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Andrew Salmi Watonga Republican
Although the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) situation has essentially wiped out Watonga High School sports and activities until at least April 6, there were once much happier times for Eagles’ varsity athletics.
Since I’ve only lived in Oklahoma after moving from Los Angeles for just under one year now, I figured I should do something to help the community reflect on some great Eagles’ athletics moments going back the last two decades for “This Week in Eagles’ Varsity Sports” for March 15 through March 21.
Unfortunately, for now, I am sticking to events since 2000 but I might go back even further in the Watonga Republican archives for future editions if I continue to have a lot of fun with this.
March 20, 2000: Watonga Varsity Baseball Edges Okeene, Routs Canton
In a doubleheader hosted by Watonga, the Eagles were able to pull off a 4-3 victory over the Okeene High School Whippets and cruised to a 9-0 shutout victory over the Canton High School Tigers.
Versus Okeene, the Eagles had six hits on offense and were led by Watonga starting pitcher Brandon Forrest, who pitched 5.1 innings and struck out nine Whippet batters.
Against Canton, the Eagles jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead in the first inning and racked up 11 hits. On the mound, Keith Jacks struck out six Tiger batters in four shutout innings pitched for the Eagles while allowing just one hit.
March 19, 2001: Watonga’s Daugherty, Randle Selected as All-State Wrestlers
Eagles’ varsity wrestling’s most two recent Class 2A high school wrestling individual state champions, 189-pounder Derek Daugherty and 145-pounder Cameron Randle, were selected by the Oklahoma Coaches Association for the 2000-01 McDonald’s Small West All-State Wrestling Team that was scheduled to compete that summer in July.
March 16, 2002: Lady Eagles Win Elk City Invitational, Boys Third
Although Watonga High School was one of the smallest schools competing at the 2002 Elk City High School Invitational track meet, the Lady Eagles’ and Eagles’ varsity track teams made a lot of noise. The girls placed first with 172 points while the boys placed third with 104 points behind Weatherford High School’s 138 and Eisenhower High School’s 106.
For the Lady Eagles, Kimbri Lettkeman placed first and set a then Watonga school record in the girls’ 800-meter dash with a time of 2:24.81, while Amanda Moore placed first in the girls’ 1600-meter dash and set a school record at 5:37.70.
The Watonga girls’ 4x400-meter relay team of Kirby Bizzel, Heather Rice, Sholanda Seamster, and Jennifer Coleman placed first and also broke a school record at 4:19.03.
For the boys, Jason Coleman broke placed first in both the boys’ 800-meter dash and 1600-meter dash and set school records with times of 2:00.72 and 4:31.00, respectively.
March 15, 2006: Barbee Selected to Coach All-State Wrestlers
Former Watonga High School varsity wrestling head coach Chris Barbee was honored as the coach of the 2A-3A West All-Star wrestling team that would go on to compete against the East All-Stars in July of 2006. Barbee was selected by the Oklahoma Coaches Association Board of Directors after just his first season at the helm of the Eagles’ wrestling program.
March 16, 2007: Lady Eagles’ Slow-Pitch Rallies to Beat Hinton 3-2
In a game that Hinton High School scored its two and only runs in the top of the first inning, Watonga High School rallied down the stretch as the Lady Eagles pulled out a 3-2 victory over the Lady Comets at home. An RBI single by Krystal Fowler in the second inning, a solo home run by Maddy Piece in the fourth, and Courtney Pinkerton’s RBI single in the fifth were enough for Watonga to get the job done and hold on late.
March 20, 2008: Eagles’ Baseball Crushes Rival Fairview at Merrifield Tournament in Enid
Just a week before, Watonga varsity baseball had edged Fairview High School at home. This time, the Eagles got off to a fast start at the 2008 Merrifield Tournament in Enid and cruised to an impressive 9-2 victory over the Yellowjackets. Kale Goerke was the winning pitcher for Watonga and also had a double, while Fairview committed a whopping nine errors on defense in the loss.
March 18, 2009: Eagles’ & Lady Eagles’ Hoops have Several All-Conference Players Selected
Three Watonga High School boys’ varsity basketball players and two Lady Eagles’ varsity basketball players were named to the 2008-09 Three Rivers All-Conference teams along with one honorable mention for each team.
Trevon Hartfield, Clint Gribble, and Dominique Cooper were named to the boys’ team while Tevin Curry was selected as an honorable mention. For the Watonga girls’ squad, Krystal Fowler and Bradi Schenk were selected and Ester MedicineBear was named honorable mention.
March 19, 2010: Late-Starting Eagles’ Baseball Gets Win vs. Okay
Watonga High School, which had just last week finished a sensational 28-1 boys’ varsity basketball season that saw them lose in the Class 2A state semifinals vs. eventual champion Pawnee High School, got a very late start to their varsity baseball season as many players from the basketball team had not practiced with their baseball teammates quite yet.
At the 2010 Preston High School Baseball Tournament, Watonga lost its first two games to top-ranked Ohtaka High School (6-0) and Class 3A foe Haskell High School (11-4) but righted ship with an 8-4 win vs. Okay High School.
March 16, 2012: Sawyer, Tillinger Win Events at Annual Hinton Meet
The Lady Eagles’ and Eagles’ varsity track and field teams took part in the 2012 Hinton Invitational track meet and had two athletes place first in the respective events.
Watonga’s Catherine Sawyer won the girls’ 800-meter dash with a time of 2:39.77, while E.J. Tillinger won the boys’ shot put event with a personal-best mark of 50-0.
March 20, 2014: Eagles’ Varsity Baseball Crushes Whitesboro at Union City Festival Tournament
After opening the 2014 season with a 1-2 mark, the Watonga High School varsity baseball team got a lopsided 11-2 victory over Whitesboro High School during the first round of the annual Union City Festival baseball tournament.
Eagles’ pitcher Cameron Livingston got the win and struck out six Bulldog batters over the course of 5.0 innings pitched. Seth Johnson was a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate for Watonga with a game-high five runs batted in, while Kaleil Pendleton went 3-for-4 with three runs scored and two stolen bases.
March 20, 2015: Baseball Gets First Win of Season with 18-4 Rout of Calumet
Watonga baseball cruised to its first win of the 2015 season when the Eagles went on the road and thumped Calumet High School, 18-4.
The Eagles’ got three runs batted in apiece off the bats of Kaleb McSperitt, Brice Stratton, Jacob Smith, and Shane Downey as Watonga put up an eye-opening 12 runs in the second inning and won via the mercy rule after just three innings of play.
March 15, 2017: Watonga Football Gets New Coach in Zac Maynard
After the resignation of former Watonga High School football coach Jonathan Keathly in February of 2017 following an impressive 9-3 season, Watonga Principal David Lorenz named current head coach Zac Maynard as the new helm of the Eagles’ football program. In three seasons as Watonga varsity football head coach, Maynard has compiled a 17-16 record and has taken the Eagles to the Class A playoffs in two of his three seasons.
March 15, 2018: Short-Handed Watonga Varsity Track Still Impresses at Cherokee Meet
Despite Watonga High School track and field head coach Jim Bob Coleman only having five of his 32 boys and 11 of his 27 girls on the roster competing in the 2018 season opener at Cherokee High School, the Eagles and Lady Eagles still managed to have some athletes place highly in their respected events.
Eagles’ junior Jayden Flynn placed first in the boys’ shot put with a mark of 43-05.00 to beat out Kolton Gilley of Cherokee, freshman Kiyla Cooper placed second in the girls’ high jump final with a mark of 4-10.00, sophomore Alicia Torres placed third in the girls’ long jump with a mark of 15-05.25, junior Kayla Swanegan placed third in the girls’ 100-meter dash with a time of 13.21, and freshman Riley Coleman placed fourth in the girls’ 1600-meter run with a time of 6:24.19.
March 15, 2019: Epic 2019 Lady Eagles’ Track Season Begins at Cherokee
Fast forward just one year later and Watonga High School again opens its season at the Steve Hickman Invitational held at Cherokee. This time, it marks the beginning of great things that season as the Lady Eagles would get first place at the meet and eventually bring home Watonga’s first state team championship since 2011 when the girls would win the Class 2A title at Western Heights High School in early May of 2019.
This also closes in on the beginning of my journey as the sports editor at the Watonga Republican, as I would make the move to Oklahoma to start a new chapter in my life.
I’m not sure how much longer I will continue to do this type of segment every week, but I sure enjoy it. Let’s just hope athletics return in Watonga as soon as possible and these kids get to compete.
Andrew Salmi can be reached at Sports@WatongaRepublican.com or by phone at (580) 623-4922.