Asheville Track Coach Chris Stroup reports that in the Men's Indoor Power Rankings with all Classifications combined, the Asheville Men are ranked #2 behind 4A New Bern.  Here are the top teams:

2008 NC High School Boys Indoor Team Rankings

Calculated as of Jan 27, 2008

These rankings were calculated by scoring the elite performances rankings list 20-deep. 1st place received 20 points for their team, on down to 1 point for 20th place.

Rank	Team	Points
1.	New Bern	137
2.	Asheville	130
3.	East Forsyth	125
4.	Carver	124
5.	Mooresville	118
6.	Southeast Raleigh	105
7.	Parkland	100
8.	South View	92
8.	Garner	92
8.	Knightdale	92
8.	Green Hope	92
12.	Vance	91

Also, on January 26th, junior Giovanni McKnight ran the 55-meter dash in 6.39 seconds, breaking Crezdon Butler's school record (6.49 seconds) and qualifying for the Nike Indoor Nationals in March. McKnight’s time is 14th nationally for the indoor season, according to dyestat.com. 

McKnight continues the tradition of great speedsters from AHS.  In 1994, John Avery, Asheville High senior and future first round NFL draft pick, tied the NCHSAA record for the 60-yard dash with a time of 6.34 seconds. (55 meters is about 6 inches longer than 60 yards.)

Congratulations to Giovanni and the entire indoor track team!

The 2007 final season official statistics have been released. Thanks to Coach David Burdette for providing the statistics all season long. Offensive and Defensive stats are saved in Excel files. Use the worksheet tabs at the bottom to navigate between game and season totals.

• Download Offense Stats
• Download Defense Stats

Congratulations to several Asheville High players and coaches who received All-Conference or Coach of the Year for their respective Fall 2007 sports.

Read full article: 'Several Cougars Make All-Conference for Fall 2007 Sports; Two Coaches Also Honored'

Patrick Parton Photography has provided photographs from several games this season.  This week, he captured over 500 photos from the heartbreaking AHS/North Gaston Semifinal game. You can view and purchase photographs from this game (and others) at the following link:  http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/thumbpage.aspx?e=3324499.

Thanks, Patrick!

By Andrew Pearson
Asheville Citizen-Times

ASHEVILLE — Asheville High football coach Danny Wilkins told the Cougars all week long that he would exhaust every trick and means of deception necessary during Friday’s 3-A Western Regional championship game.But in the end, it was the Cougars seniors who dictated the biggest gamble.

Instead of a tying extra point, they persuaded Wilkins to go for two points with 1:03 remaining. But junior Greg Ray was stuffed at the goal line, denying Asheville a potential conversion run in a 35-34 loss to North Gaston.

Read full article: 'Cougars lose squeaker as 2-point conversion fails'