Stories from Saturday, August 28, 2021

The Northeast Vernon County High School volleyball team, which finished 10-10 last season, is back this fall with (front row) junior Crae Hutchison, freshman Liya Bailey-Thompson, junior Moriah Ashby, senior Emma Bruce, junior Avery Minor, junior Charity Middleton, sophomore Ashlee Keith, (middle row) freshman Maleah Hogan, freshman Mia Wallace, junior Ayren Rapp, junior Brooklyn Foreman, freshman Brooklyn Keith, freshman Reegan Koshko, junior Fiona Wilmes, (back row) sophomore Brooklyn Sanderson, and sophomore Lexi George. ...

With three of the seven players on her volleyball team making their debuts this season, Hume High School head coach Becky Bryant will be focused on fundaments: communication, positioning, and — most importantly — having fun. "The players have good attitudes and are putting in the work to make improvements each day," said Bryant, who graduated four seniors and returns two starters, Kaitlyn Kaiser and Abby Harris (both outside hitters)...

It has been 10 years since Whitney Hinkle manned the sidelines of a Bronaugh High School volleyball game. But when the Lady Cats needed a new coach this fall, she decided to dust off her whistle and give it another go. “I’ve been super impressed with the effort, because I did not know what to expect,” said Hinkle, who watched from the bleachers when the team won only two games last season, both against rival Sheldon. ...

Only one Sheldon High School athlete has medaled in cross country in program history. Now a senior, Madison Garren should also be the first one to do it twice. She might as well play some volleyball while she’s at it. “Let’s run it back to Columbia!” stated SHS cross country coach Mike Galimberto of his lone runner this fall. ...

What a difference a year makes. At this time in 2020, Katie Alexander was navigating the pandemic as a new mother. This fall, she’s coaching the Nevada High School girls tennis team. “When the job came open this year, it just felt right,” said Alexander, a 2011 graduate of NHS who played tennis for the school and even went to state. ...

Talk about a tough act to follow. Ben Hines, the most prolific swimmer in Nevada High School history, graduated in the spring and is now doing laps in the pool at the University of Alabama — leaving it up to a new generation of Tigers to try and match his four individual state championships...

When the 2021 fall sports season officially began on Monday, Aug. 9, only one team at Nevada High School was out practicing the second it was allowed to. “We had our first practice at midnight the first day, because we wanted to be the first team practicing,” said NHS head coach Ryan Watts, who had nearly 30 runners, mostly freshmen (including his son, Aiden), show up and join the team. “Getting that freshmen class in is a game-changer. That’s going to help us out a lot.”...

Nevada High School head volleyball coach Kori Dodson wanted her team to be more competitive this year, so from the first day of practice she and her coaching staff started instituting more drills. The goal, even during conditioning: to get the girls’ intensity up and keep it there — a strategy Dodson is confident will pay off after the first month of matches...

Each golfer at Nevada High School has something different about her game she is focused on improving this fall. Senior Katie Pennington, for example, is looking for better consistency off the tee box. Sophomore Paige Hertzberg wants to work on her putting. Even freshman Emree Cameron, one of the top-ranked players in the state, has been shoring up her pitch game...

After his team’s performance at its softball jamboree in Leeton, Nevada High School head coach Danny Penn said if the Lady Tigers are playing at the same level on October 1 as they are today, they won’t be doing things right. After (unofficially) shutting out both Leeton and Sherwood in those preseason scrimmages, that would mean Nevada will have not allowed a single run for the entire opening month of the season...

Every player. Every play. That is this year’s motto for the Nevada High School football team, and it means much more than the usual inspirational phrase that dons locker room walls, pep rally posters, and booster club t-shirts. That’s because those four words encompassed the philosophy of Will Downing, the retired Army colonel who was a dual-sport athlete at West Point and spent the last four years of his life coaching linebackers at NHS — before it was tragically cut short at the age of 49 on Monday, Aug. ...

Emotions were running high before Nevada High School’s first football game of the season Friday night at Logan Field. That was nothing compared to afterward. “It feels awesome. Knowing he’s right beside us all the time, it feels great,” senior lineman Lukas Higgins said following Nevada’s 52-31 victory over Logan-Rogersville, a win the Tigers dedicated to their late linebackers coach Will Downing...

The Nevada Area Habitat for Humanity will be bringing back its monthly potato luncheon from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 8. Due to high COVID-19 numbers in Vernon County, the organization will be holding the luncheon as a drive-through event. Being held at the First Christian Church fellowship hall building, attendees are asked to enter the church parking lot from Cedar Street, pick up their lunch, and exit onto Arch Street...