SPORTS
District realignments released

The University Interscholastic League released the official sports district realignments on Thursday morning for the 2022-2024 school years.
While only one area team switched classifications when those numbers were announced back in December, there were still some surprises for schools.
For Bowie, the football team was finally not sorted with state power Brock along with any of the other schools the Jackrabbits have played the last four seasons.
Unfortunately, Bowie traded one state power for another as it is in a district with Jim Ned. On top of that it is nearly a three-hour road trip and that starts to tell the story of this new football district for the Jackrabbits. Other teams include Breckenridge, Clyde, Iowa Park and Vernon.
Basketball and volleyball won’t be that different for Bowie. The district is losing Nocona and Breckenridge while gaining Iowa Park and Vernon. Both new additions are schools coming down from the 4A classification.
For Nocona, everything will be new for the newly classified 2A Indian teams. In football, Nocona joins a district with Alvord, Tioga, Tom Bean, Trenton and Whitewright. In basketball the Indians are in a district with Archer City, Olney, Petrolia, Seymour and Windthorst.
Coach Blake Crutsinger was not surprised with the group of schools they are paired with and is overall pleased with the logistics as well.
The size of the volleyball district gives Nocona some pause. With only Alvord, Chico and Poolville in the district, scheduling will be different than it has been in the past. The 2A teams used to play 1A teams as part of its district schedule, but that was done away with heading into the next two school years.
Those who are most happy for that are all of the state’s 1A teams who had to deal with their teams getting routinely beaten by the much bigger schools twice a season for half of their district games.
All four of the county’s 1A volleyball schools: Gold-Burg, Forestburg, Prairie Valley and Saint Jo are now in the same district with no one else. All four have played each other even when they weren’t in the same district over the years as well as compete in every other sport.
Even though the district is small and scheduling will have to be figured out in new ways, the thrill to be done with playing a lot of 2A schools in district is worth it.
Football is different for all three of the county’s six-man teams. Saint Jo is out from its usual district and is placed with Union Hill as well as Savoy and Campbell.
The Panthers have juiced up their pre-district schedule the past two years and have played Union Hill, but Coach Mark Stevens said the plan was to cut off the series due to the schools being more than three hours apart.
For Gold-Burg and Forestburg football teams, a district title will be hard to come by with the reigning state champs Strawn being in the district. They will be joined by Newcastle.
One thing remains the same for all of the area’s 1A schools though. The seven team basketball district, with almost half the schools not playing football and volleyball, is still the same.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News. To see all of the state’s new districts you can go to the uiltexas.org/alignments.
SPORTS
Bowie baseball all-district list released

With Holliday falling to Brock last week, the 7-3A baseball all-district list has been released.
A lot of Bowie Jackrabbits were honored with the team finishing second in the district standings.
Among the superlatives, Edmond DeLeon was named co-pitcher of the year as the freshman proved to be the team’s best pitcher.
Bowie had five first team selections in district. Seniors Kynan DeMoss, Carson Sanders and Brody Armstrong were selected along with juniors Troy Kesey and Tucker Jones.
On the second team, Bowie had three players selected. Seniors Seth Hall and Connor Earp along with junior Cy Egenbacher were named to the list. An honorable mention selection was senior A.J. Whatley.
To see the team awards and more photos, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
SPORTS
Jackrabbits earn bronze at state

The Bowie boy’s golf team made some school history on Monday and Tuesday as the Jackrabbits finished third at the 3A state golf tournament to bring home a bronze medal.
Bowie made up a nine shot lead the original third place team, Orangefield, had after the first day to overtake the Bobcats and earn the program’s first team medal at state.
The Jackrabbits were coming into the tournament with some hope they could compete amongst the top. The first time the program made it to state as a team two years ago, Bowie had a slim shot at trying to break into medal contention. A rain delay did not help things and the Jackrabbits finished in a respectable sixth place.
Two players from that team who were freshman, Cy Egenbacher and Andrew Sandhoff, were looking to do better two years later.
The weather was perfect on day one at the Jimmy Clay Golf Course. Coach Matthew Miller said the course was described as having nine holes with narrow fairways that heavily punished wayward tee shots and then nine holes with more open space where players could look to be more aggressive.
The first day it seemed like every team at the front of the leaderboard had about the best round of golf they had shot all season. Almost every team except the Jackrabbits.
Bowie was sitting in fifth place with a 325 score, which was good but not the best the team had shot all season. Egenbacher and Zac Harris shot the lowest score for the Jackrabbits as both shot 78. Sandhoff shot around what he usually has with an 82 and Hunter Lea was the fourth player who shot 87. The fifth golfer Rayder Mann was only one shot more than Lea with an 88, though his score did not count towards the team total on day one.
While first place Callisburg would go on to set 3A state records for lowest score and the first of two Brock teams was up by 14 shots in second place, third place Orangefield was up only nine shots after its best round by far and the team was frontloaded with a player who would go on to win the individual gold. If his teammates could faulter a bit on day two, the door would be open.
Bowie was not the only team in position to try and make a play for third place. Fourth place Gunter was only two shots ahead of the Jackrabbits and the teams were paired together for the second day. Maypearl and Diboll also were in the mix only one and two shots behind Bowie in sixth and seventh place.
Miller tried to ease his player’s mind heading into the second day, putting little pressure on them to try and keep them loose.
“We talked Monday night and the message was, you have no pressure,” Miller said. “You have 18 holes left for the year. Go out and have fun, enjoy yourself. Go post a number and see what can happen.”
Of all of the teams in the top six, three posted a better score on day two with Bowie improving the most. The weather was not quite as good with the temperature reaching the 90s and with a breeze affecting balls more than the windless day before had.
Still, four of the five players posted equal or better scores for Bowie the second day. Egenbacher shot a 78 again to lead the team with the lowest score. His two day total of 156 put him in a tie for ninth place individually.
Sandhoff made a two shot improvement as he shot 80 for a total of 162, which was the second lowest two day total for Bowie and put him in a tie for 24th.
Lea made the biggest jump, improving by eight strokes from day one as he shot a 79, the second lowest score of the day for Bowie. His two-day total was 166.
Mann also made a big jump, improving by seven strokes from day one as his 81 score was counted towards the second day total of 318, which was a seven stroke improvement from day one.
Harris did not quite have as good a day as day one. After tying for the team’s lowest score on day one, his 85 score did not count towards the team total though his 163 two-day total was the third lowest on the team.
After improving by seven shots, as important was that other team’s had worse days. Playing partners Gunter were nine shots worse, eventual champions Callisburg were 17 shots worse and most importantly Orangefield was 16 shots worse.
Bowie passed the Bobcats to finish in third place, its 643 two-day total five shots better, to earn the bronze medal.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
SPORTS
Lambert enters the hall of fame

Cody Lambert, a pioneering figure in rodeo, was inducted into the Bull Riding Hall of Fame during the 9th annual induction ceremony and reunion on May 20 in the Fort Worth Stockyards.
The Bowie cowboy was part of the class that includes Cody Snyder, Dickey Cox, Kenny Wilcox, Rickey Lindsey, Rick Chatman, John Gloor, R.C. Bales, Bernis Johnson, Ronnie Bowman and bull O18 Cowtown.
The Bull Riding Hall of Fame is located at Cowtown Coliseum in Fort Worth. Its goal is to honor all of the bull riding champions, as well as preserve the history of bull riding, housing inductee exhibits, accomplishments, photos, videos and personal effects. It has four categories: Bull riders, bull fighters, bulls and legends.
Lambert makes his home outside of Bowie with his wife, Leanne. They met on the circuit as she was a barrel racer and they married in May 1982. They welcome son Riley four years later.
He grew up in the rodeo with two grandfathers who competed, so it was no surprise when he fell in love with the sport. His father was a successful racehorse jockey winning the first All American Futurity and he went on to be a top trainer.
Lambert began bronc riding at the high school level, before attending Sul Ross University where he won the Men’s All Around at the 1982 National Collegiate Rodeo Association Finals. In a March 2021 interview in the North Texas Farm and Ranch, he recalls when he went professional the only two events that made sense were saddle bronc riding and bull riding.
He qualified to compete in the National Finals Rodeo in saddle bronc riding in 1981, 1990 and 1991. in bull riding he would make an appearance in the finals in 1985, 1986, 1988, 1989 and 1991-1993. He also became a Texas Circuit Finals Champion twice in saddle bronc, twice in bulls and three years as All Around.
“Looking back on it, I don’t know that bull riding was my best event. I think I worked a lot harder at the bull riding It was a different kind of challenge, so I think I put more into it,” Lambert told NTFR.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
-
NEWS6 months ago
2 hurt, 1 jailed after shooting incident north of Nocona
-
NEWS1 month ago
SO investigating possible murder/suicide
-
NEWS5 months ago
Wreck takes the life of BHS teen, 16
-
NEWS3 weeks ago
Sheriff’s office called out to infant’s death
-
NEWS4 months ago
Bowie Police face three-hour standoff after possible domestic fight
-
NEWS6 months ago
Driver stopped by a man running into the street, robbed at knifepoint
-
NEWS2 months ago
UTV driver killed in crash
-
BREAKING NEWS5 days ago
Police, sheriff investigate one possible suicide threat and one man who allegedly assaulted woman in a car