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Domination: Forsyth County sports teams accounted for 11 of the 19 state championships from Northwest N.C.
Journal File Photo
C.J. Harris (10) blocks a field-goal attempt by Jordan Vann of Terry Sanford.
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Published: June 14, 2009
There was a big upswing in state championships for area high-school athletes in 2008-09 -- especially for those in Forsyth County.
Forsyth teams accounted for 11 of the 19 championships won by area schools in the past academic year. The Bishop McGuinness girls started the run in the fall by winning the NCHSAA 1-A cross-country title. Calvary Baptist (girls soccer), Salem Baptist (boys golf), Woodland Christian (baseball) and Winston-Salem Prep (girls track) finished it with spring championships.
Thirteen area teams won state titles in 2007-08, and some of those programs repeated as champions in 2008-09. Two teams -- Bishop McGuinness girls basketball and Forsyth Country Day wrestling -- won titles for the fourth straight year.
In addition to an increase in team champions, there was a dramatic increase in individual champions. In 2007-08, area schools produced 43 champions. In 2008-09, they produced 81 champions, 46 of them in track and field.
Bishop McGuinness and FCD were favorites to repeat in girls basketball and wrestling, respectively, and neither had a difficult time doing so.
McGuinness did lose four of its 33 games, but each loss was to a tough out-of-state opponent. Against North Carolina schools of similar size, McGuinness stayed in control, plowing through the NCHSAA 1-A playoffs and into the championship game against East Bladen.
The Villains suffered a big blow in the first quarter when Erinn Thompson -- the MVP of the 2007 and 2008 title games -- broke her wrist and had to leave the game. But their depth was more than enough for a 64-33 win keyed by Megan Buckland, who scored 15 points and was named the championship-game MVP.
FCD had four individual wrestling champions and five second-place finishers in a dominant effort at the NCISAA 3-A championships, piling up 1901/2 points to win by a 40-point margin.
Mount Airy's football team played all season long as if it wouldn't be denied the school's seventh state championship and first since 1969. And the moment of truth came on Dec. 13, when the Bears met Williamston for the 1-A title on a chilly day at N.C. State's Carter-Finley Stadium.
The Bears stumbled uncharacteristically early in the game, falling behind by 14 points in a sloppy first quarter. But they quickly reengaged and stormed to a 37-14 win behind quarterback Aaron Wheeler, who had 225 yards of total offense and accounted for two touchdowns.
The Bears finished 16-0 and scored 845 points, the third highest total in NCHSAA history. They also rushed for 5,367 yards, a total that ranks sixth in state history.
Thomasville also won a state football title, defeating East Bladen 42-13 in Class 1-AA for its fourth championship in five seasons.
The Mount Tabor boys, featuring a trio of college-bound senior guards in Mike Grace, C.J. Harris and Josh Hicks, rolled to a 31-1 record and won the Class 4-A state championship for the first time in school history.
The Spartans put together a strong playoff run that included a win against Greensboro Page -- the only team to beat the Spartans this season -- and stormed through the Western Regional, pounding previously unbeaten Huntersville Hopewell in the regional final.
On March 13, the Spartans squared off against Fayetteville Sanford at the Smith Center in Chapel Hill for the 4-A championship. The Spartans stormed to a 17-point lead in the first quarter, but scrappy Sanford closed to within five by halftime and trailed 60-57 with 33 seconds left. Hicks made two free throws with 26 seconds left, then had a key steal in the waning seconds to seal the win
Harris -- who has signed with Wake Forest -- was the MVP with 20 points, and he also won the Journal's Frank Spencer Award as the top player in Northwest N.C.
More than half of the area athletes who won individual championships won in indoor and outdoor track and field. Two of those athletes, seniors Hunter Furr of Mount Tabor and Brandon Hairston of Carver, had especially flashy championship showings.
Furr, who has signed a football scholarship with North Carolina, won the 100- and 200-meter sprints in Class 4-A and tacked on a title in the 4x100, running the anchor leg.
Hairston, who has signed a track scholarship with Western Carolina, breezed to victories in the 400 and 200 meters at the NCHSAA 3-A championships.
Andrea Beck led Mount Tabor's volleyball team to a 28-1 record and a runner-up finish in the NCHSAA 4-A tournament and also was recognized by Gatorade as the state player of the year. To top off her senior year, Beck -- who has signed a volleyball scholarship with Wake Forest -- won the high jump at the NCHSAA 4-A indoor track-and-field championships in February.
Robbie Mudge, a sophomore at Reynolds, won the NCHSAA 4-A singles championship, becoming the first boys tennis player from Reynolds to win a state title since Berkley Ingram in 1942. Mudge fought through a three-hour semifinal in the heat, then bounced back an hour later to play the championship match.
Three swimmers -- Kelly Ann Baird of West Davidson, Juliana Prim of Starmount and Rachel Wilson of Reagan -- and diver Allison Menzies of Reagan were repeat state champions. Baird won the 200 and 500 freestyle for the second straight year in the NCHSAA 2-A/1-A state meet, and Prim repeated in the 100 butterfly.
In Class 3-A, Wilson repeated as the state champ in the 200 freestyle and added the 500 freestyle title to her resume. Menzies won the 1-meter diving championship for the second straight year.
For wrestler Robbie Wannenburg, the grass was just as green on the other side.
Wannenburg won three state wrestling championships in the NCISAA while attending Forsyth Country Day. He transferred to West Forsyth in the summer of 2008.
Wannenburg went on a tear, won the NCHSAA 4-A championship at 171 pounds with a 9-1 decision against Andrew Takla of Northern Durham and finished his only season in public school 63-0.
Two of Wannenburg's former teammates -- Johnny Watson and Spencer Breeden -- continued impressive runs for FCD. Watson won his fourth straight individual title, this year at 152 pounds, and Breeden won his third straight, this year at 145 pounds.
Parkland strengthened its reputation as a wrestling powerhouse by winning the NCHSAA 3-A team title for the third straight season, with three individual champions -- Luis Ramos, Desean Grimes-Hines and Marciano Ali.
Central Davidson and East Surry had to go through tribulations to repeat as NCHSAA softball champions.
Central, which won the 2-A title for the third straight year, fought to make the playoffs without star pitcher Chelsea Leonard, who tore a knee ligament in November and missed the entire regular season. But Leonard, a Louisville signee, returned in time for the playoffs and was almost unhittable as Central won all three of its games at the Walnut Creek Complex in Raleigh to seal the title.
East Surry had a difficult run to the 1-A title after losing its opening game to Swain County 1-0 in 14 innings. But the Cardinals, behind junior pitcher Haley Shelton, won two elimination games to reach the championship round against North Johnston.
Paige Honeycutt had a big hit and scored a run in the top of the seventh as East came from behind to hand North its first loss. Then, Courtney Simmons accounted for the only run in the championship against North with a solo home run. Honeycutt won the series MVP award for the second straight year.
The year in high-school sports also will be remembered for the tragic deaths of two Forsyth County athletes -- Matt Gfeller of Reynolds and Khalid Prince of Parkland.
Gfeller, a 15-year-old linebacker, took a hit during a football game on Aug. 22 and died two days later of a brain injury. Prince, also 15, collapsed on the basketball court at Parkland after making a 3-point shot during a junior-varsity game Dec. 2. He died four days later, and it was later determined that he had a heart condition.
Forsyth County high-school sports suffered another big loss Feb. 3, when North Forsyth enthusiast Homer Crafford died of natural causes at the age of 81.
■ Mason Linker can be reached at 727-7324 or at mlinker@wsjournal.com.
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