Oak Ridge Today

Girls middle school soccer team wins Smoky Mountain Tournament

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Oak Ridge Girls Middle School Wildcats

The Oak Ridge Girls Middle School Wildcats are front row, left to right, Eden Gee, Sami Jaffery, Emily Avila, Reagan Ross, Yuni Ramirez, Carter Valencia Van Booraem, and Isha Bhandari; and back row, left to right, Alyssa Tittsworth, Lorelei Heffernan, Muskaan Vohra, Laura Snyder, Lauren Bass, Midori Hammer, Sarah Hammonds, and Bailey Thompson. (Submitted photo)

 

By Gerry Palau

A group of middle school girls from Jefferson, Robertsville, and Oliver Springs middle schools that banded together as the Oak Ridge Middle School Wildcats recently won the end-of-season Smoky Mountain Middle School League Tournament during the weekend of October 25-26.

The Smoky Mountain league is the premier middle school soccer league in the metropolitan Knoxville area with more than 50 girls’ teams competing this fall. The Smoky Mountain League has been in existence since 1987, hosting a girls soccer season each fall, and a boys soccer season each spring. [Read more…]

Despite championship loss, coaches tell Rams to ‘hold your head high’

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Chris Jackson of Robertsville Rams Makes CAK Tackle

Chris Jackson (7) of the Robertsville Middle School Rams tackles Brandon Spencer (4) of the CAK Middle School Warriors during a TVAC Championship game at Blankenship Field on Thursday. (Photos by Luther Simmons)

 

RMS Ram Football Coach James Branson

Robertsville Middle School Rams head coach James Branson with the TVAC Middle School Runner Up trophy.

It was a painful loss, a tearful way to end the season.

But the Robertsville Middle School Rams coaching staff tried to console their football team after a 20-16 championship loss to the CAK Warriors at Blankenship Field on Thursday night.

If you put everything you had into the game, the coaches said, then “hold your head high.”

The Rams finished the year with a 6-2 record. They lost one game in the regular season to Rhea County, and they beat CAK 14-8 during the regular season, said first-year head coach James Branson.

“This whole season, I don’t think there was a lot expected of them,” Branson said. “They compete. They came ready to play. [Read more…]

Van Druff, McGhee finish No. 4, No. 8 in state cross country meet

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Jordan Van Druff

Jordan Van Druff, an eighth-grade student at Jefferson Middle School in Oak Ridge, finished fourth in a state cross country meet in Knoxville on Saturday. (Photo by Nicholas Rhodes)

 

KNOXVILLE—It wasn’t the result that Jordan Van Druff wanted.

He trained diligently at the beginning of the season for this state cross country meet, hoping to finish first. Van Druff also put in extra miles, running up to 25 to 30 miles per week at his peak.

On Saturday, the eighth-grader at Jefferson Middle School led all runners near the one-mile mark in a two-mile boys race during the Tennessee Middle School State Cross Country Championships at Victor Ashe Park in Knoxville. But then, one by one, three runners passed him.

“I didn’t get what I wanted,” said Van Druff, who was undefeated in all of Jefferson’s regular season races during his three-year middle school career. “I wanted to finish first.”

Still, it was an improvement from his fifth-place finish last year and a sixth-place finish the year before, said his mother, Reneé Van Druff.

Van Druff, who finished with a two-mile time of 11:42.55, was one of two Oak Ridge runners who made All State during the state cross country championships on Saturday. The other was Faith McGhee, a fourth-grade student at Woodland Elementary School. She finished eighth in the one-mile girls race during the Tennessee Elementary School State Cross Country Championships. McGhee had a time of 6:19.50. [Read more…]

JMS cross country teams sweep city championships

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2014 JMS Boys Cross Country Team

The 2014 Jefferson Middle Schools boys cross country team is pictured above. The JMS boys and girls cross country teams were city champions this year. (Submitted photos)

 

Jordan Van Druff

Jordan Van Druff of Jefferson Middle School, the boys city champion. Van Druff was undefeated in all of Jefferson’s regular season races during his three-year career.

By Steve Reddick

Both Oak Ridge middle school cross country teams wrapped up their seasons at the City Championship meet held Tuesday, September 29, on the Jefferson Middle School campus.

Battling hard against determined Ram and Lady Ram teams, the JMS Eagle and Lady Eagle cross country teams emerged as City Champions in the meet.

Led by standout runner Jordan Van Druff, the Eagles captured 18 of the first 20 places in the boys race, including the top five positions, to finish the race with a perfect score of 15 points.

Robertsville Middle School’s top runner, seventh-grader Christopher Van Hook, placed sixth overall. [Read more…]

‘Fight like Mikey’ inspires schools, community

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Information from WYSH Radio

It has been an emotional week in Oliver Springs as Norwood Middle School, Grand Oaks Elementary School, and the community have been honoring a 13-year-old boy who has been diagnosed with terminal cancer.

Mikey Carter was a member of the Norwood Middle School football team, and when his teammates hosted Grace Christian Academy on Tuesday night, his younger brother Isiah was named honorary captain, allowed to wear his brother’s jersey and even scored a touchdown on a special play designed just for him. Mikey, who was a lineman for the Jaguars, is now too sick to play football and is at home in hospice care.

Tuesday night’s game also included the presentation of a check to the Carter family from Grace Christian to help with the family’s medical expenses, and both teams signed a football for the family and gave them posters of encouragement for Mikey.

The tributes did not end there, as on Wednesday, the football field at Grand Oaks Elementary School was named in his honor. If you would like to help the family offset the costs of Mikey’s care, you can donate by visiting their GoFundMe page at http://www.gofundme.com/dktqrc.

‘Cats host Atomic Play Day

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Powell and St. Mary's Volleyball

Powell #4 defensive specialist receives a hard hit ball from St. Mary’s. (Submitted photos)

 

The Oak Ridge High School VolleyCats hosted their 5th Annual Atomic Play Day earlier this month.

The Atomic Play Day is a play day for local middle school teams. Oak Ridge High School started a tradition of bringing local middle schools together to play in an all-day tournament format. The Atomic Play Day, which began in 2009, hosted eight teams.

This year, 21 middle school teams from Anderson, Knox, and Roane counties played lots of great volleyball in an all-day scrimmage, a press release said. [Read more…]

Running camp for middle school runners starts Monday at RMS

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The Oak Ridge High Cross Country staff will host a running camp for middle school runners starting on Monday, July 28, at Robertsville Middle School at 9:30 a.m.

Head Coach Allen Etheridge, with assistant coaches Sam Roberts and Ed Wright, with a total of 60 years experience, will lead the camp. Daily workouts will include a dynamic warm-up, gait and form analysis, and workout.

The camp is open to any middle school-age athlete from sixth to eighth grade. The cost is $50, and it includes a T-shirt. Contact Coach Roberts at [email protected] for more information.

Temptations Revue featuring Nate Evans at ORHS for Aug. 9 fundraiser

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Temptations Nate Evans Theater

The Temptations Revue featuring Nate Evans will perform at Oak Ridge High School on August 9 in a fundraiser for the proposed revitalization of Jack Armstrong Stadium and Blankenship Field.

The show starts at 7:30 p.m. August 9. The Temptations Revue will perform Motown hits like “My Girl,” “The Way You Do the Things You Do,” “Get Ready,” “Just My Imagination,” “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg,” “I Wish It Would Rain,” and “Papa Was a Rolling Stone.”

The concert is presented by the Oak Ridge Quarterback Club, with all proceeds going to the revitalization effort.

You can buy tickets at www.temptationsrevueorhs.evenbrite.com.

Temptations Revue concert to kick off Blankenship fundraising campaign

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Temptations Nate Evans Theater

 

An August concert by the Temptations Revue will kick off the fundraising campaign to revitalize Blankenship Field and Jack Armstrong Stadium into a world-class facility, organizers said.

The Aug. 9 concert will be in the Oak Ridge High School Auditorium. It’s sponsored by the Oak Ridge Quarterback Club.

The show starts at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 9, and tickets must be purchased online. They went on sale to the public on Thursday.

All proceeds will be directed to the revitalization effort to revamp Blankenship Field/Jack Armstrong Stadium. [Read more…]

City to use traffic camera money for parking lot work at Blankenship Field

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Red-light Camera at Oak Ridge Turnpike and New York Avenue

The Oak Ridge City Council agreed last week to use $180,000 in traffic camera money for improvements to the lower parking at Blankenship Field.

 

The Oak Ridge City Council agreed last week in a 5-2 vote to use $180,000 in traffic camera money for improvements to the lower parking lot at Blankenship Field, which is used for football games and high school graduation.

The request from Oak Ridge Mayor Tom Beehan was reviewed at a City Council work session on April 28.

The work could include resurfacing work at the lower parking lot and access to the lower levels and visitors bleachers under the American with Disabilities Act. The project has been reviewed by the city staff, and it could include resurfacing, ADA improvements, handicapped parking, and new pavement and striping.

The work would complement a project to replace the demolished visitors bleachers at Blankenship Field, a $455,000 project that was unanimously approved by the Oak Ridge Board of Education in March. The bleachers had been deemed unsafe, and school officials are hoping to replace them before the first home football game on Aug. 29. The school board agreed to use the school system’s fund balance to pay for the replacement bleachers. [Read more…]

Several hundred compete in Ben Martin Middle School track meet

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Ben Martin Invitational

Several hundred students from five regional middle schools, including Jefferson and Robertsville, competed in the Ben Martin Middle School Invitational track meet in Oak Ridge on Thursday.

Several hundred students from five middle schools competed in the first-ever Ben Martin Middle School Invitational track meet in Oak Ridge on Thursday.

The meet was named after Ben Martin, a legendary Sports Hall of Fame coach who won seven state championships as track coach at Oak Ridge High School. Thursday’s meet was at Ben Martin Track at the high school.

Martin was the first ORHS track and football coach, and he won championships in both sports and began the entire athletic program at the high school, ORHS Cross Country Coach Allen Etheridge said.

“I talked with longtime Oak Ridge coach Winston Russell today, who told me that he remembered coach Martin as the guy who was always there, the guy who would coach anyone at any time,” Etheridge said Monday. “(Martin) was an assistant football coach and was head basketball coach.”

Athletes from Cherokee, Jefferson, Karns, Rhea County, and Robertsville middle schools competed in Thursday’s meet, which included events ranging from relays and hurdles to long jumps and high jumps. [Read more…]

ORHS cross country hosts middle school track meets named for legendary coaches

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On Thursday, the Oak Ridge High School cross country teams will host the first ever Ben Martin Middle School Invitational track meet at the Ben Martin Track at ORHS. The meet will include eight teams. Each event will contain two heats, and a new FinishLynx fully automatic timing system will be used to time them. Field events start at 4:30 p.m., and the meet begins at about 5:45 p.m.

“This is a great step for ORHS middle school track,” Coach Allen Etheridge said.

The teams will do the same on Thursday, April 10, at the Jim McNamee Middle School Invitational.

“We named these meets after two legendary Sports Hall of Fame coaches because they are important to the history of athletics at Oak Ridge High School,” Etheridge said. “Coach Martin was the first ORHS track and football coach who won championships in both sports and began the entire athletic program at ORHS. Coach Mac won eight state titles in cross country and one in girls track before retiring in 2004. We aim to do both coaches proud by hosting a top-quality track and field meet.”