Winston Progress-Times

Eupora ties for second in state powerlifting meet

The Eupora High School powerlifting team scored 24 points to finish second in the MHSAA Class 2A State Powerlifting Championship.

Scott Central won the drown with 40 points, while Mize and Eupora tied for second. Hinds AHS was fourth with 22, while Mantachie and Clarkdale tied for fifth with 21. Other teams competing were Philadelphia with 18 points and Belmont with six.

SEC can play baseball as well

The list is impressive.

The University of Florida holds both the 2006 football championship and the 2006-07 men's basketball title and the University of Tennessee women just reclaimed its rightful place at the top of the women's college basketball world.

But the Southeastern Conference's sports prowess doesn't end there. On opening day, the SEC had 42 players on the 25-man rosters of the 30 Major League Baseball teams, as well as one manager.

LSU and Auburn led the way with seven players each while Mississippi State had three and Ole Miss two.

The MSU players on Major League rosters are Paul Maholm in Pittsburgh, Brandon Medders in Arizona and Jonathan Papelbon in Boston. The Ole Miss players are outfielders David Dellucci of Cleveland and Bobby Kielty of Oakland.

There are two Atlanta Braves who played at SEC schools - pitchers Lance Cormier from Alabama and Tim Hudson from Auburn.

All 12 SEC schools have at least one former player on a Major League roster.

Among the biggest names are St. Louis shortstop David Eckstein (University of Florida), Arizona pitcher Brandon Webb (Kentucky), Colorado outfielder Brad Hawpe (LSU), Cleveland pitcher Cliff Lee (Cleveland), and Colorado first baseman Todd Helton (Colorado).

Houston Astros manager Phil Garner played at the University of Tennessee.

Van Chancellor interviews at LSU

Winston County native Van Chancellor is among the candidates to become the next head at LSU.

Chancellor, who was recently selected to the Basketball Hall of Fame, rose to fame as a high school basketball coach before taking over as the head coach of the Lady Rebels of Ole Miss in 1979. He led that squad until 1997 when he took over as the head coach of the Houston Comets of the WNBA. He coached the Comets for 10 years, leading them to four consecutive WNBA crowns from 1997-2000.

During his 19 years as head coach at Ole Miss, the Lady Rebels made the NCAA Tournament 14 times. His all-time record at Ole Miss was 439-135 for a winning percentage of .740.

UK Wildcats name new head coach

The University of Kentucky has its man, sort of.

On Tuesday, Billy Gillispie was named just the sixth head basketball in the last 76 years at the University of Kentucky. Gillispie has a 100-58 record over the last five years, three at Texas A&M and the first two at Texas-El Paso. Over the past three years the Aggies went 70-26, reaching the Sweet 16 last season.

Gillispie takes over for the much-maligned Tubby Smith who left Lexington for Minnesota after 12 years at the UK helm.

Florida's Billy Donovan was apparently the first choice of UK, when he decided to stay in Gainesville as the head coach of the two-time defending champion Gators. Gillispie said he had no problem being the second choice of the Wildcats.

Atlanta Braves on top of AL East

For the first time in over a year, the Atlanta Braves woke up Monday morning as the top team in the NL East.

The Braves finished under .500 last season and failed to win a division title for the first time in 15 seasons, seeing it's streak of 14 straight banner snapped.

Last year Atlanta was terrible in one-run games, but this year they have been dominant, including Sunday's 3-2 come-from-behind win over the New York Mets, who won the NL East crown last season.

The Braves were set to host the Washington Nationals on Tuesday and Wednesday.