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Oak Ridge, others cheering for Higgins in Super Bowl

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Oak-Ridge-Higgins-TD-Catch-Clinton-Thomas-Aug-18-2016-Web-Cropped
Oak Ridge wide receiver Tee Higgins (5), who was then a senior, catches a 17-yard pass from junior quarterback Johnny Stewart before falling backward into the end zone for a touchdown near the left pylon, putting the Wildcats ahead of the Clinton Dragons 42-7 with 2:57 left in the first half at Clinton on Thursday, Aug. 18, 2016. Higgins is defended here on his second TD catch by Clinton senior J’Quan Thomas (5). (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

People in East Tennessee and others across the country will be cheering for former Oak Ridge Wildcat Tee Higgins in the Super Bowl this evening (Sunday, February 13), and another former Wildcat, Zach Witherspoon, will be on the sidelines.

Higgins is a standout wide receiver who played for Oak Ridge and Clemson University, and he is playing in his second season for the Cincinnati Bengals. The Bengals (10-7-0) play the Los Angeles Rams (12-5-0) at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. The game will be broadcast on NBC at 6:30 p.m. Sunday. Coverage of Super Bowl 2022 will air live on NBC and Peacock starting at 12 p.m. Eastern.

The Bengals advanced to the Super Bowl by defeating the Kansas City Chiefs 27-24 in overtime on January 30, with a game-winning 31-yard field goal by rookie kicker Evan McPherson. You can watch highlights of that game here and here, and read a scoring summary here.

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Roane State’s Harnish gets 800th career win

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Members of the Lady Raiders basketball team congratulate Roane State Community College Coach David Harnish on his 800th career win. From left to right are Cassidy Gilmore, Chloe Roark, Catherine Hendershott, Coach Harnish, Korbin Witherspoon, and Shelbi Smith. (Photo courtesy Roane State)

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Call him Mr. 800.

Roane State Lady Raiders head women’s basketball coach David Harnish earned his 800th career win last week with a 74-56 victory over conference foe Motlow College.

Now in his third season at the helm of the Lady Raiders program, Harnish is the seventh-winningest coach in women’s NJCAA basketball history and the fourth-winningest active coach.

After the win, Harnish said, “I owe a lot of people a lot of credit for the success of 800 wins, and I certainly couldn’t have done it alone.”

The veteran coach began his coaching career as a men’s assistant at Western Nebraska Community College in Scotts Bluff, Nebraska. Then, in 1988, he was named head coach of Western Nebraska’s women’s team, where he posted an amazing 23-4 record in his rookie season.

That was the start of 28 consecutive 20-win seasons, including nine seasons with 30 wins or more.

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Atomic Junior rower gets scholarship to Oregon State

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Atomic Junior rower Mason Fischer of Oak Ridge High School has signed a letter of intent to Oregon State University, where she plans to major in kinesiology. (Submitted photo)

Atomic Junior rower Mason Fischer of Oak Ridge High School has signed a letter of intent to Oregon State University, where she plans to major in kinesiology, a press release said.

She will be rowing for the Beavers in the powerful Pac-12 Conference, the press release said. Fischer is in her third year of rowing and was in the Atomic four that finished 8th nationally last spring.

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Roane State volleyball wins region tourney

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The Roane State Raiders volleyball team won the NJCAA Region VII tournament Saturday with a 3-1 win over Walters State. (Photo from Roane State)

The Roane State Raiders volleyball team won the National Junior College Athletic Association Region VII tournament Saturday in only the team’s second year of competition.

The Raiders, the top seed in the tournament, defeated Walters State 3-1 in four sets: 25-20, 19-25, 25-20, and 25-21.

The win was the Raiders’ third victory over the Senators this season and improved the team’s record to 18-4, a press release said.

Head coach Steve Dallman said after the match, “Those kids gave 150-percent out there. (The win) is about Roane State athletics and not just us.”

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Roane State volleyball wins conference title

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The 2021 Roane State Raiders volleyball team shortly after winning the program’s first-ever conference championship 3-2 over Walters State on Tuesday night, Oct. 19, 2021. (Photo submitted by Roane State)

It came down to the last game of the regular season for the Roane State Raiders volleyball team to become the 2021 Tennessee Community College Athletic Association regular season champion.

In only the program’s second season, the Raiders achieved the unexpected with a come-from-behind, five-set win over five-time defending champion Walters State (19-25, 25-22, 21-25, 25-16, and 16-14), a press release said. By winning the regular season crown, the Raiders earned the top seed in the upcoming National Junior College Athletic Association Region VII tournament. It is scheduled for October 29 and 30 at Walters State Community in Morristown.

Led by freshman Mattie Arnett’s 32 kills on 61 attempts, Roane State came back from a 2-1 deficit in what was certainly the program’s most hard-fought and exciting match, the press release said.

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Roane State men’s basketball coach, athletic director retiring

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Roane State Community College men’s basketball coach and athletic director Randy Nesbit is retiring from athletics but will continue to teach. (Photo by Roane State)

By Roane State Community College/Donnie Hall, Sports Information Writer

HARRIMAN—Since 1993, Randy Nesbit has been the face of athletics at Roane State Community College. As the men’s head basketball coach and athletic director, he has had his hand in virtually all things sports at the college for nearly three decades.

Last week, Nesbit announced to college administration and coaching staff that he would be stepping down from his role as head men’s basketball coach and—as soon as the position can be filled—as athletic director.

Nesbit, who is also a tenured business instructor at the college, said he will be moving to the classroom full time.

According to Nesbit, “Back in the fall, I was in a mindset that I thought I could just continue to coach in perpetuity; I could just never see an end in sight. But then,” the veteran coach added, “after the new year began, I felt like the Lord was showing me that I should step away and look at teaching full time and possible business opportunities to benefit my family that, otherwise, I wouldn’t have the time available to do.”

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Parking at Melton Lake Park to be closed for regatta March 13 & 14

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Rowing at Melton Hill Lake (Photo courtesy City of Oak Ridge)

The parking lots at Melton Lake Park will be closed to the public during a regatta next week.

The regatta, the 2021 Oak Ridge Louisville Cardinal Invitational Regatta, is scheduled on Saturday, March 13, and Sunday, March 14. It’s hosted by the City of Oak Ridge in partnership with the Oak Ridge Rowing Association, a press release said.

It’s an invitation-only event, and it will feature elite college women’s rowing teams who will compete in one of the first events of the season, the press release said.

To comply with ACC and Big 10 COVID-19 guidelines, this is a “no spectator” event, the press release said. As a result, the parking lots at Melton Lake Park will be closed to the public during the regatta, the release said.

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Regatta season starts next week

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The 2016 SIRA Championship Regatta is pictured above in Oak Ridge on Sunday, April 17, 2016. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

This year’s regatta season will start next week with the Cardinal Invitational in Oak Ridge. That rowing competition with the University of Louisville is scheduled from March 13-14 at Melton Lake Park.

Other rowing events will begin in late April and run almost every weekend through May, a press release said.

This year, the Oak Ridge Rowing Association will host, for the first time, the NCAA Division I American Athletic Conference (AAC) Championship, the press release said.

The races this year follow the cancellation of six regattas in 2020, including the NCAA Division I, II, and III Championships, the press release said.

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Bengals pick Higgins in NFL draft

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Wildcats Tee Higgins Catch at Ooltewah Nov. 13, 2015
Tee Higgins, who was then a junior at Oak Ridge, makes a catch during a 26-17 loss at Ooltewah in a second-round Class 5A playoff game on Friday, Nov. 13, 2015. (Photo by Julio Culiat)

The Cincinnati Bengals picked former Oak Ridge wide receiver Tee Higgins in the second round of the NFL draft on Friday.

Higgins, a star football and basketball player at Oak Ridge High School, played three years at Clemson University in South Carolina before being drafted into the National Football League in the 33rd pick, the first pick of the second round on Friday.

Higgins, 21, joins Joe Burrow, the number one pick and a quarterback from Louisiana State University, at Cincinnati. Higgins was the second pick for the Bengals.

Higgins (6-4, 215) is tied with NFL stars Sammy Watkins and DeAndre Hopkins for the all-time touchdown record for a Clemson receiver (27). He caught 135 passes for 2,448 yards and 27 touchdowns during his three-year career, according to the Clemson Tigers. He played in two national championship games, winning one, the national championship game against Alabama in 2019. Higgins had three catches for 81 yards and a touchdown in that game.

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Roane State names head women’s basketball coach

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David Harnish

David Harnish

 

David Harnish, Roane State’s new head women’s basketball coach, will hit the hardwood running as he assumes his new duties.

But for this Colorado native, it’s a return to what he loves doing and does so well. Harnish, 60, was the coach of the Western Nebraska Community College’s women’s team for 29 years and built a remarkable career record of 764 wins and 155 losses.

In 2003, his team played in the national championship title game before coming up short and finishing second in the nation. He has coached 14 All-Americans and more than 40 All-Region student athletes.

“We are extremely fortunate to have a coach coming in who has taken his former school to the NJCAA Division I tournament and has enjoyed such great, long-term success,” Roane State Athletic Director Randy Nesbit said. [Read more…]

Western Carolina standout named assistant women’s basketball coach at Roane State

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Angel Allen

Angel Allen, a recent Western Carolina University graduate and four-year player for the Catamounts, has been named assistant women’s basketball coach at Roane State Community College.

Allen joins the staff of first-year coach Jason Taylor, a Roane State alumnus who took over the program in May.

Allen, from Murfreesboro, attended Blackman High School and was a two-time girls’ AAA state champion (2014 and 2015) and a one-time ESPN, Maxpreps, and USA Today national champion (2014). [Read more…]

Golf tournament in Oak Ridge will support Roane State team

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Roane State golfer and now graduate Hunter Clark (Submitted photo)

By Bob Fowler, Roane State staff writer

The second annual Roane State Community College Golf Team Fundraiser Tournament will be held Monday, July 1, at Oak Ridge Country Club.

All proceeds will go to assist the college’s golf team with various expenses, including team travel costs and equipment. The event will begin with lunch at 11:30 p.m. followed by a shotgun start at 1 p.m.

Thirteen teams participated in the first tournament last year, “and we’re hoping to have at least 20 teams this year,” said Roane State Foundation Development Specialist Lauren Barber. [Read more…]

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