The North Carolina Volleyball Coaches Association on Monday announced its 2025 all-state teams for each classification, and Patton’s Carly Setterlind and Hannah Huggins on the 18-member 3A squad were Burke County’s lone representatives.
Setterlind, a senior libero/defensive specialist, was named to the first team, while Huggins, a junior middle blocker, was a second-team honoree as the already-named all-conference and all-region duo helped lead Patton to a share of the conference regular-season title.
Setterlind finished the season with a team-high 389 digs (eclipsing 500 digs for her career) and added 103 assists, 49 aces, and 13 kills. She also tallied 760 perfect serve receptions to move past the 1,500-mark for her career.
Huggins, an NCAA Division I USC Upstate class of 2027 verbal commit, supplied a team-high and league-high 297 kills (eclipsing 500 for her career) and led Patton with 78 blocks (40 solo) while adding 81 digs, 22 assists, and 21 aces. The back-to-back all-conference and all-region selection’s .296 hitting percentage was also first in the conference.
Patton P Christian commits to Mars Hill
Patton High School senior Cohen Christian has verbally committed to play baseball for Mars Hill University starting in the spring of 2027, he announced on social media late last week.
“I want to thank God for allowing me to play the sport I love,” Christian wrote on his Instagram account on Nov. 8. “I want to thank my parents for traveling all over the place to watch me play. I want to thank all my coaches and teammates for pushing me to better myself. Finally, I want to thank the coaches at Mars Hill for giving me the opportunity to play at the next level. I can’t wait for the next four years.”
Christian’s father, Jesse, tagged Christian and Christian’s mother, Katie, in a Facebook post the same day in which he wrote: “Since the first time he threw a pitch at Salem Elementary, Cohen has dreamed of being a college baseball pitcher. Now his dream has become a reality. We could not be more proud of his hard work and dedication.”
Christian, who stands 6-foot-3 and plays first base for the Panthers when not pitching, was named to the All-Mountain Foothills 7 1A/2A Conference squad last season and also repeated as an All-Burke County selection (earning first team honors) on the diamond.
As a junior, he finished with a 4-2 record from the mound for a second consecutive season, lowered his ERA over a run to 2.22, and struck out 82 batters in 56 2/3 innings, giving him 170 career Ks including 149 over the last two seasons (in 99 2/3 innings; 10.5 Ks per seven innings).
At the plate, he hit for a .324 average with a team-high 22 hits including three doubles, eight RBIs, 11 runs scored, and three stolen bases.
Christian, who also plays basketball at PHS, played a second straight summer of American Legion baseball in 2025 as well and led the Burke County Post 21 squad with a miniscule 0.57 ERA, striking out nine, scattering eight hits, and yielding just one earned run over 12 1/3 innings.
Mars Hill finished 14-36 overall, including a 7-23 mark in NCAA Division II South Atlantic Conference play, in 2025.
EB’s Burkeen named to HSOT’s starting 22
East Burke senior running back Ossie Burkeen late last week was named to HighSchoolOT.com’s “Starting 22” statewide football team for Week 11 after his performance in an Oct. 31 road win at rival Draughn.
Burkeen rushed 20 times for a career-high 230 yards and three touchdowns, his third consecutive 100-plus yard rushing effort and third straight game finding the end zone on the ground as the Cavaliers won 62-8 to beat the Wildcats for a second straight year and represent their second-highest single-game point total in program history.
The effort lifted Burkeen to county-highs of 1,000 rushing yards and 14 rushing TDs on 155 attempts for the season.
One of three running backs on the Week 11 starting 22, Burkeen also added one tackle on defense in the victory.
EBHS grad Hastings named coach of year
Drexel native and East Burke 2001 graduate Adam Hastings was recently named the Charlotte TD Club’s high school football area coach of the year, an award sponsored by First National Bank.
Hastings guided his Indian Land (Lancaster, S.C.) team to a 9-1 regular-season record and second-place finish in 5A Region 3 play as the team eyed its 5A Division 2 South Carolina High School League state playoff opener at home against Hillcrest late Friday.
Seven of the Warriors’ wins came by 24 or more points as they broke through for the most wins in Hastings’ five-year tenure.
Hastings, who has also coached at Ardrey Kell and Providence Day in the Charlotte area, now has 97 career victories from the sideline. He guided Providence Day to the North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association Division II state championship in 2019.
Hastings will accept the award at the annual Bronko Nagurski Awards Banquet at the Charlotte Convention Center on Dec. 8.
Three youth football squads eye perfection
The Burke County Recreation Department’s youth football league opened its 2025 playoffs with six semifinal contests on Nov. 8 at East Burke High School.
The day featured two minor upsets, with the No. 3 seed Salem ages 8-9 squad and Oak Hill ages 10-12 squad knocking off No. 2-seeded Oak Hill and Valdese, respectively. Meanwhile, to open the day in the youngest age group (5-7s), No. 2 seed Oak Hill topped No. 3 Salem.
Those three teams will be joined in the title games today (Nov. 15) at Patton by a trio of regular-season champions who are seeking to complete undefeated seasons: The No. 1 seed Valdese 5-7s and 8-9s and East Burke 10-12s.
The championship contests get underway at 9 a.m. with the 5-7s, with the 8-9s set for a 10:15 a.m. kickoff and the 10-12s ending the day with an 11:30 p.m. start.
The youth football playoffs were canceled last fall in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.
PRO
Asheville lands PGA Tour event for 2026
The PGA Tour on Monday announced that it would be returning to Asheville for the first time since before World War II.
The Biltmore Championship will be contested in the fall portion of the PGA Tour season, on Sept. 17-20, 2026, at The Cliffs at Walnut Cove, a Jack Nicklaus design in Arden. The 7,167-yard venue is considered to be among the state’s top courses.
The tour says that as part of a four-year agreement, the Biltmore Estate and Explore Asheville will serve as co-title sponsors of the tournament.
Vic Isley, president and CEO for Explore Asheville and the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority, said the group estimates annually “millions of dollars in direct spending for area businesses” as a result of the new tournament.
The Asheville Land of the Sky Open was an official PGA Tour event from 1939 until ending its run in 1942, with legend Ben Hogan winning the event each of its last three years.
The PGA Tour makes two other annual stops in North Carolina, for the Truist Championship in Charlotte each May and for the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro each August. Next year’s Asheville event will be the closest pro golf stop to the Greater Hickory area since Rock Barn Golf and Spa in Conover ended its run of hosting a PGA Tour Champions event in 2014.
Crawdads announce full 2026 schedule
The Hickory Crawdads minor-league baseball team last week announced the tentative first-pitch times for all 66 home games of the 2026 season.
After a 68-62 record that included a near playoff miss in 2025, Hickory opens the 2026 season with a three-game home series against the Columbia (S.C.) Fireflies from April 2-4.
Most Tuesday through Saturday games at L.P. Frans Stadium will begin at 7 p.m., with Sunday contests starting at 2 p.m.
The game on Sunday, May 24, will have a 6:30 p.m. start time as the team hosts a special Memorial Day fireworks show. The Crawdads will also host a concert on Saturday, July 25 and will have a 5 p.m. first pitch with the to-be-announced concert to follow.
Three Education Day games are on the schedule with 11 a.m. games set for Wednesday, April 15, Thursday, May 7, and Wednesday, May 20. The game prior to each Education Day game will have a 6 p.m. start. Camp Day is scheduled for June 17 at 12:05 p.m.
Full- and half-season memberships are currently on sale, as are ticket books, with more ticketing information and the promotional schedule to be announced in the coming months.
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