Sports

In this week’s Senior Spotlight we meet the senior members of the 2016 Whitley County High School track and field team. When the season kicked off a few weeks ago, each of these athletes took the time to talk about their expectations for this spring. Tyler Lawson (4x400 m relay, 4x800 m relay, 800 m run, distance medley, steeplechase) said, “I’m hoping that we can make it back to state as a 4x400 and 4x800 team. Hopefully we can just do better this year than everybody expects us to.” Emma Cooper (long jump, triple jump, 4x400 m relay) said, “Personally, I would like to break both of the school records for...

The University of the Cumberlands Women's Wrestling program has shown immense growth since it began in 1998. The program started as an idea by former UC President Dr. Jim Taylor, when he placed an article in former Men’s Wrestling Head Coach Jess Wilder’s mailbox, about a brother and sister who wrestled for the same high school. Coach Wilder expressed his own interest in the idea and began to research the necessary components for a women’s team. The team began with just one wrestler in 1998 and by the 1999-2000 season, seven wrestlers were added to the roster. Six years into the newly established women’s wrestling program (2004), the first Patriot...

To say that the Canineu brothers – Lucas and Tulio – have played important roles as members of the Corbin High School boys soccer program over the last several seasons would actually be a pretty big understatement. In fact, without them it is difficult to imagine that the Redhounds could have enjoyed as much success as they have recently, winning 13th Region titles in 2012, 2013 and 2014. This dynamic duo gave opponents fits during those three history-making seasons before Tulio left along with several other teammates in the class of 2015. After his older brother’s graduation, Lucas took on even more of a leadership role last fall. He shined as...

The Corbin Lady Hounds soccer team made history in 2015. They won 50th District and 13th Region titles, advancing all the way to the quarterfinal round of the KHSAA state championship playoffs before being defeated by eventual state runner-up Lexington Catholic. Two young players, sophomores Nikki Wells and Abby Baker, have played integral roles in the team’s recent success.  Both girls earned special recognition for their play at the district, region and state levels, and now they are both being presented with the opportunity to represent their country as members of U16 national teams. Wells will be traveling to Madrid this summer, along with other players from across the country, to compete...

The Williamsburg High School track and field team is coming off of another impressive performance this past Saturday at Pulaski Southwestern’s Warrior Invitational. They were back in Somerset Tuesday night at Pulaski Co High School’s all-comers meet, and they are scheduled to attend another all-comers meet at Knox Central High School in Barbourville this Friday, March 25. The track and field Yellow Jackets kicked off the spring season by hosting the 2016 Frost Bite Relays at the University of the Cumberlands on Saturday, March 12. Prior to the start of that meet, this year’s senior athletes took a few moments to give their comments for this week’s Senior Spotlight. Dakota Dunn...

Each spring the Corbin tennis teams take the court again with the expectation of conquering the region and returning to compete at the KHSAA state championships. This year is no different, and Head Coach Nickie Dixon says that she is feeling good about what she’s seen out of her tennis Hounds so far in 2016. Speaking about the boys’ team, Dixon said, “We have won at region 15 years in a row, so we’ve always had a target on our backs. This year is going to be tough, though. We were in a tiebreak situation against North Laurel last year, and they haven’t lost anybody. We lost three seniors from...

The University of the Cumberlands (UC) Men's Basketball team went into Saturday's quarterfinal round of the Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I Men's Basketball National Championship Tournament looking for their 2nd berth in school history into the NAIA Fab Four. It would take a win over #4 seeded and NAIA #14 ranked Mid America Christian University (MACU) to earn that opportunity. Both teams would battle back and forth, but in the end, it was the Evangels of MACU coming away with the 77-73 win over UC. The loss finishes UC's season at 24-12 overall. In the first half, UC would hold its largest lead of the game of just two points, but...

The University of the Cumberlands (UC) Men's Basketball team continued their pursuit on Friday in the Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I Men's Basketball National Championship Tournament as they faced Talladega College (TC) Tornadoes. After a slow start for UC in the first half that saw the Patriots trail by 18 at one point, the Patriots would surge from behind to come away with an 82-80 victory, moving on to the Round of 8. The win moves the Patriots to 24-11 on the season. In the first half, the Tornadoes would come out firing on all cylinders, especially from three point range where UC would find themselves down by as much as...

The University of the Cumberlands (UC) Men's Basketball team opened up the 2016 Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I Men's Basketball National Championship Tournament on Wednesday morning as they took on the Lions of Langston University (LU). In the first ever meeting between the two teams, they wouldn't disappoint the crowd as they would take the game to overtime, the first time in the history of the tournament that the opening game would go into overtime. It was there that UC would hit some crucial, late free throws to come away with an 80-78 victory, advancing the Patriots to the second round of the championship tournament. UC would start off strong, but...

The Williamsburg Yellow Jackets were able to get the 2016 season off to a good start, defeating Bell County 15-2 in their home opener, and then beating Barbourville 5-4 one night later to improve to 2-0. This spring, the baseball Jackets are being led by four seniors – Alex Patterson, Tanner Rains, Jordan Osborne and Jacob Curnutt. Curnutt (18, OF/C) said that he fell in love with the sport of baseball at a young age while playing in the local Little League program. He said that he decided to stick with it from there, taking a break in middle school, and returning to the diamond four years ago as a high...