ON THE MARK
D. MARK MITCHELL
OPELIKA —
Opelika High School held graduation exercises for the class of 2022 last Friday night at Bulldog Stadium.
Dr Farrell Seymore, new OCS superintendent, presided over his last graduation ceremony as OHS principal.
Opelika City Schools made more administration changes this year than in the past 15 to 20 years.
Seymore was hired as new superintendent, Kelli Fischer was promoted from OHS assistant principal to principal, Tiffany Yelder returned to OCS from Pike Road Schools as the new assistant superintendent and Allyson Gregory was promoted to assistant principal at OHS.
Jamie Williams was named the first full time AD for the entire system, including OMS and OHS.
This is the first time in history OCS has a full time athletic director over OMS and OHS history.
I will give you a run down of other changes within the system in the coming weeks.
AHSAA REVERSES CHANGES IN BASEBALL, SOFTBALL AND SOCCER
The Alabama High School Athletic Association held its quarterly Central Board of Control meeting last week.
The CBO is the governing body for the AHSAA.
Board members voted to “table” the decision to go from area to region, which was announced at the last central board meeting.
Board members cited multiple reason why the decision was rescinded, such as:
They needed to do more research. Many schools were forced to travel further with region schedule versus area schedules which in turn causes teams to travel further on school nights, the high cost of gas prices and allowing the baseball, softball and soccer committees to ask their coaches which they prefer.
In my opinion, the AHSAA Central Board of Control made the right decision because the original move was met with anger and frustration by many administrators and coaches.
The board also approved reclassification for spring sports.
Opelika’s new Area includes Auburn, Central and Smiths Station. This is not a surprise because OHS played in the same area prior to adding class 7A.
DIXIE JUNIOR BOYS (13U) WORLD SERIES COMING TO OPELIKA
The 2023 Dixie Junior Boys World Series will be help at Opelika’s West Ridge Park in late July.
Opelika Mayor Gary Fuller, ESG Team-Opelika President Michael Hilyer, Parks and Recreation Director Sam Bailey, Parks and Rec Athletic Director Melissa Martin, Joey Motley along heard a proposal from AO Tourism Anthony Terling and myself, to host the WS in 2023.
The group unanimously agreed hosting the Dixie Junior Boys World Series would be a perfect fit for Opelika and West Ridge Park.
The 12-team double-elimination bracket features 11-State winners and host Opelika.
DBB Inc. Commissioner J. Sandy Jones was pleased to have Opelika interested in hosting the ‘23 WS.
“The city of Opelika has been involved with Dixie Baseball for over 40 years and it’s an honor to play one of our World Series in Opelika,” Jones said.
This is the first announcement of the DBB World Series coming to Opelika. Stay tuned for more details and the official press release.
Opelika hosts the 2022 DBB State Tournament on Harrelson Field at West Ridge Park, July 8.
D. Mark Mitchell is the sports director at iHeartMedia, host of “On the Mark” Fox Sports the Game 910-1310, co-chair of the Auburn-Opelika Sports Council, chairman of the Super 7 and Dixie Boys Baseball state director.
