SPORTS
I watched a lot of Olympic track

The 2024 Summer Olympics are now officially over and there was a lot to celebrate.
Frankly too much for any one column, so I am going to write about the events that I watched in the second week, which was full of track and field athletes getting their moment in the sun.
Not everyone gets track and field which is beyond me. These are the fastest athletes at every distance, the highest and longest jumping, the most specifically skilled in any sport. I love to marvel at athletic freaks of nature when I watch sports and track and field has those in spades in almost every event.
There is a debate among pro athletes that track and field athletes are the overall best athletes which I won’t get into, but they deserve to get the spotlight for one week once every four years, if not more.
Also, the American track team earned the most of any team at the Olympics with 34 total medals including 14 gold. I won’t recap all, but here are the events and athletes that stuck out to me.
The week started with the sprinters, seeing who would be crowned the fastest man and women alive in the 100 meter race.
The USA had two sprinters who came in with potential to take the gold for the first time in many years.
The women had Sha’Carri Richardson, who went to high school at Dallas Carter and had been denied going to the last Olympics after testing positive for marijuana after winning the USA trials. She is known for being very stylish, though it was toned down for this Olympics.
The men had Noah Lyles, who had graduated from just running the equally fast 200 meters to also running in the 100 meters. He is an animated showman and also a big nerd, racing with a Yu-Gi-Oh! trading card tucked away he would then show the camera after wins.
It did not go Richardson’s way as she finished second. She earned a gold medal when she later anchored the 4×100 relay, coming back from second place to win the race.
For Lyles, it took a freeze photo and an explanation of what crosses the finish line first for people to realize he won the closest 100 meter final since 1980. He beat second place by five thousandth of a second.
It would not be all good for Lyles. His better event, the 200 meters, saw him finish third for a bronze medal. He revealed after the race he was dealing with a positive COVID-19 diagnosis, which dropped him out of two other relays.
Gabby Thomas was not as hyped coming in, running in the 200 meter race. Still, she won gold for the first time after getting bronze at the 2021 Olympics and silver at last year’s world championship.
Her emotion after winning could bring a smile to anyone’s face.
Grant Holloway was looking to cement his career with a gold in the men’s 110 meter hurdles. He got silver at the 2021 Olympics despite being a heavy favorite and has won all of the world championships since then. He came through to win it to secure his legacy while Daniel Roberts finished second.
In the men’s 400 meter race, Quincy Hall dug deep in the final straightaway to pass three guys in front of him to win the gold medal in a matter that was inspiring.
In the women’s long jump, Tara Davis-Woodhall won the event. The magic was watching her and her husband, Paralympian Hunter Woodhall, reaction and exchange after she had won. She then did a sand angel in the jumping pit.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, the middle and long distance runners from the USA had a great week. At any distance past 400 meters, America does not have a rich history of international success like some other countries do.
Arguably the sexiest of the long distance races is the 1,500 meter race, probably because it is the shortest.
Just short of one mile, every person had to be forced at some point in their life in PE to run, jog or walk a mile for time. It is the longest distance almost anybody can imagine jogging before things just get out of hand with the distances increasing.
It was supposed to be a showdown between Norwegian’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Great Britain’s Josh Kerr, who had been putting the other down in the press for a year leading up to the race.
Ingebrigtsen was the cocky defending Olympic champion in 2021 and Kerr had beaten him at the 2023 world championship.
Then the Americans crashed the party as Cole Hocker came from third place with his final kick, winning the race in Olympic record time and becoming only the third USA man to win gold in the event.
He was not the only American to medal as Yared Nuguse came from behind to edge Ingebrigsen for the bronze medal. It was the first time two Americans have taken medals in the event at the same Olympics.
The 1500 meter race was not the only event American distance runners did well in. Grant Fisher came back in both the 5,000 and 10,000 meter races to finish in bronze in both of them.
Then in the 3,000 meter steeplechase, where they add hurdles and a water work to the race, Kenneth Rooks made the bold but mad decision to take the lead and try to pull away at the beginning of the final lap despite his inexperience at the top level. He was caught on the final straight away by the defending gold medalist, but just held on to win the silver medal.
Of course, not all American track athletes were trying to win a gold for the first time. Several were defending champions and some of the all time greats doing what they do.
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone is so good at the 400 meter hurdles, there was only one runner in history who even had a chance to hang with her. She was in the race, Dutch athlete Femke Bol who made noise in the 4×400 relays for her country as well.
McLaughlin-Levrone blew not just Bol away, who did not have her best race, but the whole world as she set a world record despite no one being within a second and half of her. Fellow American Anna Crockrell got silver.
Then the men’s shot put saw all time great Ryan Crouser earn his third straight gold medal in the event. He came into the games not 100% because of an injury earlier this year, but he just gutted it out to still win.
Fellow countrymen Joe Kovacs finished behind him for the third straight Olympics as well, earning his third silver medal in the event.
To wrap it up, while he was not competing for USA, the American born Mondo Duplantis, who competes for Sweden for reasons, showed why he is the greatest pole vaulter of all time despite being just 24 years old.
He broke his own world record at the games of 6.25 meters or 20 feet and little more than five inches.
If you have never seen in person how high a pole vaulter can go in person, anything past 15 feet is scary high so 20 feet is insane to me.
While the most famous image of pole vaulting from the games was a slow motion video of someone’s appendage hitting the bar, I wish it was this moment.
I know I missed some track and field moments, especially from other countries. Also, while I would like to talk about the basketball tournament, this story is long enough as is.
What event did you like watching during week two of the Olympics? Leave a comment or send an email to sports@bowienewsonline.com.
SPORTS
Bowie track runs at Peaster in final meet before district

The Bowie track team competed in its final meet before district last week on March 27 at Peaster.
The boy’s team finished fourth overall while the girl’s team got seventh place.
The boy’s team had three athletes who won their events.
Russell Anderson won the 400 meter race, Braden Rhyne won the triple jump and Tyler Richey won the pole vault events.
Some other highlights for the team included Cody West getting second in the shot put, the 4×400 relay team getting second place, Richey getting fourth in the 110 meter hurdles, Rhyne getting third in the 300 meter hurdles and Jorge De Leon getting fourth in both the discus and shot put.
Brayden Willett got second place in the 3200 meters, third place in the 1600 meters and fourth place in the 800 meter race.
The Lady Rabbit highlights included Dallie Monroe getting fourth in the shot put, Laney Segura getting fifth in the 800 meters and Olivia Richey getting sixth in the 100 meters.
The 4×200 relay got fifth place and the 4×100 relay got sixth place to earn points.
Bowie competes in the district rack meet this week at Iowa Park. The running finals are scheduled for 5 p.m. on April 4.
Results for all Bowie varsity athletes who finished sixth or better are in the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
SPORTS
Montague County has nine named all-region basketball players

Nocona’s Meg Meekins (above) not only earned all-region honors, she also earned all-state honors and was named the Texas Girls Coaches Association 1A-4A Player of the Year.
Other Montague County basketball athletes who were named to all-region teams including Rayder Mann from Bowie and Reagan Phipps from Nocona. From Saint Jo, Payzlie Cervantes, Taylor Patrick and Barrett Johnson were named to the all-region team. From Forestburg, Jesus Sanchez, Brenna Briles and Kyler Willett were named to the all-region team.
For pictures of all nine athletes, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
SPORTS
Baseball Roundup

Saint Jo
The Saint Jo Panthers lost a close game at home against Perrin-Whitt on March 28.
The Pirates won 8-3, only taking the lead in the seventh inning after the Panthers had come back to tie up the game.
Saint Jo was coming into the game after a close one-run loss in extra innings against Perrin-Whitt earlier last week.
The second game started with two scoreless innings before the Pirates got on the board in the third inning. A line drive into left field resulted in a fielding error that allowed one run to score. A double followed that drove in another run as Perrin-Whitt went up 2-0.
The Pirates added to the lead in the fourth inning, driving in a run on a single to extend its lead to 3-0.
Saint Jo answered back in the same inning. Charlie Evans drove in one run with a single. Later in the inning, with a runners on second on third base, the Perrin-Whitt pitcher balked twice, an illegal pitching motion, that allowed both runners to advance to home plate. The Panthers had tied the score at 3-3.
After a scoreless fifth and sixth inning, the Pirates had the pressure on in the seventh inning.
With the bases loaded, a hit batter and later a walk scored two runs for Perrin-Whitt. Then a bases clearing double scored three more runs to break the game open in the final inning.
Saint Jo tried to answer in its final at-bats, getting two singles and drawing a walk but could not get enough things going to score.
The Pirates won 8-3.
Evans led the team with one RBI and two hits as the team finished with five hits and drew six walks.
Sam Martin allowed eight runs (two earned) on seven hits while striking out six and walking three batters in 6.2 innings of work. The defense committed three fielding errors overall.
Nocona
The Nocona Indians had a tough start to district last week, losing both games in their series against Lindsay.
The Knights won 11-4 and 7-3 against the Indians last week as Nocona hopes to get back into the playoffs.
Nocona was coming off a string of good wins the previous week against smaller schools, but knew Lindsay would be tough.
The first game saw Lindsay continually score runs in the first four innings, building a 9-0 lead before the Indians could get on the board in the bottom of the fourth inning with two runs.
Nocona added two more runs in the fifth inning to cut the lead to 9-4 and get some momentum heading into the final two innings.
After a scoreless sixth inning, the Knights scored two runs in the seventh inning to extend their lead and eventually win 11-4.
Miller Jentry led the team with two RBIs while RJ Walker also drove in two runs. The team had only two hits, but drew nine walks in the game.
Brody Langford allowed six runs (two earned) on five hits while striking out three in three innings pitches. Landon Fatheree allowed five runs (two earned) on seven hits while striking out one and walking four. The defense committed five fielding errors.
Nocona knew it could play better and tried to in the second game later in the week while playing on the road at Lindsay.
The Knights again took the early lead, scoring in three of the first four innings and going up 6-0. The Indians scored two runs in the fifth inning and one in the top of the sixth inning to initially cut the lead to 6-3. Lindsay answered with one run in the bottom of the sixth inning and held on to win 7-3.
Walker Murphey led the team with two RBIs after hit a double. Kutter Cabrera drove in the other run for Nocona. The Indians finished with three hits and drew only two walks, making the most of their limited opportunities.
Walker got the start on the mound and allowed seven runs (two earned) on eight hits while striking out six batters and walking two in six innings of work. The defense committed six fielding errors overall.
Bellevue
The Bellevue Eagles started district last week playing a series against fellow 1A team Bryson.
Unfortunately, the Cowboys won both games handily 11-1 and 10-1.
Bellevue was coming off a tough week where it hung tough playing 2A teams Nocona and Chico, not getting wins but competing well against the more experienced and bigger schools.
Unfortunately against Bryson in the first game, a few bad defensive innings threw away a good start to the game. Bryce Ramsey drew a leadoff walk in the first inning and stole his way around to second base, third base before eventually coming home on a steal.
Bellevue led 1-0 after the first inning.
That was the highlight as the Cowboys scored four runs in both the third and fourth inning to take control of the game. Bryson eventually added three more in the sixth inning.
The Eagles needed to score at least one run to avoid getting run-ruled and play the seventh inning, but could not do it. The Cowboys won 11-1.
Walker Strahan, Ryan Jones and Ramsey each had one hit to lead the team. With the Eagles drawing only one walk, it was a tough day swinging the bats for Bellevue.
Defensively, the Eagles allowed 12 hits and walked four batters, though avoided committing any fielding errors.
The second game on the road was not much better.
Bryson built up a 6-0 lead before Bellevue scored in the fifth inning. Cam Blaylock scored on the base paths to cut the lead to 6-1. The Cowboys responded in the same inning scoring four runs to go up 10-1.
The game cuts off on the Game Changer app from there.
Ramsey led the team with three hits in the game and Strahan was behind him with two hits as the team finished with six total and drew one walk.
Defensively, Bryson had nine hits and drew eight walks, but Bellevue did not commit any fielding errors.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
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