Published: December 31, 2008 06:21 pm         

What a year

2008 provided plenty of memorable moments

Oklahoma State football had its best season in 20 years. A new coach was chosen to lead the Cowboy basketball team. Stillwater High’s football squad was two wins shy of playing for a state championship.

These were just a few of the biggest local sports stories of the year. The following events are sorted not by order of importance but chronologically, based upon front-page stories from 2008.

January

• The O-State wrestling team knocks off top-ranked Iowa at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in front of the seventh-largest crowd (14,332) for a dual meet in NCAA history.

• Carl Treat earns his first win as Stillwater High’s girls basketball coach as the Lady Pioneers defeat Class 5A No. 13 Guthrie, 47-32. On the same night, SHS guard Andy Arena suffers a lumbar fracture and is sidelined for the remainder of the season.

• The Cowgirl basketball squad upsets No. 6 Oklahoma, 82-63, in front of a sell-out crowd of 13,611 at Gallagher-Iba Arena — which marked the largest crowd to witness a women’s game in the state of Oklahoma. Andrea Riley led the Cowgirls with 45 points, the second-highest single-game total in program history. The win snapped a 17-game Bedlam losing streak for OSU.

• Pawnee’s Keiton Page, now a freshman at Oklahoma State, scores 61 points in a 93-62 win against Frontier.

• The Cowboys drop a 64-61 decision to Oklahoma in Norman in the first round of Bedlam. It extended OSU’s losing streak to five games, the program’s longest since a six-game skid in 1986-87.



February

• Former OSU basketball coach Eddie Sutton achieves his 800th career win. He led the University of San Francisco to an 85-82 comeback victory against Pepperdine, making him the sixth coach to reach the 800 milestone.

• The O-State wrestlers rally to upset defending NCAA champion Minnesota, 18-14, at GIA.

• OSU’s men’s basketball team knocks off No. 16 Texas A&M, 59-54, snapping a 19-game losing streak away from home.

• Stillwater High’s boys swimming team finishes second at the State Championships and crowns four individual champions, while the girls’ squad places fourth overall.

• The Cowboys’ 19-match win streak in Bedlam wrestling comes to an end as Oklahoma escapes with an 18-15 victory in Norman. It marked OU’s first Bedlam win on the mat since 1995.

• Frontier High’s boys basketball team advances to the Class A State Tournament for the 14th straight season, edging Agra, 34-33, in the Area championship game.

• Stillwater’s Ky Corley, Jared Elmore and Chris Perry each win their respective divisions at the State Wrestling Championships in Oklahoma City. The Perry High Maroons claim the Class 2A state team title for the fifth consecutive season.



March

• Agra’s boys basketball team edges Thomas-Fay-Custer, 31-30, to win the school’s first state championship. Bo Reedy connected on the game-winning free throw with 1.3 seconds left to lift the Bearcats, who were making their first appearance at the Class A State Tournament under the direction of first-year head coach Chad Dickerson.

• Michael Davis’ Stillwater boys basketball club falls, 71-53, in the Class 6A East Area consolation final to eventual state champion Tulsa Memorial. The Pioneers finished 14-12, their first winning season in four years, and fell one win shy of reaching State for the first time since 1993.

• The Cowboys’ chances of making the NCAA Tournament take a major hit as they lose, 68-56, to Oklahoma in Round 2 of Bedlam basketball at GIA. The Sooners earn the Bedlam sweep despite their best player, Blake Griffin, sitting out due to injury.

• In his final game with Pawnee, Keiton Page leads the Black Bears to a 95-79 win against Oklahoma Christian School in the championship game of the Class 2A State Tournament. Page scored 54 points and set the state’s single-season scoring average of 44.4.

• The Cowgirls advance to the Big 12 Tournament championship contest for the first time in program history. They fell, 64-59, to Texas A&M in the finals but went on to earn their first NCAA Sweet 16 berth since 1991. OSU lost, 67-52, to Louisiana State in the Regional semifinal.

• For the third straight year, the O-State men are eliminated in the first round of the NIT, falling to Southern Illinois on the road.

• OSU’s Coleman Scott needs 49 seconds to defeat Iowa’s Joey Slaton in the 133-pound finals at the NCAA Wrestling Championships. As a team, the Cowboys tied with Iowa State for fifth.



April

• Sean Sutton resigns as OSU men’s basketball coach, ending his two-year tenure with a 39-29 record and back-to-back first-round exits in the NIT.

• After much speculation, Kansas coach and O-State alumni Bill Self announces he will be staying in Lawrence and not taking the Cowboy job. OSU then hires Travis Ford, who spent the previous three seasons at Massachusetts.

• The Stillwater High boys soccer team falls to Sapulpa in double overtime to close the regular season. A win would’ve sent the Pioneers to the Class 6A postseason for the first time in program history.

• The SHS boys golf team claims top honors in the first Centennial Conference Championship at Oakwood Country Club in Enid.

• Stillwater’s baseball team beats rival Ponca City, 7-1, and clinches the inaugural Centennial Conference championship.

• Ripley High advances to the Class A State Baseball Tournament, marking the school’s first time to make two state-tourney appearances in the same year (the Warriors also went to State during the previous fall). RHS fell to Okarche, 1-0, in the opening round of the spring tourney.

• The O-State women’s golf team wins the Big 12 Championship at Karsten Creek. Freshman Jaclyn Sweeney finished first individually, followed by teammates Karin Kinnerud and Amanda Johnson.



May

• The Pioneer baseballers lose to Broken Arrow at the Class 6A Regional Tournament, one game shy of reaching State. Coach Gary Gardner resigns the next day, ending an 11-year tenure in which he compiled a 301-133 record.

• Ryan Bursiaga becomes the first Agra athlete to win a state championship in track, claiming top honors in the 3,200 meters and the 1,600m. Oilton’s LaTisha Rogers and Morrison’s Tiffany Weaver also captured individual titles.

• Stillwater’s Nathaniel Winfrey wins the 300-meter hurdles in 38.35 seconds, becoming the first SHS team member to claim a track title since Hallie Hutchens won that event in 2001.

• The O-State baseball team falls, 10-4, to Oklahoma in the third and final game of the Bedlam series at Bricktown Ballpark. Though the Cowboys had already won the series, they could’ve clinched a share of the Big 12 regular-season championship if they had beaten OU one more time.

• Jeremy Reeder steps down as Perry High’s football coach after going 1-19 in his two years at the helm.

• Oleksandr Nedovyesov qualifies for the final round of 16 at the NCAA Men’s Tennis Championships.

• OSU pitcher Andy Oliver is declared ineligible just a few hours before the Cowboys take on Wichita State in the winner’s bracket of the NCAA Regional, which they were hosting for the first time since 1997. OSU went on to lose to the Shockers in the championship round.



June

• OSU shortstop/pitcher Jordy Mercer is picked in the third round of the Major League Baseball Draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates. Cowboy outfielder and Stillwater native Donnie Webb is drafted in the 10th round by the Cleveland Indians.

• Tony Holt is hired to lead the Stillwater baseball squad, and Bill Defee steps down as the Pioneers’ golf coach — closing the book on his 36-year coaching tenure.

• Ryan Vail earns fifth in the 5,000-meter run at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Des Moines, Iowa.

• Talby Justus returns to the area as he is named Ripley’s girls’ basketball coach. Justus, who led the Glencoe boys to their first state title in 2005-06, joined the Lady Warriors after spending just one season with the Bray-Doyle boys.



July

• OSU men’s basketball coach Travis Ford announces Martavius Adams has been granted a release to transfer.

• Todd Beer replaces Davis Ellis as head football coach at Pawnee.

• OSU pitcher Andy Oliver files a lawsuit against the NCAA in hopes of having his collegiate eligibility restored.

• Colorado outfielder and former Stillwater High standout Matt Holliday is named a reserve in the MLB All-Star game for the third straight year.

• Mike Simpson steps down as Stillwater High athletic director and accepts the position of assistant superintendent of operations at Ponca City.

• Oklahoma guard and former Frontier High sensation Jenna Plumley is arrested in Norman on suspicion of petty larceny. She was accused of stealing make-up and other items at Wal-Mart valuing about $34. Plumley is later dismissed from the team and transfers to Lamar.

• Rudy Darrow, a former Perkin-Tryon pitcher, is promoted to the Double-A Erie SeaWolves, a minor-league affiliate of the Detroit Tigers.



August

• The Stillwater Majors advance to the American Legion State Tournament despite having a 9-25 record. They were eliminated by Durant in the losers’ bracket.

• Former OSU wrestler Tyrone Lewis is named an assistant on the Cowboy staff, and Tom Gray becomes an assistant for O-State softball.

• Butch Lingenfelter is hired as Stillwater High’s athletic director.

• The NCAA announces O-State guard Andrea Riley will be suspended for the next NCAA Tournament game that the Cowgirls are eligible to participate in. Riley’s suspension was the result of an altercation with LSU guard Erica White in the Sweet 16.

• OSU pitcher Andy Oliver is temporarily reinstated by the NCAA.

• Former O-State wrestler Daniel Cormier is forced to withdraw from his 96 kg matches at the Beijing Summer Olympics due to severe hydration. Steve Mocco is eliminated from medal contention after falling to Iran’s Fardin Masoumi.

• Former Stillwater High pitcher Brett Anderson leads the USA baseball team to a bronze medal in the Olympics. In the bronze game, Anderson hurled eight innings and struck out seven as the U.S. beat Japan, 8-4.

• Richie Henderson, a former Stillwater coach, is promoted to assistant coach on the Cowgirl basketball staff. Henderson filled the void left by Kenya Larkin, who accepted an assistant position with LSU.

• The OSU football team opens the 2008 season with a 39-13 rout of Washington State in Seattle.



September

• For the first time, fans are seated in the west end zone at Boone Pickens Stadium. The stadium capacity is increased from 44,700 to 60,000.

• Ex-OSU golfer Hunter Mahan is named to the United States’ Ryder Cup squad.

• Don Haskins, who played for Henry Iba at Oklahoma A&M, dies at the age of 78.

• Terry Faggins sets a 54-hole record score of 219 as he wins the 10th Annual Stillwater NewsPress City Golf Championship.

• The worst-kept secret in the state is finally revealed — the former Seattle SuperSonics are now known as the Oklahoma City Thunder.



October

• The Stillwater High volleyball team clinches its first Centennial Conference championship and finishes 5-0 in league play. The Lady Pioneers went on to qualify for their sixth straight appearance at the Class 6A State Tournament, but they fell to Owasso in the quarterfinals. Amy Kangas is named MVP of the conference and Ryan Webber is chosen for Coach of the Year.

• The Pioneers rout No. 11 Enid, 49-21, in the final Homecoming football game at Hamilton Field.

• OSU’s men’s cross country team wins the annual Cowboy Jamboree for the second straight year.

• Willie D. Clark is indicted on first-degree murder charges in the drive-by shooting of Denver Broncos cornerback and former OSU standout Darrent Williams.

• The Cowboy football team emerges onto the national scene as it upsets then-No. 3 Missouri, 28-23, in Columbia. O-State then enters the Associated Press Top 10 for the first time since 1988, moving in at No. 8.

• Laura Matthews resigns as Oklahoma State’s women’s golf coach, and men’s coach Mike McGraw takes over the team on an interim basis.

• The Stillwater Country Club wins the Fourth Annual Stillwater Cup Tournament.

• Chris Perry becomes Stillwater High’s all-time leading rusher as the Pioneers rout U.S. Grant, 42-0, at home.

• The O-State soccer team tops Oklahoma in Norman to win the program’s first Big 12 regular-season championship.



November

• The SHS boys’ cross country team is named the recipient of the Class 5A Academic State Championship with a collective GPA of 3.86. The girls’ squad earned academic state runner-up honors and was only two-hundredths of a point behind champion Edmond North.

• Chris Perry signs a letter of intent to wrestle at Oklahoma State after high school.

• The O-State men’s cross country squad wins its first Big 12 championship, ending Colorado’s 12-year run at the top. Freshman German Fernandez became the school’s first individual champion, running the 8,000-meter course in 23:47.38, the seventh fastest time in school history.

• Despite being picked to finish eighth in its district, the Perkins-Tryon football team qualifies for the postseason for the third straight year. The Demons fall to Metro Christian in the first round of the Class 3A playoffs and finish 5-6 — marking Lloyd Wertman’s first losing season in his four years at P-T.

• Nataly Murray, one of Stillwater High’s most decorated players and a former walk-on at Oklahoma State, returns to the Lady Pioneers as an assistant coach.

• Matt Holliday is traded from the Colorado Rockies to the Oakland A’s.

• The OSU soccer team advances to the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive year, a first for the program. The Cowgirls fall to Rutgers in a penalty-kick shootout in the second round in Piscataway, N.J.

• Perry High’s football team, which went 1-19 in the previous two seasons, advances to the Class 2A playoffs for the first time since 2001.

The Maroons, led by first-year coach Craig Hixon, lost to Millwood in the first round and finished 4-7.

• Stillwater High catcher Kale Gaden signs a letter of intent with Missouri.

• Former OSU wrestler Randy Couture loses his UFC heavyweight championship to former World Wrestling Entertainment star Brock Lesnar.

• Travis Ford wins his first game as O-State men’s basketball coach as the Cowboys defeat Texas-San Antonio, 76-57, at GIA. Meanwhile, the Cowgirls fall, 77-68, to No. 8 Duke in their season opener at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

• The Pioneer football team knocks off No. 6 Muskogee in overtime during the first round of the Class 6A playoffs and advances to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2004.

SHS held a 21-7 halftime lead against then-No. 1 Midwest City the following week but fell, 35-28.

• OSU loses its sixth straight Bedlam football game as it drops a 61-41 decision to the third-ranked Sooners in Stillwater.



December

• O-State defensive coordinator Tim Beckman is named head coach at Toledo.

• OSU head football coach Mike Gundy accepts the terms of a seven-year contract extension worth $15.7 million. He is also awarded a $400,000 bonus for getting the Cowboys to their third consecutive bowl appearance.

• For the second straight year, the Cowboy wrestling team is upset by Bedlam rival Oklahoma.

• OSU center Ibrahima Thomas, who averaged 8.3 points and 3.9 rebounds in seven starts this season, is dismissed from the men’s basketball team.

• Former O-State running back Thurman Thomas is inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

• OSU senior Matt Fodge is named the winner of the Ray Guy Award, which is presented annually to the nation’s best punter.

• In its first season of 11-man football, Morrison High defeats Okeene for the Class A state championship.

• Annie Thurman-Young, a former golfer at O-State, is picked to coach the Cowgirl program.

• Ex-OSU softball coach Sandy Fischer is inducted into the NFCA Hall of Fame.

• The Cowboy wrestling team wins the Reno Tournament of Champions.

• Chris Perry and Earl Sparrow are selected to play for the East team in the All-State football game.

• No. 13 O-State falls, 42-31, to 15th-ranked Oregon in the Holiday Bowl in San Diego. The Cowboys were a victory shy of becoming the school’s first team since 1988 to reach the 10-win mark in a season.

     

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