Cameron Goz Sports Editor Signing Day has come and gone, and a select few of Apex’s senior athletes pledged to continue their ascension in their sport in college. Easily the most committing came from the swimming with four swimmers pledging to their colleges. Both male swimmers, Brian Legarth and Brandon Medins, signed to Washington & Lee University. Ashlyn Butkowski will join the Minutemen at UMass Amherst, Katie Godlewski will be attending St. Bonaventure University, and Morgan Montgomery will attend the University of Vermont. Three lacrosse players also finalized their college choices: Tommy Deluca will join the Cavaliers at the University of Virginia, Jack Hayden will play at Hampden-Sydney College, and Dylan Wolford will attend Westminster College. Concerning other sports, Kaley Barts will take her golfing talents to Catawba College, while Abigail Veit will join the Western Carolina Catamounts' volleyball team. Ben Highfill will play baseball at Liberty University and the lone softball player to sign was Julia Cerasi, who will be attending Meredith College. Apex’s class of 2016 athletes are a strong group who certainly deserve to play their respected sports at the next level. Cameron Goz Sports Editor Sitting at the halfway point in the 2015-16 NFL season, a lot has happened in these few short months. Some coach’s seats are beginning to warm; others are lost in an irreversible blaze. There has been no shortage of QB controversy, devastating injuries, and a little history getting to where we currently stand. Some history was made on Nov. 2 when Carolina’s own Panthers survived Monday Night Football to stay undefeated at 7-0, one of four 7-0 teams (Broncos, Bengals, Patriots). That marks the first time in NFL history that there have been four 7-0 teams left standing. Denver remained undefeated in a heavyweight matchup with then undefeated Green Bay when a stout #1 ranked defense held the best QB in football, Aaron Rodgers, to his lowest yardage total of his career when attempting twenty passes. Denver has not been looked at as the strongest of the undefeated teams left, but it is hard to ignore that type of win, especially in primetime on Sunday Night Football. Cincinnati has done a good job in shedding their “shrivel in big games” mantra, beating up on some good teams this year and showing some unexpected grit when having to play close games. QB Andy Dalton has also started to show what he is really made of, but the only thing that will appease their tortured fan base is a playoff win after so many failed attempts. The Patriots are the best team in football, and it is not hard to see why; they are simply on a mission after Deflategate. Tom Brady is playing like he is thirty again, and an offense of no names minus TE Rob Gronkowski and WR Julian Edelman has slaughtered the league on route to Tom Brady’s second ever 7-0 start. Official Press Release TAC TITANS swimmer Morgan Montgomery has verbally committed to swim for the University of Vermont. She plans to study nursing at one of the oldest schools in the nation. Montgomery excels at backstroke, and helped the TAC TITANS women’s 400 Medley relay come in 16th place in the USA Swimming Jr. Nationals competition this summer. She is excited to keep practicing and competing this year before she heads out next fall to train with Women’s Swimming & Diving Head Coach Gerry Cournover and his staff in Burlington. Although Morgan is a Vermont native, she moved to Raleigh at 3 years old and started swimming in Raleigh’s popular summer league when she was only 4. “She began swimming year-round at age 8 and never looked back,” her mom says. Combining high grades and elite swimming is challenging, but Montgomery’s dedication as a student-athlete has been key to her success all along. Founded in 1791, UVM’s education is so highly regarded, it’s considered a “public Ivy league” school. After Montgomery’s official visit, she knew this was the right place for her, "I fell in love with everything about the school and town. Burlington is such a cool place. I'm so excited that I get to study and do what I love with an amazing team and group of coaches next fall. Go cats go!!" Hailey Loftin Staff Writer At the top of the ninth inning, it looked like the World Series would have a Game Six. The Kansas City Royals were down 2-0, and New York Mets pitcher Matt Harvey was on fire. The score swing in the ninth inning may not have been huge, but it was just what the Royals needed to take the game into extra innings. The tenth and eleventh innings passed quietly. Neither team scored until the top of the twelfth when Kansas City scored five times to make the score 7-2. Three outs later, the Royals were rushing onto the field and celebrating a World Series win for the first time in thirty years. It was a very different ending from the 2014 World Series for the Royals. They were one run away from winning against the San Francisco Giants in Game Seven. That loss at home was motivation for them to go all the way this year. Signs made by Royals fans read “Party Like it’s 1985!” The streets of Kansas City were filled with celebrating fans, jumping and cheering and crying after their long-awaited championship. The Royals led the series 3-1 going into the game, and a win for the Mets in Game Five would have made for a very interesting Game Six. The Mets have not won the World Series since 1986. They had a winning season this year for the first time since 2008 and had a very good shot at winning the World Series. They led every single game of the series, forcing the Royals to work hard and fight to come back and win. The regular season starts again on April 4, 2016. Among the games that kick off the season? Royals vs. Mets. Andrew Bulieris Staff Writer The 2016 NFL draft is looking like it could be one to remember. Almost every position is loaded with talent next year. From quarterbacks to cornerbacks, there could be a wide variety of players that are selected in the first round next year. Some big names for next year’s draft include Cardale Jones of Ohio State, Joey Bosa of Ohio State, Robert Nkemdiche of Ole Miss, Jared Goff of California, and Laremy Tunsil of Ole Miss. Most likely some first round talent will fall into the second round, maybe even the third round. The top quarterbacks are Jared Goff, Connor Cook of Michigan State, Cardale Jones, and Christian Hackenburg of Penn State. Top running backs are Ezekiel Elliot, Derrick Henry, and Devontae Booker. The top Receivers are Laquon Treadwell of Ole Miss, Tyler Boyd of Pitt, Corey Coleman of Baylor, and Braxton Miller of Ohio State. Possibly the best position in next year’s draft, the defensive line, will include the following: Joey Bosa, Deforest Buckner of Oregon, Shawn Oakman of Baylor, Robert Nkemdiche, and Shilique Calhoun of Michigan State. Ever since Ohio State Beat Alabama and Oregon, everything has changed in college football. Ohio State has taken over as the new number one with a roster loaded with first round talent; Alabama has also dropped out of the top ten surprisingly. College football is now full of elite pass rushers and top defensive lineman while last year it consisted outside linebackers of the same caliber. Football fans could be watching the next generation of NFL quarterbacks this year too. All the top quarterback prospects have showcased some serious skills and play that could prove their worth of being a potential top quarterback. The quarterback who has stood out the most this year is by far Jared Goff, who was an underrated prospect at the beginning of the year and has now moved into the #1 national ranking for college football quarterbacks and #3 on the all position ranking list. The team that has proven to have the most talent this season has been Ohio State, who has some unbelievably talented players at almost every position. The Buckeyes have nine players in the top 50, all of whom have potential to be first round picks. Next year’s draft is shaping up to be a big one, and everyone is asking the question: who will be the first overall pick? Who knows. Maybe everyone will have a better idea by the time the college football season wraps up. and the draft will be right around the corner. Hailey Loftin Staff Writer Apex fall sports have had a great couple of days in the last week. The SWAC cross country championships took place on Wednesday, Oct. 21. The Cougars took their third straight men’s championship, coming in ahead of Green Hope High School and Panther Creek High School. Apex’s key runners were Ben Savino and Derek Duin, who came in second and third respectively. Andrew Boland’s twentieth place-finish pushed the Cougars into first place. The women’s team finished in second place behind Green Hope and in front of Panther Creek. Senior Allison Rosen finished in fourth place, and Coach O’Donnell was voted coach of the year for the conference. Green Hope’s defeat of Middle Creek High School’s soccer team on Monday, Oct. 26 clinched the SWAC championship for Apex’s varsity men’s soccer team. Middle Creek has only lost three games this year, and a win for them would’ve meant the possibility of a shared title. The Cougars face the Mustangs on Oct. 28 at home on senior night. This is the first time the Cougars have won the soccer conference championship in eight years.
Dylan Snyder Staff Writer The 2015 Ohio State Buckeyes team comes into this season with all eyes on them. Last season they were 14-1 and had to overcome many obstacles. Prior to the 2014 season, All Big Ten quarterback Braxton Miller was injured in an August practice and out for the entire season. Backup JT Barrett stepped in and despite a loss to ACC unranked Virginia Tech, was leading a fast paced and efficient offense. Losing to Virginia Tech was the Buckeyes’ first home opener loss in thirty-six years and caused many people to count them out for the post season. Any Big Ten team hates to lose to the ACC, and it sometimes can ruin their chances at post-season play. Barrett, however, got his act together and was a Heisman trophy candidate until bad luck struck the Bucks again. In the season-finale against rival Michigan on November 29, 2014, Barrett suffered an injury to his ankle when trying to scramble for extra yardage. Sophomore Cardale Jones took over in the fourth quarter and held on for a 42-28 win. With Barrett out for the post-season, Jones was up for the starting job. Many people, including myself, were very doubtful of his abilities because the only playing time he really got was when the Buckeyes were up by a large margin in the fourth quarter. He was also famous for a tweet he sent his freshman year saying “Why should we have to go to class if we came here to play FOOTBALL, we ain’t come to play SCHOOL, classes are POINTLESS.” OSU fans as well as many football fans did not have much faith in him due not only to his lack of experience, but also because he was not thought of as that bright of a person by his tweet. Going into the postseason, Jones was now in the spotlight as he made his first full start against the Wisconsin Badgers in the Big Ten Championship game. He proved them wrong by going 12-18 for 257 yards in a 59-0 win. The quality of play continued as Jones led the Buckeyes to a victory in the Sugar Bowl against Alabama 42-35 and a big win in the inaugural college football playoff national championship versus the Oregon Ducks 42-20. The 2014 Buckeyes team was probably one of the best ever. They did not lose many impact players because many of their All-Americans and All-Big Ten players were underclassmen. They would surely dominate as everyone thought. Cameron Goz Sports Editor Daniel Murphy, second baseman for the New York Mets, is an above-average hitter with middling power and poor defense, and he is putting together one of the most legendary postseasons in both Mets and MLB history. Throughout the regular season Murphy hit a single home run off of a lefty this year, fourteen total. Now, through seven playoff games, he has three home runs off of lefties, with five total, tying a Mets record with Mike Piazza. In 903 career regular season games, he homered in back-to-back games only once; he has now homered in four straight games. The ridiculous stats do not stop there either, with the four game streak only trailing Carlos Beltran’s five gamer in 2004. Beltran is quite possibly the best postseason hitter in MLB history, only magnifying the incredible production “Murph” has achieved. Murphy is also only the third player to ever hit a HR off the regular season leaders in strikeouts, ERA, and wins, and the first to do that off three different pitchers. While outlandishly impressive, the names attached to these home runs are even more mind-boggling: two off of 3-time Cy Young award winner Clayton Kershaw, one against Cy Young front-runner Zach Greinke, a bomb off postseason stud Jon Lester, and a golf shot off Jake Arietta, who just had the best second-half in MLB history. When Cy Young ballots are placed next month, Murphy will have homered off the top three vote-getters in the National League (Arietta, Greinke, and Kershaw) in not only the same postseason, but in the same week. These types of mythical, fairy-tale like runs can be predicted, but in this case not much could have pointed to this type of production, especially considering that it is Murphy’s first playoff appearance. He simply wants it more, and what a coincidence it is that the goat that has haunted the championship less Cubs for 107 years was named Murphy. Dylan Snyder
Staff Writer This year’s 2015 women’s tennis team has had a successful season with a winning record of 12-4 and is third in the SWAC (Southwest Wake Athletic Conference). With a total of 142 matches, they have won 103 wins and thirty-seven losses. Things are looking up for them going into the playoff tournaments. Coach Lynn Thomas and senior Lauren Mcall sat down and gave their thoughts and opinions of how the season went as a team and what they thought had got them this far. Coach Thomas: What is the key to your success? The team has been consistent in play; the girls know each other well and can work together. Biggest improvement this year? Or best part to watch as a coach? Watching the girls grow as players and improve. Two of them came onto the team as freshmen and did not get to play much, and now after four years of hard work they are in the top six. Any comebacks? Doubles match at Fuquay-Varina ; Apex was down 5-6 and ended up winning 8-6. Since many of the players are seniors, how do you plan on replacing the talent next year? You can never truly replace them, but this will be a strong team next year. These kids will be missed, but there will be someone to step up next year to fill the role. What is the key to this team’s success this year? There are a lot of experienced seniors who have played on this team for all four years. Grace Fendrick Features and Web Editor Senior volleyball player Abigail Veit verbally committed to Western Carolina University (WCU) on full athletic scholarship. She is excited to be a part of the Honors College and entrepreneurship program. Veit has played volleyball at the national level since she was only fourteen years old. In late June of 2014, Veit and her club team, Triangle Volleyball Club, traveled to Orlando, Florida to compete in the AAU Junior Nationals, one of the largest national tournaments in the country. Winning second place in the Open division, the highest of the divisions at the tournament, her team broke a historic record, achieving the highest placement of any North Carolina team in the history of AAU. In addition to volleyball, Veit thoroughly enjoys the outdoors, specifically kayaking and hiking, which she will be able to continue in the mountains at WCU. Her advice to other students is, “Don’t say you want something unless you’re willing to work for it.” |
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