Very little being said on Wimberly's firing

Forrest Wimberly is out as Augusta Prep's soccer coach after eight years, the past four as a full-time staffer at the school.

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Augusta Prep Headmaster Jack Hall declined comment on the soccer coach's dismissal in April. Athletic Director Tom Holodak would say only that the firing was the result of more than one incident.

The only person willing to speak in depth about Wimberly was Wimberly.

"Things happen," he said last week. "And, hey, I like to talk."

Wimberly said a conversation he had with Westminster coach Mike Freace ultimately ended his tenure at Prep. He said he approached Freace after the rivals' April 3 game, a 4-0 Wildcats' win and made "comments concerning recruiting."

Wimberly stayed on until after spring break and coached the Cavaliers' April 14 win over John Milledge Academy. He said he was fired April 17 and was off campus by noon.

Later that day, assistant coach Daniel Mealing led the team against Gatewood and has been the Cavaliers' interim coach since. Prep brought on Tom Norton, the director of coaching for the Augusta Arsenal Soccer Club, as Mealing's assistant.

Numerous times during a phone conversation before the Westminster-Augusta Prep rematch to end the regular season Tuesday, Wimberly pointed to the conversation with Freace as the reason for his dismissal.

Holodak trod lightly on the issue, deferring the final say to Hall, but said the decision was the result of more than one incident.

"One incident did not dismiss him whatsoever," Holodak said.

Wimberly said he has moved on since leaving Prep, where he led the boys team to its first region title last fall. He coached for four years as an assistant and had been the head coach of the boys' and girls' programs since 2005.

Wimberly said he has remained involved with the GA-SC Bulls Soccer Club, where he is a coach and head publicity generator.

"I've got a really bright future ahead of me coaching soccer, and I know that," Wimberly said. "I'm appreciative of the opportunity the players gave me to coach and put some great results up. Change doesn't always have to be a bad change."

Greenbrier golf takes third

The Greenbrier boys and girls golf teams competed in the Class AAAAA state tournament last week at Jekyll island, Ga.

The Wolfpack boys shot 2-over-par 290 and finished third, one shot behind second-place Harris High and eight shots behind state champion Peachtree Ridge, which shot a 6-under 282.

Sophomore Austin Vick fired a 68 to finish runner-up individually. Taylor Gove shot 73 and Robert Robertson came in at 74. Freshman Evan Usry was the fourth and final qualifying score with 75.

"Being that we were playing a bunch of young kids, and we ended up counting three sophomores and one freshman, 290 is pretty good," Greenbrier golf coach Stephen Inman said. "If you had told me at the beginning of the day we were going to shoot 290, I would have thought we would have had a good shot to win it."

The Wolfpack girls finished seventh of 16 teams. Their qualifying scores were Stephanie Bennett's 85 and Ivey Mischel's 91.

The boys played on Jekyll Island's Oleander Course and the girls at Indian Mounds.