WEST POINT — Konrad Vernon shot an 81 Tuesday to lead the Heritage Academy golf team to a fifth-place finish at the Mississippi Association of Independent Class AAA State meet at Old Waverly.
Steve Pannell shot a 73 to earn medalist honors and lead Pillow Academy to a first-place finish with a 307. Jackson Academy (317), Jackson Prep (320), Madison-Ridgeland Academy (325), and Heritage Academy (332) rounded out the top five in the eight-team field, which featured the top four teams from the North and the South.
Evan McElrath and Cade Lott each shot 83s, Douglas Kilarski shot an 85, Hunter Anderson had an 86, and Mark Adams shot a 91 to round out Heritage Academy’s players.
“I was very pleased with Konrad’s play,” Heritage Academy coach Ed Lott said. “Konrad has struggled all year, and I know 81 is not what he wanted, but he played better (Tuesday) on a harder course than we have been playing.
“Douglas Kilarski’s 85 was his best round of the year.”
Lott praised the work of the staff at Old Waverly for getting the course in great shape. He said the course played hard and that the greens were “as good as anywhere in the country.”
Even though his team didn’t defend its Class AAA state title, coach Lott said the Patriots should be in position to make another championship run in 2013. The team loses only Adams to graduation and should return five experienced players.
“Overall we were not as competitive as we should have been,” Lott said. “Next year we should have a better year than we did this year.”
n New Hope girls golf team takes fourth: At Canton, Mary Grace Caldwell shot a two-round total of 178 to take fourth place and lead the Lady Trojans to a fifth-place finish at the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 3A State tournament at Canton Country Club.
Caldwell shot round of 92 and 86 to finish five strokes behind Madison Central’s Jeshanah Johnson (173.
Biloxi’s Lauren Durbin won the Class 3 title with a 146. She shot rounds of 74 and 72. Hancock’s Emily Ross (153) was second.
New Hope’s Belle Keopraseut shot a 199 and Victoria Bradley shot a 257 to help New Hope finish with a team total of 377.
Biloxi, Hernando, and St. Patrick won team titles. Biloxi led Class 3 teams with a 326. Hancock (331), Tupelo (375), and Madison Central (376) followed in that classification.
In Class 2, Hernando defeated runner-up and DeSoto County rival Center Hill for the title.
In Class 2, Starkville High’s Savannah Hobart shot a two-day total of 217, while Kristen Lacy shot a 245. West Point’s Ashley Johnson shot a 197, and Addison Camp carded a 215.
In Class 1, St. Patrick beat St. Aloysius for the title.
n New Hope’s Taylor second after first round: At Columbus, New Hope High School’s Chase Taylor shot an opening-round 77 and is in second place after the first round of the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 5A State meet at Columbus Country Club.
Pascagoula’s Anthony Clark shot a 75 to take the lead after the first of two days. The 12 teams and individuals will complete another round of 18 holes today in Columbus.
Ridgeland’s Steven Eilders and Oxford’s Ward Toler are tied for third at 78.
Pearl River Central leads the team scoring after one day at 334. West Jones (338), Oxford (339), Ridgeland (340), and Pascagoula (344) round out the top five.
Austin Fitch (81), P.J. Menotti (98), Jase Hardin (102), and Brady Davis (103) also played for New Hope, which carded a 358.
Ryan Lacy (85), Logan Maddox (93), Cameron Maddox (98), Jace Hobart (87), and Caleb Jackson (99) played for Starkville, which shot a 363.
Baseball
n Magnolia Heights 1, Starkville Academy 0: At Senatobia, The Volunteers dropped game one of the best-of-three Mississippi Association of Independent Schools Class AAA, Division II State title series.
Game two will be at 3 p.m. Saturday in Starkville. An if-needed game three would follow approximately 30 minutes after game two.
Tennis
n Starkville’s Turner, Laird win doubles title: At Ridgeland, Starkville High School sophomore Emily Turner and freshman Hannah Laird won four matches in straight sets on Monday and Tuesday to win the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 5A doubles title.
Turner and Laird earned victories against teams from Moss Point, Gautier, and two teams from Oxford to take the championship.
Brian Xu and Lewis Maynard won two matches to advance to the semifinals before losing to the eventual state champions from Oxford.
Richard Hill and Mikala Taylor won two matches in mix doubles before losing to a team from Stone County.
Will Irvin lost his match in boys singles, while the team of Jack Bryan and Nick Elder went 1-1.
In girls action, Dasha Bondarenko also went 1-1, as did the team of Ashley Albritton and Christine Mazzola.
Today in Ridgeland, Mississippi Association of Independent Schools tennis players will compete in their state tournament.
Anna Ready will compete at No. 1 singles and lead a contingent of players from Oak Hill Academy. Teams from Heritage Academy and Starkville Academy also will participate.
Track and field
n Heritage Academy girls sixth, Starkville Academy boys seventh: At Jackson, The Heritage Academy girls finished sixth with 34 points, while the Starkville Academy boys took seventh with 24 points this past weekend at the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools State meet.
Jackson Prep won the girls Class AAA meet with 153.3 points. Starkville Academy was seventh with 16.33 points.
In the boys Class AAA meet, Presbyterian Christian won with 166 points. Heritage Academy was ninth with 15 points.
For the Heritage Academy girls, Mary Douglas Kerby was second in the shot put (32 feet, 4 3/4 inches, fifth in the triple jump, 33-6 1/2, and third in the 400, 1 minute, 2.16 seconds, Mary Claire Akins was fifth in the 400 (1:03.11), the 4×200-meter relay team was fifth (1:53.03), and the 4×100 team was sixth (53.37).
For the Starkville Academy girls, Brittany Jacks was seventh in the 100 (12.99) and seventh in the 200 (27.12), Garland Wilcut was eighth in the shot put (29-11), Marise Moorehead tied for second in the high jump (4-10), Adrian Putural was eighth in the long jump (15-4), the 4×200 team was sixth (1:53.95), and the 4×100 team was eighth (54.38).
For the Starkville Academy boys, Austin White was fourth in the 1,600 (4:49.84) and sixth in the 3,200 (11:31.29), Angus Catchot was fifth in the shot put (40-10 1/2), Collin Stokes was third in the discus (128-8), the 4×800 team was seventh (10:17.63), and the 4×100 team was fifth (47.08).
For the Heritage Academy boys, Miller Puckett was second in the 100 (11.31), the 4×400 team was fourth (4:29.68), and Parker Dunaway was fourth in the long jump (21-1 3/4) and seventh in the triple jump (40-0).
In Class AA, Immanuel Christian’s Taylor Baudoin was third in the high jump (4-10) and eighth in the long jump (14-4 1/4). Oak Hill Academy’s John Wesley Williamson was seventh in the 110 hurdles (18.12) and eighth in the 300 hurdles (45.37). Shay Atkins was fifth in the shot put (30-8 1/4), and Sarah Dill was seventh in the high jump (4-8).
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