Looking back at 2023

Dec. 30—After taking a look back into the first three months of the year in our Wednesday edition, we — the editorial staff of the Lebanon Democrat — continue our glance back at some of the top happenings in Wilson County in 2022 by focusing on what took place from April through June.

April

Project to provide high-speed internet to 11,000 homes

Project Unite is working to bring broadband internet to rural Wilson County.

The $13-million investment will bring access to fiber broadband to 11,000 homes this year.

The partnership between Middle Tennessee Electric and United Communications is a key part of getting broadband internet access to the more rural areas of Wilson County.

Animals rescued in Wilson County

On April 11, nearly 200 animals were rescued from a property in Watertown.

The Wilson County Sheriff's Office and animal control personnel worked alongside Animal Rescue Corps (ARC) as 59 dogs, more than 100 chickens, three cats, two turkeys and two rabbits were discovered in a garage, shed and outdoor kennels.

As ARC personnel and law enforcement made their way through the property, they found that there was no food or water available to any of the animals. That includes the animals that were confined in similar conditions in a shed at the back of the property.

Tate named Mt. Juliet High boys basketball coach

Summit High School assistant coach Trey Tate was named the Mt. Juliet High boys head basketball coach on his 26th birthday.

Tate replaced Jonathan Drake, who stepped down at the end of last season after three years to enter into private business.

Drake's Bears faced Tate's Spartans last season, falling 56-47 in Spring Hill last November during a 13-16 campaign for Mt. JUliet.

At Summit, Tate served for five seasons under Jim Fey. He's also coached on the Spartans' football staff.

He came to Middle Tennessee in 2018 after graduating from Auburn (Alabama) University with a degree in business administration.

Mike Gwaltney Field dedicated

Mt. Juliet High School formally dedicated its softball field to late coach Mike Gwaltney and then turned in a performance worthy of some of his state tournament teams with an 11-0 win over Wilson Central.

Gwaltney, who died in October of 2022, coached Mt. Juliet for 12 years, from 1983-94, establishing the Lady Bears — and, by extension, the two newer schools which draw from Mt. Juliet High's former zone, Wilson Central and Green Hill as softball powers.

Mt. Juliet went to four state tournaments under Gwaltney, including two finals appearances, and won the title in 1986.

The Watertown native also coached football and boys basketball, served as assistant principal/athletic director at MJHS before retiring as principal at Mt. Juliet Middle School. He also served on the Wilson County Board of Education after retiring.

Wilson County names teacher of the year

Watertown Middle School social studies teacher Joan Oxley was named Wilson County teacher of the year.

Oxley has been a teacher for 20 years. She's spent the last four years of her career teaching eighth-grade social studies at Watertown Middle School.

"It's nice to see that someone notices the work that me and other teachers put in," Oxley said. "I got into teaching not for recognition, but to be with students and to help young people. To know that somebody notices it other than me and my students (is nice)."

Stephens named Lindsey Donnell Award winner

Cumberland University men's basketball player Isaac Stephens was voted the 2022-23 recipient of the Lindsey Donnell Award, presented annually to a Phoenix student-athlete who excels in both academics and athletics.

The award is given in honor of Lindsey Donnell, a former Bulldog football Little All-American and professor at Cumberland University.

The Mt. Juliet native had a stellar career on the hardwood for Cumberland. He left the program as a 1,000-point scorer and the program's all-time rebounding leader after playing for five seasons, from 2018-23.

MAY

Titans draft Dowell in seventh round

Lebanon native Colton Dowell became Wilson Central's first graduate to be selected in the National Football League draft when the hometown Tennessee Titans took him with their seventh-round pick, 228th overall.

A 6-foot-3, 215-pound wide receiver, Dowell was the only player at his position, one of need for the Titans, chosen by the team during the seven-round draft.

A four-time All-Ohio Valley Conference selection at UT-Martin, Dowell holds the Skyhawks' career receiving record of 2,796 yards and is third with 19 touchdowns and 177 catches. His 12 100-yard games are also a program record.

He had 67 catches for 1,036 yards and six touchdowns last fall as UTM won its second straight OVC championship. He had six 100-yard games last season, including at then-No. 3 Tennessee.

He is the first Wilson Countian to be picked in the draft since Mt. Juliet's Michael Jasper was selected by the Buffalo Bills in 2011.

Purple Tigers three-peat as district champs

The Watertown High School took a circuitous route, but the Purple Tigers picked up their third consecutive district baseball championship with an 8-7 win over Cannon County in the District 6-2A Tournament if necessary game.

Cyrus Bennett's run-scoring single lifted Watertown to victory and gave Landon Phillips the win following his four innings of relief pitching.

New Mt. Juliet downtown proposed

A new downtown development was proposed during a May Mt. Juliet city commission meeting

Imagine1Company presented visual concepts of a $150-million development, which would feature a town center, a new city hall, a fire station, and a mixed-use space with more than hundreds of units of multi-family housing.

Restaurants, retail outlets, offices, and a city-owned parking garage will also be included into the development.

Mt. Juliet's new town center would be built on North Mt. Juliet Road, East Hill Street, and Caldwell Street.

Mt. Juliet baseball wins region title

The Mt. Juliet High School baseball squad won the Region 5-4A Tournament baseball championship with a 4-3 win over visiting Green Hill.

With the Golden Bears trailing their neighboring rivals 3-2, senior Cole Austin dove across the plate with the tying run on a single by senior Calen Miller. Senior Grayson Fisher's single sent classmate Easton Krenzke to the promised land of home plate with another single to stun the Hawks and send them to the consolation final that evening.

Mt. Juliet also won its second consecutive district tournament title one week earlier.

Green Hill salvaged second place and earned a trip to the sectional with an 8-2 win over Beech, sending the Hawks to their first sectional at Centennial for a best-of-three series for a state tournament berth. Green Hill ended its season by dropping two of the three games, falling 4-0, winning 6-0 and then losing the winner-take-all contest 6-3.

The Golden Bears ended their season by falling in their best-of-three sectional series with Independence, 5-2 and 5-0.

Businesses open in Western Plaza

After the redevelopment of Western Plaza, business began to open to bring in more jobs and revenue.

Marshalls became the second store to open the redeveloped Western Plaza, opening its doors soon after its neighbor, Five Below. It has created approximately 60 new full and part-time jobs in Lebanon.

The redevelopment of the Western Shopping Plaza is expected to increase Lebanon's sales-tax revenue.

Unbeaten West Wilson softball wins TMSAA state championship

The West Wilson Middle School softball team capped a perfect season with a 10-7 triumph over Coffee County in the Tennessee Middle School Athletic Association finals at Drakes Creek Park.

Jordan Hawkins snapped a 7-7 tie with a run-scoring single in the fifth inning. It was one of 13 hits for the Lady Wildcats, who concluded a 26-0 campaign.

TCAP scores come in

Schools received the first round of Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) scores since Tennessee's third-grade retention law went into effect.

The third-grade retention law requires all third-graders in the state to earn an "on-track" or "mastered" score on the English Language Arts (ELA) portion of their TCAP test. If they receive a score of "below proficient" or "approaching proficient," the student may be retained in the third grade.

Those students then have three options. Students who did not achieve the required scores can retake their TCAP test, or attend a summer learning program and show growth on the post-test administered at the end of the program, or the student can be assigned a tutor through the Tennessee Accelerating Literacy and Learning Corps (TN ALL Corps) for the upcoming school year.

Out of the approximately 1,430 third-grade students in Wilson County Schools, approximately 50.2% received a proficient score on their ELA TCAP assessment. That is an increase from last year, when approximately 47.9% of third-grade students scored proficient in ELA.

Green Hill duo repeat as state's top vaulters

Green Hill High School teammates and workout partners Kyler Nichols and Carolina Bannach had different big pictures, but they achieved the same goal, repeating as Class AAA pole vault champions at Middle Tennessee State's Dean Hayes Stadium.

Nichols, a University of Tennessee signee, sat out almost all of his senior season due to a hamstring injury sustained two days before the first outdoor meet. He returned for the postseason.

He passed on all the jumps at the state meet until 16 feet and cleared it to win over Brentwood's Canon Kinder's 15-6.

Bannach, the top seed on the girls' side, also waited out the early rounds before springing into action to take the title with an 11-0 to beat runner-up Sarah Smith of Cookeville and third-place Ella Pine of Lebanon, who both cleared 10-6.

She went on to clear a personal-best height of 12 feet.

Green Hill softball captures state title

Freshman Avary Stockwell belted a walk-off home run in the bottom of the seventh inning to give the Green Hill High School softball squad the school's first team state championship with an 8-7 win over Daniel Boone in the Class 4A championship game.

The Lady Hawks became the fourth team from Wilson County to win a state title. They joined 1986 Mt. Juliet, 2015 Wilson Central and 2015 Friendship Christian as state champions from Wilson County.

They won it with incredible numbers, which included a 44-2 final record, including a 40-game winning streak to end the season. The streak is believed to be a county record.

Cumberland track and field wins four national titles

Cumberland University's men and women each set the Phoenix's top finishes at the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Track & Field National Championships, claiming four national titles.

The men posted a sixth-place finish at nationals with 30 team points, while the women finished in seventh with 33 points.

Each team picked up two individual national championships, the most for both programs at one championship meet.

Praise Idamadudu claimed two national championships on the final day, becoming the first Cumberland athlete ever to accomplish the feat.

Jason Bowers won the 1500-meter race, winning by five seconds with a time of 3:47.24.

Goodness Iredia won the men's long jump, clearing 7.63 meters on his first jump.

JUNE

Brown named full-time offensive coordinator

Long-time Cumberland University assistant coach and former Lebanon High head football coach Bobby Brown was promoted to the Phoenix staff full time as offensive coordinator.

The 2023 season was Brown's first at Cumberland but his first at a full-time capacity after he announced his retirement from the Lebanon Special School District, where he had served as assistant principal at Walter J. Baird Middle School.

In recent years, Brown was working on the defensive side of the ball as the defensive backs coach, but he has spent time working with the offense as the running backs coach as well.

Christensen leaves MJCA after 25 years, Kittrell also departs

Mt. Juliet Christian Academy athletics has looked very different this year after two mainstays in the department announced their intentions to leave the school at the start of the summer.

Paul Christensen, the MJCA athletic director since 1998, is leaving the school with plans to resume his basketball coaching career elsewhere, which turned out to be Mt. Juliet High School. He is assisting first-year Golden Bears coach Trey Tate. He had coached the Saints' boys' team from his arrival until two years ago.

Also leaving MJCA is assistant athletic director Mike Kittrell, who served as the Lady Saints softball coach this spring after years of coaching baseball. He previously assisted with high school football and coached the middle school team.

Kittrell, who was full-time at MJCA the last 10 years and a coach for 13, was hired at Friendship Christian School as director of facilities and grounds. He assisted head coach John McNeal with football and was later named head softball coach.

Turney named first-team NAIA All-American

Cumberland University slugger Cole Turney was named an National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics First Team All-American, and utility player Tyner Hughes made the honorable mention list.

Turney and Hughes make up the 71st and 72nd Cumberland baseball players to earn All-American honors.

Turney — a Richmond, Texas native — solidified his name as one of the greatest hitters in Cumberland history by putting together arguably the best offensive campaign for a Phoenix/ Bulldog player. He blasted his way to a new school-record in several categories for a single season, cranking 32 home runs in just 45 games, second in the nation. He also led the country in batting average, hitting .521 across 140 at-bats, also a new school record.

Turney slugged 1.286 to lead the nation and drew 53 walks this season, both new top marks in the program. He also recorded an astronomical .675 on-base percentage to lead the NAIA.

The senior also drove in 79 RBIs this season while scoring 77 runs.

LYB, LGSA merging to form new organization

Lebanon Youth Baseball and Lebanon Girls Softball Association are merging to form one umbrella for youth sports in the city.

The two leagues are now officially known as Lebanon Youth Baseball and Softball Association.

The merger continues a trend of consolidating youth sports leagues in Lebanon from what was once two separate Little Leagues, a former Babe Ruth league and a T-ball league previously run by the city into one banner, with girls softball now joining.

New Mt. Juliet public works building

The Mt. Juliet planning commission approved new public works and engineering building near Clemmons Road.

The commission forwarded a positive recommendation on the facility to the Mt. Juliet Board of Commissioners.

The city commission will plan on purchasing a former Brentwood Auto Brokers warehouse on Clemmons Road for $9 million if they approve the purchase on their yearly budget.

The Mt. Juliet Public Works Department's new facility would replace much of the department's facilities on East Hill Street.

Mt. Juliet Mayor James Maness said that the new public works building would limit the stress on the current public works facility, which is located near Mt. Juliet City Hall.

Two Mt. Juliet schools rezoned

The Wilson County School Board voted to rezone two schools in Mt. Juliet.

There will be approximately 220 Kindergarten through fifth-grade students affected by the change. Gladeville Elementary students affected by the rezoning will attend Southside Elementary, while affected Rutland Elementary students will be attending Gladeville.

Fifth-grade students in the rezoned areas were allowed to attend their current school for the 2023-2024 school year.

Community calls for teacher pay increases

Wilson County residents addressed members of the county commission during its June meeting to advocate for an increase in teacher pay.

The community members were calling for teacher pay increases to be included in the budget.

Mt. Juliet resident Brittany Hilton organized a petition regarding teacher pay increases.

"I sent everybody (on the commission) the online petition, (signed by) 675 Wilson County residents who support a 7-cent tax increase for a 5% teacher raise," Hilton said. "I've heard a lot of arguments as to why that's not very popular at this time, but my main goal for this petition was to just show that there is support amongst the community for property-tax increase for our teachers."

Mt. Juliet native named NAIA Pitcher of the Year

Mt. Juliet native Annalise Wood has been named the NAIA National Softball Pitcher of the Year.

The Georgia Gwinnett sophomore, who was home-schooled through Heritage Christian Academy, went 23-3 with four saves in 33 appearances last spring. She set single-season team records with 300 strikeouts, an 0.92 earned-run average and a .156 opposing batting average.

Johnston named WWMS principal

Wilson County Schools named Joshua Johnston as the new principal of Mt. Juliet's West Wilson Middle School.

He's worked in comprehensive development classrooms (CDC), inclusive education and was the assistant principal of Mt. Juliet High School for five years before entering his latest position as supervisor of secondary education for Wilson County Schools.

Johnston began teaching in 2008 and taught at Mt. Juliet High School for 13 years before becoming the supervisor of secondary education.

DA advocates for new laws

Two pieces of legislation were signed into law by Gov. Bill Lee after District 15 Attorney General Jason Lawson advocated for their passing at multiple levels.

The first piece of legislation will allow judges to have greater ability to order consecutive sentences when multiple crimes are committed against multiple victims.

The second piece of legislation increases the punishment for voluntary manslaughter to 8-12 years.

'Concrete Carl' inaugural inductee in NSS Legends Plaza

Former NASCAR star Carl Edwards was named the inaugural inductee into the Nashville Superspeedway's Legends Plaza, it was announced before the Ally 400 race.

Edwards , who was named a top 75 driver during NASCAR's 75th anniversary celebration, won a Truck Series race in 2003 and Xfinity races in 2006, both 2007 events and both 2011 races, the final events held at the Superspeedway before it was shut down for a decade. While the track lay dormant, Edwards continued his career until his sudden retirement in 2016 at age 36 with 28 Cup Series wins.

Melon Man finishes first with No. 1 car in Ally 400

Ross "Melon Man" Chastain followed his pole win from Saturday with his first win of the season as he zoomed to Victory Lane in the Ally 400 at a sold-out Nashville Superspeedway.

Chastain led early and again for a total of 99 laps, including the final 32 holding off Martin Truex, Jr., by .789 seconds to clinch the 11th playoff spot.

The runner-up in this race two years ago, he had been the points leader among drivers without a win.

A member of an eight-generation watermelon farming family in south Florida (east of Fort Myers), he did his trademark watertmelon smash on the start-finish line.