EB grad Childers wins SAC football academic honor

Lenoir-Rhyne football player Brett Childers’ trophy shelf may soon need an expansion project.

Childers, an East Burke High School 2020 graduate and current Bears junior defensive back, was honored as the winner of this year’s South Atlantic Conference (SAC) Football Wealth Enhancement Group Elite 23 award on Saturday, Nov. 11, ahead of the Bears’ regular-season home finale at Moretz Stadium in Hickory.

According to the SAC, the award honors the student-athlete with the top cumulative grade-point average (based on a minimum of 48 credit hours) in each of the league's 23 team championship sports. Childers currently holds a 3.979 GPA while studying history.

Childers also recently picked up three team awards. He was L-R’s special teams player of the week in both Week 9 and Week 10 before being named the team’s student of the week last week for Week 11.

Winners of the SAC’s Piedmont Division and league championship game, L-R (10-1) found out over the weekend that it will be the No. 4 seed in Super Region 2 for the NCAA Division II playoffs. The Bears open the postseason at home vs. Shepherd today (Saturday, Nov. 18) at 1 p.m.

Xiong named all-conference

Manhattanville’s Jennifer Xiong (East Burke 2019) was recently named to the NCAA Division III All-Skyline Conference women’s soccer team.

Xiong, a graduate student and Valiants midfielder who was a second-team selection, led the team with seven goals and three assists, totaling 17 points in 16 games for the season.

Xiong had a pair of two-goal games in Valiants’ wins, including on Oct. 21 when she scored the game-winner against St. Joseph's Long Island, and she also notched one two-assist game.

Ollis honored by USA South

Pfeiffer’s Kaylee Ollis (Freedom 2022) on Nov. 1 was named to the NCAA D-III USA South Athletic Conference’s 10-player All-Sportsmanship team for women’s soccer.

Ollis, a sophomore second-year starting goalkeeper, played in 15 games this fall for the Falcons, making 14 starts. She recorded 70 saves, a .654 save percentage, and a 2.96 goals against average and was in goal for one win and one tie, recording two shutouts.

WINTER SPORTS

Crooks All-SAC preseason 

Senior guard Blaikley Crooks (Freedom 2020) was one of two Lenoir-Rhyne women’s basketball players recently named to the NCAA D-II All-South Atlantic Conference preseason first team.

Crooks is coming off her best season in Hickory as she was named both first team All-SAC and All-SAC Tournament as the Bears won the SAC Tournament and reached the NCAA Tournament. She averaged 14.9 points per game last season and entered this season 232 points away from 1,000 in her career. 

Teammate Emily Harman joined Crooks on the All-SAC preseason first team, and L-R was picked as a team to finish fifth in the league.

L-R opened the season by splitting two games last weekend in the SAC/Peach Belt Challenge. Crooks scored 25 points with four rebounds, four assists, two steals, and two blocks in a 67-57 win over Lander and finished with 12 points, six rebounds, three assists, and four steals in a 74-70 overtime loss to USC Aiken.

Crooks again teams with fellow Freedom 2020 grad Josie Hise in the Bears’ backcourt, and they are joined this season for the first time by former FHS classmate Jayda Glass, a North Greenville transfer who’s also a senior guard and who came off the bench to appear in both of the first two contests.

Abee, UNCA claim 1st win

Senior guard Fletcher Abee (Freedom 2019) and his UNC Asheville men’s basketball team shook off a rough start to the season by claiming a 117-54 home win over Carolina University on Tuesday night.

Abee, a transfer from The Citadel, has started all three games and is averaging 5.0 points after starting 31 times in his first season with the Bulldogs. He scored five points on 2-of-4 shooting and added a rebound and an assist in just 15 minutes as UNCA substituted liberally on Tuesday. 

He scored eight points with two rebounds and a block before fouling out in an 83-66 home loss to UNC Wilmington on Nov. 11 after being held to two points in the team’s opening loss at Michigan, 99-74, on Nov. 7.

UNCA swept the D-I Big South Conference regular-season and tournament titles last season to reach the NCAA Tournament, setting the program record for single-season victories (27). 

The Bulldogs have home games today (Nov. 18), Dec. 1, and Dec. 18 before playing nearby against Appalachian State at CVCC’s Tarlton Complex in Hickory on Dec. 21 at 7 p.m.

Freedom grads at JUCOs

Jakari Dula (Freedom 2019), Jayden Birchfield (Freedom 2020), and James Freeman (Freedom 2020) are all on local community college men’s basketball squads this winter. And recently, on Nov. 10 in Hickory, all three were on the same court..

Dula and Birchfield are playing for Catawba Valley Community College, and Freeman is on the Caldwell Community College & Technical Institute team. Those teams faced off as part of CVCC’s host Catawba Valley Classic, with the visiting Cobras claiming a 97-83 win. Dula scored a team-high 15 points for the Red Hawks, and Freeman and Birchfield each scored two.

Freeman scored a season-high six points in a Nov. 7 road win at Cleveland Community College, 95-76, in Caldwell’s opener.

Other winter sports athletes

The rest of the former Burke County high school student-athletes who are expected to be competing in sports at the collegiate level this winter include …

BASKETBALL

Cierra Lail (Patton 2022), Montreat; Christena Rhone (Freedom 2022), Brevard; Jackson Vance (Patton 2020), Montreat

SWIMMING

Riley Carswell (Freedom 2020), Sewanee; Marabeth Huffman (East Burke 2023), Salem; Caroline Lucas (Patton 2021), Campbell 

WRESTLING

Caleb Johnson-White (East Burke 2022), Montreat; Jeulenea Khang (Freedom 2023), Mount Olive; Kalvin Khang (Freedom 2022), Greensboro

Who did we miss? Let us know! If you know of another former Burke County high school graduate currently participating in a winter sport at the collegiate level, email that information to paul@thepaper.media.