littlraskul

excellent. hope your hard work pays off for you guys in the upcoming season.

[ QUOTE ] we go 5 daysa week [/ QUOTE ] yes, but do you actually have a plan or schedule set up? because unless things have seriously changed, offseason weightlifting at phs was very lax, to put it mildly.

[ QUOTE ] But once district rolls around we bring our soccer boys for distance which always helps. [/ QUOTE ] at carroll, our kids aren't allowed to do that. as it is, i don't think pulling from soccer teams would help us much. softball, definitely...

[ QUOTE ] Sorry to call you on that but under offical track rule you only score points for 1 relay team. [/ QUOTE ] true. yeah, totally forgot that one--my bad. okay, so the boys' team won by x-3<20 instead of whatever i originally said. actually, i'm sure coach knows that, and may have caught that when he looked over things. i'll double-check.

nope, sorry to disappoint you, but both carroll teams won. i know this for a fact, seeing as i saw the official book for the meet. as you know, you don't just score points in track for winning an event. yesterday, the top 4 places earned points. our guys won by nearly 20, i think it was something like by 16 or 18, and the girls by around 30. your guys dusted ours in the sprints and jumps (and the 4x100 relay lol), but you have practically no middle distance or distance runners, and we made up points there because we had multiple guys place. case in point: we had two teams run the 4X400 relay, and they got 1st and 2nd. graham didn't field a team; there's 8 points for carroll right there. same thing for the 3200; there's another 8. if you'd like, i can post a full recap after the holiday... nice sprints, btw.

both carroll boys and girls came out on top wednedsay at a tri-meet with graham and tazewell. it was the first meet of the season for the cavaliers, who were without two major contributors due to injury.

[ QUOTE ] yea them plus cydnie from the JV team, and what about Kaitlan viars how tall is she like 6'2?? thats pretty tall think she'll be good? [/ QUOTE ] add cydnie from the jv team and you've got a ton of guards, that's what you have. as far as kaitlan goes, she's going to have to get A LOT better and tons stronger. she played very lax and lazy this season, imo, and for her size, didn't even come remotely in the same area code as close to getting enough rebounds. clearly, she didn't impress me at all. height doesn't automatically equal bball talent.

[ QUOTE ] no the g-girls wont be that good next year they have no height [/ QUOTE ] unless abingdon has some stowed away somewhere, the entire district is lacking height for next year. until another team steps up, i'm staying with my lady cavs, the main reason being point guard play, as well as the fact that carroll had 3 freshmen contributors in heavy rotation last season who will only get better before they suit up next year.

[ QUOTE ] our refs for district games are the same. [/ QUOTE ] yes, in all sports, while the refs may not be the exact same refs every time (because that's largely impossible,) all of the officials come from the appalachian officials' association (aoa.) for a lot of our nondistrict games, we use refs from the nrvoa. not for district games, though. so, the officials you see at carroll, in theory, aren't any different than the officials you see at any other swd schools.

[ QUOTE ] Doesn't CC have an enrollment that is up there with the River Ridge schools? If enrollment is that big of an issue, then why dosn't CC dominate the SWD in anything? [/ QUOTE ] we do have the largest enrollment in the district. however, currently, our largest classes, number-wise are our freshman and sophomore classes. oh, and cc does dominate the district in something: volleyball, winning 10 of the last 11 district titles. but, not very many people care about volleyball. also, we do very well in cross country, where our boys have won many (5, maybe?) consecutive swd titles. or, how 'bout girls' basketball, where we've won the district title every year since we entered the swd except the '05-'06 season, compiling a streak of 60+ consecutive district wins during that time? not many people care about those sports, either. why don't we "dominate" in a sport that people care about like football or boys' basketball? i don't know. clearly, if our other coaches knew why, they would fix matters, also. like i've said many times previously, we've all got to get better in everything, cc included. in the sports that cc does well in, we get trounced in region play, as it is now. next year won't be pretty, imo. but, it will hopefully be a call to action.

it does, though, help that the mountain empire isn't exactly a football powerhouse district. beat grayson, and enjoy your ticket to the playoffs.

[ QUOTE ] it's always good to strive to improve but don't come on here and basically put down the SWD when you do it...our kids (CC included) are as good as any in the state [/ QUOTE ] if we're talking about swd kids being as good as any in the state, character-wise, i am in total agreement with you. in fact, i might argue that ours are better. but, when we're talking about athletic talent, let's be realistic. we do have a few--but only a few--athletes who are top-notch. want concrete evidence? look at the number of swd athletes who are offered a full-ride, d-1 scholarship in any sport. (congrats to austin fuller, btw) now, contrast that number with the same of any other aa district in the state. i'd be willing to bet that the swd has the lowest number of all. my intention is certainly not to come on here and deliberately belittle the swd as a district. anyone who knows me knows that i truly want the swd to be competitive and to succeed both academically and athletically. however, facts are facts, guys. being realistic, let's consider the following: - in the river ridge and region 3, it's very possible to go 9-1 in football, and still miss the playoffs. - blacksburg soccer has been in the state title game 8 of the last 9 years. they've won 5 of those. their girls also won state in cross country, and their boys' golf won state this past season. girls' indoor track won state in '05. - cave spring volleyball has been in the state title game the last 5 years. they've won 4 of those. their boys bball team also won state in '02 (with redick), and their softball team was state runner-up last season. - christiansburg wrestling has won 6 straight team titles. their boys' cross country team has lived in the top 10 for many years now. - salem football's won 6 state titles since 1996 (including '04 and '05.) also, their boys' track team has been in the state's top 10 the last 3 years. - pulaski county's girls' track team was 3rd in the state in '05, and their boys' bball teams made deep playoff runs a couple of years ago. -hidden valley's boys' bball team made it to the final four this year, while their girls won state. girls' soccer won state in '05, and along with cave spring, has appeared deep in the state playoffs for the last few years. boys' tennis, state runner-up in '04. what i'm saying is this: the river ridge is stacked with teams that have proven to be very, very successful athletically. honestly, what do we have to compete with that besides richlands' recent football success? where are they vulnerable as a district? someone, seriously, show me. please. all you have to do is look at last year's wachovia cup, which considers all of a school's sports and their successes: hidden valley won it, blacksburg was 3rd, cave spring 9th, and salem 14th. it's not that we can't compete and the swd's "not worthy" of the "mighty" river ridge. but, you cannot logically dispute the fact that top to bottom, the river ridge is super-competitive, in every sport. how are graham's baseball/softball/volleyball teams? how are tazewell's tennis teams? grundy's soccer/volleyball teams? carroll's baseball/girls' tennis teams? how are richlands' girls' basketball/soccer teams? the answer? either not very competitive (for a variety of reasons) or nonexistant. i agree with bcram that the underlying issue here is largely one of enrollment. it's easier for a school to be competitive if they've got a larger number of students to pool from. if we, as a district, are going to be competitive, we've got to put forth super, massive, giant-sized effort. why? because we've got to overcome a.) success breeds success. if a school's becoming a dynasty in a particular sport, kids who are serious about that sport will transfer in to play there. case in point: blacksburg soccer, cave spring volleyball, christiansburg wrestling. and b.) numbers. we can't afford to have athletes concentrate their training and focus on the one sport that would be their "meal ticket" because they are needed to play other sports so those teams can be remotely competitive. some of our athletes even play multiple sports in a season (usually during the spring.) i'm not saying that slaying the beast, so to speak, is impossible. i am saying that we can't go on doing as we've been doing and expect the teams in other districts to simply get worse. (with the exception of richlands football, recently) swd teams struggle now to earn a region iv title. it's only going to get tougher, beginning next year.

nice post, goalie; i agree 100%. nobody in the swd is giving up or rolling over or whatever you want to call it. but, in cc, we also aren't getting complacent with our level of play, either. so, if you want to play that way, wavefan, you guys keep on keeping on; we'll work to make ourselves better. good luck to us all.

[ QUOTE ] well there is no need to even play then right? Let's just throw in the towel and bend over and take what we've got coming to us...we don't even deserve to be mentioned in the same thread as the great river ridge teams...our kids are no where near as talented as the other kids in the state. [/ QUOTE ] why don't we just be juvenile about it all?

[ QUOTE ] Yeah...you forgot to mention that the sun only shines east of Salem. [/ QUOTE ] that's rather unnecessary, imo. i'm merely trying to be realistic. an objective person cannot honestly say that the swd can compete with the river ridge as things are. in a few years, possibly. but, generally speaking, they have much larger enrollments than a graham, tazewell, or grundy, and their athletes participate in productive, competitive offseason teams. we're trying to get our athletes involved in such things, hoping to elevate our teams' level of play so we can be competitive. i'm sure other swd teams are doing the same, and collectively, we're going to have to. facts are facts, fellas.

8ball, you certainly do follow tazewell girls' athletics...do you also coach softball?

[ QUOTE ] I'd say Richlands, Graham, Tazewell, (and yes possibly Abingdon depending on how things go the next few years with that particular program) might make you eat those words. When you play the SWD teams in any sport, you are playing against a long and proud history...none of the schools will roll over for anyone...ever. [/ QUOTE ] believe me, i'd be glad to eat those words. but, i honestly don't see graham or tazewell winning the swd in anything next year, let alone competing in region play. please do take into consideration that i'm not even remotely factoring in golf, tennis, and the like; i just don't follow those. football: richlands, and if not, definitely a river ridge team. b bball: nobody from the swd, that's for sure g bball: hidden valley volleyball: cave spring b soccer: bburg g soccer: bburg/hidden valley wrestling: cburg. sorry, grundy. bball: not swd sball: not swd b track: pulaski co./piedmont team g track: piedmont team i'm not saying we'll simply roll over and drool; i am, however, saying that we'll likely fall short for a few years. as a district, we've got to elevate our level of play in every sport, or truthfully, we're going to get trounced.

[ QUOTE ] I just orderd my NIT champions shirt!!! haha [/ QUOTE ] haha is right: the ones the mounties wore right after the win were misspelled! they said "west virgina" LOL. so, you go ahead and order you a shirt. just hope it turns out better than those did.

yeah, i'm with james on this one: cody ayers from carroll. eh's right about the richlands "oops"-- that was lance ayers, cody's brother, who's now at wise.

[ QUOTE ] Who cares they are 4-0 [/ QUOTE ] i care. don't proclaim a team future swd champs if they're 0-0 in swd play and they've only beaten up on local single a teams. i'm with bcram on this one: congrats on the fine start, but show me the money.

nope. cburg doesn't rebuild; they reload. why? they have one heck of a youth program over there. i see grundy getting back to being more of themselves, but i honestly don't see any swd teams in any sports being competitive in regional play once the river ridge comes in (except possibly richlands football this season).

[ QUOTE ] I hear that some local asst. coaches from Carroll and Grayson have put in for the job. [/ QUOTE ] yes, and i met a young fellow from the william campbell staff who also has thrown his hat in the ring.

idk about numbers, but from the standpoint of someone who played against all three, bennett and oakes were miles more talented than clarkson. tiffany bane was a better guard than cathy, imo. you know who else was a solid player for the g-girls was bev proffitt...

we are getting new goalposts. that's rather exciting...

cathy clarkson the best player from graham!?!? HAHAHAHAHA i played against clarkson for many years, and she was never anything special. try tamela oakes or jamie bennett, both of whom (i believe) went on to play at bluefield college.