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Article published May 22, 2009 Blount athletes finding success
MURFREESBORO -- As the annual Spring Fling high school championships wind to a close, Blount County teams and athletes find themselves in the midst of a remarkable run.
It's been several years since so many athletes from the four high schools converged on the TSSAA state competition and advanced beyond an initial round or two. The only consistency from one spring to the next has been in track and field. So the addition of tennis, softball and soccer in 2009 has fueled the numbers and coverage.
Prior to the nightcap contests in which Maryville and Alcoa were participating on Thursday, the Lady Rebels were guaranteed to play again today, with an opportunity to compete for a Class AAA softball championship, and the Rebel tennis duo of Lucas Kelley and Ryota Yoshida had advanced to today's double championship in Class AAA against a doubles team from Brentwood.It is the second straight year in which Kelley and Yoshida have reached the title match.
"Way back in the season, I asked the boys, 'do you want to play doubles again?' and their answer was a resounding yes," Maryville tennis coach Liz Huffaker said. "That shows a lot in terms of their belief in one another and their belief that they could come back and do this."
On Wednesday night after everyone's lights were off back home, Alcoa's soccer team completed a stunning upset of Chattanooga Christian School in the first round of Class A/AA competition. Chattanooga Christian was making its ninth state tourney appearance, while the Tornadoes were handling the pressure for the first time. Yet coach Tom Gorman's squad took its opponent into four overtimes without budging and won on penalty kicks.
On Thursday evening, the Tornadoes took an early 2-0 lead over Hume-Fogg despite losing one starter to illness and having another hampered by injury. Alcoa then finished out the match with impressive defense to gain a berth in the championship game on Saturday against Christian Academy of Knoxville.
"We didn't expect 2-0 with tired legs," Gorman said. "It's a testament to our guys. They spent the whole day doing recovery stuff even though they didn't like it very much."
As girls track drew to a close with running events on Thursday evening, Maryville's Julia Petree won the 400 meters. William Blount's Madison Borden took a third in the discus earlier in the day. In boys prelims, several Rebel runners reached today's finals.
Leonard Butts is sports editor. Write to him at The Daily Times, P.O. Box 9740, Maryville, TN 37802, or e-mail him at leonard.butts@thedailytimes.com