Area athletes update …
Chris Smith (West Rowan) finished his career at Arkansas with 21.5 sacks, fourth in school history.
Smith tied for third in the SEC in sacks as a senior. He had 8.5 sacks and 71 sack yards.
The defensive end was a second team All-SEC pick by the SEC coaches and also by Athlon magazine.
• Virginia junior Kevin Parks (West) added a second-team All-ACC selection by ACC coaches to his earlier second-team pick by media.
• Lenoir-Rhyne fullback Ike Whitaker (Salisbury) has 908 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns for the season after he enjoyed another big day (90 yards, two TDs) in Saturday’s 42-14 playoff romp against West Chester.
Whitaker and the Bears will play in the D-II championship game in Florence, Ala., on Saturday against unbeaten Northwest Missouri State.
Freshman Courtney Bisbe (Carson) will be competing for N.C. State in gymnastics. The Wolfpack’s season begins with a meet against UNC on Jan. 12.
In a meet against LaGrange, Greensboro’s Zach Lemmon (North Rowan) won the 100 breaststroke, 100 backstroke and 200 Individual Medley events. Lemmon improved his school record in the 100 breaststroke to 1:04.06.
Radford junior Ayana Avery (West) leads the team in scoring (12.9 ppg) and rebounding (7.4). The rebounding number is remarkable because Avery is 5-foot-5. Avery has made 22 3-pointers in Radford’s eight games.
Avery scored 1,995 points at West and is the school’s all-time scoring leader.
Radford hasn’t played in a while but is home tonight against Appalachian State.
• Shi-Heria Shipp (Salisbury) had 17 points and 16 rebounds to lead Temple to a 61-52 win at Montana. Shipp had eight offensive rebounds.
• Ayanna Holmes (Salisbury) has started all nine of Charlotte’s games and averages 7.1 points and 3.2 rebounds. Olivia Rankin (Salisbury) has played off the bench in all of Charlotte’s games and has contributed 14 points and 11 rebounds.
• Jessica Heilig (Salisbury) scored nine points and Doreen Richardson (Salisbury) had four points and four assists as Gardner-Webb beat Wofford 68-57 on Saturday.
• Alison Sobataka (West) scored 15 points in Columbia’s 78-74 win against Voorhees on Saturday.
• Catawba’s Allison Blackwell (Carson) hit two free throws for her first college points in Saturday’s win against Tusculum.
In Augusta’s 74-63 win against Emmanuel on Saturday, Keshun Sherrill (West) had 15 points, seven rebounds and six assists. Keshun’s big brother K.J. Sherrill had nine points, including a huge dunk, and eight rebounds.
• Darius Moose (Carson) had his third double-double of the season for Brevard on Saturday. Moose had 17 points and 11 rebounds in an 81-78 SAC win against Queens.
• Mars Hill’s Isaiah Cuthbertson (West) had 14 points and nine rebounds in a 95-79 SAC loss to Coker on Saturday.
• Oshon West (North) had seven points and three rebounds as Louisburg beat Sandhills Community College 92-65.
• Tydus Parks (A.L. Brown) averages 9.4 points and 5.0 rebounds for Catawba Valley Community College. Parks scored 15 against Spartanburg Methodist.