Luquire fares well in Ohio hoops
By By Marty Stamper/EMG sports assistant
July 23, 2004
Just touching bases while pondering whether Mississippi State's or Ole Miss' football team will eventually claim the title of Thug U. One poster on SixPackSpeak.com says Arkansas retired that title several years ago. He doesn't say when the Hogs wrestled the belt away from Miami.
Cheryl Luquire, a 5-foot-8 senior forward/center at Lamar School, fared well in the 22nd annual USA Junior Nationals Championship Sports Festival in Columbus, Ohio, earlier this month.
Her basketball team placed fourth out of 16 girls teams. Luquire won the Hot Shot Competition, in which players had to make seven specific shots from various locations on the court in a 30-second time period.
In addition, Luquire was selected third-team All-American out of 151 girls. The first, second and third teams were each composed of six players.
Players in the showcase were from Mississippi, Iowa, California, Oregon, New Mexico, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Colorado, Utah, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, South Dakota, Minnesota and Washington.
Luquire's team was composed of girls from Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama. Other Mississippians were Kenosha Bowie of Morton, Lindsay Ellis of Tri-County Academy at Flora, Ninna Fitzgerald of Columbus, Mary Kathryn Govero of Covenant Christian in Clinton, Merrin Mueller of Long Beach and Beth Smith of Stringer. The coach for their 14 games was Tim Sowthers of Midway College in Lexington, Kty.
One of the girls' players was Elizabeth McGeshick from Watersmeet Township High School in Watersmeet, Mich. Watersmeet, for those who missed the ESPN commercials saluting the school, is the home of the Nimrods. And proud of it.
Patton Stanley of Wayne Academy played for the boys on a team that had seven players from Texas, one from Arkansas and two from Mississippi. The other Magnolia Stater was Jerome Thompson of Harrison Central.
Because of the large number of games to be played, the tournament had some different rules than what high schools normally use. They were played with 20-minute halves with the clock stopping only for time outs, except for the final two minutes of each half when it stopped on all whistles. Each team was allowed only one timeout in the last two minutes of the game.
Technical fouls on either a player or coach resulted in an automatic two points plus ball possession at midcourt.
Dynamic Duo strikes
in Jackson
There was a time when Mike Taylor and John Lang not only ruled the Meridian golf scene but were dominant forces in the state as well.
Taylor recently won the Country Club of Jackson club championship with a three-day 218. Lang finished third with a 221. Becker Sams was second with a 220.
Taylor has 10 state amateur championships to his credit, while Lang has two. Taylor won in 1965, 1966, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1977 and 1978. Lang won in 1976 and 1980.
No Meridian golfer has won the men's state am since Lang's title in 1980.
Here already?
Did you know that the MHSAA schools can legally begin practicing slow-pitch softball on Monday?
Last year saw several area teams fare well with West Lauderdale (3A) and Union (1A) both bringing home state titles. The two will open their 2004 seasons with a pair of games on Aug. 6-7. The first game will be at Union with the second game at Collinsville.
Clarkdale was the state runner-up in 2A last fall.
Smith replaces Stuckey
David "Smitty" Smith of Summit has been named the replacement for longtime Dixie Youth Baseball state director Houston Stuckey, who passed away on June 24.
Stuckey had served as director in Mississippi for 35 years.
Smith had been assistant state director since 1992. He has been involved with DYB for 42 years or since he was 8-years-old.
As DYB state director, Smith will oversee over 140 baseball leagues which include approximately 12,000 youngsters.
One example is the 13-man batting order for tournament play that DYB went to in 1992.
