SPORTS
Saint Jo pair compete at state tennis
While the Saint Jo girl’s double team is not bringing a medal home this year from the state tournament, they still put up a good showing.
Senior Kyler Dunn and junior Taylor Patrick fell in the first round of the state tennis tournament on Thursday at North East High School against a team from Knippa that would go on to finish second overall.
The pair were making their second straight appearance at state. Last year the team did not know what to expect. Coming in after finishing second at both district and regionals, the odds were against them advancing past the first round.
Instead, they beat a team from Vernon Northside with the scores 6-0, 7-6 to move on. In the second round, the pair eventually lost to the eventual state champs from Utopia, but finished tied for third place and brought back a bronze medal.
This season, Dunn and Patrick had higher expectations and came in with a lot of confidence. They blitzed through both the district and regional tournaments, facing few teams that could win even a game against them let alone challenge them.
Still, that does not guarantee success at state.
Facing a team that share the same last name from Knippa, the first set was a battle that ultimately didn’t go Saint Jo’s way, losing 7-6.
The second set was competitive, but unfortunately the Lady Panther duo could not get many of the deuce points to go there way. Knippa won the second set 6-1 to win the match 2-0.
The team that beat Saint Jo had a much easier time in the second round against a Mertzon Irion County team before losing in the finals against the same Utopia team that won the state title the previous season and also that had beaten Dunn and Patrick last year.
While it was not the ending the pair was hoping for, it was a still a good season for them to get back to state, with them having the pressure coming into the season unlike last year.
“I am extremely proud of them for making it to state for the second year in a row. That is not something that is done easily,” Coach Brady Hilton. “They worked hard throughout the entire year, coming up to practices despite having softball and track practice as well, and I cannot be more proud of them for the work they put in the entire year.”
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week 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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