It was an exciting week for Charleston athletics as our student-athletes opened competition in volleyball and cross-country, representing Charleston High School and Charleston Middle School with effort, discipline and pride.
— * —
Our Lady Tigers volleyball team opened its season at West Tallahatchie.
The junior varsity girls competed hard throughout their match before ultimately falling in the best two-out-of-three sets. Although they did not come away with the win, we are extremely proud of the way they competed. These young ladies are the future of our volleyball program, and every opportunity they have to compete will help them continue to grow.
The varsity Lady Tigers followed with an outstanding effort of their own. They battled throughout the best three-out-of-five match and were able to earn their first victory of the season. Congratulations to our players and a special shout-out to Coach Hudson, Coach Nakadinae, and Coach Suggs on earning their first volleyball win of the year. We are looking forward to watching this group continue to improve and build on a strong start.
— * —
On Saturday, Charleston cross-country opened its season at South Panola, where our runners competed against a large field that included athletes from several much larger schools.
Our Charleston Middle School boys turned in impressive performances. Out of 169 runners, Keegan James finished 19th overall, Keenan James finished 21st, and Amari Dunn finished 34th. Those are outstanding finishes for our young runners competing in such a large and competitive field.
Representing Charleston High School in the girls competition was Makayla Taylor, who finished 63rd out of 123 runners. We are extremely proud of Makayla for stepping up, competing and representing Charleston well.
Our athletes had the opportunity to compete against schools such as Olive Branch, Senatobia, Hernando, DeSoto Central, South Panola, Gentry and Choctaw County, among others.
Competing against larger programs provides our athletes with valuable experience and shows them exactly what it takes to continue improving.
A special congratulations also goes to Coach Haynie, our cross-country coach, for the time and effort he has invested in preparing these young men and women.
Cross-country is not an easy sport. It requires conditioning, commitment, mental toughness and a willingness to put in work when nobody is watching. Our runners are beginning to show the results of that work.
We are proud of every Charleston athlete who showed up, competed and represented our schools this past week.
As we move forward, we hope to add even more student-athletes to our cross-country program, continue developing our volleyball teams and keep building programs that can compete successfully against schools of any size.
It was a great opening week for Charleston athletics, and we are looking forward to what is ahead.
LaDon Taylor is athletic director for the East Tallahatchie School District.
