Wildcat baseball, tennis teams make advances

By By Carver Rayburn / staff writer
April 24, 2003
The Wildcats have been hot in both dominate spring sports of baseball and tennis as of late and both programs at Meridian High are deep into the post-season.
In baseball, the Wildcats will take on Hattiesburg in second round action in a best-of-three series beginning Friday night at John Moss Field in Meridian.
Tennis coach Thad George has his netters gearing up for the state tournament in Jackson, which will begin on Monday.
The Wildcats will be lead by senior David Ray, who earned a No. 2-seed in the state tournament. Meridian will be represented in each the boys and girls singles, boys and girls doubles and mixed doubles.
For a complete look at the brackets for the state tennis tournament, go to www.misshsaa.com and click on events.
In track news, the Lady Wildcats finished fourth in the division 5-5A championships in Hattiesburg. The Wildcats fared a little better with a third place finish with a score of 54.
Quitman Panthers
Quitman High is wrapping up its athletic year with post-season action in Track and Field, Tennis and Golf.
The boys and girls Track and Field Panthers will head to Raymond on Saturday for the class 4A regional.
In tennis, the Panthers will send Brianne Boudreaux to Richland to compete for the class 4A girls state singles' title. Joining Boudreaux for the trip will be boys doubles' partners Kevin Murff and Phillip Johnson.
The tournament will begin on Monday with Boudreaux taking on K. Cunning ham of Neshoba Central in first round action. Murff and Johnson will take on East Side's Holmes and McCaskill.
The gridiron is heating back up at Quitman High School. The Panthers begin spring drills on April 28 and a tentative spring game against Clarkdale has been set for May 15.
In golf, the Panthers will travel to Laurel Country Club on April 28 for the district 4A golf tournament.
West Lauderdale
The Knights will be sending a full squad to Capital City for the 3A State Tennis Tournament on Monday.
Seeding for the Knights have been reported as follows.
In boys singles, K. Naylor will take on Amory's B. Palmer. Girls singles will see A. Frazier take on the Division Six runner-up.
In doubles action, Schanrock and Truesdale will compete against Raleigh's McMaster and Castillo while Booneville's Clayton and Burress will take on the Lady Knights' Bounds and Wright.
Mixed doubles will feature Sonak and Hodges against Senatobia's Schwart and Matheus.
In baseball, the diamond Knights will begin second round action against Greene County Thursday at 6 p.m. in a much anticipated series between two of the top teams in Class 3 A.
Northeast Lauderdale
The boys and girls track teams recently participated in the division 5-4A Championship.
The Lady Trojans walked away from Hattiesburg with a second place overall finish and scored 106 points. West Jones captured the title with a score of 147.
Melissa Brents picked up two first place finishes in distance running. Brents recorded a time of 13:40.79 in the 3200 meter-run and 6:01.93 in the 1600 meter-run.
Quinn Jackson also picked up a first place finish in the girls shot put with a throw of 31-feet-10.
The boys track team held its own and returned to Northeast Lauderdale with a third place finish.
Cedric Blanchard recorded a first place finish in the 400 meter dash with a time of 54.06 while Marcus Betts took home the shot put title with a throw of 46-feet-06.
Lamar Raiders
The Raiders continued their dominance on the golf links with an Academy Class 3A title earlier this week in McComb at Fernwood. The Raiders will be in competition at Canton's Deerfield Golf Course for the state tournament and will host the overall championships on May 6 at Northwood Country Club.
In softball, the Raiders are 6-3 on the year with five games and and the Heritage Invitational left on their slate.
The Lady Raiders will end the regular season with a three game home stand on May 1, 5 and 8.