Sports

Since Cody Philpot first took the reins of the Corbin Redhounds varsity baseball program back in 2015, the team has enjoyed an unprecedented level of success. When taking a look at the Hounds’ accomplishments over the course of the past decade, the list of accolades breaks down as follows: • 244-124 combined win-loss record • Seven 50th District championship titles (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2023, 2024) • Five 13th Region championship titles (2018, 2019, 2022, 2024, 2025) – Note: Seniors Cam Allen, Eli Campbell, Garner Chandler, Cade Cooney, Matthew Creekmore, Zac Hash, Cole Hicks, Ben Phillips and Caleb Vannorstran were poised to lead the Hounds to a three-peat regional championship title in...

“I used to think farming was hard work, but that was before I had a golf course.” That is how Clara Sexton, owner of The Golf Course in Williamsburg, described the work that it has taken to keep Whitley County’s only functioning golf course up-and-running since she took over operations back in the early eighties. “It was a mess,” Sexton said of the state of the course when she stepped in as owner. “It really was. You couldn’t even find the greens.” Sexton explained that the course was originally built sometime in the late-fifties to early-sixties. It changed hands a few times over the years before she took over, and, as...

The University of the Cumberlands men’s and women’s golf teams are gearing up for Mid-South Conference Tournament play at the end of this month. It has been a successful year for the Patriots so far this spring. Let’s review their progress ahead of this year’s MSC Tournament… The UC men got the season started off right last month with a trip to Alabama and a victory in the Lawrence Tech Spring Invitational at Grand National. The Patriots were crowned champions of the event after shooting 891 (+27) over 54 holes played across three days. Freshman Saran Jantratit finished runner-up at the tournament, shooting 216 (-1), including three eagles and ten...

The Corbin High School girls tennis team is back to doing what they do best this season, which is dominating the competition. The Lady Hounds got off to a great start this spring, picking up wins over Pulaski County, Russell County, Casey County, Madison Southern, Bell County, South Laurel, Oneida Baptist Institute, and Barbourville. This past weekend, the team traveled to Bowling Green for the 2025 Border Bash. Corbin was one of eight teams competing in the Bash, with four teams each from Kentucky and Tennessee. Competition took place at Buchanon Park, which is the home of the Western Kentucky University tennis teams. Overall, the Lady Hounds ended up finishing in...

If you get off of I-75 Exit 11 and begin heading toward downtown Williamsburg, you will likely notice a sign on the side of the road announcing that this is the home of Becky Sharpe, the 2015 women’s state amateur golf champion. That sign has stood in place for the past decade to let people know that, among the many great athletes that have come out of Williamsburg over the years, Sharpe, now Becky Sharpe-Mitchell, is among the most accomplished. “It feels like a blur,” Sharpe-Mitchell said when reflecting on everything that has transpired since she won her state amateur title at the Danville Country Club in the summer of...

As this column series continues, I am presented with new and exciting opportunities to speak to individuals in-and-around the local community who are doing great things when it comes to promoting the sport of golf among younger players. The most recent opportunity came just last week, when I met with Bill Moore, a golf pro who helped build Crooked Creek (now the Oaks of London) and created the Southeast Kentucky Junior Golf Tour (SEKJGT) back in 1995. Moore was kind enough to take the time to speak to me recently about the SEKJGT, including how the event has evolved over the past 30 years, and his hopes for what lies...

Whitley County High School track and field Head Coach Terry Lanham has described this season as a “full circle moment” for him personally. As a 2001 graduate of WCHS, he was around when the school was still hosting track meets on a regular basis. That ended just a few years after he left, but now, thanks to a major investment by the board of education to overhaul the school’s track facility, the Colonels are ready to host events once again. “It really means a lot to me,” Lanham said, adding that the student-athletes, their families and other community members have all been expressing their excitement recently over the newly remodeled...

I have been so busy speaking with interesting folks and writing about a wide range of topics for this column since it launched earlier this year that I have honestly not had much of a chance to learn the game myself. One of my original intentions for launching the weekly series was to chronicle my efforts to pick up the game, so I hope you’ll enjoy as I recount my latest lesson with another good friend of mine, Corbin’s own Brad Harris. For those of you who don’t know Brad, he served as a golf coach at Corbin High School between 1999-2014. After his coaching days were over he obtained...

What if I told you that there is an all-time career home runs record-holder playing right here in Whitley County? Not a program record holder, but a national record holder… It’s true. University of the Cumberlands senior catcher Charlie Muniz, a native of Naranjito, Puerto Rico, recently broke the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) record for career home runs when he smacked his 89th ball over a fence during a recent road game against Warner University in Lake Wales, Fla. Muniz then hit home run number 90 during a March 12 home game against Johnson University (Tenn.), and followed that up by hitting four more homers against visiting Mid-South...

A few weeks ago, we discussed the “strategic restructuring” of the Golf House Kentucky (GHK) organization. If you missed that entry, please check it out online, and then continue on here as we discuss some of the specifics of these ongoing efforts with Kentucky Golf Association (KGA) Executive Director Connie Saner. Saner has been with GHK for eight years. In that time, she said that she has held a variety of different roles. Before being named as the executive director of the KGA, she was the senior director of membership and operations. Speaking about her newest role within the organization, she recently said, “I am super excited to take on this...