Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 12, 1994 TAG: 9405120093
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S-10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"I never picked up with basketball. It was always volleyball," Rakes says.
Rakes didn't even play volleyball until she was in junior high school. That's when she also discovered she liked to compete in track and field.
Before that, Rakes was in a world far different from most high school athletes.
"I didn't play recreation sports. I wasn't on a team. I did athletic things like swimming, horseback riding and skiing [water and snow]," Rakes says.
Rakes rode in the Roanoke Valley Horse Show, but those days are over. She sold her horse last year.
Now Rakes is settling into a more typical athletic career, though she still likes to do things that take her outdoors.
Rakes is the defending Group AAA outdoor girls' high-jump champion. She also won the same event during the 1994 indoor season.
Rakes also was the Roanoke Valley District's volleyball player of the year in the fall.
Which sport is her favorite?
"I don't think I could choose between them," says the Cave Spring senior.
Because she feels that way, Rakes will attend North Carolina-Wilmington on a partial athletic scholarship to play volleyball and compete in track and field.
Rakes narrowed her choice of schools to UNC-Wilmington or Virginia Tech. The Hokies lost out because she would have had to walk on in track and volleyball.
Tech was willing to give her a track scholarship, but Rakes could not have played volleyball for the Hokies because that program would have been over its scholarship limit. Rather than give up some needed money or one of her favorite sports, Rakes chose to go to UNC-Wilmington, which could let her compete in both.
While high-jumping is Rakes' best track event, she also runs both hurdles races and the 100-meter dash and throws the shot and discus for the Knights.
Rakes added the shot and discus this year, though she probably won't throw the shot when the Roanoke Valley District meet rolls around next week.
"It was Emily's idea to add those events," says Sue Hicks, Cave Spring's coach. "She wanted to branch out while she had the opportunity."
Still, if Rakes is going to win a state title, it will be in the high jump. She's been getting better and better since she won the Cosmopolitan title as an unknown sophomore.
Rakes' best height in the event is 5-8, which she cleared indoors to win the state and then to place at the national meet in Syracuse. That performance drew some interest from schools such as Kentucky, which called last week and was told Rakes already had accepted a scholarship.
Outdoors, she's gone over the bar at 5-6 this spring, which is the same height she cleared last year in winning the Group AAA title.
"I got started high-jumping in seventh grade at Hidden Valley," Rakes says. "You could try whatever [event] you wanted and I sort of picked it up pretty fast."
Her first teachers were two great athletes.
"Some of the other kids like . . . Tiki and Ronde Barber [now playing football and running track at Virginia] were always high-jumping. I watched them and picked up what I was supposed to do," Rakes says.
In her other sport, Rakes' height of 5 feet 8 might be small for Division I volleyball. Her ability to jump makes up for it, though.
"Primarily, I've been a middle hitter and outside hitter," she says. "I started playing middle blocker, but you have to be tall, so I'll probably play mostly outside hitter [at UNC Wilmington]."
Rakes plays all kinds of volleyball. In the summer, she's constantly playing doubles in the Roanoke Valley Volleyball Association in Salem. She also plays beach volleyball, the kind that always seems to be on ESPN.
Her parents played some sports, but never pushed Rakes into athletics. She was a natural when it came to participating.
"I was a tomboy type of girl," Rakes says. "I never played with dolls. I always wanted to be outside. I'm still like that and I'm always on the go."
While Rakes competes in sports that don't usually get much publicity, people are aware of her ability.
"People notice what I do. My friends congratulate me on a good track meet," says Rakes, who was named Cave Spring's most athletic girl.
Her planned college major has little to do with athletics, however. Rakes plans to study criminal justice with an emphasis on forensic science.
The idea for this major came from reading about forensic science in a book and watching a police show on television. As in volleyball and track, Rakes always is ready to try anything.
by CNB