Making His Grandpa Proud!

Cole McWhorter is the son of James "Skip" McWhorter, my oldest son!  He attends high school at Timpanogos High School in Orem, UT.  He has proven to be both a fine basketball player and baseball player.  Fortunately, I have been able to follow his progress via the on-line sports pages of the Salt Lake Tribune.  I have included some of his press clippings as a way of saying I am proud of him. (and, yes, I am bragging!)

Timpanogos Timberwolves Boys basketball
Class: 5A
League: Region 4
Last season: 6-16, fourth in Region 7, lost play-in game
Predicted 2005-06 region finish: Sixth
Head coach: Clay Anderson, 1st year
Assistant coaches: Jenner Wilson, Justin Snell
Key returning players: Cole McWhorter, 5-foot-10 guard, Sr.; Ben Cook, 6-foot-6 center, Sr.
Newcomers: Jordan Anderson, 6-foot-2 guard, Sr.; Ryan Clarke, 5-foot-10 guard, Jr.; Skyler Halford, 6-foot guard, So.; Alex Johnson, 6-foot guard, Sr.; Nate Henshaw, 6-foot-2 forward, Jr.; Tosh Anderson, 5-foot-9 guard, Sr.

PROVO — The Timpview basketball machine was fully in gear and rolling Friday night. Behind Nick Jackson's 26 points, the Thunderbirds strolled to an 87-54 victory over Timpanogos

The Timberwolves held the lead twice in this game. Skyler Halford hit an NBA distance 3-pointer to give Timpanogos a 3-2 lead and then Cole McWhorter sank two free throws to hand the Timberwolves their final lead at 5-4. McWhorter finished with 22 for Timpanogos, while Halford had 21 points and Austin Stewart had six.

TIMPANOGOS TIMBERWOLVES: New coach Clay Anderson's challenge this season is the fact that his team is lacking in size. The T-Wolves will be shorter than every team they play, with 6-foot-6 senior center Ben Cook being the only legitimate big man that will see much varsity time. The T-Wolves mainly will be a guard-oriented team and will try to get opponents to play their up-tempo style. They have a skilled back court in Cole McWhorter, Tosh Anderson, Skyler Halford and Alex Johnson, all capable of scoring.

OREM — The Lone Peak boys basketball team didn't waste any time in getting off to a good start in Region 4 play. On Wednesday, the Knights beat Timpanogos 73-59 on the road.

Despite trailing by 21, Timpanogos continued to fight and cut the Lone Peak lead to 54-41 at the end of the third quarter. Cole McWhorter sparked the Timberwolves by scoring nine points in the quarter. After scoring only three points in the first half, McWhorter tallied 17 of his team-high 20 points in the second half. "

Cole McWhorter, Timpanogos Timberwolves: At only 5-foot-9, McWhorter can guard pretty much anyone his size or bigger. He has that rare ability to turn the offensive and defensive switch on and off in a hurry. He's very athletic, and always wants to be the one assigned to stop the opposing team's best player.
"He is quick, strong, and mentally tough," Timpanogos coach Clay Anderson said. "He's a fierce competitor."

The Mountain View boys basketball team found itself in a shootout with Timpanogos on Wednesday night.
After leading by as many as 16 points early in the game, the Bruins watched their double-digit advantage evaporate in the second half under a torrid shooting performance by Timpanogos before their own shooting barrage in the fourth quarter helped clinch a critical 67-60 win.
Timpanogos cut the lead to single digits in the third quarter, however, and then opened up the fourth quarter with a 9-2 run and took a 50-49 lead on a Cole McWhorter 3-pointer with 5:14 remaining in the game.

Timpanogos had four players score in double figures, led by Skyler Halford with 17 and McWhorter with 13

CLASS 5A

Colby Bentley, Northridge; Ryan Brimley, Hillcrest; Taylor Brown, Alta; Cory Chase, Lone Peak; Brady Hurst, Davis; Josh Nuttall, Copper Hills; Austin Raught, Fremont; Mitch Scholer, Clearfield; Toa Taeoalii, Skyline; Greg Thurgood, Pleasant Grove; Jeff Toone, American Fork; Chris Cassity, Jordan; Cole McWhorter, Timpanogos.

Cole McWhorter, Timpanogos, 5-foot-10 senior guard: There isn't a weakness in McWhorter's game. He shoots the ball deep, runs the court well, penetrates and defends. He was among the top 5A scorers at nearly 18 points per game.

SPRING OF THE SLUGGER 3/21/2006

Despite the poor weather conditions and shortage of games, there are still a few hitters around the valley who have already had monster games with the bat. In fact, a few baseball teams are putting up incredible offensive numbers. Perhaps indoor batting practice is a good thing, or the poor weather is taking its toll on pitchers.
The baseball teams from Region 4 have been extra hot at the dish. As of Wednesday, those six teams are averaging nearly 12 runs a game and have a combined 20-5 record. Spanish Fork has outscored its opponents 50-12, American Fork 42-9, Timpanogos 39-10 and Pleasant Grove 72-37.
Individually, American Fork's Steve Parker had eight hits, two home runs and 12 RBIs in four games last weekend. Timpanogos' Cole McWhorter hit for the cycle against Timpview and then came back in his next game with a 3-4 performance with three RBIs. Teammate Garrett Argyle had four hits and four RBIs in the same game. In the Timpview game, the T-Wolves No. 3, No. 4 and No. 5 hitters went 11-11.

Cole McWhorter
TIMPANOGOS BASEBALL
The wintry weather has made for a slow start to the prep baseball season. Not so much for Cole McWhorter.
McWhorter, a two-year starter at Timpanogos, had the game-winning RBI against Jordan last week, then became the first player in school history to hit for the cycle in the Timberwolves' 21-7 victory over Timpview on Thursday. He capped his productive week by going 3-for-4 against Northridge.

TIMPANOGOS TIMBERWOLVES
COACH: Kim Nelson, 24th year
LAST YEAR: 20-3, first in Region 7, 4A state champions
OUTLOOK: The T-Wolves have several solid fielders and reliable bats in the order, and should score plenty of runs, but only have one returning pitcher. "We're going to have to pitch a lot more by committee this year, but I think we'll hit the ball pretty well and field it pretty well," Nelson said.
TOP HITTERS: Austin Heaps, Cole McWhorter, Garrett Argyle, Brett Lopez, Kesley Erickson
TOP DEFENDERS: Cole McWhorter, IF; Austin Heaps, IF; Nash Fowler, OF; Josh Benson, OF
TOP PITCHERS: Austin Heaps, LH; Garrett Argyle, LH; Nash Fowler, RH
PREDICTED 2006 REGION FINISH: Fifth

Jason Olson, Deseret Morning News
Timpanogos' Cole McWhorter
Deseret Morning News, Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Timpanogos dumps Cavemen
By Jim Rayburn
Deseret Morning News
OREM — The trademark of Timpanogos Timberwolves' baseball the past few years has been their ability to push runners across home plate.

American Fork's Austin Haws is safe at second as Timpanogos's Cole McWhorter drops the ball. Stuart Johnson, Deseret Morning News

In the T-Wolves' 6-5 Region 4 home victory Monday over the American Fork Cavemen, they stranded only four base runners and got their six runs on only seven hits. Timpanogos' runs came in a variety of ways — sometimes with a little help from American Fork.
"We certainly had to work a little harder for our runs today than we have so far this year," T-Wolves coach Kim Nelson said.
The T-Wolves, a team without a dominant power pitcher this season, also got some effective pitching at critical times from three different throwers. Starter Garrett Argyle surrendered five singles in four innings of work but in one stretch retired eight straight batters. He did not give up a hit from the second through four innings. His most important out came in the first inning when he ended the frame with a strikeout with the bases loaded.
"A lot of people will forget that because it happened in the first inning, but that was a big strikeout and got us out of what could have been a big inning for American Fork," Nelson said.
Timpanogos' hurlers only fanned five Cavemen hitters in the game, but two more of those strikeouts were also pivotal to the game's outcome. American Fork had closed to within one in the seventh and had the tying run at second base with only one out, but reliever Kelsey Erickson ended the game with two consecutive strikeouts — both coming on a full count.
The Cavemen took a 1-0 lead in the first on three straight two-out singles, with the last off the bat of Taylor Mangum driving in Steve Parker. Timpanogos tied the score 1-1 in the bottom half when Nash Fowler singled, stole second and scored on a two-out liner off the tip of American Fork shortstop Austin Haws' glove by Brett Lopez.
In the third, with two outs and runners on first and third, Cavemen pitcher Hap Holmstead caught the runner on first wandering toward second. During the rundown, however, Cole McWhorter raced home from third. A towering triple to the center-field wall from Lopez scored another run to put the T-Wolves up 3-1.
American Fork took a 4-3 lead with a three-spot in the fifth. Haws ripped a 1-2 pitch into right field to drive in two runs to knot the game 3-3. Haws then scored on a throwing error on what should have been a double-play grounder to short.
The Cavemen lead was short-lived as the T-Wolves came back with three runs in their half. Fowler was hit by a pitch to open the inning and eventually scored on an infield single by Cole McWhorter. McWhorter later scored on a throwing error. Timpanogos' final run crossed when Erickson dropped down a perfect squeeze bunt.
Haws led off the seventh for American Fork with a double and later scored on a wild pitch. The Cavemen's final runner, however, finished the game at second because of Erickson's back-to-back full-count strikeouts.
"We've got to get at least one win from everybody and to win on our home field, it was just a big win for us," Nelson said.

......................Stay tuned...................more to come!