SPORTS
Montague County had eight athletes compete at state track
The state track meet in Austin was last week and Montague County had eight athletes competing against the best in the state in their particular events.
At the end of three days, Nocona sophomore Graci Brown was the only athlete who stood on the podium as she won two gold medals, but all athletes did a good job of competing on the biggest stage.
On the first day on Thursday, only Bowie junior Tucker Jones was competing.
Running the 3A 110 meter hurdles event, Jones finished ninth with a time of 15.40 seconds.
It was not his best time and with one more year of high school, Jones is going to use it as motivation for next season.
On the second day of the meet on Friday, Nocona’s Brown was competing in four events.
In the morning she started the day competing in the 2A long jump. She was sitting in third place after the second jump which ended up being her best jump of 17 feet 9 inches.
It was only on the final jump that a girl from San Augustine came out of nowhere, improving her best jump by nearly 10 inches and finished half an inch ahead of Brown. She finished fourth and did not get a medal.
Brown was devastated, but was determined the result was not going to negatively affect her next three events later in the day.
She first ran the 800 meter race. Brown was sitting in third place after the first lap and made her move with about 200 meters left in the race, going outside on the curve to turn on the jets.
She ran away from the two girls who were leading throughout the race and won by nearly two seconds with her time of 2:15.84.
Brown did not have long to celebrate one of her goals. With the rainy weather coming in, the meet was on a rolling schedule, meaning her rest time until her next race would be shorter than usual.
Less than an hour later Brown had to then run the equally grueling 400 meter race.
Brown finished first with a time of 57.69 and beat second place by .35 seconds. It was her second gold in less than an hour’s time.
Despite that, Brown’s day still was not done as she anchored the 4×400 relay at the end of the meet.
The team of Ava Johnson, Ayden Patton, Megyn Meekins and Brown came in sixth place with a time of 4:06.72.
The third day on Saturday was the most rainy day that featured delays throughout, which is what the three boys from Gold-Burg and Saint Jo got to compete in.
Sophomore Devin Stewart from Saint Jo competed in the 1A high jump.
Stewart did not jump his best on the day, finishing at 5 feet 10 inches in fifth place. He felt he could have done better, but was not dismayed by the result.
Fellow sophomore Isaac Renteria from Gold-Burg also competed in the morning running in the 1A 3200 meter race.
Renteria just missed earning a medal, finishing fourth with a time of 10:16 and was just three seconds off from third place.
Renteria was not pleased with the result, but knew he had one more chance later that day running in the 1600 meter race along with a familiar competitor.
Saint Jo senior Collin Thomas was making his second appearance at the state track meet.
He made it last year in the 800 meters and was also a leg in the 4×400 team. He finished in ninth last year in the 800 meters and wanted to run better with it being his last chance.
He did as he finished fourth with a time of 2:00.84. Although he was half a second behind the third place finisher, he jokingly gestured after the finish how close he was to the third place runner and earning a medal.
He would have his chance later as both Thomas and Renteria ran in the 1600 meter race.
It was a close race for the mile with only 12 seconds separating first place from last place.
Thomas again was kept off the podium as he finished in fourth place again with a time of 4:43.
Renteria only finished two seconds behind with a time of 4:45, but finished in seventh place.
To read the full story with quotes and see more pictures, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
With the arrival of June comes increasing temperatures, camps galore for kids and for high school athletes making time to get ready for next school year.
For Bowie, incoming boy’s 7th-12th graders will practice Monday through Thursday starting June 12.
On Mondays and Wednesdays high school will do football skills and junior high athletes will do basketball drills from 7:30-8:30 a.m. They will switch on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Workouts will follow and go from 8:30-9:30 a.m. except on Tuesdays which will be before the skills at 6:30-7:30 a.m.
The Bowie girl workouts will start the same week for incoming 7th-12th graders. The workouts are scheduled every day for 7:30-8:30 a.m.
On Mondays and Wednesday’s, the high school girls will practice basketball and junior high volleyball from 8:30-9:30 a.m. On Tuesdays and Thursdays it will be reversed.
Bowie is expected to take the week of July 4th off to give athletes a break before ramping back up for the start of August.
For Nocona athletes, incoming 7th-12th grade boys and girls will start summer workouts on June 5. The workouts will be Monday through Thursday and go from 8-10:30 a.m.
They are scheduled to take the week of July 4th off and are expecting to take another week or two off at some point during the summer.
At Saint Jo, workouts start on June 5 and will be Monday through Thursday for incoming 7th-12th graders. The week of July 4th and the final week of July athletes will have off.
Every day strength and conditioning will go 8-9 a.m. On Monday through Wednesday, there will be an hour that follows for sport specific skill work. On Mondays and Wednesdays it will be football and volleyball. On Tuesdays it will be basketball.
At Prairie Valley, incoming junior high and high school athletes are scheduled to start summer workouts on June 6. Sessions will be from 8-11 a.m. and cover weight training, cardio training along with basketball and volleyball training.
Workouts will be Monday through Thursday. There will be a two week break in the middle with the last week of June and the first week of July athletes getting off.
For Forestburg, its incoming boy athletes have completed their first week of summer workouts this week. The girl athletes will join them at the beginning of next week on June 6.
They will go Monday through Thursday every week and also will take a break the week of July 4. Instead of the morning, workouts are scheduled for 6-8 p.m.
At Gold-Burg, some new coaches are expected to be hired but until then there are no plans for official summer workouts in the meantime.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
With eyes already looking towards next school year, Bowie Independent School District has hired their first new varsity head coach in Jason McCoy.
McCoy was hired as the new baseball coach and comes to Bowie from Seymour where he served in that role for one season. Before that he also served time at Paradise, Granbury, and Notre Dame Catholic School while he was still in college.
It is new Bowie athletic director Tyler Price’s first varsity head coaching hire and McCoy also takes over the role Price has served the past three seasons.
“All of the hires are important to me, but this one definitely is, its one I’ve been a part of more than 15 years as a player and a coach so it’s close to my heart,” Price said. “At the end of the day it’s putting good coaches and good people around our kids. I think that is a huge thing Jason has got.”
Price had a record of 70-41 with each season winning in the bi-district round of the playoffs and the 2022 season seeing the team make an unprecedented run to the regional finals.
Price is confident McCoy cannot only keep the success going, but do it in his own way while keeping the values of the program similar to what he did during his time.
“I’ve always respected him as a coach and a man,” Price said. “Just playing against his teams in the past, they are always well coached, acting right on and off the field. I just like the style of coaching and the style of play he brings to the team.
McCoy is a 2007 graduate of Windthorst before going on to graduate from Midwestern State University.
He and his wife Emily, a teacher who taught at Graham in 2022-2023, are expecting their first child soon.
Besides baseball, McCoy also was named co-defensive coordinator in football and is expected to teach world geography.
McCoy has family in Bowie. That, along with the chance of working with Price, were the main motivating factors for McCoy to apply for the job.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
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