Thursday, Nov. 19, 2009

Hometown heroes: Former local stars compete in college

Following are updates and statistics of former Columbia-area high school athletes now competing at the collegiate level:

BASKETBALL

Coastal Carolina sophomore guard Olivia Irick (Keenan): Scored career-high 17 points with five steals and two rebounds in 89-20 rout of Southern Virginia.

College of Charleston senior center Deidra Jones (Dutch Fork): Five rebounds, one block and one steal in 88-57 loss to North Carolina.

Texas-El Paso sophomore forward Fannie Goodwin (Lower Richland): Five points, three rebounds and two blocks in 66-54 loss to Florida Gulf Coast.

Francis Marion sophomore guard Mark Sinkler (Lugoff-Elgin): Three points, one 3-pointer and one rebound in 82-41 victory against Puerto Rico-Mayaguez.

Francis Marion freshman guard Kristen Dickerson (Heathwood Hall): One rebound in 91-57 victory against Converse College.

Newberry College junior forward Briana Johnson (Irmo) and freshman guard Amelia Dozier (Spring Valley): Johnson had three rebounds, one assists and one steal, and Dozier tallied one point in 66-53 exhibition victory against UNC-Asheville.

CROSS COUNTRY

Virginia senior Graham Tribble (Ben Lippen): 21st at NCAA Southeast Regional Championships in 30 minutes, 55.59 seconds over the 10-kilometer course. Cavaliers finished fifth and earned at-large berth to NCAA Championships on Nov. 23 in Terre Haute, Ind.

College of Charleston sophomore Alex Hill (Dreher): 170th at NCAA Southeast Regional Championship in Louisville, Ky., in 34:27.13 over the 10k course.

Coastal Carolina junior David Mead (Ridge View): 216th at NCAA Southeast Regional Championship in 36:40.26.

FOOTBALL

Clemson senior left guard Thomas Austin (Camden) and freshman center Dalton Freeman (Pelion): Started and helped Tigers gain 454 yards in 43-23 victory against North Carolina State.

East Carolina freshman defensive back Leonard Paulk (Richland Northeast): Two tackles in 44-17 victory against Tulsa.

Georgia Tech senior linebacker Sedric Griffin (Fairfield Central) and senior defensive back Martin Frierson (Irmo): Griffin had five tackles and Frierson intercepted a pass and made two tackles in 49-10 victory against Duke.

Maryland freshman defensive lineman Justin Anderson (Blythewood): One tackle in 36-9 loss to Virginia Tech.

North Carolina State senior defensive tackle Leroy Burgess (Ridge View): One tackle in 43-23 loss to Clemson.

South Carolina freshman wide receiver Alshon Jeffery (Calhoun County) and sophomore left tackle Kyle Nunn (Sumter): Jeffery had six receptions for 57 yards and Nunn started and helped the Gamecocks gain 247 yards in 24-14 loss to No. 1 Florida.

South Carolina junior strong safety Blake Baxley (Lexington): One tackle against Florida.

Virginia junior wide receiver Dontrelle Inman (Batesburg-Leesville): Three receptions for 33 yards in 14-10 loss to Boston College.

Appalachian State sophomore wide receiver Brian Quick (Ridge View): Six receptions for 99 yards in 27-10 victory againstElon.

The Citadel sophomore tight end B.J. Phillips (Spring Valley) and junior linebacker Jonathan Glaspie (Spring Valley): Phillips had one catch for 18 yards and a touchdown and Glaspie recorded one tackle against Chattanooga.

Coastal Carolina junior safety Carlton Mitchell (Ridge View) and sophomore linebacker Corey Hawkins (Blythewood): Mitchell had three tackles and one pass breakup and Hawkins made one tackle in 41-37 victory against Presbyterian.

Presbyterian senior quarterback Tim Webb (Lugoff-Elgin): Completed two of seven passes with one interception for 16 yards against Coastal Carolina.

Presbyterian sophomore cornerback Justin Bethel (Blythewood) and junior cornerback Brian Wilson (Sumter): Bethel led team with 11 tackles and Wilson had four against Coastal Carolina.

Presbyterian freshman kicker Aaron Mayes (Blythewood): Made 46-yard field goal and four of five extra points against Coastal Carolina.

Presbyterian senior left tackle Nic Lanzo (Dutch Fork) and junior left guard Grayson Sumner (Lexington): Started and helped Blue Hose gain 487 yards against Coastal Carolina.

Presbyterian junior defensive end Darnell Epps (Crestwood) and freshman defensive end Iouli Burroughs (Dutch Fork): Epps made three tackles and recovered a fumble, and Burroughs had one tackle against Coastal Carolina.

Wofford freshman linebacker Anthony Carden (Lexington): Three tackles in 27-24 loss to Samford.

Newberry College senior quarterback Brandon Gantt (Heathwood Hall) and senior wide receiver Kelton Tindal (Sumter): Gantt completed 13 of 23 passes for 173 yards and two touchdowns and rushed seven times for 58 yards, and Tindal had one catch for 14 yards in 28-3 victory against Brevard.

Newberry College freshman defensive lineman Bruce Bagley (Ridge View), senior defensive lineman Marcus Nelums (Keenan) and sophomore linebacker Apollo Stretch (Ridge View): Bagley had six tackles, Nelums was in on four stops, recovered a fumble and broke up a pass, and Stretch made three tackles against Brevard.

Newberry College senior defensive lineman James McLamore (Irmo), freshman linebacker Malcolm Wilson (Blythewood) and freshman defensive back Brian Spencer (Ridge View): McLamore made one tackle for minus-1 yard, Wilson had one stop and Spencer intercepted a pass against Brevard.

RIFLE

Wofford senior Jordan Rawl (Heathwood Hall): Led team with 563 score to finish seventh at SEARC 4 match, and was second at Mercer Challenge with 552.

SOCCER

South Carolina senior defender Shannon Bigbie (Lexington) and sophomore midfielder/forward Kira Campbell (Lexington): Bigbie started and played entire match, and Campbell came off bench to play 33 minutes in 1-0 NCAA tournament second-round victory against Rutgers.

North Greenville freshman goalkeeper Justen Braddock (Ridge View): Allowed no goals in 13 minutes, 57 seconds of playing time in 5-1 victory against Chowan.

VOLLEYBALL

The Citadel freshman middle blocker Kaona Mercer (A.C. Flora): Seven kills in 3-1 loss to Furman, 12 kills and two blocks in 3-1 loss to Wofford, and two kills in 3-1 victory against South Carolina State.

South Carolina State junior outside hitter Jamie Gleaton (Airport): Seven kills in 3-0 loss to South Carolina, and 17 kills and career-high seven blocks in loss to The Citadel.

Presbyterian junior outside hitter Lisa Shelley (Blythewood): 14 kills and 15 digs in 3-1 victory agaisnt Radford, and 21 kills in 3-2 victory against Gardner-Webb.

SOCCER

Coastal Carolina freshman midfielder Leo Mukofsky (Irmo): Scored on a header in 1-1 tie with Winthrop in the Big South Conference semifinals. Winthrop advanced to the final with a 4-2 penalty-kick victory.

WRESTLING

Anderson sophomore Chris Francis (Lower Richland): Lost 133-pound match to Chattanooga's Josh Statum 4-3. Anderson lost dual match 40-0.

Newberry College freshman Deral Brown (Lugoff-Elgin): Fourth at UNC Pembroke Classic. Lost 6-4 in third-place match to UNC-Greensboro's Ivan Lopouchanski.

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If you know of other former Columbia-area high school athletes competing at the collegiate level or have a comment or suggestion, please email Hometown.Heroes@ymail.com.

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