National Signing Day is typically a busy one in the Big Country Preps’ coverage area and 2025 was no exception with several players inking and/or confirming their commitments to play at the next level.
At various signing ceremonies held throughout the area, athletes celebrated their final choices to pursue a degree while competing collegiately.
With the Big Country Chevy Dealers Fellowship of Christian Athletes All-Star Festival entering its 23rd year, event organizers are faced with the unique dilemma of needing new coaches.
The FCA staffs in Abilene, Brownwood and San Angelo have found a creative solution for this year’s festival, which is scheduled for June 2-11: to give area assistant coaches their moment in the spotlight.
This provides a neat opportunity for both the coaches and their players, who are excited to see their assistant coaches have a chance to lead a squad.
As the winter sports start to hit the playoffs, it means another thing: it’s time to start finding out who the Fellowship of Christian Athletes all-stars are.
The 23rd annual Big Country Chevy Dealers FCA All-Star Festival will take place with eight events over nine days in four different cities from June 2-11.
Here’s a look at this year’s participants.
What appeared to be a slow year for the Big Country on the signing front quickly blossomed into something memorable in 2022.
With National Signing Day taking place on Wednesday, the Big Country Preps coverage area finished with multiple Division I signees, including several on the gridiron.
Big Country Preps is publishing area volleyball statistical leaders each Tuesday at 7 p.m.
This database will be continually updated for our subscribers throughout the remainder of the season, using only those statistics submitted by area coaches.
We will continually update the database throughout the regular season.
Photos by Brandon Bartek and Ashley Spradley
If one high school has one male that qualified for state in three different sports — all within the same academic year — most people would expect the guy to be 6 feet and 180 pounds.
Meet Goldthwaite sophomore Connor Bartek, a state qualifier in cross country last fall, plus track and golf this spring. He stands 5 feet tall and weighs just under 100 pounds. In cross country last fall, Bartek qualified for state for the second consecutive year and finished 11th individually in Class 2A.
In track, Bartek finished fourth in the 2A 3,200 meters Friday, May 7, and his time of 10 minutes, 12.77 seconds broke a 35-year-old Goldthwaite school record.
In most years, I’d be spending this week decompressing from a long and eventful high school sports season.
The state baseball tournament, originally slated to wrap up Saturday, would have marked the end of an 11-month marathon for us here at Big Country Preps while signalling the beginning of our preparation for a new one.
Unfortunately — and I don’t think I’m breaking any news when I say this — 2020 has not been a normal year. Instead of following my strict routine with near ritualistic devotion, I’ve just been waiting for the next curveball and hoping to foul it off.
To say it’s been a challenge would be an understatement. But it’s out of challenges that some of our best work comes, and I’d like to think that was the case with our “What Might Have Been” feature series, which ends today with this column.
The “What Might Have Been” feature series is Big Country Preps’ effort to celebrate area athletes who have seen their seasons affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. The series will continue through June 15.
Will Maddox was excited after his first round of high school golf this spring.
The Colorado City sophomore fired a 79 at Brownwood’s The Hideout Golf Club, marking the first time he’d broken 80 in tournament action.
That also would be Maddox’s final round representing the Wolves in 2020 as the UIL shuttered the spring season soon after.
However, the pandemic hasn’t kept Maddox from honing his craft. In fact, he noted having an extended downtime has benefitted his golf game.
The “What Might Have Been” feature series is Big Country Preps’ effort to celebrate area athletes who have seen their seasons affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. The series will continue through June 15. If you have a suggested story for the “What Might Have Been” series, please contact Big Country Preps at Evan.Ren@BigCountryPreps.com.
Fred Wendlick played golf for Clyde, where he graduated from high school in 1985, and has coached golf at his alma mater for the last 20 years. But last 
year was special.
The Clyde boys’ golf team qualified for state for the first time in school history.
“It’s all about the kids,” Wendlick said. “It was an incredible year. We had a great time down there (in Austin) at the state tournament. We played hard, and we improved the second day.”
I’ve always held to a personal axiom that perspective is everything. True or not, how we view a situation becomes the truth in our minds.
There’s no escaping it and every one of us has our own perspective.
Well, the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown have changed my perspective in several ways on several different things. And for a middle-aged guy who is pretty well set in my ways, this is like the planets aligning.
I’ve managed to list my top 10 takeaways from lockdown, as they pertain to this website and what we’re trying to accomplish here.
Let’s dive in:
Continue reading “EVAN REN: 10 things I’ll take away from the COVID-19 pandemic”
The “What Might Have Been” feature series is Big Country Preps’ effort to celebrate area athletes who have seen their seasons affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. The series will continue through June 15. If you have a suggested story for the “What Might Have Been” series, please contact Big Country Preps at Evan.Ren@BigCountryPreps.com.
Photos by Maci Reagan
While answering questions for his “What might have been” feature, Brownwood senior golfer Caden Reagan eventually broke down and became
emotional.
His dream of reaching the state tournament, all of the work he put in and all of the sacrifices he had made were wiped out in one fell swoop when the University Interscholastic League canceled all spring sports as a safety measure against the COVID-19 pandemic last month.
Reagan, 18, isn’t alone in this. He is simply one of thousands of high school athletes across the country who saw their senior seasons ended by a virus that has now killed more than 340,000 people globally, including more than 96,000 in the US.
For Reagan, however, there is an additional element of sadness, having battled with Perthes Disease since he was 10 years old. Few people have had more to overcome in order to simply compete, much less to have a shot at state.
“Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.”
— Voltaire
There’s a barbeque place near my home that I don’t like. In fact, I seldom go there — deliberately bypassing it whenever the BBQ craving hits me in favor of better choices.
But Friday, after two months of COVID-19 exile, I decided to make a quick run to bring home some brisket for the wife and I and elected to go to the very place I try to avoid because it was convenient.
Funny how one’s perspective can change while in isolation.
Abilene’s worst barbeque was suddenly good. In fact, it was beyond good. It was like freakin’ nirvana.
I suspect that’s the way it’s going to be with virtually everything I had taken for granted before the lockdown. And I’m already experiencing some of it.
Continue reading “EVAN REN: Virus may teach us some appreciation (for a while)”
The “What Might Have Been” feature series is Big Country Preps’ effort to celebrate area athletes who have seen their seasons affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. The series will continue through June 15. If you have a suggested story for the “What Might Have Been” series, please contact Big Country Preps at Evan.Ren@BigCountryPreps.com.
This spring was supposed to be Kasey Middleton’s fourth trip to the state golf tournament as he hoped to bookend his high school career with a second title.
It was supposed to be Bryce Hermesmeyer’s triumphant return to golf after missing last year with a shoulder injury.
And with a couple freshmen helping step up and a low score of 316 despite playing in only three tournaments, it was supposed to end with a second state berth in three years for Comanche’s boys golf team.
But before the Indians could find a groove, their promising season came to an end after the COVID-19 pandemic altered the University Interscholastic League high school sports landscape. That’s hard for Comanche golf coach Richard Pringle to stomach.
The “What Might Have Been” feature series is Big Country Preps’ effort to celebrate area athletes who have seen their seasons affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. The series will continue through June 15. If you have a suggested story for the “What Might Have Been” series, please contact Big Country Preps at Evan.Ren@BigCountryPreps.com.
Photos by Mike Lee
Rance House was optimistic the solitary environment of high school golf eventually would give the Goldthwaite Eagles a chance to defend their Class 2A boys’ state championship.
“I know the UIL has lawsuits and all that legal stuff to deal with, but I was really pulling for golf,” said House, a Goldthwaite senior who also played baseball in the spring. “Golf is a sport where you don’t have to touch anybody. You use your own club and balls.
“You’re playing in small groups with two or three other people, and there are not a lot of people (spectators) around. There’s just a lot less interaction with other people in golf than in other sports. But I guess if you cancel one sport, you’ve got to cancel them all.”
The “What Might Have Been” feature series is Big Country Preps’ effort to celebrate area athletes who have seen their seasons affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. The series will continue through June 15. If you have a suggested story for the “What Might Have Been” series, please contact Big Country Preps at Evan.Ren@BigCountryPreps.com.
A year after finishing second at the University Interscholastic League girls Class 1A state golf tournament last year, the Eula Lady Pirates were looking ahead to 2020 with an eye on a possible state championship.
And with good reason.
Coach Darren Carson’s team had graduated only one player, its top golfers were coming back and the Lady Pirates were introducing a talented freshman to the team.
At the time of the COVID-19 lockdown imposed by the UIL last month, Eula had already broken the school record for the lowest team round (345), which made the state tournament record of 351 an inviting target to shoot for.
The Big Country Fellowship of Christian Athletes announced the players selected to compete in the 2020 FCA All-Star Festival on Tuesday — a list that features 320 athletes from 71 Big Country and Concho Valley area high schools.
The Festival, which is comprised of all-star competitions in football, basketball, volleyball, baseball, softball and golf, is scheduled for June 7-13 at four different sites.
The coaches for the Festival, which were announced January, can be found here.
Continue reading for the complete list of the athletes selected to compete.
Continue reading “BREAKING: Big Country FCA announces participants for 2020 All-Star Festival”
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An Athlete of the Year award for the Big Country has been a long time coming, and Big Country Preps is officially ending the wait.
What better way to end our first school year than by honoring our top all-around athletes. By that, we mean those athletes who competed at a high level over a broad range of disciplines and had the biggest overall impact on their athletic programs (as nominated by area athletic directors).
So without further ado, we proudly announce our first Big Country Preps Girls Athlete of the Year: Anna Masonheimer of Eula.
From start to finish, Masonheimer was a key contributor to Eula’s athletic success during the 2018-19 school year, beginning with her helping the EHS cross country team reach the regional meet.
She was the MVP of Eula’s district champion basketball team, earning all state honors from both the Texas Association of Basketball coaches and the Texas Girls Coaches Association. But she was just getting started at that point.