SPORTS
Nocona sweeps hosted cross country invitational; Bowie boys start off season
Nocona had its first cross country invitational Thursday morning at Indian Oaks Golf Club.
With six schools, including county rival Bowie, competing in varsity and junior varsity races, it was a good starting point for the beginning of cross country season.
The race hosts swept the varsity team result and won the junior varsity boys competition as well.
In the Nocona varsity boys three mile race, freshman Eli Croxton finished first for the Indians in second overall with a time of 20:04.
Behind him Hank Ulbig finished fourth, Lyndon Fenoglio finished eighth, Adam Meekins finished 10th, Iziak Weatherread finished 12th and Sam Cunningham finished 13th to round out the team’s scoring.
The boys finished 21 spots ahead as a team to finish in first place. The results have Coach Colby Schniederjan excited about the upcoming season.
“We brought back three runners from last year’s regional qualifying team, so I knew we had a couple of guys I could build a team around,” Schniederjan said. “I have been extremely pleased with my younger runners. We are running times now that were mid season times a year ago. I have about 11 kids that will push for the top seven spots. We had a successful start to the season at our home meet and we’re looking forward to the year.”
The Lady Indians also won the varsity competition in the two mile race. Junior Kylie Rose finished first overall with a time of 13:23.
Raylee Sparkman was not far behind as she finished third while Madilyn Ferguson and Claudia Espinoza finished fifth and sixth. Natalie Pirkey rounded out Nocona’s scoring by finishing 21st.
Coach Kyle Spitzer was pleased with what he saw from his girls as they hope to make it back to regionals.
“Our course presented some good challenges for us and I thought the girls responded well,” Spitzer said. “We saw some areas we need to work on, so we will get back to work and get ready for the Burkburnett meet next week.”
The Jackrabbit boys’ team competed as well. The varsity team finished tied for third overall.
Bowie’s top runner was freshman A.J. Whatley as he finished 11th overall with a time of 22:07. Caleb Harris finished 14th, Asdriel Saldana finished 16th, Bryson Moore 17th and Brock Neese in 19th rounded out the Jackrabbits scoring.
Coach Jonathon Horton thinks this was a good start for some of his younger runners.
“I was very pleased with how well our young guys ran against varsity competition, especially being the first three mile race for our freshmen,” Horton said.
For full varsity results, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
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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