Contact: Kelly Cowan

Mount Pleasant ISD begins Clay Target Club.

The newly formed Mount Pleasant ISD Clay Target Club has kicked off its first season with a bang as a Texas High School Clay Target League member. Our team members compete with other teams from across the state, all from the comfort of our home range. The league’s core values are safety, fun, and marksmanship, ensuring that every participant, from junior high to high school, has a thrilling and enjoyable experience.

“The club is fortunate to have support from the community and other organizations,” said coach Joshua Blackstone. “Mr. Shawn Roberts of Clays-N-More LLC has graciously donated the use of his facilities to the MPISD Clay Target Club members for team practices and competitions. The Club also received a grant from the Friends of the NRA that provided supplies and funding to help offset the cost of targets.”

Team members meet once weekly to complete three practices and five competitions but must satisfy safety requirements before being allowed to compete. Competitive clay shooters attempt to break clay targets from seven positions along the curved edge of the semi-circular field and from one additional station. Once the competitors have tried all eight stations, they have completed one round and have attempted to break 25 targets.

An entire competition includes two rounds for 50 possible target breaks. Team members will complete five competitions to determine the conference champion and six other Texas schools in their conference. At the end of the season, all league members are allowed to register for the State Tournament held in Waco in June.

The MPISD Clay Target Club is in the spring season, from March 31 to May 27. We are proud to introduce our charter members, a group of dedicated and talented individuals who have set the bar high for future members. They include eighth-grader George Fite, freshmen Lance Albin, Carson Bell, Cooper Rider, sophomores Donald Cole and Blake Humber, and juniors Trent Milam and Rolston Morton.

MPISD Robotics teams close out the year at Regionals

Three MPISD robotics teams representing Vivian Fowler Elementary and P.E. Wallace Middle School competed in the Regional Texas Youth Robotics Alliance competition on Friday, April 19, at the Region 8 Service Center. The competition featured 16 teams of elementary and middle school students from the surrounding area, who all qualified to compete based on their performance at competitions earlier in the season.

At the end of three qualification matches, the top eight teams advanced to the finals tournament, including Pizza (Jake Jones, Krystopher Castro, Teyten Mettlen, Tana Contreras) from Wallace Middle School as the #1 seed with 2000 points. They were ultimately beaten in the semifinal round by the eventual tournament champions.

The Texas Stars, Carter Cameron, Thatcher Drange, and Kael Aleman, from Wallace Middle School, placed 9th after prelims, just missing advancing to finals by 15 points. And also competing for MPISD were the Creative Coders (Zuley Banda, Bruno De la Hoya, Damian Martinez, Cristian De La Hoya) from Fowler and Wallace.

Robotics programs give students hands-on experience applying essential Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) concepts to real-world problems. In MPISD, students in the elementary and middle school Robotics program construct their robots from the ground up, design what they want them to look like, program them to complete certain tasks and learn to drive them using a remote control.

MPISD has robotics teams on all four elementary campuses: Wallace Middle School and Mount Pleasant Junior High. Jamie King coaches the elementary campuses, and Tara Flores coaches the Wallace and MPJH teams.

Tiger Track heads to UIL State

Mount Pleasant High School qualified five athletes in three events for the 5A UIL state track meet in Austin in May, with two other events just narrowly missing the cutoff. The Regional meet was April 19-20 at Maverick Stadium at The University of Texas at Arlington but was delayed due to inclement weather in the area. Running concluded on Monday.

Tiger UIL State qualifiers include:

• 100M—Senior Dylan Bennett (2nd at Regionals)
• Wheelchair Shot Put—Senior Jonathan Ramirez (1st at Regionals)
• 4×200 relay

Bennett, senior Latristan Thompson, junior Shane Watkins, senior Isaiah Hunter (2nd at Regionals)

The 4×100 relay team of Bennett, Watkins, Thompson, and senior Jonathan Turner also placed in their events. The team came in third place, just .15 away from advancing to the state meet. Senior Auti Johnson placed third in the Shot Put, just one spot away from advancing to state. Sophomore Corben Craig placed fourth in the Shot Put.

The 5A State meet is May 3 at Mike A. Myers Track and Soccer Stadium on the University of Texas at Austin campus. Jeff Litke (Tiger Head Coach), Travis Buchanan (Lady Tiger Head Coach), Keith Thompson (Relays), Kavan Johnson (Hurdles), Precious Thompson (Long Jump & Relays), Jason Sims (High Jump), Luke Craddock (Triple Jump), Crystal Jackson (High Jump), Jessica Stanley (Throwers), Alex Fellows (Throwers), Taylor Johnson (Pole Vault), Martina Ramirez (Distance & Mid-Distance), Jay Turnipseed (Sprints), and Tina Carrillo (Sprints) coach MPHS Track.

5A Region II Bi-District Softball Play-offs

Mount Pleasant Lady Tigers (22-10-1) vs. Dayton (23-10)

(Best of 3 Series) – April 25-27

1. Thursday, April 25 – 6:30 pm – MP Home Team
2. Friday, April 26 – 6:30 pm – MP Visiting Team
3. Saturday, April 27 – 2:00 pm – (if needed) – Flip for Home

ALL GAMES at Rusk High School – 495 Eagle Dr., Rusk, TX 75785

Tickets – $5 Adults, $3 Students – At the Gate

Passes accepted – District 15-5A, TGCA, THSCA, Senior Citizens

Go, Lady Tigers! On K-Lake 97.7 and Internet

Mount Pleasant High School athletes named to Academic All-State swim team

Two Mount Pleasant High School swimmers, including senior Sophie Greco and junior Kate Ball, have been named to the Texas Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association (TISCA) Academic All-State team. To be nominated, student-athletes must be juniors or seniors and must have an overall GPA of at least 3.75.

Greco has competed with Tiger Swim for four years. This is her second year being named Academic All-State. She will attend the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin in the fall. Ball has competed with Tiger Swim for three years and will return for her senior year this fall.

Jerilyn Goolsby coaches MPHS Tiger Swim.

Mount Pleasant High School Announces Top 10% Honor Graduates.

Mount Pleasant High School announced its Class of 2024 Top 10% Honor Graduates at a private reception on Friday, April 19. MPHS Honor Graduates are Valedictorian Sophie Greco, Salutatorian Nathaniel Martinez, and, in alphabetical order, Hannah Anderson, Oscar Castellanos, Nicholas Cates, Ella Cross, Caroline Currey, Brianne Davis, Clinton Debord, Drew Dyke, Jose Escobar, John David Freeman, Jose Fuentes, Estefani Garcia, Yahir Garcia, Ana Garrett, Owen Green, Abigail Gutierrez, Angelina Hernandez, Stephanie Hernandez, Jillian Jetton, Erik Liera, Rebecca Martinez, Annie Munoz, Jeisy Salazar Munoz, Zoë Newman, Mckinsee Oviedo, Joel Palacios, Andrew Perez, Cecilia Phan, Kiara Rundles, Allie Sloan, Makayla Spigner, Harrison Wall, Conlee Zachry, and Shpat Zeqaj.

Mount Pleasant High School’s commencement ceremony will be on Friday, May 17, at 8:00 pm at Sam Parker Stadium.