VMI's Maypray honored

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

For his outstanding performance on Saturday, the Big South Conference named Virginia Military Institute quarterback Tim Maypray as offensive player of the week.

The conference awarded the honor to Maypray, a Madisonville native, on Monday, after he collected four touchdowns en route to 332 all-purpose yards during the Keydets’ 49-27 victory against Presbyterian (S.C.). The four scores tied a school and conference record for a single game.

On the ground, Maypray rushed for touchdowns from four, 34 and 60 yards away and also threw a 75-yard touchdown pass.

Of his all-purpose yards, the junior carried the ball 20 times for 235 yards, a career-high.

Earlier in the season, Maypray eclipsed the 1,000-yard career rushing mark and with Saturday’s three catches for 97 yards, he achieved the 1,000-yard receiving yards necessary to become the first Big South player ever to reach the plateau in both categories.

Saturday’s win marked the end of the 2008 season for VMI, but with one season of eligibility left, Maypray ranks second in conference history with 4,279 all-purpose yards.

Men’s basketball

Transylvania University forward Brock Jones tallied a team-high 16 points, coming off the bench to shoot 6-of-9 from the field to propel the Pioneers to a 65-63 season-opening win against Centre College on Saturday.

Jones, a Madisonville-North Hopkins graduate, made two baskets beyond the three-point arc and contributed three rebounds as well to help his team break the Colonels’ 25-game regular season winning streak.

Transylvania returns to action at 7:30 p.m. tonight when the Pioneers play host to Spalding University.

Women’s basketball

Former Hopkins County Central star Kari Jo Harris played in two games last week for Lee University as the Lady Flames split a pair of decisions.

Harris scored two points during 10 minutes of play in Lee’s 86-74 loss to Southern Wesleyan University Warriors (S.C.) on Thursday.

Two days later, the Lady Flames bounced back to beat Columbia College (S.C.) 87-37. Harris, a freshman, started and recorded eight points, three rebounds, three assists and one block in 24 minutes of action.

Men’s swimming

Madisonville natives Daniel, Joseph and Stephen Porter and Yunan Yang each competed in the Wabash Invitational (Ind.) for Transylvania University on Friday and Saturday.

The men’s team finished fourth of five participating schools, but each former Maroon swimmer helped garner plenty of points.

Joseph and Stephen swam together on the same 200-yard freestyle relay for 26 points while Daniel swam the race with a different set of teammates.

The duo of Joseph and Stephen combined for four more points in the 100-yard backstroke and narrowly missed a few more in the 50-yard freestyle.

Yang amassed 13 of his own with a sixth-place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke and Daniel came away with three. Daniel tacked on 12 and five points in the 200-yard individual medley and 200-yard breaststroke respectively.

Rounding out the points-earners, Yang also had seven for his performance in the 200-yard individual medley and Stephen attained three in the 200-yard backstroke.

All four swimmers participated in the 200-yard medley relay team, but did not receive any points.

Women’s swimming

The women’s component of the Transylvania University team finished slightly higher than its male counterpart at third in the Wabash Invitational with plenty of aid coming from former North swimmers Maggie Davenport and Claire Dorris.

Davenport netted 15 points with a fourth-place finish in the 100-yard backstroke and 13.5 for a fifth-place tie in the 200-yard backstroke. The junior also swam in the 100-yard breaststroke (six points) and 200-yard medley relay.

Dorris, a sophomore, garnered points in the 200-yard butterfly (six points) and 500-yard freestyle (five). She also swam in the 200-yard freestyle.

Both swimmers teamed up for the 200-yard freestyle relay, but did not earn any points for the Pioneers.

n Auburn University swimmer Emile Ewing posted a number of top-three finishes during the Tigers’ victory against the Alabama Crimson Tide during the weekend.

The former North standout finished among the top three during five separate races, highlighted by a first-place time of 2:20.13 in the 200-meter backstroke.

Ewing swam the fastest leg of her team’s second-place 200-meter freestyle and finished second in the 400-meter freestyle relay as well.

Rounding out her successful day, Ewing led off her third-place 400-meter medley relay team and took another third in the 100-meter backstroke, missing first place by .37 seconds.