NWLA Weekly Notebook Presented By Southern Classic Chicken • May 10
by Lee Hiller // Northwest Louisiana High School Correspondent
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Byrd’s Moss takes girls state golf title
Byrd’s Sydney Moss birdied three of her final four holes to claim medalist honors at the Division I girls State Golf Championships. The junior shot the day’s low round by five shots, a two-under 72 to go with her first round 75 and finish the tournament one-under 147 and seven strokes ahead of second place.
Led by Noah McWilliams, Benton’s boys finished second to St. Paul’s in Division I. McWilliams finished in a tie for medalists honors after firing a pair of 70s but lost on the second hole of a sudden-death playoff to St. Paul’s Griffith Dorr who had rounds of 65-75. Eli Hill of Airline had rounds of 70-74 for 144 two-day total to finish 8th. Byrd’s Duke Bowen was four strokes behind Hill after shooting 72-76.
Other Benton scores included Ryan Steed 74-76 – 150, Brody Romero 75-76 – 151, Braeden Bell 75-80 – 155 and Miller Davis 81-78 – 159. Byrd finished fourth as team with a two-day total of 600. Other Yellow Jackets were Peyton Johnson 73-77 – 150, Maxwell McDonald 76-76 – 152, Grant Reagan 73-79 – 152 Calloway Cosslee 74-83 – 157.
In Division II, Caddo Magnet’s Alexander Walker had the lowest two-day total from northwest Louisiana. Walker had rounds of 79-75 to tie for 6th. Magnet had two others compete in Arthur Jenkins (90-85 – 175) and Cameron Basinger (90-90 – 180).
Loyola was a state runner-up in Division III. Holden Webb led the Flyers with scores of 72-71 to finish in a tie for fifth with a 143 total. August Drummond was four strokes back after rounds of 73-74. Burke Alford shot a pair of 75s for 150 total, Ross Alford turned in scores of 75-80.
Calvary Baptist Academy finished third in Division IV. Kannon Savage’s 82-76 – 158 led the way followed by Tyler Jones’ 92-84 – 176, Bryce Carpenter 88-104 – 192, Hunter Harris 87-110 – 107, and Ezra Smith 108-98 – 206.
Track and Field
Turner finishes career as seven-time state champion
Booker T. Washington’s Chyler Turner finished off a decorated run with four more state track meet gold medals Saturday. Turner, a Duke signee, won the 100-meter hurdles (13.71), 300-hurdles (43.44), 100-meters (11.76) and 200 (23.91). Her four first places gives her seven in two state meet appearances, having won three in 2019 when the Lions finished as state runners-up just two points out of first. The Lady Lions finished third overall thanks to Turner’s efforts and the third place finish of an 800-meter relay team of Shaterica Cannon, Rakiva Crawford, Shabrenda Ford and Aisya Taylor.
Huntington freshman Demetria Harris helped lead the ladies to a state runner-up finish, two points ahead of BTW. Harris was a member the first place 400-meter relay team and second place 800-meter relay. The 400-meter relay team consisted of Harris, Kayla Taylor, Kyessence Johnson and Samantha Taylor and won with a time of 48.4. Joining Harris on the 800-relay team that ran a second-place time of 1:45.74 were Kalea Dean, Mekenzie Jackson, and Samantha Taylor. The freshman was third in her other two events, jumping 18-1 in the long jump and ran 14.84 in the 100-hurdles. Taylor Bell, a Southeastern La. basketball signee, was second in the shot put (35-6 ¾) and Serenty Palmer was third in the high jump (5-1 ¾) and triple jump (35-8).
Evangel’s Aaronyana Wilson had the only other first place finish, winning the 400 with a time of 57.03. She finished third in the 100 with a 12.47.
North DeSoto’s boys finished sixth in the team standings. Hurdler Cole Palmer had the only first place finish for the Griffins with a 14.59 time in the 110. His 39.47 in the 300 was good enough for second place. Palmer ran anchor on the 1,600-meter relay team that finished second in 3:27.3. Joining Palmer on the relay team were Jonathon Lewis, Kolton McMellon, and Logan Ferguson. Pole Vaulter Logan Ferguson vaulted 12-5 ½ for a third place finish.
Cameron Foster of Northwood placed first in the shot put with a 51-2 ¾ effort.
Class 5A
Captain Shreve’s Kendrick Law and Byrd’s Trent Wells highlighted boys from the area. Law was nosed out of a first place finish in the 100 meters running 10.48 behind Keonte Gaines of Alexandria time of 10.47. Law was on the Gator 400-meter relay team that finished second. Other members of the team that posted a 41.78 were Dillon Burgess, Maurice Green Jr., and Marquez Stevenson. Stevenson’s 48.57 in the 400-meters was good for third.
Wells had a second place finish in the 3,200-meters with a time of 9:48.22 and was third in the 1,600 in 4:18.71.
Girls top finishers included two from Benton and two from Parkway. Benton was led by Isabelle Russell’s second place finish in the 1,600-meters with a time of 5:17.43 and Jamie Willis clocked a 46.68 for third in the 300-meter hurdles.
Parkway had a couple of second place finishes as Mikaylah Williams threw the discus 116-11 and Joslyn Crosby ran 11:32.55 in the 3,200-meter run. The 400-meter relay team of Maya Jackson, Kyla Williams, Jillian Walton, and Sh’Diamond McKnight ran a Bossier Parish best 47.79 and finished fourth.
Class 3A
No boys finished in the top 3 but Manfield’s Ly’TyKeunna Sicks was second in the girls 200 (25.21) and North Webster’s Peyten Ware was second in the pole vault with a personal best 11-4 ½. The Mansfield 800-relay team of Pamyah Johnson, T’La Dewitt, Precious Jones, and Sicks ran a second place time of 1:43.53.
Class 2A
Many’s boys 1,600-meter relay team of Tylen Singleton, Malik Garner, Keelan Williams and Trent Williams ran a second place time of 3:31.53.
Red River had a pair of third place finishes in the field events. Brian Palmer jumped 6-5 ½ in the high jump and triple jumper Zintavious Smith went 45-1.
Class 1A
The Logansport boys relay team of Keysavalyn Barnes, Khameron Boykins, Ja’Caleb Robinson, JyKevion Hewitt, won the 800-relay and ran second in the 400. Calvary’s Will Bagley finished third in the pole vault with an 11-5 ¼ jump and Plain Dealing’s Durancyk Newton was third in the discus (131-11).
Marissa Tell of Haynesville was second in the 100-meter hurdles and second in the triple jump.
St. Mary’s Maggie Gilmore finished second behind Mekyah Hooper of Merryville and ahead of Darcy Edgar of Ouachita Christian with all clearing 5 feet in the high jump. Gilmore had a miss at 4-10 and Edgar had misses at 4-10 and 5-0.
Class B
Doyline’s Jamari Markray was a double winner in taking the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 43.02, and the high jump (6-3) and placed second in the long jump (21-9). Castor had a couple boys with second place finishes in field events. Landyn Crow r was second in the pole vault with a 9 feet, 11 ¼ inch effort and Gage Jordan’s 136-5 toss in the javelin was one inch behind first place. Castor’s girls had a trio of top performers in Jalexia Caldwell, Emma Guice, and Karelyn Urquidez. Caldwell’s 34-10 ½ jump in the triple was good enough for first and her 16-3 ¼ was second in the long jump. Urquidez vaulted 8 feet to finish second in the pole vault. Guice had a first in the discus (101-0) and second in the shot put (33-6 ¾).
Class C
Pleasant Hill boys: 400-relay team won in 46.31
Terrence James, Gibsland-Coleman finished second in the high jump. Matthew Jackson second in the shot put 39-8 ¾ ,
Summerfield’s Trace Morrow was second in the discus 110-8. Freshman Martravious Kennedy placed second in the 110-hurdles.
Gibsland girls Ke’honesty Williams ran a 13.02 in the 100 meters and 27.29 in the 200 for first place in each. She also placed second in the long jump with a 15-7. Samora Sampson was second in both hurdles running 19.2 in the 100 and 53.52 in the 300.
Summerfield’s Shaniya Martin won the 400 and the 100-meter hurdles. The Summerfield relay teams took first in the 800 (1:55.02) and 1,600 (4:35.24).
Baseball
No. 1 Division I seed Byrd and No. 3 Division IV Calvary are the only teams to make it to make it to Sulphur and the state tournament semifinals.
The Yellow Jackets (25-7) defeated St. Augustine 12-5 and 9-7 to win the quarterfinal best-of-3 series. Slade Netterville had three hits, that included a triple and home run, and scored four times while Jack Walker also had three hits and scored three times in the 12-5 win. Mason Langdon was 2-for-4 with 3 RBIs and Connor Pierce was 2-for-3 with a pair of RBIs. Sawyer Lacoste struck out 9 in 5 innings to get the win.
Cole Joyner’s bases clearing double highlighted the Jackets 5-run sixth inning and put the Jackets ahead 7-5. Langdon followed with a 2-run homer and Byrd held on for the 9-7 win. Langdon finished 3-for-4 with 5 RBIs in the game. David Favrot and Jason Little both had a pair of hits.
Byrd will play Catholic-Baton Rouge Thursday in the state semifinals.
Calvary (26-7) took a pair of wins from Central Private in the quarterfinals to advance to the semifinals in Division IV. Jeremiah Brown’s walk-off single in the eighth inning won game 1. Aubrey Hermes led off the eighth with a single and stole second. One out later Brown laced a single to left field. Hermes’ hit was his second and Lance Mangum had a 3-run home run and 2-run double.
Toby Haulmark allowed just one run in 5 1/3 innings in the Cavs 5-2 clinching win on Saturday. Jackson Legg had a run-scoring double while Fisher Nance, Hermes and Blaine Rogers all drove in runs.
Calvary will face No. 7 Opelousas Catholic on Wednesday.