Area Sports Briefs: SHS swimmers shine

From staff reports

In the 1A/2A state swimming championships in Cary on Friday, the 200 freestyle was good for the Salisbury Hornets.

McKenzie Stevens and Taylor Rodenhuis both finished fourth in the state in that event.

Stevens had a time of 1:57.53, five seconds better than her preliminary time. She was sixth in the prelim.

Rodenhuis also bettered his preliminary by two seconds with a time of 1:48.22.

In the 100 freestyle, Stevens finished seventh (55.50 seconds). She qualified with a time of 55.70.

Rodenhuis placed eighth in the 100 butterfly with a time of 55.79. He was also eighth in the preliminaries.

Stefan Knorr also had his best swim in the final of the 500 freestyle, finishing sixth with a time of 5:13.00. He cut 17 seconds off his prelim time.

The Hornet boys finished 17th overall with 39 points. Carrboro won its third consecutive championship with 291.5 points.

Salisbury’s girls were 21st with 27 points. Raleigh Charter (378) pulled away from Lake Norman Charter (238) in impressive fashion to record its second consecutive team championship.

n Prep hoops

Carson’s girls have changed plans for the first round of the NPC tournament and now will host Statesville at 6 p.m. on Monday.

n Davie County’s boys finished the regular season on a high note, routing North Davidson 90-63 on Friday.

Leading only by six at halftime, the War Eagles (17-6, 6-4) outscored the Black Knights by 21 after halftime. Shannon Dillard scored 15 of his game-high 25 in the second half and Kenyon Tatum added 17 of his career-high 19.

“We made a conscious effort to get Dillard the ball,” Davie coach Mike Absher said.

Absher said defense won this one, especially in the second half.

“We pressed them and kept the tempo up at a pace they weren’t comfortable with,” he said.

Nate Jones added 17 for Davie, which tied Reagan for second in the Central Piedmont Conference. Davie should get the No. 2 seed based on its win against top seed Mount Tabor.

n Taylor Darrow scored 20 points to lead North Davidson’s girls to a 45-41 win against Davie.

• South Davidson’s boys secured second in the YVC with an 83-49 romp over South Stanly.

Austin Hatfield, only a sophomore, passed 1,000 points for his career with 13 points. Twin brother Taylor led Jim Young’s Wildcats (20-4, 14-2) with 19. Wil Collins had 13, and David Whitaker chipped in with 12.

• South Davidson’s girls beat South Stanly 57-38. Madi Beeson led the Wildcats (17-6, 14-2) with 15 points. Hunter Sigmon had 11 and Madison Sigmon 10.

The first round of the Yadkin Valley Conference will be at the higher-seeded team. East Montgomery will host the semifinals and finals.

n Prep wrestling

In today’s dual team wrestling state championships, matchups are:

4A — Southern Pines Pinecrest (32-1) at Winston-Salem Parkland (49-0)

3A — Southwestern Randolph (36-2) at Orange (22-0)

2A — Croatan (17-2) at Piedmont (37-0)

1A — West Wilkes (21-1) at Ayden-Grifton (39-4)

n College track

Livingstone’s men’s and women’s track teams will compete in the CIAA Indoor Championships in Hampton, Va., this weekend.

Freshman Brittany Burton, who has already provisionally qualified for the NCAA Indoor National Championships, will be looking to improve her overall national seeding and win a conference title. Burton’s top jump of 5 feet, 6 inches currently places her second overall in the conference and 20th in the nation.

Justin Avery (West Rowan) is a threat in the 60, 200 and 400 meter dashes.

Avery ranks fourth in the conference in the 200 dash and is close to national qualification with a time of 22.28 seconds.

In field events, B.J. Grant (South Rowan) could be a factor in the high jump and long jump. Grant has high-jumped 6-7 this season to rank fifth in the league and ranks fourth in the long jump (22-3).

n Catawba tennis

Catawba’s men’s and women’s tennis teams rolled 9-0 against J.C. Smith on Thursday in Charlotte.

Both Catawba teams are 5-2.

Hannah Kovach (East Rowan) was a winner in singles and doubles.

n College baseball

UNC Pembroke’s Thomas Allen (East Rowan) pitched five innings and was credited with the win in a 9-2 victory against Chowan.

Allen allowed two hits and no earned runs. He struck out four.

Allen also made the honor’s list academically for the fall semester.

n College hoops

Livingstone is at home tonight for a CIAA doubleheader against Fayetteville State that starts at 5:30 p.m.

Former North Rowan standout DaQuondra Cuthbertson has been playing well for the Broncos.

• Catawba’s teams are on the road this afternoon at Anderson.

n Local golf

Michael Beymer made a hole-in-one at Rolling Hills Golf Club. It came on the par-3, 158-yard No. 7 hole. Witnessing the feat were Eric Faust, Frank Saunders and George Stillwell.

n North Hills hoops

The North Hills varsity boys crushed Gaston Day 92-63. Moussa Doucara scored 25 points for the Eagles. Nikolas Petruk had 15 points. Povilas Dambrauskas scored 12, Leonard Murdock 11 and Taylor Kriminger nine.

n The North Hills middle school girls edged Success Institute 25-22. Marissa Murdock led the Eagles with eight points. Olivia Houghton had six.

• The North Hills elementary boys defeated Statesville Montessori 39-33. Leading the Eagles were James Houghton and Marshawn Hargrove with eight points apiece. Avery Frank added six.

n Hoops tryouts

The Phenoms AAU basketball program is hosting open gym for boys in grades 2-5 today from 3-5 p.m. at Competitive Sports, 625 Corporate Circle.

For information, contact Clint Mauldin (704)-267-4035 or Andre[0xb4]Archie at 704-232-0801 or andremarcel_36@yahoo.com.

• The Salisbury Kings will hold open tryouts for 7th-grade boys today from 4-6 p.m. at Hall Gym. Contact Tom McDaniel at 704-213-2530 or Scotty Robinson at 704-232-1538.

n Umpire clinic

There will be a meeting for anyone interested in umpiring middle-school baseball on Wednesday, Feb. 15 at 7 p.m. Erwin Middle School.

For more information, call 704-279-7546.