Although our regular calendar says it’s not quite time, the school calendar says otherwise. Summer is here.

The 2007-08 school year has wrapped up for the students, and thanks to deep playoff runs from West Stokes’ softball team and South Stokes’ baseball team, it’s barely been over for some of our athletes.

Indeed, it seems that our athletes and the results of their various games and events just get better each year. From a state championship softball run to a regional final baseball run to a state discus championship (South Stokes’ Rashad Gray) and a several regional championships, including an overall team title for South Stokes’ boys, to South Stokes’ Cory Sturgill and West Stokes’ Joshua Hudgins competing in the NCHSAA golf championships, Stokes County athletes have continued to leave a mark on the statewide competitive landscape this spring.

Of course, other athletes had success during other seasons over the course of the year. It started in the fall when North Stokes got off to a hot start in football and nearly carried that momentum to the third round of the NCHSAA 1-A playoffs.

Runners from all three of the county’s high schools made it through the regionals to the NCHSAA cross country championships in Tanglewood. We might have been talking about a state championship in the ladies’ race, but Jodie Lemons was unable to run at the regional, which kept her from running at the state meet.

While Lemons couldn’t compete for herself, she did serve as a powerful source of motivation for other South Stokes runners, including Stephanie Mitchell and Ricky Rivas. Mitchell finished 17th in the ladies’ race, and Rivas was third in the men’s race. Rivas said at the regionals that he wanted to run well to help Coach Bobby Smith feel better about the situation.

Soccer teams from South Stokes and West Stokes wrapped up successful seasons, and the Wildcats pulled out a monumental win over Roanoke Rapids on penalty kicks in the second round of the playoffs.

South Stokes’ Kristin Kiger and Kelly Berry competed at the NCHSAA golf championships.

Things cooled off a bit in the winter, though West Stokes did get off to a hot start on the court under Dan Spainhour, who returned as coach for the Wildcats. The Wildcats won eight straight games after dropping their season opener at North Stokes. The Wildcats tied for the North State 2-A title but fell to third in playoff seeding after the conference tournament.

Like cross country in the fall, several athletes advanced to the indoor track and field championships, and North Stokes rewrote a few school records.

Several West Stokes swimmers qualified for the state 1-A/2-A meet.

Perhaps the highlight of the winter was on the mat. South Stokes’ Jacob Lewis, Chris Patane and Brady Poss won conference titles, and Lewis won a regional crown. Then, Lewis advanced to the state championship final, making him the first Saura to wrestle for a state title since Blake Thomas in 2001.

West Stokes’ Tyler Heck and Andrew Luter also won conference titles, and Luter went on to win a regional title.

Then came the spring, warmer temperatures and the boys and girls of summer. West Stokes and South Stokes each won its conference baseball tournament, and the Lady Wildcats won both the regular season and tournament titles. West Stokes won its second straight conference title in tennis, and South Stokes won its first in a long while in women’s soccer.

South Stokes’ men also won their fourth straight conference track and field championship.

On the middle school level, Chestnut Grove piled up the hardware this year with conference championships in football, boys basketball (first Foothills Conference title), wrestling, baseball (fifth straight), softball and boys and girls track and field.

There were other records set, such as Kody Kinzer’s mark at West Stokes for most tackles for a loss in a season and in a career, and several Athlete of the Year winners, along with some Coach of the Year winners.

Indeed, it was a good year.

Several of our athletes will take their respective games on to college. South Stokes’ Jason Brown will play baseball at Pfeiffer next year, and West Stokes’ Nich Boles will play at N.C. A&T. West Stokes’ Jonathan Adams will play football at Davidson College in the fall, and J. D. Young and Brett Cunningham will suit up for Methodist. North Stokes’ McKenzie Collins will play softball at Florence-Darlington Technical College. South Stokes’ Caleb Shelton plans to play tennis at Greensboro College.

Thanks to the athletes for the memories of the 2007-08 seasons, and good luck to the seniors in their future endeavors.

Of course, the success isn’t over entirely. It’s just taking a two-month break.