Sports

DAVID KAPITAN sports@vanzandtnews.com The Wills Point Tigers made their way west last week, opening up the 2022 season with a road date against the Pinkston Vikings Aug. 27.

The Wills Point Lady Tigers were kept busy last week, hitting the court four times over a three-day span Aug. 25-27. The Lady Tigers would be well-tested in those four matchups, squaring off against Sulphur Springs, Brownsboro and Farmersville in tournament play and against Edgewood in a non-district matchup.

Van Zandt County was well represented at Kaufman’s annual Run with the Lions event last week with four schools, Canton, Fruitvale, Martins Mill and Wills Point, all entered to compete. Individual varsity boys results included: -Canton: Kevin Velazquez, 12th, 18:13.79; Cooper Behrend, 77th, 20:21.52; Riley Smith, 81st, 20:24.48; Rocco Foley, 84th, 20:31.45 -Martins Mill: Justin Orlando, 78th, 20:22.58; Andrew Parker, 143rd, 23:48.94; Isaiah Skinner, 150th, 25:11.12 -Wills Point: Avery Brown, eighth, 17:07.94; Sebastian King, 29th, 18:50.49; Michael Jenkins, 44th, 19:23.78; Martin Luna, 67th, 20:04.78; James Nichols, 73rd, 20:15.58 Individual varsity girls results included: -Canton: Lana Stapleton, fourth, 13:17.89; Graycee Wilson, seventh, 13:27.54; KeAna Whitlock, 50th, 15:22.09; Mykah Mebane, 57th, 15:35.32; Kate Wallis, 58th, 15:35.73; Olivia Freeman, 113th, 18:55.5 -Martins Mill: Mattie Burns, 17th, 14:08.75; Neveah Smith, 116th, 19:05.22 -Wills Point: Catherine Dixon, 44th, 15:15.08; Madison Egenbacher, 47th, 15:17.17; Stephanie Arvisu, 65th, 16:03.27; Lexi Taylor, 71st, 16:25.38; Hallie Lovvorn, 83rd, 17:05.17 Individual JV boys results included: -Canton: Zack Seyffert, fifth, 19:42.19; Bryce Mebane, 50th, 22:21.27; Tucker Brown, 66th, 22:46.72; Kaden Nichols, 106th, 25:15.77; Logan Glasscock, 115th, 27:44.48 -Fruitvale: Micheal Hale, 114th, 27:24.6 -Wills Point: Ethan Kornegay, 14th, 20:15.31; Sheldon Taylor, 15th, 20:18.36; Andrew Hammons, 45th, 22:10.5; Cameron Greene, 68th, 22:47.37; Logan Wells, 84th, 23:36.74 Individual JV girls results included: -Canton: Justynne Earl, 12th, 15:53.17; Hailee Peffer, 30th, 16:55.97;; Caroline Freeman, 53rd; 18:59.72 -Fruitvale: Brooklyn Brown, sixth, 15:20.13; Rylie Owens, 24th, 16:30.56; Ashlynn Swallow, 69th, 21:04.03; Danica Brown, 80th, 22:47.04 -Wills Point: Zarena Martinez, third, 14:37.07; Allison Lopez, eighth, 15:40.4; Mia Kedlarchuk, 14th, 15:57.92; Isabella Dixon, 17th, 16:06.17; Samantha Ortiz, 29th, 16:53.68; Erin Thornton, 36th, 17:19.75; Audree Mills, 44th, 18:08.06; Janie Olvera, 56th, 19:06.42; Ashley Leonhart, 77th, 21:48.28 Cameron Greene and the rest of the Wills Point cross country program began their season at Kaufman’s annual Run with the Lions event Aug.

The Wills Point Tigers have struggled to find their way over the past two seasons, dealing with inconsistency amidst coaching and philosophy changes, the COVID pandemic and injuries. Those struggles were on full display in 2021 as the Tigers went 0-10 while getting outscored by a combined 447-58.

The Wills Point Tiger tennis program suffered its first setback of the fall season last week, coming up just short in a 10-9 loss to a Longview Lobos’ squad currently ranked 20th overall in Class 5A. The Tigers, no

The Wills Point Tigers tennis program picked up a double dose of good news last week, powering their way past rival Van Aug. 23 before receiving word that they are currently 5th overall in the state in the most recent Class 4A State Rankings. The Tiger varsity will look to maintain its perfect record with a home match against Bullard Aug. 25 and a trip to Spring Hill Sept. 3.

The only thing hotter than the Texas weather in August has been the play of the Wills Point Tiger tennis program, which has raced out to a 4-0 record on the year with wins over Hallsville, Forney, North Forney and Abilene Cooper over the past week. The Tigers won 16/19 matches against Hallsville, 18/19 matches against Forney, 19/19 matches against North Forney and 10/19 matches against Abilene Cooper. Courtesy photo

I’ve taken a cue from the wild animals this week and moved early in the morning and late in the afternoon. Wild things have the innate ability to know how to make the best of the seasons and this time of year, they seldom venture forth during the heat of the day. The same with this old outdoors writer but I did get out on the water a couple times and caught a nice mess of fish both times. I also learned, or ‘relearned’ a few basics of summer fishing.