With the winter weather forcing cancellations and postponements throughout Georgia, the Swimming and Diving State Championships have still yet to conclude. On the girls side, Lassiter appears strong with their three relay teams seeded either first or second.
Meanwhile, on the boys side, several swimmers are vying for state titles. Walton’s Brian McClintock (100 freestyle and 100 breaststroke) and Ben Shepperd (50 freestyle, 100 butterfly), Kennesaw Mountain’s Jake Schoeff (100 butterfly), Pope’s Jordan Turner (200 individual medley, 100 breaststroke), and Lassiter’s Jimmy Yoder (200 and 500 freestyle) are all in contention to win their respective events.
Wrestling saw some cancellations as well this week. After being postponed three days to Monday and Tuesday, the two-day sectionals were cancelled completely. The new schedule began with weigh-ins for all classifications on Wednesday (except for Class A), with the first round starting at 8 a.m. on Thursday. The new format will follow the former format with a 32-man bracket, which was used prior to 2009 when sectionals were added. For Class A, the tournament began on Thursday at 4:30 p.m. and will feature a 16-man bracket instead of the previously scheduled eight.
HOOPS PLAYOFFS NEXT …
In basketball news, Friday’s games, which should have signified the conclusion of the regular season, were postponed to Monday due to the weather, forcing the region tournaments to be postponed as well. In Region 5-AAAAA, the tournament that was originally scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, began last Wednesday and Thursday, with the semifinals and finals not to be concluded until Feb. 22-23. In Region 6AAAAA the tournament will begin on Wednesday, while in Region 7AAAA the tournament is set to kick off on Tuesday with Hillgrove taking on Hiram on the boy’s side. The semifinals for the Region 7-AAAA are scheduled for Saturday at Allatoona, while the consolation games will be played on Monday, followed by the championships on Tuesday.
Several of Cobb County’s teams will enter the metro tournaments as the top seed with McEachern occupying the spot for the boys in 5-AAAAA, Wheeler in 6-AAAAA and Hillgrove in 7-AAAA. On the girls side, North Cobb is the top seed in 5-AAAAA and Campbell in 6-AAAAA.
With all of the hype surrounding the upcoming tournaments, Monday’s make-up games featured a lot of excitement as well. McEachern took on Etowah in their final game of the regular season, with the Indians pulling out the 67-58 win. Trae Golden led the charge in McEachern’s 13th consecutive victory, scoring 30 points, 18 of which he scored in the first half. Marquis Roberts also had a strong game for the Indians, racking up 11 points and five rebounds, while Kei’erre Richards tallied 10 points and four assists of his own. McEachern looked particularly strong in the first half going into halftime with a 39-22 lead. However, Etowah fought back in the second half, pulling to within three with 3:09 remaining, but McEachern held on to finish out the regular season with an impressive 21-4 record.
Things did not go as well for McEachern on the women’s side on Monday, falling to Etowah 59-48 to finish the season with a record of 20-5, second in the region standings. Moniqua Darby had another strong game for the Indians, tallying 17 points, 10 in the first half. Lauren Coleman recorded 13 points, while Kayla Montgomery added eight. The Eagles led by only seven at 33-26 going into halftime, but came out strong in the third quarter, outscoring the Indians 12-5, holding Darby and Montgomery to just one point.
In Region 6-AAAAA, Wheeler finished out a season sweep of their cross-town rivals from Walton, defeating the Raiders 95-84 on Monday. The game was pretty evenly matched throughout, with seven lead changes occurring in the second quarter alone. The Wildcats went into halftime with a three-point lead at 48-45 after Karriem Simmons made a 3-pointer at the buzzer. When the game returned in the second half, Ryan Harrow attempted to get the Raiders off to a good start, pulling Walton to within one with a layup. However, Walton would not score again for four minutes, while Wheeler scored 11 unanswered points, going on to their 95-84 victory. Five Wildcats scored in double figures in the game, led by Jelan Kendrick, who had 26 points and 10 rebounds, followed by Phil Taylor with 20 points, Karl Cochran with 13, Charles Mitchell with 12, and Joey Jerome with 10. Walton’s Harrow led all scorers with 33 points. Kamren Belin, also in double digits for the Raiders, recorded 16, while Lanneryl Johnson and G’Mitri Rice added 13 apiece.
Wade can be reached at kwade@scoreatl.com.
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