By Mitch Stephens
MaxPreps.com
1. Who Needs College?
As backwards as it sounds, reigning MaxPreps basketball Player of the Year Brandon Jennings may not have the grades so he might just skip college. Though Jennings broke the Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Va.) scoring record last year, his SAT scores aren’t up to par so he’s exploring the option of playing in Europe for a season before skipping to the NBA. Jennings (see video) signed a letter of intent to attend Arizona in the fall. He told the Los Angeles Times this week if his final SAT score doesn’t come back much improved he’ll sit down with his mom and attorney to make the final call.
2. German Attacks Again
Riverbank (Calif.) senior German Fernandez, coming off the most remarkable distance double in high school history at the California state meet, iced his own cake by beating one of the country’s most sacred track and field records, the two-mile, last week in North Carolina. Fernandez beat the 29-year mark of 8:36.3 set by Jeff Nelson to win at the Nike Outdoor Nationals on the campus of North Carolina A&T in a time of 8:34.40. See this entertaining story by dyestat.com’s Dave Devine.
3. Striking Oil
Texas high school football is considered the very best, sort of like Georgia peaches and Iowa corn. So, it’s a monumental day when another region can get the best of the Long Horn State. Due largely to the efforts of quarterback Trent Wilkins, Oklahoma defeated Texas for just the 18th time in the 71-year history of the Oil Bowl all-star football game with a 17-16 triumph Saturday in Wichita Falls. Wilkins, a Tulsa signee who played at Duncan last fall, passed for one score and threw for another and earned game MVP honors. Texas was led by Baylor-bound Nick Florence (South Garland), who threw for 177 yards and rushed for a TD. Texas still leads the series that pits just graduated seniors 44-18-1.
4. Keep Your Shirts Off
The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association decided last week it won’t demand fans to keep their shirts on. The governing board of high school sports in Wisconsin overturned a recommendation by its Sportsmanship Committee that believed bare-chested fans; especially those painted, contributed nothing to games and that the body paint too often damaged indoor seats. Thankfully this potentially “landmark legislation” has for now been put to rest.
5. Grade A
We don’t know who gets higher grades here: The scholar-athletes in and around Massachusetts or The Boston Globe for honoring them in this very impressive and spiffy package?
National High 5 takes a gander at the biggest high school sports stories and best reads on the web. What other big stories did we miss? E-mail Mitch Stephens at mstephens@maxpreps.com.
