Sports

The 2019-20 SEMO Conference all-conference girls basketball awards have been released. Poplar Bluff senior Kiley Bess is the SEMO Conference Girls Basketball Player of the Year. Bess, who has signed to play basketball at St. Louis University, led the conference in scoring with 166 points in regular-season conference action. She averaged a team-high 24 points per conference game...

The 2019-2020 SEMO Conference all-conference boys basketball awards have been released. Sikeston senior Payton Howard is the SEMO Conference Boys Basketball Player of the Year. Howard, who has signed to play baseball at St. Louis University, led the conference in scoring with 175 points in regular-season conference action. He averaged 22 points per conference game...

Carroll Williams is wistful about his long tenure as head coach of the Southeast men’s golf program, ended by the university’s board of regents 15 years ago this spring. “All told, I coached golf at SEMO for 30 years,” Williams said. Williams, 82, is principal of Cape Christian Community School these days, which will be absorbed July 1 by Lynwood Christian Academy...

For the Dexter Bearcats to win their third straight district championship in boys tennis, they will have to do so without their two best players from last season and hope the COVID-19 pandemic ends soon. Former No. 1 Eric Hahn and No. 2 Nate Gargas graduated, as did No. 5 Travis Propst...

The Missouri State High School Activities Association issued an update regarding the status of spring sports amidst the COVID-19 pandemic Tuesday. “While schools across the state are determining the best course of action during this unprecedented time, the Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA) office staff continues to prepare for Spring Championships,” MSHSAA said in a press release. ...

Starla Pulley and her Dexter softball team are keeping their fingers crossed for an injury-free season. The Bearcats will try to improve on last season’s 5-15 record but will have to wait awhile to begin the process. All practices and games for Dexter sports have been canceled through April 3 because of concerns about COVID-19. If school reopens on April 6, the district would determine when school activities will resume...

Area players were honored Wednesday with the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association's All-State team. In Class 1, David Layton of Oak Ridge and Delta's Eric Berry were honored. In Class 2, Oran's Tyson Goodale, Jack Below of Advance, Campbell's Blake Fowler and Neelyville's Curtis Fowler were honored along with Oran's Kaylee Payne and Katie Webb, and Neelyville's Lexi Liau...

The Dexter boys golf team enjoyed a record-breaking season in 2019. The Bearcats hope for even more success in 2020 when the season begins. All practices and games for Dexter sports have been canceled through at least April 3 because of concerns about COVID-19. If school reopens on April 6, the district would determine when school activities will resume...

For the first time in my life, I’m going to quote someone associated with the New York Yankees. Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. When words resonate, you pass them along. “The universe is in a holding pattern,” said Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, in speaking to the media Monday from the team’s spring training facility in West Palm Beach, Florida...

Advance senior Jack Below has been named basketball player of the year in the SCAA. Below averaged a conference-high 33 points per game, leading the Hornets to a 23-5 record and a second-place finish in the SCAA standings.

SIKESTON — Multiple Standard-Democrat area basketball players earned spots on their respective All-District teams recently. Sikeston seniors Payton Howard and Clark Steward both made the team for Class 4, District 1. Senior Taydrianna Barnett and sophomore Karris Allen both made it on the girls’ side as well...

With practices for spring sports are on hold, Stoddard County coaches are encouraging their athletes to work out on their own. “I have told my players that social distancing does not require they do not go outside and exercise,” Dexter tennis coach Eric Boles said. “I told them to go out and be active, play some tennis with their family, and work on the little things so that when we get back at it they are ready to hit the ground running.”...

Many Stoddard County coaches are using the spring sports shutdown as a teaching moment. With all county schools out until at least April 6 because of COVID-19, practices and games have been canceled. School officials will determine when or if the spring seasons will begin once school is back in session...

DENVER, Indiana – Growing up one of five children born to a small-level farmer and his stay-at-home wife, my wife never had the financial resources or the time available to take family vacations.

A slew of basketball players from the Missouri Bootheel have been named to all-district teams. Listed below are the boys and girls all-district basketball teams for Class 1, District 1; Class 2, District 1; and Class 3, District 1. Class 1, District 1 All-District Team...

POPLAR BLUFF — A day after MSHSAA essentially put the spring sports season on hold, Poplar Bluff athletes were practicing in hopes that the season is not lost amid concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic. “I don’t even know what’s going to happen,” Poplar Bluff senior Emily Spencer said Tuesday during soccer practice at Mules Stadium...

After canceling the remaining basketball playoffs Monday, MSHSAA sent an email to schools outlining the status of spring activities amid the growing COVID-19 pandemic. "As of today we are not canceling spring sport championships," the email said. However, if a school has "determined that they are closing for a period of time" then "no practices or games should occur during that time." Schools that are in session make the decision on if and when practices and games should take place...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Long-time Charleston head coach Danny Farmer announced after Saturday's state championship game that he was going to retire. Farmer said that he told his team at the beginning of the season. He finished his career with the Bluejays with a 485-178 record — good for a 69 percent winning percentage...

MSHSAA posted district assignments for baseball, spring softball, boys golf, boys tennis, as well as track and field on Friday, March 13. The Bearcats’ boys golf team returns to defend its Class 3 District 1 championship. The district also includes Cape Central, Farmington, Fredericktown, North County, Notre Dame, Park Hills Central, Perryville, Sikeston and Ste. Genevieve.

The Dexter track and field team has high expectations for the upcoming season. With four returning all-state medalists, the Bearcats hope to make some noise at state, but the team might be more excited about the refurbished Charles Bland Stadium. “One of the highlights this year is having a new track and hosting two home meets,” Dexter coach Kim Waldner said. ...

Poplar Bluff and Notre Dame high school officials were working Thursday night to plan for the MSHSAA Class 5 quarterfinal on Saturday featuring the girls basketball team with spectator limits. MSHSAA announced it was making adjustments to the basketball playoffs in a conference call with schools as state and local health officials announced a second case of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, in Missouri...

Andy Sawyers is used to the satisfying sound of a bat making solid contact. The sight of a perfectly executed double play pleases him. An outfielder leaving his feet and successfully snaring a line drive brings a smile. Sawyers, in his fourth year as Southeast Missouri State baseball coach, will have to content himself with memories...

The Dexter baseball team will be a bit like a jigsaw puzzle for coach Drew Pixley when the season begins Saturday, March 21, at Malden. The Bearcats lost starters at five positions from a team that struggled to a 3-19 finish. Right fielder Caleb Hoggard, shortstop Dawson Jones, catcher Ethan Kincy, second baseman Luke Thurston and left fielder Tyler Wright graduated...

The Dexter middle school volleyball team remained unbeaten in SCAA play Tuesday, March 10, with a sweep of the Richland Rebels in its home opener. The seventh-graders won 25-1, 25-5 and the eighth-graders won 25-11, 25-10. Both teams improved to 2-1...

Six Dexter athletes were named to the Missouri Track and Cross Country Coaches Association Academic All-State team. They are Sophia Chasteen, Andrew Ellinghouse, Alanie Lacy, Margo Nea, Maddie Slaton and Kalyn Traw. In order to receive the honor, athletes must be nominated by their head coach, who must be a current member of MTCCCA; must have competed in a state series meet — districts, sectionals and state satisfy this requirement — and must meet one of the following criteria (25 or higher on the ACT, 1150 or higher on the SAT or 3.6 cumulative GPA (nonrounded, nonweighted) at the end of the fall semester for cross country or the spring semester for track and field).. ...