Noah Chism
Sports Reporter
Men’s Tennis
As a new school year begins for Owls Athletics, there is an optimistic buzz in the air.
Our men’s tennis team has come out of the gate with wins against Blue Mountain Christian and Northwest Mississippi Community College.
The tennis team is also welcoming a host of new faces to Columbus as it sets out to have a season more successful than last. Dylan Barber, a junior member of the team, who is a veteran on the squad, said the group is working together to build a strong team culture.
“We are super excited about this upcoming season and all of the success that will come with it,” said Barber.
Barber said that the team’s biggest challenge would be creating a team environment where everyone is held accountable.
“Because we are working so hard our culture has improved, and we believe that this will translate into a great season,” Barber said.
Athletes from every corner of sports will tell you just how important and difficult it is to build a culture like the Owls tennis team is creating. This is a detail about the team that is more commendable than most every accomplishment it could achieve.
David Gimenez playing on home courts.
Photo by Dave Beyer
Last season the Owls finished with a record of 11 wins and eight losses, which is a winning percentage of around 57%. They are looking to build off last season with continued success this year.
The fall season for the Owls will end with their tournament in Memphis from Oct. 2-4, and this will bring a wildly successful fall season to a close while leaving them with a great foundation as they head into the spring.
Cross Country
Along with the Owls Tennis squad, the MUW Cross Country runners have been very successful this season competing in two different meets.
The Owls travelled to Freed Hardeman, which is located in Henderson, Tennessee, to compete in the Freed Hardeman Speed meet on Aug. 29. On that day both the men's and the women’s squads were in competition.
In Henderson our men's team came in 6th place at the meet while our women's team came in 5th. These are some pretty stellar results considering the stiff competition that was faced during this competition.
At the competition, Owl runner Hannah Owens placed 14th out of 38 runners with a time of 22 minutes and 10 seconds in the women’s 10K.
Hannah Owens at Freed Hardeman.
Courtesy of OWLS Athletics
The Owl runners also travelled over to Jacksonville, Alabama, on Sept. 4 to run in the Foothills Invitational. The women’s team came in 20th place while the men’s team came in 17th.
These finishes at this tournament are impressive because of the nature of the competition at this tournament. There were several Division I teams who competed in the Foothills Invitational, including some schools from the Southeastern Conference.