Sports

The Vets traveled to Sealy to face the Brewers in the semifinals of the playoffs. The Brewers jumped out to a 10-1 lead and never looked back.

The Weimar Ladycats enter this season after reaching the postseason every year since missing the playoffs in the 2011 season. After over a decade of postseason history on the team, the current version of the Weimar Ladycats are looking forward to potentially continuing that streak this season. With a host of players planning to return this year after quality seasons last year, the Ladycats are hoping that they will keep their streak alive while having a deeper playoff run than they did last season.

WEIMAR ATHLETES UNWIND BEFORE FALL SEASON

The future of Columbus football and cheerleading got a start at improving in their early careers as the Columbus Youth Football Federation got action started for their upcoming fall season. Youth players in Columbus got a chance to start learning and training the skills they will need in their career as they move forward. CYFF coaches got a chance to work with each player as they helped set the foundational fundamentals for the future Columbus players.

The cross-country teams of Colorado County are preparing for another season with big dreams at the start. After each team had strong seasons last year that resulted in some regional qualifiers and even state-level competitors, the teams for Columbus, Weimar and Rice will be looking to repeat their success from a season ago with many runners returning this season.

The Colorado County archery club, T.H.E. JOAD Club, is preparing for a statewide event as the Texas Outdoor Target Series Championship makes its way to the club’s home in Columbus. On Saturday, Aug. 19, the archery club is hosting archers from all over the state to compete in the final meet of the season for the Outdoor Target Series. The competition will take place at 10 a.m. on the Colorado County Fairgrounds as Columbus takes the responsibility for inviting the state’s top archers. Locations for the tournaments have ranged from Houston to Lubbock as the local club gets their turn for the series’ most important meet.

The start of the 2023 fall athletic season is finally here after the Lady Cards volleyball team started with a non-district game against the El Campo Lady Eagles on Tuesday, Aug. 8. Columbus begins their year with some statewide recognition already going their way as many expect them to repeat another highly successful year after becoming one of the state’s final four teams last season. The Texas Girls’ Coaches Association rewarded them for their semifinal appearance by ranking the Lady Cards in the top five of their preseason state poll. With many impact players returning to the squad, the TGCA placed Columbus in the fifth spot in their first ranking of the season.

The Lady Cards volleyball team kept their annual tradition alive as the alumnae of Columbus returned to take on the current team as a tune-up for the regular season. The Lady Cards of the past had somewhat of a homecoming as they returned to the gym to compete and prepare the current iteration of Lady Cards for another long season. With a history of success in the program, many of the returning players have seen the growth of the program as Columbus hopes to continue their recent run of strong seasons. The alumni game marked the last preseason action before Columbus began their non-district schedule against El Campo on Aug. 8. Results from the match were not available by the press deadline.

The Lady Raiders varsity volleyball squad will benefit from a year of varsity experience as well as the added chemistry of returning many of their starters from last season. Rice volleyball, like many of the other Raider sports programs, underwent a youth movement as rosters across Rice athletics featured several non-senior and underclassmen players. As a result, the Lady Raiders went through some of the growing pains of a young team in a difficult district as they finished near the bottom of the district standings. The volleyball team lost just one player to graduation this past season, returning most of a team looking to make a big step forward in the coming seasons as youth continues to be a focal point.

The Weimar Wildcat varsity football team made a name for themselves in Head Coach Wade Griffin’s first year by playing a physical, ground-and-pound style that was built to wear down their opponents. The result was an offensive attack that was much more effective than their 2021 season as they had several big running performances and increased their win total by one to 3-7 in 2022. This season, Griffin and the Wildcats will be looking to make a much bigger jump to finish higher in the district standings and attempt to secure a spot in the UIL postseason.

SAN JOSE, COSTA RICA – An alumnus for the Rice Raiders track team has continued to add some prestige to his post high school career after a strong outing in the North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletics Association Championship. Rice graduate Connor Schulman has had a strong career since departing the halls of Rice High School. After a strong year for the Texas A&M College Station track team, Schulman took the gold medal in the NACAC Championship meet for the 110 m hurdles.

THE RICE RAIDER 2023-24 COACHING STAFF

This season’s Weimar Wildcats were led by a group of now-graduated seniors who made large contributions to their strong regular season and their bi-district championship victory. The upperclassmen made an impact on both defense and offense as they helped the Wildcats stay competitive throughout the season. One player for Weimar received special recognition by the Texas Sports Writers Association after an all-around season for the Wildcats. Brady Henke, graduated senior from the Class of 2023, got the attention of the TSWA and was officially named to the Blue Bell 2A All-State First Team.

The Wildcat crosscountry team is preparing to start up the fall season once again as they attempt to have a second-straight appearance in the regional meet. Several of their runners had strong seasons last year, and they will be hoping to continue that momentum into the fall.

LA GRANGE – The Weimar Vets traveled to the Fairgrounds Ball Park for the final regular season game against the Serbin Jackrabbits who dominated the game with a final score of 11-1.

The Weimar Wildcat football team has officially released their schedule for the 2023 season with several games coming against familiar opponents from last season. Not only will the Wildcats take on each of their opponents from last season, but they will face them in the exact same order as well. Weimar is hoping they can get a few better results this year as they look to improve upon their 3-7 overall record and their 1-5 record in district competition from last season.

‘National Party of Texas’ packed with entertainment for all

The Columbus Cardinal varsity football team has had just one goal on their minds for the past few seasons: win the school’s first state championship. With their talent and success in the district as well as the postseason, they have had every reason to believe that they are ranked up with the best teams in the state. With many of the same goals this season as well as several returning varsity players, Columbus is back to business as usual, vying to be the best 3A football team in Texas.

BROWNSVILLE – After several strong performances at the regional youth track meet, the CYFF track team continued their momentum in the TAAF state competition. Many athletes made it to the Finals with several placing in the top-3 spots and claiming a medal position. With some help from some varsity Columbus competitors, the CYFF team had a quality outing as a team.

The Lady Cards’ volleyball team is coming off of a deep postseason run to the state semifinals, their second deep playoff run in a row. With many players returning after competing in both playoff runs, the Lady Cards have a battle- tested group that are hoping to finally reach the Finals after falling just short to the eventual state champions in both years; first against Bushland and then against Gunter last season. Ironically, those two teams have met each other in the State Championship game in each of those seasons. Columbus is hoping to have a big season to prevent a thirdstraight matchup between Gunter and Bushland and potentially secure the Lady Cards’ first state championship.

TEXAS CITY – The Columbus Youth Football Federation’s track team got some strong performances from several of their runners in the regional meet for a chance to move on to the state competition. The team brought 44 competitors with many athletes earning state qualifications. Nearly all the runners set their personal records as they earned many top 10 placements and finished with some medals as well. CYFF earned medals in 17 different events as they had plenty of top performances to boast after a quality two-day competition.