By Matt Present. CULLOWHEE, N.C. – With just over a minute to play, Ellie Garrison raced to a loose ball in the box, swung her left leg and drilled the game-winning goal to complete a brace and lift App State to a 3-2 road victory over Western Carolina to open the season.
Garrison, who was named a Preseason All-Sun Belt selection and a National Midfielder to Watch by United Soccer Coaches also converted a first-half penalty kick to register her second career two-goal game.
In the first meeting between the long-time SoCon rivals since 2013, App State (1-0) opened the scoring in the tenth minute of play. Graduate student Izzi Wood raced down the right wing and delivered a pinpoint cross to Kyli Switalski, who scored the season’s first goal, bouncing the shot off a Catamount defender and into the back of the net. The redshirt sophomore finished with a team-high four shots in the contest.
Despite App State carrying a 2-0 lead into halftime, Western Carolina battled back to tie the match in the second half, scoring on a pair of penalty kicks, one in the 50th minute and another in the 74th minute of play.
Garrison’s game-winning goal came with 69 seconds to play. Anna Claire Jacobi began the play with a goal kick. Garrison, from midfield, headed the ball to Switalski on the left wing. The redshirt sophomore from High Point, N.C., dribbled into the Catamount end and crossed the ball into the box where Wood was waiting. A Western Carolina defender slide-tackled the ball away from Wood, but Garrison was able to win the footrace — and win the game for App State.
The Mountaineers showcased their depth in the season opener, with six Mountaineers making their collegiate debuts. Jacobi, a redshirt freshman, started as the Mountaineer goalkeeper, while true freshman Maddie Williams played all 90 minutes starting at center back.
App State will open its home season on Sunday when the Mountaineers welcome the Miami Hurricanes to Boone for the first ever meeting between the two programs. Kickoff from The Valley is set for 1 p.m. and the match will be broadcast on ESPN+.
By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — It was only an early, preseason scrimmage but the Watauga and East Surry high school teams and their fans got a late summer taste of what the upcoming season will be like. Yes, football at all levels is fast upon us, so time to get a glimpse of some of the action.
All images captured by photographer Jared Everett and processed by David Rogers for High Country Sports. Click on ANY image for larger display in Slide Show mode.
By David Rogers. GREENSBORO, N.C. — For all intents and purposes, Hurricane Helene took a “wrecking ball” to the front nine holes of the Asheville Municipal Golf Course last September. When you consider the lives lost and estimates of $59 billion in damages from the storm across all of North Carolina, it is easy to dismiss the carnage at Asheville MUNI as just one among hundreds of similar stories.
That would be a mistake. The demonstrated community passion for the iconic recreational venue that turns 100 years old in 2027 is undeniable, as is its role as an economic engine for the Asheville region.
ASheville MUNI golf course was under water after Hurricane Helene swept through on Sept. 26-27, 2024. Photo submitted.
There is even an overlapping connection to the High Country: Boone and Blowing Rock-based, professional golf course architect Ron Cutlip was announced in late July as being awarded the restoration design contract and will collaborate with Mike Bennett, a partner with Williamsburg, Va.- based Commonwealth Golf Partners in leading the project.
“We are the operating management company for Asheville MUNI on behalf of the city,” explained Bennett in an interview with High Country Sports at The Wyndham Championship, the recent PGA Tour event, on Aug. 3 at Sedgefield Country Club.
“Two days before the storm,” Bennett recalled, “I was on the MUNI course with Brad Becken, the head of the Pinehurst-based Donald Ross Society. We were reviewing the course because they had given us grant money for some earlier planned restoration work. As we were going around the course, it started raining and there was a forecast for more precipitation in the next 24 hours. I drove back home to Williamsburg but the next day our superintendent in Asheville called and told me those rain showers were going to be a lot more than anyone thought. They were calling for mass flooding. That’s when we realized it might be pretty bad for our course.”
Collectively, we said, ‘No, we are going to rebuild it.’
Hurricane Helene arrived the night of Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. Bennett said the flooding crested the next afternoon.
“Then I arrived on Monday to survey the damage and, frankly, it was beyond anyone’s imagination. Someone jokingly suggested the property could be used for a BMX motocross venue, but collectively we said, ‘No, we are going to rebuild it.’”
Chris Smith (left), President of the Asheville Buncombe Sports Commission, greets one of the Wyndham Championship tournament patrons on Aug. 3. Photographic image by David Rogers for High Country Sports
Bennett said he was on the selection committee for awarding the restoration’s design contract.
“We are super excited about hiring Ron,” said Bennett. “The MUNI golf course was the first RFQ (request for qualification) posted by the City of Asheville. That is testament to how important this was for the city, but also to all the efforts by our group to get everything ready. When you consider all the destruction of buildings and property in the area, it is quite an honor to be the first posted RFQ.
This isn’t just a design project. There is a mitigation and resiliency component, too.
“A large number of professional golf course architects responded to the RFQ,” Bennett added. “At the end of the day, what won it for the Cutlip team is their experience in Donald Ross course restoration. In their presentation, they talked about all the items that are going to be important and specific to this project. For example, Ron has a proprietary bunker drainage system that will help us reduce any future flooding. They really seemed to understand the scope, that it wasn’t just a design project. There is a mitigation and resiliency component, too.”
Representing the Asheville MUNI recovery effort at The Wyndham Championship were Cutlip; Bennett; Chris Smith, President of the Asheville Buncombe Sports Commission; Nate Smith, responsible for social media and marketing for the course; and Pat Warren, the on-site Commonwealth Golf Partners manager and golf pro at the MUNI course.
In talking with members of the Asheville team at The Wyndham Championship, that word, “resilient,” was a common descriptor of the course, the area and the people.
People pulled out their chainsaws. Complete strangers worked together. People of different political ideologies came together as neighbors.
Nate Smith articulated a broader perspective about the recovery efforts.
“Hurricane Helene is the worst thing to ever occur in western North Carolina, by far,” he said. “Personally, I lost a house and a car. I know people who lost family members in the storm. Even almost a year later, the devastation is still easy to see. There are unavoidable scenes throughout the city. You see mountainsides with hundreds of trees blown over, still. You see washed out roads. You see places where there once was a 6-inch deep creek that became a 25-feet high torrent of a river.
“But I am really proud of our community,” Smith added. “The resiliency, how we all came together to keep people’s spirits up. We didn’t have water. We didn’t have electricity. We didn’t have shelter. We certainly weren’t feeling safe. But people pulled out their chainsaws. Complete strangers worked together. People from different political ideologies came together as good neighbors. Those are things I will always remember about that storm well beyond the tragic circumstances.”
Help Arrives
Organizers of The Wyndham Championship in Greensboro — almost 170 miles away from the Asheville course — responded, generously. With a strong connection through golf and personal histories, they made Asheville MUNI’s restoration a beneficiary of fundraising efforts. Everywhere you turned during the Wyndham tournament, there was a volunteer hawking 50/50 raffle tickets. Asheville’s recovery team was given a premium sponsor tent location to tell the restoration story and receive donations.
“A fellow by the name of Mark Brazil is the reason we are here at The Wyndham Championship,” said Chris Smith, the Asheville Sports Commission president. “Mark is Chief Executive Officer of The Wyndham. He is a native of Asheville and grew up in Biltmore Forest. Obviously, Mark knew what happened to his former hometown with Hurricane Helene. He is the one who presented us with this opportunity. We receive proceeds from the 5K, from the concert the other night and a portion of the 50/50 raffle, as well as anything we can raise here at the booth. And it has proven to be a terrific opportunity. We have had an abundance of dumb luck, establishing contact with some of the professional golfers and their families, many looking to help through their foundations.
“While Mark Brazil gets the lion’s share of credit for us being here, a guy by the name of Rob Goodman has also been instrumental in our success this week,” added Smith. “Rob is an Asheville native and The Wyndham Championship media director. The last few days, he kept me busy doing interviews with radio and TV stations.”
Image capture courtesy of Asheville MUNI restoration project video, courtesy of Friends of Asheville MUNI.
Getting The Job
These are heady times for Boone and Blowing Rock’s Cutlip, who last year was inducted into the prestigious American Society of Golf Course Architects. Donald Ross was one of the 14 founding fathers of ASGCA, so having a chance to work on one of Ross’ courses like Asheville MUNI is special, exciting and humbling, he admitted.
“This is such an honor,” acknowledged Cutlip. “The course we are standing on, Sedgefield, is a Donald Ross designed course, just like Asheville MUNI. Both were built in the mid-1920s. Keep in mind I will not be designing the course because that was done by Ross a hundred years ago. Working from preserved copies of his original plans, we will be restoring the front nine to its original greens, fairways and tee boxes. I am part of a team, including Biohabitats and Forse Design.”
Hurricane Helene came in like a lion…
Chris Smith grew up playing golf at MUNI and has vivid memories of the course where he learned to play the game.
“Asheville MUNI is an historic course, beloved by people all across the state but especially those who grew up in or are now living in western North Carolina,” explained Smith. “Now the front nine is unrecognizable. A lot of rain over two days before the storm saturated the ground. Then the 10-20 inches of rain the storm brought to the region was not just what fell on the course but the water from the surrounding higher areas flowed down to and through the lower areas, too, and then you had the overflowing banks of the Swannanoa River. It was a flash flood of gigantic proportions, uprooting trees, sweeping away structures and even dislodging concrete and pavement. What were once pure, smooth greens and lush fairways are now disaster areas.”
Smith estimated that the restoration will cost about $12 million.
“FEMA has taken an interest in the project and we are told will contribute a good part of the restoration costs,” said Smith. “But the entire community has gotten behind the fundraising efforts, too, including the city and so many individuals for whom the course is special. This weekend, we’ve had a steady stream of Wyndham Championship patrons stopping by and giving whatever they can spare, from $1 to $100. Every dollar helps and we appreciate the support.”
The better job we do and the faster we can get it done, the better off we will all be.
After the Hurricane Helene waters receded, Asheville MUNI was left with extensive debris and damage, including scars from necessary rescue efforts. Image capture from Friends of Asheville video.
Cutlip estimated the restoration project will require about 18 months to finish, assuming all goes well and, of course, the weather cooperates. He said it may be six months before any actual work can get started as they obtain the necessary state and local permits, he said.
For a course that sees some 41,000 rounds of golf played on it, annually, to have the front nine sitting idle for an extended period could be catastrophic, financially. The estimated six months to wait for the permitting process to run its course complicates the matter, too — but with opportunity.
At The Wyndham Championship, there was enthusiastic interest among visiting tournament patrons, young and older, about Asheville MUNI’s recoverh efforts. Photographic image by David Rogers for High Country Sports
“Hurricane Helene came in like a lion,” said Pat Warren, Asheville MUNI’s head golf pro. “It was quite catastrophic, ripping up greens and fairways, as well as bringing a lot of debris onto the course. We have set up a disc golf course on that part of the property, to monetize it during the permitting process. The disc golf baskets cost about $18,000, and once we obtain all of the permits to begin the restoration, those baskets can easily be moved and used at another location.”
In talking with the group, one thing became clear: the people restoring Asheville MUNI are here to stay.
“When a natural disaster like this happens, it is not uncommon for those affected or even literally uprooted to move away,” said Nate Smith. “I get it. But I am a native of Asheville. I grew up here. I am now a realtor in Asheville. My family is in Asheville and Asheville is my home, the place where I want to raise my kids. We are super plugged into the community. As long as I live in America, I will live in Asheville.
“Specific to this project, I think part of the appeal is the rise in interest among golfers to bring back Donald Ross designs in golf courses. It is a super cool phenomenon,” Smith added. “For the Asheville MUNI golf course, it is an absolutely amazing thing to do because people are hungry for it. The better job we can do and the faster we can get it done, we are all going to be better off. How can you beat a classic Donald Ross golf course that is five minutes from downtown Asheville and with long-range mountain views? It has an incredible history, not just as North Carolina’s first public golf course, but as the first golf course to integrate in the South. It has the longest-running, African American-run golf tournament in the world with the Skyview event every year.”
Waxing philosophical, Smith said, “The MUNI course is such a community center. What makes America really wonderful is the coming together of different groups of people for a common goal. That happens at Asheville MUNI every day. All sorts of different folks are there, playing, meeting one another and having a good time playing golf.”
By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — With a promising display of roster depth, Watauga High School’s volleyball team swept visiting West Wilkes, 3-0 (25-15, 25-12, 25-16), on Aug. 12 at Lentz Eggers Gym.
After the match, Pioneer head coach was all smiles, especially in having seen a consistent level of play throughout, regardless of which student-athletes were on the floor, representing Watauga.
Ava Zaragoza puts up a set for a Watauga attack on Aug. 12 vs. West Wilkes. Photographic image by David Rogers for High Country Sports
“This was an opportunity to try a lot of things. The strength of the opponent we saw yesterday vs. Hickory doesn’t allow you to make some of the (early season) changes you really want to make, so seeing the consistent level of play and, in some cases, a rising level of play from the players coming in, was really good to see. I was able to make subs and we were able to continue the game plan. There was no drop in the level of play. We have a strong team, all the way through.”
Leading 2-0, Pryor substituted freely early in the third set and there was an opening period of concern when West Wilkes jumped out to a 6-0 lead. That advantage didn’t last long as the new group of Pioneers found their footing and sparked a rally. Pryor said she was confident that her group could play through and overcome the deficit.
Sophomore outside hitter Gracyn Phelps plays the ball on Aug. 12 vs. West Wilkes, with Lainey Gragg (12) and Rae Coffey (15) looking on. Photographic image by David Rogers for High Country Sports
“I was pretty confident they could pull it together. We were losing focus a little bit, being the first game (of the year for several of the players). And they did. They brought the focus back in and dominated,” said Pryor. “Overall tonight, we were able to execute things according to the game plan, both on offense and defense.”
We were playing together and we were winning.
It was another match where hard-hitting senior outside hitter, Emma Pastusic, was again featured in both the front row as well as at the service line. The 2-sport athlete has developed significant arm and upper body strength while training for volleyball as well as for discus and shot put in track and field. And yet, her explosiveness — elevation off the floor — may be one of the defining skillsets to mark the Watauga season. Her strong connection with setter Lainey Gragg was obvious, with Gragg racking up 35 assists, about half leading to one of Pastusic’s 17 kills.
Emma Pastusic (18) finishes off a kill shot vs. West Wilkes on Aug. 12 in Lentz Eggers Gym. Photographic image by David Rogers for High Country Sports
“My serving was a little off last night (vs. Hickory), but I worked on it in practice today,” said Pastusic. “(On the throws up) I was able to get the ball a little more in front of me, so I was able to direct the ball a little better. I obviously have my top-spin serve, which is the most aggressive, but it also remains a high risk serve so there may be more misses. If I need something more reliable, I go to a float serve or standing serve. With a top-spin serve, you are throwing the ball higher so you are able to get the top spin on it. It is designed to go over the net and drop really fast. With the float, it is more of a flat serve that runs off of people’s platforms.”
On her explosiveness off the floor, especially in kill shot opportunities, Pastusic is reaping the rewards of plain, hard work in preparation for the season.
Watauga’s Ashlyn Smith receives a West Wilkes serve and passes to setter Lainey Gragg on Aug. 12 in Lentz Eggers Gym. Rae Coffey (15) and Caroline Childers (23, background) are at the ready for backup, if needed. Photographic image by David Rogers for High Country Sports
“I have definitely been working on my vertical this summer,” said Pastusic. “I reached 10 feet during the summer and 10-feet, two inches in a game. It’s starting to ramp up and my work is starting to pay off.”
Almost all, if not all, of the Watauga players compete with travel teams in the summer, most with Appalachian Volleyball Club but some off the mountain as well. As much as they enjoy those opportunities to compete and hone their skills, they are universal in wanting to play for and represent Watauga High School.
“It is just amazing. We all play ball in the summer, but with these girls as teammates, on this court and with all of these fans, it is a different kind of feeling,” said junior outside hitter Ashlyn Smith. “With the loss last night, we had (extra motivation) to do better. We were playing together. We were playing united and that showed up on the court. We were playing together and we were winning.”
Team Statistical Leaders
Kills – Emma Pastusic (17)
Assists – Lainey Gragg (35)
Receptions – Ashlyn Smith (30)
Blocks – Kora Knight (3)
Digs – Caroline Childers (26)
Serving Aces – Lainey Gragg (3)
Now 1-1 in the young season, Watauga has a rematch with Hickory on the road, Aug. 18, with first serve slated for 5:30 p.m. in the Red Tornadoes’ gymnasium.
BONUS PHOTOS
Watauga Volleyball during a timeout vs. West Wilkes on Aug. 12. Photographic image by David Rogers for High Country Sports
By David Rogers. TAYLORSVILLE, N.C. — It is just the beginning of the 2025 high school cross country season in the High Country but the Watauga Pioneers seem to have returned to dominant form in the new 6A/7A Northwestern Conference.
In the Aug. 11 NWC Triple Threat meet, the Pioneer men and women exceeded expectations in both times and finishing places.
The “Triple Threat” event is unique in that it is 5K of running — but broken into three separate races, each separated by 5-10 minutes. The three segments are 1-mile, a half-mile, and then a 1.5 mile run to finish things.
According to Pioneer assistant coach Scott Townsend, all the men start each segment, with the women starting 30 seconds later. Then, once the final women’s harrier has completed the segment, there is a five to seven minute break and the next segment starts.
“The race was held on the campus of Alexander Central and multiple terrain changes from grass, to trail to track,” explained Townsend.
Head coach Randy McDonough was pleased with what he saw.
“The kids really showed up today,” said McDonough. “The times most of the kids ran are times we hoped for at the end of the year. We are pretty excited about our chances this year.”
As usual, the Pioneers have a big contingent of runners this year, pushing each other as well as themselves. Some are in it to win, others for the camaraderie, and still more for their personal development when you talk to them individually.
In the Women’s 1.5 Mile race, Watauga had 37 student athletes competing, compared to St. Stephens with nine, McDowell with one, Alexander Central with three, Freedom with 13, and South Caldwell with three.
Watauga swept the first five places at the 1.5 Mile distance, led by Cali Townsend (No. 1), Janie Beach-Verhay (2), Josie Mayo (3), Lilly Kimbrough (4), and Nora Price (5). After St. Stephens’ Jade Gonzalez-Cardenas crossed the finish line at No. 6, Watauga captured the next four spots with Lainey Johnston (7), Sophia Stull (8), Susanna Goff (9) and Sydney Townsend (10). All in all, the Pioneers captured 17 of the top 25 finishing positions in the Women’s 1.5 Mile segment.
In the Men’s 1.5 Mile segment, Watauga swept the first six spots, led by James Bostrom (No. 1), Sean Rea (2), Zeke Walker (3), Grady Gates (4), Elliott Taft (5), and James Isaac (6). In total, the Pioneers took 12 of the top 25 places, with Cormac Walker, Brian Newmark, Levi Anderson, AJ McAulay, Parker Williams and Caleb Duvall rounding out the leading two dozen.
In the Women’s 1-Mile segment, Watauga swept the first six spots, with Townsend, Beach-Verhay, Kimbrough, Johnston, Mayo and Price capturing the honors. Again, the Pioneers were overwhelmingly dominant in taking 15 of the top 25 places.
In the Men’s 1-Mile run, South Caldwell upset Watauga in the team standings, thanks to a first place finish by the Spartans’ Bryce Corpening. Watauga nonetheless finished second, with nine runners in the top 25, led by Bostrom (No. 2), Rea (7), Gates (8), Zeke Walker (9), Taft (10), Anderson (13), Newmark (16), James (17) and McAulay (25).
In the Women’s Half-Mile, Watauga took the seven of the top 10 spots, including Townsend (No. 1), Beach-Verhay (3), Mayo (4), Johnston (5), Kimbrough (6), Price (7) and Stull (10). The Pioneers took team first place honors, including 14 of the top 25 finishers.
In the Men’s Half-Mile race, the Pioneers captured nine of the top 25 spots, led by Bostrom (No. 1), Zeke Walker (8), Gates (9), Newmark (12), Rea (15), Anderson (16), Taft (17), James (18) and McAulay (20).
The Pioneers’ assistant coach, Scott Townsend, put the early season performance into perspective.
“We performed well and have positioned ourselves for a great season,” said Townsend. “We measured up well against the conference competition and many of our student-athletes, when their times were compiled, are hitting their season goal times in just week 3 of the season. The summer work is paying off and both the women’s and men’s teams are poised to finish well at the regional and state levels.
“MileSplit NC has recently ranked the our women’s team No. 18 out of all classifications in North Carolina and No. 3 in the 6A class. The men’s team is projected as No. 5 in 6A based on last year’s returners. So we have work to do, but love where we are this early in the season.”
Next up for the Pioneer harriers is “Class of the Classes” on Saturday, Aug. 16, beginning at 9 a.m. at the Watauga High School home course, starting below the Football Stadium, down the gravel road to the starting field and to the Greenway.
By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — Watauga jumped out to a 2-0 lead early in the second half, but visiting Hickory battled back to earn a 2-2 tie on Aug. 11 at Jack Groce Stadium.
Near the end of a first half defensive battle, Watauga junior forward Evan Mawhinney attacked from the left, zipping a shot along the ground past the outstretched arms of Hickory goalkeeper Anthony Jarrett, to give the Pioneers a slim advantage going into halftime. He added the Pioneers’ second goal early in the second half, seemingly giving Watauga control, but the Red Tornadoes’ senior forward Braeden McCourt tallied two goals of his own in the second half, the final tying shot coming with seven minutes to go in the game.
Watauga junior forward Tegan Martinez (16) battles for possession vs. Hickory on Aug. 11, 2025, at Jack Groce Stadium. Photographic image by David Rogers for High Country Sports.
Afterwards, Watauga head coach Josh Honeycutt implored his charges not to relax at any point in a game, no matter how comfortable they felt a lead might be.
“Overall, it was a good game,” Honeycutt said after the final whistle. “First half, we played quality soccer. We did exactly what we wanted to do. We were able to exploit them with our speed, but then we didn’t finish our opportunities… We can’t let (teams) hang around and give them hope. We played great, but we got out of our style in the second half and got a little bit lazy. We lost track of their guy.”
Watauga’s preferred “style” is keeping possession with short, crisp passes, working the ball down the field.
“A long, diagonal ball works for us because we have speed,” Honeycutt said, “but we can’t rely on that. Ball control is our style. We have to stay composed, keep the ball and move it around. We can’t lean into what another team does.”
Watauga senior forward Shiris Kandel settles the ball in receipt of a long pass on Aug. 11, 2025, vs. Hickory. Photographic image by David Rogers for High Country Sports.
After a young team last year, Watauga could be a team to watch in the upcoming season and possibly into the state playoffs.
“We are loaded with juniors and seniors this year,” said Honeycutt. “We have two sophomores, 13 juniors and eight seniors, so we are very upperclassmen heavy. That is certainly something we need to take advantage of this year. They work well together and they are a great group of guys. It is a good opportunity to make something special this year.”
The Pioneers are back in action at Hibriten on Monday, Aug. 18 (6:30 p.m.), then back at home vs. Cuthbertson on Aug. 21 (6 p.m.).
By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — Certainly, a four-set loss (21-25, 25-20, 19-25, 22-25) to the visiting Hickory Red Tornadoes was disappointing, but the see-saw battle was something to build off of for the Watauga High School volleyball team.
“This was our first match coming into the season,” said Watauga head coach Kim Pryor, afterwards. “I feel great about where we are. We have a few adjustments to make but I am really, really pleased with what I saw today.”
Watauga’s Lainey Gragg sets vs. Hickory on Aug. 11, 2025. Photographic image by David Rogers for High Country Sports.
Watauga is bringing a fairly young team into the 2025 season.
“We had a lot of sophomores last year that are now juniors,” said Pryor. “We grew together last season and I feel that will be even more evident as we get further into our season. Hickory is a tough team to play right out of the starting gate, but as we adjust and make changes and work on some things, we will be fine.”
In three of the four sets, the Pioneers jumped out to early leads only to have the Red Tornadoes scramble back and take control.
“Overall, as a team, we can be scrappier,” said Pryor. “We had a few lulls that are uncharacteristic of Watauga volleyball but we will fix those and move on.”
Ashlyn Smith (24) digs out a Hickory serve on Aug. 11, 2025, at Lentz Eggers Gym. Photographic image by David Rogers for High Country Sports.
Starting libero Caroline Childers was one of the very few freshmen on last year’s varsity, so part of the growth from one year to the next — and comes into the season with a lot of optimism.
“I am very excited to be back playing. I love my team and I love my teammates. I think we are going to have a great season. Over the summer, I played travel ball with App Volleyball 15 Elite, but playing for the high school team is a little different. Tonight, I thought we fought pretty hard. There are some things that we can tune up but after a few more practices I expect we will do better, next time.”
Ashlyn Smith (24) sees kill shot opportunity on Aug. 11, 2025, vs. Hickory. Photographic image by David Rogers for High Country Sports.
One of the notable features of Watauga’s attack is senior Emma Pastusic’s powerful hits, including big serves.
“Emma has been working on her serves and, as a team, we have been talking about serving aggressively,” said Pryor. “She has multiple serves that can be effective, from a top spin to a (different rotation). We use her serves as an advantage for the team. She can attack on all levels, attacking back row, attacking front row. As we perfect that, and with everyone else doing the same thing, we should have great (results).”
Statistical leaders for the Pioneers:
Kills: Emma Pastusic (17), Kora Knight (9)
Assists: Lainey Gragg (35)
Digs: Carolina Childers (26), Ashlyn Smith (12)
Service Aces: Lainey Gragg (3), Caroline Childers (2), Gracie Collins (2), Ashlyn Smith (2), Emma Pastusic (1)
Watauga will have little rest before their next action, Tuesday, Aug. 12, vs. West Wilkes, also at Lentz Eggers Gym. The junior varsity match is slated for 4:30 p.m., with varsity scheduled to follow at 6 p.m.
By David Rogers. CHARLOTTE, N.C. — It was only a preseason football game between the NFL’s Cleveland Browns and Carolina Panthers but there were a few storylines:
Cleveland Browns rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders looked like he belonged and may have strengthened his cause in the team’s 5-way, 2025 quarterback competition with Joe Flacco (resting), Kenny Pickett (injury), Dillon Gabriel (injury) and Deshaun Watson (injury). Flacco is likely to be the Week 1 starter, but Sanders made a good case for the backup role.
For the most part, Sanders looked decisive whether throwing quickly or scrambling out of trouble, completing 14 of 23 pass attempts for 138 yards and 2 TDs. He showed poise in the pocket but stood out when throwing on the run.
For the Panthers, starting QB Bryce Young and rookie wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan looked like they have established a healthy connection, including a 30-yard pass along the right sideline, perfectly thrown over the outstretched arms of the defender.
Cleveland won, 30-10, which means relatively little in a preseason game. A key statistic that stood out: turnovers. Cleveland didn’t suffer any, Carolina 2, one an interception and the other a turnover on downs.
Take away the turnovers by the offense and the Carolina defense played well enough to keep the game much closer. That said, with Sanders playing the first three quarters for Cleveland, the Carolina defense, overall, gave up 308 yards of total net offense and allowed the Browns to score successfully on 4-of-5 trips into the red zone.
Carolina QB Bryce Young started the game and played a couple of series before giving way to Andy Dalton. Photo courtesy of Carolina Panthers
By Bret Strelow. BOONE, N.C. — App State alumnus John Michael Cole, who served as a team captain in Boone and has helped direct multiple schools to NCAA Championships appearances as a collegiate coach, has been named the head coach of the Mountaineers’ men’s golf program, Director of Athletics Doug Gillin announced Thursday.
“We’re excited to welcome John Michael and his wife, Emery, back to App State,” Gillin said. “John Michael is a proven winner. He’s an alum who bleeds black and gold. We look forward to his leadership of our men’s golf team.”
The 33-year-old Cole spent the 2024-25 season as a Sun Belt Conference head coach at Georgia State, which posted four top-five tournament finishes and climbed to a 10th-place league finish after placing 14th at the 2024 Sun Belt Championship a season before he arrived.
He helped lead VCU to the Atlantic 10 Conference title and a berth in the NCAA Chapel Hill Regional as a Rams assistant in 2024 after being the head coach at Division II Fayetteville State for five seasons, leading his hometown school in southeastern North Carolina to NCAA Championships berths in two of his final three seasons and earning an HBCU National Coach of the Year honor in 2023.
As a collegiate player, Cole won five tournaments and was named the CIAA Player of the Year as a Fayetteville State freshman before transferring to App State for his final three seasons (fall 2011-spring 2014). He contributed a final-round 68 to a first-place team finish at the 2011 Hummingbird Intercollegiate, then had multiple top-10 finishes as a Mountaineer and played on three professional tours, winning the 2015 Crow Creek Invitational on the Coastal Players Tour.
He is an Appalachian State University graduate with a bachelor’s degree in recreation and park management, plus a minor in communication.
“I want to thank Chancellor Heather Norris, Director of Athletics Doug Gillin, Senior Associate Athletics Director Sarah Strickland and many others for giving me this opportunity,” Cole said. “Once I began this journey of collegiate coaching nine years ago, I knew I wanted to find my way back to Boone and be the head men’s golf coach at Appalachian State University. There is a different standard and expectation of winning while representing the block A, and I can’t wait to bring that winning culture to App State Men’s Golf.”
Cole began his coaching career in his early 20s as the first head coach of the men’s and women’s golf teams at Fayetteville Technical Community College in 2016, building both programs from scratch. He earned NJCAA Region X Coach of the Year accolades in 2017 and led the Trojans to a victory at the 2018 NJCAA Region X Championship to clinch a berth in the NJCAA DII National Championship tournament.
Cole was named Fayetteville State’s head coach later that year, and he promptly led the Broncos to a runner-up finish at the 2019 CIAA Championship, the program’s best showing in seven years. The Broncos returned to the NCAA Championships thanks to a fourth-place NCAA Regional finish in 2021, and Fayetteville State won its first CIAA title since 2012 during the 2023 season, when a second CIAA Coach of the Year award preceded a second-place NCAA Regional finish and another NCAA Championships berth.
Caden Hodges was an honorable mention All-American during Cole’s time at Fayetteville State, while five of his players earned All-CIAA honors and two were named to the Ping All-Region Team.
After moving on to VCU to work with head coach Andy Walker, the Rams recorded the lowest single-round total in school history on the final day of the NCAA Chapel Hill Regional en route to an eighth-place showing, the program’s best regional finish in more than 20 years.
In his first season as a Division I head coach, Cole helped lead Georgia State to a second-place finish in the Panthers’ third fall tournament, highlighted by a third-place individual finish. They were in seventh place entering the final round of the 2025 Sun Belt Championship.
Cole attended Cape Fear High School in Fayetteville and is married to Emery Sherrill Cole.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING:
Andy Walker, VCU head coach during the 2023-24 season and current Eastern Michigan head coach:
“Definitely one of the best hires this summer. John Michael’s rapid rise up the college coaching ranks comes from his work ethic and how he connects with his players. I know he’s excited to get back to his alma mater. The Sun Belt Conference now has a new contender.”
Steve Conley, head coach at Fayetteville’s Methodist University (15 national titles in 38 years)
“John Michael has a passion for coaching, the game of golf and for App State. There is no doubt in my mind that he will be successful there.”
By David Rogers. BLOWING ROCK, N.C. — Ignorance is bliss… Well, at least we should be able to laugh at ourselves.
Growing up in the foothills north of Oildale, Calif., my family literally lived in the oilfields about 10 miles out of town. About a half-mile from my high school was Bakersfield Speedway. It was a dirt track and clouds of dust would pour into the lighted skies above it just about every weekend.
As a snotty-nosed, ragtag kid from the oilfields but with a yearning ambition for something more than my upbringing offered, I never went to a race at the track but I got close enough to know I didn’t want any part of it. With cigarettes dangling out of their mouths, the beer-guzzlin’, cussin’ and swearin’ rednecks wearing “wife beater” T-shirts were not the crowd I wanted to be a part of. I expect there were a lot of nice folks, looking back, but my impressions of that stock car racing crowd… well, it wasn’t something I wanted to be a part of.
And I carried that bias all the way through college and into young adulthood. When Bakersfield’s Rick Mears was winning the Indianapolis 500, I became a fan of open-wheel, Indy Car-type racing. It seemed somewhat more refined than the guys from 1960s NASCAR and stock car racing that you saw on television and the local dirt track. I got little thrill from “tradin’ paint.”
He explained the sport had changed a lot over the years.
In June of 1997, I was living and working in Newport Beach, Calif., doing stock market research. I focused on small and micro cap companies, usually with little in the way of institutional ownership but with an emerging story that might soon catch the attention of the big money managers. One of the companies I was looking at was a small outfit called Kaiser Ventures, which had been created to redevelop the land east of Los Angeles where Kaiser Steel Mills operated, previously. Kaiser Steel had gone bankrupt and Kaiser Ventures was charged with reclaiming and redeveloping the property, ridding it of any environmental concerns and hazardous wastes while repurposing it for profitable enterprises.
Included in the redevelopment was the sale of a little more than 500 acres to Penske Motorsports for the development and construction of the California Speedway. When the transaction was completed, Kaiser Ventures owned an equity stake in Penske and Penske owned stock in Kaiser Ventures.
Curious as to how the whole site (roughly 1,800 acres) was being redeveloped, including the California Speedway for about a third of it, I decided to attend Kaiser Venture’s annual shareholder meeting on Friday, June 22, 1997.
I won’t bore you with all the business-related gobbledy-gook, but during breakfast at the early morning meeting in Fontana, Calif., I met Greg Penske, the president of Penske Motorsports and the son of Roger Penske. I shared with Greg both my attraction to open wheel racing and the connection to Rick Mears, as well as my skepticism of any virtues in stock car racing.
Now and then, you just have to be willing to laugh at yourself.
He understood my early impressions of stock car racing but added the sport had changed a lot over the years. In fact, he said, the inaugural California 500 was being held that weekend and later that same morning was pole qualifying for the Cup Series race — and invited me to be his guest at the track for the qualifying session. He threw out a few names, like Jeff Gordon, who would be making qualifying runs, as if I knew who those people were.
Initially, I declined, saying I had too much work to do back in Newport Beach, but he was persuasive and soon we jumped on a shuttle to the track.
Now you have to remember that I was pretty naive about stock car racing at the time. I knew nothing about the sport and its players. I knew even less about its popularity. In fact, up to that point I could care less.
As we rode along, approaching the track, I wondered aloud if there was an RV manufacturing plant close by because there were these huge lots where RVs were parked, shoulder to shoulder. “No,” I was told, “those are all here for the races this weekend.”
A little further, I saw parking lots full of cars. Being not too slow on the upbeat I said, “And next you are going to tell me that all of those cars are people going to the race, too.”
“Yes,” came the reply.
About that time we drove under the outside perimeter of the Speedway and under the track, emerging at the west end of the garage area. Looking up to the main grandstands on our right, I saw a packed crowd numbering over 100,000 — and this was on a Friday morning for pole qualifying in Southern California! This wasn’t Charlotte, Daytona or Bristol. It was a suburb 50 miles west of Los Angeles!
As we rumbled along, I looked to my left and saw big trucks (haulers for the cars and teams), all shiny and wrapped to display all of the major brands of sponsors, including Budweiser, Dupont, Texaco, Coors, John Deere… more than 40 of them, all lined up. And there wasn’t a cigarette-chompin’, beer-guzzlin’ fella to be found! Obviously, there was serious money invested in this sport and the proverbial light bulbs were starting to get turned on in my head.
Exiting the shuttle and entering the garage, Greg and I started walking down a long corridor between the various car stalls. They seemed mostly empty, but we walked directly to the center of the facility. There, we walked up to a group of four guys in overalls (mechanic suits, I guessed) stood in conversation.
As we approached, Greg greeted the fellows enthusiastically, and introduced me. “This is my new friend, David,” he said to the guys, one by one introducing them as Roger, Dale, Dale and Rusty. I extended my hand to each one and then asked, “Which cars are you guys mechanics for?”
Remember what I said about ignorance? I guess the same could be said about innocence, too, like, “… from the mouth of babes,” as the saying goes.
With the muffled roar of stock car engines just outside the building, I didn’t understand why these five guys’ laughter echoed so loudly off the inside walls of the building.
At least not until I learned the identities of the men in mechanic suits: Roger Penske, Dale Earnhardt, Dale Jarrett and Rusty Wallace.
Now and then, I still have a good laugh at myself.
