By By Tony Krausz / assistant sports editor
April 26, 2004
BILOXI The Meridian Community College men's tennis team punched its ticket to the national championship in Plano, Texas, on Sunday.
The Eagles edged out Itawamba Community College by one point in the Region XXIII/MACJC State Tournament to win a trip to the national tournament on May 10-15. MCC ended the in-state tourney with 27 points, and Itawamba finished with 26.
Gulf Coast Community College finished the tournament with 21 points for third place, and Hinds Community College came in fourth with 13 points. Copiah-Lincoln Community College finished in fifth with 12 points.
The Eagles' Mylan Anderson scored a 6-4, 6-3 win in No. 3 singles action over Itawamba's Brandon Harris, and Tyler Marroy picked up a 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 victory for MCC against Gulf Coast's Vulut Ozturk in No. 4 singles play.
Daniel Rigdon won the No. 5 singles match for MCC over Itawamba's Chris Wood 7-5, 6-0, and Zach Jones won the No. 6 singles match for Itawamba over MCC's Wilson Kahlmus 6-1, 6-1.
Itawamba's No. 2 doubles team picked up a 6-0, 6-7, 6-3 win over MCC's Marroy and Chase Koestler, and Itawamba beat the Eagles' pair of Ridgon and Kahlmus 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 in No. 3 doubles. Gulf Coast won the No. 1 doubles' match over Hinds.
Gulf Coast's Felipe Novello scored a 6-3, 6-2 win over Hinds' John Hill in No. 1 single's action, and Luiz Miranda of Hinds won the No. 2 singles 6-2, 6-4.
PREP TRACK
The Meridian High School girls track and field team came in fifth at the regional track and field meet in Jackson on Saturday.
Brandon finished first overall, and Murrah took second in the meet. Madison Central came in third at the meet, and Greenville-Weston finished in fourth place.
The Lady Wildcats will compete in the North State Track and Field Meet in Columbus on Saturday.
Meridian High's Carsheena Blanks won first place in the shot put competition with a throw of 34-feet, six-inches, and Samantha Brooks finished first in discus with a 104-feet, 9 1/2-inches toss.
The Lady Wildcats 100-meter relay team of Katisha Young, Nieda Jones, Brittany Davidson and Dominique Goodwin came in first with a time of 51.33.
Young finished second in the 100-meter dash with a 27.38, and Michelle Marsh came in third in the 300-meter hurdle with a 50.82 time. Marsh also finished fourth in the 100-meter hurdle.
Anna Allred came in fourth in the 3,200-meter run, and Davidson came in fourth in the long jump.
PREP BASEBALL.
Newton Co. 5
Columbia 4
Newton County ended Columbia's baseball season on Saturday in the Class 3A regional tournament on Saturday, with a sacrifice fly by Will Pearson in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Jarred Cavanaugh picked up the win pitching 1.2 innings, allowing one run on two hits with two strikeouts. Cavanaugh also hit two singles and a double.
Jeremy Farmer and Robert Westbrook each hit a single and a double with one RBI for Newton County, and Greg Pillsbury recorded two singles. Bud Loper, who pitched 5.1 innings giving up three runs, two earned, on seven hits with seven strikeouts, notched a pair of singles.
Greene County 9
Newton Co. 1
Josh Shean tallied a single and drove in Newton County's lone run in the team's elimination-game loss to Greene County on Saturday.
Greg Pearson, Bud Loper, Jarred Cavanaugh, Jeremy Farmer, and Greg Pillsbury each had singles for Newton County, which finished its season with a 16-17 record.
Greene County is scheduled to take on West Lauderdale in the tournament championship game at 4 p.m. today.