Spartan Spam- 1-27-06

>>SPARTAN BOOSTER #305
>>January 27, 2006
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HOMECOMING WEEKEND

TODAY! 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

HOMECOMING & SENIOR NIGHT SET FOR TOMORROW IN THE BRADFORD GYM

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 tomorrow, January 28th, and it's Homecoming, also. There will be two varsity games against Providence Christian on Saturday afternoon: girls at 5:00pm and boys, 6:30pm. The Homecoming Court ceremonies start at 4:00pm in the Bradford Gym.
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>BASKETBALL

GAC girls 51, Cartersville 45
CARTERSVILLE — Greater Atlanta Christian (17-5, 8-2) used a second-half comeback to defeat Cartersville 51-45 on Tuesday.
D’Nay Daniels led the Spartans with 20 points. Kiki Swanier, Mollie Mitchell and Courtney Samuels all chipped in with eight points each. [Jan. 25 Gwinnett Daily Post]

WADE WELDON FIGHTS OFF MONO TO LEAD SPARTANS Senior is one of county's leading scorers despite missing six games.
By Brandon Brigman, Staff Writer
Jan. 27 Gwinnett Daily Post
[photo below]

Before Christmas break Wade Weldon was unstoppable on the basketball court.
The Greater Atlanta Christian senior fought off double and triple teams and was one of the top scorers in the county.
The guard was averaging 24.3 points per game and hit a career high of 45 points against Rabun County.

Then the only thing that could stop Weldon did — he got sick.

As Christmas break came to an end Weldon began to feel ill and after going to the doctor, he discovered he had flu symptoms. It was later diagnosed with mononucleosis. Weldon was forced to miss GAC’s next six games and it had an impact on not only Weldon but the entire team.

“We felt like we were on target to have a real good basketball season. It certainly affected our team because we already had some injuries, but it affected him,” GAC boys coach Ron Bradley said. “He wanted to have a great year. He worked hard to have a great year. That senior year is so special and all of the sudden there he is on the sideline and can’t even come to some of the games. It was tough on him and it was tough on us because he’s an important part of our team.”

The Spartans went 1-5 without their leading scorer in the lineup to drop to 10-10.

“Obviously, we had difficulties winning. Everyone kept looking around wondering where Wade was and he wasn’t there,” Bradley said.

The most difficult part of sitting out was watching GAC lose to rival Wesleyan in a very close ball game.

“Yeah it was very tough,” said the 6-foot-1, 185-pound Weldon. “I remember just looking up at people at different parts of the game and I was just thinking to myself that I wish I was out there. It was definitely hard.”

Weldon will have a chance for redemption against rival Wesleyan tonight when the two teams meet at 8:30 p.m. at Wesleyan. Tonight’s game will be Weldon’s second game back after mono. Last Friday, Weldon returned to face No. 1 East Hall. It was apparent that mono is the only thing that can hold Weldon back as he scored 22 points and added five assists and 10 rebounds, but GAC still lost 98-74.

“I wasn’t sure if I wanted him to come back last Friday and play against East Hall. He practiced three days and came back to have a great game,”
Bradley said. "I think fatigue showed a little in his body in the fourth quarter. I think the spirit was still willing, but the body was saying ‘Wade you’re tired.’”

This is not the first time Weldon has had to fight off injury or illness during the basketball season.
As a junior Weldon rolled his ankle in the East Hall game and missed eight games. As a sophomore he got sick and had to miss a few games and his freshman year he tore four ligaments in his right ankle.

Weldon hopes to put all of those injuries and his mono behind him and focus on the rest of the season.

“I think our record isn’t really reflective of what we are capable of doing,” Weldon said. “We’re just looking to make a run.”
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>SWIMMING & DIVING

ALI NOT SLACKING OFF: GAC STAR DELIVERS AT BIG SWIM MEETS GAC’s Ali Slack won state in the 50-meter freestyle as a junior and is looking to repeat this year.
By Will Hammock, Sports Editor
Jan. 26 Gwinnett Daily Post
[photo below]

It was about a year ago, and the biggest meet of the high school season had arrived.

The Greater Atlanta Christian swimmers were fired up for the state championships, but the team's star swimmer, Ali Slack, wasn't at her best.
Fighting a flu-type sickness, she was in rough shape.
Her top finishes in individual events and her important role on relays appeared in doubt, which would have meant a huge hit points-wise for GAC in the team standings.

"Last year (Slack) was so sick," GAC coach Karen Blackman said. "But she came and performed famously. She was sick as a dog. We didn't know if she'd make it. But she did, like always. She's a trooper.

"When she gets in the water, she fights. She doesn't do it halfheartedly.
I've never seen Ali not give her all in a race."

So that's what she did at state last year. She gave her all, even when a sickness had her down. So how did Slack, then a sophomore, do? She won the Class AAAA-A state championship in the 50 freestyle and was state runner-up in the 100 backstroke. Her 50 free time of 24.09 seconds was the fastest of the day, AAAAA included, and her 59.17 in the 100 back was the best among Gwinnett swimmers at the meet.

The SwimAtlanta product also was on the Spartans' state championship 200 medley relay that swam the event in 1:49.38, the day's second-fastest time.
All those swims were big points for GAC, which finished fourth in the team standings.

It also marked the second state title for Slack, who won state in the 100 back as a freshman (the first state championship ever won by a GAC swimmer) and was third in the 50 free. This year she plans to swim the 50 free and 100 free at state, with first-place finishes the ultimate goals.

"It's definitely important to win (those races) for my school," said Slack, who holds six school records. "That's so big at my school. Everybody gets so pumped up about it when you win state. It would be amazing if I could win another one and score points for my team."

Slack's team will have a new home in the near future, and the junior hopes she's around to be a part of its opening. GAC plans to build an aquatic center. Blackman said ground is to be broken March 1 and she hopes the team can swim there by January 2007 so Slack may get to finish her senior season with the first meets held on the GAC campus.

The new facility should boost the turnout for the swim team, as well as luring potential students who also are swimmers to the school.

"It's really going to help the program a lot," Slack said. "Right now they're going to SwimAtlanta late at night (to practice). It's definitely going to be nice. We can never have a home meet on campus, but we'll be able to now. Some kids have to drive 45 minutes to practice and we only get two lanes at SwimAtlanta. It's tough on the kids and the parents. The parents have to drive them there.

"I think our program's going to soar when we have a pool."

While the pool will help, Slack also has added plenty to the GAC program, particularly at big meets. Blackman said she's the most accomplished swimmer in GAC history, having won state titles to go with six All-American awards.

Slack hasn't begun sorting out potential colleges, but plans to swim in college and looks to have that chance. She's a fan of Michigan, her mother's alma mater, so the Wolverines are up there with Notre Dame.

But right now the main team she's helping is GAC.

"Obviously she's a returning gold medalist in the 50 free and she's in the top times of all the events, so that shows how important she is (to us),"
Blackman said. "Everyone's an important part of the team, but she's the fastest on the team. And if you're the fastest, you're the fastest.
Obviously she's important at state.

"She's able to perform even when she's not feeling well. She's just an incredible athlete."

THE SLACK FILE
Who: Ali Slack
Sport: Swimming
School: GAC
Class: Junior
Favorite movie: "Office Space"
Favorite food: Anything my mom cooks
Favorite athlete: Former Michigan and current Bengals RB Chris Perry Favorite music group: Dave Mathews Band

Noteworthy:
Won state title in 50 freestyle, was second in 100 backstroke as sophomore State champ in 100 back, third in 50 free as freshman First GAC swimmer to win individual state title Holds six of the 12 school swimming records Has earned six All-American awards Maintains 4.0 GPA Co-founder of Reach the Day fundraiser for CureSearch, which involves the National Childhood Cancer Foundation and the Children's Oncology Group .........................................................................................
>WRESTLING

Coach Jeff Harsh reports:
The Spartan wrestling team honored their seniors last night before the last
home match of the season in the Bradford Gym.

Jonathan Donald was a first year wrestler and placed in two tournaments this
year. Chris Hudgins has wrestled and been the team statistician for the past
5 years. Andrew Deneen has wrestled varsity for 4 years and has a career
record of 63-54. This season he is 27-5 and he was the champion at the
Dawson County tournament. All three of these young men will be missed next
year.

In the tri-meet last night, the talented Wesleyan Wolves outscored the
Spartans 21-49. Having wins for the Spartans were Locke Hoover (103), Mason
Deal (119), Alex Davis (130) and Andrew Deneen (189).

In our second match with the Buford Wolves we fell behind and couldn’t catch
back up with the Wolves and lost 28-46. Having wins for the Spartans against
Buford were Locke Hoover (103), Travis Elrod (112), Mason Deal (119), Ben
Hixson (135), Andrew Deneen (189), and Chris Alston (215).

The Spartans are wrestling this weekend in the Bowdon Invitational.
Congratulate your Spartans on some tough wrestling last night, and let's
wish them well for the remainder of their season.

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

---------------- PHOTO GALLERY BELOW ---------------
1. Wade Weldon is Spartans leading scorer. [photo by Gwinnett Daily Post]
2. Junior Ali Slack leads Spartan swimmers. [photo by Gwinnett Daily Post]