Compiled by Jeff Whitten

The following is a look back at 2010, three months at a time. This installment: April through June. Dates refer to when a story was published.

April
April 3: Richmond Hill swimmer Preston Jenkins, 15, places second in the 200-meter backstroke at the National Club Swimming Association Junior National Championships in Orlando. Jenkins’ time of 1 minute, 46.14 seconds is a state NCSA record. Jenkins swims for the Georgia Coastal Aquatic Team.

April 3: School board members, administrators and boosters are presented with keys to new additions to the Wildcat baseball and softball dugouts prior to a Richmond Hill High School baseball game.

April 14: School board member Dennis Seger honors a bet he made with members of his recreation league softball team, the Hendrix Park 12U Lady ’Skins. Seger told his team that if they beat Pooler 2 he would wear a dress. They did, and he did.

April 14: Kevin Matthews’ 10th-inning homer lifts Richmond Hill past West Laurens 6-5 in a Region 3-AAA contest. The win improves the Wildcats to 11-6 overall and 5-2 in the region.

April 14: The Georgia Dugout Club names Bryan County High School’s softball field No. 1 in Class A in Georgia in 2009. 

April 21: Singing day is a big deal at Bryan County High School, where baseball players Justin Covington, Cameron Lee and Cody Crowe signed with East Georgia. The next day, Samantha Howard signed to play softball at Waycross College.

April 24: The Richmond Hill High School boys’ and girls’ soccer teams clinch Region 3-AAA titles, again. The girls’ title was the Lady Wildcats (14-3 overall, 10-0 in the region) second straight. The Wildcats (11-5 overall)  won their third straight title. Both teams advance to the Class AAA playoffs.

April 28: The Bryan County High School girls’ track team wins the Region 3-A crown while the boys’ team finished second. Tiffany Howard was the region’s high point scorer on the girls’ side with wins in the 800, 1,600 and triple jump. Howard also was on the 4x100 and 4x400 relay teams which claimed titles.

May
May 1: The Wildcats beat Northside Columbus 5-1 in the first round of the state Class AAA soccer playoffs. Melvin Neely had two goals for the Wildcats, who advance to play No. 10 Perry in round two.

May 1: Richmond Hill appears to be a lock to host a state playoff baseball game for the first time in the school’s history. The Wildcats are 17-8 and 8-3 in Region 3-AAA headed into the final game of the regular season.

May 3: Richmond Hill High School’s Lady Wildcats advance to round two of the state soccer playoffs after thumping Troup County 10-0  behind three goals and four assists from Sarah Goolsby and two goals and four assists from Linsday Vasher.  Richmond Hill is set to face Eagles Landing.

May 3: Seven Richmond Hill runners advance to the state track meet. Jamell McKinney will compete in the 800 after she won the Region 3-AAA title; Nikki Shields in the 400 after winning the region title in that event; Chelsey Callahan in the 3,200 after finishing first in the region; Amber Kasinger won the region title in the high jump. On the boys’ side, Russell Lawless will compete in the 1,600 and 3,200 after placing second in both events at region. Shaquille Walker will run in the 800 after winning region and Albert Reddick will compete in the 300 intermediate hurdles after a second-place finish at region.

May 8: The Wildcats fall 3-1 to Perry in the second round of the state playoffs; the Lady Wildcats advance to the third round after downing Eagles’ Landing 8-0.


May 13: Bryan County High School football players get a chance to get acquainted with their new coach, Mark Wilson, during spring football. Wilson was hired in February as both head football coach and athletic director.

May 13: Both the Richmond Hill High School baseball Wildcats and soccer Lady Wildcats bow out of the state playoffs. The Lady Wildcats fell 4-2 to Creekview in the quarterfinals  to end their season at 16-4.
The Wildcats, hosting Troup County in the opening round, were swept 5-2, 5-4 to end their season with an 18-10 record. 

May 19: Richmond Hill junior Shaquille Walker wins a state title in the 800 meters. Walker ran a 1:51.713 at the Class AAA meet in Albany to best defending state champ Kuaniyal Choi, who beat Walker in 2009 when Walker got tangled up with another runner.

May 19: The Bryan County High School girls finish No. 10 in the state at the Class A track meet in Albany. Kimberly Williams almost won the high jump title with a leap of 5 feet, 2 inches, but she tied with another girl who then won using the number of misses as a tie breaker. Williams had three misses to the girl’s two.

May 26: Nine Lady Wildcats are named to the All-Region 3-AAA soccer team. Lindsey Vasher, Sarah Goolsby, Caitlin Uhlig, Kayla Taylor, Elizabeth Campell and Anna Bausum made first team. Second team selections were Whitney Regan, Sarah Mazur and Gaby Parker.

May 29: Richmond Hill High School baseball coach Mitchell Curry is fired  No reason is given except that it wasn’t based on wins and losses. Curry was with the school for eight seasons and won his 100th game as a Wildcat coach in 2010. His team finished second in Region 3-AAA and lost to Troup County in the opening round of the playoffs.

June
June 11: The Richmond Hill football team starts up its own 7-on-7 passing league, hosting teams at Henderson Park.

June 16: Pembroke officials move a step closer to resurrecting its long dormant recreation program. The city votes to provide $2,500 to upgrade the public baseball field.

June 30: Pembroke hires Linda Warburg as recreation director as it continues the push to provide recreation sports opportunities for city residents.