Baseball
Milton, the defending Class AAAAAA champion, is 17-5 overall, 8-2 in Region 5, despite the loss of pitcher/shortstop Dylan Cease, a Vanderbilt signee and MLB draft prospect, for the past month with elbow soreness. Milton still has a great staff. Left-handed pitcher Alex Schnell, a Clemson signee, is 5-2 with a 1.01 ERA with 54 strikeouts in 48 innings. Matt Geiger is 5-0 with a 1.86 ERA with 47 strikeouts in 41 innings. Cease was thought to be returning this week as a hitter only, but was advised by doctors to wait another week. He might not pitch again this season.
More baseball
Mundy’s Mill senior Rodney Smith, better known as an all-state running back who signed with Minnesota, is a baseball star, too. Smith, a shortstop and center fielder, is batting .578 (26-of-45) with eight doubles and four triples. He has stolen 14 bases and never been caught. He even pitched an inning. Mundy’s Mill is 6-12. … Columbia junior Jalen Atterbury is one of state’s better dual-threat (pitcher/hitter) players. He’s batting .455 (30-for-66) with six triples and 32 stolen bases. As a pitcher, he’s 7-1 with 0.38 ERA. He has 49 strikeouts in 37 1/3 innings. … Wesleyan’s Jahmai Jones is batting .429 (18-for-42 with five home runs and seven stolen bases).
Soccer
Boys: No. 1 Brookwood stayed on top of the AAAAAA rankings despite suffering its first loss last weekend against Collins Hill. Brahan Gamarra and Alfredo Rivera each notched their 12th goal in a 3-1 victory against defending state champion Berkmar on Tuesday, and goal-keeper Andy Harris picked up his 12th victory. Harris had allowed only 0.51 goals against with seven shutouts, heading into Friday's game against Parkview. … Three-time defending AA state champion Westminster visits No. 1 and undefeated Greater Atlanta Christian on Tuesday. GAC, ranked No. 7 in the nation by the National Soccer Coaches Association, defeated Westminster 4-0 on March 25. A second victory against Westminster would clinch the 6-AA title for the Spartans. GAC also holds a four-goal lead in the tiebreaker over Westminster.
Girls: The 8-AAAAAA championship and possibly the role of favorite heading into the state tournament will be determined this week when fourth-ranked Brookwood (5-1 overall and 6-0 in region play) closes the regular season with games against top-ranked Grayson (14-0-1) on Monday and No. 3 Parkview (14-1, 6-1) on Wednesday. Grayson defeated Parkview 5-4 on March 14. Brookwood was scheduled to play Parkview on Friday, but the game was postponed. Brookwood's scoring leader is Jenny Allen, an Armstrong Atlantic signee who has 37 goals. … Second-ranked Harrison clinched the 4-AAAAAA title when it defeated Kennesaw Mountain 3-0 on Tuesday in a battle between teams that were unbeaten in region play. Lizzy Sieracki, Melissa Cameron and Treva Aycock scored the goals for Harrison.
Track and field
Boys: Grady won the Atlanta Classic Championships for the third time in four years, edging Mays 136-129 for the title. Senior Felton Gray led the way for the Gray Knights, scoring a total of 28 points with wins in the high jump (6 feet, 2 inches) and long jump (21-8), and a second-place finish in the triple jump (42-3 1/2 to Mays junior Kenneth Fuller (43 feet, 1/2 inch). … Rockdale County won the 6-AAAAAA title as Dax Willette won the 1,600 meters (4:39.89) and 3,200 meters (10:08.21), Jhibri Greer won the 110-meter (14.47) and 300-meter (39.08) hurdles, and the Bulldogs' 400-meter relay team won in a time of 3.21:22. … Eagle's Landing Christian Academy won the Area 3 Class A-Private meet at Landmark Christian by one point over Our Lady of Mercy, 122-121. Andrew Williams won the shot put with a toss of 45-1 3/4, and Oscar Harris won the 400 meters in a time of 50.89 to lead the Chargers. Other top performances included Galloway junior Reilly Friedman winning the 1,600 meters (4:29.85) and 3,200 meters (9:30.41); Pace Academy senior Kenny Selmon, who signed with North Carolina, winning the 110-meter (14.16) and 300-meter (37.16) hurdles, and Our Lady of Mercy senior Christian Coleman winning the 100 meters (10.46), 200 meters (21.54) and long jump (23-3).
Girls: Maynard Jackson won the Atlanta Classic Championships for the first time in school history. Freshman Courtney Jones led the way, winning titles in the 100-meter hurdles (14.73 seconds), the 300-meter hurdles (46.89) and the high jump (4-10), while the Jaguars' 400-meter (48.36) 1,600-meter relay teams (4:12.09) also took home titles. … Eagle's Landing Christian Academy won the Area 3 Class A-Private meet at Landmark Christian as freshman T'Aja Cameron won the 100 meters (12.51), 200 meters (24.80) and the triple jump (35-9), and the 400-meter (49.10) and 1,600-meter (4:13.29) relay teams also won titles to lead the Chargers. Atlanta International School's Helen Williams won titles in the 1,600 meters (5:05.04) and 3,200 meters (10:49.82). … Pope won the 7-AAAAA title in dominating fashion, 153.50-89 over Riverwood. Kierra Henry won the long jump (16-8) and the triple jump (36-4), and Andrea Vahoua won the shot put (39-5 1/4) and the discus (135-3 1/2).
Lacrosse
Boys: The Centennial Knights are AAAAAA's No. 5-ranked team and defeated Lassiter 10-9 to improve to 11-3 and 7-3 in Region 3. They were led by junior attackers Nathan Solomon (three goals, two assists) and Brendan Spence (three goals). Junior goalie Austin Skorb had nine saves. … AAAAAA's No. 8-ranked Peachtree Ridge improved to 10-3 and 7-0 with victories against Parkview and Grayson. The Lions were led by junior attacker Ben Briggette (seven goals, four ground balls), senior midfielder Jacob Lee (six goals, 15 face-off wins) and freshman midfielder Zane Ashley (three goals, two assists).
Girls: Starr's Mill, ranked No. 9 in AAAAA-A, defeated Grady 20-7. Top performers were junior attacker Anna Voso (four goals, two assists) and junior midfielder Jess Ward (three goals, three forced turnovers, three draw controls). The Lady Panthers improved to 11-1 and 8-0 in Region 1. … Holy Innocents' improved to 7-4 and 6-1 in Region 1 of AAAAA-A with a 14-8 victory against Lovett. They were led by senior midfielder and captain Annie Bennett (six goals) and senior goalie and captain Clara Forrestal (eight saves).
Golf
Boys: Andrew Mora of Douglas County was co-medalist for the American Junior Golf Association's Junior All-Star at Chateau Elan. Sea Kim of Duluth, Andy Mao of Johns Creek and Winston Meshad of Atlanta also played their way into the field.
Girls: Michaela Owen, a junior at Lambert, will graduate a year early and enroll for fall semester at Auburn, where she will join the women's golf team. Owen won medalist at the AAAAA championship last season. She has won three times on the Southeastern Junior Golf Tour and won the U.S. Girls Junior qualifier in Prattville, Ala., last year. She is the daughter of Oglethorpe men's golf coach Jim Owen.
Tennis
Boys: East Coweta won the 3-AAAAAA title, beating Newnan in the final after losing to the Cougars twice during the regular season. East Coweta won the championship 5-0, which a departure from the earlier meetings, both won 3-2 by Newnan. The most dramatic moment came when East Coweta's Matt Byers defeated William Ballou at No. 1 singles 3-6, 7-5, 10-8. Ballou had won the previous meeting in straight sets. East Coweta also got singles wins from Mitchell Corley and Moises Escobar, as well as the doubles teams of Oliver and Andy Truong and Dalton Ayers and Bennett Souter. … Peachtree Ridge won 7-AAAAAA, defeating Norcross in the final. Taylor Foote, Jasith Choppara and Kevin Lim play singles for the Lions. The No. 1 doubles team of Alex Peed and Niki Makarenko has also been outstanding.
Girls: Bremen won its second consecutive 5-AA championship by defeating Heard County in the final. Bremen has won 15 consecutive matches since losing to AAAAAA Wheeler 3-2 during the Marietta Spring Classic. Bremen is led in singles by No. 1 Meg Cummings (17-2), No. 2 Charli Allen (18-1) and No. 3 Emily Cheshier (19-0), who has not lost a regular-season match in two years. The Blue Devils (18-1) have not lost a region match in two years. … Mill Creek defeated North Gwinnett to win the 7-AAAAAA championship. The Hawks are led by Madison Hahn, Kayleigh Hahn and Abbi Jordan, the top singles players, and the doubles teams of Madison Walsh and Madeline Hill and Emily Husfeld and Katie Hill. … Buford won the 7-AAA championship, with Annalea Stevens and Bailey McCammon leading the way in a 3-0 victory against North Hall in the final.
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