Cary, NC – Recently, some stellar basketball pictures came floating across the Cary Flickr Group. They are by Marvin of The M Factor and they are this weeks Wide World of Cary Sports.

High School Basketball in Cary

Marvin has been catching a few games around town – boys and girls, Panther Creek, Athens Drive, Cary High and Green Hope.

Interesting (at least to photographers), Marvin shot these pictures with a remote controlled flash. That’s unusual for sporting events and accounts for the crisp action pictures and vibrant indoor colors.

How About Your High School?

If your Cary area high school is not represented here, reach out to someone in your community who is shooting your games and recommend they contact the photo editor at CaryCitizen.

All our photographers make a voluntary contribution of their work. We rely on the community for our high school sports coverage. Any sport, any school in Cary is welcome.

Alternatively, maybe you know a pizza parlor or ice cream shop that might want to sponsor coverage of your school’s sports. Hook us up!

Wide World of Cary Sports

Story by Nancy Caggia and photos by Kevin LaWall. Above, Green Hope Band Director Brian Meyers leading band onto the field at Lucas Oil Stadium.

Cary, NC- Several area high school marching bands traveled to Indianapolis over the long weekend to compete in what has become an annual rite of passage. Cary High School advanced this weekend to the finals.

Bands of America Championship

The marching bands of Green Hope and Cary High schools competed at Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the NFL Colts, on Friday 11/11/11 in the Bands of America Grand National Championships. Bands of America is recognized as the premier marching band event in the nation. More than 90 bands from across America participate, including some of the finest, most progressive bands in the activity today.

The 2011 field competition featured 92 bands in preliminary competition.  Green Hope and Cary High competed at 9:15 a.m. and 6 p.m. respectively.

Cary High Advances to Saturday Morning

From the field of 92, thirty-six advance to play again on Saturday morning. Cary High was among them.

From these thirty-six, only twelve advance to play AGAIN on Saturday evening in the finals. None of our area high schools made it to this stage. Stiff competition from  Midwestern bands Broken Arrow High School in Oklahoma and Avon High School from Indianapolis placed these two 1st and 2nd.

Final results are posted on the Grand Nationals website

Story and photo by Tom Mousseau.

Cary, NC –  Green Hope High School men’s varsity soccer team advances to the third round of the state playoffs by beating Enloe High School on Saturday with a final score of 4-2.  In a tight match against Enloe, Green Hope was down by a 2-1 margin in the second half when Kellen Foster scored to tie the game. 

Points later came by Tyler Carroll and Rodrigo Ortiz to cap off the game.  The win puts the Falcons overall record to 21-1-0.

Green Hope will host Durham Jordan on Tuesday, November 8, 2011 in what is likely to be an exciting match.  Jordan beat Green Hope in last year’s playoffs and went on to win the 4A title.  In the previous match up this year, Green Hope defeated Jordan with a score of 5-0.

In addition, Green Hope’s own Indi Cowie will put on an Freestyle Soccer exhibition at half-time. Watch her amazing video from ESPN and read NY Times article.

YouTube: ESPN 360: Indi Cowie

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/27/magazine/mag-27Soccer-t.html?pagewanted=all

Story from staff reports. Photos by Tom Mousseau.

Cary, NC – In this edition of Wide World of Cary Sports, we focus on Green Hope varsity boys soccer, ranked #1 in North Carolina and #3 in the nation, according to Max Preps.

Juggernaut

Last week, GH dispatched Cardinal Gibbons 3-1. And on Monday, they put away Athens Drive four to zip.

Falcons soccer, under head coach (and sometime CaryCitizen contributor) Andrew Chadwick, are 9-0-0 in conference play and 13-0-0 overall this season.

Photos

Contributing Photographer Tom Mousseau captured the action against Gibbons last week. Coincidentally, Green Hope’s goalie is also named Thomas Mousseau.

More of Tom’s stellar sports photography can be found at All-Star-Photos.com.

Story by Lindsey Chester, photos by Karl Fisher

Cary, NC- A year ago, Victoria Bennis was planning her first save a Life Walk. She and her family were recovering from a personal tragedy. Her brother John, a 16 year old Green Hope student had taken his life the previous November. When a second Green Hope boy committed suicide that May, she knew she had to do something to stop what she perceived was becoming an epidemic.

She and her friend MaryAnn Monaco, founded the Save A Life organization to help troubled teens reach out for help if they are feeling depressed or suicidal.

“SAVE A LIFE was formed in order to raise awareness about the problem of teen suicide, to educate the community, and to remove barriers that separate at-risk teens from help.”

To raise money, last September Victoria and MaryAnn held the first Save A Life walk based at Green Hope High School. With help from the PTSA and the football team, the event was a huge success. The 5K event was attended by over 300 participants and raised over $12,000.

Victoria Bennis,event co-founder, hits the finish line in last year's event

The money raised was put to immediate use. About 15 staffers were trained in suicide prevention in a program called Yellow Ribbon. They are taught to make presentations to willing organizations and train others to watch for the signs of possible suicidal tendencies. They also hand out ‘Yellow Ribbon” cards to teens. They have made over ten presentation during the past year.

Yellow Ribbon Cards

The cards are held in possession by kids. When they feel they may be having depressing or suicidal thoughts, they are to hand these cards to trusted adults. The cards read:

This Year’s Save A Life 5K

Will be held Sunday October 9, at Wake Med Soccer Park. The move in date and time was made to help accommodate what Victoria believes will be an increase in participants. Wake Med also offers and official 5K course. She is reaching out to other high schools to participate, and hopes to take a meeting with Superintendent Tony Tata to gain the support of WCPSS. The goals are to eventually grow this event and their work throughout Wake County and beyond.

Event Info

Sunday, October 9, 2011
Onsite registration begins at noon
Race starts at 2pm
201 Soccer Park Drive, Cary, NC

Fee: $25 includes a T Shirt

Online registration Closes Saturday, October 01, 2011

Register Now!

Football: Green Hope Wins

In the biggest sports news of the week, Green Hope Varsity Football, under new coach Kwame Dixon, decisively ended their multi-year 0-38 drought with a 38-0 win over Smithfield-Selma on Friday.

Also last week, Cary High beat Broughton 14-7 while Panther Creek was fell to Leesville Road 49-0.

Pictorial: Soccer

Cary is a soccer town and our photographers were out in force last week covering the action.

RailHawks vs Minnesota

Maybe it’s the new management. Or maybe it’s the fired up team, leading the NASL by a large margin. But attendance (and excitement) at RailHawks games has skyrocketed this season.

Mike Baranski filed this report:

The Carolina RailHawks hold a seven point lead in the NASL after gaining a point against the Minnesota Stars on Wednesday, tying 1-1.  With 7 games left in the season, Carolina has a strong lead in the league standings.

Minnesota started the game strong and had several good chances, with their best coming in the first 2 minutes of the game.  The RailHawks also had their share of opportunities to score in the first half, but failed to finish and it was 0-0 at halftime.

In the 2^nd minute of the second half, Jonny Steele intercepted a ball in the RailHawk’s half and made a searching run to the top of the Minnesota 18-yard box.  He lofted the ball over the Stars’ defense to Pablo Campos, who managed to beat the Minnesota keeper at the near post, giving the Railhawks a 1-0 lead.

In the 55^th minute, Minnesota scored to tie the game and make the score 1-1. Carolina had the majority of the chances in the second half, but again could not manage to find the back of the net to secure 3 points.  The match finished 1-1, leaving Carolina well ahead in the standings with 3 home and 4 away games left.

Suzie Wolf captured the action on Wednesday as the Hawks fought to a tie with visiting Minnesota.

Falcons vs Durham Jordan

In high school soccer, Green Hope shut down Durham Jordan 5-0 at Falcons Stadium on Thursday. Tom Mousseau photographed the victory.

RailHawks vs Ft. Lauderdale

A massive crowd (maybe 5,000) showed up Saturday night to watch the RailHawks strike down the Ft. Lauderdale Strikers 2-0 on a mild evening in Cary.

Chris Adamczyk was on the field for CaryCitizen photographing the match.

Story by Lindsey Chester. Photo  of 2010 Wachovia Cup presentation by Chris Adamczyk.

Cary, NC- For the second year in a row, Green Hope High School in Cary has won The Wachovia Cup in the 4A athletic division, an honor celebrating the best all-around sports program in the state.

The 32nd Wachovia Cup

The Wachovia Cup award, sponsored by Wachovia and the NCHSAA, recognizes the high schools that achieve the best overall interscholastic athletic performances within each of the state’s four competitive classifications, and has done so for 32 years.

All four of the champions successfully defended the Wachovia Cups each of them won a year ago. Cary’s Green Hope maintained its lead after winter sports to capture the Cup. Also, Raleigh’s Cardinal Gibbons took the top spot in the 3-A classification with a great all around performance.

Salisbury was the Cup winner among 2-A schools for the second year in a row while Kernersville’s Bishop McGuinness captured first place in 1-A for the fourth time in the last five years.

Green Hope Winners

Boys soccer, girls lacrosse, girls basketball, both boys and girls cross country and boys and girls swimming each contributed points that led to this win.

Heading into the spring sports season, Green Hope had scored Tri-9 conference points with league titles in girl’s basketball and men’s swimming,  and was a runner up in women’s swimming. At that point, GHHS had 104 points ahead of Panther Creek (88.5) and Apex (87.5) in the Tri-9 conference. Teams earn points for their conference finishes and how well they place in NCHSAA finals.

Mickey Bissett, Green Hope’s Athletic Director had this to say:

I am very proud of all of our student athletes at Green Hope for contributing to the 2nd consecutive NCHSAA Wachovia Cup. To win this award back to back is an outstanding accomplishment for our athletic program. I would also like to thank all of those that have contributed to the success of our programs in any way.

Four other Wake County Schools made it into the top 15:  Wakefield, Apex, Millbrook and Leesville Road. These schools consistently have some of the best athletics departments in North Carolina.

4-A Final Standings

1. Green Hope 427.5
2. Myers Park 390.5
3. Wakefield 365
4. East Chapel Hill 360
5. Ardrey Kell 345
6. Apex 342.5
7. Skyland T.C. Roberson 340
8. Providence 330
9. Lake Norman 305
10. Millbrook 272.5
11. Watauga 267.5
12. Leesville Road 257.5
13. (TIE) New Bern 245
Cornelius W.A. Hough 245
15. Pfafftown Ronald Reagan 232.5

The presentation of the actual Wachovia Cup along with a banner for the winning school will be presented in the fall at a UNC football game, the date to be announced in the future.

Story by Hal Goodtree with Nancy Caggia. Picture by Bob Moore.

Cary, NC – If you like Pops music, treat yourself to what might be the largest Pops show ever in Cary. It’s this Tuesday, April 5 at Booth Amphitheatre starting at 7 PM.

The Big Show

Musical education has always been a big part of our community, in schools, at home, in churches and civic groups. Many adults continue to teach, play and perform, setting a good example for our children.

Youthful performances have a certain energy and freshness not common in more mature adults. By high school, many Cary kids are accomplished musicians, strong singers and compelling performers. If you’ve been to a high school musical or heard one of our nationally prominent high school marching bands, you know what I mean.

The big pops show at Booth on Tuesday will feature approximately 90 Green Hope High School Choir students and 70 Symphonic Band students. Together, they will perform the best-loved music from Broadway, the movies and popular classics.

It promises to be a big sound under the stars on Tuesday night.

Details

Tickets are available for Lawn General Admission seating  at $6 for Adults and $4 for kids, students and seniors. Kids ages 2 & under are free. Wake County Public School System Employees are free with ID. Tickets can be purchased by walk-up at the Booth Amphitheatre box office or online at www.ticketmaster.com; Charge-by-phone at 1-800-745-3000

Parking lots open at 6pm and parking is free. Patrons are permitted to bring food/beverage items into the park for this event. Booth Amphitheatre will also have a variety of food/beverage items available during the show.

Photos by Chris Adamczyk and Suzie Wolf. Story from staff reports. Above, Nicklas Lidstrom outside RBC Center.

Cary, NC – It was another epic weekend of sports in Cary. We have pictures for you of girls and boys basketball and from the NHL All-Star game.

Girls Basketball

Last week saw Green Hope (18-1-0) vanquish the girls of Cary High (12-6-0) by a score of 79-58. The Falcon girls also dispatched Athens Drive 67-36 and demolished Panther Creek 87-53 in the week just past. Kristen Gaffney  poured in 46 points in the contest with PCHS.

More Pictures: Green Hope vs Cary High (Girls) by Suzie Wolf
More Pictures: Panther Creek vs Green Hope (Girls) by Chris Adamczyk

Boys Basketball

Panther Creek (11-5-0) was stunned at home, losing to the Green Hope (7-11-0) boys by a score of 51-60. Chris Adamczyk filed these pictures.

More Pictures: Panther Creek vs GHHS (Boys) by Chris Adamczyk

NHL All-Star Game

Talk about epic – NHL All-Star weekend proved worth the hype, worth the effort, a grand time for all and a great showcase for the Triangle.

Chris Adamczyk has been covering the Hurricanes for CaryCitizen. She focused on the events and fans of All-Star Weekend.

More All-Star weekend pictures by Chris.

Story by Liza Weidle

Cary, NC- This past year saw 2 suicide deaths at Green Hope High School. No one saw them coming, but the sister of one of the students, Victoria Bennis, is determined to help prevent future tragedies.

Victoria says, “Losing my younger brother John to suicide nine months ago has completely changed my life.  It was as if everything that ever mattered to me disappeared.  Things that used to make me happy seemed meaningless. I felt as if a part of me was gone and I would never be that same optimistic, cheerful woman again.  But I didn’t give up.”

Citizens committed to awareness and prevention

In early May, a committed group of parents met with Green Hope High administrators including Principal Dr. James Hedrick and Coach Stephen Katz to talk about a youth suicide awareness and prevention initiative.

Over the course of the next few weeks, the group began meeting with health care professionals and non-profit organizations including “Save the Teens.”  Once criteria for a PTSA Health and Safety Committee (headed by Liza Weidle, former PTSA president) was established, the group reached out to the Green Hope community.They held their first meeting on June 23.

Since then, more than two dozen parents, students, and community members have worked to plan the first annual “Save a Life” 5K event for Saturday, September 11, 2010.

“When I first received an email regarding the GHHS PTSA Youth Suicide Awareness and Prevention Committee I knew in my heart it was what I needed to be a part of. If I couldn’t go back and change the past, then I was surely going to make a difference for the future. Teenage Suicide is becoming an epidemic and something needs to be done fast!  Our goal is to raise awareness of teen suicide and educate the community about possible solutions.  The first annual “Save A Life” walk is our first step towards promoting a safer environment for our youth and with your help and support we can all work together to make a difference!” – Victoria Bennis

The Walk

Registration is $20 and includes a pancake breakfast and a T-shirt.

Registration forms are available in the GHHS office and online at Active.com/running. They can be dropped off at Green Hope High School. If people are are interested in donating, but do not wish to walk, checks can be made to: GHHS PTSA and contact Liza Weidle.

Date
Saturday, September 11, 2010 @ 9:00 AM

Address
Green Hope High School
2500 Carpenter Upchurch Road

Registration Closing Date
Saturday, September 11, 2010 @ 8:59 AM

Yellow Ribbon

The money raised from the 5K will go towards bringing a Yellow Ribbon trainer to the Cary area to train committee members and other PTSA groups.

The Yellow Ribbon Program is based on the premise that suicide is not just about death, but rather about ending pain and that it’s OK to ask for help. Yellow Ribbon cards are distributed and carried as a simple, effective tool to use to ask for help when feelings of suicide arise.

The card has proven to be a lifeline because it is a reminder to young people that they have permission to ask for help, it helps them talk when they may not have the words and it tells the recipient of the card how to help the suicidal person.