SPORTS
Look back at spring sports 2003
Welcome to a look back column that covers some of the highlights of Bowie High School spring athletics from 30 years ago.
Highlights include the Lady Rabbits basketball team battling Decatur in the playoffs, the girls’ powerlifting program sending its second lifter to the state meet and both the softball and baseball programs making the playoffs after good regular seasons.
The stories were written by Brian Cavallaro.
February 20, 2003, The Bowie News
Headline: Bowie ends season with area loss
Not given a chance in the world of upsetting or even playing with the number 12 ranked team in the state the Bowie Lady rabbits opened some eyes and turned some heads as they narrowly lost to the Decatur Eagles 37-40 in the Area round of the playoffs on Feb. 14.
The game had a strange twist of irony as the Eagles are coached by onetime Bowie great Rene Hanebutt who helped lead the Rabbits to the 1995 3A state championship under Coach Rennie Waldrop. Lady Rabbits Head Coach Diana Weber was an assistant coach on the ’95 team and was Hanebutt’s eighth grade coach.
The Rabbits opened the game sluggish as the pestilent Eagle press allowed the Rabbits just four points in the opening frame, while Decatur notched 11 on the scoreboard.
The Rabbits found a way through the press in the second period adding 11 of their own. The Eagles stayed in stride with Bowie accumulating 12 more before the halftime buzzer sounded to enter the half up 15-23 over the Rabbits.
“Their defensive quickness really hurt us in the first half, especially. We knew they were quick, and we talked about it after Tuesday’s win over Wylie. We even overloaded the floor with six players in practice. The fact of the matter is, you just can’t duplicate quickness. We just turned the ball over too many times they capitalized,” said Weber.
The third period mimicked the first as Bowie was limited to seven points while the Eagles pounded out 10 more to advance their lead to 22-33.
The Rabbits turned the table in the fourth scorching the Lady Eagles defense for 15 points while holding Decatur to seven.
The Rabbits were behind by 15 points at one time in the second half we turned on the boosters in the fourth quarter to tie the game. Mackenzi hit two three pointers in the fourth to start the frenzied rally and it gave Bowie a spark. With just over a minute to play, the score was tied.
“We missed three very important free throws in the fourth quarter and turned the ball over with about 18 seconds left we had to foul to stop the clock and they made their free throws,” said Weber.
Mackenzi Lee led the Rabbits with 15 followed by Ashley Fisher with six and Danielle Reaves and Cassie Winn with five apiece.
“I am very disappointed with the loss, but not with the way this team performed the entire year. They are true competitors and they never gave up, even sometimes when they had every reason to,” Webber added.
March 20, 2003, The Bowie News
Headline: Stine places fifth
Bowie High School senior Meghan Stine came home with the fifth place medal from the Texas High School Women’s Powerlifting Association’s state meet on March 14.
Stine lifted a total of 685 pounds in the 123 pound weight division. She squatted 275 pounds, benched 120 pounds and deadlifted 290 to amass the total.
Amanda Silvas of Bishop was the winner of the weight class totaling 815 pounds to beat the nearest competitor by 85 pounds.
Saint Jo lifter Carlee Hofbauer repeated as Class A state champ lifting a total of 710 pounds.
To read the final two stories, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
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.
The Maskat Shrine Oil Bowl is this week on June 6-7 and graduating athletes from Bowie, Nocona and Saint Jo are confirmed to be playing.
In total, seven athletes from Bowie, five from Nocona and three from Saint Jo are planning to play in the all-star games this week. Nocona also will have a pair of coaches participating as well.
The girl’s basketball game kicks off events on June 6, scheduled for 6 p.m. at Wichita Falls Memorial High School. In the game, the east team will have Nocona players Avery Crutsinger, Meg Meekins and Reagan Phipps playing while Kyler Spitzer and Clayton Brown coach them one last time.
On the west team, Saint Jo’s Payzlie Cervantes is confirmed to be playing.
The boy’s basketball game is scheduled to follow at 7:30 p.m. On the east team, Bowie’s Boston Farris and Nocona’s Jose Gomez Jr. will be playing.
On June 7, the volleyball games are scheduled to start at 4 p.m. with the small school game. On the west team, Nocona’s Kaygan Stone and Saint Jo’s Taylor Patrick are confirmed to play. On the east team, Saint Jo’s Aubrey Morman will get to play her teammate.
There are no local athletes confirmed to be playing in the big school volleyball game.
The final event is the football game, scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at Memorial Stadium. It is an all Bowie affair with six players confirmed to be playing for the east team: Justin Clark, Jorge De Leon, Hunter Fluitt and Braden Rhyne, Preacher Chambers and Moh Azouak.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
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