Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Athletic construction on schedule, board informed

So far, everything's on schedule with construction for athletic venues at Prescott High School.

David Maxwell, PHS athletic director, told the Prescott School Board, at its Dec. 16, meeting the asphalt phase for the track has been done and the contractor is waiting on the next subcontractor. The only thing lacking at this point is the rubberized surface.

But, he said, the base work has been inspected and approve, and the surface work should be finished long before track season begins next Spring.

The girls softball field is 75 percent complete, he said. "We are working on it as we can, in order to ensure the field is mature and stabilized."

Scoreboards for the softball and baseball fields are "in the mail".

The 7AAA conference will be voting this Spring on whether to resume the district tournament format for softball or not. It went away from a tournament format last season, opting, instead, for a round robin way of deciding the conference champ. At this time, Maxwell said, Prescott will be vying for its first conference softball tourney ever.

The stadium fence project will soon be done, with the addition of another gate and the top-cap for the interior fence.

Final additions for the old gymnasium have arrived, he said, and with a little work, the baseball team will have a collapsible batting cage for indoor use.

Turning to athletics proper, Maxwell said the baseball and softball teams have met and will begin working out in January. There will be a lot of young players coming out who have been through the Prescott Baseball Association program, and this should help the Curley Wolves.

The track schedule is tentative at this time, but should be finalized by mid-January.

The basketball teams are off to good starts, with the Wolverettes 3-3 overall, and 1-1 in conference play. The Wolves got off to a 3-0 start and were 2-0 in league play at the time of the meeting.

The cheerleading squad has been working hard to prepare for its first trip to the nationals in Dallas, Texas on Dec. 27. The seventh and eighth grade squads also received invitations to the nationals. Both squads, he said, scored well in the regional competition in November at Hot Springs.

The football team ended its year with a 10-2 record, getting to the second round of the state playoffs.

A lot of the players, Maxwell said, were disappointed their playing days are over. For others, though, colleges are giving them serious looks. But, it's too early in the process to lock down commitments.

Maxwell gave the names of those who made the 7AAA All Conference team. The first team saw R.J. Vanhook, A.J. Lewis, Eli Ratcliff, Zach Martin, Johnny Burton and Aaron Tosch named to it.

Jason Butler, Luther Stueart, Robert Block, Dustin Morrow, Dan Ingram and Ray Smith were named to the second team. Roger Muldrow, Craig Heckman, Ryan Roberson, Zach Richards, Chance Cummings, Josh Turner and Jon Henry were honorable mentions.

Maxwell said three of these student athletes have 4.0 grade point averages, while eight will be honor grads next May.

The women's tennis team qualified for the state tourney and scored one victory. Lindsay Poole and Madeline Taylor qualified for the state tourney in doubles, while Meagan Martin won the district singles title and made it to the second round of the state tourney.

Zach Martin qualified for the state tourney in men's singles, getting to the second round before falling to the eventual state champion.

The golf team, both men's and women's, he said, made great strides this season, especially considering there were no seniors on either squad. The teams had the best season for PHS in decades.

Freshman Misty Avery earned All District honors by qualifying for the regional tournament, while the men's team was the district runner-up and qualified for state. The team finished fifth, with sophomore Drew Richards winning the singles championship and finished ninth in the overall championship.

Willie Wilson, dean of students, discussed the reason semester tests were being given the final week before the Christmas holidays instead of waiting until students returned in January. He said the idea is to have the students take the test while the data is fresh in their minds.

At this time, he said, community meetings are being scheduled for parents of sub-groups performing below proficiency. A list has been compiled with the meetings being held in the area where most of these groups are.

A "framework of poverty" workshop was attended, providing in-service training for teachers and helping them gain a better perspective of the mind-set of student living in poverty.

"A lot of students in poverty," he said, "don't have any quiet time at home and aren't quiet at school because they don't understand why it's necessary."

About 23 students took a recent ACT test, with the average score being 19.5, almost a full point higher than last year.

Math clubs, he said, have been working to help tutor McRae Middle School students having trouble in math.

Several home visits have been made to the parents of students with behavioral or academic problems at school, he said. There are a lot of frustrated parents, with some who are angry because they don't know what to do about the situation. "We're trying a different approach so the parents can get on board and help their children."

Pearl Bailey, president of the Prescott District Education Association (PDEA), gave a brief report on the Read Across America program.

"We want to do something exciting for Read Across America next year," she said, "something to put emphasis on reading. Reading is the number one problem in the school system. A lot of times children can't read on grade level are the ones who have their hands in the air. Some seventh and eighth graders can't read."