THE VIRGINIA MOUNTAINEER

 

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Buchanan County's Family Newspaper Since 1922

Thursday, March 15, 2007

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MEMBERS OF the Grundy Golden Wave baseball squad for the 2007 season are (from left), kneeling: Justin Childress, Travis Clevinger, Michael, Michael Endicott, Derek Anderson, Wayne McClanahan, Kevin Vandyke and Toby Kilbourne; (standing): Kevin Davis, Jeremy O'Quinn, Cody Cantrell, John Hagy, Andy Stiltner, Cody Billiter, Steven Mullins and Shannon Rice. Not pictured is Holden Raines.  (Staff photo/Mike Stiltner.)

Wave Baseball Enjoys Presence of Six Talented Returning Starters

by Lloyd Combs
Sports Reporter


  Until more kids take an interest in the game -- and those kids get more opportunities to play in the summer -- Grundy, like most high school baseball and softball programs in Buchanan County, will be in an almost perpetual state of rebuilding.
  One advantage the Golden Wave has this season is six returning starters, though coach Scotty Bostic planned on having eight returnees. One elected not to play and senior Holden Raines suffered a broken leg during pre-season practice.
Scotty Bostic
Wave head baseball coach

  Another potential advantage is Grundy picking up where it left off last season, when it lost 13 of its first 14 games, but won its last two. A rebuilding program with built-in disadvantages can only get better by playing and working hard every day it is on the field.

  "We won our last two games," a philosophical Bostic said. "That tells me we improved at the end of last year. Right now we have to concentrate on just getting better every day. We have to play hard and stay focused, and if we’re meant to win, we’ll come out winners.
  "If we play a better team and lose, I can handle that. Throwing the ball away, losing focus, not giving 100 percent is all that bothers me. We can’t be focusing on just winning while we're rebuilding. We have to just get better and let the wins come to us."
  The six returning regulars are working in that direction, Bostic adds.

For more of the story, see the print edition of the Mountaineer, on sale at newsstands now.  For more information on how to subscribe to the Mountaineer, call 276-935-2123 today.

Grundy's Ashby, Rife Earn SWD's Top Hoop Honors

by Lloyd Combs
Sports Reporter


  Grundy’s Jimmy Ashby and Greg Rife earned the top honors on the All-Southwest District boys basketball team for the 2006-07 season.
  Ashby was named SWD Player of the Year. The 6-foot-5 senior averaged 15.9 points, 17.8 rebounds and 5.5 blocks per game. He also contributed nearly five assists and three steals a game.
  Rife was named SWD Coach of the Year after he guided the Golden Wave to the SWD regular season championship and a second straight Region IV playoff berth.
  Ashby and teammate Bobby Peck were named to the five-man All-SWD First Team in voting by the district’s head coaches. A junior guard, Peck averaged 12.4 points, six rebounds, five assists and three steals per game.

Jimmy Ashby
SWD Player of the Year



  Joining Ashby and Peck on the first unit are Ben Mulkey and Austin Fuller of Richlands and Carroll County’s Jared Strickland.
  Grundy junior Cody Billiter, who averaged 19.0 points per contest, was one of 12 players named to the All-SWD Second Team. Two other Wave standouts, junior D.J. Gelenster and sophomore Joseph Stephens, were honorable mention All-SWD picks.

  Including 17 honorable mentions, 34 players received all-district honors in the five-team SWD.
  The 2006-07 All-Southwest District boys’ basketball team:
   First Team :
  Jimmy Ashby, Grundy, sr. ; Ben Mulkey, Richlands, jr. ; Bobby Peck, Grundy, jr. ; Austin Filler, Richlands, jr. ; and Jared Strickland, Carroll County, sr.
  Second Team :
  Cody Billiter, Grundy ; Darrell Wess, Tazewell ; Terrence Taxley, Tazewell ; Connor McCall, Richlands ; C.J. Arms, Richlands ; Brett Clayburne, Richlands ; Kris Null, Richlands ; Kevin Thompson, Graham ; T.J. Carper, Graham ; Travis Green, Carroll County ; Jacob Singleton, Carroll County ; and Seth Hill, Carroll County

For more of the story, see the print edition of the Mountaineer, on sale at newsstands now.  For more information on how to subscribe to the Mountaineer, call 276-935-2123 today.

                 

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