Local teams lock in 10 berths at archery nationals

The National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP) held its 2026 Eastern National Bullseye and 3-D tournaments in Louisville. Ky., from May 7-9, and Burke County teams punched 10 tickets to nationals by virtue of their performances.

Both the East Burke high school and middle school teams as well as Table Rock Middle and Drexel Elementary advanced to the 2026 NASP Championships from June 18-20 in Daytona Beach, Fla., in both the bullseye and 3-D disciplines, while Heritage Middle and Icard Elementary qualified in bullseye.

East Burke Middle eighth grader Maggie Mace provided the major highlight locally, placing third among all girls at the bullseye tournament with a personal-best score of 295 that included 26 perfect 10s to pace the Raiders’ 3,225-point team total.

EBMS was also led in bullseye by Paizley Danner (278) and Ella Martin (277).

Mace’s personal-best 291 (21 10s) in 3-D then placed her fourth in her class and 15th overall on the girls side, leading EBMS to 1,593 points as a team.

East Burke High freshman Aubree Garris, the state 3-D champion, placed inside the top 10 in her class among girls in both disciplines, posting scores of 286 in 3-D and 289 (19 10s) in bullseye to finish ninth and 10th, respectively.

Also for EBHS (3,316 points in bullseye; 1,693 points in 3-D), Natalie Bell scored 288 (21 10s) in bullseye and 287 (20 10s) in 3-D as she took 12th place among senior girls in the latter, leading the Cavaliers to a 15th-place finish out of 225 teams.

EB’s Conner Kerley scored 283, and Hudson Lentz and Bailey Hildebrand finished with matching scores of 281 in 3-D, while Kerley (287; 17 10s), Lentz (285; 17 10s), and Brielle Hubler (personal-best 282; 16 10s) also led the way in bullseye.

Table Rock posted team totals of 3,084 points in bullseye and 1,533 in 3-D. The Falcons were led in bullseye by Layton Morris (274) and Gavin Vang (personal-best 273), while Vang set another personal-best in 3-D with a score of 275 to finish 16th among sixth-grade boys.

Drexel had scores of 2,563 in bullseye and 1,335 in 3-D, led in both by Dawson Crowe, who shot 255 in bullseye and a personal-best 259 in 3-D.

Icard (2,741 points in bullseye) was led in qualifying for nationals by Brooklyn Evans’ personal-best 255, while state bullseye champion Bailey Bartlett qualified in both disciplines, shooting 252 in bullseye and a personal-best 264 in 3-D to qualify individually. The Colts’ Henry McClure added a 250 in bullseye.

Heritage (3,107 points in bullseye) qualified as Viollet Sevcik led the way with a score of 273 (16 10s).

Freedom High and George Hildebrand Elementary were also on hand for both disciplines, led in both by Simon Hefner (279 bullseye, 266 3-D) and Kyleigh Hunt (250 bullseye, 235 3-D), respectively.

Post 21 baseball tryouts next week

The Burke County Post 21 American Legion baseball team has announced that it will hold tryouts for the 2026 season early next week, pending the outcome of Friday’s late Patton fourth-round NCHSAA state playoff game.

Tryouts are tentatively set for May 18-20 from 4:30-6:30 p.m. all three days at Patton High School. But if the Panthers advance to the best-of-three 3A West Regional championship series next week, Matt Baker — Post 21’s fourth-year head coach, who’s also in his third season as PHS head coach — said that tryouts would likely start no sooner than May 19.

Post 21 is set for its 67th overall season on the diamond and 58th consecutive summer fielding a team (not counting the nationwide COVID-19 shutdown of 2020). Its regular-season schedule has not yet been announced.

The club last summer finished on a three-game win streak but posted a record of just 5-13, missing the N.C. Area IV playoffs (by a single game) for the first time since 2015.

For more information on tryouts, contact Baker at matthewbaker@burke.k12.nc.us or 828-403-6446.

Big Dawg sets ’26 football schedule

For a second consecutive fall, local high school football fans won’t have to leave their couch to catch the action in five intra-county matchups in the opening six weeks of the season as each game can be heard on The Big Dawg WMNC 92.1 FM.

The radio station recently announced its complete 2026 regular-season broadcast schedule. The early-season action opens with Freedom visiting Patton (Aug. 21) and continues with the Patriots hosting Draughn (Aug. 28) and East Burke (Sept. 4) before the Panthers open league play by hosting East Burke (Sept. 18) and visiting Draughn (Sept. 25) for the Wildcats’ homecoming night in Valdese.

The other intra-county matchup ends the Big Dawg’s regular-season slate as the Wildcats visit the Cavaliers on Oct. 30.

The rest of the station’s schedule this fall will include: T.C. Roberson at Freedom (Sept. 11), East Rutherford at Draughn (Oct. 2), St. Stephens at Freedom (Oct. 9; homecoming), West Caldwell at Draughn (Oct. 16), and Freedom at Alexander Central (Oct. 23).

The Big Dawg also plans to air one game in the opening week of the NCHSAA state playoffs (Nov. 6) should any of the four county teams qualify for the postseason. Broadcasts will feature The Big Dawg’s Bob Clark with The Paper’s Paul Schenkel or Josh McKinney on the call.

Weekly airtime is 7:15 p.m., with all games scheduled for 7:30 p.m. kickoffs.

Cavaliers sweep WPC tennis awards

The Western Piedmont 3A/4A Conference recently announced its 2026 all-conference teams in the sports of boys tennis and boys golf, and 12 total Burke County athletes were honored.

Headlining the lists were East Burke’s Luke Borders and Fred Brown, who swept the WPC player and coach of the year honors for tennis after the Cavaliers enjoyed the best season in program history, going 15-1, winning a league title, and advancing to the state quarterfinals.

Borders was unbeaten all the way to the 4A state title match, qualifying for state and winning at least one match once there for a third straight season as he claimed a third straight league player of the year honor with a 24-1 overall record (21-1 at No. 1 singles). Brown wins league coach of the year for a second consecutive spring.

Joining Borders on the All-WPC tennis squad locally were EB teammates Braxton Kirkland, Haiden Dale, Noah Ramsey, and Yingchi Yang, as well as Patton’s Bryant Arrowood and Ethan Beall. All six of those players reached regionals, with Dale and Ramsey qualifying for state in doubles.

In boys golf, five underclassmen from across the county earned All-WPC recognition. They included Patton freshman Matthew Piercy and sophomores Mason Brown and Krogel as well as Draughn freshman Ethan Cline and East Burke freshman Conner Kerley. Piercy, Brown, and Cline all competed at regionals this postseason.

More local high school summer camps

Information for three more local youth summer camps run through high schools was announced recently.

The Draughn volleyball camp for rising second- through eighth-grade boys and girls will be held July 27-29 from 6-8 p.m. daily. Registration cost is $40 before July 1 or $50 afterward. For more details, contact Lady Wildcats head coach Triniti Lambert at trinitilambert@burke.k12.nc.us.

The Patton football camp for rising first- through eighth-graders will be held June 15-16 from 6-8 p.m. both days. Registration cost is $50 per camper, with a $10 discount for multiple siblings. Payment is due at registration, which will begin one hour prior to camp on day one. To pre-register and sign up for a camp T-shirt, visit shorturl.at/h6XJ0. For more details, contact Panthers head coach Billy Whisenant at billywhisenant@burke.k12.nc.us.

And the Patton cheer camp will be held Aug. 17-19 in the PHS auxiliary gym. Registration cost is $35, due on day one of camp, and campers are asked to bring a solid black T-shirt to press. Visit the Patton Spirit group page on Facebook for more details or call the school office at 828-433-3000.

NCHSAA sanctioning two new sports

The biggest news by far from last week’s annual NCHSAA spring board of directors meetings was the group for the first time sanctioning both boys volleyball and girls flag football as official sports starting in the 2026-27 school year.

More than 150 schools statewide participated in club flag football this school year, though Burke County schools’ previous participation in the sport has been limited to one powderpuff event per year.

Boys volleyball has also seen increasing participation throughout the state in recent years, the NCHSAA noted, and locally, both Draughn and East Burke have fielded club teams over the last three years.

Flag football will be a fall sport, and boys volleyball will be offered each spring. It remains unclear how many, if any, Burke County schools will field teams in either sport in year one.

In other moves, the NCHSAA approved requiring two officials on every mat for the dual-team wrestling playoffs, beginning with round 3 and beyond, and approved adjusting the number of qualifiers for the swimming regionals to include the top 24 times in individual events and the top 16 times in relays across all classifications. Both changes will take effect next school year.

Bonkowske victorious at all-star meet

Liberty Middle eighth grader Jacoby Bonkowske participated in the NCRunners All-State Middle School Meet, which was held May 2 at Jay M. Robinson High School in Concord.

Bonkowske, who also excels in basketball and soccer with the Knights, claimed first place in the boys triple jump event with a distance of 37 feet, 7¾ inches after he also won that same event at last month’s Foothills Athletic Conference championship meet. He also placed third in Concord in the boys long jump (18’7¾”).