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Thursday, February 1, 2007
Westminster athlete learns several skills from sports
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mariah Deans, a senior co-captain of the Westminster basketball and golf teams, has no intention of playing sports in college. She will, though, advance to the next phase of her life armed with the considerable lasting impressions that come with being a high school athlete.
That is the wonder of prep sports. From the athletic prodigy to the less-than-athletic prodigy, there is so much that comes with being on a team at this level. Camaraderie. Competitiveness. Toughness. Leadership. Determination. Sportsmanship.
“For Mariah, she got out of sports what you are supposed to get out of sports,” said her mother, Terry Williams. “Sports have been a huge part of her development. Participating has let her know what she can do. It’s given her the courage to do other things. It’s been a real big confidence-builder.”
Deans is an honor student (3.6 GPA, 1710 on the SAT). She is the Westminster Student Government 12th-grade girls president and holds other leadership positions on campus. She also is actively involved in community-service work.
She is beloved by classmates and respected by coaches and administrators. And, as far as she is concerned, much of it goes back to being a student-athlete.
“It’s meant so much to me,” she said during lunch Thursday. “Playing sports helped me a lot with my people skills, being a part of a team. I’ve learned to trust people more. My teammates depend on me, and I depend on them.”
Coach Tray Malloy has depended on Deans for leadership and has received even more than he had expected.
“Mariah epitomizes what being a student-athlete is all about, the true sense of the ideal,” Malloy said. “In the last two years, her leadership has grown tenfold. She’s become a soft-spoken, but dynamic, leader. “For an educator or a coach, she’s what it looks like. What she’s gained in learning about herself, and the characteristics of who she is, flourished because she plays sports.”
This is not to say a high-school career devoid of athletics leaves a kid empty. Not at all. But there are many virtues to participating in sports that can help a youth grow.
“I wouldn’t be the same person I am if I had not played sports,” Deans said. “It’s helped me develop as a person much quicker, and I can take all I’ve learned with me to college.”
One of the many honors that signify Deans’ diligence is the Practice Player Award she won as a sophomore. Her sister, Julia, was a standout at Whitefield Academy, and while the game did not come as easily to her, she poured herself into it to get better.
“She’s finally beginning to believe she can play,” her mom said. “She was in the shadow of her sister, Julia, who was great. Now she believes she can play, and she just goes at it.”
Golf is an individual sport, but, in that, Deans’ drive to push herself to achieve has been fortified. “It’s on me with golf. You have to have the drive to do it yourself,” she said.
Deans sees herself at Vanderbilt or Spelman studying pre-dentistry or biology next year. “No sports,” she said, “but I’ll be carrying everything I learned playing sports with me.”
Permalink | Comments (3) | Post your comment | Categories: Curtis Bunn
Is it time to reduce the number of classes?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Folks throughout the Georgia high school wrestling community have been asking for a reduction in the number of classifications for quite some time now. At the state duals championships in Macon, the two lower classifications have eight-team brackets, while the three highest classes each have 16 teams. At the individual state tournament, the three lower classifications have 16-man brackets, while Class AAAA and AAAAA have 32-man brackets. We talked with Holy Innocents’ coach Richard Mastrocova about the imbalances and what can be done.
Q: You came to Georgia from upstate New York and in the Northeast they do high school wrestling a little differently. Talk about the differences.
A:“I’m originally from New York state and there weren’t any classifications when I was there. Everybody was in one class and you had to win your section to go to state. I knew that Pennsylvania had a few divisions and they would divide it up that way. I think [in Georgia] you have to add one more step to the area competition level; get it to be a little more reflective of how hard it is to be a state champion.”
Q: Pennsylvania also has its state champions in each weight class wrestle to determine a “true state champion,” something a number of Georgia wrestling people have wanted for years.
A:“Yes, Pennsylvania has a neat thing where they have the finalists from each weight class wrestle to determine the overall state champion.”
Q: Do you think they should eliminate some of the classes?
A:“I think you can combine Class A and AA and possibly AAA and AAAA so you’d have three state championships. I think it’s more of what you have in other states and I think you could very easily combine those classes. But you would have to re-determine how the qualifying happens; maybe only two wrestlers qualify from each area.”
Q: What is the main disadvantage to having so many classifications in wrestling?
A:“We have a little bit of watered down effect in terms of competition.”
Q: Play devil’s advocate here: what would be the main reason for keeping the five classifications?
A:“Well, for instance our wrestler, Jack Templeton. Even though he’s not at one of these huge schools like Parkview or McEachern, it almost means more to do it at Holy Innocents’ because you might be a big fish in a little pond. At a place like Collins Hill, you’re just one of many.”
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment | Categories: Takedown
Condon-Stephens match one to remember
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The AJC’s Kurt Aschermann Jr. talks H.S. wrestling each Thursday. Feel free to talk back.
There were three great duals Tuesday and Wednesday night.
Tuesday, Stockbridge and Eastside renewed their rivalry with the Class AAAA champion Tigers winning 29-27 after their 37-28 win over the Eagles in the AAAA semifinals. Wednesday, a pair of duals took place only eight miles from each other: Union Grove visited Class AAAAA duals champion McEachern while Harrison entertained Class AA duals runner-up Lafayette.
The Union Grove-McEachern matchup never materialized. Nick Turpin (125 pounds) opened the match with a late takedown to hold off Justin Crozier 4-2 and the Indians never looked back, collecting four pins and three majors in a 45-20 win.
At Harrison, the dual was much closer. In a shrewd move, the meet started at 171 pounds, allowing the feature match — Harrison’s Josh Condon and Ian Stephens of Lafayette - to close out the dual at 160 pounds. With the Hoyas clinging to a 27-24 lead, Condon and Stephens got together.
The hype surrounding the Condon-Stephens match was similar to last January’s dual between Collins Hill and Henry County, when 135-pounders Thomas Knapp of Collins Hill and Henry County’s Brett Warrington battled in Gwinnett in a dual won by Knapp 3-1 in overtime.
Condon secured two takedowns and a near fall in the second period and another takedown in the third and controlled a majority of the match, winning a 9-4 decision. Stephens, who’s in his first year at Lafayette after transferring from neighboring Ridgeland High School, had been 54-0 coming in to the night. Ramblers coach Lee Dendy said Stephens hasn’t had the national exposure of Condon, but that there was no shame in his 160-pounder losing to a wrestler of Condon’s caliber.
These types of team battles and one-on-one matchups so close to the individual state tournament are good things for the sport of wrestling. It’s just too bad you can’t be in two places at once.
ONE LAST THING….
Don’t count out Henry County in the Class AAA race. The Warhwaks have six potential state placers and three wrestlers — Evan Warrington at 103 pounds; Tim Vlcek at 152 and Tyler Faulkner at 160 that, when right, can win individual state titles. If they can get help from their supporting cast — Justin Hawkins (119 pounds); Jonathan Parker (heavyweight); Justin Middlebrooks (112) and Anthony Fretwell (130) — the Warhawks might be right in the thick of the race for the AAA team title.
Gilmer, Cass and West Laurens are the lead horses in AAA, but Marty Hutsell’s group will be a factor in Gwinnett.
Week 4 Poll (last week’s ranking in parentheses)
1.McEachern (1)
2.Parkview (2)
3.Collins Hill (3)
4.Walton (5)
5.Stockbridge (4)
6.Gilmer (6)
7.Jefferson (7)
8.Cass (8)
9.West Laurens (9)
10.Harrison (T-12)
11.Eastside (10)
12T.Lafayette (11)
Union Grove (T-12)
On the cusp: Wesleyan, Henry County, Grayson, Whitewater, Lovett, Hardaway
Pin it down and rank the rankings: Let us know who your Top 12 are and how they stack up against Kurt’s picks.
Permalink | Comments (11) | Post your comment | Categories: Pound For Pound
