Harpeth Hall's girls, behind a record-setting performance by Amanda Larence, and McCallie's boys earned state championships last weekend at Centennial Sportsplex in Nashville.
Larence, competing with a stress fracture in her left foot, won the 100-yard breaststroke for the fifth straight year. She also finished second to Anna Miller from Science Hill in the 100 freestyle, which Larence won last year. ''It's absolutely awesome. It's the only way to finish up my career,''
Larence told The Tennessean. ''The last few weeks have been really tough being limited by my injury and not being able to practice as much as I needed to.''
The state title was the second straight for Harpeth Hall. The Honeybears finished with 256 points. Girls Preparatory School (190) was second, followed by and Father Ryan (181), and Brentwood High (159.5).
Hendersonville's Samantha Vanderbilt set a state record in the 100 backstroke, surpassing the mark she set last year.
McCallie coasted to the boys title with 416 points, followed by Baylor (210), Webb (167), Hendersonville (157), Montgomery Bell Academy (132), Father Ryan (120) and Brentwood High (118).
Joey Schneider, a junior from Brentwood High, won both the 100 freestyle and the 100 backstroke. Davis Tarwater, from Knoxville Webb, which won the combined title, broke the 500 freestyle state record by five seconds. He set the state record in winning the 100 butterfly on Friday.
Davis Tarwater of Knoxville's Webb School broke the 500 freestyle and 100 butterfly records, leading Webb to the overall title. The Webb boys' team finished third and the girls' fourth, good enough for a total of 342 points‹seven points better than Chattanooga Baylor.
BRADLEY WRESTLERS RETURN MONEY: Five Bradley Central High School wrestlers, who received $100 each for winning a state individual championship from a Bradley booster, have returned the money.
"By returning the money, that part of the problem has been rectified,''
TSSAA Executive Director Ronnie Carter told The Chattanooga Times Free Press. "If there was an issue, the kids have resolved it. It seems to me
there would be no violations and no reason to investigate.'' The paper reported that the five state champions received $100 each from longtime wrestling supporter Allan Jones of Cleveland.
Three of the wrestlers - Shawn Cordell, Dustin Catlett and Quinn Gibson - are underclassmen who could have been ruled ineligible for 12 months. Seniors Matt Keller, a four-time state champion and Nebraska signee, and Adam Rains could have faced NCAA eligibility problems.
"Used to, it would cost me $100 every other year,'' Jones told the paper. "This year it got out of hand. It used to be that I'd take the (Cleveland area) state champions out to dinner, but I don't have time to do that, so I just give them $100 and tell them to go out and have a nice dinner with their girlfriends. I've done it for years.
"I'm not giving these kids the money to help a school. It was something so simple and innocent. The money was a tool to do something good. A kid is not going to go out and work (hard) all season for a meal or $100. They're out there for the glory.''
ROGERS CHANGES JOBS: Tony Rogers has resigned as the West High School coach to become the athletic director at Grace Christian Academy in the Karns community.
"I told the coaches and players (Thursday) afternoon," Rogers told the Knoxville News-Sentinel. "It's been an ongoing process for the past couple of months and I finally decided something this week. I did not want to leave West in suspense or feel like they didn't have enough time to find the right candidate."
Rogers was 12-19 at West High. He and his wife, Monica, are members at Grace Baptist.
"It's a tough region (at West), there's no question about that," Rogers told the paper. "Two years ago we had a lot of injuries and last year we lost a lot of close games. But I think West is going to have an unbelievable team coming up‹it made it even harder to leave knowing that."
IHIGH NOTEBOOK:
Stephanie Harris, a freshman at Girls Preparatory School in Chattanooga, recently won the U.S. National Open 16s girls tennis singles championship in New Orleans. The championship qualified Harris for the Easter Bowl Supernationals in California in April.
Two successful football coaches in the Chattanooga area, South Pittsburg's Vic Grider and Hixson's Dan Duff, have applied for jobs in Georgia. Grider is interested in the opening at Trion High School and Duff has interviewed at Rockmart High. Both coaches have cited better pay in Georgia as incentive for leaving their respective high schools.
David Lipscomb's Andrew Woodard has signed to play football at Cumberland as a place-kicker. He is the son of former Vanderbilt kicker Mike Woodard, who played for the Commodores from 1978-81 after playing at Antioch High School.
Quote of the week: "Coach girls? Lord have mercy, no,'' Brainerd boys coach Robert High told The Chattanooga Times Free Press. "I don't think I could handle that. Girls are too emotional, and they cry. Guys, you can just scream and holler. With girls you'd have to take a whole different approach.''
Battle Ground Academy’s Josh Johnson has signed a football grant with Western Kentucky as a linebacker.
Bradley Central basketball standout Alphonso Pugh told the Chattanooga paper he will not commit to a college until he knows whether Henry Dickerson will return as the head coach at Tennessee-Chattanooga. "UTC is at the top of my list‹if I'm eligible,'' Pugh told the paper.
Battle Ground Academy's Matt Williams has committed to play at Navy as a long-snapper.
Former Hixson High School coach Chip Kell has been inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in Macon, Ga. Kell is the new football coach at Southeast Whitfield High School in Dalton, Ga. A native of Decatur, Ga., Kell was a two-time consensus All-American at offensive guard for the University of Tennessee.