By Donnie A. Lucas

Albany tracksters faced a large field of athletes, many from much larger districts, at the Hamlin Piper Relays last Saturday to bring home a few medals and valuable experience.

The high school track teams will compete at the Eastland meet today, with the field events starting at 3:30 p.m. and the running at 5:30 p.m.

Both squads were operating at less than full strength at Hamlin due to spring break, but the coaches said that advances were made.

On Wednesday, March 6, the Moran High School tennis team traveled to Cisco to participate in a practice match between Cisco, Baird, and Moran.

“Our girls doubles team beat the team from Cisco,” said tennis coach Jo Hise. “Our boys doubles team defeated Cisco and then lost to Baird.”

Moran will play in Albany on March 20.

Playing varsity tennis for Moran this year are seniors Kaylin New, KJ Henderson, and Kobee Lapp; junior Harley Schafer; sophmores Corbin Roberts and Corey Miller; and freshman Hannah Rogers.

CISCO INVITATIONAL

The junior high track teams took a large contingent to Breckenridge on Tuesday, March 5, bringing home a number of medals and ribbons along with improved times and distances.

The junior high is off this week for spring break, returning to action on Friday, March 22 in Eastland.

The weather in Breckenridge was cold on the day of the meet, causing the jumping field events to be cancelled. Only the discus and shot put events preceded the running session.

After taking a week off for spring break, members of the Albany High School tennis team will be back in action on Wednesday, March 20, hosting a couple of other schools at the local courts starting at 2:00 p.m.

AHS athletes will then participate in the Abilene High School Invitational March 29-30.

The district meet is set for the following week on April 2-3 at Abilene’s Rose Park Tennis Center.

“Due to the weather, we haven’t gotten much court time, but hopefully that will change,” said tennis coach Sara Wilson.

Participants in the Albany Girls Softball Association played their first tournament games last weekend and will start the regular season on Monday, March 18.

“We have close to 60 girls signed up, including a few from out of town,” said president Cynthia Smith. “All the girls did a good job at the opening and looked like they had fun. I am excited about the season!”

There are five teams this year – two 8-U, one 10-U, and two 14-U. 

The teams will play in Albany and various area towns during the 2019 season.

Winning five out of six tournament games, the Lady Lions finished out the pre-district portion of their schedule with a 13-4 record.

Albany was off this week for spring break but will be back on the diamond Tuesday, March 19 to open district in Baird. The game is slated for 4:30 p.m.

The Lady Lions will continue the District 7-2A race at home on Friday, March 22 at 5:00 p.m.

Albany lost the opening game in the Snyder Tournament to Ft. Stockton, 11-3, but then picked up five straight games in the non-bracketed tourney.

The varsity Lion baseball team lost three straight games at the Windthorst tournament last week, but their coach says they came away with several positives.

The Lions will host both Hamlin and Wellington on Friday for a round robin set of games.

The Lions will take the field at 10:00 a.m. against Hamlin, followed by a 3:00 p.m. game versus Wellington.

The JV Lions will play the Hamlin JV at 11:30 a.m. after the Albany and Hamlin varsity game.

Albany will finish the pre-district schedule on Tuesday, March 19, hosting Knox City in a 5:00 p.m. bout.

The Moran junior high and high school track teams traveled to Gordon last Thursday, March 7 to begin their 2019 track season, and each of the MISD teams brought back several ribbons from the event. 

“It was a fantastic meet put on by the Gordon community and coaching staff,” said Moran head coach Harley Ethridge. “All of our participants competed proudly and represented the Moran school and community with exhibitions of sportsmanship and excellent determination.”

The Lions’ varsity track team stepped up their level of competition last week with a fourth place finish at the Breckenridge meet, while the varsity girls were still working short-handed.

Both track coaches are looking forward to the Hamlin track meet on Saturday, which starts at 9:00 a.m. Field and running preliminaries will be on the track in the morning, followed by the running finals starting after the lunch break.

The high school track teams got off to a slower than usual start last week due to weather conditions.

Albany traveled to Clyde for the usual first meet of the season, but field events were canceled and running events moved up due to cold and windy conditions.

The track teams will compete again at the Breckenridge meet set for Thursday (today) with field events starting at 4:00 p.m., followed by running events at 6:15 p.m.