With the school year nearing the end, spring sports are preparing for the playoffs and championships. Two sports, golf and gymnastics, are holding their championship events this week.
BEST OF THE BEST …
Gymnastics kicks off its championships at Westminster on Friday, April 30, and one already decorated athlete will be looking for more glory. Michelle Shealy of Providence Christian, the county’s only state meet participant in the all-around, will compete for a second straight state title. Last year, Shealy clinched her all-around crown with a perfect score of 10 in the floor exercise.
In golf, the Wesleyan boys finished second in Region 7-A while the girls took the region title. The Providence Christian girls also qualified for state (the top two teams in each region will compete at state on May 3) with a second-place finish. The Hebron Christian girls took first in 8-A.
The Greater Atlanta Christian girls were the only Gwinnett team in Class 2A to qualify, grabbing a first-place finish in Region 6-AA. The Norcross and Peachtree Ridge boys and Collins Hill girls qualified out of Region 7-AAAAA, and Grayson’s and Brookwood’s boys finished one-two in Region 8-AAAAA, and vice versa on the girls side. The Gwinnett low medalists included Tyler Carr for the Grayson boys, Taylor Allen for the Brookwood girls, Ryan Trocchio for the Norcross boys, Jackie Rajek for the Collins Hill girls, Spencer Cokely (boys) and Lindsey Adams (girls) of Greater Atlanta Christian, Darby Gentry for the Hebron Christian girls, and Taylor Blair for the Wesleyan girls.
Class 5A Gwinnett qualifiers will play the championship round at Reynolds Plantation, Class 2A will play at the Alpharetta Athletic Club, and Class A will tee it up at the Green Island Golf Club (boys) and the Bull Creek Golf Club (girls).
ON THE PITCH …
The state soccer tournament began last week, with teams getting going in the first round on April 27-30, depending on gender and classification. Results were not available at press time, but the teams to earn top seeds from Gwinnett were the Dacula boys (14-3 from Region 8, ranked No. 6 in Class 5A according to Eurosportscoreboard.com), the Wesleyan boys (9-3-1 from Area 11 in Class A/AA, No. 4), the North Gwinnett girls (14-3 from Region 7-AAAAA, No. 5), the Parkview girls (15-1 from Region 8-AAAAA, No. 2) and the Greater Atlanta Christian girls (10-4-1 from Area 11 in Class A/AA, No. 2).
READY FOR MAY MADNESS …
The baseball playoffs begin this week on Friday with opening-round doubleheaders, and we already know of a few teams that will be taking the diamond from Gwinnett.
Region 8-AAAAA Parkview assured itself of a No. 1 seed in the state tourney with a 10-2 win over South Gwinnett on Monday. The Panthers’ Austin Wheeler allowed just four hits on his way to the win. Parkview is followed by Grayson, Brookwood and Central Gwinnett as the Nos. 2-4 teams in the league, and all three squads are nearly assured of a playoff berth with two games remaining. Grayson helped its cause on Monday with a 4-2 win over Dacula; the Rams’ Taylor Allum pitched a complete game to move his record to 4-0 on the year, and also went 2-for-3 at the plate.
In Region 7-AAAAA, Collins Hill and Mill Creek had locked up playoff berths as the No. 1 and 2, respectively, while North Gwinnett sat a half game out of fourth place at press time with two games remaining. Class 2A Buford was in line for either the three or four seed in 6-AA, and Wesleyan is undefeated atop 7-A with a 9-0 record and a No. 4 ranking.
Providence Christian is a virtual lock for the No. 4 seed out of 7-A, although the squad could have improved its seeding by avoiding a 3-2 loss on Monday to struggling St. Francis. Hebron Christian has turned into a state power after just a short time in GHSA competition, sitting at No. 3 in the state in Class A with a 22-1 record and 14-0 league mark in 8-A. All playoff seedings will be determined by Monday.
COURTING TITLES …
The Brookwood, Greater Atlanta Christian and Wesleyan boys tennis teams advanced to the second round of the state tournament, which was played earlier this week (results not available at press time). All three teams got sweeps over their first-round competition. On the girls side, Grayson, Peachtree Ridge, Brookwood and Wesleyan all made the Round of 16 as well. The finals matches for both genders will be played on May 7-8 at Clayton County International Park.
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