St. Pius X captured its fourth state championship of the 2012-13 school year as boys’ track and field dominated the field at the state meet. Boys’ tennis advanced to the state semifinals. Both soccer teams finished the regular season ranked on the top of their respective polls while baseball dropped to No. 7 in AAA. Girls’ lacrosse continues to stay at No. 8 in the A-AAAAA rankings by scoreatl.com.
Boys’ track and field racked up 85 points, almost double the total of the second-place finisher, to capture the state championship this weekend. Daniel Haugh picked up two titles in both the discus and shot put, respectively. Fred Dorsey took first-place in the Triple Jump and Austin Sprague captured both the 1600 and 3200-meter races. Calvin Tirrell finished second in the 1600m while Andrew Anastasiades placed third in the 3200m. Joe Beach, Kyle Johnson, Cooper Metzler, Dorsey and Tirrell all collected points in other events to help the Golden Lions to its first boys’ state title since 2006.
Boys’ tennis advanced to the AAA state semifinals stopping Buford on Wednesday. Austin Causey, Jack Cote and Ryan Francis helped the Golden Lions advance to Monday’s match with Brantley County. The girls’ team bowed out to Woodward in the quarterfinal round.
Boys’ soccer opened the playoffs with a 5-0 shutout over Dawson County. The Golden Lions (15-0-2) advanced to play host to Cartersville in the second round on Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. St. Pius X and the third-ranked Purple Hurricanes have not faced common opponents. Cartersville knocked off East Jackson 7-0 in the first round.
Girls' soccer shutout West Hall, 10-0, in the first round of the AAA playoffs. Tiffany Rodriguez paced the Golden Lions (15-1-3) with five goals while Hannah and Claire Smith combined to keep a clean sheet in net. The ladies will host North Oconee on Wednesday in second round action. North Oconee defeated Ringgold in the first round, 3-0.
Baseball split the first two games of its best-of-three first round state playoff series at Buford. Quincy Nieporte hit a home run and drove in two runs in the 4-2 Golden Lion win in game one. Mike Krill allowed just one-hit over five innings for the win. In the second game, starter Jack Spear allowed one run over six innings but it was not enough as Buford prevailed, 2-1, in nine innings. The teams square off Monday night at Buford at 6 p.m. in the decisive third game.
Boys’ lacrosse lost its only game of the week, which was the last game of the regular season, to Etowah 5-2. The Golden Lions (9-9) will face Pope at home on Tuesday night in the first round of the state playoffs.
Girls' lacrosse dropped all three of its games last week to end the season on a four-game slide. Lovett defeated the Golden Lions (11-7), 14-5 on Monday. St. Pius X dropped a 16-12 decision to Woodward and lost 11-8 to Grayson. The ladies will be in action Tuesday night at home against Pope at 5 p.m. in the first round of the state playoffs.
Boys’ golf finished sixth at The Invite in Gainesville. Garrett Bernhardt led the way with a two-over-par 74. Bernhardt was also named to the All-Tournament team as he finished one stroke out of first place. The Golden Lions will participate in the state championship meet on May 20.
Girls’ track and field had the following student-athletes qualify for the state meet in Albany this week: Rachel Pyden, Elizabeth Pettit, Emma Jayne Braxton, Margaret Crawford, Sarah Fristoe, Martinique Edwards, Bryanna Gillooly, Elisabeth Carr and Alexa Rushworth.