This year’s Madison County volleyball team can be summed up with one word, “spirit,” said Madison resident, new team coach and 2000 MCHS graduate, Lindsay Von Herbulis.

The 2009 school year may have just started, but some students have already gotten back into the swing of things. The Madison County Mountaineer golf squad has been hitting courses for weeks and is already well into the season.

Madison County’s football team bursts into 2009 looking to make a huge run to the playoffs and receive redemption for how its season ended last year. “We’re pretty excited about this year,” said Madison Head Coach Stuart Dean. 

Madison County’s girls cross country team faces some formidable challenges this year. It competes in the Bull Run District, what Madison returning head coach Jennifer Rehm calls “the toughest district in Single A cross country in the state.” She also notes that last year’s girls cross country state champion – George Mason – is in Bull Run and that Clarke County (another district rival) is no pushover.

When Madison County’s Justin Dodson tried out for Culpeper’s American Legion baseball team he just wanted to play ball. After not playing his senior year at Madison County High School, catching the attention of college coaches and moving to the next level wasn’t on his mind.

Breast cancer awareness is a big focus of the Charlottesville Women’s Four Miler road race set for 8 a.m. Sept. 5 at the Foxfield horse farm. For the 17th straight year, proceeds from the race are going to support the University of Virginia Cancer Center Breast Care Program. Although registration for the popular event is already closed, there are still pre-race activities related to it going on, including in Madison County. The Women’s Four Miler Training Program will have the Digital Mobile Mammography Unit from the UVa Medical Center’s Department of Radiology available for women to get their mammograms at the Madison County High School parking lot on Saturday, Aug. 22 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Former Madison County High School assistant boys basketball coach Ben Breeden is taking over the reins as head coach.

Just how pivotal was their play in the region quarter-final match against Wilson Memorial? Madison County teammates and rising seniors Victoria “Tori” Puryear and Ashley Sealander attribute what happened in that overtime thriller to their selections to this year’s Group A All-State Girls Soccer team.

Hear ye, hear ye, all residents of Madison, Culpeper and Orange counties, age 4 to 79. Now is the time to begin getting in shape to help your county bring home the Winners Trophy from this year’s Tri-County Track Meet competition! The meet will be 8 a.m.-noon Saturday, Sept. 12 at Culpeper County’s Eastern View High School – the first time ever at EVHS.

Whom does Tim Taylor want to succeed him as head boys basketball coach at Madison County High School? “I’m endorsing Assistant Coach Ben Breeden,” Taylor said during a June 6 appearance as the main guest on “Varsity Lights with Jerry Miller,” a Charlottesville television station’s sports talk show. He said, however, that the Madison County School Board would be the ones ultimately making the decision. (Taylor’s wife, Tonya Taylor, is a member of the board.)

After suffering through four rainouts in the Region B baseball tournament, Madison County seemed to finally get baseball weather for the state tournament last week. When Madison Coach Tom Butterworth’s squad rolled into Warsaw June 2, the skies were clear and the temperature was in the 70s. But two and a half hours later, Mother Nature turned on Big Blue, first zapping the Mountaineers season toward a premature end with a fierce, lightning bolt-filled display, then, as if for good measure, releasing a thorough drenching.

During a preseason interview session, many of the Madison County baseball team players cited advancing to the Region B tournament as a goal. Some believed that this crop of Mountaineers could make the state tournament. One, Dylan Shifflette, even thought they could win their first state championship since 1974. After defeating Buffalo Gap and Gretna, Madison earned a berth in the state tournament and may still yet prove Shifflette right.

After securing the second seed in the Bull Run District tournament, Madison County received a bye into the semi-finals. The Mountaineers “hosted” George Mason on Wednesday, May 20. The tournament was in Strasburg. Madison needed a win against the Mustangs to reach the finals. If that happened, and Strasburg beat Clarke County in the other semi-final, the Mountaineers would return to the Region B tournament.

Madison County’s boys soccer team was back in action April 28 at Hoover Ridge against Rappahannock County’s Panthers. The first half was filled with hard fought 50-50 balls and quality shots on goal, though the Mountaineers could not find the back of “Rapp’s” net.

Madison County High School’s baseball team was scheduled to host the Strasburg Rams on Tuesday, May 5. However, the game was washed out due to rain. Madison’s scheduled trip to Manassas Park on May 8 was also rained out. With all of the wet weather, the Mountaineers have been forced to play their final three Bull Run District games on consecutive days; hosting Strasburg on Monday May 11 and George Mason on Tuesday May 12, while traveling to Manassas Park on Wednesday May 13. Also, the quarter-finals of the Bull Run District tournament are scheduled for this Friday, May 15.

Madison County’s Mountaineer girls softball team has been on a roll recently. The only team that has been able to stop its within Bull Run District play was Clarke County last week, 2-1. All of Madison’s other games have been wins. Prior to the Clarke game, Madison got a huge 13-2 win over Rappahannock County.

Manassas Park Head Coach Richard Spagnolo said that his girls soccer team members are learning how to play together. While they learn, lessons along the way may not be so kind, like the one Madison County gave them: how to score early and often. Madison’s girls soccer team took immediate control of the April 21 match and scored at will en route to its 8-0 win and early stoppage.

Madison County’s boys soccer team began its 2009 season with a commanding 13-0 victory over Page County’s Panthers in a pre-season scrimmage. This brought forth high hopes for Head Coach Jacob Martens and Assistant Coach Tim Bostic.

On a cold and windy night (April 6) in Luray, Madison starting pitcher Dustin Kirby looked in good shape to get his first varsity baseball win. Through three and a half innings, the Mountaineers led the Bulldogs by a score of 6-0.

Girls soccer teams from Wilson Memorial and Madison County met last week for the first of their two regular-season matches. Just like it did a year ago, Wilson Memorial won at home (this time 3-1), but this past week Madison’s girls had the opportunity to even the season series on Tuesday before opening district play against Rappahannock County April 9.

For the second straight year, Orange and Madison were set to make their season debuts against each other only to have their match postponed due to rain. The season opener, which was slated for March 12, was postponed to March 16 and then postponed a second time to March 27. While dark clouds loomed over the start of the season, Madison Head Coach Danny Crigler forecasts sunnier skies for the rest of it. He and Assistant Coach Bruce Parker were eager to get things going. 

The 2009 Madison County baseball team returnees have a common theme in mind for this season: repeat and advance. Last season, the Mountaineers were co-champions of the Bull Run District, sharing the title with Strasburg. Both teams finished district play with 8-2 records. Unfortunately, Madison was upset by George Mason in the semi-finals of the district tournament prematurely ending their season.

Madison County’s softball team begins 2009 anew, with multiple new standouts arriving to the squad and a new coach as well – one who looks to repeat the success he experienced in another sport. Tim Taylor, best known for being Madison County’s basketball coach, will also coach the 2009 softball team.

Madison County’s girls basketball season did not go as planned during the team’s 2008-2009 campaign. Coach Katherine Johnson’s squad could never get a string of wins during the season, which in turn didn’t allow it to gain momentum to pull through the rest of the season and get into the play-offs. The team did pull together to go 3-19, 0-8 getting the key three wins against Luray twice and then against Monticello.

Madison County’s fourth-quarter meltdown in a 57-54 loss to Dan River brought an unbeaten season and a march toward the state boys basketball title game to a screeching halt March 12 in the Group A, Division 2 semifinals.

UPDATE
Madison County and Dan River will vie for a chance to play in the big dance when the teams meet in the state boys basketball semi-finals Thursday, March 12. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Siegel Center in Richmond.

UPDATE
To call the March 7 crowd for the Group A, Division 2 boys basketball quarter-finals Madison County-friendly would be a gross understatement. The Mountaineer faithful made their presence felt at Charlottesville’s Monticello High School, and their team didn’t disappoint as Madison held off a fourth-quarter rally from Northampton to win, 66-57.

UPDATE
Undefeated Madison County (27-0) will play Saturday in the state quarter-final boys basketball match-up against Northampton, a team from Virginia’s Eastern Shore. The March 7 game will be at Monticello High School in Charlottesville. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. (An incorrect tip-off time was previously reported.)

With the coveted state title on the line, Madison County’s Tyler Atwell took center stage Saturday night at the Salem Civic Center, where more than 5,000 spectators were on hand for the combined Group AA/A state tournament.The senior leader knew he had to be at his best to become the school’s third state wrestling champion.And like an award-winning actor, he couldn’t have performed any better. In the championship match at 140 pounds, it was vintage Atwell.

When George Mason invaded Madison County’s hardwood Feb. 25, the Mustangs surprised nearly the entire Wetsel Middle School gym crowd by leading the majority of the first quarter and forcing the Mountaineers to rally for a 59-44 boys basketball victory.