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PAGE 2B PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS THURSDAY. JANUARY 22. 2015
Cannady and Chen play in All-American Game
Baity Cannady and Richard Chen who were selected for
All-American game.
Racing Views
2015 racing upgrade
Over the New Year’s holiday,
Bailey Cannady and Richard
Chen were the only two Chero
kee County football players se
lected to play in the first ever
DMAXX Sports Youth All-
American game.
Richard Chen is the son of
Regina and Mark Pisch of Talk
ing Rock (formerly of Marietta
and Old Saybrook, Ct.) and
Sammy Chen of Los Angeles,
Ca. He is the brother of Jada
Chen, a sophomore at Cherokee
High School. His proud grand
parents are Richard and Claudia
Seals of Marietta, Frank Pisch of
Alexandria, Va., and Laurie
Cleghom of Bangor, Me.
Continued from IB
Wrestling
pin his opponent. Milner, as ex
pected, earned a fast first period
pin to seal the dual at a final
score of 45-34.
“I could not be happier for our
kids. We have been preaching to
them about being tough and not
Bailey Cannady is the son of
Casey and Amy Cannady of
Canton. His proud grandparents
are Diane and Terrell Wigington
of Jasper, Charles and June
Wilkins of Talking Rock and
Alvin and Sherry Cannady of
Fairmount.
Two 35-player rosters, di
vided up into Team Red and
Team Black, were assembled
prior to the game that included
players from 43 states across the
nation. Cannady and Chen were
chosen to play on Team Red.
They were selected from a list of
over 8,000 nominees nationwide.
Players were evaluated and se
lected largely based on their
giving up and strategy. It is start
ing to show. Michael’s match at
113, Will not getting pinned, Joe
wrestling his heart out against an
older guy and Elliot taking it on
himself to make sure we won
shows that things are starting to
click,” Coach Flanagan said.
In JV action, the Dragons
continued to dominate as they
won over 75% of their matches.
game film and statistical data
submitted on their behalf.
Their All-American time
began on December 31 and con
tinued through January 3, at
which time they played their All-
American game at Doug Shaw
Stadium in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
The week consisted of 13 hours
of practice over three days as
well as a morning of community
service where they built a trail
and helped clean up a park in
North Myrtle Beach. They also
had opportunities to learn about
the recruiting process and most
importantly, about educating
themselves in emphasizing aca
demic excellence.
They were coached by an all
GMSAA coaching staff. Head
coach was Casey Cannady from
Cherokee County, Rigo Van-
garelli, Michael Travelstead and
Robert Echols from North Pauld
ing and Frank Adams from Alla-
toona, which lead Team Red to a
51-24 victory.
Cannady and Chen have
played together the past two
years in the Junior Warrior pro
gram. During the All-American
game, Richard played wide re
ceiver and defensive end. Bailey
was the starting left tackle, but
due to an injury of another
player, he moved to center to fin
ish out the game.
Congratulations to Bailey and
Richard on their outstanding ef
forts. Keep up the great work.
The Cherokee Warrior future
looks bright for these two young
men.
Mason McKenzie and Kelton
Gilbert both went undefeated on
the night, each winning 3
matches by pin.
The Dragons JV wrestlers
will be at Cherokee on Saturday.
They will then host Cherokee
and Union for senior night before
ending the season with the Brunt
Mountain Classic and the Area
Traditional Tournament.
By Jumper Cable Man
In the beginning of 2014 we
checked on Sprint Car racer Rico
Abreu at East Bay Raceway Park
in Gibsonton (Tampa), FI., after
he had made his way back to the
United States after a winter
round of racing in New Zealand.
His record in Auckland, New
Zealand was an 18th in one A-
Main and 4th in the other A-
Main.
Abreu’s first stop in the U.S.
was at the Tulsa River Spirit
Casino Quick Trip Expo Center
Chili Bowl. On his preliminary
night race he finished 4th in the
A-Main after starting 17th. Then
on Saturday night of the Chili
Bowl A-Main final race he
moved up from his 13 th starting
position to finish 11th.
When we first met Abreu he
had already spent a couple of
weeks of January and February
2014 racing at Bubba Raceway
Park in Ocala, FI., and at Volusia
Speedway Park in Barberville,
FI. It was mid-February and the
East Bay Raceway Park where
Abreu starts to get his Sprint Car
on track and up front where he
wants to stay.
His three nights at East Bay
showed those of us new to the
Abreu fan base that he could
drive the wheels off a Sprint Car.
The first night, Thursday, he
took a 6th place finish after start
ing in position 17. Then on Fri
day night it was a 5th place
finish in the A-Main after start
ing 9th. Saturday night and the
$10,000 to win Ronald Laney
Memorial King of the 360’s fea
ture race Abreu took 2nd but was
a factor to win for the entire race.
He started 3rd. The next race, the
ASCS Lucas Oil Series at Coco-
pah Speedway in Yuma, Aa.,
found Abreu in Victory Lane.
The balance of 2014 saw 21
more A-Main feature wins to go
with numerous B-Main and heat
race wins. And to top it off he
took the US AC National Midget
Championship. Not a bad year in
anyone’s book! But now he has
to has the chance to improve on
those results.
On Wednesday, January 14,
Abreu started the opening night
of the Chili Bowl week by taking
the jackpot and winning the
River Spirit Casino night A-
Main feature race after a 6th-
place start. From here he moved
to the Saturday night and the
29th Annual Chili Bowl and
started in the 3rd position. At the
end of the night he held the
Golden Driller trophy and
claimed title to a Chili Bowl win.
Not a bad start to 2015.
Now it is on to Florida and
another search for that Ronald
Laney Memorial King of the
360’s and the $10,000 that goes
with it. That is the one that got
away in the 2014 Wintemation-
als. Get ready for an exciting
time as the racing moves to
South Georgia and Florida for
the next couple of months.
Lately we have talked a lot
about the improvements going
on at Georgia race tracks and
there is more to know. Each year
we have owners and promoters
changing and this year is no ex
ception.
In December word came that
Senoia Raceway in Senoia will
be in the hands of new lessees
Bill Massey, Jr., his son Mayes
Massey and Doug Stevens. The
Massey name has been known in
racing around Atlanta for more
years than anyone can remember
and Stevens has been in the rac
ing wars for many years on both
dirt and pavement. Taking over
from Tim and Tony Moses who
have operated the track for the
past five seasons the new team is
already hard at work.
The inside walls have already
been abolished and new clay is
going down on the track that
started as a dirt track, moved to
asphalt and then back to dirt.
Stevens plans to widen the cor
ners to nearly 90 feet to allow
more of a racing grove and pro
mote side by side racing. The
plan is to add a dirt berm at the
bottom of the race track surface
after adding two hundred dump
truck loads of new clay.
The new promotion team will
be racing several of the previous
classes plus Crate Late Models
and Limited Late Models each
week. The plan also calls for the
return of Super Late Models on
Saturday nights. The racing
starts on March 7 and continues
into the fall months.
Toccoa Raceway in Toccoa
has been leased by Mike David
son and his wife Jackie of Lula.
The first order of business for the
new lessees was to rename the
track New Toccoa Raceway and
note that the track is said to be
the longest running dirt track in
Georgia.
The second order of business
for the Davidson’s was to name
Brad York as race director. Brad
is a very capable promoter him
self and should be a real asset to
the Davidsons.
The racing plan for the 2015
season is to race weekly on Sat
urday nights under the FAS-
TRAK Racing Series
sanctioning from March until
October. Also planned is touring
series races as possible during
the season.
This weekend Watermelon
Capital Speedway in Cordele
present Speedfest 2015 with all
the asphalt racing you could ask
for all weekend.
The dirt track racing will start
again in Georgia with the Cabin
Fever 40 at Boyds Speedway in
Ringgold on January 31. Paying
$3,000 to win for the Super Late
Models and racing Crate Late
Models, A-Hobby, B-Hobby and
Pony classes will give the racing
fans a way to rid themselves of
that cabin fever as the dirt track
racing gets started again. The
following weekend Screven Mo-
torsports Park in Sylvania will
host their Winter Freeze V fea
turing the World of Outlaws Late
Models, the Renegades of Dirt
Modifieds and the Screven Late
Models racing feature races from
Thursday night through Saturday
night. Wednesday night will be a
practice night for all classes.
That same weekend Golden Isles
Speedway in Brunswick will
offer a full racing program fea
turing the Lucas Oil Late Model
Dirt Series and the Southern
Thunder Late Models on both
nights.
Send us your comments,
questions, answers or corrections
to P.O. Box 1522, Woodstock,
Ga. 30188-1522, or to our e-mail
at Jcableman@aol.com
Legal ads
from across
Georgia can be found on our
website
pickensprogress.com
or at
www.georgia
publicnotice.com
Jr. Dragon wrestlers finish season in top 10
On January 10, the Pickens Jr.
Dragons wrestling team capped
off a successful season by com
peting in the Middle School State
Duals at Cass High School. Out
of the 22 schools represented,
Pickens placed within the top 10.
The team’s only losses came
from Dalton (6th place) and
Tifton (3rd place).
Other achievements this sea
son include:
2nd place in the Jr. Tiger
Tournament at Adairsville M.S.
3rd place in the Appalachian
Wrestling League Traditional
Tournament.
Individual AWL League plac
ers
1 st: CJ Murphy
1 st: Myles Bramlett
2nd: Peyton Morris
3rd: Logan Teems
3rd: Nate Grace
3rd: Michael Burrell
3rd. Michael Sanders
4th: Clayton Johnson
4th: Conner Williams
JYSA Baseball registration
Jasper Youth Sports Association Baseball registra
tion will be held the following Saturdays in January
for the 2015 JYSA spring baseball season: 24th &
31st- 10-1
Registration will be held each Saturday at the
JYSA Gym on Stegall Drive (old Jasper Elementary
Gym).
Please contact baseball director Mike Edgington at
M_edg ington@yahoo.com with any questions.
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The Appalachian Trail just got longer - officially
New measurements add 3.9 miles extra
Re-measurements and re
locations of the Appalachian
Trail (AT) have brought the
total mileage of the footpath
to 2,189.2 miles, an increase
of 3.9 miles from last year’s
mileage of 2,185.3. This
mileage is carefully docu
mented in the Trail’s official
guidebooks, which include
the Appalachian Trail Data
Book and the Appalachian
Trail Thru-Hikers ’ Compan
ion. Both books are published
by the Appalachian Trail Con
servancy.
Every year, the latest
mileage and shelter informa
tion is updated from volun
teers who are constantly
improving the Trail, with vol
unteer Daniel D. Chazin of
Teaneck, N.J., leading the ef
forts since 1983. This year,
more than half of the changes
in the mileage are in south
west Virginia, with 2 miles
added to the total following a
re-measurement by volun
teers.
Increases were also re
ported in New York-New Jer
sey (0.1 mile); central Virginia
(0.1 mile); Tennessee-North
Carolina (1.5 miles); and
North Carolina-Georgia (0.2
mile).
“The Appalachian Trail
Conservancy’s guidebooks
are invaluable planning re
sources for any Appalachian
Trail hiker, whether they are
out for a day hike or hiking
the entire length from Maine
to Georgia,” said Laurie Pot-
teiger, information services
manager for the ATC. “These
guides contain the latest infor
mation from volunteers who
measure, maintain and man
age the Trail and those who
hike it regularly.”
Current editions of official
AT guidebooks and maps are
available from the Ultimate
AT Store at www.atctrail-
store.org or by calling 1-888-
287-8673.
About the Appalachian
Trail Conservancy
The ATC was founded in
1925 by volunteers and fed
eral officials working to build
a continuous footpath along
the Appalachian Mountains. A
unit of the National Park
Service, the AT ranges from
Maine to Georgia and is ap
proximately 2,185 miles in
length. It is the longest hiking-
only footpath in the world.
The mission of the ATC is to
preserve and manage the Ap
palachian Trail - ensuring that
its vast natural beauty and
priceless cultural heritage can
be shared and enjoyed today,
tomorrow, and for centuries to
come. For more information,
please visit www.appalachian
trail.org
Pickens Jr. Dragons wrestling team