RICHARDSON — The LeTourneau University women's basketball team was picked to finish sixth in the American Southwest Conference East Division Preseason Poll released on Wednesday.
LeTourneau garnered 35 points to place sixth. UT-Dallas edged Mississippi College for the top spot. The Comets had 12 first-place votes for 132 points. The Lady Choctaws were second with 131 points and seven first-place votes. Louisiana College, which had two first-place votes, was third with 93 points, followed by UT-Tyler (89) and East Texas Baptist (75). The University of Ozarks rounded out the division with 33 points.
Tillisha Givens of Louisiana College was named by the American Southwest Conference head coaches, sports information directors and media members as the East Division Preseason Player of the Year. Hardin-Simmons' Lindsey Newcombe was selected from the West Division.
Hardin-Simmons was picked to win the West Division over Howard Payne.
LeTourneau begins the 2009-10 season Nov. 10 in an exhibition game at Texas Woman's University. The YellowJackets open the regular season 5 p.m. Nov. 17 at Austin College.
LCS soccer team earns 7-2 victory
Grant McNamara scored three goals and assisted on another, leading the Longview Christian School Eagles to a 7-2 TAPPS District 5-2A soccer win over Regents Christian School of Nacogdoches.
Regents took an early lead in the contest, but the Eagles countered with a goal from Nick Rabenhorst off an assist from McNamara to tie things. After Regents went in front 2-1 with a goal off a corner kick that bounced off an Eagle player, McNamara scored twice in quick succession — once off an assist from Rabenhorst and another off a dish from Daniel Andrews.
In the second half, McNamara found the back of the net for the third time just a minute after the break, with Joshua Hood assisting. Hood, who had a huge second half with three assists and a goal, dished to Rabenhorst for a goal and a 5-2 LCS lead before scoring himself 20 minutes into the half.
Rabenhorst finished the scoring with a goal off Hood's third assist of the half to make the final 7-2.
Ravi Almeter had four saves for the Eagles. Stefan Rabenhorst, Luke Misenheimer and Matt Rice were listed as top defenders.
The Eagles finished third in the district race and will open the playoffs with an area game against either Desoto Canterbury or Texoma Christian (Sherman). That match is tentatively scheduled for Oct. 31.
SH boys second, girls third at meet
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Gary Duncan placed second individually, and Trip Dishman turned in a top five finish as the Spring Hill Panthers finished second overall in the Open Boys Division of the Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival over the weekend.
Spring Hill finished with 52 points, one point behind Lockhart. Thirty-three teams and 438 competitors raced in the Open Boys Division.
Duncan had a time of 16:35, and Dishman finished at 16:56. Dylin Moran was seventh (17:12), Taylor Tritten 18th (17:41) and Dylan Droege 20th (17:44.
The Spring Hill girls competed in the Invitational Girls Division among 40 top-ranked 4A-5A teams, finishing 18th overall.
Amber Moore was 24th overall (out of 311 runners) with a time of 19:34. Leslie Blevins was 40th (20:02), Kelsi Cowan 138th (22:16), Ikram Boutrika 42nd (22:19) and Kayla Self 156th (22:32).
The District 17-3A cross country meet is set for Monday at Spring Hill, with varsity girls beginning at 9 a.m.
Running of the Cows called off due to rain
HALLSVILLE — Hallsville's Running of the Cows cross country meet, scheduled for today at Jimmie Hunt's Farm, has been canceled because of rain making the course too muddy to compete, according to Hallsville coach Pat Eitel.
This is the second time this year the meet has been canceled because of rain as it was originally scheduled for Oct. 10. Eitel said the meet will not be rescheduled again.
Jimmie Hunt's Farm is also the site for the upcoming District 13-4A Meet, tentatively set to begin at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 28. However, Eitel said because of persistent muddy conditions at Jimmie Hunt's Farm, the meet could be moved to Mount Pleasant, the site of the 2008 13-4A meet, or Lear Park. Eitel said a decision on where this year's meet will be held will be made later this week.
NTCC rodeo team competes in Uvalde
UVALDE — The Northeast Texas Community College rodeo team extended its first-place lead in the Southern Region by more than 200 points with a victory at Southwest Junior College over the weekend.
Individually for the NTCC women, Callie Anthony won first and Darcy Clark third in the Breakaway Roping. In Goat Tying, Katy Strange brought home fourth place and Danielle Tompkins came in eighth place in Barrel Racing. Clark currently leads the region in Breakaway Roping.
The NTCC men finished third, bringing them up to sixth in the regional standings. Josh Little placed first in the Bareback Riding at Southwest Texas Junior College. Austin Stewart came in third in the Steer Wrestling and Brady Harmon won fifth in the Calf Roping. Draper Foster and Dakota Shipp finished fifth in the Team Roping.
The NTCC rodeo team will continue its season November 5-7 at Stephen F. Austin State University.
