COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (June 9, 2011) – Four girls’ divisions competed at the Mid-South Open, a tournament on the 2011 USA Beach Junior Tour on June 4 in McKinney, Texas.

The “sold-out” tournament took place at the new 12-sand-court facility, The Beach at Craig Ranch. Both the morning and afternoon pools were filled to capacity.

In the girls’ under-18 division Emily Hardesty (Plano, Texas) and Sara Mossakowski (Frisco, Texas) earned the first-place title after defeating Catherine Cotton (Murphy, Texas) and Victoria Wehrmann (Dallas, Texas) in the gold-medal match, 16-21, 21-2, 15-11. Megan Mont and Sophie Asprey, both of Flower Mound, Texas, tied for third with Mackenzie Moore and Ashley Price of Arlington.

Emily Harris (Southlake, Texas) and Makenzie Shea (Parker, Texas) won the girls' U16 gold medal after defeating Elyse Berlin and Molly Jeffcoat of Red Oak, Texas, 18-21, 23-21, 15-11. The team of Jordan Durante (Mansfield, Texas) and Christina McAfee (Kennedale, Texas) tied for third with Jennifer Botteron and Heather Becker of McKinney, Texas.

The girls U14 gold medal went to Kylie Pickrell (Coppell, Texas) and Mykah Wilson (Aledo, Texas) after they defeated Madeline Walsh (Arlington, Texas) and Abrianna Palumbo (Bedford, Texas), 21-17, 21-18. Third place ended in a tie between the teams of Ali Eager (Highland Village, Texas)/Madison Ligon (Euless, Texas) and Gabrielle Crowley (Lucas, Texas)/Avery Arellano (Plano, Texas).

Wrapping up the tournament was the girls’ U12 division. Ashley Robert (McKinney, Texas) and Haley Halgren (Westlake, Texas) captured the top spot by defeating Natile Fry (Allen, Texas) and Callie Williams (Dallas, Texas) in the gold-medal match. Ciara Alpert (Cedar Park, Texas) and Blair Vanzura (Austin, Texas) tied for third with Trinity Adams and Jessica Schwenke of Austin.

The next stops on the 2011 USA Beach Junior Tour take place on June 11 and include the Heart of America Open in Kansas City, the NoCal Open in Santa Cruz, Calif., and the Crossroads of the West Open in Salt Lake City. 

COBRA SPORTS