Bishop McGuinness girls earn Chesapeake title…
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
The Irish girls were dominant in winning the Chesapeake Challenge
Chesapeake Challenge
At Heritage Hall
Friday
Boys
Sunrise Academy 64, Cascia Hall 41 (championship)
OKC Storm 56, Holland Hall 46 (third place)
Heritage Hall 46, Weatherford 24 (consolation championship)
Kingfisher 43, OKC Knights 40 (seventh place)
Girls
McGuinness 52, Weatherford 22 (championship)
OKC Knights 41, Kingfisher 30 (third place)
Cascia Hall 34, Heritage Hall 33 (consolation championship)
OKC Storm 59, Sunrise Academy 44 (seventh place)
Chesapeake Challenge: Day 2 results…
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
Chesapeake Challenge
At Heritage Hall
Friday
Boys
Championship: Cascia Hall vs. Sunrise Academy, 4 p.m.
Third place: OKC Storm vs. Holland Hall, 12:40
Fifth place: Heritage Hall vs. Weatherford, 4 p.m.
Seventh place: Kingfisher vs. OKC Knights, 12:40
Girls
Championship: McGuinness vs. Weatherford, 2:20
Third place: Kingfisher vs. OKC Knights, 11 a.m.
Fifth place: Heritage Hall vs. Cascia Hall, 2:20
Seventh place: Sunrise Academy vs. OKC Storm, 11 a.m.
Thursday
Boys
Sunrise Academy 52, Holland Hall 42
Weatherford 56, OKC Knights 50
Cascia Hall 54, OKC Storm 50
Heritage Hall 42, Kingfisher 37
Girls
Weatherford 42, OKC Knights 40
Cascia Hall 56, OKC Storm 49
McGuinness 53, Kingfisher 19
Heritage Hall 55, Sunrise Academy 44
Wednesday
Boys
Sunrise Academy 51, Weatherford 33
Cascia Hall 53, Kingfisher 44
Holland Hall 65, OKC Knights 39
OKC Storm 46, Heritage Hall 34
Girls
Weatherford 59, OKC Storm 39
McGuinness 69, Sunrise Academy 31
Kingfisher 48, Heritage Hall 40
OKC Knights 61, Cascia Hall 56
Chesapeake Challenge: Day 1 results…
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
Chesapeake Challenge
At Heritage Hall
Thursday
Boys
Holland Hall vs. Sunrise Academy, 12:40
OKC Knights vs. Weatherford, 12:40
OKC Storm vs. Cascia Hall, 4 p.m.
Heritage Hall vs. Kingfisher, 4 p.m.
Girls
OKC Knights vs. Weatherford, 11 a.m.
Cascia Hall vs. OKC Storm, 11 a.m.
McGuinness vs. Kingfisher 2:20
Sunrise Academy vs. Heritage Hall, 2:20
Wednesday
Boys
Sunrise Academy 51, Weatherford 33
Cascia Hall 53, Kingfisher 44
Holland Hall 65, OKC Knights 39
OKC Storm 46, Heritage Hall 34
Girls
Weatherford 59, OKC Storm 39
McGuinness 69, Sunrise Academy 31
Kingfisher 48, Heritage Hall 40
OKC Knights 61, Cascia Hall 56
Chesapeake Challenge at Heritage Hall schedule…
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
I’m going for the food … and I guess I’ll stay for the basketball. I’ll be floating around Heritage Hall the next three days for the Chesapeake Challenge.
Here’s the schedule. The Chargers have two gyms so games will be going on at the same time.
Chesapeake Challenge
At Heritage Hall
Wednesday
Girls
Bishop McGuinness vs. Sunrise Academy (Kan.), 11 a.m.
Weatherford vs. OKC Storm, 11 a.m.
Heritage Hall vs. Kingfisher, 2:20
Cascia Hall vs. OKC Knights, 2:20
Boys
Kingfisher vs. Cascia Hall, 12:40
Weatherford vs. Sunrise Academy (Kan.), 12:40
Heritage Hall vs. OKC Storm, 4 p.m.
OKC Knights vs. Holland Hall, 4 p.m.
Will update after each day with the pairings for the following day.
Class 3A: Separation Friday?
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
I’m not good at clever names so Separation Friday is what you’re getting from me when it comes to Class 3A.
You may not agree with my rankings (that’s fine), but 3A has four games featuring ranked teams, IMO.
So who is going to separate itself from the rest of the pack? Or will the pack become even more jumbled than it was before?
No. 1 Cascia Hall (7-1) at No. 5 Sperry (7-0)
Those who have seen them say Sperry is the real deal. I think people are overlooking the whole ‘bye’ week thing that is going on in 3A.
While Cascia Hall was busy battling it out with Nowata, Sperry was licking its chops. Its coaches watching intently. The Pirates have had two weeks to come up with special/trick plays and getting to know all there is about Joe Medina’s club.
The pick: Cascia Hall 32, Sperry 29. I am on the fence here. I really want to believe in Sperry, but how do you argue against the Commandos? Well, you don’t.
No. 2 Heritage Hall (8-0) at No. 8 Bethany (7-1)
The Bronchos are three points away from being 8-0. As is, Bethany has won seven consecutive games, including a biggie against Kingfisher a couple of weeks ago.
A lot of talent on this team from RB Devin Campbell to DL Darren Davenport. X Factor might be WR Gage Diffee.
Heritage Hall has been the dominant team in the class. The Chargers haven’t faced a challenged since Week 3 at Davis. Tulsa NOAH and Newcastle were supposed to be big games, but Heritage made a statement early.
RB Barry J. Sanders won’t be 100 percent (if he does play), but Sterling Shepard and the offensive line should be enough.
The pick: Heritage Hall 31, Bethany 17. The Bronchos are going to be fired up for this one, but eventually the adrenaline will wear off and Chargers get the job done in first road game in five weeks.
No. 3 Anadarko (8-0) at No. 7 Tuttle (5-2)
Are the Warriors ready for that next step? Has Tuttle made enough adjustments to wipe out early losses to Cache and Bridge Creek?
Viewed Tuttle a lot like Cascia Hall. How do you bet against that tradition? No question Kent Jackson’s team is really good this year. Answered one big challenge after another.
I know Anadarko is more than just Sheldon Wilson. But I want to see that be proven. Think the Tigers are going to bottle him up after getting Week 7 off.
Also want to see how Anadarko responds in a close battle. Warrior fans will point out they won’t let it get that far. We’ll see.
The pick: Tuttle 23, Anadarko 21.
No. 10 Plainview (5-3) at No. 6 Madill (8-0)
Had some heat about the Indians being ranked. I don’t know, just couldn’t punish a team for losing to two Texas clubs and a four-point loss to Clinton (20-16).
Since then, Plainview has won five in a row. Madill answered the call against Purcell and Spencer Bond is still not getting enough attention (at least from my ilk).
Anyone at this game, sure would love some Twitter updates.
The pick: Madill 33, Plainview 21. This Madill team is still pretty fired up about last year’s disappointment. Good battle that Madill pulls out.
Volleyball: Another new No. 1 in 4A
Three weeks and three different No. 1 teams in the Class 4A OKRankings volleyball coaches’ poll.
Cascia Hall earned the preseason vote, with Heritage Hall taking over last week. Now, it’s Oklahoma Bible Academy, which will put its No. 1 ranking on the line tonight at Bethany.
The Enid-based school is 15-3, coming off a strong run to win the Clinton Tournament in which OBA 8-0 against Oklahoma teams. The only loss was at the hands of Pampa (Texas) HS. And among their victims were 4A’s defending champ, Clinton, No. 4 Cache (twice), No. 8 Corn Bible (twice) and Bethany.
The Trojans also knocked off another top-10 team in Santa Fe South last Tuesday. I’ll be catching up with coach James Ward this week to get his thoughts on the season.
No other major excitement this week in the 4A poll, though Christian Heritage stepped up another spot to No. 4. Big Pasture is in the top 10 with its 13-0 start.
And the 5A and 6A polls stayed mostly the same as well. In 6A, Norman North (11-1) moved up another spot to No. 7.
Shawnee is enjoying the move back down to 5A, jumping up to No. 9. Last year, the Wolves probably would have been state tournament contenders before getting bumped up to 6A just before the season started.
– Scott Wright, swright@opubco.com
Tennis: Metro/Cascia, Bishop Kelley earn honors…
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
Those were two of the longest work days in my life, but you know what, it was pretty dang cool. Despite nearly 10 hours of delays in the two days, we’re all but done for the boys state tennis tournament at the OKC Tennis Center. Last match ended at 12:30 on Friday night and just past 11 p.m. Saturday night.
It didn’t look like we would crown any champions Saturday, but we ended up naming three as Cascia Hall and Metro Christian tied for the Class 4A title while Bishop Kelley easily earned the Class 5A championship.
One class left as 6A resumes Monday at 11 a.m. Very interesting as it will be another Edlam showdown between Memorial and North as each squad has three entrants into the championship round.
If the finals are anything like the semis, going to be one fun Monday afternoon.
5A
Thought this would be the year for Booker T.’s Evan McElwain, but the Comets brought their best at the right time as senior Cameron Schoenhofer earned the win at No. 1 singles.
No drama at all in No. 2 singles as Daniel Collins rolled to the title as did the No. 2 doubles team of Taylor Howard and Briggs Westby.
The only blemish was at No. 1 doubles where the Irish duo of John Byrne and Jonathan Kraft overcame a rough start to win 13 of the last 16 games to win the championship.
For much more on the Irish, here ya go.
And also the story of the weekend was that of Harrah’s Sam Raglin and how the tennis community rallied around him.
Raglin lost his home in the tornado Monday but still played at the state tournament. Teams from all over the state donated whatever they could to Raglin and more money was raised this weekend.
The Raglin family has a long way to go before there is some normalcy in their world, but it was great to see the generosity from the Oklahoma tennis family.
For more on Raglin, here ya go.
4A
Great battles here as Metro Christian earned the titles at No. 2 singles and No. 1 doubles while Cascia Hall did the same at No. 1 singles and No. 2 doubles.
But the match with the best atmosphere was the No. 1 doubles battle between Heritage Hall’s Bear Federman and Luke Howard and Cascia’s Connor Sokolosky and Corey Allen.
In what became a theme in the second half of Saturday, it was a brilliant three-set battle that saw the Chargers come out on top.
From 5 p.m. on, you wouldn’t believe how many great matches were on court one after another in the 6A semifinals and the 4A, 5A finals. You could barely stop to catch your breath.
Chase Tomlins and Neal Johnson-Nick Wood won the titles for the Commandos while Mitchel Knight and Erik Richison-John Brothers did the same for the Patriots.
6A
If you were there, you’ll remember the three-set battle between Edmond North’s Casey Distaso and Union’s Logon Collins.
Collins looked like he was well on his way to victory, up a set and 3-0 (two breaks) in the second. But Distaso showed some kind of mental toughness.
With each point, he got himself more into the match. He was hitting for winners when his game picked up and he had Collins perhaps tightening up.
Distaso came back to win the second set 7-5 and had all the momentum. These two were so evenly matched all year despite Distaso being 3-0 against Collins this season.
The North senior ran away with the third set, 6-1.
Wow. Distaso told me it was the best moment of his career. Not necessarily in terms of the quality, but in terms of the atmosphere and in terms of what that win meant in the team race.
Ironically, all four 6A championships feature the No. 1 seed vs. the No. 2 seed. Look for a 6A championships preview blog later Sunday.
Girls tennis: Irish, Chargers, Huskies/Trojans reign supreme…
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
Well, one of my favorite weekends of the year is in the books. There didn’t look like there would be much drama in the Class 5A and 4A girls tennis team race.
There wasn’t.
Bishop McGuinness rolled in 5A while Heritage Hall earned three of the four championships Saturday at the new look OKC Tennis Center.
Now if you’re talking 6A, yea, that was some fun as Jenks and Edmond North tied for the championship. North earned two titles while Jenks earned one and was the runner-up in the other spots.
6A
That was fun. Admittedly, I wasn’t able to get to see as much of the 6A stuff as I would have liked to. However, did enjoy watching the Huskies and Trojans battling it out on side-by-side courts as North’s Ann Pepper defeated Gabrielle Siegler while Jenks’ Lisa Waldron returned the favor against Rachel Mitcham.
The race went about as expected and big ups to Enid as the Pacers earned third place, highlighted by a dominating weekend by No. 1 doubles Kathryn Dillingham and Mackenzi Zaloudek.
Waldron made tremendous strides this year and really became the heart of that Jenks squad. That second set vs. Mitcham was some intense stuff as neither held more than a two-game lead the entire way. Great battle.
That championship experience paid off for North’s No. 2 doubles of Reagan Reed and Natalie Price. The girls didn’t win regionals but did when it mattered – for the second time in a row.
Look out for Broken Arrow, that team is going to be good next year.
For your 6A notes, here ya go.
5A
No surprise that McGuinness dominated. But it might be the last year…might. I mean how do you replace Mia Lancaster, Emily Conrad and Whitney Ritchie?
At any rate, 12 straight titles is impressive. And when the lights shone brightest, the girls played their best. Ritchie and Trinian O’Neil didn’t lose a game in the final.
Lancaster, playing a really good and healthy Melanie Barnes of Duncan for the first time, dropped one game in each set while Conrad was almost beyond impressive. The No. 2 doubles team Ashleigh Chiaf and Abby Hodges rolled as well.
Duncan once again was the hard-luck loser as the Demons prob would have won the championship in the two other classes.
And I’ma give credit to the Carl Albert doubles team of Sallie McLaurin and Laura Miller for beating the Edison duo of Haley Martin and Abby Tolson. I didn’t think they would, but the placing worked out just like the seeding.
For 5A notes, here ya go.
4A
The Chargers did what they thought they would do, but it was a great story out of Perry as the Maroons tied for second with Cascia Hall. That’s a program that is really on the rise.
As for Heritage, it begins with Julie Labarthe. She didn’t lose a game in all four of her matches and set the school record with 36 love (6-0) sets in a season.
Junior Carissa Villaflor has really started to turn my head. She used to be a nice supporting player, but she’s turning into a monster as well, cruising to the title.
The No. 1 doubles squad of Sarah Bowen and Kelsey Grace played a tough, tough match with Cascia’s Bernie Clement and Michele Mesmer. Real good stuff from both teams with Heritage pulling it out. Cascia returned the favor at No. 2 doubles where Cascia’s Samantha Fuller and Abby Jordan took out Heritage’s Sarah Gretsch and Sarah Moll.
For 4A notes, here ya go.
***
The renovated OKC Tennis Center is on its way. There are still some big kinks to work out (namely when it comes to results), but it was a real pleasant atmosphere this weekend.
The clubhouse area is great and like how much more visible it is to find a court now. Everything was completed Thursday and came out OK.
Look for all the tennis videos you can handle on NewsOK this week. Talked with McGuinness’ Emily Conrad and Mia Lancaster, Heritage’s Julie Labarthe and Edmond North’s Ann Pepper.
Boys regionals Monday with state Friday and Saturday.
Wrestling: Cascia Hall, Perry advance to 3A finals
The Class 3A semifinals just wrapped up at Cushing. It was a photo finish on one side as Cascia Hall barely got past Kingfisher 31-30.
There were two pivotal matches in the dual. The first came at 215 pounds where Joe Gaither battled Cascia’s (much taller) Kyle Cowan 9-5 with a strong third period in which he scored two takedowns, a near fall and an escape to secure the win.
The second came at 103 pounds where Kingfisher was forced to forfeit because the Yellowjackets don’t have a wrestler at that weight. Still, Kingfisher was a tough out for Cascia who has become a power. The Yellowjackets should be a force at next week’s regionals.
On the other side, Perry dominated Comanche 54-21. It was more of the same for Perry who had seven falls. They will meet Cascia in about two hours for the 3A crown.
MWC’s Jackson makes McDonald’s All-American
By Ryan Aber
raber@opubco.com
Midwest City’s Richa Jackson is the lone state player represented on the McDonald’s All-American Game roster released earlier this week.
Jackson, a Duke signee, averages more than 16 points and 8 rebounds per game for the Bombers.
The McDonald’s All-American Game will be played March 31 in Columbus, Ohio.
