By Mike London
mlondon@salisburypost.com
Area athletes update …
K.P. Parks (West Rowan) returned from an ankle injury on Saturday and helped Virginia upset Georgia Tech 24-21.
The redshirt freshman scored the game’s first TD on a 6-yard run and finished with 17 carries for 86 yards.
Six of his carries came on a long drive by the Cavaliers that chewed up the game’s last six minutes.
nIke Whitaker (Salisbury) carried 17 times for 91 yards and had a 4-yard scoring run in Lenoir-Rhyne’s SAC loss to Tusculum.
Zach Long (Davie) started at linebacker and made three tackles for the Bears.
n UNC Pembroke’s Ben DeCelle (East Rowan) caught a 10-yard scoring pass as the Braves traveled to West Virginia to rout Charleston.
Cadarreus Mason (South) made three tackles for UNCP. Backup QB Jonathan Efird (A.L. Brown) saw some action and was 2-for-3 passing for 29 yards.
n Wake Forest’s Tristan Dorty (West) made five tackles in a loss to Virginia Tech.
n Averett’s Zack Grkman (Carson) started at cornerback and made four tackles in a loss to Christopher Newport.
n Bad news for Eric Cowan (West), who is out with a knee injury. Cowan was starting at cornerback for West Liberty State as a true freshman.
nJustin Avery (West) made two tackles for Livingstone in a CIAA loss to Winston-Salem State.
Golf
Elliot Gealy (Salisbury) had a good tournament over the weekend in the Nationwide Tour’s Miccosukee Championship in Wisconsin.
Gealy fired 68 and 69 the first two rounds of the tournament. He finished with 73-72 and won $1,980.
Major League Baseball
Bobby Parnell (East) finished the season with 11 straight scoreless appearances, but it still appears likely the New York Mets will pursue a veteran closer this offseason.
Mixed Martial Arts
Former Catawba running back Rodney Wallace returns to action on Nov. 5.
Fighting now as a light heavyweight, Wallace will take on Lew Polley in a major bout at Cabarrus Arena.
Cross country
Twins Emily and Katherine Shields (Salisbury) led Lees-McRae’s women to a third-place finish in the Blue Ridge Open held in Boone.
Emily finished second in 19:50, while Katherine was third with a 20:05 clocking.
n Western Carolina’s Olivia Jacobs (South) finished 21st in 18:23 in the Royal Challenge held at McAlpine.
n USC Upstate’s Ross Oden (East) ran 27:01 in an 8K, finished fifth and helped Upstate win its Invitational.
nCaleb O’Neal (South) and Erik Delgado (South) were scorers as Southern Wesleyan finished third in the Sand Shark Invitational in Beaufort, S.C.
n Southern Wesleyan’s Sierra Zemanick (Carson) finished sixth in the women’s Sand Shark in 20:15.
Soccer
Jenna Bryan (Salisbury) has started 12 straight games for Carson-Newman as a defender.
n Hannah Wilson (East) leads St. Andrews in scoring with two goals and two assists. She also leads the team with 12 shots on goal.
n Catawba’s Brittany Gibbons (West) has started seven games and has two goals and two assists.
College basketball
Shanequa “Bubbles’ Phifer returns for her second year at Tallahassee Community College. She was All-Panhandle Conference as a freshman. She made 39 3-pointers.
Volleyball
Kayla Morrow (South) had a match-high nine kills for Lenoir-Rhyne in a sweep of Newberry. She added two blocks and four digs.
n Guilford played twice on Saturday. Setter Taylor Whitley (Carson) had 32 assists, 12 digs and three aces in a 3-1 loss to Bridgewater. She had 39 assists in a sweep of Meredith.
n Winston-Salem State’s Adrienne Alexander (South) had six kills, three blocks and three digs in a sweep of Johnson & Wales.
Shanna Stewart (Carson) had three kills for J&W.
Breckin Settlemyer (Carson) had 14 kills for Catawba Valley Community College in a sweep of Lenoir CC.