Former area high school stars a part of SoCon's 100th Anniversary All-Time Teams
For the celebration of its 100 years in existence in 2021, the Southern Conference announced its 100-Year Anniversary All-Time Teams, finalizing the list in December 2021.
Making that list were three former Henderson County high school stars: West Henderson's Brett Miller (for men's golf), Hendersonville's Hailey Cook (for women's track and field) and North Henderson's Felisha Garren (also for women's track and field). All three were also former Western Carolina University standouts.
Brett Miller
Miller earned a spot on SoCon's men's golf team by earning first-team all-conference honors in three separate seasons: 1984, 1985 and 1986. He played for the Catamounts from 1984-87, having two top-five conference championship finishes. He also won several regional amateur tournaments.
Miller is a 1983 West Henderson High graduate. He began playing golf in eighth grade at Rugby Middle School, and in ninth grade, he was the team's MVP. He was an all-conference golfer in his three years of playing at West, and in his senior year, he won the West Regional title.
Miller earned both undergraduate and graduate degrees from Western Carolina, where he is an inductee of the Athletics Hall of Fame and later gained membership into the PGA of America, where he is a life and quarter century club member and has been recognized with several awards.
The former managing partner of Broadmoor Golf Links, he currently resides in Fletcher, where he owns a consulting and brokerage firm in the golf course industry.
The men's golf team team also includes PGA tour star Brad Faxon of Furman and golf legend Arnold Palmer of Wake Forest.
Hailey Cook
Cook, who is currently Hendersonville High's volleyball coach, got a spot on the SoCon women's track team by meeting the criteria of being a three-time champion in the same event. The former Hendersonville High standout accomplished this in 2015, 2016 and 2017, as she claimed the SoCon title in outdoor track in the shot put.
Cook also played volleyball for the Catamounts.
Cook, a 2013 HHS graduate, was one of the most decorated girls athletes in the history of Hendersonville High School, as she finished her career with 10 state titles. She swept the shot put and discus state titles in outdoor track all four years of her high school career and won the discus and shot put indoor titles in her junior and senior seasons.
She also won a team track title in 2011 and a volleyball state title in 2012 where she was named the MVP of the 1-A state championship match. Her senior year, she was named the North Carolina High School Athletic Association's Female Athlete of the Year.
Felisha Garren Hunter
Former North Henderson High track standout Felisha Garren, who is now Felisha Hunter, earned a spot on the SoCon women's team by meeting the criteria of being an individual event record holder. Garren holds the indoor track 400-meter record with a time of 54.61, which she accomplished her senior year in 2012.
Hunter is a 2008 North graduate and has been married for 4 1/2 years to another WCU graduate, Christopher Hunter. The couple have a seven-month-old daughter.
Hunter won the 400-meter outdoor track state title in her senior year at North with a time of 56.75 seconds. It was her first state title in the event after having finished in the runner-up spot in her sophomore and junior years. She was also runner-up in the 200-meter dash in her senior year at the 2008 state championships.
She has been working in long term care as an administrator for her family’s business for the last five years.
This article originally appeared on Hendersonville Times-News: Former area high school stars a part of SoCon's 100th Anniversary All-Time Teams
