Olympian12

Oak Hill won the AA Region III golf tournament today and James Monroe was second. Scott Prince of Shady Spring and Phillip Shrewsberry of James Monroe were co-medalist with both shooting 71's.

Oak Hill won the Region III Golf Tournament today at Grandview Country Club and James Monroe finished second. Both teams will now advance to the state tournament in Wheeling. I personally thought Shady Spring would win the regional but they had a disasterous team effort. Their number 2 player shot 96 and the number 2 player shot 93. The only one who played a decent round was Scott Prince who shot a 71. However, I was told he wasn't very happy because he missed 2 birdie putts within 6 feet and a 2 foot par putt. Next week will be a real test at the Spiedel Course because it is very narrow and hilly with many bunkers and rolling greens. How come we never see any articles in the newspapers about high school golf? Many of these players are very good athletes and excellent students and isn't that what high school athletics is all about? I don't believe there are many of us hackers that can shoot par on any course. Dexter Moore of Bluefield is a very good golfer and an excellent basketball player. I bet that he would tell you that golf is more difficult. By the way, I've also heard that Scott Prince is an outstanding student and he plays point guard for the high school team. Scott has already received information from Harvard, UPenn, and Yale. Best of luck to all the area golfers at the state tournament - maybe they will even have the results in a local newspaper!

Bluefield has pretty much dominated AA high school golf in recent years. Last year they beat a young Shady Spring team by one stroke in the regional then Shady turned around and beat them at the state tournament. Who's the team to pick to win the regional (Bluefield, Pikeview, Oak Hill, Independence, Westside, Iaeger, Liberty, Shady Spring, James Monroe, and Summers County). Any thoughts on who has the best chance to be the regional medalist?

Josh Mann of Shady Spring was appointed to the U.S. Air Force Academy. He was a standout linebacker for the Tigers for three years and a standout student. He will be playing football for the Falcons. Tyler Prince was appointed to the U.S. Naval Academy. He also started for the Tigers at linebacker since his sophomore year. He is the salutatorian of the graduating class. He was recruited for the track team. He also has a scholarship offer from Brown University. He is still undecided but leaning towards attending Brown. Tyler Ashley has signed to play baseball at Concord University. He started at quarterback for three years. He will play second base for the Mountain Lions. Todd Garlow has also signed to play football at Concord University. Todd joined the Tigers as a senior transferring from Woodrow. Congratulations to these fine young men and best of luck to them at the next level.

Tyler Prince of Shady Spring High School has been accepted and has received his appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy. Tyler started at linebacker for the Tiger football team the past three years in the shadow of Josh Mann (another great student). Tyler was recruited by MIT, six of the Ivy League schools and all three military academies for track (Discus). He has narrowed his choices down to the Naval Academy or Brown University. He spent one week this past summer attending the Naval Academy Summer Seminar and will go on his official visit on the week-end of the Army-Navy track meet. Josh Mann has applied to the U. S. Air Force Academy and is still waiting for his acceptance.

Who would have believed after the pounding that James Monroe and Bluefield put on Shady earlier in the season that they would be in the state semi-finals. Wayne would have to be at least a 14 point favorite which I am sure is fine with Shady. They seemed to have been an underdog for most of the big games this season. I believe if they have an even chance if they get to play on a dry field. A dry field will allow Shady to use their speed. I think they are the fastest team in AA other than Bluefield. I also think they have the ability to win if they can cut down on the penalties and turnovers. Also, their defense has to play even better than the two previous games and not allow any big back breaking plays. Shady sure doesn't have the football tradition of a Bluefield or Wayne but it sure makes for a nice cinderella story for them to be the first Shady team to make the finals.

There are several great athletes in the area that will continue to compete at the college level. However, I'm sure that no one has ever heard of Tyler Prince from Shady Spring High School. He is kind of unheard of because of Josh Mann, Brandon Phillips, and Jeremy Lynch are the running backs that get all of the publicity. Tyler has started at linebacker along with Josh Mann since he was a sophomore but he is actually being recruited by over a dozen colleges for track. He was the state AA Runner-up in the discus last year in Charleston. However, he is being recruited mostly because he is a true student athlete. He is at the top of his senior class and is involved with many other student activities. He also possesses high moral character and an excellent work ethic. He has been contacted by the coaches from The Naval Academy, The Air Force Academy, The Military Academy, Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Brown, Cornell, Penn, Bucknell, Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia Tech, and Stanford to name a few. The one school that he would like to hear from and hasn't is Virginia Tech. He plans on majoring in Aerospace/Mechanical Engineering and has actually narrowed his choices down to four schools. The school which gets Tyler will be getting a dedicated student and athlete. We wish the best of luck to a fine young man.