WHS SPORTS ROUNDUP
Watauga netters cruise past East Burke

From staff reports
ICARD — It didn’t seem to matter where Watauga’s individual tennis players were seeded. An easy victory always seemed to follow.
Playing a rare doubleheader with East Burke, Watauga rolled to a pair of 6-0 victories over the Cavaliers Friday. All of the matches were played in singles and no doubles matches were necessary.
Watauga’s top three seeds in the first match — Michael Smith, Brian Geldmeier and Davis Roberts — all posted 6-0, 6-0 victories. So did Chris Ludwig, who was playing No. 5 doubles. Ryan Schweitzer, playing No. 4 singles, won his match 6-4, 6-0, and No. 6 seeded Aaron Evans won his match 6-2, 6-0.
It got worse in the second match. All of Watauga’s singles players, which included Steve Lake, Kevin Ashline, Geldmeier, Roberts, Ludwig and Sam Littlejohn, won 6-0, 6-0. 
Watauga is scheduled to play at Newton-Conover Monday and at home vs. Hickory next Wednesday.

Watauga 6, East Burke 0
First match
Singles
Michael Smith (W) d. Bryan Kilpatrick 6-0 6-0
Brian Geldmeier (W) d. Neil Eckard 6-0 6-0
Davis Roberts (W) d. Kaleb Harwood 6-0 6-0
Ryan Schweitzer (W) d. Cole Sperling 6-4 6-0
Chris Ludwig (W) d. Billy Cowner 6-0 6-0
Aaron Evans (W) d. Colt Patton 6-2 6-0
Watauga 6, East Burke 0
2nd match
Singles
Steve Lake (W) d. Neil Eckard 6-0 6-0
Kevin Ashline (W) d. Mike Donnely 6-0 6-0
Brian Geldmeier (W) d. Caleb Harwell 6-0 6-0
Davis Roberts (W) d. Billy Cowner 6-0 6-0
Chris Ludwig (W) d. Colt Patton 6-0 6-0
Sam Littlejohn (W) d. Nick Church

Men’s golf

MORGANTON — Ben Beason fired a round of 82 to lead Watauga in its Northwestern 4-A Conference golf match Thursday. Watauga fired an overall round of 338, which put them fifth behind Alexander Central, Freedom, East Burke and A.C. Reynolds.
Spencer Hodges shot an 84, Robert Warren shot an 85, and Trey McNeil had an 87 for the Pioneers. Alexander Central won the team event with a 305.
Watauga is sixth in the season standings.
“Overall I am very proud of the hard work the team is giving in improving their scores,” Watauga coach Mike Northern. ”We improved our conference match total by 25 strokes this week and moved up 11 strokes to just five stokes out of the fifth place position.”
In a match held Monday at Cedar Rock, McNeil and Brandon Reynolds each fired a round of 38 to finish in a tie for second place overall in a match played against West Wilkes, Hibriten and West Caldwell. Beason added a round of 43 and Hodges shot a round of 45.
Watauga plays again Mimosa Golf Course in Morganton on Monday. Freedom is the host school.

Track and field

Watauga’s boys’ and girls’ track teams swept West Caldwell and Ashe County in a meet held at chilly Jack Groce Stadium Thursday.
Watauga’s boys’ team won with 85.5 points. West Caldwell was second with 74.5 and Ashe was third with 18. Watauga’s girls won with 104 points, followed by West Caldwell with 39 and Ashe with 34.
Watauga’s boys turned in six individual first-place results and won two relays. Ian Boyd did the most damage by winning the 300-meter hurdles and the pole vault. Gabby Romano won the discus and finished second in the shot put. Jordan Pineda won the shot put, while Hayden Brown won the 800-meter run. Watauga also won the 400- and 800-meter relays.
Reid Harris took second in the 100-and 200-meter dashes, and Thomas McDonough was second in the 400-meter dash. Ethan Poulos was second in the 1,600-meter run and Darrow Goff was second in the triple jump, while Trevon Jenson was third in that event.
Watauga’s girls were even more dominant, taking home 14 first-place finishes. Ryann Jones won the 100- and 200-meter dashes, while Hailey Middlebrook won the 400-and 800-meter races. Kelsey Gustaveson added a win in the 1,600-meter run and Ingrid Forsyth won the 3,200-meter run.
Kristina Tracy won the long jump and pole vault, while Tara Trivette won the high jump. Katheryn Smith won the discus, Kasey Jones the 100 hurdles, and the Pioneers took the 400-, 1,600- and 3,200-meter relays.
Watauga had plenty of second-place finishes to add to its totals. Taylor Cook (long jump), Sydney Cook (pole vault) both finished second in field events. In running events, Kayla Schneider (200), Emma Seagle (800), emily Miller (1,600) and Hannah Barbour (3,200) also finished in second. Taylor Chandler was third in the high jump and Laura Gulliver was third in the pole vault.