Below are two interviews, featuring Mrs. Howell and Mr. Smith who shared their thoughts on their teams and the upcoming winter sports season.
Lindsay Howell- Varsity Women's Basketball Coach
What do you think of your team this year?
¨We have a really young team this year. We have 10 girls on the team and we´ve got one senior and two juniors and everybody else is either a sophomore or freshman. With a team that young, they have tons of potential, but it's hard to tell how quickly theyŕe going to come together as a team. We´ll see how it goes, but I have a lot of hope.¨
What do they excel at so far?
Theyŕe really athletic, I think we´re going to be able to play really strong defense (and really aggressive defense). The offense will come along as they get more experience.
What are your overall predictions for the season?
¨We´re still going to be pretty strong in the conference. We´ve got a really strong non-conference schedule, so it's hard to tell how that's going to go, and again it depends on how quickly these guys gel as a team. We should be able to do well with the conference this year just like we did last year, so we're hoping to repeat our build on the program and success that we had then.¨
What are you hoping to accomplish this season?
¨With that many young players, the future is really bright for the program. The biggest thing I want to accomplish or want them to accomplish is to really come together as a team and to get the kind of experience it's going to take to get long term successes. If they can do big things as sophomores and freshmen then they have no ceiling when they're a little bit older.¨
FIRST HOME BASKETBALL GAME: 11/21
Troy Smith- Winter and Spring Track Coach (Boys and Girls)
What do you think of your team this year?
¨On the boys side, we´re excited about returning big pieces of our 4x4. We have Peyton Wheeler, Hunter Gutherie, and Dylan McBride. Those guys amongst that and their individual events should be pretty key for us this year. We've got some distance boys runners this year, such as Chance McCobben, Jake Knite and Riley Kay who had good cross country seasons. For the boys, we´re looking to have a much improved year. Girls side, we´re excited to see if we can improve and get back to being right in the hunt for the State Championship, as last year the girls finished second in the State Meet. Returning runner Grace Gilford placed second in the 500 meters, we have Tyler Collins as a returning state champion for high jump, then Kenley Ballou who is on our State Champion 4x4 team. In other events, we have Kaelyn Mangrum and Anna Johnson who we´re expecting big things from for pole vault, and we have Ryley and Kendyll Preston who are big in some of our relays. In girls distance, we've got Caroline Dickenson, Ryan Germane, Sally King and Marlena Marson that all came over from cross country that had good seasons. In our jumps we have Mary Beth Garrison, a state qualifier for triple jump. Overall, we have a lot of talent coming back on the girls side that we're excited about.¨
What do they excel at?
¨On the girls side, the 4x4 and the 4x2 are two relays where we feel like we can be right where we were a year ago. We´re also excited about Grace (Gilford) individually in the 300 and 500 indoor, and obviously Tyler (Collins). I'm excited about some throwers on the girls side, Ashlyn Lewis, Maggie Davis and Alex Vazquez, three experienced throwers where I think we can score some points this year. On the boys side, the boys 4x4 and 4x2 have a chance to be pretty good, then excited to see what those distance runners can do as well. ¨
What are you hoping to accomplish this season/What are your season predictions?
¨ For the boys, we know Croatan is tough so weŕe hoping to be right with them come conference time. Hopefully, we can get into a top ten at the state meet by the end of the season. I think we have a team that can do that. On the girls side, we want to be right on the hunt for a state title, but before we get there we have some pretty elite invitations to compete in. We also want to win the conference, so we have to accomplish those goals first and then hopefully get to that big goal at the end. ¨
FIRST HOME TRACK MEET: 12/7