SPORTS
STORM CENTER: Lesson learned in Katy
The Katy High School baseball team learned a valuable lesson this week.
And I’m truly surprised the University Interscholastic League, the state’s sanctioning body administering high school sports, did something more than slap a program on the wrist.
Actually, come to think of it, plenty of people were given an education this week, and I’m not talking STAAR testing.
I’m glad I get to share the story with all of you in this column – because I want to make sure people do their homework and look at the legal ramifications before diving into the pool.
After all, I don’t want to write about a local high school team I cover having to be stripped of wins.
Here’s what happened.
Katy baseball players Hayden Baker and Grant Jackman served as assistant coaches for a Little League team based in the same Houston suburb.
That’s all fine and dandy; however, there’s one thing. Both Baker and Jackman were paid for their services.
It was an amateur athletics violation for that to happen, and the UIL state executive committee denied Katy’s last-ditch appeal on Monday during a meeting at the Austin Marriott North hotel.
That means Katy will forfeit 20 wins and miss the UIL Conference 6A playoffs. Katy is a blueblood athletic program in Texas, and that’s why I find the reprimand so shocking.
The District 19-6A executive committee originally ruled against the school in an April 22 decision, and recommended the minimum penalty – which was forfeiture of games. Read more from this column in the May 7 Bowie News.
Editor’s Note: The Storm Center column is the expressed written views of sports editor Eric Viccaro and not The Bowie News.
The University Interscholastic League state executive committee denied Katy’s last-ditch appeal on May 2 during a meeting at the Austin Marriott North hotel. (Logo provided by the Katy Independent School District, used with permission)
Bowie had six players play in the Maskat Shrine Oil Bowl football all-star game. For pictures from not just the football game, but the basketball and volleyball games as well that feature athletes from Bowie, Nocona and Saint Jo, click here https://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=bnews1&AID=6875584&T=1
Nocona is welcoming back Coach Sandy Langford, former coach and alumnus for the Lady Indians, as its new volleyball head coach.
Langford comes back to Nocona after spending the past 11 years leading the Glen Rose volleyball program.
Her circumstances with her family allowed her to jump at the opportunity once she became aware the position at Nocona was available.
“My youngest graduated and is playing football at Midwestern (State University),” Langford said. “All of our family is here and I knew that Coach Kara (Lucherk) was leaving. We were eventually going to retire here. Our oldest son plays college football at West Texas A&M and we’ll be two hours closer to him as well.”
She again will lead the Lady Indians volleyball program, one that she led all the way to the state title game in 2011, which is the farthest the volleyball program has ever gone in its prestigious history.
Langford kept up that level of success during her 11 years at the bigger 4A Glen Rose. She won less than 20 games only twice during her time, winning her 500th career game back in 2023. Her teams were ranked among the top 10 in the state five times and Langford led Glen Rose to the state tournament in 2017, the best finish in program history.
With the Lady Indians also having its own string of success, appearing in back-to-back regional finals while finishing atop the district standings both years, Langford is excited to not just keep the success going, but shoot for the stars.
“We are not expecting anything less than a state championship,” Langford said.
She has stacked the non-district schedule with strong, state-ranked 3A and 4A teams as well as big tournaments that will test Nocona’s mettle early next season in the hopes it will prepare them for a long playoff run.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
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.
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