Towns County Herald’s Sporting News

Sports Writer

JIM BRYANT

Local RacingAction

by Carl Vanzura

Photo by Jack Appleget

The North Georgia Rap-ids Swim Team recently headedsouth to Winder, Georgia tocompete in the North GeorgiaSwim League Pentathlon SwimMeet. Eleven teams, consist-ing of over 250 swimmers par-ticipated in this popular sum-mer meet.

With family vacationsimpacting the team’s numbers,the team sent only seven swim-mers to compete. Of thoseseven, five finished within thetop seven of their age group,

North Georgia Rapids Swim Team

taking home beautiful rosetteribbons for their efforts. Allteam members swam personalbest times and were pleasedwith their team’s achieve-ments.

The team practices atthe Blue Ridge Mountain Fit-ness Club’s saltwater poolyear round. New team mem-bers are always welcome withages ranging from six to eigh-teen. For more informationcontact swim coach Barry Gayat 706-835-1662.

Herald’s sports quote of the week

- Bruce Lee, martial artist

“If you want to learn to swim jump intothe water. On dry land no frame of mind isever going to help you.”

Recreation Department’s July 4 Activity DayThe Towns County Recreation Department’s annual July

4 Activity Day will be on Friday, July 3 at the RecreationDepartment Ball fields. The Recreation Department inviteseveryone to come out and have fun in the sun! The Schedule ofthe events during the day and locations are as follows:

Youth Singles Horseshoes 16 & Under Boys/Girls: ball field, 9:30 amMens Singles Horseshoes 17 & Older: ball field, 10 amWomens Singles Horseshoes 16 & Older: ball field, 10:30 amMens Partner Horseshoes 17 & Older: ball field, 11 amMens Homerun Derby 15 & Older: ball field, 10:30 amYouth Home Run Derby 14 & Under Boys/Girls: ball field, 10:45 amYouth Home Run Derby 11 & Under Boys/Girls: ball field, 11 amWomens Home Run Derby 15 & Older: ball field, 11:15 am3-Legged Race 10 & Under Boys & Girls: ball field, 11:30 am3-Legged Race 13 & Under Boys & Girls: ball field, 11:40 am

Little Miss Recreation Girls 2 thru 6: Outdoor stage at Fairgroundnext to ball field, 1pm

In each of the Recreation Department events, Plaquesand Trophies will be given to all winners in each event. Thereis no charge for any of the activities. All events will begin atthe times listed. To pre-register just be on time for the eventsyou wish to participate. See all of you on July 3. For moreinformation call the Recreation Department at 896-2600.

The Georgia MountainFair is taking applications forgirls ages 17-24 to represent thefair in community events dur-ing 2009-10.

The Miss GMF Pageant,to be held Monday, July 20,will consist of evening gown,one-piece swimsuit, personalinterview, stage question andoverall presentation. Afterjudging of regular pageant, anoptional talent contest will beheld.

There is no entry fee.There will be cash & merchan-

Miss Ga Mtn Fair Beauty Pageantdise prizes.

To qualify, contestantsmust be residents or full-timehigh school/college students inthe counties of Towns, Union,Rabun, White, Habersham,Lumpkin, Fannin, and Stephensin Georgia or Clay and Chero-kee counties in North Carolina;they must be single, never mar-ried, nor have children, and allapplications should be receivedin office by Sunday, July 12.

For more info & applica-tion: call 706-896-4191 or go togeorgiamountainfairgrounds.com

You need a few more tentconstruction considerations be-fore purchasing your soft shel-ter. Although the bottom of yourtent is made of reinforced mate-rial that is thicker than eitherthe rainfly or tent walls, theground is an abrasive place. Toprevent accidental puncture fromrocks and twigs, lay a plasticGROUND CLOTH under thetent’s floor. This ground covershould be cut or folded to theshape of the tent but severalinches small that the width of thetent. A ground sheet that pro-trudes outside the edges of thetent will channel water under-neath and between the tent andground sheet and no amount ofwaterproofing will stop waterfrom seeping inside the tent. Thebest ground cover on the marketis blue on one side for summeruse and silver on the other side

Finalizing tent consider-ations before purchasing

for reflective winter use. Thebest is made of rip-stop mate-rial but a sheet of plastic fromthe local hardware store willsuffice and is far cheaper.KEY POINTS IN TENTCONSTRUCTION

. Light-weight nylontaffeta tent material

. Waterproof tub bot-tom which extends up the sideof the tent 6”

. “No-see-um” mesh inwindows, doors and dome pan-els

. Breathable air spacebetween tent and rainfly

. Shock-corded tent sup-port poles

. Sleeved or hooked in-ternal pole system

. Water-proof rip-stopnylon rainfly

. Free standing

. Anchor stakes

Despite the heavy con-struction going on at the YoungHarris College Site, the sixthannual softball camp was heldon schedule. With constructionnoises in the background, thecoaches still had a great timeworking with the seventeenplayers that signed up for thethree day camp. This year thestaff at YHC even added anadditional day on Thursday dueto the popularity for advancedpitchers.

Each day from 9:00-3:00,the camp had three hours ofpitching and fundamentals withguest coaches, followed by hit-ting instructions and battingcage practice by YHC Assis-tant Coach, Danny Rubino anda player from the Gordon Col-lege varsity team. Properthrowing and catching mechan-ics were taught by YHC HeadCoach Eric Geldart and YHCpitcher, Rikki Powers. Eachday a new fundamental wastaught by guest coach BrianStaubly, Head Softball Coachfrom Broward Community Col-lege and at the end of the camp,a recruiting seminar was heldto show the players how tomarket themselves to variouspotential colleges.

Annual softball camp held at YHC

YHC pitcher, Rikki Powersworks on pitching with a softballcamp participant.

Broward College coach, BrianStaubly works on fieldingfundamentals with player.

One of the younger pitchersworks to YHC coach EricGeldart.

YHC assistant coach, Danny Rubino works with a group ofcatchers. Photos by Jim and Lisa Bryant

Outfielders practice their fielding fundamentals at sixth annualYHC softball camp.

Coach Rubino and Gordon College player work inside the net with the catchers.

With 4th win, Bobby Panter takes Sportsman point leadMorganton GA driver Bobby Panter took the Sports-

man point lead at Tri-County Race Tracks with his 4th fea-ture win in the Kenny Garrett Hiawassee based GRT Chevy.After several restarts with outside pole setter Sammy Berrong,the two blasted into the first turn side-by-side with Pantertaking the lead and holding it for the 20-lap win. PrestonCrisp, racing out of Robbinsville, NC, worked his way throughthe pack to challenge Panter and finish second, followed byDoug Sneed, Mike Davis and Adam Morrow.

Also as Panter from Morganton , Kevin Sutton , aformer winner at the “County” when he drove in the MiniStock division, thrilled the crowd with his first win sincemoving up to the Nesmith Crate Late Model ranks. In abattle of the Kevin’s, Hiawassee’s Kevin Bradshaw droveRicky Franks’ Chevy to a runner up spot in front of TerryLedford, Jacob Anderson and Jeremiah Bolling.

Murphy driver Mike Bryson took the win in the highlycompetitive Modified Street feature when he led GregSudderth, Heather Taylor, Brandon Dills and Jeffery Woodsacross the finish line stripe.

A good field of cars showed up for the Mid-Season Cham-pionship in the Street Stock race won by Hiawassee’s StevenSofield. Sofield, celebrating his 20th birthday won his sixth straightfeature in his Chevy Camaro as Johnny Burnett ran second,followed by Jim Exum, William Watson and Chris Laitner.

Andrews driver Marty Clark won the first of two MiniStock features when he edged Sylva’s Justin Woodard by inchesin one of the most exciting races of the night. Jamie Cross,Adam Creekmore and Travis Robinson rounded out the topfive. In the second feature, it was another close action packedmain event as Jamie Cross and Justin Woodard battled thewhole 15-lap race trading paint in each corner as Cross edgedout the win. Woodard, Phil Henderson, Adam Creekmore andTravis Robinson filled the top five spots in the 12 car field.

Racing at Tri-County is gearing up for the big CircuitWorld of Murphy Southern All Stars Super Late Model Se-ries show and fireworks show on July 4th.

In other racing action, 13 year old Chase Elliott, driverof the No. 9 Aaron’s Lucky Dog Dream Machine, made histenth career Late Model start last weekend among some ofthe best Late Model drivers in the Southeast, including BubbaPollard and Augie Grill. The second-generation driver madehis debut at South Alabama Speedway (Kinston, Ala.) in thePro Late Model Viper Series, qualifying fifth, starting sec-ond after the inversion and finishing third.

After his great run at Tri-County last week in the Ten-nessee Thunder race, Ray Cook won $10,000 in the LucasOil Series race Saturday at Fayetteville Speedway. On Fri-day at Cherokee Speedway he ran 13th while having car prob-lems. Chris Madden won that race. Jonathan Davenport was14th after running in the top five before a flat dropped himout of the top. Davenport also had a flat at Fayetteville whilerunning forth with just two laps to go. Vic Hill won the Ten-nessee Thunder race at Maryville, TN Saturday night. Cleve-land Speedway had to cancell when they had problems withsome track equipment. Track manager Monty Morrow saidthey will race next week. David McCoy won the Southeast-ern Sportsman Series race at Toccoa Speedway.

Babby Panter won for the 4th time at Tri-County.

Steven Sofield celebrates his 29th birthday with a winSaturday night

Chatuge Shores golf scores5-14-09 Jim Taylor hole

in one hole # 165-14-09 Bill Kiser, Jim

Taylor, Robert Lyle 9- Under,score 63

5-21-09 Bill Kiser, Ray

Ward, Glen Greenwald 6- Un-der, score 66

6-4-09 Chuck Woodworth,John Chambers, Bill Kiser,Bucky Hancock

9- Under, score 63

Summer is just around thecorner and that means hotweather and Summer DayCamp for boys and girls ages 6thru 12. This summer The Rec-reation Department will offerday camp for 4 sessions, eachsession being two weeks, run-ning Monday thru Friday from8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.Sessions will be as follows:Session III July 6 - July 17Session IV July 20 - July 3l

The fee for the two weeksession is $120, payable to theTowns County Recreation De-partment the first Monday ofeach session.

Day Camp offers children

2009 Rec Dept Summer Day Campsports game activities, socialgame activities, field trips, na-ture hikes and much more. Giveyour child a lot to do this sum-mer and sign them up for DayCamp. You may send your childto any or all of the sessions.

Children need to bringa swimsuit, towel, sprayablesunscreen and sack lunch.The Recreation departmentwill furnish the drinks forthe campers.

Registration will be thefirst Monday of each session atthe Recreation Department lo-cated on Hwy. 76 west ofHiawassee. For more info,call 706-896-2600.

Registration for TownsCounty Youth Football will beheld on June 27 and July 11 from5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at theField House located at theTowns County High SchoolFootball Field. The cost of reg-istration is $60.00. Each playerwill need to present the regis-tration fee and a copy of theplayer's birth certificate uponregistration. If the player playedlast year no birth certificate isrequired.

Towns County YouthFootball along with the assis-tance of the Head and Assis-tant Football Coaches for theTowns County High Schoolwill also hold a mini camp onJuly 13 and July 14 from 6:00p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the TownsCounty Soccer Field. There isno cost for this camp.

If you have any ques-tions, you may contact JimmySmith at 706-896-2622 or 706-835-6176.

Youth Football Registration

The Rock RegionalSports Academy (formerlyBaseball Instructional Camps@ YHC) has set dates for sum-mer camps for baseball, soc-cer and tennis.

Our 2009 Cross-Trainingfor Christ Multi-Sport camp

and Leadership Training Campdates are July 6-10. New toThe Rock are Tennis, Soccer& Baseball lessons ranging fromindividual to small group to team.For more info or for a registra-tion form, call 706-897-2363 ore-mail LuannR36@yahoo.com

The Rock Regional Sports Academy

June 25 2009 sports.p65 6/22/2009, 8:25 AM2