Whatzup Sports (297)
Wednesday, 19 April 2023 18:01
#theGAC MEN’S GOLFER OF THE WEEK (APRIL 19)
Written by ERIC MOYER Associate Commissioner for Communications Great American Conference
RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – The Great American Conference announced the final Golfer of the Week awards of the spring portion of the 2022-23 season. Henderson State’s Alex Hadden won the Men’s honor following his medalist honor at the Natural State Classic.#theGAC MEN’S GOLFER OF THE WEEK – Alex Hadden, Henderson State, So., Eminence, KentuckyHadden helped the Reddies to a team title at the Natural State Classic after he claimed a one-stroke victory in the individual competition. His final round 3-under par 69 allowed him to overcome a three-stroke deficit. He played his final 36 holes in 7-under as he made 12 of his tournament-leading 15 birdies across the second and third rounds.OTHERS NOMINATEDShaun Jones, Jr. (Arkansas Tech), Logan McDonald So. (Southern Arkansas), Sam Tandy, Jr. (Harding), Zander Tway, Sr. (Southern Nazarene), Trent Zorgdrager, Sr. (Southeastern Oklahoma State)
--- WWW.GREATAMERICANCONFERENCE.COM ---
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Published in Whatzup Sports
Monday, 17 April 2023 16:48
theGAC BASEBALL WEEKLY AWARD WINNERS (APRIL 17)
Written by WWW.GREATAMERICANCONFERENCE.COM
RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – The Great American Conference announced the Baseball award winners for the 11th week of the 2023 season. Arkansas-Monticello’s Alex Austin and Ouachita Baptist’s Dustin Bermudez shared Player of the Week while Henderson State’s Andrew Howard claimed Pitcher of the Week.
theGAC BASEBALL CO-PLAYER OF THE WEEK – Alex Austin, Arkansas-Monticello, RF, Jr., Collinsville, Oklahoma
Austin led the Weevils in a three-game sweep of Northwestern Oklahoma State as he went 3-for-7 with three home runs against the Rangers. In the opener, he hit two home runs - including a third-inning grand slam - and drove in six in a 17-2 win. In game two, he hit a game-tying home run in a game the Weevils eventually won 6-5.
theGAC BASEBALL CO-PLAYER OF THE WEEK – Dustin Bermudez, Ouachita Baptist, SS, Jr., Chandler, Arizona
Bermudez contributed at the plate and on the mound as the Tigers went 4-1. He tallied four multi-RBI games and totaled nine on the week. He homered and tripled on Tuesday against Henderson State and hit home runs in the first two games against Oklahoma Baptist. In relief, he notched his eighth save of the season after striking out five in 3.0 scoreless innings on Saturday.
theGAC BASEBALL PITCHER OF THE WEEK – Andrew Howard, Henderson State, SP, Jr., North Little Rock, Arkansas
Howard improved to 5-3 as he threw his second complete-game shutout of the season. He limited Southern Nazarene to only three hits in an 8-0 win on Friday. He struck out a season-high eight batters and walked only three in the 96-pitch outing. He held the Crimson Storm to a .125 average.
OTHERS NOMINATED
Cooper Newsom, SS (Harding), Keaton Ranallo, OF (Arkansas Tech), Chris Sutton, 2B (Southern Arkansas), Cade Tucker, UT
(Henderson State)
Jeremy Adorno, SP (Southern Arkansas), John Gray, SP (Arkansas Tech), Maddox Long, SP (Harding), Jonathan Weiss, RP
(Ouachita Baptist)
- WWW.GREATAMERICANCONFERENCE.COM
Published in Whatzup Sports
Sunday, 02 April 2023 23:26
Oklahoma and Lorenz Sweep Titles at The Goodwin
Written by osh Poteet Asst. Director of Communications University of Oklahoma Athletics
SAN FRANCISCO — A dominant final-round performance powered Oklahoma and Sooner golfer Ben Lorenz across the finish line, as the Sooners and Lorenz swept the team and individual titles at the 53rd playing of The Goodwin on Saturday.
Trailing by a stroke entering the final round at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco, the Sooners (1, -18) erased the deficit early and pulled away from a 28-team field to win by six strokes, notching their third win of the year. Lorenz, tied for the 36-hole lead at the start of his round, used two birdies and an eagle on the back nine to secure his first collegiate win.
The 13th-ranked Sooners trailed No. 11 Georgia Tech (2, -12) by a stroke after 36 holes, but a birdie from starter Jase Summy evened the teams on the first hole. Drew Goodman holed out for eagle on the first hole shortly after, and the Sooners never looked back. A 3-under par front nine sent OU into the back with a one-shot lead over the Yellow Jackets. Patrick Welch, who played at Harding Park as a junior golfer, tallied four birdies in a row to grow the Oklahoma lead. Another birdie from the Aliso Viejo, Calif., product on the 16th, paired with an eagle from Lorenz on the 15th, clinched the tournament as the Sooners cruised to the day's lowest round, 274 (-6), sweeping the team and individual titles.
Lorenz (1, -9), a junior from Peoria, Ariz., was tied with Washington's Bo Peng at the start of the day at 6-under par for the week. The Sooner dropped into second after a bogey on the par-5, 600-yard fifth hole, but a string of pars and a birdie on the ninth got him back into a tie. A birdie on the 11th, followed by his third birdie of the day on No. 14, moved him in front of Peng and Georgia Tech's Christo Lamprecht with four holes to play. The Sooner all but clinched the individual crown when he holed out from the fairway for eagle on the par-4 15th, placing him four up on the field with three holes outstanding. A bogey on the 16th was the only blemish down the stretch, as Lorenz's eagle proved the difference as he defeated Lamprecht by two shots. The Sooner's win marked the first of his career, besting his previous top finish of T2 at the 2023 Puerto Rico Classic.
Patrick Welch (T5, -4) opened his week with a 75 at the par-70 course in Thursday's opening round. But a 66 (-4) Friday and thrilling 65 (-5) on Saturday moved him up from T111 after 18 holes into a T5 finish on Saturday night, the largest 36-hole jump for a Sooner in at least the last six seasons. A model of consistency, Stephen Campbell Jr. (T16, E) fired rounds of 69-71-70 to finish at even-par for 16th in San Francisco. Jase Summy and Drew Goodman shared 48th at 4-over. Playing unattached from the OU lineup, Matthew Troutman joined Summy and Goodman in 48th.
The win marked the 38th of the Ryan Hybl era, which started in 2009. It's the third team victory of the season, as the Sooners won the Puerto Rico Classic and Ka'anapali Classic earlier this year. With the win, Oklahoma has now won at least three different events in six consecutive full seasons, the longest streak in program history. The Sooners have won an astonishing 11 of their last 20 stroke-play events dating back to last season.
Awaiting the Sooners is one final regular season tune-up as Hybl's team heads to West Lafayette, Ind., for The Boilermaker, slated for April 15-16 at the Boilermaker Golf Complex. Following that event, Oklahoma will look to defend its Big 12 championship when it heads to Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, Kan., April 24-26.
Published in Whatzup Sports
Friday, 10 March 2023 17:40
The Cameron Archery teams recently competed in Tournaments
Written by David Deaton
The Cameron Archery teams recently competed in both the Grand State Bullseye Tournament in Tulsa and the NASP/IBO State 3D Tournament in Locust Grove.
Junior Jordyn Rivera placed 3rd in bullseye and 5th grader James Gaylor placed 4th in 3D. Both archers, along with 5th grader Ariel Howard and 7th grader Damian Elliott, qualified individually for nationals. All Yellowjacket archery teams in the elementary, middle school, and high school divisions qualified for nationals in both bullseye and 3D. The high school team earned 3rd place in the state 3D tournament.
James Gaylor
Published in Whatzup Sports
Wednesday, 08 March 2023 13:54
CARL ALBERT STATE COLLEGE WRESTLERS MAKE SCHOOL HISTORY AT NJCAA NATIONAL TOURNAMENT
Written by News release
The Carl Albert State College wrestling team wrestlers recently made school history at the NJCAA National Tournament held in Council Bluffs, IA. CASC had its first two National Champions in program history, with Lexi Miller winning the first-ever Women's National title.
Joining her in the first class of All-Americans were Tenley Jones, who placed 6th; Sam Markwardt, who also placed 6th; Kylie Hulse, who battled back for 3rd place; and Ana Barnoski, who was a National Finalist coming in at Runner-Up.
The women’s team secured 6th place, only a few points out of 5th place.
Tenley Jones
Sam Markwardt+
Kylie Hulse
Ana Barnoski
“The standings out of the National Tournament are truly an amazing conclusion to the inaugural season for CASC Women's Wrestling,” said President Jay Falkner. “To say we’re proud of these student-athletes is an understatement!”
Thaddeus Long is the other of the first two National Champions, winning the Men's first-ever National title. Additionally, the men had another All-American, with Hunter Hall placing 7th. The men finished 14th out of 55 teams represented at the National Tournament in just our 2nd year in existence.
Thaddeus Long
Hunter Hall
“I am so proud of all these athletes,” said head coach Jake Lords. “They all worked incredibly hard all year, battled through countless adversity, and placed their names in the history books forever. The national tournament was a grind, and these warriors were tough; they focused on what was within their control and came out victorious.
“We are thankful to the community, everyone on campus- faculty and staff, President Falkner, and the Board of Regents for the support and for believing in us and in the sport of wrestling,” Lords continued. “We felt the support and excitement from CASC and Poteau all the way in Iowa! It's a great day to be a Viking!”
Published in Whatzup Sports
The county junior show premium sale is coming up and I have been thinking about all the people that donate to the kids that make the sale. If you stop and think about it, it’s really fascinating.
There are 107 FFA and 4H students that made the premium sale with their animals. The county junior livestock show was this past week. Students from schools across the county brought their animals and competed in the show. Cattle, goats, lambs, and hogs were shown and evaluated by a judge. The top animals from each species were selected to be in the premium sale.
Friday night at 5:30 is a dinner for the students, their families and the sponsors. At 6:00 the auction begins. Each student that made sale will enter the ring one at a time and their animal will be auctioned off. On average the animals bring a little over a thousand dollars. Oh, and the best part, students get to keep their animals after they have been “auctioned.”
There are a lot of local businesses that have donate quite a bit of money each year. They have been helping these kids for as long as I’ve been involved.
Our local banks, car lots, bail bondsmen, feed stores, and the Choctaw nation help make this event “the big deal” every year for the kids that show. It’s easy to do some quick math and calculate that our local businesses will give away over one hundred thousand dollars Friday evening.
The vast majority of the companies that donate aren’t the Fortune 500 companies, it’s the businesses that are locally owned. They have roots here in the county and they show up big time to support the FFA and 4H students.
This same premium sale is happening in counties all over the United States.
I won’t attempt to name the all the local businesses, because sure enough I will leave someone out.
Over the next few weeks I would urge everyone to make sure and thank these locally owned businesses in our community that have supported the premium sale.
I’ve read several studies that say the locally owned businesses make up over ninety percent of all new job creation. I would also argue it’s these same businesses that make up ninety percent of charitable donations within the communities they serve. My hats off to all of the people that work to make the county show and premium sale a success.
James Lockhart lives near the Kiamichi mountains in southeast Oklahoma. He writes cowboy stories and fools with cows and horses.
Published in Whatzup Sports
Friday, 24 February 2023 23:18
Cameron Archery competed in Grand State Archery Tournament
Written by Press Release
Cameron Archery competed in the Grand State (Tier One) Archery tournament on February 23rd in Tulsa.
All three of the Yellowjacket Archery teams, in each division, were ranked in the top 20 in Oklahoma.
The middle school finished 5th, high school 8th, and elementary 11th.
Junior Jordyn Rivera placed 3rd individually.
The Yellowjackets will compete in the State 3D Tournament on March 4th in Locust Grove.
Published in Whatzup Sports
The Cameron middle school and high school archery teams were crowned bullseye tournament champions at Roland on Saturday, January 28th. Those teams, along with the elementary team, also ranked 1st in the 3D tournament. 8th grader Leighton Dyer was overall female bullseye champion of the tournament. Several Yellowjackets medaled…
Bullseye -
HS Females
1st - Jordyn Rivera
5th - Brayli Beason
HS Males
4th - Jake Cauthen
MS Females
1st - Leighton Dyer
3D -
HS Females
1st - Jordyn Rivera
2nd - Brayli Beason
3rd - Ruby Billy
MS Females
2nd - Leighton Dyer
MS Males
1st - Hunter Mayes
2nd - Jason Watts
Elem Females
1st - Ariel Howard
3rd - Kattie Couch
Elem Males
2nd - James Gaylor
Next, the Yellowjackets travel to Locust Grove for a two-day tournament, then all three teams will compete in the Grand State Tournament in Tulsa in late February. All three are currently ranked in the top ten in Oklahoma in each of their divisions.
Published in Whatzup Sports
Wednesday, 25 January 2023 11:50
3rd Annual LeFlore County Archery Tournament Concludes
Written by News release
The 3rd Annual LeFlore County Archery Tournament was hosted by Howe School on January 24th.
In the junior high division, Cameron was crowned county champion. Howe earned runner-up and Shady Point earned third place. Cameron won county champion in the high school division as well. Howe was runner-up and Arkoma earned third. This was the second year in a row that Cameron took 1st in both divisions and Howe took 2nd in both divisions.
Junior High Team Results: High School Team Results:
Cameron 3201 Cameron 3239
Howe 3157 Howe 3168
Shady Point 2882 Arkoma 3123
Arkoma 2874 Panama 3000
Panama 2860 Bokoshe 2693
Fanshawe 2626
Spiro 2528
Hodgen 2295
Bokoshe 2106
Medals were awarded to the top five females and males in each division, as well as the overall archer in both divisions. Panama’s Mya Townley earned top overall archer in the junior high division with a score of 283 (a perfect score is 300) and Cameron’s Jordyn Rivera earned top overall archer in the high school division with a score of 289. This was also Rivera’s second year to be crowned the female county champ in the high school division. Those earning medals were…
Junior High:
1st Place Female – Mya Townley (Panama)
1st Place Male – Braxon Sapp (Spiro)
2nd Place Female – Leighton Dyer (Cameron)
2nd Place Male – Case Ladd (Cameron)
3rd Place Female – Raini Baskins (Howe)
3rd Place Male – Jason Watts (Cameron)
4th Place Female – Destany Howard (Howe)
4th Place Male – Cadyn Hilton (Shady Point)
5th Place Female – Paityn Beason (Cameron)
5th Place Male – Aiyden Horn (Howe)
High School:
1st Place Female – Jordyn Rivera (Cameron)
1st Place Male – Jake Cauthen (Cameron)
2nd Place Female – Ema Lenard (Arkoma)
2nd Place Male – Steven Butler (Cameron)
3rd Place Female – Brayli Beason (Cameron)
3rd Place Male – Carl Brake (Arkoma)
4th Place Female – Psalm Yandell (Howe)
4th Place Male – Johnathon Harrison (Panama)
5th Place Female – Amara Benson (Cameron)
5th Place Male – Phoenix Duncan (Howe)
Caneron Middle School Archery
Published in Whatzup Sports
Tuesday, 24 January 2023 14:25
SOUTHEASTERN OKLAHOMA STATE NAMED #theGAC WOMEN’S TENNIS FAVORITE
Written by Great American Conference
RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – On Tuesday, the Great American Conference announced the results of its 2023 women’s preseason coaches’ poll. Southeastern Oklahoma State collected three first-place votes to enter the season as the favorite.
The Savage Storm defeated Harding in the final of the 2022 GAC Championships to claim their third conference title. They return three All-GAC selections in Vanessa Nitu, Sara Gonzalez and Georgia Hosking. Nitu posted a 10-2 record in singles play to land on the First Team. Gonzalez and Hosking each placed on the Second Team.
Arkansas Tech edged out the Lady Bisons by one point for second place in the poll. Shaun Wiseman, a Tech alum, takes over for Abby Davis as head coach. He inherits a team that features three 2022 All-GAC First-Team honorees, headlined by Player of the Year Lea Grinberg. Grinberg posted an 18-6 singles record and a 13-6 doubles record with her partner, fellow First-Team performer Daniela Baez. Baez added a 15-7 singles record. Aastha Dargude backed up her 2021 Freshman of the Year campaign by making the First Team for the second-straight year.
In 2022, Harding won the GAC regular-season title for the second-straight year. The Lady Bisons earned an at-large berth to the NCAA Regionals. Like Arkansas Tech, Harding also returns three 2022 First-Teamers in Grace Dodd, Romane Britt and Lina Romero. Dodd, a unanimous selection, went 8-5 at the No. 1 doubles position and 7-10 at No. 1 singles. Britt produced a 15-7 singles record and Romero went 14-7 in singles.
Southern Arkansas placed fourth. Lena Milosevic claimed a spot on the All-GAC First-Team for the second-straight season. Henderson State and Ouachita Baptist rounded out the poll. The Reddies’ Mulan Kamoe, a 2022 unanimous First-Team selection, went 9-6 in singles play and 11-4 in doubles.
The regular season begins on Wednesday, February 1 when Harding faces Hendrix. Henderson State and Southeastern Oklahoma State open play two days later, followed by Ouachita and Southern Arkansas on Saturday the fourth. The Golden Suns take to the courts for the first time on Saturday the 11th in a non-conference contest with Ouachita. The 2023 GAC Championships return to Bentonville, Arkansas with all six teams competing from Thursday, April 20 through Saturday, April 22.
Published in Whatzup Sports