Several winter sports get underway this week

By MICHAEL BOYLAN
mboylan@thecitizennews.com

f you like high school athletics and want to see more than football, you will have several opportunities starting this weekend.

Fayette County and Starr's Mill's swim teams will face off for the first time this season at the Kedron Aquatic Center at 5:15 p.m. Friday. The two schools have very strong swimming programs and many members of both teams swim together in the offseason. This will serve as a strong indicator of county and region dominance.

McIntosh, the other strong swimming program in the county, will be swimming in the Aloha Invitational in Augusta at 10 a.m. Saturday. The McIntosh swimming program is a team that reloads every year and has been a powerhouse for quite a long time. This meet will let them know where they fall in state rankings.

McIntosh's wrestling season will also get underway this weekend as they travel to Riverdale High School Friday at 5 p.m. This is the first year under new head coach Nick Bellantoni and the team will be battling 15 other teams in their new region. It will be an interesting season.

Starr's Mill's girls basketball team will start its season next week in the Loganville Thanksgiving Tournament beginning Wednesday, Nov. 22.

Atlanta Motor Speedway will also have a lot going on this weekend. The racing action begins today. The gates will open at 8 a.m. and qualifying for the NAPA 500 begins at 3 p.m. There will be practices for the NAPA 500 and the Georgia Boot 400 in between. Legends and Bandolero races will begin at 5 p.m.

On Saturday, Nov. 18, the gates open at 8 a.m. and will be followed by practice for both races. The Georgia Boot 400, which is 162 laps of ARCA racing, begins at 1 p.m. and will be followed by the last NAPA 500 practices.

On Sunday, Nov. 19, the gates open at 8 p.m. and will be followed by the pre-race activities at 9 a.m. The driver introductions begin at 12 p.m. and the race starts at 12:30 p.m. Jeff Foxworthy is the Grand Marshal of the race and the honorary starter is TNN's Wade Bourne.

There are still tickets available for all three days of racing at AMS. Call 770-946-3950 or visit www.gospeedway.com.

Southtowne Newnan will get into the act as they will showcase the 2000 Winston Cup Conseco Wide Track pace car, the #14 Conseco Winston Cup Pontiac Grand Prix owned by A.J. Foyt and the #20 Home Depot Winston Cup Pontiac Grand Prix driven by Tony Stewart today from 12-8 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

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