Tyler County Sports

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The Colmesneil Lady Dogs beat East Chambers 5-3 last week for the Bi-District title. The girls will play Joaquin this Friday in a one-game series for the area playoff round. The game begins at 6 p.m. and will take place at Hemphill. Tickets are $5 for adults and $3 for students. Colmesneil is the away team. The Bulldog boys will take on Shelbyville in a three-game series, with game two beginning 30 minutes after game one, on Thursday, May 4, beginning at 5 p.m. in Jasper for the bi-district title. Tickets are $5 for adults and $3 for students. The location for game three will be decided by a coin flip (either Colmesneil or Shelbyville), if necessary on Friday.

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The CHS Lady Jacket Softball Team will play Martinsville this weekend for round two of the state softball playoffs.  Game one will be on Friday, May 5 at 6:00 p.m. at Huntington High School.  Game two will be on Saturday, May 6 at 12 p.m. at Huntington High School, with game three (if needed) at 3 p.m.  Pictured are the team with their coaches:  Head Coach Crystal Muncrief, Kinsley Barnes, Marae Pounds, Lauren Citrano, Emma Byrd, Lily Read, Koree Hilliard, Lily Payne, Alyssa White, Kaylee Tolar, Abby Grimes, Coach Susan Muncrief, and Coach Courtney Tonnies.  Photo by Jana Rayburn | Tyler County Booster

By Jana Rayburn

The Chester Lady Jackets played a warm up game last week against the Big Sandy Lady Wildcats. The Lady Jackets took the lead late in the game when Lauren Citrano doubled in the sixth inning, scoring three runs.

Both Kaylee Tolar and Kinsley Barnes were in the circle for the Lady Jackets. Citrano led the team at the plate with two hits in four at bats. The final score was a 7-5 Chester victory. Coach Crystal Muncrief was elated with the outcome of the game.

The Lady Jackets will get round two of the State Softball Playoffs started this weekend with a best of three series against the Martinsville Lady Pirates. Game one will be played on Friday, May 5 at 6 p.m. Game two will be on Saturday, May 6 at 12 p.m., with game three (if necessary) at 3 p.m. All games will be played at Huntington High School softball field.

CHS Athletic Awards

Chester High School honored their student athletes last week in front of parents, teachers, and staff. These athletes were recognized for their dedication to their sports by the coaches who spent countless hours with them during the year.

The volleyball MVP’s for the year were Emma Grimes and Lily Read. Keighen Green was named football MVP. MVP’s in cross country were Travis Zulpo and Kyli Handley. Basketball MVP’s were Lily Read, Jack Rayburn, and Rick Carlton.

The Aubry Bradley Award was awarded to Jack Rayburn, Jaxon Gay, Lily Read, and Kinsley Barnes. The baseball, softball, track, and golf MVP awards will be named after their respective seasons come to a close.

Yellowjacket Baseball

The Chester Yellowjackets are the District 24-1A/2A Champions. The Jackets went 12-1 in district play this season. Their only loss came last week when the Jackets lost to Brookeland 9-10, outhitting the Wildcats and climbing back from a seven-hit deficit. Leading the Jackets at the plate with two hits apiece were Jack Rayburn, Jaxon Gay, and Jesse Bittick. Will Thomason and Trayce Knox pitched for the Jackets. This loss tied these two teams for first. Brookeland then conceded the tie-breaker game, making the Yellowjackets the outright District Champions and giving them a bye in round one of the playoffs. Chester will face either Kennard or North Zulch, who play at the end of this week. To get ready for the Area round, Chester will play a warm up game against the Leverett’s Chapel Lions, District Champions of 19-1A/2A, on Friday, May 5 at 4 p.m. at Huntington High School.

High School Track and Field

The Chester Yellowjacket Track and Field teams traveled to Jourdanton to compete in the Regional Track meet last week.
There were 12 athletes from Chester participating in the meet, seven of those being freshmen. Kinsley Barnes finished seventh in the 100M dash. Lauren Citrano just missed qualifying for finals in the 200M dash.

All the relay teams competed in a very tough region, and all teams had their times improve throughout the season. Congratulations to all participants on a great 2023 track season!

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The Spurger Pirate boys’ track and field athletes brought home the gold, with a first-place finish in the boys’ events at the District 28-1A Track Meet last week in Zavalla. Jose Medina; Luis Jimenez; Kade Ford; Gage Gray; Josh Grissom; Landon Heim; Coby Anthony all medaled in their events. Photo courtesy of Spurger ISD

By Chris Edwards
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ZAVALLA – Tyler County was well-represented in the District 28-1A Track Meet, which took place last Thursday, April 13, with Zavalla High School as the host school.

The Spurger Pirate boys took the gold in the boys’ division, with 128 total points accumulated through the day’s events. Chester earned a fourth-place finish with 88 points.

In the girls’ events, Chester got a silver finish, as a team, with 116 points awarded to the Lady Jacket runners. The Lady Pirates of Spurger notched a sixth-place team finish, with 35.5 points.

Here is a run-down of the events, and which Tyler County athletes placed:

In the 100-meter dash finals: Chester’s Jaxon Gay medaled gold, with a time of 11.42 seconds. For the 400-meter dash finals:

Landon Heim, of Spurger, brought home the silver, with a time of 54.42 seconds.

Heim and teammate Gage Gray earned second and third, respectively, for the 800-meter run finals, with times of 2:11.70 and 2:27.74.

In the 1600-meter run finals, Spurger’s Jose Medina seized the silver, with a finish of 5:21.23 and teammate Luis Jimenez finished third with a time of 5:37.80.

Medina and Jimenez finished first and second, respectively, in the 3200-meter run with times of 11:49.70 and 12:19.298.

In the 110-meter hurdles, Josh Grissom of Spurger, finished first, with a time of 17.85, and teammate Coby Anthony got the silver, with a 19.41 finish.

The relay team of Chester’s Chase Bertrand; Kessler Romo; Jesse Bittick and Rick Carlton finished second in the 4x200 relay, with a time of 1:45.25.

In the boys’ field events, Bittick seized the gold in shot put with a distance of 36’-9 1/2”, and Spurger’s Kade Ford got second, with a 36’-8” throw.

Ford won first in the discus throw, with a distance of 114’-7 3/4”.

Romo and fellow Yellowjacket PJ Purvis won second and third place in the high jump competition, with heights of 5’-6” for Romo and 5’-5” for Purvis.

For the girls’ events, Chester’s Kinsley Barnes won the first-place medal in the 100-meter dash, with a time of 13.46 seconds.

Chester’s Lauren Citrano placed second in the 200-meter dash with a time of 29.26.

In the 800-meter run, Spurger’s Jillian Leasman won second-place, with a time of 3:01.37 and her teammate Emily Fea won third-place with a 3:01.81 finish.

Chester’s Sydney Brock earned a third-place finish in the 100-meter hurdles, with a time of 24.45, and in the 300-meter hurdles, Fea brought home a gold for Spurger, with a time of 58.09 and Chester’s Kyli Handley earned the second-place finish, with a time of 58.75.

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By Chris Edwards
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HENDERSON – Colmesneil athletic director and head football coach Cody Day was announced to lead the Carlisle High School athletics program last Thursday.

Day will replace Clay Baker in heading up the Indians’ athletics starting for the 2023-24 school year, where he will also serve as head football coach in addition to AD duties, as he had with the Bulldogs.

Day has served four seasons in his role at CISD and led the Bulldogs to the playoffs last season to the bi-district round, where they lost to Cushing by a single point.

The Indians finished their football season last year with a perfect 4-0 district record, in a stacked conference with heavy hitters such as Teneha and Overton. They made it to the regional round and finished with a 9-1 overall record.

Day’s overall record with the Bulldogs sits at 18-21. Before Colmesneil, Day served three seasons as HC at West Hardin, where he took a previously winless team (in its 2017 season) to the playoffs in 2018.

Carlisle, a 2A-DII school, has been to the playoffs 10 consecutive seasons.

Day said that two factors attracted him to the decision to look into the position at Carlisle: the location, which he said is much closer to his wife’s family and the program’s track record, which he said has maintained a high level of success.

Of his time at Colmesneil, Day called the experience “unbelievable” and said that he cannot thank the kids enough.

“They worked their tails off and totally bought in and the community and administration has been great. I can’t thank them enough,” he said.