As one would expect, the Jim Ned Relays had a quality field of competition last week, opening the door for one of its athletes to snag Big Country Preps Player of the Week honors.
So it’s not surprising that its top performer sits atop of our weekly list of highlighted competitors from around the area.
Wall senior Bryson McFarden takes our weekly accolade after medaling five times in Tuscola with four golds and a silver.
In the pitcher’s circle, there are varying degrees of perfection. And in the case of our Big Country Preps Player of the Week, that statement was fully illustrated on Friday in a 6-0 Clyde win over Merkel.
Yes, CHS freshman Brynli Reynolds threw a perfect game. But this wasn’t your standard, every day, run-of-the-mill, garden variety perfecto.
In fact, it may have been the most dominating performance by a baseball or softball pitcher the Big Country has seen in the last two decades.
Aside from retiring 21 straight hitters from a very good Merkel team (19-2), Reynolds fanned the first 17 batters she faced and finished with 20 strikeouts. She also helped herself at the plate, going 1-for-2 with an RBI.
It was the second time this season that the Clyde freshman has taken our weekly accolade.
Our Big Country Preps Player of the Week earned the accolade on the state’s biggest stage.
Jayton senior guard Sean Stanaland was a big contributor in several areas for the Jaybirds in a surprisingly easy 78-45 win over Kennard in the Class 1A Division II state title game. This began with the 28 points he scored to help JHS to its third straight championship.
He also pulled down 15 rebounds to go with five assists and three steals as Jayton capped its season with a victory in San Antonio’s Alamodome.
Of all the Big Country area collegiate signees in the 2025-26 school year, what would the odds be for two of them to be from a tiny school from the six-man ranks? And what would the odds be that both would sign to participate in two sports?
What are the odds that they would have the same last name yet be of no relation? And what would the odds be that both would play in the prestigeous Military Appreciation Bowl in Frisco on Dec. 21 (featuring several of the top players in the country)?
Would the planets have to be aligned for both of them to be among the top academic athletes in the Big Country? Or for them both to sign with separate military academies to participate as two-sport athletes at the DI level?
Mike Reed didn’t get into coaching to win awards.
But the Gordon athletic director was honored to receive a prestigious honor last week when the National Federation of High School Coaches Association named Reed the 2024-25 Coach of the Year for boys track and field.
Of the 24 coaches across the country that were honored, Reed was the only one hailing from Texas. And he said it meant a lot to him because Reed feels like he’s been a supporter for small schools during his time at Rule, Throckmorton and Gordon.
Cooper football coach and campus athletic coordinator Aaron Roan had a hard time hiding his elation Wednesday at Cougar Gym, where 11 student-athletes from four sports (baseball, track, soccer and golf) and a cheerleader made their college decisions official.
The signees’ school choices ranged from Division I to junior college, but getting to continue their careers while pursuing further education is what really mattered.
While most are staying in state, Asharee Davis is heading to Tennessee Tech of the Ohio Valley Conference, where she will take part in the long jump and triple jump for the Golden Eagles.
Eight Abilene High athletes made their college commitments official on Wednesday during a Signing Day ceremony at Eagle Gym, capping a week of signings that began Tuesday when Eagle football players Bryson Perez and Dristain Payne solidified their commitments to Hardin-Simmons University.
Kinzley Cantu (softball; Hardin-Simmons), Mason Murray (cross country/track; Baylor University); Jazlyn Ortiz (cross country/track; Franciscan University of Steubenville), Keeley Aston (soccer; Seminole State College), Laly Dehoyos (cheer; Hardin-Simmons), Rylan Stokes (baseball; McMurry University), Camp Churchill (baseball; McMurry) and John Alcantar (cross country/track; Western Texas College) all took part in the event, signing letters of intent in front of friends and family who packed the gymnasium’s lower level.
That group gave AHS 11 signings in a two-week span, after tennis player Allie Dunn committed to Hardin-Simmons last week.
As our tradition dictates, we close the books on our Big Country Preps Player of the Week on the first Monday following the UIL State Track and Field Championships in Austin.
And more often than not, our final award of the school year goes to someone who scored big at the state capital.
This year is no exception, with Gordon’s Stryker Reed taking the award after helping GHS win the boys team state championship, setting two individual state records and helping to set a new relay mark in the process.
Cover photo courtesy Mike Reed
AUSTIN — Class 1A athletes and teams from the Big Country Preps coverage area set five state records as the track and field season drew to a close at Mike A. Meyers Stadium on Saturday with the UIL state championships.
The Gordon boys (88 points) and girls (52 points) swept the team titles as area athletes put forth a dominant effort on the day, winning a total of 44 medals.
AUSTIN — It wouldn’t be the UIL state track and field meet if there wasn’t a weather delay, but this time the UIL was ahead of the game with bad weather forecast for the Central Texas region on Friday.
As the field events were ongoing for Classes 2A and 5A, the UIL made the decision around lunch on Friday to delay the track portion of the two classifications to Saturday morning in the interest of spectator and competitor safety.
When the meet resumed on Saturday morning, all the drama one could hope for, and more, was ready to unfold.
Cover photo courtesy Brian Hodnett
AUSTIN — The 2025 UIL state track and field meet got underway on Thursday at the University of Texas’ Mike A. Myers Track & Soccer Stadium, and the Big Country is bringing home some hardware.
The Brownwood Lady Lions made the most of their trip to Austin, claiming the Class 4A girls team championship on the strength of their three relays.
The Wall boys came “painfully close” in the words of track coach Craig Slaughter to giving the Big Country Preps area a second team title as the Hawks’ 64 points left them just two points behind Holliday in the Class 3A boys team standings.
Even so, Slaughter said that Wall’s relay teams, both boys and girls, all set personal records in an “incredible day.”
If one is to play the role of hero, there’s not a better time to do it than in postseason play in your senior year.
Brock’s Mylee Cedillo lived that experience — not once, but twice in last week’s uber-intense bi-district series with fifth-ranked Levelland that saw the Lady Eagles edge the Loboettes 2-1 and 7-6 in 13 innings.
It all began Friday night in Game 1, with Levelland pitcher Aubrey Rivas carrying a no-hitter and a 1-0 lead into the seventh inning. Cedillo responded to the pressure with an RBI double to drive home both Lily Springstead (who walked) and courtesy runner Emily Faddis (running for Ali Coleman who reached on an error) to give Brock a 2-1 win.
At Big Country Preps, we pride ourselves on sharing the love as much as possible. But Wall senior Briggs Jones has been so spectacular of late, that he’s making that difficult.
Jones has not only taken our Big Country Preps Player of the Week for a second straight time, but for a third time this year and a fourth time in his athletic career.
LUBBOCK — The Brownwood girls won a team title and Stephenville finished second behind Canyon on the boys side over the weekend to headline a strong effort by programs and athletes from the Big Country Preps coverage area at the Region I-4A track meet.
The Lady Lions earned 113 points to run away from the competition at Lowrey Field, topping second-place Canyon by 38 points and third-place Canyon Randall by 53. The Stephenville boys, meanwhile, finished with 76 points to fall 15 shy of Canyon for the team championship.
Those efforts highlighted a successful meet that saw area athletes claim 23 total medals — 13 on the girls side and 10 on the boys.
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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Region II-1A and I-3A track meets Day 2 (70 images)”
ABILENE — Both teams had dominated the Big Country and surrounding area for the entire track season, so few were stunned on Saturday when both Wall and Gordon captured the Region I-3A and II-1A boys championships at Abilene Christian University’s Elmer Gray Stadium.
It completed a near clean sweep of the regional meets from teams in the Big Country Preps coverage area, with Eula taking the 1A girls title and Wall finishing second to Holliday in the 3A girls regional meet.
“That’s always awesome ,” Wall coach Craig Slaughter said of taking the regional team title. “You have to have talented kids who perform at the right time.
“We just had some monster performances all weekend long. Kid after kid PR’d and we just had an incredible couple of days.”
Area athletes cleaned up on the first day of the Region II-1A track meet Friday, claiming 28 combined medals, including golds in all but one of the 14 completed events at Abilene Christian University’s Elmer Gray Stadium.
Between the boys and girls divisions, competitors from the Big Country Preps coverage area locked up at least 19 berths to the state track meet on the meet’s opening day, which saw all field events and the 3,200 meters completed ahead of expected overnight thunderstorms.
In addition to the 13 gold medals, Big Country qualifiers accounted for six silvers and nine bronzes while setting themselves up for another big day Saturday with strong performances in the running prelims. The meet will conclude with the running finals, which are scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. back at ACU.
ABILENE — Area athletes got off to a successful start at the Region I-3A track meet, combining to collect 13 medals and earn nine automatic berths to the state track meet during the event’s first day Friday at Abilene Christian University’s Elmer Gray Stadium.
With expected overnight storms pushing all field events to Friday, male competitors from the Big Country Preps coverage area tallied seven total medals — four golds, a silver and two bronzes — while area girls athletes claimed six medals, earning two of each shade.
The big winner Friday was the Wall boys, who accounted for five of those medals on their way to an early lead in the team race. The Hawks, who earned 42 points take a 22-point lead on second-place Idalou, will try to close out the team championship when the meet continues at 2 p.m. Saturday with the running finals.
The best way to describe the area meet performance of our Big Country Preps Player of the Week (Wall’s Briggs Jones) is to simply let his coach, Craig Slaughter do the talking.
“He ran a blistering 10.41 to set a school record and win the 100 meters,” Slaughter said. “He broke his long jump record with a jump of 23-11.5. I only let him jump twice because he was running out of room in the pit and I need that dude cranked up this week.
“Then he destroyed his triple jump record with a jump of 48-7.25
While no-hitters are fairly common at the high school level, the bulk of them are of the five-inning variety — ending early while locking down a mercy rule win.
Going the full seven innings without allowing a hit, however, is much less common. And in the case of Cisco junior Case Williams, his seven-inning no-no in a 2-0 win over a good Coleman team last Tuesday secured our Big Country Preps Player of the Week for the Week ending April 5.
Clyde softball has been overdue for landing a Big Country Preps Player of the Week award and senior pitcher Kaycee Bingham has just ended the drought.
The Lady Bulldogs have been posting big numbers on a weekly basis, falling just short of the top spot. But Bingham has landed the spotlight with a 26-0 mercy rule perfect game win over San Angelo Grape Creek last week. She followed that with a three-hit 11-0 shutout of Merkel.
Continue reading “BIG COUNTRY PREPS PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Clyde hurler takes this week’s award”
At the Class 1A level, where it is common for athletes to participate in multiple sports at the same time due to a lack of numbers, individuals who excel in different disciplines are invaluable.
At Gordon, junior multi-sport star Stryker Reed falls into this category, and our Big Country Preps Player of the Week is now demonstrating it on the heels of an amazing effort.
Fresh off a successful basketball season, Eula’s Hailie Cauthen has transitioned to softball as though she were in mid-season form.
In fact, the senior shortstop was good enough through five games last week to take our Big Country Preps Player of the Week award for the Week ending March 8.
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.
The fall national signing period opened Wednesday, and a number of athletes throughout the Big Country Preps coverage area either made their college decisions official at signing day ceremonies or have announced plans to do so in the near future.
Here’s a list of those area seniors and where they’ll be competing next season:
While the UIL state track meet provides a fun and exciting end to the high school track season every year, giving the best athletes in each part of the state an opportunity to compete against the other top athletes in their classification, we here at Big Country Preps have an additional way to honor the top athletes in our area.
After introducing the inaugural All-Big Country Preps Dream Track Meet in 2021, we continue that tradition this year.
As with our All-Big Country Preps teams for other sports, our Dream Meet is our way of honoring some of best athletes the Big Country Preps coverage area had to offer this past school year. Our method, however, is a bit different.
Rather than being presented as a team, we’re treating this like a track meet with an area-wide field in each event. There are no distinctions made for classification, just a collection of the top performers from across the BCP coverage area.
So without further ado, we present our All-Big Country Preps Dream Meet boys field. We hope you enjoy reading through our selections.
While the UIL state track meet provides a fun and exciting end to the high school track season every year, giving the best athletes in each part of the state an opportunity to compete against the other top athletes in their classification, we here at Big Country Preps have an additional way to honor the top athletes in our area.
After introducing the inaugural All-Big Country Preps Dream Track Meet in 2021, we continue that tradition this year.
As with our All-Big Country Preps teams for other sports, our Dream Meet is our way of honoring some of best athletes the Big Country Preps coverage area had to offer this past school year. Our method, however, is a bit different.
Rather than being presented as a team, we’re treating this like a track meet with an area-wide field in each event. There are no distinctions made for classification, just a collection of the top performers from across the BCP coverage area.
So without further ado, we present our All-Big Country Preps Dream Meet girls field. We hope you enjoy reading through our selections.
It was a special afternoon on Wednesday inside the Cooper and Wylie gyms as 15 local athletes from a variety of sports made their college decisions official in a pair of signing ceremonies.
Cooper had nearly all of the signees as 14 seniors signed for their future with their families, friends, coaches and community members filling the bleachers of Cougar Gymnasium.
At Wylie, meanwhile, Garrett Salada was the lone signee, taking a brief break from his prep for this week’s Region I-5A quarterfinal series against crosstown rival Abilene High to solidify his pledge to Luna Community College in Las Vegas, N.M.
Four Abilene High athletes from three girls programs celebrated with family and friends Wednesday as they made their college decisions official during a signing day ceremony at Eagle Gym.
Volleyball players Yasmine DeLaGarza (Vernon College) and Amelia Carr (Arlington Baptist), track athlete Adriahna Peeples (Hardin-Simmons) and soccer player Laila Brown (McMurry) all announced where they’d be continuing their academic and athletic careers, adding to a successful athletic year for AHS girls programs that will continue this weekend when the Lady Eagles softball team meets Wylie in the Region I-5A quarterfinals.
Wednesday’s four signees bring the list of Abilene High seniors who will compete collegiately to 16 for the school year after nine signed on Feb. 7 and three more did so on April 30.
Continue reading “SIGNING DAY: Four Abilene High girls make college decisions official”
The end of the state track meet traditionally marks the end of our Big Country Preps Player of the Week awards for each school year.
So who gets this year’s final accolade?
How about Gordon’s Stryker Reed, who helped the Longhorns claim a 1A boys state title with a remarkable performance at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin last week.
To begin with, the son of Gordon Athletic Director-football coach Mike Reed won the 1A state title in the 110 hurdles at 14.60. He also took the top spot in the 300 hurdles at 38.60 for two individual golds.
AUSTIN — Taking two medals in the first event of the day set the stage for Big Country Preps athletes to shine on the final day of the UIL Track & Field State Meet on Saturday at the University of Texas’ Mike A. Myers Stadium.
Area competitors claimed 16 medals in the field events (3 gold, 8 silver, 5 bronze) on their way to 38 on the day. Big Country girls athletes accounted for 23 medals, almost singlehandedly eclipsing the area’s total of 25 medals from the 2023 state meet.
The Roby girls were able to defend their 2023 team title as they finished with 60 points, while Throckmorton (44 points) and Gordon (42 points) finished in second and third place as a team. The Gordon boys completed the banner day by winning the team title with 83 points, while Jayton finished in third place as a team with 34 points.
AUSTIN — After area Class 3A and 4A competitors opened the UIL Track & Field State Meet with a combined 10 medals on Thursday, Big Country Preps athletes took partial ownership of the medal stand at Mike A. Meyers Stadium at the University of Texas on Friday in the Class 2A and 5A portions of the event.
Area athletes combined to claim 18 medals on the day, with Hico junior Kaylee Hunt joining Goldthwaite seniors Lainey Jernigan and Hope Hermesmeyer in a dominating performance.
The trio combined for six medals on the day as Goldthwaite, Stamford and Hico all posted top-five finishes in the 2A girls team competition.
AUSTIN — The UIL Track & Field State Meet kicked off Thursday with Classes 3A and 4A competing at Mike Meyers Stadium on the campus of the University of Texas, and Big Country athletes made their presence felt to start to the three-day affair.
Area competitors didn’t quite match the 14 medals accrued on the opening day of the 2023 state meet, but they still made a solid showing with 10 combined medals.
Headlining the list of medalists were Brock’s Dylan Foster (300-meter hurdles), Stephenville’s Creece Brister (shot put) and Brownwood’s Ike Hall (triple jump), who all left Austin with gold medals. Continue reading “STATE TRACK ROUNDUP: Stephenville’s Brister, Brownwood’s Hall and Brock’s Foster claim gold medals at 3A/4A meet”
Here is a complete list of the state track and field qualifiers from the Big Country Preps coverage area with seed ranking and time/mark:
Continue reading “Big Country Track & Field State Qualifiers List (w/ seed ranking, time/mark)”
STEPHENVILLE — Creece Brister could have very easily chosen to feel sorry for himself in the aftermath of a devastating knee injury suffered during the football season.
He instead chose to count his blessings and to get back to work.
Track season was right around the corner and moping wasn’t going to help the defending Class 4A state shot put champion prepare for the event. So the 6-foot-5, 310-pounder (who also earned state silver in the discus last year) put his nose to the grindstone and began prepping in earnest in November.
The effort has now paid off with regional titles in both the shot put and discus, giving him two state berths despite being less than 100 percent. He will compete in both events in the 2024 UIL State Track & Field Meet at Mike A. Myers Stadium on Thursday in Austin.
It’s been a special year for Gordon’s athletics program.
The Longhorns captured their first state football title in more than two decades. The boys basketball team advanced to state, while both track programs won regional titles. Baseball has a chance to make a run, too.
This Saturday potentially could be the cherry on top as the Longhorns will enter as the favorite at the Class 1A Meet, while the Lady Longhorns should also be in the mix thanks to their relays.