Dexter, Missouri - Travis Waldner looks up to his siblings and their athletic abilities as he is an up and coming super athlete himself.

Travis wrestles with the Jackson USA Wrestling Team.  This past Sunday, he traveled to St. Louis and competed in the AAU Ozark Districts Championship.  This wrestling tournament is noted to be the oldest consecutive running tournament west of the Mississippi.

He was one of 18 kids in his weight class bracket and he finished 5th with a 6-2 on the tournament.  This qualified him for the AAU State Wrestling Tournament which will be held on Sunday, February 24th. Congratulations to Travis on his success!

Awards at the AAU State Tournament will be medals to the top 6 wrestlers in the Gold Division, a trophy to the Champion and medals for 2nd - 6th place in the Blue Division and a plaque for "Most Falls by Champion" in each age group in the Blue Division.

For more information about AAU State Wrestling call 314-827-4006 or go to www.moaaustate.com.  You may also contact Greg Kloeppel at greg@moaaustate.com.

The ShowMe Times wishes Travis the best of luck!!

Dexter, Missouri - Another great week of exciting match-ups, fierce rivalries and conference games as the only conference tournament of the week is the Stoddard County Athletic Association (SCAA) Tournament in Bloomfield, Missouri.

The Dexter Bearcats were on top of their game last night as they demolished the Woodland Cardinals in the first round of the SCAA Tournament.  Final score Dexter 61   Woodland 31.

If the Bearcats had not scored one point in the second half they still could have pulled off the win.  By half-time, Dexter had racked up a total of 43 points, still enough to beat the Cardinals who only had 11 points on the board.

Dexter had three players with double digits during this first round of SCAA Tournament play.  Chase Young, #3 was the top scorer for the Bearcats with 17 points and D.J. Dowdy, #11 right behind him with 16 points.  Ryan Joyner, #33 had 10 points for the Bearcats.

The Dexter Bearcats have been playing much better in recent weeks, despite the loss to NMCC last Friday night.  If they can get past Advance on Thursday evening, they have a good shot at winning the SCAA Tournament.  Dexter just recently won a great game against Bernie, who is considered to be the top seed to win the tournament. 

Advance is going to be tough with their win over Richland in their first round of action by a score of 82 to 38 as they are on a winning high for this tournament.   Game time is Thursday January 24th at 7:00 p.m. when the Dexter Bearcats try to take the sting out of the Advance Hornets.

Tonight's match-ups are Bernie vs Bell City at 7:00 p.m. and Bloomfield vs Puxico at 8:30 p.m.  These should be some awesome games to watch tonight at the Bloomfield High School.

Written by
Dee Loflin, SMT Writer

Dexter, Missouri - The Dexter Lady Cats will be traveling to Charleston, Missouri on Saturday,  January 26th to participate in the Coaches vs. Cancer Tournament. 

Once again, the Charleston Lady Bluejays basketball team will be raising money to fight cancer.  On Saturday the Lady Bluejays will be one of fourteen teams participating in their annual Coaches vs. Cancer Shootout at the Charleston High School.

Coach Josh Thompson stated, “We have had a lot of folks touched in some way by cancer here in Charleston and the surrounding area.  Everyone is affected in a small town, so we are just trying to do our part to help fight it.

The very first year proceeds from the event were donated to the American Cancer Society in honor of Eva Grissom Henshaw, who was the Athletic Director at East Prairie, Missouri when she died of cancer at the age of only 52.  She was well loved by many students and impacted the lives of all that knew her.

Last year the Lady Bluejays gave 100% of the proceeds to the St. Francis Foundation in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.  They provide free mammography screenings for woman who otherwise could not afford them.

The Lady Bluejays took it upon themselves to sign-up sponsors and get donations from businesses around the area to help with concessions and general donations in running this shootout.

It is truly a worthwhile cause and it raises breast cancer awareness in our area.  Last year the Lady Bluejays received word from the St. Francis Foundation that three women had some type of breast cancer issue.  Had they not been screened their illness could have gone undiagnosed and untreated.

The Sikeston Lady Bulldogs will start the day at 10:30 a.m. playing Scott County Central, followed by Greenville vs. Portageville at noon.

The East Prairie Lady Eagles will take on the Woodland Lady Cardinals at 1:30 p.m. and the Dexter Lady Bearcats will play St. Joseph’s Academy at 4:30 p.m.

New Madrid will play at 6:00 p.m. against Meadow Heights.

Charleston will end the slate of games by hosting Twin Rivers at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets are available at the door and are $6.00 each.

Dexter MO - After a week long layoff, the Dexter Lady Bearcats were forced to take on the Perryville girls with out the services of leading scorer Brittany Harris.  Fans wondered how the girls would fare without their senior leader.  The answer, "just fine thank you!"

The Lady 'Cats got a slow start with a couple of missed shots and a turnover.  Paige Patterson got the scoring started with a free throw, followed by a basket by Mollie Whitehead.  Alison Jarrell delivered on the first of five three pointers on the night, and another three point shot by Hannah Noe.  Paige hit another basket giving the Cats a 11-0 lead. 

The Bearcats increased their score to 16-2 with a three-point basket by Mollie Whitehead and a field goal by Noe.  Momentum began to swing toward the Perryville Pirates at that point in the game as they mounted a scoring drive to cut into the Bearcat lead. 

With the score of 16-8, Erica Cobb was able to hit a 3-point shot to keep the Bearcats on top 19-13 at the end of the first quarter.

Katelynn Frazier came out hot in the second quarter posting the first 6 points of the second quarter.  Perryville continued to hang around playing the 'Cats tough.  At one point, the Pirates had cut the Bearcat lead to only 9-points, 28-19. 

With a quick timeout by Chad Allen and assistant coach Eric Sitz, the Lady 'Cats found a new inspiration both offensively and defensively.  The Bearcats went on a commanding 15 - 0 run to close out the quarter with a score of 42 - 19.  Alison Jarrell led the 'Cats on the scoring run by raining down two 3-point shots.

The hot topic at half time was Defense.  The Lady Cats seemed convinced that there was a better way to finish this game and they came out in the third quarter the intent to show that they could shut down the Pirates. 

That is exactly what the 'Cats delivered as they went on another commanding offensive run for the first six minutes of the third quarter.  This time, the Bearcats held the Pirates scoreless while posting 17-points extending their lead to 60-19.  The third quarter ended with the Cats holding a comfortable 70-25 lead. 

The fourth quarter passed quickly as the continuous "mercy" clock was engaged.  Both teams were able to add a few additional points to the scoreboard making the final score 81-34. moving the girls season record to 16-1.

The Lady Cats had 5 players in double figures.  Alison Jarrell was the top of the scoring column with 15-points on the night.  She was followed by Paige Patterson had 12-points, Hannah Noe and Maollie Whitehead each had 11-points and Katelyn Frazier added 10-points.

Coach Chad Allen was pleased with the Lady Bearcats extra effort after the critical turning point of the game.  It was evident that adjustments during timeouts and at halftime prompted the 'Cats to regroup and get more focused on their defensive efforts.

"Coming out, I thought we came out a little flat early on," noted Coach Allen.  "We didn't have as much intensity as we have been having in other games."

"Having Brittney out of the line up may have thrown us off a little in the beginning.  She is a good defensive player and almost unstoppable inside at the post." added Coach Allen.  "But I thought the girls adjusted and did really well, especially the last three quarters. 

"Perryville is a good team that is very well coached," explained Allen.  "They just aren't that deep and I think we just wore them down in that 3rd quarter."

The varsity will be in action on Saturday at Charleston High School in the Coaches against Cancer classic as they will take on the number 1 ranked team in Class 5 the St. Joseph Academy Angels.  Game time is 4:30 p.m.

"It's gonna be a huge test for us and I'm excited we get the opportunity to play St. Joe Academy." said Coach Allen.  "They are always a powerhouse team out of St. Louis and we will definitely see where we are at."

"Hopefully we will have Brittney back by then.  We will find out Thursday," added Chad.  "But even if we have to play without her it will be a great game for us for a great cause.  It will definitely prepare us down the road for playoff time."

Junior Varsity Action

The JV Lady Cats moved to 6-0 on the season with a 67-17 win over the younger Pirates. 

Defense was the name of this game as the Lady Pirates were held scoreless in both the first and third quarter.  Dakota Reynolds, MaKayla Waldner, Melanie McKuin and Karoline Keirsey were all in double figures for the young Cats. 

Offensively, the JV 'Cats were able to aggressively attack the Pirates defense.  Dexter had a hot shooting hand and were able to nail the outside shot.  The 'Cats also found that the transition game off of Perryville turnovers helped their scoring column quickly.

Defensively, the Bearcats were very intense and swarmed the basketball.  They left little ability for the Lady Pirates to get setup and into their offense. 

This baseball season will be featuring a curve ball for those interested in playing in the Missouri Bootheel this year in the spring. Missouri has been split up into fourth different classes based on each high school’s population and location. This year, instead of having four, Missouri has issued a fifth district. Some of the local teams will be switching districts or classes, which means that the players and coaches have new competitions to prepare for.

In the 2012-2013 school year, Twin Rivers is one of the high schools that will be transferring out of their district they’ve played in for the past ten years. The Royals are no longer in Class 2, District 1, where they won the overall title last year during the 2012 season. The Twin Rivers Royals are now being transferred to Class 3, District 1, where they will play against Doniphan, New Madrid County Central, Alton, and Caruthersville.

Malden, who competed for the overall title and won in 2011, will also be transferred out of the competitive Class 2, District 1, and moved into the same district as Twin Rivers in Class 3, District 1.  Both coaches of the two teams are anxious and ready to face the new competitors, along with facing each other yet again.

The Dexter Bearcats will have new competition this year, due to both Kennett and Notre Dame being transferred from their previous districts to Class 4, District 1. Kennett is the holder of two back-to-back titles and is now bumped up to a bigger and more competitive district. Kennett’s baseball team has been in Class 3, District 1 for the past couple of years but is now being transferred to Class 4, District 1, where they will face off against the Dexter Bearcats, Fredricktown, Notre Dame, Perryville, and Sikeston.

While some teams are transferring to a nearby or local district with teams that they have played in recent years, the Holcomb Hornets have just been introduced to a whole new ball game. The Hornets, who have recently played in one of the smallest division for Missouri baseball, Class 1,  is now being bumped up to Class 2, Division 1. Holcomb will be up against a whole new set of competitors. Holcomb’s new Class includes Hayti, Campbell, and South Pemiscot as rivals.

The Bernie Mules have also been bumped from Class 1 to Class 2 this year. Unlike the Holcomb Hornets, the Mules have jumped from Class 1 all the way to Class 2, Division 3, where they will be up against the Bloomfield Wildcats, the Puxico Indians, Greenville, Saxony-Lutheran, and Chaffee.

In Class 1, Division 2, the Advance Hornets will be competing against the Bell City Cubs, the Richland Rebels, Delta, and Scott County Central. While Bernie and Holcomb are bumped up to Class 2, Class 1 is left with a couple of larger schools competing against the smaller schools. Class 1 has been changed drastically this year due to certain teams moving districts or to different classes.

There are many changes that have taken place with new teams, new members, and even a couple of new coaches. While things are changing in the local areas, things are also changing in the state of Missouri and in the eyes of high school baseball. Instead of the state’s final four playing in Springfield like they did last year, the state’s final four will be playing at T.R. Hughes Ballpark in O’Fallon, Missouri.

Many of the rival teams that have played against each other in the past will have the chance to meet again during the quarter-finals that will take place late in the spring season. Although the districts have changed, the game has still remained the same and the coaches, players, and fans are looking forward to another great baseball season in Missouri this year.