Athletics News
With family, friends, teammates, and coaches standing nearby, GPS senior Nandia Taylor signed athletic scholarship papers on Friday, Feb. 5 to continue her stellar track and cross country career at University of Memphis.
Taylor was part of a state-championship, school record-setting 4x800 relay in her freshman year. A four-year member of both the track and cross country teams, she specializes in middle distance. Running seems to be in her genes, as her mother also ran track in high school.
“She will be competitive in Conference USA,” said Coach Jeff Gaither. “Memphis is trying to build a credible track and field program, and Nandia is part of the foundation.”
At GPS, she is a member of the Key Club, Model UN, and the African American Alliance, which she has served as treasurer and Robin Hood liaison.
Fans at sporting events are often encouraged to “raise the roof” with their enthusiasm and noise, but at the Division II state bowling tournament in Smyrna on Saturday, Jan. 29, the bowling center’s roof caved in from an accumulation of snow and ice, postponing the team competition to an undetermined date and place.
On Friday night, before the collapse of the roof, senior bowler Payton Leech was named the TSSAA Bowler of the Year in Division II, accumulating yet another honor for a girl who has pitched the GPS softball team to three state championships. Leech finished the regular season in bowling with a 174.3 average, second best in the state. The state recognition honors not only her success at the lanes, however, but also her academics (a 3.94 GPA) and extracurriculars. Payton is a senior representative on the Honor Council, president of the National Honor Society, and a member of the May Court. She rolled a four-game total of 571 in the individual competition on the first day of the tournament, but she finished seventh overall.
The GPS team, seeded first from the East/Middle Region, faced Harpeth Hall on Friday afternoon, winning the match to advance to the semifinals. “As a team,” said Coach Jenise Gordon, “the girls were so ready to compete Saturday morning! I wish we could have made plans on Saturday to play the last two games at a mutually agreed upon site. Unfortunately, the TSSAA was not willing to allow us to do that and we must now wait” for them to reschedule the conclusion of the tournament.
The Middle School swimmers and divers had a thrilling ending to their season on Saturday, Jan. 23, winning the Joe Gawrys Southeastern Middle School Championships by nearly 100 points over Brentwood Middle School and Harpeth Hall. Over 30 teams and 600 athletes competed in the meet.
GPS swimmers won four out of eight individual events and placed 2nd in three others. April Forsthoffer, Haley Bates, McCay Mathis, and Brianne Holsomback teamed up for the 200 medley and 400 freestyle relays and placed first in both. Mathis took individual wins in the 100 fly and the 100 back; Bates placed first in the 100 breast and second in the 500 free. Victoria Norris added a second place finish in the 200 free, and Forsthoffer was first in the 100 free and second in the 50 free.
“Our dual meet season record was 5-1,” said Coach Jason Meszaros, “and we have eight girls on the team that already have high school state championship qualifying times!”
Other swimmers and divers on the winning team were Ellen Anderson, Emily Arnold, Chelsea Berghorn, Nicole Blohm, Carly Bourne, Anna Carroll, Sophie Caughman, Margaret Clark, Copeland Cobb, Mimi Doi, Ayda Fisher, Maggie Ingvalson, Najia Humayun, Abbie Kent, Hannah Land, Susanna LaRochelle, Anina Mu, Tigris Nevans, Lauren Piersall, Megan Rohn, Christian Shaheen, Tess Shaheen, Angel Sims, Ayushi Sinha, Hannah Thel, Katherine Ward, and Madison Watson.
GPS secured first place in the Middle/East Regional tournament held Tuesday, Jan. 19 in Smyrna, Tennessee, and a #1 seed in the upcoming Division II state tournament January 29-30.
At the Smyrna Bowling Center, GPS defeated all opponents for a 4-0 showing in a Baker, round-robin format. GPS will compete against Harpeth Hall in the first round at state.
Payton Leech, Caitlin Davidson, and Kara Maynord qualified for the individual tournament which begins Jan. 28. A GPS senior, Leech, with a 174.31 average, is a finalist for Miss Bowler of the Year, to be announced Jan. 28 at the Smyrna Town Center.
Other members of the region championship team, coached by 2009 Bowling Coach of the Year Jenise Gordon, are Madison Boyd, Archer Brock, Sara Griffith, Sarah Gossett, Ginny Jackson, Morgan Lane, Sydney Leech, Carol Portera, Taylor Richards, Corey Swafford, and Kaitlyn Teem.
The GPS/McCallie Blue Crew cheerleaders captured first place in the large high school varsity division at the Athletic Championship cheer and dance competition over the Jan. 16-17 weekend at the Chattanooga Convention Center.
The Chattanooga event is one of the largest venues and draws more than 6,000 cheerleaders, according to a company spokesman, and the economic impact of the event, an estimated $3.2 million, is felt throughout the downtown hotels and restaurants.
Blue Crew member and GPS senior Julianne Wilson was quoted in a local newspaper as believing strongly that cheerleading is a sport that “requires as much strength and athleticism as any other sport and that shares the same competitive goal – winning.”
Blue Crew members attained their first place goal and can be seen on this YouTube video performing their championship routine.
GPS members of the 2009-10 Blue Crew are Lydia Bowman, Betsy Browder, Christian Caldwell, Alex Cavitt, Katie Fisher, Haley Greene, Megan Grzesiak, Lydia Makepeace, Victoria Smith, Elle Wiggins, Grace Young and Wilson. McCallie members include Lauson Allen, Andrew Barber, Daniel Buniak, Christian Cassel, Logan Fletcher, Banks Griffin, Kenny Krecklow, Davis Mastin, Kendall Ray, Will Powell, John Waller, Dan Wharton, and Kyle Winkler.
As a member of the three-time state championship GPS tennis team, Sarah Evans has been playing on the varsity team since the eighth grade. Next year she’ll be playing for Wofford College, a Division I contender in the Southern Conference.
Sarah committed to the Terriers last semester, waiting until Wednesday, Jan. 13, to have a celebration with her family, friends, and coaches at GPS, complete with a black-and-gold themed cookie cake and decorations.
Currently ranked #34 in the South in USTA rankings, Sarah was the Times Free Press Player of the Year in 2009. The #1 player for the Bruisers this year and last, she has won the State Closed tournament in her age group for the past four years. In the TSSAA state tournament in 2009, she was the region winner and individual runner up.
Coach Sue Bartlett praises her senior captain as a “great talent, a hard worker, and a team player who greatly values her team above all else and always encourages everyone.” Already thinking about how much GPS will miss her presence on the court after this year, she added, “Wofford is lucky to have her. She will only continue to improve in college where she will be playing high quality matches year round.”
Evans is a member of the Key Club and the National Honor Society.
When Simone Busby’s half-court three-point attempt swished through the net in the final seconds of the game against Baylor on Tuesday, Jan. 12, the overflow crowd of fans celebrated the tying score for only seconds before seeing the official signal a walk. Baylor won, 51-48.
“She traveled,” acknowledged Coach Susan Crownover after the game, adding that the team “did not execute very well, missed too many free throws, and did not include people very well.”
The Bruisers had a brief 5-0 lead in the first quarter but struggled to even the score throughout the remainder of the region game. Now 0-2 with at least four more important region games to determine seeding, Crownover challenged the team to determine what seed they want in the tournament.
GPS sophomore Chadarryl Clay led all scorers with 25, followed by Busby with 17. Clay was also 9 of 11 from the free throw line and tallied two 3-point buckets.
The basketball team couldn’t take time for practice sessions over the holidays; they were too busy playing eight games from Friday, Dec. 18 to Wednesday, Dec. 30. The team had two wins over Marion County (75-58) and Ringgold (55-25) before competing in the Times Free Press Best of Preps and the Lady Spartans Holiday Classic in Knoxville.
At CSAS for Best of Preps, the Bruisers had two comeback wins over Chattanooga Christian (54-51) and the host team, CSAS (70-52) before falling in the championship game to highly ranked Cleveland (52-59). GPS finished third at the Knoxville tournament, defeating Alcoa (51-40) and Webb School (51-47) and losing to Campbell County (62-65).
Throughout the holiday games, sophomore point guard Chadarryl Clay consistently scored in double figures, tallying a high of 25 against Marion County and 23 in the loss to Campbell County. Other contributors were sophomores Jeneh Perry and Simone Busby and junior Mary Anna Caldwell.
Coach Susan Crownover said the number of games and playing experience for the players “should prepare them for the upcoming region schedule” which starts Saturday at GPS against John Paul II of Nashville.
The basketball Bruisers extended their winning streak to 4-0 on Thursday, Dec. 10, defeating a previously unbeaten Walker Valley team 54-51. In double figures for GPS were Mary Anna Caldwell with 17 and Chadarryl Clay with 11. “We still have a lot of work to do,” said Coach Susan Crownover, “and turned the ball over too much.” The team plays region opponent Ensworth Saturday, Dec. 12 at 3 p.m. and will participate in three holiday tournaments after exams: the Grace Academy Classic on Dec. 18-19, the Best of Preps Dec. 21-23, and the Lady Spartans Holiday Classic Dec. 28-30 in Knoxville.
The GPS bowling team, led by seniors Payton Leech and Sarah Gossett, defeated Baylor on Tuesday, Dec. 8, and Sequatchie County on Thursday, and has an 9-1 record thus far. In the match with Baylor, the Bruisers outscored the Red Raiders 21-6. The win against Sequatchie County was 17-10. Coach Jenise Gordon, last year’s Coach of the Year in Tennessee high school bowling, has the team ready for another run at a state title at the tournament in late January.
After two Hall of Fame games against Tyner and Ridgeland, the win on Thursday, Dec. 3 over Tennessee Temple moved the Bruisers to a 3-0 start for the year. A young team of two freshmen, six sophomores, one junior and two seniors has outscored its early-in-the-year opponents 238-83 but faces some tougher competition in the next week.
Coach Susan Crownover said, “Last night’s game vs. Temple gave a lot of girls playing time and allowed them to get comfortable playing together. In the days to come we will be increasing not only the number of games we’re playing but the level of competition. We have a very good Walker Valley team coming in next week. We also begin region play next weekend with Ensworth coming to town. Following exams we will be playing eight games in 12 days (included in that time are the Times Free Press Tournament and the Lady Spartan Holiday Classic at Knox Webb) which will give us a great test."
In the Temple game, Jeneh Perry was the high scorer with 23 points. Mary Anna Caldwell and Chadarryl Clay added 15 and 11 respectively. Tory Kemp continued her hot hand from the free throw line and maintained her 100% start. (Photo compliments of Chattanoogan.com)
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