SPORTS
Speed to Read program combines cars and books
Enrollment for Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex elementary schools interested in participating in Texas Motor Speedway’s award-winning Speeding To Read educational program for the 2018-19 school year will close on Friday.
Speeding To Read utilizes motorsports, NASCAR and INDYCAR drivers, and races at Texas Motor Speedway to incentivize elementary school students to read more frequently through a reading competition among individuals, classrooms and schools that participate in the program.
Speeding To Read enters its eighth year of competition and is coming off a record-breaking 2017-18 where 21 schools and 12,061 students from eight different ISDs – all program highs – took part in the competition.
Since the program’s inception in 2011 with one pilot school, Speeding To Read has had 64 schools and 35,735 students participate, including those in seven of the 25 largest ISDs in the Metroplex last year alone, and they collectively have read more than 5.2 million books.
The program is free and the schools that have previously participated range from affluent areas to economically disadvantaged communities with a diverse student make-up. The competition is multi-layered with individuals, classrooms and schools competing against each other to read the most books and earn the title of Speeding To Read WorldChampion.
The Speeding To Read competition runs through the majority of the school year and it is split into four turns (or quarters) with the top readers being rewarded at each of those turns.
At the conclusion of the competition, the individuals and classrooms that read the most books cumulatively, along with the school that had the highest percentage of its student body meet the year-long reading goals, are crowned world champions.
The champions are rewarded with a variety of items, including trophies, NASCAR and INDYCAR race tickets, driver school visits, ice cream and frozen custard parties, and motorsports merchandise, among others, for excelling in the program.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
With the baseball and softball seasons over for the area 1A schools, district awards have been released.
Listed below are those earned honors on the field and in the classroom for Saint Jo and Bellevue.
Softball
Saint Jo
Honorable mention
Utility player: Taylor Patrick; Catcher: Jordyn O’Neal
Baseball
Superlatives
Offensive MVP: Devin Stewart, Saint Jo
Newcomer of the Year: Bryce Ramsey, Bellevue
Pitcher: Trent Gaston, Saint Jo
Outfielder: Jayden Curry, Saint Jo
Second team
Pitcher: Charlie Barclay, Saint Jo
Infielder: Brycen Bancroft, Bellevue; Sam Martin, Saint Jo
Outfielder: Rylan Forrester, Saint Jo
Catcher: Charlie Evans, Saint Jo
Utility: Logan Hoover, Saint Jo
DH: Amzy Barclay, Saint Jo
Honorable mention
Cody Gaston, Saint Jo; Xander Joyner, Saint Jo
To see academic awards from Saint Jo players, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
Eldon Van Hooser is leaving Forestburg better than he found it.
The head boy’s basketball coach is retiring after more than 30 years, spending the last five at Forestburg.
Van Hooser did not come to this decision because of a lack of fire or feeling tired after decades in the profession. He had to for family reasons.
“My wife has MS (multiple sclerosis) and it’s a disease where you have trouble standing and walking and she needs help,” Van Hooser said. “I am able to so I am going to step away from teaching and coaching to be there for her.”
Van Hooser was hired in 2019. Along with being the boy’s basketball coach, he also was the football team’s defensive coordinator.
There were some lean years for Forestburg on the boy’s athletic side, with numbers being low and the available athletes being mostly underclassmen.
For two years, the Longhorns’ boy’s basketball team won few games and one of those seasons saw the team field five players on the high school team.
“One of those years we had COVID-19 and the other we had five kids,” Van Hooser said. “It was very rough. After that we worked with the kids and we had a good freshman group coming up. Next year they are going to be seniors.”
That group has helped to turn the program around. Last year the young Longhorns team contested for a playoff spot and just barely missed it finishing fifth in the district.
This season, that same group took a leap and finished second in district with a record of 7-5.
Despite losing its last two regular season games in dramatic fashion heading into the playoffs, the team stepped up in the bi-district game.
Playing against an athletic Newcastle team, Forestburg led for most of the game.
Unfortunately, the previous game against Bellevue saw the Longhorn team blow the lead late in the fourth quarter against a hard pressing style team and they were suffering the same fate against the Bobcats down the stretch.
Fortunately, Forestburg held on just enough to win 53-46. It was the first boy’s basketball playoff win in nine years for Forestburg.
“It was huge for our program,” Van Hooser said. “This new year we will have new goals. The new coach will have some goals of his own, but I set some for the team and think that we have come a long way.”
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
The Bowie sports banquets was on Monday night. Olivia Gill and Tucker Jones were named Jackrabbit and Lady Rabbit of the year. Pick up the mid-week paper for all of the sports team awards and pictures.
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