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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.