BILOXI, Miss. (WLOX) – A vivid double rainbow was spotted arcing across the South Mississippi sky Monday evening after a gloomy day of showers and thunderstorms. The rainbow was not the only spectacle. As the sun began to sink below the horizon, a brilliant burst of oranges, pinks and reds splashed up against the bottom on the cloud deck over South Mississippi resulting in a show-stopping sunset full of color and awe.

The double rainbow and colorful sunset came after a shelf cloud and mammatus clouds were spotted along the coast.

Along the leading edge of showers and thunderstorms Monday, a shelf cloud was spotted tracking slowly across the coast. Shelf clouds form on the leading edge of thunderstorms. They mark the dividing live between the warm, moist air ahead of the storm and the rain cooled air behind it. The cooler air behind the storm “scoops” up the warm moist air ahead of it. The air cools, condenses into a cloud and is molded into a “shelf” due to the motion of the storm.

After the storms cleared, the upper-level cloud deck remained over South Mississippi. Sinking air above the clouds formed “pouches” in the cloud deck over Biloxi known as mammatus clouds.

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CEDAR RAPIDS — They all showed up and showed out.

The Cedar Rapids Washington girls’ golf team showed the potential of its best lineup.

The Warriors had their top team available and carded a total of 322, winning the title at the Mississippi Valley Conference Super Meet on Monday at Ellis Golf Course. Washington topped runner-up Western Dubuque by eight strokes, while Linn-Mar’s Morgan Rupp shot 1-under 71 for medalist honors.

“It’s nice to see them playing their game,” Washington assistant coach Ronnie Blocklinger said. “They’re having fun.”

The Warriors’ Mya Messenger placed third with 76 and Jane Petersen was two shots back for fifth. Messenger and Lily Belle Barker juggle both varsity golf and tennis in the spring, causing some scheduling conflicts.

Everybody was on hand.

“I think we have great potential and we’re firing on all cylinders and at full strength,” Messenger said. “We’ve all been working really hard over the winter.

“It also helps that we’re a tight-knit group. We’ve brought everyone in and all were firing today on our A-Game.”

Good camaraderie and strong chemistry also play a big part in success. The relationships extend beyond rounds, putting greens and driving ranges. Petersen said her best friends are on the team and most of the golfers have fun together on the course.

“It’s not just best team score-wise,” Petersen said. “I think we have a great team connection. I love the girls.”

Messenger, listed as the team’s No. 3 golfer, led Washington this round. She tallied three birdies, including the Nos. 11 and 16 holes for an even-par 36 on the back nine.

Attention to her short game allowed her to perform well, despite the chilly and windy conditions.

“I know my teammates and I have been out weekends and after practice and stayed late to focus on our short game — our putting and chipping,” Messenger said. “I really worked hard on that and focused on that today to convert on a lot of birdie putts and getting up and down better than I have been.

“I got up and down a lot on the back nine. I had a couple birdies that helped my round. I gave myself a little cushion to where if I did bogey I wouldn’t have too much stress.”

Washington placed all four of its scorers in the top 15 of the individual standings. In addition to Messenger and Petersen in the top five, Barker posted an 83 for 12th and freshman Shaylin Munson rounded out the foursome with an 85.

“At this point, I think we can make a run for state,” said Petersen, who was the Class 4A state runner-up last season. “It’s just really exciting to have four scores and a fifth, if we need it, which is amazing.”

Linn-Mar’s Morgan Rupp is MVC Super Meet medalist

Rupp shared medalist honors with Messenger at the MVC Super Meet a year ago. She was the only golfer to break 75, sinking an 8-foot putt on her final hole and breaking par.

“The difference between even par and 1-under is quite a bit,” the Lions’ 2023 4A state champion said. “It feels like it’s more than one stroke, at least. I told myself to make this. End with a birdie and you’ll feel better about your round.”

It was the second of bookend birdies to her round. She birdied No. 16 to start the meet. She added two more on the front, notching birdies on the Nos. 5 and 9.

Rupp won by four strokes over Iowa City Liberty’s runner-up Isabella Pettersen. The field had eight of the top 25 ranked golfers, according to Bound’s combined adjusted averages.

“I feel like this is a really good win for me,” Rupp said. “There are a lot of really good players in this meet. The field is stacked. I’m proud of the score I put up.”

Mississippi Valley Conference girls’ golf Super Meet

At Ellis Golf Course

(Par 72)

Teams – 1. C.R. Washington 322, 2. Western Dubuque 330, 3. Dubuque Wahlert 339, 4. Cedar Falls 340, 5. Linn-Mar 344, 6. C.R. Xavier 363, 7. Iowa City High 374, 8. Iowa City Liberty 375, 9. Dubuque Senior 381, 10. Waterloo West 390, 11. C.R. Prairie 406, 12. Iowa City West 415, 13. Dubuque Hempstead 417, 14. C.R. Kennedy 470, 15. C.R. Jefferson 471

Individuals – 1. Morgan Rupp (LM), 71, 2. Isabella Pettersen (ICL), 75, 3. Mya Messenger (CRW), 76, 4. Molly Ratchford (CF), 77, 5. Jane Petersen (CRW), 78

C.R. WASHINGTON (322): Messenger 76, Petersen 78, Lily Belle Barker 83, Shaylin Munson 85

LINN-MAR (344): Rupp 71, Gabby Mercure 90, Jayden Schumacher 91, Riya Anand 92

C.R. XAVIER (363): Mehar Julka 80, Meehar Julka 89, Lauren Kram 95, Josie Kramer 99

CITY HIGH (374): Haleigh Nelson 84, Hannah Cronk 92, Tully Campion 97, Olivia Neuzil 101

I.C. LIBERTY (375): Pettersen 75, Leona Rupp 91, Ella Burns 104, Sydney Hested 105

C.R. PRAIRIE (406): Kylie Wachtl 80, Morgan Burhans 96, Malian Armour 115, Millie Manternach 115

I.C. WEST (415): Whitney Noeller 101, Gretchen Van Iddekinge 102, Sophie Bodin 105, Lily Schmid 107

C.R. KENNEDY (470): Ellie Nurre 85, Aliya Ballard 117, Audrey Ingraham 130, Paige Maas 138

C.R. JEFFERSON (471): Ava Erger 104, Rachel Johnson 113, Peyton Kindrade 125, Kiyaree Cooper 129, Aiyana Moeller 129

Comments: kj.pilcher@thegazette.com

• Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana and Idaho sue the U.S. Department of Education over new rule that expands Title IX to include “sexual orientation, gender identity.”

Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch (R) has joined the attorneys general from Louisiana, Montana, and Idaho in challenging the Biden Administration’s new Title IX final rule that broadens the federal law to prohibit discrimination based on “sex stereotypes, sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics.”

“Title IX has been a game-changer for generations of women,” said Attorney General Fitch. “For more than fifty years, it has given girls an opportunity to compete on a level playing field and offered them a fair chance to excel. The Biden Administration’s pursuit of an extremist political agenda here will destroy these important gains.”

Fitch says under this new rule, “safe and private spaces for women to engage in healing, fellowship, and support will be torn away” from girls and women. She said the Biden Administration’s legal theories “are novel, at best, and they cut legal corners to push them through, and we intend to defeat this rule in the courts.”

As previously reported, the original intent of the 1972 law was to give women an equal playing field in educational attainment, particularly at public schools and institutions of higher learning that receive federal financial aid. However, presidential administrations supportive of the LGBTQ movement have used Title IX to expand protections and access for people who identify as lesbian, gay or transgender.

READ MORE: Biden Administration broadens Title IX to include sexual orientation, gender identity

The new Biden Administration rule handed down by the U.S. Department of Education also places additional requirements on schools to communicate their nondiscrimination policies and procedures to all students, employees, and other participants in their education programs, among other mandates.

Failure to comply with the new rule could result in the loss of federal funding and legal action taken by the federal government against local schools.

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill (R) is leading the challenge for the states in the case titled Louisiana v. The U.S. Department of Education. In a release announcing the filing, Murrill’s office called the expansion of Title IX rules “illegal,” saying it would apply burdensome requirements on nearly every school, college, and university in Louisiana and across the nation.

“This would deprive women and girls of the equal educational opportunities they struggled for decades to secure, and cost states billions of dollars to implement,” the Louisiana AG’s office states, adding, “The rules rewrite Title IX, requiring all schools, colleges, and universities that receive federal assistance across the country to disregard the concept of biological ‘sex.’”

The attorneys general claim in the lawsuit that the new Title IX rule “cannot help but sound the death knell for female sports.” They say their challenge is intended to “save Title IX.”

Read the full lawsuit below.