Sports

Note: First of a two-part series. Today we list Games No. 10 down to No. 6. Next week, June 14, the Top Five games. All five teams in the Big 5 are included at least once.

Rice High School Athletic Director Andy Mills sought and found a successor to step in and take the reins of Class 3A Lady Bulldogs softball team and he didn’t need to go far. Eleven miles north on I-45 he signed Josh Owens, veteran assistant coach at Class 5A Ennis.

Every ten years the playing field at Lion Memorial Stadium as well as its encircling track are replaced or repaired. Over a week ago the artificial grass was lifted and rolled, the second time in 19 years according to Ennis Athletic Director Don Drake.

Isaiah Nies, perhaps the most decorated weightlifter in Ennis High School history, added another laurel to his list of accomplishments this week, when he earned Academic All-State honors by the Texas H.S. Powerlifters Association. He is one of only 26 lifters from all classifications to make the Elite Team, which includes athletes with a grade point average of 98 or higher.

An outstanding, hard-nosed player and just as demanding as a NBA head coach, Jerry Sloan passed away at age 78 on May 22 due to Parkinson’s disease. He was diagnosed in 2016.

Graduating from college like she did at high school, Tayler Selvera was beaming and puffed out like canvas in a sail. After never missing a day from kindergarten through her senior year at Ennis, she breezed through Grambling State University on time and in step.

A season cut-short will end with some added fun. Ennis senior softball players will be serenaded with a parade of cars driving by their homes in a farewell salute.

Twelve Ennis track & field athletes garnered academic allstate honors this season, including a pair of seniors in Paige Lemonia and Hope Peek.

Assuming fall sports are “on” this year, the Ennis cross country teams are set to begin conditioning and practices. That could begin on Monday, August 3, a full 12 weeks away.