By Sam Waller

The Albany Junior High tennis program continues preparations for district competition with an intrasquad tournament Thursday, April 20 (today) at the high school courts.

Coach M.J. Reneau said the junior high schedule must work around other events. A planned dual match with Winters fell through because of such conflicts.

“We are trying to get some practices in before our district meet,” Reneau said. “Our district meet is May 4-5. Girls will go Thursday and boys will go Friday.”

By Sam Waller

Last year’s state tennis tournament was a history-making event for Albany as Sarah Cotter claimed the first state tennis championship in school history.

Coach M.J. Reneau is looking for even bigger things when the 2023 tournament gets underway on Tuesday, April 25 at Blossom Tennis Center in San Antonio

“We took three players last year, and this year we’re excited that we could double that,” Reneau said.

By Sam Waller

The Albany Lions won the boys team title Thursday, April 13 at the area track meet between Districts 9-2A and 10-2A, qualifying all but one athlete for regional competition.

The Region II-2A meet  is scheduled for Friday-Saturday, April 28-29 at Springtown. The top two finishers in each event at regional advance to the state meet Thursday-Saturday, May 11-13 at Austin. In addition, the to third-place finisher in each event from the four regional meets will receive a wild-card berth at state.

By Sam Waller

The Moran track and field teams had their final competition before district on Thursday, April 6 at Hermleigh’s Wind Energy Relays.

Moran athletes are competing Thursday, April 13 (today) at the District 13-1A meet at May. Running prelims are scheduled to start at 10:15 a.m. with field events getting underway at 1:00 p.m. Running finals will start at 4:00 p.m.

At Hermleigh, the Lady Bulldogs finished ninth in the team standings with 40 points, while the Moran boys tied for 13th with half a point.

By Sam Waller

With district and regional competition out of the way at the high school level, Albany junior high tennis players took the court this week to start their season.

Coach M.J. Reneau said the first junior high practice was held Wednesday, April 12. Reneau said she has three events scheduled for the junior high program.

“I didn’t realize that the first tennis meet I scheduled was a STAAR date, so we’re going to have to reschedule that one,” she said. “We’ll have one tournament with Winters, then we’ll do an intrasquad meet, then it’ll be district.”

By Sam Waller

The Albany Lions kept pace in the District 8-2A baseball race on April 4 with a 4-0 win at Cisco in the final game of the first half of district play.

The Lions (13-2 overall, 5-1 district) were in a three way tie for the district lead when they visited Hawley on Tuesday to start the second half, but a 9-0 win there puts Albany all alone in first place. Details will be reported next week.

Albany continues a five-game road stretch at 5:00 p.m. Friday, April 14 at Anson.

Game Details

By Sam Waller

The Albany Lady Lions split a pair of games last week, but received some bad news as they enter the final two weeks of the softball season.

Albany (15-11-1 overall, 7-1 District 8-2A) beat  Baird 21-14 on Tuesday, April 11, in a single game after low numbers led coach Jimmy Fuentes to scale back from the planned doubleheader. Details will be reported next week.

The Lady Lions visit Cross Plains at 5:00 p.m. Friday, April 14 in their second game of the week.

By Sam Waller

The Albany Lions and Lady Lions track and field teams had 13 individuals and two relays qualify for area competition with their efforts Thursday, April 6 at the District 10-2A meet at Cisco.

The area meet with District 9-2A is being held Thursday, April 13 (today) at Graham. The top four finishers in each event advance to the Region II-2A meet Friday-Saturday, April 28-29 at Springtown. Results from the area meet will be reported next week.

By Sam Waller

The Albany High School tennis team will be sending four entries to the state tournament, two of them for the second year in a row, after its performance this week at the Region II-2A tournament.

The Class 2A state tournament is scheduled for Tuesday-Wednesday, April 25-26 at Blossom Tennis Center in San Antonio.

At the regional tournament, played Monday-Tuesday, April 10-11 at Richland Tennis Center in North Richland Hills, Albany claimed three titles, along with a second place and a fourth place out of six entries.

By Sam Waller

The Albany Lions cele­brated their 2022 state football championship one more time Wednesday, April 5 with the presentation of championship rings at the high school gym.

“We finally got to give the guys their rings,” Lions head coach Denney Faith said. “It was a big deal. It was a great celebration for them and gives them an emblem they can remember this year by.”