Colquitt second in all-sports
Published 10:15 pm Tuesday, May 16, 2006
MOULTRIE — Region 1-AAAAA spring championships in boys and girls golf, girls tennis and boys track vaulted Colquitt County into second place in the region’s all-points standings.
Colquitt County totaled 112 points, but could not catch Lowndes, which again won the All-Sports points trophy with 125.5 points.
Lowndes led the region with five region championships, in baseball, football, softball, boys tennis and girls track.
Colquitt County and Tift County each had four region titles.
Tift County and Houston County tied for third place with 107 points.
Houston County was second last year.
Coffee High, with 84.5 points, was fifth. Valdosta, with 80 points, was sixth.
Schools are awarded points based on their region finish in each sport, with the first-place school receiving 10 points; second, eight points; third, six points; fourth, five points; fifth, four points; and sixth, three points.
Points also are awarded for participation in sports in which not all region schools field teams.
Colquitt County is the only school in the region with boys and girls diving and riflery and it earned three points for each of those sports.
Colquitt also earned three points for gymnastics, girls swimming, boys swimming and weightlifting, other sports in which not all of the other five schools participate.
The 112 points totaled by Colquitt County is actually one fewer than the total the school had each of the last two years.
Colquitt also was second in 2004 with 113 points and was third with the same number of points last year.
Lowndes, in addition to its five region championships, also had runner-up finishes in girls basketball, girls tennis, boys track and wrestling.
Colquitt County had no runner-up finishes.
The other Region 1-AAAAA championships in 2005-2006 went to Coffee in boys cross country; Houston County, in boys soccer; Tift County, in boys basketball, girls basketball, girls cross country and girls soccer; and Valdosta, wrestling.
In addition to the 40 point accumulated by the golf, girls tennis and boys track teams, Colquitt County received six points each for girls basketball, football and girls soccer; five points for softball; four points each for baseball, boys basketball and boys soccer; and three points each for girls cross country, boys cross country, girls diving, boys diving, gymnastics, rifle, girls swimming, boys swimming, boys tennis, girls track, weightlifting and wrestling.
Colquitt County participates in 24 of the 25 sports that receive points in the All-Sports standings, the most of any school in the region. Colquitt has no volleyball team.
The Packers won two state championships in 2005-2006, finished second at state in another and third in yet another, but those titles do not figure in the region points standings.
Colquitt won state championships in gymnastics, under first-year coach Donna Marshall, and boys golf, led by longtime coach Donald Dale.
The school’s rife team finished second, by just two points, in state championships in rifle.
Colquitt County won the area championship in rifle, but no other Region 1-AAAAA team has a rifle team. The rifle team, made up of Junior ROTC members and coached by Gunnery Sgt. Emmett Bryant, also placed second in the Junior ROTC National Championships.
Joe Parker’s girls basketball team, which finished third in the region, reached the Elite Eight and finished No. 6 in the final Class AAAAA poll.
The school had an excellent group of spring sports teams, with all four region title coming in the last two months. The girls tennis team, under Linda Berl, won two matches in the state tournament before being eliminated. Dextra Polite’s boys track team finished third in the state.
