Jaden Vines, the first seed, and Jabari Hargrove, the second seed, went to the semifinals, losing to Chapel Hill in doubles ending with a tie breaker. Fourth seed Lee Oechsle won his first-round match but lost to the first seed of Chapel Hill. Third seed Corey Johnson also won his first-round match but lost his second-round match. Sixth seed Grayson Caudill and fifth seed Benjamin Pickard both lost in the first round of doubles to JF Webb.
Vines finished fourth in the Big Eight conference tournament. Vines and Hargrove made it to the finals, losing in a third set tiebreaker to Chapel Hill. They competed and represented Orange High School in a excellent manner.
In the end, Johnson and Oechsle made it to quarter finals for singles. Corey upset Northern Vance’s first seed 8-6 in the first round and Oechsle defeated Oxford Webb.
All photos taken by Brianna Hales.
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Some of his favorite things to do hobby wise would be working-out, playing basketball, and sleeping. Johnson says that he enjoys working out the most, and he’s loved to do it since he was a younger kid. He loves to weight-lift, bench-press, and run.
Johnson is a senior this year. He will be graduating this summer, once he graduates, he states that he would like to go to a college outside of North Carolina.
Devin’s family is important to him even though he has had some tough times with them. He has one sister, and she is 12 years old. Her name is Faith, and when he was asked for one word to describe her in one word, he said “evil.” The most important person in Devin’s life, would be his grandad, but unfortunately he passed away this past Christmas.
When asked if he could change only one thing about himself, what would it be, he replied “Nothing, I like my self the way I am.” Although he has a lot of confidence in himself he still admits he has been scared before. The scariest thing he has ever been through was when he rode on the “Intimidator” during his trip to carowinds. His reasoning for it being so scary was he thought he was going to “fly off [the ride.]”
Students participated in the endeavor. Sophomore Jared Riley stated, “[I’m wearing red] because it’s the least I can do [to] show my support for the people who put so much into my education.” In agreement with Riley, senior Keegan Crabtree said,“Teachers are 100 percent and I like to show that I acknowledge how hard they work.”
The appreciation day was not just for Orange County, but all North Carolina schools. “Public school teachers in North Carolina have not been feeling the love from their legislators for the last five years, and seem to be near their breaking point… In response, a grassroots effort to voice their disapproval has sprung up. Teachers across the state are threatening to walk out of their classrooms on Nov. 4 in protest of working conditions and pay,” stated Statesville.com.