Sports Year in Review For 2023
Part 1-of-2 (January – June)
By Tim Emmons
Last year, 2023, flew by quicker than the past few in my opinion. I’m glad, in a time of technological advances, that we can still print news that will be history one day for others to go back and look at.
Of course, we are turning to digital media in most cases and even we here at the paper see the need for our historical archives to be in digital format.
Nonetheless, what we witnessed in our community on a weekly basis is sometimes forgotten. Let’s face it, some of it we want to forget.
But my line of work coincides with school sports. Here in our neck of the woods these country schools churn out the best student-athletes in the state. Not just in athletics but UIL events of all kinds. From debate to one act play to band, Cass County boasts some of the best schools statewide.
Each school district has something to be proud of and memorable moments that will never be forgotten.
With each new year comes the hope that things will get better than we left them in the previous year.
From a sports point of view, what happened in 2023 set the bar for 2024 success.
ATLANTA Champions
“Champions are not born, they are made” is a motto that most coaches live by.
Success begins early and Atlanta Middle School is a testament to that.
In the early part of 2023, the AMS basketball teams finished their season strong.
The seventh grade capped off an undefeated district campaign by taking down Red Lick 26-18 on Jan. 31.
The Rabbits finished the year 13-1 overall, 12-0 in district, and claimed both district regular season and tournament championships.
At the Paul Parr Relays hosted by Liberty-Eylau, the seventh grade Rabbits won first placed overall as they racked up 204 points. Atlanta’s seventh grade girls’ squad won first place and rolled up 198 points in the process.
At the New Boston Relays on Mar. 27, the seventh- grade boys’ team racked up 204 points en route to a big win, the eighth-grade boys’ team finished second behind Redwater and both the seventh grade and eighth grade girls’ teams literally ran away with titles.
On Apr. 3, Atlanta’s junior high track program competed in the 14-3A district track meet where the seventh-grade boys rolled to a district championship and the eighth-grade boys placed third.
The seventh-grade girls won a district title by 81 points and the eighth-grade girls won a title by 72 points.
Corbyn Wilson
Atlanta High School band student Corbyn Wilson was recognized by the AISD Board of Trustees for being chosen for the TMEA All-State Band. He finished first in percussion and performed in San Antonio on Feb. 11.
Signees
Atlanta has never shied away from signing kids to go on to the next level.
On February 1, National Signing Day, both Stacy Darty (Arkansas Tech University) and Caden Walker (Northeastern State University signed letters of intent to play football on the next level.
Later in the year, Kameron Dickerson signed a letter of intent to play football at the next level for Northeastern State University, and Duncan Kelton signed his letter of intent to be on the rodeo team at Texas A&M-Commerce.
Atlanta Track
Atlanta’s girls’ track program competed in the Buckeye Relays on Mar. 2, in Gilmer and won the meet with 112 points.
Atlanta’s boys’ and girls’ track teams won first place at the Watty Myers Relays on Mar. 10, at Texas High School.
Atlanta had itself a day at the 28th running of the Atlanta Lions Club/Gordon Pynes/Runnin’ Rabbs Relays on Mar. 18, as the varsity boys, varsity girls and JV boys’ teams all won titles.
The JV girls dominated the field otherwise but was overtaken by a large Nacogdoches group.
The varsity boys’ team placed first in Paul Parr Relays in Liberty-Eylau on Mar. 30. The varsity girls placed second behind a large team from Paris, the JV boys’ team placed second behind PG and the JV girls’ team placed second behind Paris.
Atlanta competed in the 14-3A district track meet on Apr. 12, and swept district as the varsity boys racked up 229 points, the varsity girls put up 210 points and the JV boys earned 211 points.
Atlanta competed in the 13-3A and 14-3A Area Track Meet at Atlanta on Apr. 19, where Lady Rabbs were crowned Area champs and the Runnin’ Rabbs place second.
For the Lady Rabbs, Larry, Edwards, Partain, Ransom, Bailey and the 4x1, 4x2, 4x4 relays teams advanced to Regionals.
For the Rabbs, Batton, Riojas, Darty, Morin, Walker, Boston, Owens and the 4x1, 4x2, 4x4 relays teams advanced to Regionals.
The Atlanta girls won several titles throughout the year and have two relay teams going to State this year. The 4x200m team of Shamijala Gillam, JD Larry, Makaylin King and Toya Hurd placed second at 1:46.16, and the 4x100m team placed third at 49.57.
Stacy Darty earned another trip to State after he placed first in triple jump at 45 feet, 2 3/4 inches and nabbed third in 300m hurdles at 39.52.
The 4x100m relay team of Cooper Swanson, Markeylin Batton, Isaiah Chandler and JaBranden Wells is headed to State after placing first at 42.09.
Archery
Three archery teams from Atlanta Independent School District qualified for the state tournament on March 23, at the Bell County Expo Center in Belton, Texas. This is the first time all three teams have qualified.
The Atlanta Elementary School archery team is headed to the national competition in Louisville, Kentucky, on May 11-13. Sophomore Ty Waldon, who qualified as an individual, also competed at the national level.
Band
Atlanta High School’s Big Bad Band from Rabbit Land received all 1’s at the UIL Concert and Sightreading contest last week.
Golf
The Lady Rabbs’ golf team competed at the Daingerfield tournament on Mar. 13. The team tied for first place with Hughes Springs.
The Atlanta golf team played in the Oak Grove Invitational on Mar. 27. The boys finished third overall, and the girls team finished first overall. Additionally, senior Cassie Caver shot her personal best of 82 and finished second overall individually.
Atlanta’s boys’ and girls’ golf teams advanced to the regional tournaments. The teams played in the district tournament on Monday, April 3, at Oak Grove Golf Course where the girls finished first overall and the boys finished second overall. Additionally, the girls’ individual finishes were gold medalist Cassie Caver, silver medalist Olivia Allen and bronze medalist Makenzie Lampshire.
Powerlifting
During the regional powerlifting meet, Kyle Gross placed fifth in the 198-pound weight class, qualifying for state with a total lift of 1,400 pounds.
Bass Fishing
Luke Martin and Remington Clayton, along with boat captain Steve Crumpler, qualified for the state bass fishing tournament at Lake Sam Rayburn on May 20-21. Both are members of Atlanta High School’s Bass Fishing Team.
Tennis
Will Davis made his way to the state platform.
Baseball
Atlanta’s baseball team ran its district record to 3-0 after topping both Redwater and DeKalb and stayed perfect in district play after topping New Boston 8-1 on Mar. 21.
Atlanta’s baseball team cruised to a Bi-District title after topping Mount Vernon, 8-0, 12-4, and added more hardware to its trophy case after sealing an Area over New Diana.
BLOOMBURG Homecoming
Bloomburg seniors Hayden Green and Morgan Haworth were crowned Homecoming King and Queen for 2023.
Bloomburg’s varsity girls’ basketball team beat Savoy 43-19 in round one of the playoffs and was crowned Bi-District champions.
Jacee Glasgow finished first overall in the 100m hurdles with a time of 17.53 at the Joe Culpepper Relays on Mar. 9, in Redwater.
Jacee Glasgow placed first in the 100m hurdles at 17.75, and Cassie Glasgow placed second in triple jump at 31 feet. 3 1/2 inches at the J.K. Hileman Relays in Queen City.
In the 100m hurdles Jacee Glasgow placed first at 17.31 and in triple jump Cassie Glasgow placed first at 32 feet, 4 inches at district.
Bloomburg’s Jacee Glasgow earned a trip to state after placing second in the 100m hurdles at the Region 3-1A track meet in Whitney. She finished with a time of 17.50.
LINDEN-KILDARE Junior High
The Linden-Kildare Junior High Lady Tigers’ basketball team were crowned district champs this season.
Linden-Kildare hosted its own junior high relays on Mar. 6, where the eighth-grade girls’ team dominated the meet and ran away with the title.
Linden-Kildare’s junior high track members competed in the 21-2A District track meet on Apr. 3-4.
The eighth-grade girls won a district championship in fine fashion.
Powerlifting
L-K’s Allie Watson competed in the Region 3, Class 1A-2A Regional meet in Eustace on Feb. 21.
Watson had a sensational year and finished third overall in her weight class with a total lift of 755 pounds. Placing third in the entire region during her sophomore year is just setting the bar for her junior year.
Softball
Linden-Kildare’s softball team won the Campbell tournament and Kyndall Fitts was named tournament MVP.
Tennis
On Mar. 4, members of the Linden-Kildare Tennis Team participated in the Harmony tennis tournament.
In Girls’ Singles Leah Brown placed second and Rylee Burns was a consolation winner, in Boys’ Doubles Cade Bynum and Ruston Hargett placed second and Tashawn Patterson and Michael Lane placed third and in Girls’ Doubles Presley Turner and Nayeli Fuentes placed first and Charis Minson and Lindley Vickers finished second.
Track
L-K’s girls’ track program placed second overall behind host Hughes Springs in the Perritte-Mustang Relays.
Linden-Kildare’s varsity girls’ track squad qualified for regionals in two relays.
Jamiah Birmingham was crowned the Area champ in both triple jump and the 200m dash, and also advanced to Regionals in long jump.
Madi Bynum advanced to Regionals in the 200m dash and Jacee Quaid advanced in the 300m hurdles.
MCLEOD Homecoming
Jay Greene and Regan Johnson were crowned Homecoming King and Queen for 2023.
Basketball
The Lady Longhorns, fresh off a Bi-District win over Overton, beat the No. 8 team in Class 2A Chireno 41-32 for an Area crown.
The Longhorns finished second in district play.
Signees
McLeod senior Sarah Ragland signed with Southern Arkansas University where she will continue her cheer career as part of the stunt team.
McLeod senior Brennan Penny signed his letter of intent to play baseball for Crown College in Minnesota.
FFA
McLeod students took part in the Cattlemen of Cass County Spring Show last week. Ella Bourne won the Champion Junior Showman and Champion Exotic with her bull, Parker Patrick placed first in Class/fifth overall with his steer and first in class with his registered heifer, Lakyn Lance won Grand Champion with her commercial heifer and Brayden Bascombe placed second in class with his registered heifer.
Tennis
McLeod’s JV tennis team won district. Patrick Dickerson placed first, Michael Savell placed second and Cole Autry placed third overall.
McLeod’s Kannon Dempsey placed first in boys’ singles, Austin McGray and Chassie Gryder placed first in mixed doubles and Jaxon Smith and Jase Deaton placed second in boys’ doubles at the district varsity tennis meet.
Track
McLeod’s varsity girls’ and varsity boys’ track relay teams earned trips to regionals.
Softball
McLeod’s softball team finished second in district play, won a bi-district championship over Alba- Golden and faced off against Hawkins in the area round.
Baseball
McLeod’s baseball team won a district title, a bi-district title against Cumby, who they outscored 22-1 in two games, and made it to the area round where they faced Kerens.
QUEEN CITY Softball
On Mar. 2-4, the Lady Bulldogs took part in the Saginaw tournament. Coming into the tourney QC was on a 6-game winning streak, which included winning the Whitehouse tourney, and had beaten some big schools in the process. This tourney threw some big schools at the Lady Bulldogs as well but was the same outcome as QC went 4-1-1 against 5A and 6A teams and outscored the opposition 50-5.
Queen City’s varsity softball team beat rival Atlanta 8-0 on Mar. 7, behind Trinity Oden’s no-hitter.
Oden struck out 13 batters from the circle and hit two bombs with a collection of four RBI’s from the dish. Both homeruns were 2-run shots.
The Lady Bulldogs hosted state-ranked Hughes Springs on Mar. 10, due to wet conditions in Hughes Springs. The Lady Mustangs scored two runs in the first but QC plated nine in the bottom half of the first frame en route to a solid 12-5 win over Hughes Springs.
Queen City’s varsity softball team won for the 14th time in 16 games and stayed perfect in district play with wins over Hooks and Redwater.
The Lady Bulldogs won back-to-back district titles after the Lady Bulldogs caged the Lady Lions of New Boston 13-1 on Apr. 18, and then played Hooks on Apr. 21, for the district championship.
Hooks was the only team to beat QC during the season in district play and QC was the only team to beat Hooks.
In beating Hooks, a second time, the Lady Bulldogs not only won a title but stopped the Lady Hornets’ 10-game winning streak which began the game after QC had beaten them 4-1 on Mar. 14.
In the championship tilt, QC was down 5-1 going into the fifth inning where they blew the gates off the stadium with a 10-run frame and won the contest 11-5.
Queen City wrapped up a District championship on Apr. 21, and then notched a Bi-District title on Apr. 29, after sweeping Mineola in two games.
QC outscored the Lady Yellowjackets 35-2 over the course of two contests.
Queen City’s Trinity Oden blasted two 3-run homers against Mineola. Those were her 14th and 15th bombs of the season.
Queen City’s softball squad, fresh off a Bi-District championship, battled White Oak last week for the Area crown. White Oak edged out a solid Hughes Springs’ team for first place in district and won a Bi-District championship by beating Elysian Fields in three games.
The Lady Bulldogs outscored Mineola 35-2 in its first playoff series and coming into the Area clash QC had outscored its last five opponents 78-9.
Queen City’s softball team made history last week as the Lady Bulldogs won the Regional Quarterfinal championship for the first time in school history.
The Lady Bulldogs (30-7-1) pieced together a solid sweep of Troup with shutout wins of 5-0 and 3-0.
Queen City’s softball team made school history this season as they advanced into the Regional Semifinals for the first time. The Lady Bulldogs were matched with the No. 4 team in the state and gave them an unforgettable series.
Whitesboro did just enough to take both games by identical scores of 2-1, and with that the Lady Bulldogs’ season was over.
The Lady Bearcats skipped through district play undefeated and normally beat its opponents by more than five runs, but QC gave them all they could handle.
Tennis
Queen City’s Clare Wong and Vincent Wong both medaled at state as Clare brought home a silver medal and Vincent earned a bronze medal.
Clare ended her high school playing days with a gold medal and a silver medal. Vincent has a couple of more tries as he wrapped up a nice third-place finish.
Queen City High School varsity tennis player, Clare Wong competed at the varsity tennis tournament on Friday, Mar. 3, hosted by Longview High School. In the girls’ singles Division A group, Clare made it to the finals and received second place. All matches were played at Pine Tree High School tennis center.
Queen City High School varsity tennis players competed at the Hughes Springs varsity tennis Spring Slam hosted by Hughes Springs High School on Mar. 9. Clare Wong won first place in the girls’ singles and Vincent Wong won first place in the boys’ singles.
Queen City High School varsity tennis players competed at the State Farm Invitational varsity tennis tournament hosted by Wills Point High School on Mar. 17. Clare Wong won the girls’ singles A Division and Vincent Wong won the boys’ singles A Division.
Queen City High School’s Clare Wong won the girls’ singles title at the Pleasant Grove High School varsity tennis invitational held on Mar. 23.
Queen City High School’s varsity tennis teams competed in the UIL District 14 - AAA tennis tournament held on Mar. 28-29. All the matches were played at Liberty-Eylau High School tennis courts.
Clare Wong won a district championship in girls’ singles and qualified for Regionals, Vincent Wong won a district championship in boys’ singles and qualified for Regionals and Luke Moore placed third and is a first alternate for Regionals.
The boys’ team was District 14-AAA runner up squad.
Queen City tennis players Clare Wong and Vincent Wong both earned Regional titles and headed to the State level tournament.
Queen City tennis state medalist Vincent Wong participated in and won the Tyler Junior Grand Prix Pre-qualifying event for ATP Challenger Wildcard tennis tournament. The event was held at the Tyler Athletic and Swim Club (TASC) on May 13.
Band
On Jan. 7, members of the Band of Champions performed for the chance to make the Texas All-State Music Ensemble at Chapel Hill High School.
Preston Scoggins, Kaylin Butler, and Alyssa Delgado, members of the Queen City High School Band will perform with the Texas All-State Concert Band in San Antonio, Saturday, Feb. 11, at the Henry B. González Convention Center as part of the 2023 Texas Music Educators Association Clinic/Convention.
These students were chosen for this prestigious honor through a competitive process held this year across the state at District, Region, and Area levels. These students perform under the direction of Billy Vess, Justin Caldwell, Stephen Bynum and Kim Madlock, who are members of the Texas Music Educators Association, a 14,0000-plus member organization headquartered in Austin. This was their first time performing as members of a TMEA All-State organization.
Signees
Trent Granberry signed with the University of Texas at Dallas Madison Bailey signed a letter of intent to play basketball with the Lady Bulldogs of Shorter College in North Little Rock, Toni McCellon signed a letter of commitment to run track at Southeastern Oklahoma State University and Cassidy Johnson signed with Texas A&M Commerce on a cheer scholarship.
Queen City High School’s Band of Champions received all 1’s at the UIL Concert and Sightreading contest on March 8.
Powerlifting
Queen City powerlifters competed in the Maud Invitational on Feb. 2, and placed first overall.
Schools competing were: Queen City, host, Maud, Atlanta, Linden-Kildare, James Bowie, Redwater, Tatum, DeKalb, Harleton, New Boston, Liberty-Eylau, Harmony, Texas High, Waskom, Hooks, Pewitt and Daingerfield.
Eight Bulldog powerlifting members (six lifters, two alternates) qualified to represent Queen City High School in the 3A, Division 3 THSPA Regional Powerlifting Mar. 10, in Arp.
The lifters who qualified are Delvon Federick - fifth Place in the Region 3, Division 3 - 181 Class, Kaden Fincher - seventh Place in the Region 3, Division 3 - 165 Class, Daniel Jones - ninth Place in the Region 3, Division 3 - 275 Class, Christian Nard - 10th Place in the Region 3, Division 3 - 181 Class, Thomas (TJ) Guest - 11th Place in the Region 3, Division 3 - 132 Class and Kameron Wright - 12th Place in the Region 3, Division 3 - 242 Class.
Archery
On Feb. 3-4, 150 Queen City archers competed in the 2023 Texas-NASP Virtual State Qualifying Tournament. Each team advanced to the highly anticipated 2023 Texas-NASP State Tournament on March 22-23. Queen City student archers, coaches, and parents traveled to Belton, Texas where 3,800 archers are expected to compete from across the state.
The Queen City Archery team consisted of 155 archers this year. Out of those 150, 75 archers competed on Mar. 22-23, in the Texas State NASP Archery Tournament in Belton along with 3,242 other Texas archers in grades 4-12.
QC had an elementary team; middle school team and a high school team advance to the highly anticipated 2023 NASP Nationals which take place May 11-13. Queen City student archers, coaches, and parents traveled to the Bluegrass state’s Exposition Center (KEC) located in Louisville, Kentucky where more than 16,000 archers are expected to compete on the national stage.
Jack Sumpter is your NASP Texas State 3D Champion in the Elementary Division. Jack shot a score of 270, which ranked him first out of 85 elementary boys and 36th out of 567 out of all divisions.
On May 10-12, 30 Queen City archers competed in the 2023 NASP Eastern Nationals Tournament in Louisville, Ky., along with 14,679 other archers across the U.S. in grades 4-12.
We were able to travel with 54 archers total that spread across all three campuses. All three teams competed very well as they represented Queen City at the national level.
Queen City ninth grader, TJ Guest, qualified for the World Tournament individually as he placed 12th out of 7,387 boys overall, and second out of all freshmen and 10th overall in the High School Division. TJ Guest also received NASP All-American Team honors based on local criteria for academic recognition and performed well at the 2023 Eastern National Tournament.
Other individual qualifiers were: Jack Sumpter 3D, Chris Brown - 3D, Jeffrey Keith – Bullseye and Kingston Boyter - 3D and Bullseye.
All three Queen City Archery Teams advanced to the highly anticipated 2023 NASP World Championship to be held on June 8-10.
Queen City archers traveled to the Myrtle Beach Convention Center in Myrtle Beach, S.C. where archers across the Nation and around the world will compete for the championship. They will compete in both 3D and Bullseye.
Bass Fishing
On Saturday, Jan. 7, nine members of the QC Bass Fishing Club competed on Elliot Reservoir in Lone Star, Texas.
Clayton Whittenberg and Micah Whittington placed first overall with 16.56 pounds total, Jasey Engledowel and Sawyer Smith placed second with 2.28 pounds and Aubrie Kiser and Arri Simmons placed third with 1.02 pounds.
Micah Whittington caught the big bass weighing 3.10 pounds.
Track
Queen City girls win J.K. Hileman Relays on March 16.
Queen City competed in the 14-3A district track meet on Apr. 12. Both Queen City’s varsity girls and JV boys’ teams placed second overall and the varsity boys tied for third.
At Area, in the 400m dash Trent Granberry advanced to Regionals. The 4x100m relay team of Nicolas Herring, DJ Henson, Delvon Federick and Granberry placed fourth at 43.55 and advanced to Regionals.
In the 300m hurdles Toni McCellon wrapped up the Area title with a first placed finish at 47.85.
In discus Makenna Hamilton placed second at 97 feet, 7 1/2 inches in triple jump Cassidy Johnson placed second at 36 feet, 1 1/2 inches. McCellon, Hamilton and Johnson advanced to Regionals.
Junior High
Queen City’s junior high track program competed in the 14-3A district track meet on Apr. 3.
The eighth-grade boys’ program rolled to a district championship and outdistanced the second-place team by 28 points.
Cattle Show
Queen City students Sadie Dodd and Laekin Campbell took part in the Cass County Cattleman’s Association Cattle Show last week. Dodd won second in her class and earned the third spot in the steer sale order. Campbell was the Grand Champion with her British Bull and the Overall Bull Grand Champion. She also won her class with her Registered Polled Hereford heifer and earned the Grand Champion spot in that competition as well.
Daimion Collins
Atlanta’s Daimion Collins transfers to LSU. Former Atlanta Rabbit and Kentucky Wildcat Daimion Collins transferred to LSU recently to play for the Tigers.
Wylie Jo Hodges
Wylie Jo Hodges qualified for semifinals by being in the top 3 in the American qualifier at Marshall in September of 2022 on her palomino mare, DH Jess Stellar “Jules”.
The semifinals was Wylie Jo and Jules’ 10th run together.
In October of 2022, Wylie Jo and her horse she trained; DH Shodos Status “Lucille” qualified for the Jr. Patriot to be held in Ft. Worth in March.
In December, Wylie Jo competed in the KK Run for Vegas qualifier and Vegas Tuffest in Las Vegas Wylie Jo qualified for the American Rodeo which is a huge accomplishment. She’s never qualified for the “Crown Jewel of Rodeo” but it has always been one of her goals to do so.
Pineywoods Baggers
The Pineywoods Baggers, a local cornhole league, hosted a cornhole tournament on Saturday, Oct. 22, inside the Bloomburg ISD gymnasium.
The tourney was a Bloomburg ISD Scholarship benefit with most of the proceeds going into the scholarship fund. Money raised for the scholarship fund was $2,350 and player payout was $2,309.
Hunter Smith, a Bloomburg alum and NextHome Realty marketer, was in the forefront of putting the benefit together.