Sachse sophomore Augustus Friedel (boys 100 butterfly), left, and senior Ashley Delhomme (girls 1-meter diving) competed in the UIL Class 6A state swimming and diving championships in Austin on Feb. 14-15. Photo courtesy of Philip Wiggins
By David Wolman
Sachse senior Ashley Delhomme and sophomore Augustus Friedel concluded their season at the UIL Class 6A state swimming and diving championships.
Delhomme made history by becoming the first Sachse swimmer to compete in the state finals.
One year ago, Delhomme missed qualifying for the girls’ 1-meter diving final at the state meet by 16 points.
Despite that disappointment, Lady Mustangs head coach Philip Wiggins was confident that she would triumph over that shortcoming.
The biggest reason why Wiggins had so much belief in Delhomme is because of her work ethic.
“She dives for a club team, Dallas Metroplex Diving,” Wiggins said. “She practices at SMU five and, sometimes, six days a week. She’s a great person, a great leader on the team. She has a very high level of commitment.”
Fast-forward to two weeks ago, and Delhomme advanced out of the preliminaries and qualified for the finals.
Delhomme made a big splash in her final event in a high school competition, placing 12th overall with a total score of 361.2 points. Her preliminary score of 260.95 was good for ninth place and more than enough for her to earn a spot in the finals at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center in Austin. Her score in the preliminaries was 30 points higher than last year.
“It was a great last meet for Ashley, especially with her being a senior,” Wiggins said. “This past offseason, she was kind of fine-tuning some stuff and working on the details. She worked on her approach. She does club diving as well, so I knew that she had spent time working on the details and her twists.”
Sophomore Augustus Friedel, meanwhile, finished 15th in the boys’ 100-meter butterfly with a time of 49.83 seconds.
Although he didn’t qualify for the finals, Friedel broke his own school and district record at the state meet.
It’s already been an accomplished high school career for Friedel, who placed second in regionals to earn one of two automatic berths into the state meet in the 100 fly. He’s also the school record holder in the 100 free, 200 free and 500 free and also as one leg in the 200 medley relay and 400 free relay.
“He’s on the edge of being something really special,” Wiggins said. “He’s a great talent. He’s a great kid and a hard worker.”
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Sachse head boys’ basketball coach Zachary Mikesell is leaving the program after seven seasons at the helm and has accepted the same position with Prosper Richland. Photo by Tina Lopez / C&S Media
By David Wolman
The appeal of starting a brand-new program is what drove Zachary Mikesell to ultimately leave Sachse after seven successful seasons as Mustangs’ head boys’ basketball coach for the newest high school in Prosper ISD, Richland. But he admitted that it wasn’t an easy decision.
When Mikesell was faced with making the tough decision to either stay at Sachse or be the first head coach in the history of the Prosper Richland boys’ basketball team, he took a lot of time to think about all of the accomplishments that the Mustangs made during his seven seasons as the helm.
When he initially accepted the position at Sachse in 2018, he felt that he was still a big question mark. He nor no one else in the school district wasn’t sure of the amount of success that he was going to have there, especially after previously serving as an assistant coach for fellow Garland ISD school, Lakeview Centennial.
But what followed was some of the best seasons in program history.
Mikesell guided the Mustangs to the playoffs in six of the seven seasons that he was in charge of the program – the only time that Sachse fell short of the postseason came during the COVID-19 season in 2020-21 when the Mustangs had to play eight district games over a span of nine days. He also led Sachse to its only two playoff wins in school history.
“Honestly, it was such a great experience,” he said. “They took a chance on me. I took over a team that had two wins in the previous season. We turned it around and won 18 games in year one. I just felt like we never looked back.
“We changed the culture. We changed the vibe. We learned how to work really hard and compete. I couldn’t be prouder of our team. It’s hard to leave something to where you had that much of a turnaround.”
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Erika Johnson will compete in the 2025 Special Olympics in Turin, Italy. Courtesy photo
Murphy resident Erika Johnson is set to represent Texas at the 2025 Special Olympics in Turin, Italy, departing this week as part of the USA Delegation. Johnson, 37, is the only North Texas athlete competing in the international event, which takes place March 8-17.
Johnson, a lifelong Murphy resident and 2006 Wylie High School graduate, has been competing in Special Olympics since high school. She was selected in 2023 for the Special Olympics Texas women’s floorball team, which later earned an invitation to join the USA Delegation. The team participated in trials in Utah in April 2024 before securing its spot in the competition.
The women’s floorball team, consisting of eight athletes and two coaches, is the only group from Texas in the delegation, which includes around 200 people, according to her mother Kim Johnson.
“Erika is the only one from the North Texas area,” she added.
In preparation for the trip, the team is working to raise $30,000 to cover a portion of its expenses. Fundraising efforts have surpassed $15,000, but donations are still being accepted. Contributions can be mailed to Special Olympics coach Marty Smith at 5704 Southampton Drive, Richardson, TX 75082, or dropped off at the Wylie Chamber of Commerce.
Johnson, who works part-time at AMC Theatres in Firewheel, has participated in numerous Special Olympics sports, including basketball, volleyball, bowling, soccer, flag football, golf, pickleball, and TopGolf. In 2022, she competed in the Special Olympics USA Games in golf and was previously part of the FC Dallas Unified Soccer team. She was named the Special Olympics Dallas Area Female Athlete of the Year in 2016.
Last year, Johnson helped make TopGolf an official Special Olympics medal event.
“She gave a speech and signed the official document along with the CEO of TopGolf and the SO Director of International Competition,” Kim said.
Johnson will meet her team in San Antonio before flying to New York, where the full USA Delegation will gather before departing for Italy on Thursday, March 6.
For more information on the 2025 Special Olympics, visit Turin2025.org.
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The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) reports 94.35% of Texas kindergarteners were vaccinated for measles, mumps and rubella as of the 2023-24 school year, with 93.31% of Collin County kids having received the vaccines.
As of Monday, March 3, the department reported 150 cases in nine counties including the death of an unvaccinated child who was hospitalized in Lubbock along with his parents. Twenty-two of the patients have been hospitalized.
For more on this story see the March 6, 2025 print, or digital edition of The Sachse News. Subscribe today and support local journalism in your community.
More than 30 citizens attended the Sachse City Council meeting on Monday, March 3, to voice concerns about the proposed rezoning of property at 5206 Ben Davis Road.
The land is currently designated as R-5, a multifamily residential classification. The council was considering rezoning the 1.81 acres to C-1 Neighborhood Shopping District.
The property is home to a temple for the American Imams Academy and the applicant requested the zoning change to accommodate the construction of a two-to-three-story expansion that would add classrooms and meeting rooms.
By David McClure
For more on this story see the March 6, 2025 print, or digital edition of The Sachse News. Subscribe today and support local journalism in your community.
Demonstrators wave Ukrainian and American flags during a protest outside Rep. Keith Self’s town hall meeting.
About two dozen demonstrators greeted 3rd District Congressman Keith Self at a town hall in the Collin College Conference Center in Wylie.
Waving U.S. and Ukrainian flags, the crowd carried signs including “Dump Musk,” Russia is Not Our Ally,” “Bullying Ukraine is UnAmerican,” “Congress Don’t Let Them Steal Your Job Too,” “Support Ukraine,” Musk Profits Off of Modern-Day Slavery,”
“Make America Good Again,” “Zelenskyy is My Hero” and “Trump Wants Money & Power Not Peace.”
Jeremy Sutka, chair of the Collin County Democratic Party, said, “We have waited here for a peaceful protest and let him know that he represents us too.”
For more on this story see the March 6, 2025 print, or digital edition of The Sachse News. Subscribe today and support local journalism in your community.
WHS TMEA All-State Choir Students were honored at the Monday, Feb 24, board meeting. Back row from left, trustees Jacob Day, Suzi Kennon, Mike Williams, Bill Howard, Kylie Reising, Stacie Smith, Virdie Montgomery. Front row: Chloe Stovall, Emma Rains, Kimberly Irby, Randeep Takhar, Jeffrey Bowling, Karen Gonzalez, Tarah Clark. Courtesy Wylie ISD
The Wylie ISD Board of Trustees recognized several outstanding achievements during their Feb. 24, 2025, meeting. Among the honorees were members of the Wylie East High School All-State Choir and the Wylie High School All-State Jazz Ensemble, Orchestra and Choir.
For more on this story see the February 27, 2025 print, or digital edition of The Sachse News. Subscribe today and support local journalism in your community.
Although backyard chickens have no problem eating off the ground, feed bowls make it easier to measure out portions. Millie a black-and-white Barred Plymouth Rock, noshes with Shadow, a Black Australorp, and Buffy, a Buff Orpington.
The last time the price of eggs spiked was during the COVID-19 epidemic as demand outstripped supply. That was partly because of demand by panic buying – the same people were probably stockpiling toilet paper – and supply chain shortages caused by the sickness of production workers.
The current supply shortage resulted from outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza type H5N1, or bird flu. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reports more than 100 million chickens have died from bird flu or have been euthanized since the outbreak began in 2022. That number includes both commercial and backyard flocks across the country.
For more on this story see the February 27, 2025 print, or digital edition of The Sachse News. Subscribe today and support local journalism in your community.
An infrastructure project along Bunker Hill Road and Miles Road was set for a public hearing at the Sachse Economic Development Corporation’s (EDC) regular meeting on Thursday, Feb. 20.
The project addressed is at 3115 Bunker Hill Rd., Suite 102, for LK Bakery LLC and related entities.
For more on this story see the February 27, 2025 print, or digital edition of The Sachse News. Subscribe today and support local journalism in your community.
Wylie author John Hobbs recently released his latest book, “Digging Deep into Scripture,” which takes an in-depth look at issues such as discipleship, the nature of the Bible, the Holy Spirit and much more.
John Hobbs, DMin., a retired math teacher and pastor from Wylie, has spent decades studying scripture, biblical languages and theology.
At 74, he has authored 20 religious books and two math books, with 14 of his faith-based works bound and published.
His latest book, “Digging Deep into Scripture,” was released last month and offers a scholarly examination of theological issues, including an in-depth discussion on the gift of the Holy Spirit.
For more on this story see the January 23, 2025 print, or digital edition of The Sachse News. Subscribe today and support local journalism in your community.