Tag: sports

Ghostbusting with a quartet of Amazing Student Athletes in the Senior Class of 2024

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Four Seniors in one star studded Class and three of them having been chasing Ghosts 👻 of Carroll County High School 🏫 history while the fourth is saying, just like Ray Parker Jr, I ain’t afraid of “Know ” Ghosts.

We were fortunate enough to spent the Winter months watching 👀 Alyssa Ervin chase down Erin Gibson for the prestigious honor 🎖 of being the All-Time scoring leader in School history. Ervin didn’t stop there as the Elon University bound player crossed the 2,000 point barrier before finishing her four year career.

Ervin put the record at a point where it will be interesting to see if its ever broken! Ghost 👻 Busted !

Ashlyn Newman had a different Ghost 👻 to chase down in her pursuit of the title as the schools All-Time scoring leader in Soccer ⚽️. While Gibson and Ervin were separated by decades, the chase in Soccer was a family 👪 thing.

The Newman family 👪 and the Harris family 👪 have combined to place five daughters in the Girls 👧 Soccer program in the past decade so when Ashlyn Newman surpassed Adrienne Harris with her 72nd goal this week it felt like a natural thing to have happen.

Callie Harris, the youngest of the trio of Soccer players raised by Marion and Shelia, leads the current team in assists with the majority of the feeds leading to a Newman goal. Ashlyn closed out her chase with a pair of unbelievable six goal games in the past two weeks. Allen Worrell of The Carroll News is currently working on a feature story about the younger of the Newman sisters. It should be an enjoyable take on the four year effort from Newman to track down a Ghost 👻 that she actually grew up around.

Moving to our third Ghost 👻 Buster, or actually still a Ghost 👻 chaser for now, Emma Leath. Leath currently sits 49 strikeouts behind the School record held by possibly the Biggest Ghost 👻 of All in Sydney Nester.

Nester finished her extended College career last season at Marshall University. Starting out at North Carolina State before heading up to Huntington, Nester led the Country in K’s for part of her final season. Nester also was a major part of the program that captured the very first team State Championship in CCHS history. The purpose of the story is not the size of the Ghosts, as Gibson also went on to play College Basketball at Virginia Tech.

Carroll County has seven regular season games remaining and the gap is currently 49 to tie, 50 to break. Leath will get her next chance to hang some more K’s later today when the team plays at Floyd County. Averaging 7 strikeouts a game the rest of the way would put Leath on the doorstep of Nester’s mark.

The final member of this Mount Rushmore of 2024 Cavaliers is our Tennis 🎾 player Jabin Talley. Talley teamed with Ethan Richardson in doubles Wednesday at Patrick County High School 🏫 to capture his 58th match while playing for CCHS.

Sadly for Talley, the tennis 🎾 stats aren’t readily available as they are in other sports. This fact robbed Talley of his Ghost 👻 to chase down but that simply should not dimminsh the story of his four year career.

This fall Talley will make Cavalier history again when he starts his college career at Southwest Virginia Community College. Talley will become the initial alum to play tennis 🎾 at the next level when he plays for the Flying Eagles.

Talley chased down a Ghost 👻 and will continue to add to his impressive total with a number of matches left to play. The fact that we cannot correctly identify said Ghost shouldn’t change the narrative.

Success at the next level is never promised or guaranteed but its safe to say that even 10 years from now folks will be comparing Senior classes to the Four Ghostbusters that played together from 2021-2024!

Tonight its Cavaliers- Highlanders nine times and two incredible Student Athletes continue to chase History.

Emma Leath and Ashlyn Newman are both Carroll County High School 🏫 Senior Student Athletes. That is not where the similarities end by any means as the two are both leaders on young teams and each has an opportunity to put their names in the CCHS history books before they graduate this Summer.

Newman recently became just the second player in School 🏫 history to find the back of the net 50 times on the Soccer pitch. Emory & Henry’s Adrienne Harris set the scoring mark five years ago at 71 and at first glance 50 is a long way from 71 but not when it comes to Newman.

Even on the night when Newman scored her 50th she added 51 and 52 to the total. When you are capable of scoring a Hat Trick every time you take the field you can close the gap in a hurry.

Newman and her Senior Class is nearing the end of the groups that had one of their seasons cut short by Covid. The number would be higher already if not for a shortened season and when you factor in a few games spent as the teams goalie early on, you can see just how talented this young Lady is.

One of the interesting things about the pursuit of the All-Time scoring mark is that she is chasing a number that was posted just five years ago and that she grew up with the Harris family. One would wonder if that makes it have more meaning, when you know the person who you are chasing ?

Tonight the Battling Ben Tickles take to the road for a match against Glenvar before returning home next Wednesday evening. The season is young and Coach Tickle has them playing with energy and enthusiasm so it will be fun to watch this story unfold.

Across the street at Cavalier Park a fellow Senior is chasing down some CCHS history as well. Leath crossed the 500 Strike out mark late last season in a game at Radford High School and finished the season off with 520 for her first three years.

Carroll County has produced some rather impressive pitchers over the years and at the top of the list is Sydney Nester. Nester just completed her College career last season at Marshall University and her ability to Strike Out a batter didn’t end when she left The Hill.

Leath doesn’t have the size and strength of Nester but she’s as crafty as they come. The natural comparison would be to say that Leath is the Greg Maddux of High School 🏫 softball.

Through five games this season Leath has added 52 more K’s to her total and the team is off to a 5-0 start ahead of a contest tonight with the Highlanders. Leath is receiving an impressive amount of run support early on which allows her some breathing room when she is out in the circle.

As is the case with Newman, Leath still has a substantial amount of ground to cover to take over the top spot but she is on pace to do so if everything remains in place.

Leath earned a Second Team selection last season following her incredible campaign which included 200+ K’s. The team fell 1-0 in the Regional Semi-final to eventual State Champs Northside and then watched eight players receive their diplomas.

Leath is throwing to a Freshman catcher in Natalie Burress and the pair seem to be in sync at the quarter poll mark for the regular season.

Both of these outstanding Athletes are leading their teams while chasing School 🏫 history. We have roughly six more weeks to enjoy their time on The Hill. Whether one or both of this pair reaches the Summit is yet to be seen but there’s simply no doubt that they have both done their School proud !