NATCHEZ &045; For the second straight year Trinity Episcopal’s athletic program is the best in the MPSA in Class A &045; but just by a slim margin.

Trinity took first place for the Class A All-Sports Award with a total of 24 points, edging out Winston Academy’s 23 points and Heidelberg Academy’s 21 despite Heidelberg winning state titles in football and baseball.

&uot;This is the biggest honor a school can receive in athletics,&uot; Trinity athletic director David King said. &uot;It’s very difficult for a single-A school to do this two years in a row. It’s a tremendous honor. Winston and us took pride in a lot of sports &045; cross country, tennis, football and basketball.&uot;

Points were given for first through fourth places in 16 sports in all three classifications. A 10-7-5-5 system for football and baseball, 10-7-5-3 for boys and girls basketball as well as boys and girls track.

A 6-4-2-1 system was used for boys and girls cross country, slow-pitch and fast-pitch softball, golf, and boys and girls tennis. A 6-4-2-2 system was used for boys and girls soccer. A 4-3-2-1 system was used for swimming.

Trinity had seven points for finishing second in football, six for finishing first in boys cross country, five for boys basketball, four for finishing second in boys tennis, and one point each in swimming and girls cross country.

&uot;This is the culmination of a lot of hard work from a lot of athletes and coaches,&uot; King said. &uot;This puts the end to another good year for Trinity athletics. We have a lot of support from the community.&uot;

This was also the fifth straight year Trinity finished in the top three &045; third in 1999-2000 and second in 2000-01 and 2001-02 to go along with its back-to-back first-place finishes in 2002-03 and 2003-04.

&uot;We want to be well-rounded in all our sports and we did that again (this year),&uot; King said. &uot;We’re not a run-of-the-mill program. A lot of schools are in and out.&uot;