A conference championship, setting new school records and a regional championship have made for an impressive last couple weeks for Southern Lee sophomore Tiara Bland.

Bland’s latest major accomplishment was winning the NCHSAA 3A Mideast Region discus championship with a top distance of 110 feet Saturday during the regional championships at Reid Ross Classical School. It’s the first regional throwing (discus or shot put) championship in Lady Cavalier track and field history.

Bland set a new personal record, now breaking her own Lady Cavalier record, by just shy of three feet from her winning throw in the Cape Fear Valley Championships.

Any one of Bland’s feats could be reason for excitement. Maybe Bland still had too many events to go Saturday afternoon at the Reid Ross track but quiet confidence and little bit of relief were Bland’s styles; even as a sophomore.

It also could’ve been Bland having a very busy day still ahead of her, even after winning a regional title. She still had duties for the Lady Cavalier 4×100 and 4×200 relay teams coming up on a humid afternoon.

“I was nervous at first,” Bland said. “I get nervous at every meet so it’s kind of natural.”

A discus is a lot heavier than a butterfly but it works for Bland because her first throw of the meet was the title-winning one. The rest of her attempts came in under 100 feet, as did every other try from the rest of the field on the day.

Perhaps countering some of the nerves was having family on hand to see her efforts, Bland said.

“Knowing my family was watching made me want to throw farther,” she said.

Bland said she was still nervous, even sitting on a big lead. She thought another athlete could come up with a better toss while she couldn’t improve her first mark. In the end, it still wasn’t close.

“I’m just trying to push myself now,” Bland said, “on to states and a bigger goal.”

SANFORD — Yasmine Butler’s been a key player in a lot of firsts for Southern Lee girls basketball in the last four seasons.

The long work of building a program up to its first championship banners culminated in her senior season with the Lady Cavaliers winning their first Cape Fear Valley championships, a 24-4 overall record and getting to the last 16 of the state tournament, Southern Lee’s best postseason run in its seven-year history.

Butler signed a basketball scholarship to attend UNC Pembroke with family, coaches and friends around to celebrate on Tuesday afternoon in the high school’s media center. With her name on the official paperwork, Butler’s the first Lady Cavalier basketball player to earn a scholarship to the collegiate level.

“The school itself is what’s really drawn me,” Butler said.

Off the court, the university is what Butler was seeking as well. Butler’s had a career in criminal justice in mind since entering high school. When she worked in a job-shadowing program with the Lee County Sheriff Department, her interest in the field grew.

“The school’s Criminal Justice program is very good. That’s something I wanted. Plus, it’s not too far away from home but it’s not too close,” she said.

Go back even longer and Donna Taylor has played a major role in Butler earning a scholarship. Taylor coached Butler as a Lady Cavalier for three years, before Taylor resigned after the 2010-11 season, and well before that.

“I think she’s coached me from when I was six years old,” Butler said. “I know she was my first coach.”

Speaking for a moment after Butler finished the last bit of paperwork, Taylor said, “she’s a testament to what hard work can do, not only as an athlete, but as a student-athlete.”

She made a campus visit, meeting with the Lady Brave coaches and getting a chance to practice and visit with the players, most of whom will be Butler’s teammates come next season as the 2011-12 Lady Braves had only two seniors. UNC Pembroke, an NCAA Div. II program, went 16-12 overall and 12-6 in the Peach Belt Conference.

“I really love the gym there. I love the environment. It’s got a nice feel to it. It’s not too big or too small,” Butler said.

Last season, a season with lots of new heights for the Lady Cavaliers, included the regular-season championship and tournament championship in the Cape Fear Valley Conference; both firsts for Lady Cavalier basketball. Butler averaged a team-leading 14.5 points, along with 2.9 steals and 2.4 assists per game. She shot 37 percent from three-point range.

“This means the world to me. Not everyone gets this opportunity,” Butler said. “I’m just grateful and I thank God for the opportunity. It’s a great feeling.”

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Southern Lee placed three boys’ basketball players, three girls’ basketball players plus a Coach of the Year on the 2011-12 Cape Fear Valley Conference postseason basketball teams.

Southern Lee seniors Josh Mallette, Josh Lee and Ace Chalmers made the team as the Cavaliers finished 20-7 and with the Cape Fear Valley Tournament title.

Shane Compton was Coach of the Year on the girls’ side. In Compton’s first season leading the Lady Cavaliers, Southern Lee won its first-ever season and tournament championships in the Cape Fear Valley.

The Lady Cavaliers finished 24-4 and made their longest trip into the state tournament, reaching the round of 16.

Jerraysheya Fox, Yasmine Butler and Briana Jenkins, all seniors, made the All-Cape Fear Valley team.

Butler averaged 14.5 points, including 37 percent three-point shooting, with 2.9 steals and 2.4 assists per game.

Jenkins averaged 12.1 points, 3.7 steals and 3.2 rebounds a game. Fox averaged 11.3 points, 9.5 rebounds, 4.0 blocks and 3.2 steals per game.

Information from “sanfordherald.com”

SANFORD – Southern Lee senior Connor Hunt fired a no-hitter on Friday night as the Cavaliers prevailed in their opening Cape Fear Valley Conference game of the season, beating visiting Western Harnett 10-0 in five innings.

While tossing the no-no, Hunt had to escape some danger in the early innings as the game was still tight.

Hunt worked around a hit batter and a Cavalier error in the Western Harnett first.

After the Cavs posted a run in their first, Hunt got out of a jam caused by two Southern errors in the top of the second.

Hunt cruised from there, retiring the Eagles in order the rest of the way. Southern Lee’s bats woke up for a seven-run rally in the third inning.

Western Harnett (3-2, 0-1) came into the evening off back-to-back wins over Harnett County rivals; a 13-12 win versus Harnett Central on Tuesday and a 6-3 win over Triton on Wednesday.

“Conner was doing what he does well,” said Southern Lee head coach David Miller. “He was changing speeds effectively, throwing strikes, getting good counts and keeping them off balance.”

Hunt struck out three with no walks, improving to 2-0 with a 1.17 ERA for the season.

The Cavalier offense came from all over the lineup. Cullen Boyette went 2-for-3 with a double and three RBI. Carlos Collazo went 2-for-3 with two runs and an RBI.

Article from sanfordherald.com.

• Congratulations Cavalier Wrestler Arturo Aquirre, the 106 weight class STATE CHAMPION!
• Cavalier Grand Slam Jam, Rockin on Deck, Friday March 9
  • Marty Shaw will be bringing some of his famous Goldston Cooking to Tramway Park - 3 Chicken Tenders and Fries for $5.00 from 5PM-until!
  • Free Tshirts to the 1st 75 Cavalier Students
  • DJ will be playing after the Varsity Boys Baseball game against Western Harnett
• Congratulations to Varsity Boys Basketball for winning the Conference Tournament Championship
• Congratulations to the Lady Cavaliers and first year Head Coach Shane Compton for an outstanding Basketball season. The Lady Cavs won the regular season and conference championship for the first time ever.
• Also congratulations to both JV teams (girls and boys) for winning the conference championship.

Southern Lee junior Arturo Aguirre made winning the state championship in his 106-pound class a goal all season long. He told his older brother, Miguel, who’s also a Cavalier assistant coach and first-year head coach Alex Cooke.

“He told us, ‘I’m tired of going to states and just qualifying. I want to win it,’” said Cooke.

So when Aguirre won the state championship by beating Hunt’s Noell Carrillo by a point, with an 8-7 decision, Saturday evening at the Greensboro Coliseum, he was one of the few not surprised about it. Even his head coach couldn’t entirely say the same.

“The state tournament was the best he wrestled all year,” Cooke said.

Aguirre won the 3A Mideast Regional championship with relative ease said Cooke.

“He basically pinned his way through regions last week. He pretty much walked through it. We knew he’d be a contender here, that he could place, but we didn’t know he’d get to the final and win,” Cooke said. “When he won the semifinal 8-3, that was the first time I thought, ‘we’re really going to do this.’”

In contrast to the regional tournament, Aguirre’s quarterfinal match on Friday came down to a point for a 4-3 victory over Western Brunswick’s Ronnie Dellinger.

In the final, Aguirre trailed in the first period until a headlock earned him five points and a big 6-2 lead. Aguirre led 8-6 with a minute remaining in the final period.

“He was being defensive and just guarding,” said Cooke, who was worried about stalling penalties in the closing seconds.

“We were telling him to fake some shots, so he wasn’t just playing defense,” he said.

Aguirre was penalized one point before getting a front headlock with 0:15 left. The move didn’t add points but it took care of the last bit of clock for the state title. Aguirre, a junior, went 37-4 overall for the season.

“It’s awesome for Arturo,” Cooke said. “He has a great attitude. He’s a great kid who has a hard work ethic. He always listens. He’s easy to coach and he’s always pushing hard.”

Article from The Sanford Herald

PEMBROKE – UNC-Pembroke wrestler Mike Williams is elusive, determined, confident and nearly impossible to pin down.

And that’s all before he even steps on the mat for the Braves.

It’s those qualities, evident when looking at his wrestling career dating back to his days at Southern Lee, that make Williams the Braves’ top grappler and have the red-shirt junior eyeing his first national championship.

The 5-foot-10 Williams, then wrestling at 157 pounds, earned All-American honors in each of his first two seasons, finishing seventh as a freshman and fifth as a sophomore in the NCAA Division II national tournament.

He missed time each year due to injuries, including knee and shoulder surgeries and a nagging skin infection, making his accomplishments in the tournament even more impressive.

Nonetheless, the elite finishes are subpar by Williams’ standards.

“These last two years, Mike has fallen short of his goals of being a national champion,” coach Othello “O.T.” Johnson said.

This year, naturally filled out to 165 pounds, healthy and carrying a 26-1 record after the end of the regular season, Williams has his best chance of taking a national title.

He’ll compete in the NCAA Super Region I tournament at UNC-Pembroke this weekend, where a top-4 finish will qualify him for nationals.

Johnson says Williams has prepared well for the postseason, as is the wrestler’s nature.

“One of the things that struck me about Mike during the recruitment process was his preparation for a high school match,” Johnson said. “The way he got in the zone, he didn’t want anything around him to distract him.”

And frankly, there’s plenty of things in Williams’ life that could prove distracting.

First, there’s his studies. Now a criminal justice major with a concentration in English, Williams first opted to major in business before switching his focus to English and then landing on his current course of study.

Then there’s his dedication to his fraternity, Omega Psi Phi, and the business model he’s developing with some of his brothers for a marketing and sales promotions company they plan to start.

Plus, Williams has three children – two sons, 4 and 1, living in Sanford and Raeford, respectively, and a 10-month-old daughter who lives with him and her mother in Pembroke.

“Yeah, I am busy,” Williams said. “Between all that and training, that’s everything.”

And that’s how Williams wants it.

“Mike can’t really have down time,” Johnson said. “He doesn’t want it.”

It’s a restlessness that’s plagued him since his youth in his native New Jersey, where Williams admits he struggled.

“I wasn’t the worst kid, but I wasn’t the best kid either,” Williams said. “It wasn’t like I was in crazy amounts of trouble all the time. But I wasn’t focused, and I needed a new scene.”

Williams’ grandmother, Leola, on a weekend visit to New Jersey, invited the youth to move from his parents’ home in Plainfield to Sanford to live with her.

“I just threw my stuff in a bag and came back with her,” Williams said.

He arrived at Southern Lee at the start of his junior year and found his focus in wrestling, promptly going 48-0 en route to a state championship.

Williams has never moved back to New Jersey, opting instead to call North Carolina home even after Leola Williams died in 2010.

He says he remains close to his parents, who will be on hand for the regionals to cheer him on. And he remains closer to his dream of a national championship than ever before.

“I was disappointed with finishing where I finished the last two years,” Williams said. “But that’s my mentality. I expect to win every tournament, whether it’s a dual or nationals.”

Staff writer Jaclyn Shambaugh can be reached at 609-0651 or shambaughj@fayobserver.com.

“Chick-fil-a Spirit Night” will be the First Tuesday of every month from  5:00pm – 8:00pm, Dine in or Drive thru.  Remember to say you are there for Southern Lee Cavalier Spirit Night.  From the sales you generate, SL will recieve 10% back.

New Forms

Bylaws, Request for Funds and Team Representative forms have been updated. Forms can be found under the “Forms” tab.

We’ve also added the 2012 Booster Club Scholarship Application under the “Forms” tab.

Spring Raffle – April 27

The Southern Lee High School Athletic Boosters will be holding our annual Spring Raffle on April 27th  during the baseball game against Overhills.  There will also be a Silent Auction. The ticket includes admission to the game and silent auction, a hamburger/hot dog meal and a chance to win CASH! Click here to find out more!