SPORTS
Nocona hosts first cross country meet of the season
The first official cross country meet kicked off this week as Nocona hosted a big meet at the Indian Oaks Golf Course on Wednesday.
Runners from 18 different schools competed at the meet, as varied as 5A Denton Ryan all the way to local 1A schools running in the same race.
Four schools in Montague County ran in the race including Bowie, Saint Jo, Forestburg and the host.
While none of the girl teams had the necessary five runners to finish among the team standings, the boy teams from Bowie, Nocona and Saint Jo did.
The Jackrabbits were ahead of the three, finishing sixth overall and most importantly finished ahead of district opponent Henrietta by two spots.
Nathan Rodgers led the team by finishing 10th overall with a time of 18:17.
His teammates Sebastian Martinez (27th), James Fitch (31st), Liam Pearson (47th) and Monte Mayfield (52nd) rounded out the team scoring.
The Panthers finished ninth overall and were disappointingly far behind district opponent Slidell in second place.
Collin Thomas’ seventh place finish was the best of the day for anyone from Montague County, with his time being 17:51.
The top five finishers included Jayden Curry (32nd), Devin Stewart (49th), Josh Vogel (60th) and Mathew Sampson (88th).
The Indians finished in 11th place as a team. Alex Stephens led the team, finishing 40th with a time of 20:19.
Freddy Duran was almost right after him, finishing in 42nd place a second later at 20:20.
Ivan Hernandez (64th), Walker Murphey (76th) and Andrew Perez (96th) rounded out the scoring for Nocona.
In the girl’s race, the Lady Indians Bayler Smith was the first runner to cross the finish the line from Montague County, finishing ninth overall with a time of 13:15.
Her teammates finish included Jayce Rose in 34th, Reagan Phipps in 48th and Alexa Sosa in 83rd.
Bowie had two runners finish not too far apart. Jojo Villarreal finished 45th with a time of 15:40. Mariah Tompkins finished 51st with a time of 16:03.
Saint Jo also had two runners. Aubrey Morman finished 44th with a time of 15:29 while Kaycee Clark finished 71st with a time of 17:14.
Forestburg had one runner, Justynne Roller who finished 57th with a time of 16:11.
To see the results for all runners from Bowie, Nocona, Saint Jo and Forestburg pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
SPORTS
District awards for 1A released
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.
SPORTS
Forestburg coach retiring
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.
SPORTS
Bowie Sports Banquet
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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