From staff reports
Catawba honored Dana Hicks and Braden Artem as its top athletes for the 2011-12 school year on Tuesday.
Artem, a lacrosse player, received the Kirkland Award, while basketball standout Hicks received the Lomax Award.
A four-year starter, Artem set school marks for goals in a game (8), season (45) and career (154).
Hicks was a three-time All-SAC selection and the 2012 SAC Player of the Year.
Steffi Cook, a tennis player, and Jeb Bass, a football player, were given the Wurster Awards for team leadership. Women’s soccer player Marissa DiMarco won the Darris Morris “Ironhorse” Comeback Award.
Softball player Alli Justice and swimmer Yakir Malul were the recipients of the SAAC Award for the highest cumulative GPA’s for seniors.
Team MVPs were Brett Underwood (baseball), Keon Moore (men’s basketball), Hicks (women’s basketball), Olivia Myers and Christian Crifasi (cross country), Lakeem Perry (football), Matt Hardman (men’s golf), Madison Kennedy (women’s golf), Artem and Freddie Turcio (men’s lacrosse), Ebony Mills (women’s lacrosse), Evan Harvey (men’s soccer), Lindsay Webster (women’s soccer), Tara Gibbs and Brittany Murray (softball), Katia Kruglov (women’s swimming), Magnus Lundgren (men’s swimming), Alex Macdonald (men’s tennis), Sloan Kessler (women’s tennis), Kaitlyn Whitmer (volleyball), Elizabeth Davis (cheerleading), Lindsay Smith (athletic training) and Cook (sports information).
American Legion
Sign-up date to play Rowan County American Legion baseball is set for Sunday, May 6, at 3 p.m. at Post 342 Harold B. Jarrett on Lincolnton Road in Salisbury.
Any player born on or after January 1, 1993 is eligible to play in 2012.
Please bring original birth certificate with a raised seal.
Any player who attends Salisbury, East, North, Carson, or West whose home is closer to Salisbury High (base school) than South Rowan, Mooresville, or Mocksville (Davie County) may sign up. Parents are encouraged to attend the meeting.
The Junior Legion team will have sign-ups at the same time.
Any player born on or after Jan. 1, 1995 is eligible to play on this team. Players should bring their original birth certificate with a raised seal. Parents are encouraged to attend this meeting.
If you cannot attend the meeting on this date or have questions and want to play baseball for Rowan Legion, contact Bob Lowman at 704-279-2557 (home) or 704-640-0552 (cell).
Prep tennis
Salisbury’s 2A playoff match at North Surry was postponed until today.
In a 3A first-round match, Hickory beat Carson 8-0 on Tuesday.
Prep soccer
Salisbury goalkeeper Connor Miller signed with Old Dominion. A story is upcoming.
NPC champ West Rowan plays at home tonight against West Iredell. It’ll be Senior Night for a strong group of seniors.
Prep baseball
The NPC tournament resumes tonight with semifinal games at Carson.
West Iredell battles East Rowan in a 4:15 contest, while West Rowan takes on Carson in the nightcap.
Prep softball
The NPC tournament resumes today at West Iredell.
North Iredell takes on West Iredell in the afternoon game. East Rowan plays Carson in the nightcap.
Prep golf
Salisbury’s Troy Beaver made a 10-foot par putt on the last hole of CCC competition to overtake teammate Clark Alcorn for overall Player of the Year honors in the CCC by one stroke.
All six Salisbury starters were all-conference.
Led by Beaver’s 34, Salisbury won the season’s final match at Colonial with a score of 149. Alcorn and Alex Nianouris shot 38s. Eric Edwards finished at 39, with Alex Lee at 40, and Joseph Rusher at 44.
For the season, Salisbury finished 41 strokes ahead of second-place West Davidson. Beaver shot 36-37-39-40-35-34 — 181.
Monday’s victory marked the 25th consecutive CCC win for the Hornets.
This year’s seniors lost their first conference match by one stroke to Ledford in March of 2009 and have not lost since. Their 25 consecutive wins have been by an average of 11 strokes per match. The Hornets move on to the regional championships Monday at Cross Creek.
Salisbury is seeking its third straight regional title after finishing second in 2009.
Local golf
Winners of the Corbin Hills Women’s Golf Association tournament on Tuesday were Kristi Laton (gross first place), Faye Cline (gross second place), Eileen Full (net first place) and Beverly Cobb (net second place). Low putts was won by Gail Capone.
Seventy-two GARS members played a Texas Scramble at Irish Creek.
David Adams, Allen Hammill, John Noonan and Tom Talbert was the winning team at minus-11.
Lloyd Clodfelter, Gordon Correll, Paul Dombrowski and David Lee shot minus-9 for second. The third-place team at minus-7 consisted of Bobby Bryant, Ross Howard, Doug Lingle and Ernest Wagner.
Middle schools
Baseball
North Rowan beat Knox 16-0 on Tuesday. Corbin Smith pitched a no-hitter for the Mavericks (4-6).
Noah Gonzalez led the Mavericks at the plate with three hits, while Smith had two. Gonzalez, Smith and Jake Pritchard belted home runs.
China Grove stayed unbeaten with a 20-5 romp against West Rowan on Monday. West scored five runs in the top of the first, but the Red Devils (10-0) scored nine times in the bottom half.
Dillon Norton hit a grand slam. Austin Lear went 3-for-3. Peyton Penninger and Ryan Bearden had two hits each.
Austin Corriher was the winning pitcher and struck out eight. Blake Johnson and Norton pitched a scoreless inning each.
West Rowan bounced back and ended a three-game slide by defeating Mooresville 9-7 on Tuesday. Lee Poteat hit a two-run homer over the Blue Monster in the sixth to break a 7-all tie.
Trevor Atwood was credited with the win and Zach Shaver got the save.
West plays at Southeast Thursday.
Ike Freeman had four hits and scored four runs for Erwin in a 12-5 win against Southeast on Tuesday.
Bryant Godsey hit a home run and Addison Frye was the winning pitcher for the Eagles (7-3). Tanner File had two hits for Erwin , while Joe Ward had two hits for Southeast.
nSalisbury Academy, directed by Catawba Hall of Famer Tom Sexton, stole home twice and beat Burlington Christian 10-9.
Reliever Harrison Smith earned the victory, with help from some sparkling defense by third baseman Jacob Crosby.
Marcus Corry’s sac fly drove home Robbie Bergstone with the deciding run.
Smith had three hits. Sam McNeely scored twice.
Corry and Tyler Peoples sent ringing doubles to the fence for the Jaguars (3-5), who play in Hickory on Thursday.
Girls soccer
Salisbury Academy ended its first girls soccer season with a 5-0 loss to Burlington Christian.
Katie White made 17 saves, while Juliana Anderson and Ivy Overcash had great performances, along with Amery Barton, Sam Uliana, Ellen Simons and Abby Lee.
“It was great for these girls to get on the field in competition,” Sexton said. “We have a way to go, but we took a big first step.”
Southeast’s girls lost 1-0 to Knox with Nellie Brown’s goal on a corner kick providing the only score of the game.
Defensively, the Patriots were led by Tera Pena in goal and Katie McClain and Graciela Nunez in the field.
On Tuesday, Erwin topped Southeast 2-1. Farrah Jordan scored the lone Southeast goal on an assist by Josiea Robinette.
Alexa Escobar, Alicia Bautista and Marisol Cardona and Tera Pena in goal led the Southeast defense.
Knox defeated North 3-0 with two goals from Katherine Rusher and one from Lainy Slate.
Boys soccer
Southeast’s boys beat Knox 5-0. Brandon Flores and Ricky Maldonado scored two goals each for the Patriots. Danny Nava had one.
Defensively, Southeast was led by Ines Garcia in goal.
Southeast beat Erwin 9-0 with hat tricks from Maldonado and Pedro Perez. Nava, Ahmedin Salcinovic and Raunel Vasquez all scored one goal each.
Assists were by Brandon Flores, Maldonado, Brian Hernandez, Perez and Vasquez. Defense was led by Ines Garcia in goal and Peter Lor.
Knox and North settled for a 1-1 tie Tuesday. Diego Baltran scored for Knox.
Boys tennis
Southeast beat Knox 7-2.
Singles wins for the Patriots came from Hunter Carlton, Jared Javurek, Deven Youker and Cameron Bisbe. Doubles wins were by Purcell-Carlton, Javurek-Youker and Bisbe-Cipres. Winning for Knox in singles were David Derrick and John Dunham.
Erwin defeated Southeast on Tuesday.
Winners in singles for the Eagles were Chance Brown, Logan Shuping, Ike Emerson, Robert Gray, Nick Pillsbury, and Timmy Kane.
Winners in doubles were Brown, Shuping, Emerson, Gray, Anthony Morrow, and Tanner McNabb.
Winners in exhibitions were Boyd McCall, Ben Rollins, Wyatt Bryant, and Zakk Perdue.
Track and field
In a boys track meet at East Rowan, Erwin scored 110 points to top Southeast (64), Knox (63) and China Grove (23).
Top performers for Southeast included Zachary Marchinko, first in the 1600 (5:06); Austin Russ, first in the discus (102 feet, 7 inches), and Jameil Dukes, first in the 100 (11.92 seconds) and the 200 (25.43). Southeast won the 4×400 in 4:09.
Top performers for Erwin included Jose Zeron, first in the 110 high hurdles (17.53) and 200 hurdles (29.4); Chance Brown, first in the 800 (2:34) and second in the 1600 (5:19), and Max Wall, first in the 400 (57.46).
South jayvee softball
South Rowan’s jayvee softball team finished the season 11-1 and 6-1 in NPC play.
South’s lone loss was by one run to North Iredell. South’s home game with North Iredell was rained out and was not made up despite efforts by South to reschedule.
For the season, South scored 114 runs and allowed 30.
Sammi Kennerly went 9-1 on the mound with an ERA of 1.06. She struck out 43 and walked nine.
Caitlin Waters batted .679 for the season, reaching base in 30 of 35 plate appearances.
Sylvetta Bost, Sammi Kennerly and Emma Sellers were other offensive leaders. Sellers hit the team’s only over-the-fence homer.
Alex Bare was a big contributor until getting hurt.
Stallions sweep
The Greater Cabarrus Stallions baseball team swept a doubleheader with High Point Home Education, taking 2-1 and 1-0 wins on Tuesday.
Bryson Shepherd pitched a no-hitter in the opener, throwing five innings and allowing just two hits. Noah Jarrett drove in the go-ahead run in the fifth.
In Game 2, Jarrett and Tyler Hartsell combined on a two-hitter. Caleb Threadgill had a double.
The Stallions play Forsyth Home Educators on Thursday at West Rowan Middle.
NCHSAA
The NCHSAA’s annual meeting in Chapel Hill on Thursday will honor Newton-Conover volleyball’s Linda Richards and Scotland football’s Chip Williams as coaches of the year.
Wilmington Ashley’s Roy Turner will be honored as AD of the year. St. Pauls’ Takeisha Smith and South Lenoir’s Jaret Grady will be recognized as student-athletes of the year.
Final votes are due at noon today regarding a proposal brought by the six Rowan public schools to remove Charlotte Catholic, Bishop McGuinness and Cardinal Gibbons from NCHSAA membership.
Parks and Rec
Salisbury Parks and Recreation will host a local Pitch, Hit & Run competition on Sunday, May 6, at 2 p.m. at Salisbury Community Park.
This free event is for boys and girls ages 7-14, with winners advancing to the sectional competition at Hickory’s L.P Frans Stadium on May 20.
To register call 704-638-5289.