4.27.2012

FARMVILLE, Va. -- Bassett High graduate Kameron Carter, as a Longwood golfer in 2009, had the chance to take part in the Monday qualifier during the LPGA's Michelob ULTRA at Kingsmill Resort in Williamsburg.

She did not qualify, but the opportunity to watch part of the event later in the week gave her confidence. “It showed me it was not that big of a difference (from her level). If I worked hard it can work out” for me, says Carter, who hopes to play professionally following a standout career with the Lancers.

A defining moment for Nobu Tanaka, a tennis team captain at Longwood from Potomac, Md., also came in a defeat. During his sophomore year, when he became the first nationally-ranked player in school history, he lost a match to a top player from Gardner-Webb of North Carolina. “I played a guy that was ranked. Although I lost that match it gave me confidence in my abilities,” says Tanaka.

Carter and Tanaka, along with cross country runners Jessica Alley of New Castle and Justin Cooke of Chesterfield, reflected on their careers in Farmville in a group interview in late April. All four competed four years at Longwood; Alley, Cooke and Tanaka are slated to graduate May 12 while Carter graduated Magna Cum Laude in May 2011 with a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry. She then began work on a Master of Business Administration degree.

Alley, who says academics played just as big of a role as athletics for her in college, had a 4.0 grade-point average and ran top-10 times in the 5K and 10K at Longwood. A graduate of Craig County High, she plans to enter graduate school and study exercise science at Appalachian State in North Carolina.

“I did my internship near there last year and I love the area. One of my best friends is in this program,” said Alley, a Kinesiology major at Longwood with a minor in health education.

Last fall she was a team captain for the Lancers following a junior season in which she set a career-best mark of 19:40 in the 5K at the Great American Cross Country Festival.

“I think the thing I will remember most is my teammates. There have been so many great opportunities,” she says.

Alley grew up in southwest Virginia and while in high school made a visit to Division III Christopher Newport in Newport News. “It was seven and half hours from my home. This is too much,” she told herself.

Longwood, less than three hours away, was a better fit. And she feels like her college career will aid her in the future. “Especially in cross country, there are a lot of things that transfer to the real world. You have to do your best,” says Alley, who hopes to assist with the cross country program at Appalachian State.

Cooke, from Manchester High near Richmond, was a captain for the first time in cross country last fall after he ran a season-best 10K of 36:31 at the NCAA Southeast Regional Championship in 2010.

“Cross country is a self-discipline sport. Sometimes you don't want to do it but you have to do it,” says Cooke, who took part in a marathon in Virginia Beach in March. “I see myself competing in the future” in long-distance races.

While his career is over Cooke is glad Longwood will join the Big South Conference July 1. “It is a major step forward for Longwood (athletics) and for the school,” he notes.

He has been a member of the Farmville Volunteer Fire Department and had an internship with a psychologist, and worked at the Oakland School in Fluvanna County with mentally handicapped students in the summer of 2011. Cooke plans to build on those experiences as he plans to apply to firefighting centers around the state. “I want to make it to battalion chief and in the long run I want to go to graduate school in public administration or grief counseling,” he says.

Cooke's grandfather (Ron Cox) played football at the Air Force Academy and family sports also figures heavily with Tanaka and Carter.

A graduate of St. John's College High in Washington, D.C., Tanaka competed in karate at a young age. His father was a top karate competitor in Japan and his mother was a top-10 competitor in karate in Peru and won the Pan-Am title as a teenager.

“My dad actually pushed me away from (karate). There are no opportunities for it for college scholarships” in the United States, he says. Tanaka, who lived his whole life in the Washington suburbs, hopes to enter tennis tournaments in the future and is planning for a career in the military or federal government.  He established new school records for career wins (88), season wins (23) and career winning percentage (.698, 88-38).

Carter's family ties to sports include her father, Terry, who played football and golf at the University of Richmond. Her brother, Blake, is on the golf team at Longwood and she is excited he will have a chance to compete in the Big South.

An all-state golfer in high school, Carter picked Longwood over Radford and James Madison, among other schools, due to the coaching staff and resources with the Lancers' program. She credits Longwood coach Ali Wright for her progress; Carter hopes to compete in a U.S. Open qualifier in May and plans to enter the Ladies Professional Golf Association Qualifying School in the fall. She has a career average of 76.06 that ranks second all-time with school records for 18 (66) and 36 (139) holes along with the second-best 54-hole score (214), and was the Longwood Freshman Female Athlete of the Year.

Her last honor at Longwood was the Henry I. Willett Scholar-Athlete Award she received during a banquet April 23. “I was not expecting to win. It is just an honor to win, to see the people that have won it in the past,” she says.

Editor's Note: Special consultant David Driver is a Virginia native and has covered college sports in the state for more than 20 years. He has been a staff writer for newspapers in Arlington, Springfield and Harrisonburg and has contributed to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, The Washington Post, Stafford County Sun and The Potomac News in Woodbridge. He will continue contributing special feature content to longwoodlancers.com throughout the upcoming 2012-13 academic year as well.  A former Division III baseball player at Eastern Mennonite University, David can be reached at www.davidsdriver.com.