The Jackson Clarion-Ledger names an all-sports champion for each of the six MHSAA classes each year, employing a point system based upon performance in all sports. For the 2017-18 school year, Nanih Waiya finished seventh in 1A with 115.5 points.
Athletics director Ryan Keeton is not sure if that is the best Nanih Waiya has ever done. “If not, it's close.”
Nanih Waiya owes its top ten finish to excellence in three sports. The baseball team repeated as 1A champion with a state best 29-2 record.
The football team finished 15-1 as runner-up due to a 22-20 loss to Hollnadale-Simmons in the championship game.
Boys golf was also runner-up in Class I combining 1A and 2A, finishing six strokes behind Baldwyn at Tupelo Country Club.
Three athletes who played a major role in the Warriors' success are seniors Chris Smith and Bryce Stanton and junior Jake Kight.
In football, Smith ran for 1,249 yards and scored 36 touchdowns. In baseball, he led the Warriors with a .507 batting average.
Stanton ran and passed for 2,092 yards and 32 TDs on the gridiron. On the diamond, he batted .416 and had a pitching record of 9-1 with a 2.33 earned run average.
Kight batted .481 and was 7-0 with a 1.97 ERA. For the second year in a row, he drove in the run that gave the Warriors the championship. He was also runner-up in 1A golf with a 36-hole score of 145, two strokes behind Kyle Meeks of Walnut.
Tupelo Christian is the 1A all-sports champion with 317.5 points. Other winners are Ocean Springs in 6A, Germantown in 5A, Pontotoc in 4A, St. Andrew's in 3A and East Union in 2A.
