Pioneer to play

in soccer event
By Steve Behr

Watauga soccer player Ben Robertson will play in the East-West Senior soccer game at UNC Greensboro July 21. Robertson, who will play for the West team, is second on the Watauga all-time scoring list with 54 goals and 140 points. He is the first Pioneer to play in the game since Ben Norman played in 2005.

Robertson was an all-state and all region selection last fall. He scored 19 goals and had 19 assists for the Pioneers.

The last Watauga player to play on the girls’ team was Sara Caldwell, who played on the West team in 2008.

ASU wins Cup
Appalachian State won its fourth straight Commissio-ner’s Cup, awarded annually to the Southern Conference’s top men’s sports program.

Appalachian State finished with 87.5 points, well in front of Chattanooga’s 70.5 points. Furman was third with 69 and Western Carolina fourth with 63.

Appalachian State won the SoCon football championship, the cross country and indoor track and field championships. The Mountaineers were also second in outdoor track and field.

The Mountaineers have won 29 Commissioner’s Cups overall, all which have been won in the last 32 years.

College of Charleston won the Germann Cup, which is given to the overall top women’s athletic program. Appalachian State finished sixth with 64.5 points, 13.5 points behind the Cougars.

Gurganus in regional
Former Watauga standout pole vaulter Sallie Gurganus tied her personal best vault of 13-feet, 1-inch at the Southeastern Conference Track and Field Champion-ships in Gainesville, Fla. on May 17. She finished seventh at the meet and qualified for the NCAA East Regional, which is Saturday at Irwin Belk Stadium at North Carolina A&T.

It’s the same site where Gurganus won a state championship in the pole vault for Watauga. The national championships are in Fayetteville, Ark.