The 2023 high school sports year saw many highs for many teams and individuals across the Bowie News coverage area.
Many schools broke longtime droughts or had successful winning seasons while some individuals competed among the best in the state in their sport.
I will do my best to go school by school and give sporting highlights from the beginning of the year up until now, with individuals making it to regional level or higher or teams that made it to the playoffs being prioritized.

Bowie
The Bowie basketball teams had successful seasons to start 2023.
The Lady Rabbits went 23-10 overall and with a 9-3 district record, finished second in district only to the eventual state champions. While Bowie lost a disappointing game to Breckenridge in the bi-district playoff round, it was still another successful season.
The Bowie boy’s team went 21-12 overall, but had to scrape and claw its way into the district’s final playoff spot as the Jackrabbits finished 7-5 to finish fourth in the standings.
Matched up with one of the state’s top ranked team Peaster in the bi-district round, Bowie pulled probably the greatest upset in program history as it won in an epic four overtime game 73-70.
The Jackrabbits went on to win the next game against Jim Ned before falling to district foe City View in the regional quarterfinals, but the upset of Peaster remains the highlight.
Next, both Bowie powerlifting teams continued its streak of sending several lifters to the state meet.
The Lady Rabbits sent four girls to state as Kinley Russell, Haley Henry, Jordan Vaught and Laisha Johnson competed and completed all three of their lifts. While none of them medaled, three of them set new personal bests.
The Jackrabbit team sent five members to the state meet while also winning the team regional title for the first time in recent history for the program.
Gavin Brown, Robert Zambrano, Cooper McShan, Johnny Arenas and Jakson Hofbauer all competed at state. Hofbauer and McShan were each one spot away from medaling while Zambrano completed his lifts.
While no one came back with hardware, it was the most balanced year of powerlifting for the Bowie program in recent memory.
Moving to the spring season, the golf program took another step. The girls program had a young team, but still finished second at the district tournament to qualify for the regional tournament where it finished 13th.
The boy’s team made it back to the state tournament a year after just missing out on qualifying. The Jackrabbits grabbed the last qualifying spot in third place.
Then at state, Bowie rebounded from a disappointing first day to make up ground, improving from sixth place all the way to third place where it took home state hardware for the first time in program history.
In track, the program had four athletes advance to the regional meet. Case Curry in pole vault, Laisha Johnson in the 400 meters and Neely Price in the high jump all competed well, but Tucker Jones in the 110 meter hurdles finished second and advanced to the state meet where he got ninth.
The baseball team had a successful season, though it did not reach the previous year highs in the playoffs.
The Jackrabbits finished second in the district and won its bi-district series against Peaster. Unfortunately, the team ran into a Wall team in the area round that would go on to finish second at state.
In the fall season, the Lady Rabbits volleyball team had an up and down season, but still did well enough to finish fourth in the district and head to the playoffs. Unfortunately, their season ended in the bi-district round against Peaster.
The boy’s cross country program continued its success, finishing second in district to state-renowned Holliday to qualify for the regional meet where the Jackrabbits finished 17th overall.
Finally, Bowie tennis participated in team tennis in the fall for the first time in many years. It was a tough season, but the program performed better and better with every dual up until the end.
In one of its final matches of the year, the Jackrabbits edged out Holliday to win its first dual of the season, showing how much everyone on the team improved from the beginning of the season until the end.

Nocona
The Nocona sports program started 2023 off with some highlights.
The boy’s basketball team finished 23-12 on the year, but went 9-1 in district play to Nocona’s first district title since 1988. The fun did not stop there as the Indians went on to win two games before falling to Tolar in the regional quarterfinals. It was Nocona’s most successful playoff run since 2017.
The Lady Indians did even better as they went undefeated throughout their season all the way up until the regional final. There Nocona lost its first and only game to the eventual state champs Lipan.
Still in early 2023, Nocona had three members of its powerlifting program make it to the state meet. On the girls side, Kaitlyn Tiffner and Olivia Six both made it, with Tiffner finishing 12th and Six finishing 13th at state. For the boys, Miguel Olivares made his second appearance at state where he finished sixth.
Spring was highlighted first by several individuals from the golf team. Casen Harris, Jessie Howard and Eleanor Tucker all qualified for the regional tournament. While none of them moved on to state, it was a good showing for the program.
In track, the program saw both the boy’s and girl’s teams finish first at the district meet. The boy’s program saw Caden Gaston, Kyle Waters, Cooper Waldrip, Brady McCasland and Charlie Fuller make it to the regional meet.
The girl’s program saw Avery Crutsinger and Bayler Smith make it to the regional meet, but had several move on to state. Ava Johnson, Ayden Patton and Meg Meekins all qualified in the 4×400 meter relay along with Graci Brown who qualified individually in the 400, 800 meters and the long jump.
At state, Brown then went on to win gold in both the 400 and 800 meter races while finishing fourth in the long jump and anchoring the relay team to a sixth place finish.
The fall season saw big success for all three programs.
The Nocona football team went 8-2 and went 4-1 in district to win the Indians first district title since 2012.
While Nocona’s playoff run was done in the bi-district round of the playoffs against De Leon, it was a big step for the program that had been building from the ground up for three years.
The Lady Indians volleyball team had their most successful season in a decade as well. Nocona went 37-7 on the season, easily winning another district title and advancing all the way to the regional final. Unfortunately, the Lady Indians fell to eventual state runners-up Crawford.
In cross country, both boys and girls teams repeated as district champs. At the regional meet, the Lady Indians finished fourth to advance to the state meet again for the second straight year. There the team finished 15th.
On the boy’s team, the team finished one spot out of qualifying for state in fifth place. Thankfully, its top runner Claudio Segura did well enough to qualify for state individually. Unfortunately, he suffered an injury during the race at state and could not finish, but he hopes to make it back next year.

Saint Jo
The start of 2023 saw both Saint Jo basketball teams see some playoff success.
The Panthers went 22-11 and went 9-3 in district to finish third. Unfortunately, their playoff run was short as they lost to state-ranked Perrin-Whitt in the bi-district round.
The Lady Panthers broke a several year playoff drought, as they went 25-6 overall and 9-3 in district that was good enough to finish second. Saint Jo then won a close playoff game against Bryson in the bi-district before losing to state-ranked Dodd City in the area round.
In the spring, the boy’s golf team qualified for the regional tournament. In tennis, the girl’s doubles pair of Taylor Patrick and Kyler Dunn advanced all the way to the state tournament where they won a match against a team from Vernon Northside before losing to the eventual state champion team from Utopia in the next round.
The baseball team won the district title and won its bi-district playoff series against Vernon Northside. The Panthers then lost in the area round to state-ranked Dodd City.
The softball team in only its second year of existence won its first playoff series by beating Bryson. While the team lost the next series to Blum, it was a great first step for such a young program.
In track, both teams won the district title. It was the boy’s team that had two individuals qualify for the state meet. Collin Thomas made it in both the 800 meters and 1600 meters where he was just kept off the podium with fourth place finishes in each race. Devin Stewart qualified in the high jump where he finished in fifth place.
In the fall season, the football team went 6-5 while having a tough schedule.
The Panthers went 2-1 in district play to finish second and make the playoffs for the fifth straight year. Unfortunately it was a short run as Saint Jo lost to state-ranked Gordon in the bi-district round.
The Lady Panther volleyball team had another successful season going 30-13 and easily won the district title again.
Saint Jo then repeated last year’s run and made it back to the regional final. Unfortunately, the Lady Panthers lost to eventual state champions Blum to end their season.
In cross country, the boy’s team qualified for the regional meet and finished in sixth place. The girls had enough for a team for the first time in recent history and took advantage.
The Lady Panthers easily won district before winning the regional title as a team to qualify for the state meet.
There, Saint Jo finished ninth as a team in its first appearance at state.

Prairie Valley
Prairie Valley started the year with its boy’s basketball team making the playoffs for the second straight season. The Bulldogs went 15-18 and 6-7 in district play to finish in fourth place. Prairie Valley then went on to play eventual state champions Graford in the bi-district round of the playoffs.
In the spring season, Prairie Valley’s Linzie Priddy qualified for the regional golf tournament where she just missed out on qualifying for state as she finished in fourth place.
In tennis, the mixed doubles team of Tyler Winkler and Summer advanced to the second round of the regional tournament while Eli Croxton made it to the semifinals in boy’s singles.
In track, Winkler advanced to the regional finals in the 300 meter hurdles and pole vault while Priddy did in the 800 meters.
In the fall season, the volleyball team rebounded from a tough non-district schedule to end up finishing second in the district standings. The Lady Bulldogs went on to beat Meridian in the bi-district round of the playoffs before losing to Avery in the area round.
In cross country, the boy’s team made it to the regional meet and ended up finishing seventh. Individually, Josh Stout and Priddy both qualified for the state meet. Priddy finished 64th in her second appearance there while Stout finished 90th on his first trip.

Gold-Burg
Gold-Burg had some great individual performances in the spring season.
In tennis, the girl’s doubles team of Sadie and Shadie Whitaker won the district and regional titles to make it to the state tournament. While the pair would lose their first match against a team from Crowell, it was a great season for the twins.
In track, the boys had Jayon Grace and Eli Freeland make it to the regional meet in multiple events. The girls team had Ollie Gaston and Sadie Weaver advance to the regional meet as well.
In the end, it was Isaac Renteria who advanced to the state meet for the first time in two races. At state he would finish fourth in the 3200 meter and seventh in the 1600 meter events.
The fall season saw the highlight of the Gold-Burg football team beating county team Saint Jo for the first time in 12 years. While the Bears would disappointingly miss the playoffs, it was a big milestone for the program.
In cross country, Renteria was joined by Ollie Gaston in qualifying for the state meet. It was Renteria’s third straight year to compete and he made it count by bring back a medal with a ninth place finish. Gaston, competing at state for the first time, would finish 86th.

Forestburg
The Forestburg program’s highlight of the spring was getting seven athletes to qualify for the regional track meet.
Jessie Wadworth competed in the 800 meters, triple jump and was a part of the 4×400 relay. Will Johnson competed in the 400 meters and was also a part of the relay team. Tye Reid made it in the 110 meter hurdles. Angel Cruz and Nikolas Clure were the final two members of the 4×400 relay.
On the girls side, Justynne Roller advanced to regionals in the discus while Madisen Deason competed in the high jump.
In the fall season, the Lady Horn volleyball team made the playoffs for the first time since 2019.
Forestburg nearly finished second in the district standings, losing a play-in to finish third.
The Lady Horns then won their bi-district playoff game against Covington, their first playoff win since 2016.
It came to an end in the area round against state-ranked Dodd City, but the volleyball program is headed in the right direction.

Bellevue
The Bellevue program in the spring was highlighted by a couple of individual performances.
In golf, Gavin Parr qualified for the regional tournament. There he finished 11th while representing the Eagles well.
In track, Grace Martin advanced all the way to the regional meet. Advancing to the finals, she finished third in the 1600 meter race, just missing out on qualifying for the state meet.
In the fall season, Bellevue started up its first season of volleyball in many years. With many of their players having little or no experience before the season, it was rocky but also had its share of highlights.
The Lady Eagles won their first game against Munday in September and then would win their first district game against Gold-Burg as well, showing promise for such an inexperienced program.
In cross country, the girl’s team would qualify for the regional meet where Bellevue would finish 11th in a good showing for the program.

To see pictures from several of the teams and individuals, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.