Spartan Spam
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
>>SPARTAN BOOSTER #304 >>January 24, 2006 ___________________________________________________________
TODAY! TUESDAY, JANUARY 24 Junior High wrestling: GAC & Walker at Woodward Academy 4:30pm JV girls basketball: GAC at Cartersville 6:00pm Varsity girls basketball: GAC at Cartersville
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 25 No events scheduled
THURSDAY, JANUARY 26 4:00pm 7th grade girls basketball: GAC at Wesleyan 5:00pm Varsity wrestling: Buford & Wesleyan at GAC; Bradford Gym 5:15pm 7th grade boys basketball: GAC at Wesleyan 6:30pm 8th grade girls basketball: GAC at Wesleyan 7:45pm 8th grade boys basketball: GAC at Wesleyan
FRIDAY, JANUARY 27 Varsity wrestling: GAC at Bowdon Tournament; Bowdon GA 4:00pm JV girls basketball: GAC at Wesleyan 5:30pm JV boys basketball: GAC at Wesleyan 7:00pm Varsity girls basketball: GAC at Wesleyan 8:30pm Varsity boys basketball: GAC at Wesleyan
SATURDAY, JANUARY 28 Varsity wrestling: GAC at Bowdon Tournament; Bowdon GA Junior High wrestling: GAC at North Chattahoochee Middle School Conference Tournament 9:00am Varsity swim meet: GAC at Metro Championship Preliminaries at Westminster School 11:00am JV girls basketball: Providence at GAC; P.E. Gym 12:30pm JV boys basketball: Providence at GAC; P.E. Gym 4:00pm Homecoming Court ceremony; Bradford Gym 5:00pm Varsity girls basketball: Providence at GAC; Bradford Gym 6:30pm Varsity boys basketball: Providence at GAC; Bradford Gym 7:30pm Varsity swim meet: GAC at Metro Championship Finals at Westminster School ______________________________________________________________ >BASKETBALL
EAST HALL SWEEPS SPARTANS
East Hall girls 45, GAC 44, OT GAINESVILLE — East Hall defeated Greater Atlanta Christian 45-44 in overtime on Friday night. D’Nay Daniels led GAC (16-5, 8-2) with 15 points. [Jan. 21 Gwinnett Daily Post]
East Hall boys 98, GAC 74 GAINESVILLE — East Hall, ranked No. 1 in Class AA, defeated visiting Greater Atlanta Christian 98-74 on Friday. Reece Wiedeman led GAC (10-11, 4-6) with 31 points and 11 rebounds while Wade Weldon added 22 points. [Jan. 21 Gwinnett Daily Post]
SENIOR NIGHT SET FOR JAN. 28 HOMECOMING
Athletic Director Tim Vick reports that Senior Night for basketball players, pep band members, and basketball cheerleaders will be at halftime of the boys' varsity basketball game on Saturday, January 28th, which is also Homecoming. There will be two varsity games against Providence Christian that afternoon: girls at 5:00pm and boys, 6:30pm. The Homecoming Court ceremonies start at 4:00pm in the Bradford Gym.
LADY SPARTANS RECORD (16-5) -------------------------------------------- GACS 46-55 Marist GACS 74-30 Chestatee GACS 75-58 Shaw GACS 75-35 Lovett GACS 49-22 Paideia GACS 81-28 Banks County* GACS 57-51 Cartersville GACS 67-12 Union County* GACS 67-22 Rabun County* GACS 76-40 Jefferson GACS 57-39 Buford* GACS 57-28 Walton GACS 43-53 South Gwinnett GACS 55-63 Spartanburg SC GACS 40-38 East Hall* GACS 41-25 Dawson County* GACS 60-34 Chestatee GACS 43-61 Wesleyan* GACS 60-36 Providence Christian* GACS 62-38 Lumpkin County* GACS 44-45 East Hall* *Region game
VARSITY BOYS RECORD (10-11) ----------------------------------------- GACS 60-47 Cross Keys GACS 63-53 Blessed Trinity GACS 54-47 Blessed Trinity GACS 69-52 Banks County* GACS 61-71 Union County* GACS 96-44 Rabun County* GACS 55-79 Jefferson GACS 64-63 Buford* GACS 68-54 Habersham Central GACS 56-64 Mill Creek GACS 67-36 Jackson County GACS 65-70 Christ the King School (NC) GACS 59-60 Marist GACS 68-62 Westminster GACS 60-75 East Hall* GACS 54-64 Dawson County* GACS 49-69 Chestatee GACS 40-50 Wesleyan* GACS 54-42 Providence Christian* GACS 52-53 Lumpkin County* GACS 74-98 East Hall* *Region game
BOYS CLASS AA COACHES' POLL [Source: www.gasports.com] --------------------------------------- 1. East Hall* 2. Greenville 3. Manchester 4. Dublin 5. Lovett 6. Darlington 7. Greene County 8. Wesleyan* 9. Bleckley County 10. Albany *Region 8-AA team
LADY SPARTANS & 3 OTHER REGION 8-AA TEAMS DOMINATE CLASS AA TOP 10
GIRLS CLASS AA COACHES' POLL [Source: www.gasports.com] --------------------------------------- 1. Laney 2. Wesleyan* 3. Model 4. GREATER ATLANTA CHRISTIAN* 5. Dodge County 6. Holy Innocents' 7. Buford* 8. Screven County 9. West Laurens 10. East Hall* *Region 8-AA team
JV GIRLS BASKETBALL
Coach Tony McDonald reports: JV Lady Spartan Basketball 14-0
Our JV girls basketball team, went on the road and continued their winning ways with a victory over East Hall last Friday night 53-32. It was a great team effort, led my a fantastic game by Chaney Means leading the way with 19 points. The team will return to action [this afternoon] at Cartersville, then back Friday at Wesleyan, and finally at home on Saturday for homecoming, and a special 11am tip off. Come out and support the future of Lady Spartans basketball.
8TH GRADE GIRLS BASKETBALL
Coach Chan Means reports:
The 8th grade Lady Spartans defeated the Providence Stars last night 42-24. The Lady Spartans are now 15-0 with two games remaining. Clarke Boards and Blake Foxworthy led the scoring for GACS with 10 points and 8 points. Over the weekend the Lady Spartans also defeated the Buford Wolves by a score of 52-24. Chaney Means led the scoring with 17 points and Clarke Boards had 11 rebounds. Next up for the Lady Spartans will be the Wesleyan Wolves on Thursday at Wesleyan.
8TH GRADE BOYS BASKETBALL
The 8th grade boys team is now 13-0 after beating rival Buford on Saturday, 56 - 24. The Spartans got off to a strong start as Bo Hebert hit three 3-pointers in the first quarter. Julian Horton led the defense with six steals and Jake Mitchell added 8 assists on offense and Elie Haynes pounded the boards. Others contributing to the win include Patrick White and Kyle Speller. The Spartans travel to Providence this evening. Thank you for the strong support on Saturday. [reprinted from Junior High Announcements] ......................................................................................... >WRESTLING
The GACS junior high wrestling team had a great Saturday at the Lovett School Wrestling Duals II. We are down to our final week and we are peaking as a team. Saturday, out of 31 matches we won 20 of them and pinned in all of those that we won. Having pins for our team at Lovett were David Davis and Austin Pretiger each with 3, Ryan Reynolds, Chase Crawford, Joseph Arnold, Charlton Long, Brent Kulik, and Joe Clark-Kaziow each with 2, and Dunny Harrison and Bryan Savage each had one pin. Final scores (if you are counting) are as follows: against Lovett wrestlers 48-35, against Pace Academy wrestlers 30-15, and against Holy Innocents’ wrestlers 42-10. Awesome job boys! Our last regular season match is Tuesday at Woodward Academy with both Woodward and Walker. Our league championship tournament is this coming Saturday which will end our season. [reprinted from Junior High Announcements]
2005-06 SPARTAN ROSTER Name / Grade Alex Davis 10 Andrew Classon 11 Andrew Deneen 12 Ben Golden 10 Ben Hixson 11 Chris Alston 9 Christian Fretz 10 Cody Davidson 9 Corbin Reynolds 9 Drew Schoepf 9 Locke Hoover 9 Mason Deal 11 Michael Phelps 11 Travis Elrod 9 Head Coach: Jeff Harsh Asst. Coach: Bob Harsh
CLASS AA WRESTLING COACHES' POLL [Source: www.gasports.com] --------------------------------------- 1 LaFayette 2 Dublin 3 West Laurens 4 Pepperell 5 Lovett 6 Cook County 7 Toombs County 8 Wesleyan 9 Darlington 10 Calhoun
VARSITY WRESTLING SCHEDULE (*Home matches noted) *Jan. 26 Buford and Wesleyan at GAC Jan. 27-28 GAC at Bowdon Tournament; Bowdon GA Jan. 31 GAC and Chamblee at Dunwoody Feb. 3-4 Traditional Area Tournament Feb. 10-11 Traditional State Tournament
JUNIOR HIGH WRESTLING SCHEDULE (*Home matches noted) Jan. 24 GAC and Walker at Woodward Academy Jan. 28 GAC at North Chattahoochee Middle School Conference Tournament .................................................................................... >SWIMMING & DIVING
Reprinted from 1/20/06 Senior High announcements: The Spartan Swim & Dive Team had the crowd on their feet in last night’s dual duel. The boys had great races and took first in half of the events, but for the most part had only two entries to their three per event and fell to the Lions 111 to 61. Most of the guys’ team had personal bests in converted times, but John Toll, in his lead-off leg of the 400 free relay added to his qualifications for the State Meet in the 100 free with a converted time of 50.74.
In a nail-biting, give-and-take, race-for-race, event-by-event competition, the Spartan girls stole the victory from the Lions 93-92. The team worked together famously.
Caroline Still and Emma Eisler had some picture-perfect finishes. Annalise Peters, Sarah Kraus, and Katie Witwer kicked it into passing gear like never before. Several individuals, as always, swam some personal bests and tackled first attempts. Many of the swimmers gave their hearts for this one.
Coach Melson and Coach K remarked at the effort Lauren Reid made in finishing her first 500; they noted the Spartan heart of Patricia Williams in doing her absolute best to overcome injury, yet the “Spartan of the evening” was Allie Gasway who gutted out a 1:01 100 free split in the 400 free relay, an all-time personal best by 2 full seconds, and a best for this year by 4 seconds, in order for her team to be the victor in the meet. When she entered the water with her opponent almost a half-pool length ahead of her, Gasway just cranked it up and never looked back. It was an awesome way to end the dual meet season for the Spartans. The next meet is the big Metro Meet on Homecoming Day.
GAC girls edge Lovett The Greater Atlanta Christian girls swimming and diving team slipped by Lovett last weekend with a 93-92 victory while the boys team fell to the Lions 111-61.
John Toll swam the first leg of the 400 free relay in 50.74, boosting his state qualifying time. Allie Gasway swam 1:01.00 in her leg of the 400 free relay, dropping her personal best by two seconds. [Jan. 24 Gwinnett Daily Post]
GACS SWIMMING STATE QUALIFIERS [Source: www.gasports.com]
EVENT.....GENDER....SWIMMER OR TEAM....GRADE...TIME...SCHOOL....CLASSIFICATION 200 MedRel F Greater Atlanta Christian Relay 12 1:57.48 Greater Atlanta Christian AAAA-A 200 MedRel M Greater Atlanta Christian Relay 12 1:48.84 Greater Atlanta Christian AAAA-A 200 Free M John Toll 12 1:47.95 Greater Atlanta Christian AAAA-A 200 IM F Emma Eisler 9 2:19.68 Greater Atlanta Christian AAAA-A 200 IM M John Toll 12 2:05.30 Greater Atlanta Christian AAAA-A 50 Free F Ali Slack 11 24.42 Greater Atlanta Christian AAAA-A 50 Free F Annalise Peters 12 26.07 Greater Atlanta Christian AAAA-A 50 Free M Michael Hughes 12 22.62 Greater Atlanta Christian AAAA-A 50 Free M John Toll 12 23.26 Greater Atlanta Christian AAAA-A 100 Fly M John Toll 12 53.96 Greater Atlanta Christian AAAA-A 100 Free F Ali Slack 11 53.37 Greater Atlanta Christian AAAA-A 100 Free F Jessica Pate 12 56.54 Greater Atlanta Christian AAAA-A 100 Free F Annalise Peters 12 57.18 Greater Atlanta Christian AAAA-A 100 Free M Michael Hughes 12 51.72 Greater Atlanta Christian AAAA-A 200 FrRel F Greater Atlanta Christian Relay 12 1:51.73 Greater Atlanta Christian AAAA-A 200 FrRel M Greater Atlanta Christian Relay 12 1:37.74 Greater Atlanta Christian AAAA-A 100 Back F Jessica Pate 12 1:02.33 Greater Atlanta Christian AAAA-A 100 Brst F Emma Eisler 9 1:10.64 Greater Atlanta Christian AAAA-A 400 FrRel F Greater Atlanta Christian Relay 12 3:55.20 Greater Atlanta Christian AAAA-A 400 FrRel M Greater Atlanta Christian Relay 12 3:38.96 Greater Atlanta Christian AAAA-A
JUNIOR HIGH SWIMMING & DIVING
The Junior High Swim & Dive Team had a tremendous weekend at the Marist Championship Meet. Twenty-four different teams were represented from all over the state, and our 13 boys and 16 girls drew some serious attention. In a meet where the top three places were indeterminable until the completion of the last race in both the boys’ and the girls’ competitions, the Spartans had heads turning all day long. In a history-making event for the school, the girls scored 258.5 points to take home the 3rd place trophy, just 9 ½ points behind Marist’s 2nd place total. The boys, likewise, in a GAC first, actually defeated Marist in the Championships by 13 taking the 2nd place trophy, missing to Westminster’s 1st by only 8. The Spartans took the combined team 2nd place trophy. There was hardware everywhere; the proof was definitely in the pudding. We will highlight the awards of the individuals in tomorrow’s announcements. Awesome job, team!
2005-06 SWIMMING & DIVING SCHEDULE Day / Date / Meet / Type / Opponents / Location / Start
Saturday Jan. 28 Varsity Swimming Preliminaries at Metro Championships Westminster 9:00am Saturday Jan. 28 Varsity Swimming Finals at Metro Championships at Westminster 7:30pm Wednesday Feb. 8 Varsity Diving at State Championshipa at Westminster 1:00pm Friday Feb. 10 Varsity Swimming Preliminaries at State Championship at Westminster 5:00pm Saturday Feb. 11 Varsity Swimming Finals at State Championship at Westminster 6:00pm ____________________________________________________________________
SPRING SPORTS PREVIEW
Varsity baseball: Feb. 27 GAC vs. St. Pius at Oglethorpe University JV baseball: Mar. 13 GAC JV at Holy Innocents' Boys lacrosse: Feb. 17 Chattahoochee at GAC; Spartan Stadium Girls lacrosse: Feb. 13 Northview at GAC; Spartan Stadium Varsity girls soccer: Feb. 14 Grady at GAC; 5pm Varsity boys soccer: Feb. 14 Grady at GAC; 7pm JV boys soccer: Feb. 21 GAC JV at Lovett JV girls soccer: Feb. 21 GAC at Westminster Junior High boys soccer: Feb. 24 Walker at GAC Junior High girls soccer: Feb. 27 Buford at GAC Varsity tennis: Feb. 23 GAC at Woodward Academy JV tennis: Feb. 20 GAC at Parkview Varsity track & field: Mar. 2 Pace, Paideia & Rabun County at GAC Junior High track & field: Mar. 16 Marist & Pace at GAC
BASEBALL
CUNNINGHAM COMMITS FOR 2006 - THE VELVET VOICE RETURNS! [reprinted from Spartan baseball website http://eteamz.active.com/GACSpartanBaseball/]
After testing the waters of the free agent market, Ed Cunningham a/k/a the Velvet Voice of GAC baseball, will be returning to the pressbox for the 2006 campaign. Lead negotiator Joe Chapple had his concerns, stating "Ed brings so much to the table, I knew that others would be interested and I was not sure if we could get the deal done". But after some long negotiating sessions a tentative deal was hammered out and Ed has verbally committed to return to Hester field for the 2006 season. Details of the agreement were not released, although it is rumored that Chapple himself will assist Cunningham in the booth, replacing Edgar Brush who came on board in 2005 to replace longtime assistant Mike Dobson. __________________________________________________________________________
>THE BEST OF GAC ANNOUNCEMENTS [reprinted from >www.greateratlantachristian.org]
We give a special thank you to everyone for your great response to the Homecoming musical “Beauty and the Beast”. As of today we have SOLD OUT the Friday night and Sunday Matinee performances. We still have some tickets left for the Thursday night and Sunday night (7:30) performances. Please see Steffanie Garner to purchase your tickets. We are looking forward to a GREAT Homecoming 2006!
Homecoming is January 28. The Homecoming Ceremonies will begin at 4:00 pm in the Bradford Gym, followed by the Varsity basketball games against Providence Christian Academy. After the games there is a parent sponsored dance at the Gwinnett Civic Center from 8:30 pm until 12:00. A letter has been mailed to all high school students with additional information. The parents sponsoring the dance will be accepting registration in the cafeteria on Fridays. If you have not received a letter by the end of this week, call Mrs. Wagoner at 770-243-2263.
Mark you calendars for every Monday in January, February and March for the JH Parent to Parent Meeting from 2:15 – 3:00pm in the Wista Worthen Meeting Room located in the Student Family Center.
2006 SCHOOL CALENDAR
January 26-27, 29 Homecoming musical: BEAUTY AND THE BEAST January 28 Homecoming Court; 4pm; Bradford Gym February 17-21 Winter Break March 23, 25 Spartan Spectacular March 31 Grandparents' Day (noon dismissal) April 3-7 Spring break April 28 Junior/Senior Banquet May 5 Celebration Dinner May 25 Commencement
See the school calendar online at http://63.243.64.130:84/default/d01/01/2006?display=M&style=B&positioning=A ________________________________________________________ | | KING'S GATE THEATRE | | Jan. 26-27 & 29.....BEAUTY AND THE BEAST; Homecoming Musical Feb. | 10-11............FRESHMAN FOLLIES Mar. 10-11............DINNER | THEATRE Mar. 17-18............VISION SHOWCASE May | 11-13............COMEDY OF ERRORS | | [reprinted from the GACS PARENT CONNECTION] |_______________________________________________________
>REGION 8-AA NEWS
SKIP MATHERLY IS NEW WESLEYAN BOYS HOOPS COACH By Corey Clark, Staff Writer Jan. 19 Gwinnett Daily Post
The Wesleyan School announced on Wednesday that current girls assistant basketball coach Skip Matherly will become the new boys head coach when the season is completed.
Matherly will take over for current head coach Bill Bufton, who was informed earlier in the month that he will not be retained at the end of the season.
Bufton and the Wolves are currently 16-4 on the season and ranked No. 7 in the state.
"No question, there's talent here," said Matherly, who has been an assistant on the Wolves' girls team for the last three seasons. "And it's young talent, to be honest. There's also a lot of talent in the middle school program and I'm very impressed with how hard the kids play."
Matherly added: "I hate the circumstances, but I'm excited about the opportunity."
The circumstances are a bit odd. For the rest of the season, Matherly will be helping coach the Wesleyan varsity girls, ranked No. 1 in Class AA, as well as serving as head coach of the JV girls team. Of course, he will be paying much closer attention to his future team as well.
"I need to do that," Matherly said, "I honestly haven't gotten to know the kids that much, so I'll spend more time watching their games. I'll be more of a presence."
But what Matherly is worried most about is whether he'll be a distraction to the boys team for the rest of the season.
He certainly doesn't want to be, and to that end, he planned to meet with his future players on Wednesday.
"I'm going to say, 'All right, we've answered the question, now let's get back to work. We'll talk again in March.'"
When headmaster Zach Young informed Bufton he wouldn't be serving as the boys basketball coach for the 2006-2007 season, he didn't give an exact time frame on when the new head coach would be hired.
The timing of the announcement, with the Wolves in the home stretch of the regular season and vying for a state tournament berth, might seem a bit strange, but Young says it was in the best interest of the school and the team.
"(The players) know who their coach is going to be and we can move forward," he said. "We thought having it up in the air is negative for everybody. So we felt like this was best. We could let everybody know what we're going to do and make a decision about the future.
"I'm sure there are ways to look at (the announcement) from a negative standpoint, but from the school's standpoint, we felt it would be better to go ahead and do it."
This will be Matherly's fourth head coaching job. The 49-year-old was the head boys coach at the now-defunct Red Bud High School in Calhoun for two years before a five-year stint as the head boys coach at Gordon Central High in Calhoun.
After working for three years as an assistant under legendary Marist boys coach Ron Bell, Matherly took over as the girls head coach at Rome High School for four years, where he led his team to three state tournament berths.
He joined the Wesleyan staff, under head coach Jan Azar, in 2003 and has been with the Wolves ever since.
"The thing about Skip that you notice is that the girls he's coached at Wesleyan regard him as an outstanding coach," Young said. "And he's learned at the feet of some really good coaches."
Said Matherly: "Ron (Bell) is hands down the best basketball coach, at any level, that I've ever seen. And I would certainly put Jan Azar in that same category."
Matherly's wife, Celia, is the head softball coach at Wesleyan and he has three children enrolled at the school.
Ryan is a sophomore, Delaina is in the eighth grade and Russell is in the sixth grade.
COACHING HAS TOM KELSEY RECOVERING By Joe Biddle, Staff Writer Jan. 10 The Tennessean
Tom Kelsey was on the right road to becoming a top-level Division I basketball coach.
That was before cancer threw a hard, blind screen on him. Turned that road into a dead end.
At the time, Kelsey was an assistant coach at Alabama under Mark Gottfried. Kelsey had joined Gottfried at Murray State, prior to Alabama's hiring Gottfried, with Kelsey accompanying Gottfried to Tuscaloosa.
Kelsey watched fellow assistant Robert "Rah-Rah'' Scott battle cancer. When Scott lost that fight in 2000, Kelsey received bad news shortly after Scott died.
"It was the day after Memorial Day in 2000,'' Kelsey recalled. "They gave me all the doctor-speak, but looking back they knew all along the tumor was in there and they had to get it out. They didn't know it was malignant, but they knew I had a tumor in my kidney.''
Kelsey was lucky. They removed a kidney, discovered the cancer had not spread. There would be no need for chemo or radiation. Still, the surgery and losing a kidney left Kelsey weak. They had taken added muscle and surrounding tissue out to make sure they got it all.
"When Robert died, everyone around the athletic department was fearful for me,'' Kelsey said. "There was another guy who had been on (former Alabama coach) David Hobbs' staff and he got cancer. All of these guys in the athletic department were getting it.''
Kelsey developed a strong will and faith while playing under Don Meyer at Lipscomb. He played on Lipscomb's 1985-86 national championship team.
He felt he had fully recovered and was ready for practice.
"In October, I thought I was king of the hill,'' Kelsey said. "I don't know how I made it through that season. I just tried to make it to lunch every day. I was on a lot of medication and had a couple of complications. Physically, I couldn't do the job. I was emotionally drained.''
Kelsey spent a year with a ministry, then found the road back to basketball blocked. No one wanted to take on the financial responsibility should the cancer return. He had married a former Vanderbilt cheerleader; they had young children. He needed work.
"I couldn't get back in college coaching, but I got a great opportunity at Atlanta Christian School," he said....Edie and I both taught there.''
He built the program into a state contender, then last year was approached by Belhaven College, an NAIA school in Jackson, Miss. They hired him.
Kelsey's team was in Nashville two weeks ago to play Crichton and Trevecca. The games re-ceived minimal media coverage, most of that reserved for the Titans, Vanderbilt and Tennessee basketball.
Kelsey didn't care. He has found a niche for now.
"I wanted to build my own team, recruit, scout and coach,'' Kelsey said. "I used to have career plans; now I'm just trying to get above .500.'
"I love the high level of SEC basketball; there's no way to deny it,'' Kelsey said. "I just don't know if I want to pay that high a price.''
Kelsey saw at Alabama what the demands include.
"The hardest thing is that in those high-profile programs, the kids are not a high priority," he said. "You have to deal with the administration, the media getting on you. The recruiting became distasteful, but there are still some good people in there.''
For now, his goals don't extend past Belhaven. "Sometimes you have to bloom where you're planted,'' Kelsey said. "These people are really good to me. It makes it harder to jump around.''
>SPARTAN PHOTOS ONLINE
Martin Photography link http://martinphotography.morephotos.com/mp_includes/index.asp
Gwinnett Daily Post link http://gwinnettdailypost.mycapture.com/mycapture/index.asp?view=yes&groupingid=2649
---------------- PHOTO GALLERY BELOW --------------- 1. Mollie Mitchell pressures Lumpkin County in the back court. 2. Anjelica Wilcox drives against the Lady Indians.
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