The Post's top 12 sports stories of 2024
This past year has been a fun one for sports fans.
Local high school sports saw two state championships and a handful of others that came very close.
A number of former high school stars have gone on to do well at very high levels.
We even had a local coach named to a national Hall of Fame.
It's been a memorable year for sports in Jackson and Madison County.
Here are the top 12 stories from 2024.
- USJ basketball state championship
The Lady Bruins entered the season with a lot of fanfare with freshman phenom Haylen Ayers and a number of more experienced players around her.
Head coach Joel Ayers put together a quality non-district schedule that tested the Lady Bruins well, and when they got to district play, they had little trouble going through it.
Even when they got past the region tournament, they didn't get a lot of competition in the fourth quarter until they got to the final four in Cookeville.
The championship game against Goodpasture will be remembered for a long while if for nothing else, but the three overtimes it took for the Lady Bruins to pick up the win.
Ayers took over for USJ in that third extra period and was the difference as Goodpasture had a hard time scoring then too.
- Jackson Central-Merry football season
This is mostly covered in the story about the Sports People of the Year - JCM Cougar football team.
But winning their first six games of the year including the Commissioners' Cup games and at eventual region champion and state runner-up Milan captivated local sports fans early and kept them looking the Cougars up until their season ended on Nov. 15.
- Locals seeing success in NFL
Trey Smith made last year's list for being an offensive lineman for the Kansas City Chiefs as they won the Super Bowl.
The Chiefs won their second consecutive Super Bowl - and third in four years - when they defeated the San Francisco 49ers in the big game.
With Kansas City's win, not only did Smith, a 2016 graduate of USJ, win his second Super Bowl, but he became the first NFL player from Madison County to win multiple Super Bowls.
There was another big night in the current NFL season in October when the Chiefs hosted the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The Bucs' roster happened to have some injuries in the tight end/wide receiver room, allowing another USJ graduate, Ryan Miller, to be signed to a short-term playing contract. He's been a part of the Bucs' scout team the last couple years.
The Chiefs won the game, but Miller had a touchdown reception in the game.
- Mark Campbell named to HoF
Union University women's basketball coach Mark Campbell has had a remarkable career as his first few years leading the Lady Bulldogs were full of season in which if they didn't win the NAIA championship, they came close and the final record would typically have 30 or more wins to just a couple losses.
Then when Union moved to NCAA Division II a little more than a decade ago, Union and Campbell became eligible for some of the record books, which Campbell has his name in a few times.
Because of his consistent high level of coaching for the Lady Bulldogs, which he's done for more than a quarter century, Campbell was announced as a member of the 2025 Women's College Basketball Hall of Fame Class.
- Kayla Beaver excels at Alabama softball
Kayla Beaver is a South Side graduate who dealt with injuries during her high school career that affected her college recruiting.
She signed out of South Side with Central Arkansas and excelled with them, helping them to compete for conference championships.
When her four years of eligibility was complete as an undergraduate, she had the option to play elsewhere for a season as a graduate.
She got to fulfill a lifelong dream when she signed with the University of Alabama in the summer of 2023, just after they'd competed in the Women's College World Series and lost the best pitcher in the history of their program to graduation.
Beaver moved to Tuscaloosa with the pressure of trying to live up to her predecessor and competed well in that spotlight, leading the Crimson Tide back to Oklahoma City for the final eight teams playing for the national championship again.
- Jackson Christian's golf state championship
Jackson Christian's golf team has steadily moved closer and closer to a state championship each of the past few years as younger players that compete well at the state level continue to get older and improve at that level.
The Eagles broke through in October and dominated their way to their first championship in program history and the school's fourth team state championship in school history.
- Liberty football coach change
Jackson-Madison County Schools leadership made the move late in 2023 to make a change at the top of the football program at Liberty after going through four complete football seasons without a win on the field. The Crusaders haven't won at all since getting a COVID win in 2020.
In February, they announced Robert Gillard, a longtime assistant coach for different schools in the local area, to be the Crusaders' new leader.
Liberty failed to record a win in Gillard's first season at the helm. In November during TSSAA's reclassification process, Liberty opted to pull out of official TSSAA competition in football for a couple years while they try to rebuild the foundation of the program and build a competitor again.
- Tori Robinson finishes runner-up in golf
Tori Robinson is the best girls' golfer in Madison County, and she proved herself to be one of the best in the state in Division II-A at the state tournament when she finished second on the leaderboard.
Since she's a junior, she has one more chance to try to win a championship before leaving TCA.
- JCM football stadium construction
JMCSS broke ground on JCM's football stadium in November of 2023, but progress on the project had stalled by the end of the winter.
Blame for the lack of progress was at first put on wet ground starting with the snowstorm of January that shut down West Tennessee for a week, but based on comments made at the December JMCSS Board's work session, the administration and original contractor couldn't agree on the cost of the project.
JMCSS announced in spring that Lashlee-Rich Construction is the new contractor, and work has begun in earnest to complete right before the end of the year.
Grant Lashlee, the CEO of the company, isn't optimistic, but he's holding out hope they can complete the stadium in time for JCM's home-opener next August.
- USJ softball's runner-up finish
A little more than two months after the Lady Bruin basketball team won its first-ever state championship, the softball program came close to winning its first championship in about a decade.
Four teams in Division II make it to Murfreesboro for the state tournament, and USJ made it to the championship before falling to Silverdale Baptist Academy out of Chattanooga.
- Consistent programs continue to compete at state level
Madison boys' soccer and South Side girls' basketball recorded state championships in 2023.
USJ girls' soccer claimed state crowns in 2021 and 2022.
While none of those programs recorded championships this year, they all - plus Madison girls' soccer - made it to the state tournament this year.
Madison's boys won a game and made it to the semifinals. Being in Division II, USJ was already in the semifinals when they made it to Chattanooga. South Side was eliminated in the state quarterfinals, but it was eventual state champion Dyersburg who eliminated the Lady Hawks. And Madison continued its annual trek to the state tournament.
- 2 football region championships
Both USJ and JCS' football teams finished the regular season 9-1.
JCS' loss was to USJ.
USJ's loss was to Northpoint Christian, and when USJ managed to make it to the final week of the season with only a loss going into their game against Lausanne, they had the advantage in a three-way tie for the championship.
So they both needed to win in the final week. Both were at home.
USJ's win was a state-wide upset in which running back Noah Spencer carried the ball more than 40 times en route to being named Mr. Football for Division II-AA.
Jackson Christian's win happened after they held off city rival TCA for the victory.
JCS made it to the state semifinals before falling to Nashville Christian, quarterbacked by Jared Curtis, whom one JCS fan said that night might be the second-best athlete to ever play at Ronnie Fowler Field behind Bruceton, Ole Miss and 49ers legend Patrick Willis.
USJ fell in the Division II-AA quarterfinals to Battle Ground Academy.
Brandon Shields, brandon@jacksonpost.news
