Playboy model let go as California cheerleading coach; Favors stars at Jordan Brand game; Mitty wins softball showdown; Nebraska coach resigns after 43 years.
1. The Naked Truth
A Casa Roble (Orangevale, Calif.) cheerleading coach was fired last week after it was discovered she had posed naked online for Playboy. Carlie Beck, 20, was hired by the San Juan Unified School district in February and by all accounts doing just a fine job. However, when a couple of girls were dismissed from the team they – or their parents - left risqué photos of Beck on an administrators’ desk. She was fired last week. Beck said she was open about her modeling career, but the district claims it didn’t know it was for Playboy. Probably not Beck’s intent – or was it? (dun-dun-dun!) – but the story and the comical tabloid television reporting that ensued should no doubt further her modeling career three fold. Here was the best and least salacious story and video we found.
South Atlanta senior Derrick Favors scored game-high 21 points.
Photo by Danny Wild
2. Done and Delivered
The all-star basketball circuit officially ended with Derrick Favors (South Atlanta, Ga.) once again delivering amongst the nation’s best in the Jordan Brand All-American game at Madison Square Garden in New York. The Georgia Tech-bound Favors had a game-high 21 points leading the Black team to a 110-103 win over the White squad before 8,348 fans. Favors was named co-MVP along with Renardo Sidney (Fairfax, Los Angeles), who had 15 points and seven rebounds. Favors was the MaxPreps National Player of the Year and McDonald’s All-American game MVP. See why it was so important for Sidney to play well along with some other interesting inside stuff in this column by our own Pat Stevens.
3. Mater Dei Wins the Classic
There’s no better prep baseball reporter in the country than Kevin Askeland and if one wasn’t convinced of that with his remarkable best baseball player ever from every state feature – read here – then check out his coverage of one of the nation’s top tournaments, the Anderson Bat National Classic. Host Mater Dei took the championship in a pitcher’s duel supreme, 2-1 over El Toro at Cal-State Fullerton on Thursday.
Mitty's Keilani Ricketts did it all in victory over No. 1 Sheldon.
File Photo by Dennis Lee
4. Ricketts Rocks Sheldon Softball
The much-anticipated national softball showdown between California powers Sheldon (Sacramento) and Archbishop Mitty (San Jose) was dominated by a single player. Keilani Ricketts, a powerful 6-foot-2 senior left-hander struck out 20 batters and hit a three-run homer leading Mitty to a 5-2 victory in the championship game of the Livermore Stampede Tournament on Saturday. Sheldon (17-1) came in ranked No. 1 in the country by ESPN and Mitty (22-0) was No. 4. The Oklahoma-bound Ricketts gave up a run in the first inning then delivered a monstrous three-run blast putting her team up for good. Sheldon is led by the pitcher-catcher combo of Jolene Henderson and Lindsey Ziegenhirt, who have both committed to Cal.
5. Cook Cooked
One of the winningest and longest-tenured girls basketball coaches in the country has retired. Freeman coach Ken Cook, who piled up 732 wins in 43 seasons including five Nebraska state championships – three at Adams, announced last week that 2008-09 was his last. He was also state runner-up four times. “It's the first time ever I haven't looked forward to the next season," Cook told the Omaha World-Herald. “My energy level is dwindling, and I don't know if I have enough energy for another season.”
National High 5 is a regular feature highlighting the top high school sports news and features on the Net. Let us know if there are some interesting reads that we’ve missed. E-mail mstephens@maxpreps.com and/or sspiewak@maxpreps.com.
