Cleveland senior Ish Sanders went over the 2,000-point plateau Tuesday in a 61-58 victory over District 5-AAA opponent Soddy-Daisy.
Sanders, still undecided on a college choice, is averaging 23.3 points per game and now has 2,018 points in his career.
“To me, that’s just a testimony as to how hard he works,” Cleveland coach Jason McCowan said. “He hasn’t gone more than two days without being in the gym and working on some facet of his game. Every year he’s improved and gotten better at being an all-around player.
“With his work ethic, he deserves all the accolades he gets; 2,000 points is just the icing on the cake.”
Sanders and the 17-3 Blue Raiders take on rival Bradley Central tonight with a chance to inch closer to securing the regular-season District 5-AAA title.
Laney picks football
Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe senior Derrick Laney made a triumphant return to the wrestling mat this week, but that wasn’t the biggest news with the two-sport star.
Laney committed to play college football at West Georgia, choosing to accept the offer of a free education instead of trying to pursue a wrestling deal. Though the reigning Best of Preps Wrestler of the Year said it was a tough decision, he’s at ease with it.
“I’ve had all kinds of coaches call me, but what I’m excited about with West Georgia is being able to get an education — I want to be a special education teacher — and be pretty sure I can play,” Laney said. “If I went to a bigger school, there’s no guarantee I could play.”
Laney posted 111 tackles, including 40 for loss, for the Warriors this past season. He missed eight weeks of the wrestling season after suffering a rib injury in a match with Walker Valley’s Isaiah Simpson. Laney, who is 18-1 with 14 pins, has every intention of ending his stellar prep career on a high note.
“I’m not 100 percent yet, but I’m happy with the progress,” he said. “I’ll be ready for the area tournament next week.”
Baylor-McCallie tonight
Baylor will wrestle at McCallie at 6 tonight. The two are battling for higher seeds in next week’s state duals at Franklin. Both have lost to Father Ryan, which is likely to receive a first or second seed. Christian Brothers is expected to be the other team among the state’s top four.
Pool records set
The Baylor boys’ swimming and diving team edged McCallie 160-155 Thursday at McCallie in what Stan Corcorcan said was the closest meet in his 17 years as Blue Tornado coach. Baylor counterpart Dan Flack said it was “a tremendous atmosphere — as loud and raucous as I’ve ever heard for a high school meet.”
Baylor’s Christian Carbone set a pool record of 1:54.30 in winning the boys’ 200-yard individual medley, and McCallie set pool standards with both its 200 and 400 freestyle relays with Nash Bowen, Michael Zuppa, Kristopher Bryant and Sean Ryan.
Brainerd games earlier
Brainerd’s home basketball doubleheader against Austin-East has been moved from Saturday night to earlier in the day, starting with the girls’ game at 3 p.m.
Brainerd boys’ coach Robert High said the recommendation was made by Hamilton County school officials, who wanted the first game at noon. A-E boys’ coach Charles Mitchell told High the Roadrunners didn’t have access to a bus until around that time.
The decision comes in the aftermath of the fighting that broke out when Brainerd hosted Tyner last Friday. High thinks the move will hurt the gate somewhat.
“I just think there’s some overreaction,” High said. “Things happen, and we’ll just have to deal with them at this time.”