By Sam Waller

The Albany Lady Lions dropped one set in seven matches last week, closing out the second week of competition by winning the championship of the Electra tournament.

The Lady Lions (10-3) began the third week of play Tuesday, Aug. 22, with a match at Bryson, winning 25-18, 25-14, 25-9.

Albany will make its final tournament appearance Thursday-Saturday, Aug. 24-26, at Aspermont.

“We’re getting in lots of games, which is good,” Lady Lions coach M.J. Reneau said. “We need as much court time as possible to get prepared for district.”

By Sam Waller

A total of 23 spots remain available for Albany Golf Club’s annual Labor Day Golf Tournament as of Tuesday, Aug. 22.

Most of the available spots are in the afternoon flight, which had 15 openings.

The two-person scramble is scheduled for Saturday-Sunday, Sept. 2-3, at Albany Golf Course.

Entry fee is $200 per team and includes one mulligan per player per day as well as a meal on Saturday evening. The field is limited to 60 teams. Tournament director Shawn Sutton said entries will be taken until the limit is reached.

By Sam Waller

The Albany Junior High Cubs began football practice Thursday, Aug. 17 with the start of the new school year.

Seventh and eighth grade teams will open the season Aug. 31 at Dublin.

Albany ISD athletic director Ryder Peacock, who will coach the teams with Tate Thompson, said 27 players have come out this year. Both teams got right to work despite Thursday also being the day of the high school program’s scrimmage at Early.

By Sam Waller

Coming from a small town, Taren Farmer has had his horizons expanded as a walk-on with the Tarle-ton State Texans.

Farmer, a 2022 Albany graduate, spent last year as a redshirt as he learned the ropes of playing football at the FCS level.

“It’s been fun so far,” Farmer said. “I wish I’d been able to play a game, but I was still glad to be a part of it, practicing with the team. It gives me focus.”

By Sam Waller

Albany Golf Club will have new additions to its fleet of golf carts ready for the annual Labor Day Golf Tournament.

The club announced the acquisition of six EZGO carts. The gasoline-powered carts sport the club logo on the front panel.

By Sam Waller

The Albany Junior High Lady Cubs put three teams on the court Monday, Aug. 21 for their opening matches against Abilene Christian at the Albany gym.

The Lady Cubs return to action Monday, Aug. 28 at Hawley.

High school coach M.J. Reneau said the plan is to continue with three teams whenever possible, but next week against Hawley will have just two matches. All three teams contain a mixture of seventh and eighth grade players.

By Sam Waller

Despite an unexpected coaching change, the Albany cross country program opened its season Saturday, Aug. 19 with five runners competing in Jim Ned’s Warpath Invitational at Tuscola.

The runners’ next meet will be Wednesday, Aug. 30 at Haskell.

By Sam Waller

After facing five teams in two scrimmages over the last two weeks, the Moran Bulldogs have the luxury of facing one team at a time as the 2023 season begins.

Moran opens its season at 7:00 p.m. Friday, Aug. 25 when Lohn visits Bulldog Field.

The Bulldogs hosted a four-team scrimmage Saturday, Aug. 19, with Lue-ders-Avoca, Azle Christian, and Temple Holy Trinity.

By Melinda L. Lucas

During a meeting on Monday, Aug. 14, moved up a week from the regular third Monday time, Albany ISD’s board of trustees set a date for a special meeting to adopt the 2023-2024 budget and tax rate, planning an early morning meeting on Aug. 31, the last day that the budget can be adopted according to state law.

The board also reviewed recently released preliminary STAAR test scores for grades 3-6, with superintendent Jonathan Scott explaining the information, which is detailed in a separate article.

State ratings have not yet been released.

By Donnie A. Lucas

Expected enrollment numbers are down by about 10 students for Albany ISD compared the beginning of the 2022-23 school year, with about 30 of those anticipated not yet fully registered as of Tuesday.

Following “Meet the Teacher” sessions at both Nancy Smith Elementary and the Albany Junior/Senior High campuses on Tuesday evening, there were still some registrations still incomplete at press time.