Local tracksters continued to improve times and distances last week at the local meet in preparation for the District 8-2A meet set for Thursday (today).

Albany is hosting the district meet. Field events are slated to begin with running preliminaries at 8:30 a.m. , followed by field events starting at 12:00 noon. Running finals are scheduled at 5:00 p.m., with the top four places advancing to the area meet.

District teams that will be competing at the meet include Albany, Cross Plains, Haskell, Hawley, Roscoe Collegiate, and Stamford.

The Lion baseball team dropped the first district battle last Friday to Hawley, 3-2, waiting until the last at-bat to score.

Albany hosted the Eula Pirates Tuesday, winning 15-2 to improve to 4-1 in District 8-2A.

The Lions will be on the road Friday in Haskell, followed by a game in Hamlin next Tuesday, April 9. Both games are slated to start at 5:00 p.m.

Albany opened last week with a 16-6 win over the visiting Baird Bears.

The Lady Lions dropped two straight games last week, falling to 1-3 in district competition.

The team hosts a rematch with Baird on Friday at 5:00 p.m. and will travel to Stamford next Tuesday, April 9, also with a 5:00 p.m. start.

Albany hosted Eula on Tuesday, falling 18-6 to the Lady Pirates. Details will be reported next week.

The Lady Lions lost a run-away game in Haskell on March 26, allowing the Maidens to jump out to an 8-0 lead in the first and continue to a 18-0 win.

As of press time, several Albany High School tennis players were already guaranteed spots at the regional level after day one of the district tournament on Tuesday, April 2 at Rose Park in Abilene.

Freshman Sarah Cotter was named the district girls singles champion, and a couple of local doubles teams were to be determined at playbacks on Wednesday. Details will be reported next week.

Local players performed well in a tough Abilene High Invitational Tournament last week, according to coach Sara Wilson.

Local junior Alayna Koemel was the sole Albany High School golfer who competed in the second round of the district golf tournament Monday at Maxwell Municipal Golf Course, maintaining her status as the second place medalist and advancing to the regional tournament. 

Koemel recorded an 18-hole total of 127 on a windy course this week, following up her 119 total the previous week.

The regional tournament will be held at Ratliff Ranch Golf Course in Odessa on Wednesday and Thursday, April 24-25.

Dax Neece, a 2018 graduate of Albany High School and a current member of the Texas Tech Red Raider football team, is getting a chance to play spring ball for Tech.

Neece played a couple of downs last fall during the Red Raider game against Lamar on Sept. 8 in Lubbock, but the wide receiver sat out most of the 2018 season as a “redshirt” freshman.

All four junior high track teams competed in the local junior high meet on March 25, with the eighth grade boys placing fourth with 68 points to lead the Albany contingent.

The seventh grade boys placed fifth with 38 points, while the eighth grade Lady Cubs were sixth with 47 points. The seventh grade girls finished seventh with 38 points.

The Cubs and Lady Cubs will travel to Roscoe on Saturday for the district track meet. Field events start at 9:00 a.m., with the running events beginning at 1:00 p.m. or one hour after the field event portion of the meet.

The Moran High School tennis team participated in the district match on Monday, April 1 in Eastland.  

“The boys doubles team of Kobee Lapp and Harley Schafer will advance to the regional meet,” said coach Jo Hise. “Our girls doubles team of Kaylin New and Hannah Rogers won the district championship!”

The winners of first and second place in district tennis contests qualify for the regional contest. First and second place contestants in the regional tournament at Whitney on April 18-19 will advance to the state tournament in College Station on May 16-17.

The Moran Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs competed at the Albany Roaring Lions Invitational track meet on Thursday, March 28, and Kobee Lapp won first place in boys varsity triple jump with a distance of 43 feet two inches.

Also earning medals for Moran were Sondra O’Keefe with gold in JV girls pole vault (6-06), Johnnie Hise with bronze in JV girls triple jump (29-06.25), and Lyric Huskey with a bronze in JV boys triple jump (38-06).

The Lion baseball team picked another pair of wins last week, with the most significant being the district opener in Stamford.

Albany hosted Baird on Tuesday, earning a 16-6 victory to keep the streak going and improving the overall mark to 8-4. Details will be reported next week.

The Lions will stay at home again on Friday, with a game against the Hawley Bearcats as the hunt for the district title continues. The opening pitch is set for 5:00 p.m.

The local team will once more be at the local field Tuesday, April 2 to host the Eula Pirates starting at 5:00 p.m.