Pictured with their trophy declaring them to be 2021 MAIS Upper Elementary Champion is PPCA’s Chess Team. Standing left to right is…Sam Cook, Cain Toczyl, Jaxson Phillips, Bryce Tolar (behind trophy) Ben Jacobsen, Brody Neeley, Nathan Patrick, Caleb Hinton, Brandon Bailey, and Mason Weimer.
Ten young men represented Park Place Christian Academy in the MAIS Chess Tournament and ended up being ranked as Upper Elementary Champions recently.
Held in the Muse Center at Hinds Community College, it was the first chess tournament for more than half the team.
Everyone played five matches each and all contributed points to earn the score that put PPCA in First Place in the 4th-6th grade category.
Other categories of players were 1st-3rd grades, 7th-9th grades, and 10th-12th grades.
A win equals 1 point, a tie equals .5 point, and a loss earns no points.
By the fourth round, two PPCA players, Caleb Hinton and Mason Weimer, had not lost a match, which placed the team extraordinarily high when all the points were added together.
At the end of the tournament held by Mid-South Association of Independent Schools (MAIS), three PPCA players ranked in the Top Ten for their age group.
Fifth grader Mason Weimer was in third place, fifth grader Caleb Hinton took fourth place, and 4th grader Jaxson Phillips held sixth place.
Pictured are three members, Ben Jacobsen, Sam Cook, and Caleb Hinton, and although the photo only shows a third of the room, the tournament was much larger in size than it was two years ago before COVID prevented last year’s tournament.
The boys played against ten other schools in the state, including other metro-Jackson schools, such as Central Hinds Academy, Discovery Christian School, East Rankin Academy, First Presbyterian Day School (whose team of twelve students came in second), Jackson Academy, and Jackson Prep.
The team is coached by Margaret Snider who attended the tournament along with PPCA secondary math teacher GyElla Hinton.
PPCA Principal Cindy Goodwin escorted the boys to their match as they rode the bus driven by PPCA Administrator and Assistant Athletic Director Bobby Barrett.
In addition to purchasing Chess Tournament T-shirts for the team, Mrs. Goodwin prayed over the boys prior to their tournament.
Pictured left to right: Front row: Brandon Bailey, Jaxson Phillips, Ben Jacobsen, Mason Weimer, and Sam Cook. Back row: Chess Coach Margaret Snider, Bryce Tolar, Brody Neeley, Nathan Patrick, Cain Toczyl, and Caleb Hinton.
The team was overjoyed to hear that Park Place Christian Academy was declared Upper Elementary Chess Champion of 2021.
Congratulations to all the members who participated in the MAIS tournament:
Brandon Bailey
Ben Jacobsen
Brody Neeley
Jaxson Phillips
Bryce Tolar
Sam Cook
Caleb Hinton
Nathan Patrick
Cain Toczyl
Mason Weimer