We will hear from LEDC Director, Bob Samford as he shares how Lufkin is growing and how the growth is in a very diversified sectors of manufacturing and retail.
Save your seat by Wednesday, November 29 at 5 PM to be entered to win $100, brought to you by Servpro of Lufkin & Nacogdoches.
Location: Crown Colony County Club
Register here >> bit.ly/Dec-FFL-23
AC Athletics (Men’s basketball photos by Maria Andrade)
Hey, everyone,
This week’s update will be fairly short (and partially sweet). Our AC teams had a relatively light schedule in comparison to previous weeks. The men’s and women’s basketball teams played a total of three games over the holiday week.
Following is a brief recap along with this week’s schedule of games.
Roadrunner Men Top Strength ‘N Motion
In their only game of the week, the Roadrunners handled Strength ‘N Motion by a 76-60 final Tuesday at Shands Gymnasium. Xavier Owens led AC with 28 points and seven rebounds. Nehikare Igiehon added 10 points and another seven boards in the win.
The ‘Runners have a pair of tough home games on tap for this week. On Monday, AC’s men will host an undefeated McLennan Highlander team starting at 7 p.m. at Shands Gymnasium.
And on Wednesday, the Roadrunners open conference play with a home game against Trinity Valley Community College. That game tips off at 7 p.m. Finally, the ‘Runners travel to Tyler JC on Saturday for a 4 p.m. tipoff.
Both games will be live-streamed on TSBN Sports.
Lady Roadrunners Drop Pair of Games in TVCC Classic
On Friday and Saturday, the Lady Roadrunners played a pair of the country’s top JUCO teams at the Budke/Serna Classic at Trinity Valley Community College in Athens.
AC’s ladies fell to No. 11 Three Rivers CC (MO) on Friday, losing by a 69-49 final. On Saturday, the Lady ‘Runners dropped a 64-52 decision to South Plains CC.
The Lady Roadrunners’ only game on the schedule for this week is a road game at 6 p.m. Tuesday at LSU-Eunice. The ladies’ next home game is Tuesday, Dec. 5 against Western Gulf CC. Game time is 6 p.m.
AC Soccer, Baseball Holding Evaluation Sessions in December
In hopes of finding some new Roadrunners, both the AC men’s soccer and baseball programs will host tryout/evaluation sessions in December.
The soccer program, fresh off back-to-back appearances in the NJCAA Division I National Tournament, will host its showcase starting at 9 a.m. and running until noon on Saturday, Dec. 9. The session includes a campus tour.
The event is geared toward providing high school students and college transfers the opportunity to train and experience skills evaluation from college coaches while learning more about the recruiting process.
Baseball’s showcase takes place the very next day: Sunday, Dec. 10 starting at 10 a.m. AC baseball long has served as a pipeline for players moving up to the upper levels of the collegiate ranks as well as the professional ranks.
Players at December’s session will be evaluated on their tools, (speed, arm strength, hitting, fielding, and power); there will be no scrimmage. Pitchers will throw brief bullpens to grade all of their pitches.
That’s about it for this week. We’re winding down toward the end of the semester, so this is a good time to let everyone know: The campus will close for the holidays at the end of the day on Friday, Dec. 15. That’s the last day of games for our basketball teams until the Roadrunners host Lonestar College-Tomball on Friday, Dec. 29.
If there’s anything else you need, please let me know.
Join the AC Chorale and Friends for our 9th annual holiday concert honoring our veterans USO-style! Special guests include: The East Texas Praise Symphony, Chorale alumni, and local children’s ensembles. Directed by Beckie Compton. The emcee is Gary Stallard.
The public can bid on the trees, including all the decor on them, with all proceeds going to a scholarship account for area seniors.
Local businesses will be decorating the trees and they will be auctioned off.
The auction will be online for the week of 11/27/23-12/1/23. Potential bidders can view the trees (online/in-person) and then place bids. All bids start at $50 and go up in even dollar increments. Bidding closes at 3 pm on 12/1. All trees will be on display at the Chamber of Commerce. Winning bidders will take home the entire tree the first week of December.
The Jasper/Lake Sam Rayburn Chamber of Commerce encourages everyone to support the auction with a bid on one or more of these beautiful trees.
Date/Time Information: November 27, 2023, at 9 am to December 1, 2023, at 3 pm
Location:
500 S Wheeler St, Jasper, TX 75951-4540, United States
Come and get your Miss Merry Christmas forms, and tickets today. The deadline will be November 20, 2023, at 5 PM.
The San Augustine Main Street lighted Christmas parade will be on December 1, 2023, at 6 PM.
San Augustine County Chamber of Commerce Miss Merry Christmas pageant will be December 2, 2023, at 2 PM.
With the recent change of “Plant Hardiness Zones” from the USDA, I have received a few questions about how that may change what happens in one’s backyard or back pasture. While changes in the boundaries of a national map may not affect the weather around your place, knowing the climate specific to your piece of ground may be of great interest.
While the new USDA map shifted some of the zones around, the map does not know that you have a south-facing brick wall that absorbs heat during the day and radiates heat at night. The map does not know that you have large oaks and pine trees in the front yard but have an open, sunny backyard.
Every landscape has a uniqueness that may help or hinder selected plants.
Folks who live on top of a hill will generally be warmer than their neighbors whose home is at the bottom of the hill where the colder air settles. Folks in town surrounded by more paved surfaces, and large buildings, will hold heat better than a lone house in the middle of the country just a few miles away.
All that information I listed above is climate data, the general conditions over a fairly large area. Microclimates are smaller areas with features that cause local conditions to deviate from the average. Consider how the temperatures in downtown Gettysburg are higher than the temperatures just a few miles outside of town. Gettysburg’s buildings paved surfaces, and lack of trees hold heat, making the town warmer. A gardener in town has a growing season that is a few days longer than if she were gardening even five miles away.
But we can find microclimates that are more localized, even within one’s backyard, in or out of town. Being a gardening nerd, I keep track of temperature with two thermometers: one in the shady front yard and one in the sunny back yard. There is a considerable difference between the two, depending on the amount of sun on a particular day, how dry it is, the direction of the wind, and several other factors. I’ll bet if you spend time really looking and sensing your yard’s environment, you’ll find there is more than one microclimate in your yard, too.
Most gardeners already know about the warmth of the side of a building or a rock wall. Whether it’s the buildings in town or your yard, stonework, and masonry store heat. If you’re impatient to get your tomatoes earlier or you want to grow plants adapted to a southern climate, you put your botanical treasures along a rock wall or the side of the house, a warm spot. But we also know that warm soil dries out much faster, so your special plants should be placed in the soil with a lot of organic matter mulched to hold moisture, and watered regularly in hot and dry weather. Shade cloth adds protection on hot, sunny days, too.
Moving air is a condition that is tough on plants. During the winter many sensitive plants suffer more from desiccation than cold, and your prized specimens need some sort of shelter from the winter winds. But even in the summer, a windbreak retains humidity, helping plants hold valuable moisture and keeping the ground from drying out.
Check the location of shade through the gardening seasons. The sun is not in the same place now that it will be in June and shadows change position through the year, too. This year the Summer Solstice is on June 21, and from our position on earth in Adams County, PA, that’s the day the sun will rise and set in its most northerly position and will be as high in the sky as it reaches at our latitude. From now until the summer solstice, shadows move and get shorter until June 21, when they are the shortest. Then the sun starts moving lower in the sky and towards its southernmost extreme on the Winter Solstice.
What this means to a gardener depends on what is being grown. The gardener needs to know where to put plants that need full sun, part shade or shade. The position of the shade and how long a spot is shady varies through the year because of this apparent movement of the sun. On April 8 the sun will be in the same position as on September 3, the Saturday of Labor Day weekend. Of course, there is less shade under trees in April, since they haven’t leafed out yet. Keep that in mind as you evaluate your yard.
One of my tricks is using tall plants to create a microclimate for shorter, shade-tolerant ones. To keep short, leafy plants cooler on hot days of summer, I put them in the shade of taller plants. Lettuce planted between tomatoes is a useful pairing, along with short, shade-tolerant plants beneath trellised green beans. Vining squash grows well within the cover of a block of corn, where it shades the ground and holds moisture.
Consider areas of your yard that are prone to frost, too. Cold air collects in low areas and can have a light frost when areas uphill are frost-free. Tall plants help protect short neighbors in this situation, too. Since low areas are slow to warm in the spring and will be the first to be affected by frost, it may not be wise to put vegetables with a long maturation time in this area.
Spending time getting to know all your yard’s environmental quirks can reveal gardening situations that make your specimens thrive or languish. You can make your trip to the garden center armed with information to make great choices. You can also know, within your yard’s limits, what you can do to make a particular choice work.
This charcoal still life from artist Isaac Alvarado is one of the works scheduled for display in the upcoming Angelina College Visual Arts Student Gallery scheduled to run Nov. 21 through Jan. 12 in the Angelina Center for the Arts Gallery. (Contributed image)
Gallery Runs through January 12
Angelina College Visual Arts students will display their impressive talents and works in an art exhibition taking place in the Angelina Center for the Arts Gallery on the AC campus.
The exhibition opened Nov. 21 and will run through Jan. 12. An artists’ reception takes place at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 21 in the ACA foyer.
Students from Le’Anne Alexander’s Intro to Design, Intro to Painting and Intro to Drawing courses will participate.
Following is the list of artists by course:
Intro to Design students: Yasmin Callaway, Sidney Carnley, Miguel Corral, Aaron Evans, Sa’Varius Forney, Sydney Holder, Kayla (Jordan) Huerta, Demi’Treanna Johnson, Breana McSpadden, Yajaira Mendoza, Jakoyus Morrison, Robert Ramirez, Issac Resindis, Alejandra Rodriguez, Ximena Ruiz-Duron, Crystal Salinas, Meghan Schieres, Kiakia Sterling, Leonard Stone, Jordan Tarver, Destiny Williams and Parker Winthrop.
Intro to Painting students: Isaac Alvarado, Robin Assuncao, Josh Bittick, Angelia Dove, Makenna Hankins, Jasmine Lee, Yajaira Mendoza, Jakoyus Morrison, Addison Nemec, Jose Ruiz, Samantha Saenz and Jessilyn Washmon.
Intro to Drawing students: Kyle Coleman, Collin Fuller, Sarah Goodwin, Joyce Olvera, Daphne Ortiz, Sandra Roberts, Cristian Roldan, Kiakia Sterling and Dawn Williams.
This painting, a still life by artist Collin Fuller, is one of the works scheduled for display in the upcoming Angelina College Visual Arts Student Gallery scheduled to run Nov. 21 through Jan. 12 in the Angelina Center for the Arts Gallery. (Contributed image)This acrylic work from artist Miguel Corral is one of the works scheduled for display in the upcoming Angelina College Visual Arts Student Gallery scheduled to run Nov. 21 through Jan. 12 in the Angelina Center for the Arts Gallery. (Contributed image)
Both the reception and the gallery are open to the public, and admission is free.
(Women’s basketball photos by Camilla Bedin and Mary Kahraman; men’s basketball photos by Maria Andrade; soccer photos by Gary Stallard)
This week in Angelina College Athletics saw the men’s soccer team end its remarkable run at the NJCAA National Tournament in Wichita, while the men’s and women’s basketball team spent lots of time inside Shands Gymnasium.
Here’s a recap of the week, along with what’s coming our way this week. (HINT: It’s not much, meaning you’ll get a bit of a break for Thanksgiving.)
Roadrunner Soccer Season Ends in National Tournament
If anything, it’s a testament to just how hard it is to win a national championship.
After having the traditional dinner with AC president Dr. Michael Simon on Sunday, a Roadrunner soccer team that hadn’t lost a single match all season began pool play on Monday at the NJCAA Division I National Tournament in Wichita, Kansas, dropping a 3-1 decision to Cowley College. Omar Mora scored AC’s lone goal in the loss off a beautiful feed from Kaito Ueki, but the ‘Runners just couldn’t finish off other chances against a tough Cowley defense.
The Roadrunners then entered Tuesday’s match against defending national champion Monroe College needing to win by at least three goals. The match was just as intense as anyone would expect; unfortunately, the Mustangs – who would end the week with their second straight national title – proved too stubborn an opponent, sending the ‘Runners home with a 1-0 loss.
Mora earned a spot on the All-Tournament Team, and the Roadrunners earned the tournament’s Sportsmanship Award – awarded to the team conducting itself with the “highest degree of integrity, character and class.”
AC’s season ended with a 13-2-2 record, with the Roadrunners making Angelina College history as the only team (thus far) to appear in a national tournament in consecutive seasons in AC’s 55-year history.
Lady Roadrunner Basketball Hosts Angelina Classic
Shands Gymnasium stayed busy all weekend, as the Lady Roadrunners hosted the annual Angelina Classic – a two-day hoop-a-thon featuring six teams.
AC got in a tune-up before the classic, beating CCBC-Essex by an 87-78 score. Amyria Walker scored 26 points to lead the Lady Roadrunners, followed by Jade Fry with 21 points and Janay Quinn with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
On Friday, the Lady ‘Runners battled No. 8 McLennan College before falling to the Highlassies by a 69-54 score.
AC’s ladies bounced back in a big way on Saturday, torching LSU-Eunice in a 118-86 AC win. The Lady Roadrunners combined to burn the nets for 19 three-pointers, with Walker drilling seven of those on her way to a 32-point game. Alicia Rivera-Scott hit five threes for a 22-point game, Janay Quinn hit four treys in a 16-point game and India McMahon finished with 21 points that included a 3-of-4 performance from behind the three-point line.
NOTE: Nine games into the season, AC’s Amyria Walker leads Region XIV in scoring, averaging 23.9 points per game. Walker has two games of 30-plus points and seven games of 20-plus points so far.
The Lady ‘Runners (5-4) next play on Friday and Saturday as part of the Budke/Serna Classic at Trinity Valley Community College in Athens. AC faces Three Rivers Community College at 5 p.m. on Friday and South Plains College at 3 p.m. on Saturday.
Roadrunner Basketball Off to 5-1 Start
The Roadrunner men’s basketball team is off to a quick start, and although conference play hasn’t begun yet, AC showed it’s ready to run with the big dogs.
AC showed its capabilities with a nail-biting, 69-67 win over No. 27 Howard College on Tuesday. Xavier Owens had his best game of the season thus far, scoring 24 points that included a 6-for-8 effort from the free-throw line. Two of those free throws came late to seal the win.
Kai’Ree Murray added 12 points, and Patrick Johnson and Nehikare Igiehon added 11 points each.
The ‘Runners had a much easier time on Friday, rolling over Lonestar College-Tomball by an 85-42 final. Owens again led the team, this time with 17 points. Murray added 11, and every player on the Roadrunner roster found his way into the scorebook.
AC will host Strength N’ Motion at 6 p.m. Tuesday before taking off the rest of the holiday week.
Former Lady Roadrunner Softball Coach Sterling Passes Away
Angelina College Athletics members were heartbroken to hear of the passing of Abby Sterling, a former assistant coach for the Lady Roadrunner softball program.
Abby was part of the Roadrunner family in 2021-2022, also serving as our residence life specialist in addition to her softball duties.
In her year at AC, Abby was in the middle of just about everything. Her antics during the Trunk or Treat event are legendary, as were her improvised dance moves on the softball field.
Her memorial service took place this past weekend in Nederland, Texas.
Abby was 27 years old.
From all of us at Angelina College Athletics, we hope you and yours have a beautiful Thanksgiving holiday and weekend. If you happen to eat too much, let us know and we’ll help you find some bigger AC Athletics swag. (Trust me. I need ‘em every year.)
If there’s anything else you need from me, please let me know.
