Portland High School
February 26, 2000

The Columbia Central High School Academic Team traveled north to Portland to compete in the Highland rim Invitational February 26th.  It was the team’s first contest in almost three months and the rust showed early on as the three Central teams took a while to get going.  By the time the day had ended, the teams had combined for eight wins and look poised to build on that total with a double shot of varsity and JV competition scheduled for March 4th.

Central’s first team line-up of seniors Robyn Boshers and Lindsay Crowell and juniors Emily Senefeld and Jeremy Wear started their day with a match against Riverdale II.  The match saw the Lion stay close throughout and pull to within 140-110 with three toss-ups remaining but Riverdale nailed the 23rd toss-up and held on to pull out a narrow 160-140 victory.  The A-Teamers from CHS then proceeded to reel off three straight wins over Portland V (270-20), Cookeville IV (210-90), and Franklin Road Academy (180-110) to set up a match against Ezell-Harding II with a play-off berth on the line for the winners.  Unfortunately, it was Ezell who came out blasting scoring the first 150 points of the match.  Central never gave up and played admirably the rest of the match but ended up on the short end of a 280-60 final score. The first team once again had balanced scoring with Jeremy Wear totaling 170 points, Robyn Boshers 120, Lindsay Crowell 100 and Emily Senefeld 80.  During the competition Emily reached two career milestones.  By playing in her 129th match she has now played in more matches than any other Central High School Academic Team member.  With her 80 points on the day, she also became only the second CHS A-Teamer to eclipse the 3000-point mark in career scoring.  Robyn had a personal milestone of her own reaching the 1000-point mark in career scoring.

Central’s’ second team consisted of seniors David Baron, Salvador Lopez, and Christie Stanford and juniors Jennifer Kragenbrink and Sharon Thackston.  Their day started as the first team’s did with a loss to a team from Riverdale, this time Riverdale III by a score of 180-100.  David Baron’s sixty points in the second round helped Central break open a tight match against Gordonsville and score a 160-80 win.  The team split the next two matches winning 170-80 over Team USA and losing 170-100 to Cookeville V before ending the day with a 340-40 drubbing at the hands of divisional champion Ezell-Harding I.  David Baron led his team in scoring with 190 points.  Sharon Thackston pitched in 130 followed by Christie Stanford’s 50 and Salvador Lopez’s 20.

Central’s third team was actually its JV team getting ready for next week’s JV tilt at Cookeville.  The line-up for the JV squad consisted of sophomores Milie Joshi, Jeff Spurlock and Sam Wantland who were joined by freshmen Ryan Linger, Kathleen Smith and Michael Smith.  The team gained valuable experience along with performing surprisingly well.  The first match was a win over Lincoln County II 110-70.  The next game saw the team go up against former state champion Cookeville I and end the game down 270-60.  The third team managed to win two of the three remaining matches- 140-100 over Gallatin and 170-130 over Harpeth Hall helped in large part by Sam Wantland’s 24 toss-ups in those three games.  The other blemish on Central’s record was a 170-120 loss at the hands of Hendersonville II.  Sam Wantland ended the tournament with 310 points and was assisted by Kathleen Smith’s 40 and Ryan Linger’s 30.  Milie Joshi and Jeff Spurlock each tallied one toss-up.

Up next for the jv is Cookeville’s Wonder Bowl which will be a chance for them to see how they stack up against other junior varsity teams while the varsity will play at TSU in their final tune-up before the state tournament.