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1A cross country teams compete at district

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Area runners from 1A schools competed on Wednesday at the district cross country meet for a chance to qualify for the regional meet.
In the end, the Saint Jo boy’s and the Prairie Valley girls team qualified along with two girls from Bellevue and one boy from Prairie Valley.
Taking place at Pelham Park in Bowie under cold and wet conditions, along with only the top two teams qualifying for the regional meet due to COVID-19, it was a challenge for every runner.
The Lady Bulldogs finished second overall and were led by Karagan Ritchey, who finished eighth overall with a time of 15:41. Her teammates were not far behind with Molly Gilleland finishing 11th, Hailey Winkler finishing 15th, Cassy Atteberry finishing 16th and Veronica Gutierrez finishing 17th.
Coach Jeannie Carpenter was proud her team was able to qualify for the fifth year in a row despite all of her girls also playing volleyball.
“We knew Slidell had a loaded team and we knew with only two teams advancing this year, we were going to have to be at our best,” Carpenter said. “I’m extremely proud of these girls and how hard they work.”
The Panthers finished second as a team and were led by Collin Thomas who finished second with a time of 19:36. Kile Thurman joined him on the medal stand finishing fifth while teammate Noble Koelzer (13th), Josh Vogel (14th) and Brice Durham (20th) contributed as well.
Coach Lyndon Cook was proud his team powered through the tough conditions to make it back to the regional meet for the second straight season.
“Taking a team to regionals in back-to-back years is really a product of us having some talented athletes that have bought into the program and are putting their team first,” Cook said. “Two of our five had never run cross country before this season and both wound up in the top 20 at district and that anchored us to being able to get out of district again.”
The Bellevue girl’s team finished third overall nine points behind the Lady Bulldogs.
The team was led by Sky-Lar Embry who qualified individually by finishing fourth with a time of 15:13. Teammate Grace Martin joined her in qualifying for the regional meet finishing ninth with a time of 15:48.
Among the top five runners for the Lady Eagles included Austin Ford (14th), Cirstin Allen (24th) and Kaylee Trail (25th).
The Prairie Valley boy’s team finished fourth overall.
Tyler Winkler qualified for the regional meet individually for the second straight year, finishing fourth overall with a time of 20 minutes flat.
“Tyler has done a great job,” Coach Seth Stephens said. “He jumped several places from last year so I’m proud of him and now we’re focusing on getting ready for regionals and hopefully he’ll have his best race of the season there.”
The top five finishers for the Bulldogs also included Michael Cole (15th), Dayton Neugebaur (16th), Issac Yeargin (21st) and Zak Smith (24th).
The Bellevue boy’s team finished fifth overall and were led by Jason Gill who finished 19th with a time of 23:37. Among the top five finishers for the Eagles included Terrance Perry finishing 22nd, Josh Benson finishing 27th, Sam Innes finishing 29th and Colton Shook finishing 30th.
Some schools did not have enough runners to fill out a five person team and ran individually. From Gold-Burg Shadie Whitaker finished 23rd in the girls race. In the boy’s race Gideon Hellinger finished 26th, Jacob Tanner finished 28th and Rykir Evans finished 33rd.
From Forestburg, Justynne Roller overcame a shoe malfunction at the start to finish 18th overall.
The regional meet is scheduled for Nov. 9-10 at the Jesse Owens Memorial Complex in Dallas.

To see results for all high school individual runners, pick up a copy of weekend edition of the Bowie News.

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10 qualify for regional tennis after competing in district

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Gold-Burg’s Jimena Garcia and Alyson Rojas placed first and second in girl’s singles at district. (Courtesy picture)

Last week all of the area schools competed in their district’s tennis tournament and several schools had athletes qualify for the regional tournament.
In the end, 10 athletes finished second or better at district to move on for a chance to qualify for state.
Unfortunately, no players from Bowie were able to break through and qualify.
Many faced early seeding opponents from tennis power Vernon that ended their tournament.
The highest finish for a Bowie player was Lily Hodges who placed fourth in girls singles.
From Nocona, one girl was able to break through as Kaygan Stone finished second in girls singles to qualify for regionals.
Stone has had a tough year, dealing with shoulder problems that shortened both her volleyball and basketball seasons, but she bounced back this spring to qualify for regionals in tennis.
Her teammate Melissa Segura was not so lucky, as she finished third in girls singles and just missed the cut, having to settle for an alternate spot
At the 1A tournament, several schools had multiple athletes in one division qualify.
From Saint Jo, last year’s state qualifying girl’s doubles team of Kyler Dunn and Taylor Patrick won the division.
They beat out the second place finisher and their teammates, the girl’s doubles team of Maxey Johnson and Bailey Nobile, who also qualified for regionals.
From Gold-Burg, Jimena Garcia and Alyson Rojas placed first and second in girls singles to move on to the regional tournament.
Other schools only had one team or individual.
From Forestburg, the mixed doubles team of Jesse Wadsworth and Alli Cisneros finished second as they qualified for regionals.
From Prairie Valley, Case Carpenter finished second in the boys singles division.

To read the full story and see pictures of all of the qualifiers, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.

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13 athletes off to state track

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Graci Brown is a part of the 4x400 relay along with Ayden Patton, Ava Johnson and Meg Meekins that will compete at the state track meet on May 3 for the second straight year.

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.

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Saint Jo Softball Interview

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Interview with Saint Jo softball players Jordyn O'Neal (left) and Maxey Johnson following their playoff win against Perrin-Whitt on April 24, 2024.
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