Campbell Athletes Making Things Happen

It should be a busy and excitement-filled couple of few days on the athletic front at .

The girls’ tennis team has advanced where no previous Lady Spartan netters have gone before and this week will be facing Camden County in the Class AAAAA sweet sixteen.

Meanwhile, the football players will meet their new coach this week and are hosting a special weightlifting fundraiser pitting players against CHS coaches, staff and parents.

But first up are the track teams as both the boys and girls hope to sprint from behind and win tonight’s Region 4-AAAAA championship at McEachern High School in Powder Springs.

At Saturday’s opening day of events at the Ralph D. Williams Sports Complex, every Campbell runner that entered the preliminaries qualified for today’s finals.

“There will be two Campbell athletes in every lane race, boys and girls,’’ said girls’ track coach Kyle Turner. “Saturday could not have gone much better.’’

The girls’ finals in the discus, triple jump, pole vault and 1,600 meters were all completed Saturday and Campbell begins Monday in seventh place, 31 points back of the leader, Kennesaw Mountain.  But the Lady Spartans, much like their boy counterparts, are strong in the sprints and they expect to make a big push Monday night.

The Campbell boys are in fourth-place, 25 points back of host McEachern after five finals - shot put, triple jump, high jump, pole vault and the 1,600 - were contested on Saturday. Senior Roderick Perkins placed second in the high jump and qualified for the state meet next month.

The remaining field event finals are slated to begin today at 5 p.m. with the running events set for 6:30 p.m. The top two finishers in each event will qualify for the state championships to be held in Jefferson, Ga., May 5-7. The girls’ state meet will be held May 12-14 in Albany.

The Campbell girls’ tennis team has enjoyed its most successful season in school history and will face Camden County this week in the sweet sixteen of the state tournament.

The team finished third in the region tournament to qualify for the state tournament for the first time in the program’s history, and then followed with an impressive 3-0 sweep of East Coweta in the opening round.

Coach Jennifer Sandlin praised the efforts of a pair of seniors, No. 3 singles player Marisa Cobain and No. 2 doubles player Belinda Jivapong, who have been starters since they were freshmen.

“They have persevered through the tougher years and provided great leadership,’’ Sandlin said.

No. 1 singles player, Princess Forbes, is a nationally ranked player, while sophomore Siera Oliver at No. 2 singles has been extremely solid. Justina Jefferson and Priyanka Sridhar form the successful No. 1 doubles team while No. 2 doubles player Angela Vujic was the team’s most improved player last year and “gets better everyday’’ according to the coach.

It will be a big week for the CHS football team, as the Spartans will learn of their new coach in the coming days. The Spartans also will host their first annual weight lifting challenge on Tuesday night with all proceeds set to benefit the team and its booster club.

The event will feature 15 faculty, staff, coaches and parents versus 15 strong Spartan football players. The 7 p.m. event at Wills Gym costs $5 for students and $7 for adults.

Finally, congratulations to the boys’ soccer team for their season-ending victory over Woodstock. Scoring goals in the 5-2 Senior Night win were Donnovan Smith, Ennio Bannuelos, Victor Roman, Sergio Arreola, and Ross Nicely.