Central boys show steady improvement

The Central boys basketball team is just 3-3, but coach Derek McCord likes where his team stands.

The Tigers won their third game in four outings Saturday by beating Nortwest 72-53 in the third-place game of the Mobil On the Run Classic.

"To play the level of competition we've played the first three weeks, I'm OK with 3-3 being as young as we are," Central coach Derek McCord said. "We're playing better basketball than we were in the first week."

Sophomore Jajuan Bell and junior Darnell Wilks, who set the tournament's single-game and overall scoring records, were named to the all-tournament team.

Central plays its first home game Friday night against Farmington.

Still unbeaten

The Jackson girls basketball team plays its first home game tonight -- against Perryville -- and is still unbeaten after surviving a 47-43 decision Saturday at Berkeley.

"It was pretty sloppy, pretty wild and pretty physical," Jackson coach Sam Sides said. "The biggest thing was hanging on to the basketball at the end of the game."

Swimming standouts

Top performers for Notre Dame and Central on Saturday at the Marquette Relays swimming meet were:

* Notre Dame's 300-meter breaststroke trio of Jameson Kuper, Jordan Voss and Adam Reinagel, who earned the Bulldogs' lone medal by finishing third in 3 minutes, 31.28 seconds.

* Notre Dame's Kuper, who lowered his 200 individual medley state-qualifying time by improving 4 seconds to 2:00.40.

* Central divers Tanner Rust, Dustin Welker and Chris Schindele, who combined to finish fifth in the diving relay.

* Central's 900 progression relay team of Hunter Givens (200 freestyle), Peyton Waggener (200 freestyle) and Jake Meyer (500 freestyle), which finished eighth in 9:31.30.

* Central's 400 medley relay of Daniel Austin, Waggener, Givens and Meyer, which finished eighth in 4:09.72.