The Daily News Leader from Staunton, Virginia • 15

www.newsleader.com Sunday, May 22, 201 1 g))cffcm9 ftokr BS Sports WAYNESBORO H.S. HALL OF FAME duced by his high school coach David Huffer. Huffer revealed that Helmick, a star pitcher who signed with Virginia Commonwealth University, deferred to Reggie Harris in the state champi 7 L' Moore White Driskill Helmick Charley standout at Waynesboro and part of the 1991 basketball state championship team that beat.rival and defending state champion Robert E. Lee for the title at University Hall. Current boys' basketball coach C.

Jay DeWitt, who coached Moore in football, teared up during Moore's induction. True to his nature, Moore was a man of few words. "My coaches taught me how to be a man," Moore said, "And I'm putting that into effect right now." Part of the ceremony also honored the current group of senior athletes. The addition of a Mel Morris Scholarship Award, which will be honored by the realigned Valley District next season, went to Chrissy Chandler and K.J. Washington.

Ben Teachey and LaToya Diggs were the senior athletes of the year, and Teachey, along with Taylor DeWitt, were awarded the Alice Flora Sportsmanship Award. Ron Knicely presented Jolie Dudley with the Knicely Award. By Chris Lassiter Sports Writer WAYNESBORO It had been decades since someone from Waynesboro High School had contacted Robert White. When they did with a piece of mail explaining his invitation into the school's athletic hall of fame it struck a nerve. "I had to wipe a tear from my eye," said White, who ran a school-record 10.2 in the 100-yard dash way back in 1944.

"I just want to thank you and whoever else is responsible for me standing up here tonight." If one word could describe White, Amy Charley, Brian Moore, Tony Helmick and Ed Driskill the 201 1 inductees into Waynesboro's Hall of Fame it'd be appreciative. The humility of the five inductees, along with the remembering of recently deceased athletic director Mel Morris, made for an emotional night. Jeff Fife, director of the Waynes- boro Family YMCA, was the guest speaker for the night. "We don't live life by the number of breaths we take," Fife told the crowd, "but my the number of moments to take our breath away." Charley, an high school ail-American swimmer who went to star at the University of Missouri, was introduced first by her high school swim coach Dan Bledsoe. "I want to thank my parents and my big brother Craig," Charley said.

"You always gave me the same hug whether I just won a big race or if I had a race I'd just as soon for get about." Coach Chase Hughes pulled out a copy of Driskill's birth certificate, as Hughes took the opportunity to both praise and roast his coaching peer. Driskill coached for 38 years at Waynesboro, most notably in the track program, where he led the Little Giants boy s' team to a state championship in 1983. "I wish I could put thousands upon thousands of names on this plaque," Driskill said. "Believe me, it's not just mine." Helmick, who was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers, was also intro onship game in 1986. Waynesboro's championship, Huffer said, could be summed up in Helmick's humility.

"I saw him strike out 20 guys in a Valley League Baseball game," Huffer said. "And he'd just looked at me with this little smile, just like he's doing now." It meant a lot to Helmick that Huffer, who had just come off double-knee replacement surgery, would come to introduce him. "I had a chance to play a lot of baseball," Helmick said, "but I never played for a better coach." Brian Moore was a three-sport PRO TENNIS: FRENCH OPEN Federer flying under radar Djokovic. Already overtaken at No. 1 in the rankings by Nadal, Federer has been at No.

3, a spot behind Djokovic, since March. Federer enters the French Open with a 28-7 record and one title in 201 1. He'll turn 30 in August; in the Open era, 10 men have won a Grand Slam singles title after their 30th birthday. That includes'Sampras, who was 31 when he beat Andre Agassi in the 2002 U.S. Open final, Sampras' final match on tour.

"Whenever Roger loses a few matches, people think the world's coming to an end. I don't look at it like that. Even when I lost a few matches, people would say, 'Oh, he's down. He should said Sampras, who won 14 major titles. "Great players are unique in that way that they have this inner belief about themselves, that they're just better than anyone." time.

So I've always had that big cloud hanging over, and the, 'Am I ever going to win the French question," Federer said. "This year, maybe they expect more from Rafa and Novak, and that could be a good thing for me and more pressure for them." For their part, Nadal and Djokovic are more than willing to declare the other the man to beat in Paris. Asked whether he deserves that label, Nadal rolled his eyes and shook his head and replied: "No. No, probably this year the favorite is Djokovic." That was relayed to Djokovic, who smiled and declared: "I say he's the favorite." Djokovic has won all seven tournaments he's entered this season and all seven matches he's played against Nadal whom he beat in clay-court finals at Madrid and Rome this month and Federer. The Serb also won his last two matches of 2010, meaning he's at 39 in a row overall.

So Djokovic is closing in on the Open era records for most victories to start a season (John McEnroe's 42 in 1984) and longest winning streak (Guillermo Vilas' 46 in 1977). "I don't feel unbeatable," said Djokovic, whose two Grand Slam titles came at the 2008 and 2011 Australian Opens. "Nobody is unbeatable, even though I had an incredible run that keeps going." Nadal, meanwhile, has won 38 of his 39 matches at Roland Garros, taking the title five of the past six years. One more trophy would match Bjorn Borg for most by a man in French Open history. The Spaniard turns 25 during the tournament's second week, and if he wins, he would be the second-youngest man trailing only Borg to collect his 10th Grand Slam trophy.

Federer entered Wimbledon in 2003 seeded No. 5 and without any major titles on his resume. He won that tournament, and by the Australian Open in January 2004, he was seeded No. 2. A second Grand Slam championship there moved Federer up to No.

1 in the rankings. He has won at least one major title for eight consecutive seasons matching a mark previously held by Borg and Pete Sampras and completed his career Grand Slam by winning at Roland Garros two years ago. During that stretch, Federer reached a record 23 straight Grand Slam semifinals and never went more than two major tournaments in a row without winning a title. Until now. After winning the 2010 Australian Open, Federer was upset in the quarterfinals of last year's French Open by Robin Soderling.

That was followed a month later by another quarterfinal exit at Wimbledon, against Tomas Berdych. Soderling and Berdych went on to lose in the finals to Nadal. Then Federer lost in the semifinals at the U.S. Open in September, and again in the semifinals at the Australian Open both times to The Associated Press PARIS It's been eight years since the last time Roger Federer was not seeded No. 1 or 2 at a Grand Slam tournament.

It's also been that long since he went more than 12 months without winning any major title. With the French Open starting Sunday, top-seeded Rafael Nadal's pursuit of a record-tying sixth championship at Roland Garros and second-seeded Novak Djokovic's 37-0 start to the season are dominating the conversation. The focus, for a change, is not on the third-seeded Federer, owner of a record 16 Grand Slam titles, including the 2009 French Open. And he sounds as if he is absolutely fine with that. "This is definitely a year for me where I can come into this tournament with just a little less pressure than, let's say, the last six, seven years, really," said Federer, whose first-round match against Feliciano Lopez of Spain is scheduled for Monday.

Djokovic, who could face Federer in the semifinals, also is slated to play Monday, while Nadal's opening match will be Tuesday. Men in action Sunday include No. 7 David Ferrer and two-time major champion Lleyton Hewitt; 2009 French Open champion Svetlana Kuznet-sova and 2010 runner-up Sam Stosur are among the women on the Day 1 schedule. "Last year, I was the defending champioif. The year before and the years before that I was try ing to win (in) Paris for the first Getty Images Roger Federer practices on the Philippe Chatrier Central court Friday at Roland-Garros stadium in Paris.

T'i' 4 1 -1 It i Her response: "Yeah." There you have it. Proof. It's not just a bunch of noise coming from the Draft dugout, but a bunch of noise with a purpose. Write to News Leader columnist Patrick Hite at sportsnewsleader.com 0) Cheer Continued rom Page B1 of errors she committed against Rockbridge County, wasn't too upset to jump-start the dugout cheers. Not only did the cheers help her teammates, but they may have inspired Clark as well.

The third baseman got the final out of the district-clinching game by snagging a hard line drive by Rockbridge County- Holbert didn't quiet down either after struggling at the plate against the Wildcats. "When we get down, when people aren't hitting and stuff, we just try to keep everyone up," Holbert said. "Our cheering helps everyone stay up and be active." If you happen to hear a different cheer this coming week, the Cougar growl, you can thank me. I heard the players doing this cheer a lot last year, but not once this season. I asked Holbert if they retired the growl.

"We kind of forgot about it actually," she said, laughing. "That's a good idea. Maybe we should do that. Thanks for reminding us." My apologies to the rest of the teams in the SVD. I still wasn't certain that the cheering worked, so I conducted some scientific research.

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