By David Rogers. NEW YORK CITY — Running a long distance race through the swales, hills and curves of Central Park is a lot different — and more challenging — than competing on a flat, oval track.

That didn’t seem to bother Blowing Rock-based ZAP Endurance professional team member Amanda Vestri on June 8 as she negotiated the historic Mastercard Mini Women’s 10K course, finishing the road race just seven seconds slower than the personal best she ran on the outskirts of London (England) three  weeks ago.

Vestri’s effort in the Big Apple was top American and good enough for No. 4 overall in the elite international field. Her time of 31:17 was a little more than six seconds slower than the 31:10.53 she recorded on the London oval on May 18, and just 30 seconds behind Ethiopia’s Senbere Teferi’s winning time of 30:47. Two Kenya runners, Sharo n Lokedi (31:04) and Sheila Chepkirui (31:09) were all that separated the High Country’s Vestri from a podium finish.

At 24, Vestri was the youngest athlete among some of the world’s best. The former Syracuse University distance star has made dramatic strides since joining ZAP Endurance in late summer 2023.. Her 31:10.53 in London is the eighth best performance by an American this season, according to World Athletics, and makes her a “dark horse” contender to make the U.S. Olympic team headed to Paris later this summer. The Trials are scheduled for June 21-29, in Eugene, Ore.

By Zach Smith. BOONE, N.C. — Looking to remain unbeaten, Appalachian FC faced Greenville United June 8 in NPSL competition. The home side relied on late-game heroics to salvage a draw after 90 minutes.

Solid defensive play was the theme of the first half. Greenville had the best opportunity through the first 45, but App FC goalkeeper Charlie Walker was there to smother the loose ball. Both teams remained scoreless into the locker room.

Scoring chances were more frequent in the second half, but both goalies held strong as the game approached the 60-minute mark. In the 59th minute, Walker received a red card resulting in a Greenville penalty kick. Luc Achermann-Stanfield sent the ball past backup goalkeeper Lucas Hatsios, and the visitors scored the game’s first goal. 

With time running out and playing down a man, Appalachian seemed to produce their best chances. Forward Elie Bokota had a solo opportunity against the Greenville goalkeeper in the 86th minute, but sent the ball over the crossbar. Defender Rashawn Kellman followed that with a dangerous look in the 89th minute before the ball glanced off the side of his foot and the visitors cleared the ball.

In stoppage time, App FC set up for a free kick. The ball was sent into the chaotic penalty area, and Kevin Arguello was able to poke it just past the Greenville goalie, knotting the game with just minutes to play. The final whistle sounded, and the home side escaped with a draw.

Appalachian FC head coach Dale Parker was happy that his side salvaged a draw, but felt that they could have come away with more.

“Obviously delighted that we built the result out of [the game] under difficult circumstances, to play as long as we did with 10 players and to somehow find a way to equalize” Parker said. “Really, we should have won it. We had enough chances in that second half to win it.”

Parker explained his message to the team after losing his goalkeeper to a red card.

“Keep doing what we’re doing,” Parker said. “They weren’t causing us a problem. I felt we could play with nine men, we could play with eight, and we’d still be the better team. It didn’t bother me that much.”

Appalachian FC concludes their three-game homestand June 15 with a match against 865 Alliance. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. at the Ted Mackorell Soccer Complex in Boone.

By Zach Smith. BOONE, N.C. — Soccer fans in the High Country couldn’t have asked for better weather June 1, when Appalachian FC took on Bristol Rhythm AFC in a Saturday night match. App FC came away with three goals of their own after 90 minutes of dominating play — plus a generous “own goal”,  given to them by Bristol, for a 4-0 shutout win.

Following sustained pressure through the first 10 minutes of play, Appalachian forward Elie Bokota continued his hot streak with a low drive from beyond the penalty area that just got past Bristol goalkeeper Logan Cassel. 

Just six minutes later, Bristol defender Grayson Cunningham attempted to pass the ball to his goalie. Before Cassel could react, the ball trickled into his own net, doubling App FC’s advantage in the 19th minute.

Later in the half, Bokota headed the ball to teammate Thomas de Graauw, who drilled it into the upper corner. Appalachian took a 3-0 lead into halftime.

Trailing by three out of the locker room, Bristol had a clear chip on their shoulders. Cunningham’s day went from bad to worse as he received an immediate red card following a hard foul in the 49th minute. Fellow Rhythm defender Archie Day received a yellow card for dissent in the aftermath of Cunningham’s being sent off. Day picked up a second yellow card minutes later, and the visitors were forced to play with just nine men for the remaining 35 minutes.

Following early fireworks in the second half, there was a lull in action. Appalachian was focused on holding their three-goal advantage by dominating possession, and Bristol was unable to get their offense going. A goal in the 90th minute by substitute forward Kevin Arguello sealed the match for App FC.

Appalachian head coach Dale Parker shared his gameplan following his team’s dominant victory.

“I think the message before the game was to make sure we start well, leave no doubt in that first 10, 15 minutes,” Parker said. “This is a home game, get the fans involved. We always like to do that as quickly as we can. I think we definitely accomplished that and it typically leads to a strong performance.”

Elie Bokota was key for the home side, scoring the eventual game-winning goal and assisting on another. Bokota spoke on his motivation to continue his impressive form.

“Right now, I’m on a mission,” Bokota said “This year I want to score as many goals as possible. Last year, I heard that there’s a guy that played a couple of years back who had a record of 14 or 15 goals. I want to break that record.”

“Right now, I’m on a mission”

Parker was complimentary of Bokota and his role on the team.

“He’s a massively important player for us,” Parker said. “He’s tricky, he’s slippery, he can score goals. He’s added that to his game over the past year. Hopefully that continues. It’s going to be a long season and we need him fit, healthy and scoring goals if we want to have team success.”

Appalachian FC is No. 2 in the NPSL Southeast standings but have played one less game than first-place Hickory FC. Their next match is against Greenville United June 8 at the Ted Mackorell Soccer Complex in Boone at 7 p.m..

By David Rogers. CONCORD, N.C. — After more than a half century of military training and leadership in the field, some actions are instinctive.

When U.S. Army Major General (Retired) Chuck Swannack observed a small platoon of some three dozen soldiers ambling by the front of the Media Center at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26, he started barking out a drill sergeant-like cadence. It was a sweltering hot day but the unit was in full camouflage dress, complete with beret — and Swannack expected more, even if no longer an active U.S. Army officer.

“I hate seeing that (casualness),” he said.

In many respects, Swannack is a veteran’s veteran. Commissioned as a Second Lieutenant of Infantry after graduating from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1971, he served more than 30 years in command and staff positions at every level from platoon to the Department of the Army.  Prior to retirement in 2006, he commanded the 82nd Airborne Division, then subsequently the 18th Airborne Corps. and Fort Bragg (now Fort Liberty). As he rose through the ranks, he took on significant leadership roles around the world, including in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Panama, Haiti, Iraq and Afghanistan, among others. At one point in his career, he was Deputy Director for Strategy, Plans and Policy within the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Plans in the U.S. Army headquarters. He is a graduate of Capstone and the National War College, as well as holds a Master of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech.

It shows we love them, we salute them, we engage them and we enable them.

After his 2006 retirement, Swannack served as a consultant to several defense-related companies before becoming CEO of U.S. Logistics, serving from 2010-2013, which he helped guide from early stage company to a $50 million veteran logistics services company.

In early 2014, Swannack joined Speedway Motorsports as the executive director of Speedway Children’s Charities, a 501c(3) nonprofit with a mission of assisting underprivileged children become productive adults.

“I have been with Speedway Motorsports for 10 years,” Swannack explained to Blowing Rock News before the running of the Coca-Cola 600, one of NASCAR’s premier Cup Series races. “The first five was as executive director of Speedway Children’s Charities. The last five have been as Vice President of Veterans Affairs. Now we are trying to not only help children but veterans and their families. I run a program called, ‘Welcome Home Patriots.’ It shows that we love them, we salute them, we engage them and we enable them.”

Swannack is also involved with another nonprofit, the Patriot Military Family Foundation, which is focused on veterans health, their support and their families’ support.

“We get service dogs for them. We get homes for them. And we get them treatment for PTSD,” Swannack said of his work with PMFF.

For the Coca-Cola 600, Swannack procured a sponsor for 100 veterans and families, Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR), a defense contractor that provides base camp services all around the world. The participating veterans are from Fort Liberty, the Seymour Johnson Air Base, the North Carolina National Guard and U.S. Marine Corps recruiters in the area.

“Today is all about honoring and remembering,” said Swannack. “We have 150 Gold Star families, whose loved ones gave their lives in service of this country. Hopefully, everyone will applaud that service and sacrifice in some way.”

Swannack added his hope that the veterans and their families have a unique and special experience by attending this NASCAR event.

“There are three things going on today (as part of the race),” he said. “One is recognizing the fallen with their names on the windshield of every driver. Second, the tires by Goodyear have an ‘honoring and remembering’ message on the sidewalls. And then, at the end of Stage 2, we are going to stop everything for one full minute of silence to honor and remember.”

By David Rogers. CONCORD, N.C. — Thanks to a weather-shortened Coca-Cola 600 Cup Series race on May 26 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Christopher Bell was declared the winner after 249 of the 400 scheduled laps and a packed house of NASCAR fans didn’t get to see if a late-arriving Kyle Larson, Jr. could improve on the No. 13 position he inherited from early relief driver Justin Allgeier.

BONUS PHOTOS at bottom of article. For best photography viewing on a desktop monitor or laptop, please click on any image for Slide Show mode.

Larson, of course, had already been deprived of a full double-double day when weather delayed the start of the Indianapolis 500 for several hours. Once it got going, Larson, an Indy Car rookie, finished a respectable No. 18 in the 33-car field and crossed the finish line only nine seconds behind leader Josef Newgarden of Team Penske. Newgarden’s time was 2 hours, 58 minutes, 49.749 seconds vs. Larson’s 2:58:58.892 piloting the Arrow McLaren SP car, a partnership involving the California native’s NASCAR team owner, Hendrick Motorsports.

Behind No. 1 Bell in the Coca-Cola 600 race were No. 2 Brad Keselowski, No. 3 William Byron, No. 4 Tyler Reddick and No. 5 Denny Hamlin to round out the top five finishers.

After NASCAR and Speedway Motorsports officials decided to call the race because a restart was unlikely until far after midnight and an uncertain weather forecast even at that, Bell sounded almost apologetic in speaking with reporters.

“It is a win for us but I wanted to race,” he said.

Although they were unlikely to have gotten home until after 3:00 a.m. if the race had been restarted, a lot of fans were angry and felt cheated, booing as Bell took home the honors. They weren’t necessarily booing Bell, but the race-shortening circumstances.

To his credit, Bell led a race-high 90 laps, won Stage 2, and was running in or near the top five throughout the race after starting No. 3, behind pole sitter Ty Gibbs and No. 2 starter Byron.

In his media center comments, Bell noted that not only did he lead laps but was able to pass cars and get back into the lead after losing it. He took particular care to credit his pit crew for helping keep him among the leaders.

“We had great pit stops,” he said.

Racing aside, the Coca-Cola 600 has evolved as an impressive celebration by the stock car racing community as it remembers and honors military veterans who have served and especially those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice while serving their country, as well as the military families who have also been asked to sacrifice.

Speedway Motorsports, Charlotte Motor Speedway, and NASCAR pulled out all the stops for the 2024 pre-race and in-race ceremonies to honor and remember. Each driver had the name of a fallen military veteran on his windshield. Goodyear had an “honoring and remembering” note on the sidewalls of its tires. At the end of Stage 2, the cars all lined up on pit road, turned off their engines, and the entire racetrack recognized a minute of silence to remember those who gave their lives. In pre-race ceremonies, military choral groups sang, helicopters flew over the infield turf in front of the grandstand to deploy and later pick up soldiers. In addition, just as the singing of the Star Spangled Banner was reaching its climax, a B-2 Spirit stealth bomber passed overhead.

Fans may well have been disappointed by the racing’s end but there was no denying the fan enthusiasm for the race organizers’ planning and logistics for honoring and remembering military veterans.

BONUS PHOTOS

By Matt Present. MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A record-breaking season for App State Baseball concluded with a remarkable run at the Sun Belt Championship tournament, as the Mountaineers posted back-to-back victories against NCAA bubble teams before falling, 7-5, against nationally ranked No. 25 Southern Miss in Saturday’s semifinal round.

With several team and individual milestones achieved along the way, App State became the only Sun Belt team to prevail at least once in each of the last four tournaments. It finished the season 33-21-1 while repeating as a semifinalist in one of the nation’s toughest Division I conferences.

Banks tolley’s 26th home run of the season — a 3-run shot — gave app state a 5-2 lead in the second inning.

Eerily similar to last year’s performance in the double-elimination event, the Mountaineers bounced back from a heartbreaking loss on Day 1 (Troy pulled out a 6-5 victory) to beat a rival in dramatic fashion (Drew Holderbach hit a three-run homer to break a late tie in a 6-3 win against Coastal Carolina) and then set up a first matchup of the season against Southern Miss by eliminating Troy on the strength of an explosive, chaotic inning (App State won 10-6 after breaking a 3-3 tie with a seven-run seventh that included six hits and four Trojan errors).

App State needed to beat Southern Miss two times Saturday to advance to Sunday’s championship round, but the Eagles (40-18) moved on by producing a crooked number in a fifth-inning rally that occurred between a pair of lengthy weather delays.

Banks Tolley’s 26th homer of the season, a three-run shot in the bottom of the second inning, gave App State a 5-2 lead. After a delay of nearly three hours with play stopped in the top of the third inning, and right before another interruption in the bottom of the fifth inning halted play for more than five hours, Southern Miss jumped ahead for good with a five-run top of the fifth.

A game that had begun at 9 a.m. CT time resumed at 7:35 p.m. CT with App State behind 7-5, and reliever Jake Beaty kept the Mountaineers within striking distance by retiring nine of the 10 batters he faced over three near-perfect innings. The first two Southern Miss batters in the top of the ninth reached against Zach Lewis, but he got a double-play ball to short and then stranded a runner at third with a strikeout.

CJ Boyd reached on a throwing error from third to open the bottom of the ninth, and he moved to second on a one-out single from Xavier Moronta on a 1-2 count. With two away and runners at the corners, including pinch-runner Grey LaSpaluto at first, Hunter Wilder drew a four-pitch walk to load the bases, but a strikeout from closer Colby Allen ended the game.

Weather delays for lightning and rain made for a 12-hour day.

Tolley finished the game with four RBIs, while Austin St. Laurent went 3-for-5 with two doubles and two runs scored. Moronta and Holderbach (two runs scored) both reached base four times while going 2-for-3 at the plate.

App State starter Bradley Wilson used a double play and strikeout to work around two singles in a scoreless first, and the Mountaineers quickly jumped ahead 2-0 in their half. Holderbach followed St. Laurent’s leadoff single with a double, and Tolley delivered an RBI groundout before Holderbach scored on Boyd’s double to the right-field corner.

Trey Tujetsch took over on the mound with the bases loaded and nobody out in the second inning. After a wild pitch and walk meant the bases were still loaded with nobody out in a 2-1 game, he limited the damage to two total runs by inducing a 4-6-3 double play and ending the frame with a groundout.

Southern Miss retired the first two App State batters in the bottom of the second, but St. Laurent’s double and Holderbach’s walk set the stage for Tolley, who crushed a 1-2 pitch for a no-doubt homer down the left-field line. App State’s single-season record holder for homers, Tolley ended his lone year as a Mountaineer with the eighth-most homers in the country and the fifth-most in a season by a Sun Belt hitter.

Ranking 11th on App State’s career homers list in just one season, Tolley contributed to a school-record 94 homers in 2024 from the Mountaineers, with Boyd adding 18 as part of a school-record 35 in his career and St. Laurent hitting 14.

Following the first long delay, Tujetsch pitched a scoreless third and put up another zero in the fourth. Three straight singles in the fifth loaded the bases for Southern Miss, triggering a move to Everette Harris.

A two-run double and RBI groundout tied the game before Nick Monistere gave the Eagles a 7-5 lead with a two-run homer to center. Moronta drew a one-out walk in the bottom of the fifth before play was halted by a second weather delay.

In four tournament games, Tolley reached base seven times and totaled six RBIs en route to finishing the season with a .379 average and a school-record 77 RBIs. Moronta went 6-for-14 and reached base eight times in four tournament games.