The Golden Triangle saw a plethora of champions and peak performances in 2023, a year full of athletic achievement among the best we’ve ever seen.
Rather than give you a countdown of the year’s best moments, The Dispatch is going month-to-month to discuss some of the most important sports-related moments of the year at both the high school and college level.
February: Columbus Christian girls basketball wins MAIS Class 2A state title
Coming into the Midsouth Association of Independent Schools Class 2A state tournament, Columbus Christian was a No. 3 seed, facing a potential gauntlet in front of it if the Rams wanted to challenge for a state title.
CCA didn’t just face the gauntlet, but ran through it, defeating West Memphis Christian (Ark.), 62-50, on Feb. 18, to win the Class 2A title. A key win in the semifinals on Feb. 17 against Delta Academy was the moment of the tournament for the Rams, who were down as many as 11 points in the second half before a comeback victory.
CCA finished the year 27-12 overall.
March: Mississippi State men’s basketball reaches NCAA Tournament
Mississippi State needed an overtime victory in the Southeastern Conference men’s basketball tournament in Nashville to help secure a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
Firmly on the bubble at the time, one win seemed to be enough to get the Bulldogs over the hump, and it was their first-team All-SEC selection Tolu Smith who got the job done, muscling his way in for a game-winning layup with 4.1 seconds left to secure a 69-68 win over Florida.
While MSU got bounced in the semifinals by Alabama, that win secured the program’s first NCAA tournament berth since 2019, where it faced Pittsburgh in the First Four in Dayton, Ohio.
The Bulldogs unfortunately lost, 60-59, to the Panthers, finishing the season with a 21-13 record in head coach Chris Jans’ first year in Starkville.
March: Mississippi State women’s basketball reaches NCAA Tournament round of 32
Chris Jans wasn’t the only newcomer leading a Mississippi State basketball program as Sam Purcell took over as head coach of the women’s team before the 2022-23 season.
Purcell brough new energy and excitement as the Bulldogs went 22-11, earned a top-five finish in SEC play and reached the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019.
Playing in a First Four game like the men’s team, MSU pulled out a 70-56 win over Illinois, reaching the round of 64 where the Bulldogs took down No. 6 seeded Creighton, 81-66.
MSU’s postseason run ended in the round of 32, losing 53-48, to third-seeded Notre Dame, but it laid the groundwork for a revitalization of the program moving forward.
April: Lauren Brown wins MHSAA Class 4A powerlifting state title, first for Caledonia
Caledonia’s four-sport star, Lauren Brown, finished her senior year with a bang as she took home the Cavaliers’ first powerlifting state championship in Jackson.
Brown competed in the 181-pound weight class and lifted a total weight of 795 pounds to take home the gold, including a personal best 325-pound deadlift.
Remarkably, she missed just one lift the entire season, going 20-for-21 and bringing a brand-new team a state title.
April: Oak Hill Academy golf wins seventh-straight state title
Seventh heaven is real for Oak Hill Academy, who despite a sub-par day on the course, dominated the competition once again at the Midsouth Association of Independent Schools Class 4A state championships, held at Mossy Oak Golf Course in West Point.
One of the home courses for the Raiders, Oak Hill finished an eye-popping 60 shots ahead of second place Canton Academy for its seventh-straight state championship.
Not only did OHA add another trophy to the trophy case, but George Bryan took home the individual state championship, shooting 1-under on the day.
High winds made the course tougher, but the Raiders still comfortably brought home hardware.
April: Mississippi State baseball breaks own NCAA on-campus attendance records
The king of college baseball attendance, without a doubt, has been Mississippi State, and the Bulldogs once again showed why on Super Bulldog Weekend.
A new NCAA on-campus record of 16,423 fans, including MSU alum and Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, were in attendance at Dudy Noble Field as Mississippi State walked off Ole Miss, 8-7, thanks to Dakota Jordan’s ninth-inning, two-run single.
Mississippi State, which holds each of the top 10 on-campus attendances in NCAA history, also broke its own three-day weekend attendance record that same weekend, welcoming 43,986 fans to The Dude.
May: Sterling Scott caps off record-setting career with triple jump state title repeat
A two-year run that saw Starkville High School senior Sterling Scott rattle off three individual state championships came to an end at the MHSAA Class 6A state championships in Pearl.
Scott took home the double, state titles in both triple jump and long jump, and a second-straight title in triple jump, as a career filled with breaking record after record in Mississippi ended on a high note.
Headed to Missouri, Scott set state records in both indoor and outdoor triple jump, tying his own state record with a jump of 50 feet, 11 inches at the outdoor state meet in May.
May: Oak Hill Academy baseball wins first-ever state title
Never before had Oak Hill Academy baseball won a state championship, but never before had the Raiders assembled a team like in 2023.
The “Blonde Bombers,” as OHA was dubbed thanks to a number of players dyeing their hair blond before the MAIS Class 4A playoffs, notched big series wins over Marshall Academy and Kirk Academy to set up a championship series matchup against Wayne Academy.
Behind a 6-1 playoff record at that point, the Raiders rattled off two-straight wins against the Jaguars, including a 6-5 comeback win in Game 2 of the championship series, to take home their first-ever state title.
May: Sid Stegall captures state championship three-peat for Heritage Academy
Greatness doesn’t come around often, but in track and field, greatness came in the form of senior long-distance runner Sid Stegall of Heritage Academy.
One of the best high schoolers to ever do it in Mississippi, Stegall completed a state title three-peat in the 800-meter, 1,600-meter and 3,200-meter runs, sweeping the trio for a third-straight year.
Not only that, but his 3,200-meter time of 9:28.69, broke the previous MAIS record by 13 seconds. At the state meet, no competitor finished within 10 seconds of any of his times.
May: Starkville Academy’s 1,600-meter relay team wins state title
Starkville Academy would send a quartet of runners to compete in Eugene, Oregon, at the Nike Outdoor Nationals, hosted at the University of Oregon, but to get there, the Volunteers clinched a state title in the 1,600 meter relay.
Quinton Wiley, Ben Smith, Alex Friedhaber and Ben Lyle won the 1,600 meter relay at the MAIS state meet in Flowood with a time of 3:32.16, earning a spot to compete amongst the best in the nation.
While not a school-best at the state meet, the quartet did set a school record earlier in the year with a time of 3:31.25, the best among Class 5A last season.
May: Mississippi State men’s and women’s golf make NCAA team championships
The success of Mississippi State golf continued in a big way this year, as both the men’s and women’s golf teams reached the NCAA team championships for the 2022-23 season.
A record-setting season for men’s golf saw the Bulldogs win the Morgan Hill Regional, finishing 25th overall at team championships in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Hunter Logan led the Bulldogs individually, placing 55th.
On the women’s side, MSU won the Westfield Regional, heading to team championships in Scottsdale where the Bulldogs reached the final round of stroke play, finishing 13th as a team, the second-best overall finish in program history.
Sophomore Julia Lopez Ramirez had the second-best individual finish of any Bulldog golfer ever, finishing 13th as she shot 4-under.
May: Mississippi State men’s tennis reaches NCAA Sweet 16
The Bulldogs capped off one of the best seasons in Mississippi State men’s tennis history in style after hosting an NCAA regional in Starkville.
The Bulldogs, who finished 21-8 on the year, won both matches, including a 4-2 win over No. 27 Middle Tennessee, to reach the Sweet 16 of team competition against No. 2 overall seeded TCU in Fort Worth, Texas.
Unfortunately, a year that saw MSU go 7-5 in SEC play and an insane 17-1 at home ended in a 4-1 loss against the Horned Frogs.
November: Emma Ruffin pushes through for cross country state title with Caledonia
One hundred yards separated Caledonia senior Emma Ruffin from ending her cross country career with a state championship.
All she needed to do was push through and overtake second place for the title, and she did just that in emphatic fashion, earning the gold with a time of 20:08.15, 2.6 seconds in front of second place.
It was the picture-perfect end to a career defined by hard work.
November: Mississippi State women’s soccer reaches new heights in SEC, NCAA tournaments
Simply put, the 2023 season was the best in Mississippi State women’s soccer history. Setting program records for wins and points in the SEC, and reaching new heights in the national rankings, the Bulldogs finished the season with a 12-6-5 record overall.
MSU reached the SEC tournament semifinals for the first time ever, defeating College Cup finalist Alabama twice during the season, including the SEC tournament quarterfinals.
The Bulldogs also earned a No. 6 seed in the NCAA tournament, a program-best and a second-straight season hosting a NCAA tournament game.
Mississippi State won two matches in the tournament, reaching the Sweet 16 for the first time before losing to eventual national runner-up Stanford, 1-0, in the regional semifinals.
November: West Point football wins record 12th MHSAA state championship
For the second-straight season, West Point found itself in an 0-2 hole to begin the year, and for the first time since 2020 and just the third time since 2015, the Green Wave lost in district play.
It was a year of uncharted territory in many ways for the 11-time state champions, but in what turned out to be head coach Chris Chambless’s final year at the helm, West Point, a No. 2 seed in the postseason, ran the gauntlet with authority.
On a rain-soaked November night in Oxford, under the lights of Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, West Point capped off Chambless’s career with a 12th state title, a 35-7 win over Laurel highlighted by a fifth 200-plus-yard rushing performance from senior Kahnen Daniels.
December: EMCC football wins ninth MACCC title, reaches sixth NJCAA national championship game
The 2018 season was the last time East Mississippi Community College had reached the summit of the college football world, winning its fifth national championship in the process.
After a half-decade of trying to replicate that feat, the Lions finally broke through in 2023, defeating Mississippi Gulf Coast CC and Co-Lin CC in the Mississippi Association of Community Colleges Conference playoffs, finishing 10-2 and earning the No. 4 seed in the National Junior College Athletic Association Division I football national playoffs.
Against No. 1 seeded Hutchinson CC on the road, EMCC orchestrated a final-minute comeback to win, 27-23, earning itself a spot in the NJCAA national championship game in Little Rock against Iowa Western CC.
Unfortunately, a great season fell short against the Reivers, who demolished the Lions, 61-14, finishing with a 10-3 record and a ninth state championship in program history.
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You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 46 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
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