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A reception was held Wednesday evening at the University of the Cumberlands’ Hutton School of Business building in honor of Whitley County senior ReighAnn Oliphant, who has signed on to compete as a member of the Patriots bowling team beginning next school year. “I’m very excited to be recruited by UC bowling,” Oliphant said. “I can’t wait to begin my journey here, further my bowling career and get my college education.” Oliphant was accompanied at the reception by her younger sister, Jacqueline, who also bowls at Whitley County. When asked about getting to see her big sister achieve her dream of bowling at the collegiate level, Jacqueline said, “I’m very proud...

This past weekend, the region and state champion Corbin cheer squad returned to Orlando, FL to once again compete in the Universal Cheer Association’s National High School Cheerleading Championships. As the defending champions in the Medium Varsity II division, the cheer Hounds had high hopes for what they might accomplish this year at nationals. After two strong performances on Saturday and Sunday, the moment everyone was waiting for finally came. Unfortunately, Corbin ended up having to settle for a fourth place finish in 2017, but Head Coach Shonya O’Neill expressed how proud she was of her team. In a Facebook post Sunday, O’Neill said, “Your Corbin High School cheerleaders came out...

The Corbin swim team had a fantastic showing at this past weekend’s regional meet at the Stiver’s Aquatic Center in Barbourville. When all was said and done, the Redhound swimmers had won first place in the girls’ competition, runner-up in the boys’ competition and the two teams combined for another overall region championship title. “We’re ecstatic,” said Head Coach Kim Moore after the meet. “We knew that it was going to be close, and we told the team that it was going to take every bit of every one of them. Everyone came to swim, though, and we just absolutely love these kids.” Corbin will now be sending a record number of...

Two Corbin High School bowlers appeared at the 2017 KHSAA singles state championship tournaments in Lexington Thursday, with one finishing in the top ten, and the other finishing in the top 25. Junior Josie Philpot made her third straight appearance at state this year, bowling a total score of 583 in the afternoon’s three qualifying matches at the Collins-Eastland Bowling Alley. Unfortunately, that was not enough to put her in the top eight (out of 32), which is where she needed to be in order to advance on, but it was still good enough for a tenth place overall finish. Fellow junior Ryan Felts made his first-ever appearance at state this...

What started as an afterschool activity last year at Oak Grove Elementary has evolved into something much, much more. It all began when reading specialist Janet Logan discovered some unused archery equipment at the school. “We had the archery kit in storage for a long time,” Logan explained. “Evidently, they were going to try to do something with it years ago, but it never happened. So, we dug it all out last year, and we started an archery club as part of the 21st Century afterschool program.” Logan said she initially had about 15-20 students who wanted to be a part of the school’s archery club, but she has seen tremendous...

If you were present at the Corbin versus Whitley County boys/girls double-header last Friday evening, then you had two opportunities to catch this year’s Redhound dance squad in action. The CHS dance team currently features two seniors – seventeen-year-olds Rachel Jackson and Whitney Archer. Jackson has been dancing for the past seven years. When asked about her experiences, she said, “I’ve enjoyed working with people that I now call my best friends. Dance has basically become my life. I got started when I tried out my sixth grade year in middle school. I didn’t really think that it would be my thing until I tried it, but I’ve kept going ever...

In recent history, the News Journal has presented a list of the top five sports stories of the year, either at the end of December, or the beginning of January. This time we are expanding the list out to ten items, however, due to the large amount of major events that have taken place over the course of the past twelve months. 1. Corbin football’s run to the state semifinals Topping the list this year is the Corbin football team’s dominant run to the Class 3A state championship semifinals. In 2016, the football Hounds went 5-0 to start the season, defeating Whitley County in their opener, taking down Louisville Central in...

The Corbin Redhound cheerleading squad brought home their third consecutive KHSAA state championship title this past Saturday, hitting a perfect routine and scoring the highest overall score of any team at the competition to do so. “In practice last week we were having a terrible time,” said CHS cheer Head Coach Shonya O’Neill. “We weren’t sure what would happen on Saturday. Other teams have been practicing, catching up to us, so we knew that we were going to have to perform at a higher level. We’ve really been preaching that to them. We have to hit everything, or we’re not going to win. This is the first competition that they...

This time of year most sports headlines revolve around what’s happening on the basketball court, but plenty of exciting action is also taking place on the wrestling mat, in the swimming pool and at the bowling lanes. This week, we meet the senior athletes from the Whitley County wrestling team and the Corbin swimming and bowling teams, and we get an update on how each of those seasons are currently going. The Colonel wrestling team, coached by Ralph Carte, is being led this year by four seniors – Matt Copeland, Ana Lindsey, John Cusson-Walker and Daniel Wohlfarth. With their veteran presence, Whitley wrestling has enjoyed a good amount of success on...

The Williamsburg High School cheer squad recently out-performed Harlan Independent to win a 13th Region championship in the co-ed division, qualifying them to appear at the KHSAA state championships on Saturday, December 10. On Monday evening, during the Lady Jackets basketball team’s season opener against Rockcastle County, the six senior members of this year’s WHS cheer team took a few moments to give their comments for this week’s Senior Spotlight. Madison Loudermelt, 17, has been cheering at the varsity level for the past five years. She said that the life of a cheerleader requires a lot of hard work, and a strong sense of responsibility. She said that it has taken...