Watauga Basketball

I travelled down to East Burke HS to get shots of Watauga's first round playoff game for the Democrat last night.

Steve Behr's article on the game, along with a couple of my photos, can be seen here.

Speed Demon

After getting home late Saturday night/early Sunday morning from photographing 18 hours (18 games) of AAU basketball, I turned ESPN News on just long enough to hear that Appalachian State's very own Dexter Jackson (above) wowed scouts with his outstanding workout at the NFL combine. DJ's blistering 40-yard dash time of 4.37 seconds placed him second among wide receivers and fifth overall.

Now, that performance may come as a suprise to many in the sports world, but to anyone who has had the opportunity to stand on the sidelines while DJ whizzes by, it's no surprise at all.

Lots of draft experts now have Dexter not making it out of the third round before some team snatches him up. Good for him.

Jazz

Here are shots that I had almost forgot I had taken of Charlotte's dad's dog, Jazz, while I was in Florida earlier this month. She wanted to tag along on our boat ride, perching herself in the seat right beside Kevin most of the time.


She's quite quirky, prefer
-ring the company of the guys over the girls. So when not sleeping, eating, or grunting, she was following me around begging for attention. How could I say no to this face??

Ain't she pretty......

Not Quite A "Polar Plunge"

Relativly mild temperatures made Saturday's first ever Polar Plunge at Ashe County Park not so "polar". However, with water temps in the Ashe Park Pond hovering in the mid-forties, the "plungers" didn't waste any time making their way back onto dry land after taking the dip.

Over fifty participants donned swimming suits and costumes to take a jump in the inagural event. All proceeds from from Saturday's plunge went to support the Ashe County Humane Soceity.

Dick and Joan Hearn (right) from Boone dry off after their jump into the pond. The Hearns took second place in the Best Costume contest with their matching polar bear costumes.

Rescue divers Lucas Roten (foreground) and Brandon Hardin had to make the plunge to assist just one particpant during the event.

Senior Games

Four Ashe County High School Seniors were given valiant send-offs with wins in their final regular season home games on Tuesday night. Both the men's and ladies' teams will host at least one home tournament game.

Larken Mikeal (above), Kaitlain Smith (left), and Kelly Hudler (below), led the Lady Huskies to victory in their final regular season home game over Forbush 68-28. Mikeal put up nine points, Smith four, and Hudler five in the win.

Ashe County's lone Senior on the men's squad, Ryan Moser (right), scored three points in limited action as the Huskies downed Forbush's boys 87-58.

Both teams travel to Wilkes Central Friday night to finish up the season.

Just Outta' Reach

Tavin Holman tries to chase down the basketball during the Huskies Monday night loss to N. Surry 68-67

Despite a game-high 18 points from sharp-shooting PG Daniel Waln (below), Ashe County came just one bucket shot of pulling out a crucial conference match-up against North Surry. Monday night's loss drops the Huskies (16-3, 6-3) behind both North Surry 11-8, 8-1) and Starmount(10-7, 6-3), respectivily in the MVAC (the Ram's one loss coming at the hands of North Surry on Jan 11th).

Assuming everyone wins out, meaning North Surry would again best Starmount in their rematch on Friday, Ashe County would find themselves in third place in the conference, Starmount second, with North Surry taking the conference heading into tournament play.

Ice-capades!

Here's a shot I took of a branch on a laurel bush outside of my office. Pretty much how everything up here looked this morning.