PHILADELPHIA — Starkville”s Kelly White was the top female finisher Saturday at the 30th annual Heart o” Dixie triathlon.
White, 30, finished the half-mile swim, the 27.5-mile run, and the seven-mile run in a time of 2 hours, 16 minutes and 55 seconds.
Her finish was just one of many from area participants.
Starkville”s Mina Tahai, 21, finished eighth overall in the women”s race with a time of 2:25.09.
Starkville”s Michele McDonnall, 39, took 10th overall (2:26.06).
In the men”s competition, Columbus” Brad Atkins, 35, finished 10th overall (2:05.37). His time won the 35- to 39-year-old age group.
Starkville”s C.T. Carley, 77, was the oldest finisher in the event with a time of 4:47.18. He was fifth in the men”s 65-98 age division.
The following is a list of the local finishers by age group: Men 20-24 — 15. Tanner Mixon, Starkville, 2:35.42; 16. Cole Andrews, Starkville, 2:48.43; 18. Clay Herring, Starkville, 2:54.07; 20. Alex Rowe, Starkville, 2:58.57; Men 25-29 — 28. Jim Sesser, Starkville, 2:57.44; 29. David Randle, Columbus, 3:03.30; Men 30-34 — 15. Damien Kinard, Starkville, 2:33.59; 37. Taylor Adams, Mississippi State, 2:59.33; Men 35-39 — 12. Drew Anthony, Starkville, 2:13.39; 24. Eric Blades, Starkville, 2:26.35; 31. Jim Brown, Starkville, 2:31.21; 56. Buck Jolley, Columbus, 3:17.48; Men 40-44 — 8. Gene Pierce, Amory, 2:24.37; 10. Cade Smith, Starkville, 2:25.07; 31. Danny Mullins, Columbus, 2:47.44; 38. Jay Rester, Starkville, 3:02.26; 43. Don Zant, Steens, 3:11.45; Men 45-49 — 29. David Seay, Amory, 2:49.36; 33. Jim Yates, Starkville, 2:55.51; Men 50-54 — 3. Delynn Burkhalter, Columbus, 2:19.48; 8. Dwight Reeves, Starkville, 2:49.12; 12. Tommy Cobb, Starkville, 3:00.19; Men 55-59 — 9. Thomas Pearson, Starkville, 3:15.41; Women 20-24 — 2. Parisa Toghiani, Starkville, 2:29.34; Women 35-39 — 2. Melissa Adams, Columbus, 2:37.44; 3. Becky Smith, Starkville, 2:47.03; 9. Misty Hunt, Starkville, 3:22.57.
The triathlon began with a swim in Lake Tiak O”Khata and finished on the red clay racetrack of the historical Neshoba County Fairgrounds.
Baseball
n Earnest throws perfect game: Dylan Earnest threw a perfect game Friday night to lead the Pontotoc Red Sox to an 11-0 victory against the Booneville Braves in the American Legion State Tournament at Golden Wave Park.
Earnest, who will be a senior at Hamilton High School for the 2009-10 school year, struck out eight in earning his first career perfect game.
Pontotoc lost to Hattiesburg 15-1 on Saturday afternoon. The loss forced the Red Sox to play an elimination game against Tupelo on Saturday night.
Results of that game weren”t available at press time.
n Fleming leads Golden Triangle Jets: At New Albany, Former New Hope High School standout Ben Fleming had the game-winning double in the bottom of the seventh inning Saturday to lead the Golden Triangle Jets to a 9-8 victory against the Tupelo Thunder in a Cotton States Baseball League North Division game at Legion Field.
Fleming, who plays baseball at Southern Polytechnic University in Marietta, Ga., went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBIs to help the Jets improve to 9-11-1.
Earlier Saturday, Fleming went 0-for-2 in a 5-2 loss to the Tallahatchie Rascals.
n Local teams in action at Dizzy Dean World Series: At Southaven, The West Point 8-year-old All-Stars won their first game Saturday at the Dizzy Dean World Series.
West Point defeated the Montevallo Bulldogs 19-3. The team lost to the Oregon Pool Sharks 15-4 Saturday night.
Results of that game weren”t available at press time.
In other 8-year-old action, Chelsea National edged Starkville 14-13 and the Harrison Hitmen beat the New Hope Sharks 16-14.
Starkville will play the Oregon Park Raptors at 9:30 a.m. and the East Central All-Stars at 1 p.m. today.
New Hope will take on the Bradley North Pirates at 11 a.m. and the Soddy Daisy SWAT at 7 tonight.
West Point will play the Grenada Rec All-Stars at 1 p.m. today.
The top 32 seeded teams will advance to the championship round.
The bottom seeded 31 teams will move on to the consolation round.
In the 9-year-old World Series, the Starkville Thunder defeated the Oregon Park Thunderdogs 21-3 in their first game Saturday in the D Division.
Oak Mountain blanked Starkville 12-0 later Saturday. The loss pushed Starkville into a matchup against the loser of Saturday night”s game between the Morris Blue Devils and the Oregon Park Thunderdogs. That losers” bracket game will be at 10:45 a.m. today.
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