Starr’s Mill senior Kelley O’Hara made an impact for the U.S. U-20 Women’s National soccer team. The team earned a spot in the 2006 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Championship in Russia, Aug.

The Starr’s Mill Panthers won their sixth straight county swim title last Thursday at the Washington Park pool. The Panthers out-distanced the other five county schools with a total of 671.50 points, beating rival McIntosh, which finished second with 653 points.

Time is running out for the local basketball teams to make a move in the region standings before the region tournaments start next week. For some teams, it doesn’t matter very much as their seeding is fairly solid, but most teams can move up a spot or two with some wins in the final games of the regular season.

The McIntosh High School wrestling team celebrated Senior Night last Tuesday with a convincing 53-12 win over Mundy’s Mill. Prior to the match Athletic Director Steve Cole and head coach Nick Bellantoni recognized and honored the wrestling careers of senior wrestlers Eric Langley, Alan Sarvis, Matt Penn, Alex Shoemaker, Scott Ritter and Jeff Hilt. Also recognized for their contributions were senior managers Erin Milani, Lauren McDonald and Katie Wilkinson.

Friday, Jan. 27 - Girls
• Fayette County - 34 East Coweta - 18
• Starr's Mill - 48 Lovejoy - 34
• Creekside - 45 McIntosh - 35

The Fayette County swimming championships took place last Thursday and Starr's Mill's boys and girls combined to win their sixth straight county title.

By this time next week, the 2005-2006 regular season will nearly be over and the thoughts of all coaches and players will be on the region tournaments and post-season glory. For a team to advance to the state tourament in their classification they must place in the top four of the region tournament. The boys and girls teams at Creekside, Landmark Christian and Sandy Creek all have a good chance of doing just that.

• Fomer Sandy Creek head football coach Rodney Walker has accepted the position of head football coach at Mary Persons High School.

Northgate’s Stephanie Farmakis gets ready to shoot against McIntosh last week in a 59-46 victory.

The East Coweta High School Swim Team has something to celebrate. The boy's 200 meter freestyle relay team qualified for the State Championships at the annual Clarke-Oconee Invitational held at the UGA Natatorium. The boys qualified with a time of 1:40.26. The State Championships will be held in February. The members of the relay team are (left to right) Andrew Pepper, Jamie Wright, Robert Angsten and Jason Weeks.

The trend of sweeps continued on Tuesday as numerous local teams swept or got swept by their opponents.

Starr’s Mill’s boys and girls both fell to Fayette County on Tuesday. The Lady Panthers lost 47-28 as Tessah Holt scored 20 points for the visiting Lady Tigers and Starr’s Mill was led by five points from Meredith Lytle. The boys fell in a close game, 71-65. Cameron Carruthers led the Tigers in scoring with 23 points, while Mark Harris scored 22 points for Starr’s Mill.

Velocity Sports Performance in Peachtree City hosted a special combine testing session for several current and former collegiate athletes on Tuesday. Georgia Tech wide receiver Demarius Bilbo, former Tennessee quarterback Tee Martin, Middle Tennessee graduate and Areana Football League 2005 Rookie of the Year Troy Bergeron and former Tuskegee University and Florida State University player Yohance Buchanon all worked out for Tom Marino, a scout from the St. Louis Rams.

The Booth Middle School Warriors took home the first place trophy in the silver division of the Reindeer Games annual in-line hockey tournament at Slapshots in Cumming, Ga.

Census Data shows that the majority of adults in Peachtree City are between the ages of 40 and 55. Yet, at least when it comes to adult softball, they have become an invisible majority. When the Peachtree City Parks and Recreation Department starts registering teams for its Spring Softball Leagues next month, it will once again offer a Men’s 40-And-Over League. But Athletic Coordinator Jim O’Connell wonders if the 40-and-overs will show up.

Craig Healy recently joined the tennis coaching staff at the Peachtree City Tennis Center. He will be teaching junior team tennis and ladies teams, while also offering private lessons.

In Wednesday’s edition of The Fayette Citizen it was inaccurately reported that the Starr’s Mill-McIntosh soccer game would be a double-header on March 17 at McIntosh High School.

The Fayette County varsity boys basketball team improved their overall record to 20-1 with a 71-65 win over Starr's Mill on Tuesday night. Cameron Carruthers led the Tigers in scoring with 23 points, while Mark Harris led the Panthers with 22 points.

The Whitewater Wildcats varsity boys team had gotten the better of the McIntosh Chiefs this year, beating them in their previous two meetings this season. McIntosh refused to fall to Whitewater for a third time last Friday and junior guard Vaughn Page seemed to be the person to make sure that wouldn’t happen. Page was unstoppable. scoring 16 of his 28 points in the first half as the hiefs went into the locker room up by six. The lead stretched in the third quarter as McIntosh only allowed Whitewater to score one point in the first six minutes of the third quarter. The final score was 54-31 and Coach Jason Eisele remarked after the game that the win was significant for the team.

The McIntosh High School men finished third and the women finished ninth among 19 schools at the Panther Wolfpack Invitational Swimming and Diving Meet last Saturday.

The Panthers wrestling team competed in the AAAAA state duals in Macon this past weekend. After beating Glynn Academy 60-15 in the preliminary round, Starr’s Mill advanced to the quarter-finals.

This was the second year that the Whitewater High School Wildcats’ baseball teams adopted a local family for Christmas. Head Coach Frank Dixon, plans to continue this project each year as a way to say “thank you” to the community which has been so supportive of Wildcats baseball.

The pre-season soccer rankings have been released and six Fayette County schools are ranked in the top 10 of their classifications.

• Fayette County high School graduate Drake McCoy, wrestling in the 285 pound weight class for the Iowa Central Community College Tritons, finished as runner-up in the UNO Open and the South Dakota State Open. His second place finish at the UNO Open was the team’s highest finish.

The 2005-2006 basketball season is winding down and teams are facing their region foes for the second time this season, jockeying for seedings in the region tournament. What the coaches are looking for from their players in this final stretch, most of all, is consistency.

Don't let the cool weather keep you home - take time to get out on the lake and fish for crappie, an excellent choice for this time of year. Crappie fishing is a great way to spend time with the whole family and provide a great meal at the end of the day. Georgia is fortunate to have many areas across the state that offer fabulous crappie fishing opportunities - and right now is one of the best times to give it a try, according to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Wildlife Resources Division (WRD).

Nearly all of the local basketball teams had region games on Tuesday night and the results were good for some and not as good for the others.

The Panther swim team out-lasted McIntosh last Wednesday in Douglasville 314 to 251. The Starr’s Mill men won four out of 11 races, two relay and two individual events. Senior Scott Adams won the 100 backstroke with a state qualifying time of 59.58 and Sophomore Matt Boyle won the 100 butterfly in 59.33. In addition, the men won the medley and the 200 freestyle relays. Members of the relay were, Adams, Boyle, junior Austin Ellyson and senior Danny Clasen. The Freestyle Relay members were, Boyle, junior Alex Tovani, sophomore Scott Houghtaling and Clasen. Other men with a top three finish included senior Winston Fredrick, third in the 200 freestyle, Clasen, second 50 Freestyle, third in the 100 breastroke, Tovani, third in the 50 freestyle, Adams, second in the 100 freestyle, and senior Matt Lee in the 100 backstroke.

Over the weekend of Jan. 7-8, the competitive teams at Gym City Gymnastics in Peachtree City traveled to Tucker Recreation for a gymnastics meet. On Saturday, the compulsory Level 4 and 5 competitors did an awesome job, with the Level 4 team taking home the first place team trophy.

It was a weekend full of ups and downs for the local teams, perhaps most evident in the Fayette County and Sandy Creek boys game on Saturday night. The Tigers, ranked sixth in AAAAA and still sporting only one loss in their overall record, watched a twelve point lead early in the fourth quarter evaporate in just over four minutes. Sandy Creek took a 60-59 lead with under two minutes to play after Chris James hit two free throws but the lead would go back to the Tigers on the next possession. With 10 seconds remaining, James ties the game with a free throw but Fayette County’s Channing Welch would put a dagger in the Patriots’ hopes for an upset by hitting the game winning shot as time expired.

The Starr’s Mill High School wrestling team competed in the Region 4 AAAAA team duals this past weekend at Newnan High School. The Panthers defeated East Coweta 48-18, Mundy’s Mill 72-3, Fayette County 60-16, Newnan 59-12 and Union Grove 33-30 to take the title.