Newspaper Page Text
JULY 6, 2016
The Commerce News
The Banks County News
Phone: 706-621-7204
Fax: 706-367-8056
cameron@mainstreetnews.com
Section B
Recreation Swimming
14 Tiger Sharks, 7 relay teams qualify for state
Smart talk
Commerce’s Austin Ackerman swims the butterfly stroke in the 12-under
medley relay at last week’s GRPA district meet in Clarksville.
Photo by Ben Munro
Fourteen Commerce Tiger Shark swim
mers and seven relay teams qualified for the
Georgia Parks and Recreation Association’s
state meet after earning top-three finishes at
the District 7 meet in Clarkesville last Thurs
day.
The Commerce 8-under boys opened the
meet with a second-place finish in the 100-
yard medley relay, and a third-place finish in
the 100-yard freestyle relay.
“The meet started off great as our 7-8
year old boys immediately qualified (for
state),” said head coach Nick Moulton. “It’s
so exciting to watch first year eligible (by age)
swimmers swim so well and qualify. The
relay team of Will Bowen, Ethan Stovall and
cousins Camden and Cooper Moulton repre
sented us very well.”
Cooper Moulton took first in the 25-yard
breaststroke and third in the 100-yard indi
vidual medley. Camden Moulton was second
in the 25-yard backstroke, while Bowen took
second in the 50-yard freestyle.
Courtney Cameron qualified for state in
the 8-under girls’ division with a second-place
finish in the 25-yard freestyle, while Lilianna
Sears took third in the same event.
The 10-under girls’ freestyle relay team
of Dalty Friedman, Gracie Brown, Courtney
Cameron and Kara Davidson qualified for
state with a third-place finish. Friedman also
finished second in the 100-yard individual
medley.
Both Commerce girls’ 12-under relay teams
took first at district last week. Ansley Ayers,
Lauren Massey, Reagan Duke and Madison
Epps all punched tickets to state individually,
and as relay team members.
Massey placed first in both the 100-yard
individual medley and the 50-yard back
stroke. Ayers was first in the 50-yard back-
stroke and second in the 100-yard individual
medley. Duke placed third in both the 50-yard
backstroke and the 50-yard freestyle, while
Epps was third in the 50-yard breaststroke.
Austin Ackerman swam to first-place finish
es in the 12-under boys’ 100-yard individual
medley and the 50-yard breaststroke. Jack
Friedman also qualified for state with a sec
ond-place time in the 50-yard butterfly.
The boys’ 14-under relay team of Acker
man, William Suber, Friedman and Alex
Vandiver placed second in both the 100-yard
freestyle and 100-yard-medley races.
Girls’ 14-under swimmer Samantha David
son qualified with first-place finishes in both
the 100-yard individual medley, and the
50-yard breaststroke.
The Tiger Sharks lone 18-under qualifier
was Jessie Pritchett, as she placed first in the
50-yard breaststroke.
All qualifying swimmers will travel to Tifton
to compete in the state meet on July 15-16.
“All of our swimmers were dropping over
three to four seconds,” said Moulton. “This
is great news as we head into the champi
onship phase of our season. We have two
weeks to practice hard and try and drop
more time for the state meet.”
Commerce will compete in the two-day
North Georgia Swim League Championship
this weekend at the Frances Meadows Aquat
ic Center in Gainesville.
“This meet represents team from all over
North Georgia,” added Moutlon. “We see
a lot of team from Atlanta and Gainesville,
much bigger than ours. But our Tiger Sharks
always do really well. This is a great oppor
tunity for all our swimmers to gain points for
our team.”
BCHS Girls’ Basketball
Waiting in the wings
Shedd takes the reigns of Banks
County's girls' basketball program
Moving up the ranks
Steven Shedd will lead the Banks County High
School girls’ varsity basketball team next season.
Shedd spent the past 16 years coaching at Banks
County Middle School, where he led the Leopards to
three undefeated seasons. Photo by Cameron Whitlock
BY CAMERON
WHITLOCK
To move forward, some
times you have to go back
ward.
That statement rings true
for the Banks County High
School girls’ basketball pro
gram. That’s because new
head coach Steven Shedd is a
relative blast from the past for
the Lady Leopards.
Shedd has been coaching
basketball at Banks County
Middle School for 16 years.
He coached the BCMS boys
for three years and spent the
last 13 leading the BCMS Lady
Leopards. During that time
period, Shedd was no strang
er to success as he led three
separate teams to undefeated
seasons.
When Shedd learned that
former coach Jerry King
had resigned, he leapt at the
chance to again lead a group
of players that he’d helped
develop.
“I was very thankful for the
opportunity,” said Shedd. “It’s
something that I’ve wanted to
do for a long time. I have
worked with a lot of these
girls that are currently on
the team since they were in
fourth grade. And of course I
coached all of them in middle
school and we experienced a
lot of success at that level. The
job came open so I decided to
give it a shot.”
For Banks County, Shedd
was an obvious choice for
the job. His experience and
success working with the Lady
Leopards ensured a smooth
transition from last year’s
coaching regime. Shedd’s
coaching style and schemes
differ from King’s, but it’s a
system that every single player
on the Lady Leopards’ roster
is at least somewhat familiar
with.
“It’s been a big plus,” added
Shedd. “Being familiar with
me, they’ve kind of known
what to expect. They’ve
played for me before, they
know my system and what I
like to do. And they know me.
I don’t think it’s been a difficult
transition at all. It’s been a plus
that they have known me and
have had experience with me
before.”
Shedd is joined this season
by assistant coaches Kayla
Parks and Tony Bowen. Shedd
expects Parks, who has served
as assistant coach for the past
few years, to be an asset as
she brings consistency to the
program. Bowen, who serves
as the Leopards’ head softball
coach, adds another familiar
face to next season’s coach
ing staff.
“It’s nice to be able to sur
round yourself with good peo
ple like that,” said Shedd.
Shedd and Bowen will both
be in a unique situation in
the next couple seasons, as
both will have daughters on
the varsity squad. It won’t be
the first time junior Lauren
Shedd and sophomore Jaycee
Bowen will be coached by
their dads. But the close fam
ily ties of the Lady Leopards
provide a unique aspect to the
team this year.
The Leopards recently fin
ished their first summer slate
of games under Shedd. Banks
County went an admirable
12-4, but Shedd was quick to
point out that summer was
more about acclimating the
player to his system than play
ing a full schedule of oppo
nents.
“We didn’t play an incred
ible amount of games,” he
said. “We did a lot more
practice this summer as we
were putting in a new system.
But we did some really good
high-level completion this
summer.”
Shedd said he was especial
ly pleased by the performance
of his underclassmen. Several
rising sophomores gained a
lot of varsity experience last
season due to a rash of inju
ries among starters. Shedd
believes being “thrown into
the fire” early has played div
idends in the development of
the young Leopards.
“A lot of those players that
stepped up early last year are
going to benefit from that,”
said Shedd. “We are going
to have a lot of sophomores
that will get a lot of varsity
time right off the bat. We are
going to be a young, but expe
rienced team with a lot of
depth.”
Shedd’s goals heading
into the 2016-17 season are
obvious. He aims to lead the
Leopards to a region and state
championship.
“I wouldn’t be much of a
coach if I didn’t want to do
that,” he added.
But in the long term, he
wants to continue to maintain
a strong pipeline of players in
down through every level of
Banks County basketball.
“Our goal is to maintain a
strong relationship with the
middle school program,” said
Shedd. “We know we have
a strong group of eight grad
ers coming up. We just want
to continue to build our pro
gram from the bottom up —
down through the elementary
school and the rec. depart
ment. Banks County already
has a strong tradition of girls’
basketball. We want to contin
ue that.”
CHS Football
Staying busy
Kyre Ware ropes in a touchdown
catch at the FCA 7-on- 7 passing
camp last week at Athens Christian.
See more on page 2B.
BCPRD hosting
cheerleading camp
The Banks County Parks and Recreation
Department will hold a youth cheerleading
camp July 18-21 at the BCPRD gym.
The camp is for children ages 9-14, and will
mn from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., daily.
Registration costs $30 and includes snacks.
Checks must be made payable to the BCPRD.
For more information, contact the BCPRD
at 706-677-4407 or bwhitmire@co.banks.ga.us.
CPRD hosting
summer camps
The Commerce Parks and Recreation
Department is offering multiple summer sports
camps through the months of June and July.
Camps are:
•Camp Chaney Tennis Camp: A tennis
camp for boys and girls who are in third
through eighth grades. The camp is set for
July 11-15 at the American Veterans Memorial
Park tennis courts, 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. daily.
Registration mns through July 11 and costs
$40 for Commerce residents and $60 for
non-residents.
• Volleyball camp: A girls’ volleyball camp
scheduled for July 25-29, at the Commerce
High School auxiliary gym.
The camp is for children in grades 4-12 and
will mn from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m., daily.
Toccoa Falls College head volleyball coach
Selina Slate is the primary instructor for the
camp. Registration costs $45 for residents and
$65 for non-residents. For more information,
contact the CPRD at 706-335-3236.