Madeline Rudd Staff Writer Oct. 7, 2016 marked the very first Apex High School/ Apex Consolidated High School Sports Hall Of Fame induction during halftime of Friday’s football game against Fuquay-Varina. Although it may have been wet outside, it didn't stop anyone from watching the Apex greats receive their well-deserved recognition. Graduating in 1938, Jim and Joe Mills are the oldest members. During their time at Apex they lead the baseball team to the Class B championship game and became NCHSAA hall of famers. They later played baseball at NC State and were ACC officials as well. The only selection from Apex Consolidated High School, J.E. Wilson also played baseball before graduating in 1962. After his high school baseball career, Wilson went on to play at Shaw University and was inducted into the Hall of Fame there. He later won the NCHSAA Golden Whistle Merit award in 2000; NCHSAA only gives this award to very special people, “The criteria for the award includes demonstrating leadership, performance, service and training for the betterment of officiating, possessing officiating abilities emulated by fellow officials, being regarded as a person of integrity and character in addition to a minimum of 10 years of experience as an active official,” they stated while explaining this award. McKenzie Feldman Staff Writer Eat. Sleep. Swim. Repeat. Competitive swimmer and Apex High School student, Ana Pozder, has had a rock star year! This summer, Pozder competed in the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team Trials, and her community is so proud! Not only is making it to the Trials a massive achievement on its own, but it does not stop there. Pozder won her heat in the Women’s 800 meter freestyle and made it look so easy! However, what is frequently overlooked is how much dedication and time it took a swimmer, like Pozder, to reach that point. In this interview, Pozder has provided us with a behind the scenes look of what it took to make it to the Trials. Here is an insight into this swimmer’s world! Amber Hancock-Burns Staff Writer On Sept. 21, 2016, Apex High School hosted their very first “Peak City Dodgeball Classic.” The new tradition had students and faculty members throwing dodgeballs at each other in order to raise money to buy new computers for students. There were a total of sixteen teams, made up of fourteen student teams with two staff teams. There was even live commentary from seniors Patrick Kenney and Reid Proctor. It ended up being a very popular event, and many students around Apex liked dodgeball much better than the staff-sketball game last March. Amanda Dybal Staff Writer Should bathroom laws affect the people of North Carolina who just want to catch a first round Division one men’s basketball game? NCAA removed seven championship events from North Carolina because of LGBT bathroom laws. The laws in the NC Bathroom Bill state that you may only legally enter the bathroom of your biological gender. CNN states, “The NCAA cited the bathroom law and other factors in its decision to keep championships and their corresponding prestige and dollars away from the state. The other factors included: Cameron Goz Sports Editor It has been quite an interesting past few weeks for a league that has been out of action for the past three months, but the National Football League has been prominent in the news for good reason. The Deflategate hullabaloo will not leave the nation’s attention, and the NFL Draft was as unpredictable as expected. Ohio State led the college football universe with twelve picks in the draft, followed by Clemson (9) and UCLA (8). April, a month signaling the beginning of the baseball season, had the NFL entrenched in headlines daily. On April, 25, the Second Circuit United States Court of Appeals (SCUSCA) reinstated the four-game ban on Tom Brady originally placed on him by commissioner Roger Goodell. While not all judges approve of Goodell’s role as judge, jury, and executioner, they collectively agreed that the collective bargaining agreement stated Goodell has the right to impose discipline for, “conduct detrimental to the integrity of, or public confidence, in the game of professional football.” The National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) and NFL mutually agreed on this, and action has been taken to enforce it. Brady is now left with three options: accept the ban (highly unlikely), petition for a rehearing by the SCUSCA, or take the matter to Supreme Court. Every time the fans think this issue will be resolved it, somehow thrusts itself back into the public eye; do not expect this fight to end anytime soon. McKenzie Feldman Staff Writer There could be quite a few empty seats at the Olympic Games this summer. In January, the world was introduced to the newly spread disease known as the Zika virus, which is notoriously prominent in Brazil. The Zika virus is a mosquito-borne disease that is said to cause flu-like symptoms and rashes to those infected. Symptoms can last anywhere from two to seven days, but the major concern is the problems the disease can cause during a woman’s pregnancy. Pregnant women can pass the Zika virus to their offspring if she is bitten by an infected mosquito. This can cause serious birth defects to the brain called microcephaly. Zika is now considered “guilty until proven innocent” because studies have not yet proven that the virus is the absolute reason for microcephaly. Researchers are currently scrambling to figure out how much of a risk the Olympic Games pose in spreading the Zika virus around the world. This is currently raising the ultimate question: could the Rio Olympic Games be cancelled this summer? Cameron Goz Sports Editor On April 18, Apex’s own CougarTV displayed its first live broadcast of a lacrosse game between Leesville Road and the Cougars. While a few technical difficulties delayed the show shortly, it was back on air before anyone could fret. Commentating the landmark event were Apex seniors Liam Fulling and Jon Harden. With guest speaker Mike Bagnasco, the woman’s lacrosse coach, the program offered insight that would otherwise go unheard. John Mitchell, executive of CougarTV, and Principal Dr. Kearney had a vibrant bit of banter for the first ever halftime show. Viewers were a small part of history that day, not just because they were able to watch senior Alex McClure flaunt his gold cleats up and down the field but because they were present for the first of expectantly many CougarTV sports broadcasts. Hailey Loftin Features Editor For the last twenty years, the 1995-1996 Chicago Bulls have been widely regarded as the greatest team in NBA history. Their incredible 72-10 record that year was the best that’s ever been achieved. Led by Michael Jordan, the Bulls sailed through the regular season and won the NBA championship in six games. A season couldn’t be better, or so everyone thought. Flash forward twenty years. The Golden State Warriors started the season 24-0, the best start in NBA history. Steph Curry had already hit 125 three-pointers by the team’s first loss, on pace to make 427 total threes for the season. That first loss came against the Milwaukee Bucks in December. Their next loss did not occur until Curry was forced to sit out against the Mavericks, a game that the Warriors lost by twenty-three points. Hailey Loftin Features Editor National championship games are not always close, fun-to-watch games between the two best teams in the country. Sometimes they just seem like a regular season game, but there have been many finales that have outshone the others. Here are the highlights and stories behind some of the most exciting final games in the history of the tournament: Cameron Goz Sports Editor The NBA regular season has wrapped up and, if you have not heard, Golden State broke the all-time record of seventy-two wins with a victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on April 13. Yet that somehow was not even the biggest basketball story in the Warriors’ home state. Five hours south of the Oracle Arena, Kobe Bryant was putting on a show, his final one, for the Staples Center crowd of 18,997. The audience featured famous rappers Kanye West, Snoop Dogg, and Jay Z as well as Lakers court-side mainstay Jack Nicholson. 5.4 million others nationwide tuned in to watch Mamba’s final game. |
Archives
March 2017
Categories
All
|