Schedule conflicts kept the Barrow County 10U team from competing in last week’s Dizzy Dean Softball World Series in Southaven, Miss.
Barrow coach James Maney said three of his 13 players had vacations planned in advance of when the team qualified for the World Series, leaving them with just 10.
Rather than taking alternates, Maney said, the team decided not to compete.
“We just didn’t have enough players,” Maney said. “It’s disappointing, but it’s understandable, also.
“You can’t really foresee yourselves going that far when the season starts and families have to take time when they can.”
Barrow had qualified for the world series by winning the Dizzy Dean state tournament in Valdosta last month with a 4-1 record that included three wins on the final day of the tournament.
The team had finished second in the district tournament to Hall County but defeated Hall in the state tournament to advance to the championship. Team members included Anna Adams, Natalie Albritton, Rylie Green, Bella Harris, Madison Maney, Sierra McGeehen, Madeline Peters, Aliyah Riden, Haley Sullivan, Seneca Titshaw, Sydney Titshaw, Jordan Turner and Aviranna Wapniewski.
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Softball: Sinclair new Wildcats coach
Apalachee High School’s softball team will have new leadership at the top this coming season, but it will be from a familiar face. Jessica Sinclair, who spent the last two seasons as a varsity assistant and head junior varsity coach, was recently promoted to the top varsity job. She replaces former coach Matt Allen, who accepted the head ...
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Fulfilling a dream: Winder native Shipplett enjoying time as NASCAR pit crew member
When Austin Dillon won the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May, it was the first victory in NASCAR’s top cup series for Richard Childress Racing’s No. 3 car since the legendary Dale Earnhardt’s October 2000 triumph at Talladega.
In the middle of it all was engineer, pit crew member and Winder native Josh Shipplett.
“It was a pretty special moment,” Shipplett said last week, just prior to boarding a plane for Kentucky to prepare for Saturday’s Quaker State 400. “Dale Earnhardt was one of my favorites and guys like him and Richard Petty are who brought a lot more popularity to the sport.”
It was the second win Shipplett has been a part of for the sport’s top series, now sponsored by Monster Energy. He was previously on the pit crew for Trevor Bayne when he won the Daytona 500 in 2011 when the Cup was sponsored by Sprint.
“The Daytona 500 and Coke 600 are pretty much the two most prestigious races out there, so to be able to have a hand in winning those is really special,” Shipplett said. “When we won at Daytona, I wasn’t doing anything in the shop. I’ve had years invested in this (Dillon’s No. 3) car, so it’s a very rewarding win.”
While Shipplett has been a lifelong racing fan, the 2007 Winder-Barrow High School graduate’s interest in the sport really escalated in high school when he started taking automotive classes.
He enrolled in Lanier Technical College’s Motor Sports Program his senior year and, during second semester of that year, moved to North Carolina after accepting an internship with Richard Petty Driving Experience to learn how to work on race cars.
“I worked in their engine shop and fabrication shop as a general mechanic, and they put you through a lot of different scenarios and areas so you can get the feel of what you like to do,” Shipplett said. “You learn about pretty much everything that goes into a building a car and making it run on a daily basis.”
Shipplett, who went on to obtain a mechanical engineering degree from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, took an immediate liking to the pit crew side of things, which he said helped fuel his competitiveness.
“Just from an athletic standpoint, I’ve always been very competitive,” said Shipplett, who grew up playing baseball and was a member of the Winder-Barrow Diamond Doggs through his junior season before giving up the sport to concentrate on his education and training. “So, while I was in school up here in North Carolina, I got to learn all the pit crew techniques. They put you out on the track to do smaller stuff and see how you can handle it and I wound up liking it a lot.”
Shipplett got his first full-time Cup job with Rousch Fenway Racing, where he worked with Carl Edwards in the Xfinity Series. He made his Cup debut in Bayne’s 2011 Daytona win as a front tire carrier.
Shipplett later joined Richard Childress Racing and has worked as an engineer and tire carrier on the No. 3 car since Dillon, Childress’ eldest grandson, brought it out of retirement in 2014. The No. 3 car had not ridden since Earnhardt’s death at Daytona in February 2001.
Life on the six-man crew is not easy. The schedule is one of the most grueling in all of sports — Shipplett’s only weekend off this year between the start of the season in February and Thanksgiving was Easter weekend — and the multi-layered fire protective suit pit crew members have to wear demands them to take care of their bodies and hydrate much like any other professional athlete would.
“It has really evolved a lot over the years and you have to be much more athletic now,” Shipplett said. “We’re in the gym working out three to four times a week, and on those same days we’re doing five or six practice pit stops each day, working on different scenarios and preparing for each track we go to.
“We probably do 15-20 pit stops a weekend between all the races we pit and then probably 800-900 a year.”
In the middle of it all was engineer, pit crew member and Winder native Josh Shipplett.
“It was a pretty special moment,” Shipplett said last week, just prior to boarding a plane for Kentucky to prepare for Saturday’s Quaker State 400. “Dale Earnhardt was one of my favorites and guys like him and Richard Petty are who brought a lot more popularity to the sport.”
It was the second win Shipplett has been a part of for the sport’s top series, now sponsored by Monster Energy. He was previously on the pit crew for Trevor Bayne when he won the Daytona 500 in 2011 when the Cup was sponsored by Sprint.
“The Daytona 500 and Coke 600 are pretty much the two most prestigious races out there, so to be able to have a hand in winning those is really special,” Shipplett said. “When we won at Daytona, I wasn’t doing anything in the shop. I’ve had years invested in this (Dillon’s No. 3) car, so it’s a very rewarding win.”
While Shipplett has been a lifelong racing fan, the 2007 Winder-Barrow High School graduate’s interest in the sport really escalated in high school when he started taking automotive classes.
He enrolled in Lanier Technical College’s Motor Sports Program his senior year and, during second semester of that year, moved to North Carolina after accepting an internship with Richard Petty Driving Experience to learn how to work on race cars.
“I worked in their engine shop and fabrication shop as a general mechanic, and they put you through a lot of different scenarios and areas so you can get the feel of what you like to do,” Shipplett said. “You learn about pretty much everything that goes into a building a car and making it run on a daily basis.”
Shipplett, who went on to obtain a mechanical engineering degree from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, took an immediate liking to the pit crew side of things, which he said helped fuel his competitiveness.
“Just from an athletic standpoint, I’ve always been very competitive,” said Shipplett, who grew up playing baseball and was a member of the Winder-Barrow Diamond Doggs through his junior season before giving up the sport to concentrate on his education and training. “So, while I was in school up here in North Carolina, I got to learn all the pit crew techniques. They put you out on the track to do smaller stuff and see how you can handle it and I wound up liking it a lot.”
Shipplett got his first full-time Cup job with Rousch Fenway Racing, where he worked with Carl Edwards in the Xfinity Series. He made his Cup debut in Bayne’s 2011 Daytona win as a front tire carrier.
Shipplett later joined Richard Childress Racing and has worked as an engineer and tire carrier on the No. 3 car since Dillon, Childress’ eldest grandson, brought it out of retirement in 2014. The No. 3 car had not ridden since Earnhardt’s death at Daytona in February 2001.
Life on the six-man crew is not easy. The schedule is one of the most grueling in all of sports — Shipplett’s only weekend off this year between the start of the season in February and Thanksgiving was Easter weekend — and the multi-layered fire protective suit pit crew members have to wear demands them to take care of their bodies and hydrate much like any other professional athlete would.
“It has really evolved a lot over the years and you have to be much more athletic now,” Shipplett said. “We’re in the gym working out three to four times a week, and on those same days we’re doing five or six practice pit stops each day, working on different scenarios and preparing for each track we go to.
“We probably do 15-20 pit stops a weekend between all the races we pit and then probably 800-900 a year.”
Local football teams turn attention to July as season approaches
Believe it or not, the 2017 high school football season is right around the corner.
When Apalachee, Winder-Barrow and Bethlehem Christian return from a weeklong hiatus Monday, they will be wide open in making preparations for the start of the season in August.
The Wildcats and Bulldoggs are in the middle of the Georgia High School Association’s annually mandated “dead week,” which prohibits all team or individual activities, but they were steady at work through June.
In addition to the Wildcats working out and going through drills four mornings a week, the team competed in a 7-on-7 at Sanford Stadium and another large one at Walnut Grove. They also competed in a padded camp at Social Circle and even enjoyed a team-bonding overnight “lock-in” at the school gym, where they watched a movie and played games like dodgeball and basketball.
“I hope we can do things like that more often,” Apalachee coach Steve Sims said last week. “Our kids had a lot of fun with each other and really responded well the next day during our work.”
Apalachee will be heading into a rebuilding year of sorts after losing several starters on offense and defense, but Sims said he has seen several players make strides from the end of spring practice at the Wildcats’ scrimmage against North Oconee to this point in the summer.
“We are really young,” he said. “We lost everybody in the secondary and all of our linebackers, and we’ll probably be looking at least three sophomores back there. “Plus we’ve got a new defensive coordinator and some new defensive coaches so we’re learning on the run. But the kids are getting better.”
Sims said the team’s strength will be on the offensive line where several starters return.
“That really showed up when we brought our linemen to the padded camp,” he said. “You get to see a lot of things you don’t get to see in the 7-on-7. We’re more a play-action team and don’t have a lot of what would be considered 7-on-7-type plays. We’re not going to change a whole lot. We want to try to do what we do well.”
Still, the 7-on-7 outings have given Sims a chance to look at the two quarterbacks he plans to give ample playing time to this coming season in junior AJ Millbrooks and sophomore AJ Forbing.
“They are both going to play. When (Forbing) goes to quarterback, that allows us to use (Millbrooks) in different ways in different packages. He’s one of our playmakers so you want to keep him on the field. They both have been doing a good job.”
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When Apalachee, Winder-Barrow and Bethlehem Christian return from a weeklong hiatus Monday, they will be wide open in making preparations for the start of the season in August.
The Wildcats and Bulldoggs are in the middle of the Georgia High School Association’s annually mandated “dead week,” which prohibits all team or individual activities, but they were steady at work through June.
In addition to the Wildcats working out and going through drills four mornings a week, the team competed in a 7-on-7 at Sanford Stadium and another large one at Walnut Grove. They also competed in a padded camp at Social Circle and even enjoyed a team-bonding overnight “lock-in” at the school gym, where they watched a movie and played games like dodgeball and basketball.
“I hope we can do things like that more often,” Apalachee coach Steve Sims said last week. “Our kids had a lot of fun with each other and really responded well the next day during our work.”
Apalachee will be heading into a rebuilding year of sorts after losing several starters on offense and defense, but Sims said he has seen several players make strides from the end of spring practice at the Wildcats’ scrimmage against North Oconee to this point in the summer.
“We are really young,” he said. “We lost everybody in the secondary and all of our linebackers, and we’ll probably be looking at least three sophomores back there. “Plus we’ve got a new defensive coordinator and some new defensive coaches so we’re learning on the run. But the kids are getting better.”
Sims said the team’s strength will be on the offensive line where several starters return.
“That really showed up when we brought our linemen to the padded camp,” he said. “You get to see a lot of things you don’t get to see in the 7-on-7. We’re more a play-action team and don’t have a lot of what would be considered 7-on-7-type plays. We’re not going to change a whole lot. We want to try to do what we do well.”
Still, the 7-on-7 outings have given Sims a chance to look at the two quarterbacks he plans to give ample playing time to this coming season in junior AJ Millbrooks and sophomore AJ Forbing.
“They are both going to play. When (Forbing) goes to quarterback, that allows us to use (Millbrooks) in different ways in different packages. He’s one of our playmakers so you want to keep him on the field. They both have been doing a good job.”
[Full Story »]
King of the Rodeo: WBHS student wins 3rd consecutive state bull riding title, heading to national competition
For most people, bull riding may simply be a bucket-list item. But for Barrow County resident Justin Ethridge, it’s a way of life.
Oh, and he’s pretty good at it, too.
Ethridge, a rising senior at Winder-Barrow High School, won his third consecutive Georgia High School Rodeo Association bull riding championship in Perry last month and will now compete at the 69th annual National High School Finals Rodeo in Gillette, Wyo. July 16-22.
As far as he and his family can tell through research, Ethridge is the first person to win the state high school title three straight years.
Now he wants the four-year sweep.
“I set a goal my freshman year and told my parents I’m going to be the first person to win it all four years,” said Ethridge, who estimated that he’ll be competing against roughly 60 other riders at the nationals.
Ethridge has been riding bulls since he was 12 years old, taking after his father who rode for 12 years. During the summer, he’s at the rodeo just about every weekend.
“It’s always been in the family and for my brothers and sisters and me, the only life we know is the rodeo,” Ethridge said. “I just like going and having fun and keeping in shape. (Bull riding) gives me an adrenaline rush every time I do it. And it keeps me out of trouble. I know that.”
For more, see the July 5 issue of the Barrow News-Journal.
Oh, and he’s pretty good at it, too.
Ethridge, a rising senior at Winder-Barrow High School, won his third consecutive Georgia High School Rodeo Association bull riding championship in Perry last month and will now compete at the 69th annual National High School Finals Rodeo in Gillette, Wyo. July 16-22.
As far as he and his family can tell through research, Ethridge is the first person to win the state high school title three straight years.
Now he wants the four-year sweep.
“I set a goal my freshman year and told my parents I’m going to be the first person to win it all four years,” said Ethridge, who estimated that he’ll be competing against roughly 60 other riders at the nationals.
Ethridge has been riding bulls since he was 12 years old, taking after his father who rode for 12 years. During the summer, he’s at the rodeo just about every weekend.
“It’s always been in the family and for my brothers and sisters and me, the only life we know is the rodeo,” Ethridge said. “I just like going and having fun and keeping in shape. (Bull riding) gives me an adrenaline rush every time I do it. And it keeps me out of trouble. I know that.”
For more, see the July 5 issue of the Barrow News-Journal.
Barrow 10U softball team wins Dizzy Dean state title again, heading back to World Series
It was a repeat scenario from last year for the Barrow County 10U team in last week’s Georgia Dizzy Dean Softball state tournament in Valdosta.
After finishing second in the District 6 tournament, Barrow reigned supreme at the tournament, going 4-1 with three wins on the final day to capture the championship and advance to the Dizzy Dean World Series next month in Southaven, Miss.
After winning its opening game Friday over Gordon County 15-5, Barrow dropped its first contest Saturday morning to Carroll County before roaring back to topple District 6 champion Hall County and then knock off Carroll County twice for the title.
It’s the second year in a row Barrow has won the state title at the 10U level and the team is in the process of raising funds to make a second straight trip to the World Series.
“We started at 9 in the morning on Saturday and other than 20-30-minute breaks between games, we were on the field all day into the evening,” said Barrow head coach James Maney, an assistant on last year’s state championship team.
“The coaches and the players were all very tired, but also very excited. Everyone was proud and everyone contributed. It was a great weekend.”
Barrow showed an unwillingness to surrender throughout the tournament. After falling behind 5-0 in the first inning to Gordon County in the opener Friday, Barrow roared back with 15 unanswered runs, cruising to an easy victory. Even in the loss to Carroll County on Saturday morning, Barrow rallied from two deficits before eventually falling 12-11.
Barrow rebounded with a 6-4 win over Hall County to advance to the championship. It was a repeat of last year when Barrow lost to Union County in the District 6 championship before getting revenge in the state tournament.
Barrow still had work to do, though, needing to beat Carroll County twice. Maney’s team proved it was up to the challenge, winning 17-6 and then 8-6 in the clincher.
For more, see the June 28 issue of the Barrow News-Journal.
After finishing second in the District 6 tournament, Barrow reigned supreme at the tournament, going 4-1 with three wins on the final day to capture the championship and advance to the Dizzy Dean World Series next month in Southaven, Miss.
After winning its opening game Friday over Gordon County 15-5, Barrow dropped its first contest Saturday morning to Carroll County before roaring back to topple District 6 champion Hall County and then knock off Carroll County twice for the title.
It’s the second year in a row Barrow has won the state title at the 10U level and the team is in the process of raising funds to make a second straight trip to the World Series.
“We started at 9 in the morning on Saturday and other than 20-30-minute breaks between games, we were on the field all day into the evening,” said Barrow head coach James Maney, an assistant on last year’s state championship team.
“The coaches and the players were all very tired, but also very excited. Everyone was proud and everyone contributed. It was a great weekend.”
Barrow showed an unwillingness to surrender throughout the tournament. After falling behind 5-0 in the first inning to Gordon County in the opener Friday, Barrow roared back with 15 unanswered runs, cruising to an easy victory. Even in the loss to Carroll County on Saturday morning, Barrow rallied from two deficits before eventually falling 12-11.
Barrow rebounded with a 6-4 win over Hall County to advance to the championship. It was a repeat of last year when Barrow lost to Union County in the District 6 championship before getting revenge in the state tournament.
Barrow still had work to do, though, needing to beat Carroll County twice. Maney’s team proved it was up to the challenge, winning 17-6 and then 8-6 in the clincher.
For more, see the June 28 issue of the Barrow News-Journal.
‘Ahead of his time’: Late WBHS coach Charlie Horne remembered by former assistant, player
As Bob Dixon remembers, if one wanted to learn about Charlie Horne’s accomplishments from the man himself, you had to pry it out of him. The former Winder-Barrow football, baseball and basketball coach, who died June 8 at 87 years old, may not have liked to boast about his achievements as an athlete at Jordan High School in Columbus, or in ...
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Track and Field: Winder’s Cook Holliday finishes second in age group in pole vault in national masters meet
Even if Cook Holliday can’t fully cheat death, he said last week he’s going to keep on trying by staying in shape and not losing his competitive edge. The former longtime Winder-Barrow High School track and field head coach achieved another personal milestone June 9, finishing second in the pole vault in the 75-79-year-old age group in the ...
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Baseball: Bulldoggs' Hanna taken in 12th round of MLB draft by Red Sox
Winder-Barrow High School baseball catcher Beau Hanna has been selected in the 12th round of the Major League Baseball amateur draft by the Boston Red Sox with the 371st overall pick. Hanna, a Kennesaw State signee, hit .443 with a .511 OBP and had 51 hits, 7 homers, 48 RBIs and 12 doubles this spring in his senior season, earning first-team ...
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Baseball: Bulldoggs' Hanna taken in 12th round of MLB draft by Red Sox; DeMarco goes in 24th round to Yankees
Winder-Barrow High School baseball catcher Beau Hanna has been selected in the 12th round of the Major League Baseball amateur draft by the Boston Red Sox with the 371st overall pick. Meanwhile, his teammate, centerfielder Pat DeMarco was taken in the 24th round by the New York Yankees with the 722nd pick. Hanna, a Kennesaw State signee, hit ...
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