McMinn County High School standout Taylor Van Wagner recently committed to play soccer for Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tenn.
Van Wagner, a four-year starter for the Lady Cherokees, has 15 goals and 11 assists this season. She set the school assists record last season and has 53 for her career and is one of the leaders in career goals scored with 52.
She has helped McMinn to 33 wins and two region-tournament appearances in her career. The team is 7-8-2 this year against a schedule that has included seven teams that have been ranked in the top 10 in their respective classifications at some point.
“She’s always been a strong player,” McMinn coach David McDonald said. “We has a real competitive spirit, loves the game and has been a leader.
“She has great touch and good vision, which attributed to the assists record. All she wants to do is win.”
Baylor now No. 1
The Baylor girls’ soccer team moved to No. 1 in the latest Eurosportscoreboard.com rankings for Tennessee this week.
The Lady Red Raiders, ranked 23rd in the ESPN Rise national rankings, took over the state’s top overall spot after Knoxville Bearden was defeated last week.
Soddy-Daisy, which besides Baylor is the only undefeated team in the state, is third in Class AAA and sixth overall.
In Class A/AA, Notre Dame (4-7-2) is third, Signal Mountain (11-3-1) sixth, Chattanooga Christian (7-6-2) seventh and East Hamilton (11-3-1) ninth.
Walker coach of year
The TSSAA recently named Boyd-Buchanan’s Dustin Walker the state boys’ soccer coach of the year. He directed the Buccaneers to a 20-2-2 record and the Class A/AA state championship in May.
“It is a team effort at Boyd-Buchanan,” he said. “Definitely a blessing from God; it’s just one of those things where we’ve got three coaches that are working towards one purpose. [Coaches] Jason Owens and Jacob Campbell helped out so much and I couldn’t have been recognized without them, but it doesn’t hurt to have a great group of athletes that did whatever we said.
“It’s just a blessing to bring this honor to Boyd-Buchanan.”
McCallie/GPS No. 1
The combined McCallie and GPS rowing team earned the total points trophy for the high-school-age division of the Chattanooga Head Race last Saturday on the Tennessee River.
McCallie boats won the varsity 8, varsity 4, quad, novice 8 and novice 4 races. The varsity 8 crew won the day’s final 5,000-meter race in 15:45.3, second only to Georgia Tech in the regatta.