Taylor Harrison Wins National Junior Olympics Gymnastics Title

As published in Newport News, Hampton and York County/Poquoson issues of Daily Press Town Square - June 19, 2014

As 18-year old Taylor Harrison ventured on to the mat at Mississippi’s Jackson Convention Complex last month to compete in her final gymnastic match as a Junior Olympian, she did so with a sense of calmness.

True, the World Class Gym team veteran had come close to winning the national title once in the past, placing third for her age group in 2010. Also true was the fact that she had qualified for the Junior Olympic national meet every year since then without matching her initial bronze medal performance.

But times had changed. Harrison felt content with the fact that she had made a five consecutive year run to the final match, which is no small feat in itself, as only 56 gymnasts from among eight regions of America make the cut.  And though this portion of her career was about to close, she had accomplished one major goal, earning a full athletic scholarship to continue her gymnastics career at Ohio State University.

In reflection, Harrison admits that she took a realistic, yet safe approach to this event.

“Before the competition, I didn’t think I could win.  I really wanted to have fun and place in the top ten.”

The reasoning behind her thought process made sense.

“When I’m relaxed, I do better.”

Tami Harrison, her World Class Gym team coach and mother, saw things somewhat differently.

“Taylor’s a real competitor. She’s a pleaser, and wants to please her teammates.”

As a coach, Harrison spoke from experience, having won numerous All-American honors, as well as competing in the 1984 Olympic Trials as a gymnast at Cal-State Fullerton. She knew that only a few minor mistakes had kept her athlete from winning at the Junior Olympics in the past.

And in the final analysis, the coach’s expertise made for a better prediction as her Buckeye bound athlete dropped a 9.8 on the final vault to capture the all-around Junior Olympic national crown with a 38.475 score.

Surprisingly, Coach Harrison wasn’t immediately aware that Taylor was among the top competitors.

“They had projectors in the corners where the results were posted. But after the first two rotations, I didn’t think to go over and look.”

However, she did go after the third and came to a realization.

“Wow, she can do this.”

As it turned out, Taylor had placed second in both the uneven bars (9.675) and balance beam (9.525), putting her in the lead. A tenth place finish in the floor routine (9.475) knocked the gymnast out of the top spot with one rotation to go, but she remained in contention for the title.

As the mathematicians among the World Class group started calculating scenarios to determine the path to victory, one thing remained clear. Taylor would have to nail her vault in the last rotation.

“I wanted her to go 4 for 4,” said Tami.

With a gold medal on the line, Taylor came through, literally vaulting back into first place with her run, leap and spin off the pommel horse.

After a brief celebration, Taylor’s euphoria almost came to a grinding halt.

I went to check my place, and another girl turned to me and said, “I got it. I won.”

However, the frustration was temporary as both mother and daughter soon realized that the gymnast speaking was from a different age group.

While Taylor remained in the gym to view the nail biting conclusion, Tami, knowing that her coaching duties were complete, went back into mother mode.

 “It was the most nerve wracking 10-15 minutes ever. I couldn’t watch it anymore. I went to the back gym.”

But Taylor gritted it out, sitting through four more rotations of seven gymnasts with their eye on her prize.

At the very end, the second place gymnast needed a 9.575 in the vault to tie Harrison and a 9.6 to win the group. Although “she had a really good routine,” her final score of 9.5 was just short of first place.

Now a national champion, Harrison will enjoy some time off before heading to Columbus in August. She looks forward to competing in the Big Ten conference, where she will see former World Class teammates such as Nebraska’s Ashley Lambert. Harrison, who looks to major in sports broadcasting or communication, has lofty collegiate goals, with the All-American team, and NCAA Championships in her sights.

As she puts it in simple terms, “I can’t wait!”

Testing Students for Drugs - A Case For Those Opposed - Trinidad School District No. 1 v. Lopez, 963 P. 2d 1095 (Col. 1998)

Last week, we looked at a case which favored testing students for drugs. Here's one for the flip side.

In one of several cases that relied on the Vernonia ruling as a precedent, the Supreme Court of Colorado held that the school policy of Trinidad violated the Fourth Amendment. This occurred after an instance where a student who was a member of the high school marching band, was suspended for failing to submit to a suspicionless drug test. The policy in question also applied to students participating in non-athletic activities. In this ruling, the Colorado court applied the balancing test used by the Supreme Court in Vernonia, which has two guidelines, 1) that high school marching band members had a higher privacy expectation than student athletes because they did not share communal undressing situations rehired of athletes, and their activity was tied to a for-credit, graded school class, and 2) the over-inclusive testing program was not an “efficacious means of dealing with the district’s drug problem.”

Testing Students for Drugs - A Case For Those in Favor (New Jersey v. T.L.O.)

As mentioned last week, the one aspect of testing students for drugs that amazed me is how many case decisions fall on either side of the argument. Here's one for the pros -- next week - we'll look at one for the cons..

New Jersey v. T.L.O., 469 U.S. 325 (1985) - In a far reaching case, a decision which upheld the Fourth Amendment was rendered. A lower court had ruled that the Fourth Amendment prohibited unreasonable searches and seizures in public schools. However, in a 6-3 decision delivered by Justice White, this decision was overturned in the Supreme Court. This case began when two female New Jersey students were caught smoking in the bathroom. Since one young woman denied her involvement, a search ensued, and during this search, marijuana was found. The TLO decision was unique in that it conceived a two-part test to be used when evaluating the legality of a search. As quoted in the court’s brief, “First, one must consider whether the… action was justified at its inception; second, one must determine whether the search as actually conducted was reasonably related in scope to the circumstances which justified the interference in the first place.” As defined by T.L.O. (the students initials), a search may begin when educators have a reasonable suspicion that conducting a search will uncover evidence showing that a student has violated the law.

Should Schools Be Allowed To Randomly Drug Test Students?

One of the most controversial topics in today’s school law deals with the ability of a school to randomly drug test students. The debate goes back to the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which states:

“The right of the people to be secure in their persons…against unreasonable searches…shall not be violated...”

When discussing the right to test students for drugs, there are several factors which immediately come into play. First and foremost is the fact that with the exception of rare individual cases, many drugs are still illegal in America, and certainly not allowed on school grounds, or at school events. However, this gets weighed against individuals’ rights, as stated in the Fourth Amendment, when discussing the option of drug testing in public schools. There are also matters of whom to test, the expense of conducting the testing, as well as the criteria for testing a student. Should a public school system spend the money necessary to randomly test all students, or should they reserve the right or cases where drug use is suspected. And how does one assess that a student is a candidate for drug testing. Also, is the school system financially stable enough to handle the lawsuits which will occur when students feel that their individual rights have been violated?

This last point is important. A cursory search of drug testing cases discovered a 2002 listing from the American Civil Liberties Union, which provided a synopsis for 22 drug testing cases, one (United States v. Martinez-Fuente, 428 U.S. 543) dating back to 1976. Fourteen of these cases deal specifically with testing students, and the decisions are mixed. Six found drug testing to be constitutional, while eight defended the Fourth Amendment, and withheld the students’ rights. . The debate is not new, and it is not going away.

I may devote some space here in the near future looking at both sides of this issue. It surprised me to see how many court cases have been decided on both sides.

Posey Concludes Baseball Career at Eastern Mennonite U.

Adam Posey, a 2010 graduate of Poquoson High School, recently concluded a stellar baseball career with Eastern Mennonite University by being named to the All-ODAC (Old Dominion Athletic Conference) first team.

For Posey, his conference selection culminated one of the finest offensive seasons in EMU program history. For the year, the former Islander standout batted .424 with 41 runs, 23 RBI’s and nine stolen bases from the leadoff position while leading the Royals to its third 20-win campaign in school history, and first winning record since 2002. His 72 hits for the season led all Division III hitters and tied the EMU school record.

Ironically, Posey started his collegiate career exclusively as a pitcher, only moving off the mound to become an everyday player after Ben Spotts was hired as the Royal manager prior to his junior season. Even in the field, Posey displayed amazing versatility, playing numerous positions, but mostly first base and the outfield.

Spotts has been credited with the turnaround of the Royals program, often telling his players to “take pride in being a Royal – you chose to come here.”

But Posey also credits his improvement as a two-way player from “understanding myself better and using that to approach the game with more confidence.”

Even after expanding his on-field duties, pitching remained a strong part of Posey’s diamond repertoire, In 2014, he was EMU’s ace on the hill, finishing 4-4 with a 4.57 ERA in 65 innings pitched. Most impressively, he compiled an astounding 14.00 strikeout-to-walk ratio notching 56 strikeouts against a mere four walks, which was fourth in the nation and best among hurlers with more than 41 innings pitched.

Off the field, Posey was invaluable to the Eastern Mennonite community. He wrote for the campus newspaper, the Weather Vane, and led a Bible study for the baseball team. He also worked with the Miracle League, an organized youth baseball league for mentally and physically challenged athletes, and played for the Niagara Power, a New York based summer league team, which was sponsored by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

The last four years have helped Posey prepare for the next level of life. At 5’10” and a shade over 150 pounds, he might be too slight to pitch as a major leaguer, so he is ready to attack the future in other ways, saying, “I’m equipped for so many things in life because I have been a student-athlete at Eastern Mennonite University.”

A communications major, Posey’s writing career will continue this fall as he serves an internship with the sports department at the Daily News-Record in Harrisonburg.

Coaching is also in Posey’s plans. “I’m planning on staying with Coach Spotts’ staff and helping here at EMU. I’ve already been involved with recruiting.”

His efforts as a student-athlete did not go unnoticed. At the most recent athletic banquet, Posey was presented with the President’s Award, the highest honor given by the EMU Athletic department to one male and one female senior athlete.

Speaking of the award, Posey reflected on his past.

“(Early on) I struggled at EMU and looked at transferring. Winning the award was an emotional moment for (me). But the award was something more for the people around me.”

Asked about the key to his well-roundedness, Posey cited a lesson learned from playing college sports.

“It’s a struggle to play nine innings at Southern Virginia on a Wednesday evening and be in my 8:00 AM class the next day, but I know that as an athlete, more eyes are on me. I have learned discipline, prioritizing and balance.”

These traits also served Posey well in high school. At Poquoson, he transformed from a utility player on the 2009 AA State champion squad, to become a key cog for the team on the mound during the Islanders 2010 title defense march. Despite having better known teammates, such as Kyle Crockett (U. VA, Cleveland Indians AA affiliate Akron Aeros), Chad Pinder (VA Tech, Oakland A’s A-plus affiliate Stockton) and Tee McConnell (Marshall U.), Posey sported a 6-0 pitching record for the season and recorded a three-hit shutout during the state semifinals against Fort Defiance.

In a closing thought, Posey acknowledged the support he has received from home.

“The people of Poquoson have followed me along the way and supported me, and my parents and grandparents have been my biggest fans. So I felt like (the President’s award) was something I could share with them.”