SPORTS
Summer workouts heat up in July
The first day of practices for fall sports are about four weeks away, but any successful high school athletic program has had athletes working all through the summer months.
“It’s crucial,” Nocona Athletic Director Rick Weaver said. “It will make or break a program to be honest with you, as well as the success throughout the season.
Athletes lift weights throughout whatever sports season they are in, but coaches cannot not afford to push them too hard so they can be ready for practices and games.
The real strides athletes make as far as getting stronger and more explosive happen during the offseason as max lifts are improved upon and agility drills worked on.
The two months of summer can undo all of that progress unless athletes are staying active and showing up to workouts regularly.
“For them to show up during the summer and build upon the progress they made throughout the year is huge for them and us,” Weaver said.
While most schools athletic programs have summer workouts throughout June as well, most coaches report an uptick in attendance in July as the first day of practice comes closer.
“The closer you get to Aug. 5, the more kids start to showing up,” Bowie Athletic Director Cory Mandrell said.
“It is never as many as you hope,” Weaver said.
Despite this, both new coaches reported good attendance numbers throughout June as they have gotten to know their kids.
Workouts can only be two hours a day and consist of only strength and conditioning up to four times a week. While workouts are not mandatory, they are strongly encouraged.
“You have to place a lot of the responsibility on the older kids, the juniors and seniors,” Mandrell said. “We can’t drag them out of bed. We can’t make them show up, but those teammates can.”
While in the past the University Interscholastic League only allowed coaches to do non sports specific weight and condition training, recent rules allow coaches to schedule two hours a week to work sport specific skills with their athletes.
“Today we threw with some receivers, worked on defensive calls, worked our o-line and everything,” Weaver said. “With basketball, they can go shoot and be put through an organized practice. Same with volleyball so we are not starting from day one come August.”
Working in a rural community coaches get that family matters, summer jobs and vacations will limit some athlete’s availability to make it to workouts. The ones that make it a priority now to make it voluntary workouts when they can will probably be athletes most counted on by their coaches once the season comes around.
To see more pictures of athletes from Bowie and Nocona working out this week, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
It was announced last week Nocona Athletic director/football coach Blake Crutsinger is resigning from his position at the school after serving four years.
Crutsinger said now is the time for his family to make the move, with his daughter Avery graduating after spending four years at Nocona and with his son Kellar about to enter high school and wanting the same for him at another school.
“With her going off to college, she had a really good four years here and just looking at Keller heading into high school and exploring some opportunities that might be better for him, it is just time,” Crutsinger said.
Crutsinger went 19-22 overall, helping the Indians to two playoff appearances in 2022 and 2023. The team’s best season was 2023, when it went 8-2 and won the district title, the first one in 11 years for the program.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
Saint Jo senior Payzlie Cervantes signed her letter of intent to play college basketball last week at Highland College in Kansas. She also played volleyball, softball and ran track at Saint Jo. “After talking with Coach Tana Coleman, I really connected with her and loved the campus vibe and direction she wants for the team,” Cervantes said. “I’m looking forward to continuing my basketball career while getting my associates degree in nursing to become a registered nurse.”
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
Last week Montague County had five girls from Bowie and Saint Jo compete at the state tennis tournament, and one team brought back some hardware.
Sisters from Bowie, junior Heidi and freshman Willow Siebert brought back a bronze medal competing in the 3A girl’s doubles bracket.
The pair were the first people from the program to make it back to state since their half sisters, Meagan and Myah Russell, advanced nine years previously.
The Sieberts came into state as a two-seed, having finished second at the regional tournament the previous week.
The duo was ready as they blew through their first two matches. They beat a team from Hondo in the first round with the scores being 6-1, 6-1 and dominated even more in the second round against a team from Tatum, winning 6-0, 6-1.
That got them through to the second day of the tournament, but Coach Dayna Boothe was worried they had had it too easy on day one.
Playing in the semifinals, the Lady Rabbits faced a familiar foe, a team from Peaster they had beaten in the regional tournament the previous week. Unfortunately, near the end of the first set, with the Sieberts fighting to stay alive, Heidi went after a high lob and slammed into the fence. She hurt her right arm and had to play through it for the rest of the match.
They lost the match with the scores being 6-3, 6-3.
It was an all Peaster final, with the other side of the bracket producing the team that both beat the Sieberts at the regional tournament and won their second straight state title.
Still, despite the disappointment, Bowie is bringing back a bronze medal. According to Boothe, after contacting people who would know dating back to the late 1970s, it could possibly be the program’s first medals from the state tournament in tennis.
Of course, Bowie was not the only school represented. Saint Jo had Taylor Patrick competing in girl’s singles and the team of Bailie Nobile and Maxey Johnson competing in girl’s doubles in the 1A classification.
Senior Patrick was making her third appearance at the state tournament, but her first in the singles competition.
She finished third at the regional meet which meant she had a tough first round matchup against a second seed from Fort Davis.
It took everything from Patrick in a match that lasted two and a half hours. She went down in the first set 6-2, but rebounded in a tight second set to win 6-4 to force a third and final set. She had the momentum and won 6-2 to move on.
She had to summon the energy to play later that day against a fresh one-seed player from Utopia. Patrick lost 6-1, 6-1 to end her Saint Jo career. Her opponent would go on to finish second.
Juniors Johnson and Nobile were making their first appearances at the state meet after finishing second at the regional tournament. In the first round they played a tough match against a team from Marathon. It seemed evenly matched throughout, but small mistakes at inopportune times cost them throughout the match. In the end, the team lost by the scores of 6-3, 6-3.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
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