By By Jeff Byrd / staff writer
July 18, 2002
Five area tennis players will take part in the Mississippi Association of Coaches All-Star Tennis event in Jackson.
Play will begin on Friday at 1 p.m. at the Parham Bridges Tennis Center in Jackson. All-Stars began arriving in Jackson on Wednesday in order to participate in players clinics held at the River Hills Tennis Center.
Meridian High School will be sending two players to the event. They are Joseph Johnson and Michael Seto. The pair teamed up to play boys doubles for Wildcat head tennis coach Thad George.
Johnson and Seto had a good senior season reaching the quarterfinals at the Class 5A State Tournament. They won approximately 70 percent of their matches on the year.
George said he was elated to see both Johnson and Seto being honored by the M.A.C.
Johnson and Seto will play doubles for the South boys. They will be joined by Newton County player Luke Howell. The other boys on the South squad are Tan Nguyen of Gulfport, Mack Colgrove of Northwest Rankin, and Bennie Jones of Natchez.
Two Newton County Lady Cougars are among the South All-Star girls. Doubles partners Kery McDill and Melissa Kimbriel get a chance to play again before heading into different directions this fall.
Kimbriel has signed to play tennis at Meridian Community College. She will play singles and doubles for coach Wanda McPhail's Lady Eagles who advanced to the National Junior College Association Tournament last May.
McDill has signed to play at East Central Community College in Decatur.
The coaches for the South All-Stars are Randy Mitchell of Pascagoula and Freddie Wegner of Stone County.
Playing for the North All-Stars will be Katie Bell of Aberdeen, Baily Coltharp of New Albany, Kinn Lancaster of Alcorn Central, Jennifer Miller of Tupelo, Lauren Roberts of Corinth, Jordan Jones of Shannon, Zach Jones of Itawamba, Sean Shaalan of Corinth, Drew Shands of New Albany, and Dylan Talbot of Tupelo.