished in the top-10 in four events in the AAU
diving nationals last week. She also earned All-American honors in two
events. Submitted photo
Diving
Jefferson’s Kelly racks
up at AAU nationals
Jefferson High School
diver Addison Kelly
earned four top-10 finish
es and grabbed All-Amer
ican honors in two events
at the AAU Nationals last
week.
Kelly took sixth in the
1-meter springboard indi
vidual competition, earn
ing All-American dis
tinction in that event, and
10th in 3-meter spring
board individual competi
tion, taking All-American
honors there as well.
She also placed fourth
in the 3-meter synchro
and ninth in the 1-meter
synchro.
“I was pleased with
how I finished, but I know
there is room for improve
ment.” Kelly said. “I was
second place going into
one-meter finals, there
fore I know I can finish
that high. Last year my
highest finish was 12th
place, so I definitely
improved.”
Kelly’s performance at
the AAU nationals drew
praise from Jefferson
High School swimming
and diving coach Tess
Nunnally
“Addison Kelly is such
a determined, hard-work
ing young lady.” she said.
“We at Jefferson are proud
to call her a Dragon. She
travels daily to practice at
the University of Geor
gia's Ramsey Center. She
is definitely in contention
for a state title this year in
high school diving.”
Kelly, who is a senior
at Jefferson, finished
fourth in 1-meter diving
at the state meet in Feb
ruary. She aims to fin
ish higher this season
“For this season, my goals
are to place top two at
state and set new personal
bests,” she said. “I want to
score as many points for
the swim team as I can so
that they can do as well as
they want to at region and
state championships.”
Football
JEFFERSON PLAYERS ATTEND SPECIALIST CAMP
Jefferson High School football players Seth Glausier (left) and Hayden
Kilgore (right) attended the invitation-only Kohl’s National Scholarship
Camp July 22-23rd in Milwaukee, Wise. It is the largest specialist
camp in the country. It hosted 575 kickers, punters and snappers from
across the nation. Kilgore converted 10 52-yard field goal attempts, and
Glausier was ranked the top underclassman long snapper at the camp
and was named to the Kohl’s All-Camp/Top Prospect Team.
Submitted photo
Jackson Co. softball...
continued from page IB
PANTHER SLUGGER
Jackson County’s Caroline Davis hit .429 with
six homers in a standout sophomore season last
year.
Photo by Ben Munro
luxury of shifting around his
defensive lineup this year
with several versatile and
multi-talented players at his
disposal.
“We’re able to kind of
rotate people around.” he
said. “It really helps our
depth because if someone
goes down, we’ve got some
body to plug in there. We’ve
got a lot of kids that can do a
lot of different things.”
Brannon uses Simmons as
an example, saying the junior
could play every position
on the field “and she’s not
the only one.” He’s happy
to have such options in year
one.
“I think defensively we
should be pretty sound and
a lot of it is because the kids
are willing to try new things
and try different spots,” he
said.
As for the team’s pitching.
Brooke Kibbe (Sr. ) and Allen
both bring experience to the
circle, and Allison McCall
is a change-of-pace option.
Megan Sorrells (Jr.) has
rejoined the program after
suffering a knee injury last
year and will add depth to the
Panther pitching staff.
Brannon expects to be bet
ter in the circle this fall.
“We definitely should be
improved in that,” Brannon
said. “A lot of that is because
of how hard they have been
working.”
Though Brannon is in his
first season as head coach,
he is not new to the program.
He spent last season as an
assistant under former coach
Chessie Laird. Brannon said
his and Laird’s philosophies
are virtually the same, which
has made for a smooth tran
sition.
“I didn’t have to change a
whole lot from a philosophy
standpoint which made it a
lot easier on the kids I think,”
Brannon said.
The Panthers have added
assistant coach Melissa
Crouse from California to
work with the pitchers and
slappers. Crouse also has pre
vious head-coaching experi
ence.
“She’s great,” Brannon
said. “We love her already.”
Brannon takes over a team
he says enjoys exceptional
team chemistry. He credits
the efforts made by Laird to
establish a family-type envi
ronment.
“I never worry about it
because they’ve got each
other's back at the end of the
day,” he said. “I’ve had teams
before where Tve had to say
‘either you get along or you
get gone' but I’m not going
to have to do that with them.”
An arduous Region 8-AAA
schedule awaits Jackson
County. The slate includes
defending state champi
on and rival East Jackson;
Morgan County, which won
26 games a year ago: and a
traditionally-strong Franklin
County program. Brannon
said the coaches in 8-AAA
“are amazing.”
“We have without a doubt
one of the toughest regions
in our classification,” he said.
“If you can win our region,
you’ve done something.”
Jackson County, which
added an on-site locker room
to Panther Field, plays just
six home games this season.
Brannon said the team's
No. 1 goal is to win the state
title “and then it goes from
there.”
“We’re definitely setting
some lofty goals, but that’s
what it's all about,” he said.
Jefferson... continued from IB
Jefferson is still sorting
through its options for the
No. 2 pitcher's spot.
Bostwick expects to be
sound defensively with
most all of the team’s start
ers returning.
“I’m very confident” she
said. “And so what we’ve
been able to do over the
summer is kind of work in
some different things.”
Offensively. Jefferson hit
at a .313 clip last year and
returns several of its big
bats: Caroline Brownlee
(.321), Cesyrea Cox (.282),
Sam Vinson (.419), Savan
nah Dooley (.362) and
Dawson Horn (.313). But
Bostwick hopes to see more
out of a lineup this season
that averaged 5.2 runs per
game last fall.
“We’ve got to get better
offensively,” Bostwick said.
“That was what I feel was
kind of our weakness last
year. So have spent some
good time on that. We've
spent some time talking
about our mindsets offen
sively, having good at bats,
things like that. I do expect
them to do a little bit better
FULL STEAM
AHEAD
Jefferson’s Caroline
Brownlee scores a run
last year.
offensively than we did last
year.”
Jefferson’s region pres
ents another challenge.
One of the highlights of the
Dragons’ season last year
was winning the 8-4A title
in their first year in that
region. But Jefferson will
have to defend its crown
against a region that put
three teams in the Elite
Eight last year.
“That says a lot about
your region,” Bostwick said.
“My kids are not going to
go out there with any expec
tations that they deserve to
win. They've got to earn it.”
Jefferson was able to fight
its way to the state play
offs during Bostwick’s first
season in 2015, and then
thrived last year with its
deep playoff ran. Entering
year three under Bostwick,
the program now expects
to win.
“I think that's important
when you get in a tough
region and you play the
teams that we play,” she
said. “I think you do have to
expect to win. We had a lot
of buy-in last year. Every
one kind of bought into the
things that we were trying
to do ... I think we have
100 percent buy-in. I think
that means a lot in terms of
winning games and going to
the state playoffs.”
Athlete of the Week!
sponsored by:
HYMAN BROWN
INSURANCE
AGENCY, INC.
SOUTHERN TRUST
INSURANCE
COMPANY
Addison Kelly
Jefferson High School
Jefferson High School diver Addison
Kelly earned four top-10 finishes and
All-American honors in two events at
the AAU diving nationals last week.
HYMAN BROWN
INSURANCE AGENCY, INC.
11 State Street • Commerce
(706)335-3900