SPORTS
OUTDOORS: State parks continue recovery process from rain
Flooding left more than 50 Texas state parks drenched during the Memorial Day weekend.
Since then, communities and park staff statewide have teamed up to clean up, restore and reopen most of the damaged sites.
Thanks to their efforts, only four parks remain closed: Cedar Hill, Lake Somerville, Lake Whitney and Ray Roberts Lake State Park.
All units of Ray Roberts – located in Sanger – and Lake Somerville are closed at this time.
“We are currently assessing damages that require capital repair,” Brent Leisure, the director of the state parks division at the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, said. “We intend to move on those repairs as quickly as possible and get Texans back into those parks.”
State park recovery projects are estimated to cost $16 million.
To date, the most costly infrastructure damage was sustained at Bastrop with the loss of the park lake dam, said Director of the Infrastructure Division at the TPWD Jessica Davisson.
A section of the park road also washed away when the dam breached. Preliminary reports for reconstruction are more than $6 million.
Recovery would not have occurred as quickly without the help of more than 300 volunteers who dedicated about 6,500 hours toward cleanup efforts. Others loaned equipment to help move debris.
Lake Whitney State Park in Whitney has had volunteers show up daily. Local farmers and ranchers there have offered their tractors to help with park cleanup projects. The number of volunteers has increased on a weekly basis, the TPWD reports.
Mother Neff State Park in Moody continues to put on clean-up events during restoration efforts. Two of three rental facilities impacted have been cleaned and are nearly ready for rental.
Moreover, Debris was picked up so mowing can begin again. Volunteers brought power washers and generators to assist in the clean up.
Volunteer Flood Day events at Ray Roberts have helped the park clean and remove debris at Sanger and Pond Creek satellite units. The Greenbelt Unit also had a volunteer event to clean the multi-purpose trail. More than 90 volunteers dedicated 1,180 hours toward restoration.
At Blanco State Park, another one of the parks hardest hit, the Texas A&M Forest Service, the Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System, a pair of ranches and a hauling company removed tons of debris, which helped get the park ready for its recent partial reopening.
For more information about the status of current parks, log onto the website: texasstateparks.org.
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. (Logo provided by the TPWD, used with permission)
The Red River High School Bass Club competed this past weekend, May 31 – June 1, at the State Tournament on Lake Conroe for the two-day tournament.
Two of the teams from Montague County traveled south to try their best at the culmination of the year for the state title. Teams were able to pre-fish on Friday before the Saturday and Sunday competition. On Friday, there was a flipping contest for the youth and Cooper Johnson won third overall and won a $500 scholarship and an Academy gift card.
The club’s two teams who competed were Lane Smith/Colt Henry with boat captain Jimmy Smith. The team placed 63rd with a total of 16.22 pounds. The second team of Cooper Johnson/Corbyn Patton and boat captain Jayson Toerck placed 169th with a total weight of 2.29 pounds.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
The Maskat Shrine Oil Bowl is this week on June 6-7 and graduating athletes from Bowie, Nocona and Saint Jo are confirmed to be playing.
In total, seven athletes from Bowie, five from Nocona and three from Saint Jo are planning to play in the all-star games this week. Nocona also will have a pair of coaches participating as well.
The girl’s basketball game kicks off events on June 6, scheduled for 6 p.m. at Wichita Falls Memorial High School. In the game, the east team will have Nocona players Avery Crutsinger, Meg Meekins and Reagan Phipps playing while Kyler Spitzer and Clayton Brown coach them one last time.
On the west team, Saint Jo’s Payzlie Cervantes is confirmed to be playing.
The boy’s basketball game is scheduled to follow at 7:30 p.m. On the east team, Bowie’s Boston Farris and Nocona’s Jose Gomez Jr. will be playing.
On June 7, the volleyball games are scheduled to start at 4 p.m. with the small school game. On the west team, Nocona’s Kaygan Stone and Saint Jo’s Taylor Patrick are confirmed to play. On the east team, Saint Jo’s Aubrey Morman will get to play her teammate.
There are no local athletes confirmed to be playing in the big school volleyball game.
The final event is the football game, scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at Memorial Stadium. It is an all Bowie affair with six players confirmed to be playing for the east team: Justin Clark, Jorge De Leon, Hunter Fluitt and Braden Rhyne, Preacher Chambers and Moh Azouak.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
Nocona Independent School District officials looked inward for a new athletic director/head football coach, selecting Jeff Hill for the position.
Hill, who served last year as Nocona football’s offensive coordinator and also led the softball program to the playoffs for the first time in a while as its head coach, was upgraded to the role.
This came on the heels of former Athletic Director Blake Crutsinger, who served in the role the last four years, resigned in May.
For Hill, the choice to apply for the position was a no brainer. His one year in Nocona had impressed upon him and his wife that it was the place they would like to be long term.
“I’m looking for a town to raise my kids in and Nocona has treated my family really well,” Hill said. “There are some really good people. The kids work hard. Everything I am looking for in a hometown is right here in Nocona and I want to try and make it as best as it can be, especially through athletics.”
Before Nocona, Hill served as the athletic director at S&S Consolidated while also spending time at Hebron and Whitewright in his coaching career.
Hill expresses great respect for the departing Crutsinger and besides changing a few small things in how he personally wants to do things, he is not trying to come in with a sweeping restructuring of the whole athletic department.
The program had five of its six team sports make the playoffs, with volleyball playing in the regional final and the girl’s basketball team winning the state championship.
That along with two athletes competing at the state championship in cross country and track with one earning a gold medal, it was one of the more successful school years in athletic program history.
“Coach Crutsinger was awesome and did a great job so honestly just little tweaks, a little bit of structure and cohesion amongst the coaching staff between boys and girls,” Hill said. “I hope to keep the winning tradition going overall in the athletic department.”
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
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