Montague County will have athletes from six schools competing at the state track meet in Austin later this week.
All together, 13 athletes from Bowie, Nocona, Saint Jo, Forestburg, Prairie Valley and Gold-Burg will compete on the biggest high school stage to see if they can bring home a medal.
From Bowie, senior Tucker Jones is competing in the 3A boys 110 meter hurdles event for the second straight year. Jones earned the one wildcard spot as he finished third at the regional meet this year.
Despite that, his qualifying time and personal record 14.73 seconds is better than several runners in the field. Jones finished ninth at state last year. With it being his final high school race, Jones is putting no pressure on himself outside of trying his best while enjoying the experience.
Jones is scheduled to run around 5:45 p.m. on May 2.
From Nocona, junior Graci Brown is back for the second straight year and is hoping she can repeat as state champion in two of the events she won last year. She won the 400 meter and 800 meter races last year.
This year, she won the 400 meter race at regionals, but finished second in the 800 meters after getting caught at the end. Still, her times compared to her competitors put her in the company to try and repeat again.
Brown also is a part of the 4×400 relay along with Ava Johnson, Ayden Patton and Meg Meekins, with Avery Crutsinger being an alternate runner, that got to state last year where they placed sixth overall. The team earned the wildcard after finishing third at regionals, but got the best time out of all third place teams.
Brown was not pleased with her tactics in the 800 meter race at regionals, but liked how she attacked the 400 meters. She knows she has it in her to repeat in both races again and is looking forward to proving it once again.
Brown and her teammates will compete on May 3, with the 800 meter race scheduled for 5:20 p.m., the 400 meter race at 7 p.m. and the 4×400 meter relay scheduled for 8:45 p.m.
Everyone else from 1A schools will compete on May 4.
Gold-Burg junior Isaac Renteria is returning to the state meet for the second straight year. With three appearances at the state cross country meet, Renteria is very familiar with what level it takes to compete on the biggest stage.
Renteria qualified in the 3200 meter race as a wildcard entry. His finished third at regionals, but his time was not only the best among other third place finishers, but better than half the field he will race at state ran.
Renteria just missed out on a medal last year as he finished fourth by three seconds. He is not the only repeat name in the race.
Renteria is scheduled to run at 9:15 a.m.
From Forestburg, the Lady Horns have two first time state qualifiers on the different sides of their career.
Reagan Ladewig is a senior representing Forestburg one last time while freshman Brenna Briles is hoping to cap off a spectacular first year in high school.
Ladewig finished second at regionals in the shot put. She is a longshot for a medal as her qualifying throw is one of the lower throws, but still Ladewig hopes she can break her personal record and hope for the best.
For Briles, she won the high jump at regionals. Her height puts her in the vicinity to possibly get a medal if she can either do it again or jump even higher.
Briles is scheduled to compete at 11:30 a.m. and Ladewig at 12:30 p.m.
From Prairie Valley, junior Linzie Priddy is going to the state track meet for the first time. Priddy has competed at the state cross country meet twice, in 2021 and 2023 so the state stage will not be new to her.
Priddy finished second in the 800 meters at regionals. She will have to improve on her qualifying time by a lot if she wants to earn a medal, but anything could happen.
Priddy is scheduled to run at 5:20 p.m.
From Saint Jo, freshman Damon Byrd made it to state in three events. His first two are solo field events as he won the long jump and finished second in the triple jump. His qualifying jumps put him right in the mix for a medal if he equals or surpasses his totals.
The long jump is scheduled for 9 a.m. and the triple jump at 1 p.m.
Byrd also is a part of the 4×200 meter relay team along with Blaine Penaluna, Devin Stewart and Lee Yeley. Wyatt Lucas and Barrett Johnson are alternate runners.
The team finished second at the regional meet. Its qualifying time puts them right in the mix with other top teams for a medal in what could be a close race.
The 4×200 relay is scheduled for 6:25 p.m.
All times and dates are scheduled to change in case of weather complications.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.

The Nocona Lady Indians played their final game of the regular season with a drubbing of Alvord at home.
The Lady Indians won 11-1 after six innings due to run-rule to end their season on a positive note despite no playoffs.
The game was rescheduled from last week due to weather.
Nocona was coming off a tough loss against Muenster the previous game, but knew it had a chance against Alvord after beating the Lady Bulldogs 6-4 in the first game.
The game started slow, but the Lady Indians got the lead with one run in the first inning. Alvord answered with one run in the third inning before Nocona retook the lead and never let it go.
The Lady Indians scored three runs in the third inning, two in the fourth, three in the fifth and the final two in the sixth inning to end the game on Charity Claxton’s sacrifice bunt that scored the last run.
Nocona won 11-1.

Coach Nolan Lanham thought it was the most complete game the team had played all season.
While he is sad this year’s season is complete, he is excited about what the team accomplished this year and what it can build off of it in the coming years.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.