Baseball
Georgia baseball powers Milton, Parkview and Gainesville are in Cary, N.C., through the weekend for the USA National High School Invitational, the premier national high school tournament in the country.
Parkview pitcher Mac Marshall, a left-hander committed to LSU, pitched a two-hit shutout Thursday in a 2-0 victory against Venice. Marshall is 5-0 with an 0.00 ERA in 27 innings. He has struck out 38.
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Fourth-ranked Allatoona of Class AAAAA is 12-0 behind a solid pitching rotation of Cooper Murphy (4.0, 1.06 ERA, 33 IP), Clarke Schmidt (5-0, 0.50 ERA, 28 IP) and Grayson Harbin (3-0, 1.75 ERA, 12 IP). Schmidt has 47 strikeouts. He committed to South Carolina. … Jalen Atterburry of fourth-ranked Columbia (AAAA) has not allowed an earned run in 25 2/3 innings, but is 5-1 because of an unearned run in a 1-0 loss to No. 1-ranked Marist last week. … Three pitchers who signed with Division I schools lead Marist, which is ranked No. 1 despite hitting only one home run in 13 games. Notre Dame signee Sean Guenther is 3-0 with an 0.52 ERA. Michael Toner (William and Mary) is 4-0 with an 0.00 ERA and is hitting .385. Chris McGrath (Duke) is 3-0 with a 1.83 ERA. McGrath batting .531 with 17 RBIs and has the team’s only home run.
Soccer
Boys: The No. 1 team in the nation hails from Georgia. McIntosh, winner of 35 consecutive matches heading into Friday, was ranked No. 1 by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America this week. All five regional voters had the Chiefs as the top team on their ballot. The NSCAA is the largest coaching association in the nation, with 30,000 members. Senior Adam Sheikali has been the catalyst for McIntosh. Sheikali scored six goals and had seven assists in victories against Greenbrier, Whitewater, Marist and Northgate. Brookwood (No. 5), Walton (No. 9) Greater Atlanta Christian (No. 11) and Johnson of Gainesville (No. 19) also represented Georgia in the NSCAA poll. … Brookwood, AAAAAA's No. 1-ranked team, remained unbeaten with a 3-0 victory against Dacula on Tuesday. Sophomore goalkeeper Andy Harris posted his sixth shutout of the season and lowered his goals-against average to 0.43. The Broncos have nine shutouts in 13 victories and have allowed only six goals all season. Samaan Williams had two goals against Dacula, and Matt Gower had a goal and an assist. Alfredo Rivera leads the Broncos with 10 goals. Brahan Gamarra has nine goals and nine assists.
Girls: Top-ranked Northgate, the defending AAAAA champion, suffered its first loss of the season and had an 18-game overall winning streak snapped when it lost 1-0 on Monday against region rival McIntosh, which was No. 2 in the most recent Score Atlanta and Eurosport rankings. McIntosh's Taylor Dowse scored the only goal on a direct kick with 1:18 remaining. … Oconee County's Anna Kate Brown set a school record for most goals in a game (six) by any player, boys or girls, in a recent 14-4 victory against Franklin County, according to the Oconee Enterprise. … Tucker's Daijah De Ramus is the new goal-scoring leader in DeKalb County with 17 in the team's 6-2 start, according to stats released by the county Wednesday. Arabia Mountain's Juveina Hylton is the assists leader with nine, and Lakeside's Miranda McNalley is the leading goalkeeper with no goals allowed in six games played.
Track and field
Boys: County record-setting performances by juniors Lawrence Crawford and Malik Dawkins led Rockdale County to the Newton County-Rockdale County championship. Crawford won the 100 and 200 meters in times of 10.63 and 21.87 seconds, respectively, and Dawkins won the 400 and 800 meters in 49.79 and 2:03.02 … Junior Kirvonte Benson led Marietta to the Cobb County championship by setting a county record in the long jump (22-9), while also winning the 100 (10.79) and 200 (21.95) meters. McEachern senior Bryce Glover set a county record in the triple jump (46-6 1/2), and Hillgrove senior Jaylan Reid set records in the discus (148-7) and the shot put (58-1/2).
Girls: Rockdale County freshman Candace Hill set records in the 100 and 200 meters while leading the Bulldogs to the Newton County-Rockdale County championship, with times of 11.77 and 24.02, respectively. Bulldogs sophomore Taylor Wilkins won the shot put with a record throw of 33-feet, 6 1/2 inches. Rockdale's 400- and 1,600-meter relay teams set records as well, winning in times of 48.45 and 4:06.16… The Starr's Mill girls were led to the Fayette County title by senior Annika Strauss, who set a record in the pole vault with a jump of 10-0. Also, sophomore Alexis Farley won the triple jump (36-6 1/2) and the long jump (17-1 3/4); freshman Madeline Hammond won the high jump (5-2), and senior Hailey Gollnick won the 3,200 meters in 12:17.39. Fayette County junior Chinyere Njoku set records in the 100- and 300-meter hurdles in 14.37 and 45.53, respectively, and Whitewater junior Noelle Parker established a record in the shot put at 42-4.
Lacrosse
Boys: Blessed Trinity, the No. 7-ranked team in AAAAA-A, is 7-3 (3-1 in Region 3) after a victory against Allatoona and a loss to Pope. Blessed Trinity is led by senior goalie Sean Dever, who had 32 saves last week (64 percent save percentage on the season). … St. Pius, ranked No. 8 in AAAAA-A, was 3-0 last week with victories against Southwest DeKalb, Benedictine and Collins Hill. Pius' record is 8-2 and 3-0 in Region 4. Senior midfielder Patrick Girard scored 11 goals; senior midfielder Matt Doelling added five. … No. 1-ranked Westminster (9-1, 4-0 in Region 2-AAAAA-A) picked up two victories, beating North Paulding and defending AAAAAA champion Centennial. Read Ziegler's four goals led the Wildcats to the 11-10 Centennial victory.
Girls: North Gwinnett has the best start in program history at (8-2, 2-0 in 4-AAAAAA) and is ranked seventh in AAAAAA. It defeated South Forsyth and lost to Lambert last week. Leaders include senior Lindsey Cobb (26 assists) and senior Lauren Aycock (four goals this week; 34 on the season). … West Forsyth lost to St. Pius and defeated Forsyth Central to move to 7-3 and 3-0 in Region 3, good for a No. 8 ranking in AAAAAA. Junior attackers McKinley Puckett (six goals) and Monica Martelli (five goals) led the team. … Johns Creek, ranked No. 9 in AAAAAA, is 7-4 and 6-1 in Region 6 after victories against North Forsyth and Peachtree Ridge. Tori Williams had seven goals, and Alli Dawson had 4.
Golf
Boys: Five of the state's defending champions will compete in the annual High School Invitational on Monday at the Atlanta Athletic Club. Marist is back to defend the title it won last year on the Highlands Course. The War Eagles are the defending AAAA champion and have won nine state titles. Marist is led by Will Chandler, Will Duma, Jack Larkin and Sean Murphy. Chandler was medalist at state last year, and the other three were involved in a five-way tie for second. The other champions in the 18-team field include Norcross (AAAAAA), Woodward Academy (AAA), Westminster (AA) and Brookstone (A-Private).
Girls: The Atlanta Athletic Club also will host a Girls Invitational for the first time Monday. Girls will compete as individuals on the Riverside Course. At least 20 of the state's top-ranked girls, including Bailey Tardy of Norcross and Rachel Dai of Cambridge, will be in the field. … Northside-Columbus won the Lady Granger Invitational at Highland Country Club in LaGrange. Isabel Rijos shot 84 to pace Northside's 175. Woodward Academy finished second at 179 after an 80 from medalist Mia Gill.
Tennis
Boys: Allatoona continued its undefeated season with a 5-0 victory against North Paulding. Andrew Wiesser at No. 1 singles and Austin Stiers at No. 2 singles did not lose a game in their matches. … Brookstone, a quarterfinalist in Class A last year, overwhelmed First Presbyterian Day, another state-playoff participant, 5-0. Brookstone improved to 8-1. Baran Baris, Kazuki Onoe and Jonathan Dreelin play singles for the Cougars. Trey Throne and Hudson Terrell play No. 1 doubles, and Jack Pease and Sahil Arora play No. 2 doubles.
Girls: The Walton girls, who have won 11 of the past 12 state championships, are undefeated and have won eight of their matches by a 5-0 score. No opponent has won a game against the Raiders since Starr's Mill on Feb. 26, a 4-1 Walton victory. Walton's closest call was a 3-2 victory against Westminster on Feb. 20. Returning players from last year's championship team include Johanna Keeline, who won the deciding match over Peachtree Ridge in the state final, Katie Riley, Jessica Cramer, Erica Bauer and Sophia Guldberg.
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