BHS athletes eye powerful postseason tests on mat, court and in water

Here is a roundup of the latest news for Bartlesville High School winter and spring sports.

Indoor track

Many Bartlesville High sports fans might not realize one of the greatest-ever distance runners in school history is about to storm into her senior track season.

Gentry Turner heightened the anticipation during her recent performance at the Oklahoma High School Indoor Championship meet — she won both the elimination mile and the 3K races.

Turner — whose sister Quincey owns the school record in the girls pole vault — finished fifth in last autumn’ s Class 6A girls cross country state meet. During the season she broke the 18:00 barrier.

Gentry also finished third in the 2023 Girls Cross Country Meet of Champions run.

David Ayres is the veteran head coach of Bartlesville High track.

Swimming

The Class 6A state swim meet starts Friday.

The Bartlesville High School Lady Bruins are one of the favorites to capture the state title.

Following is a look at Bartlesville’s state participants. The seeding appears with a hyphen.

GIRLS: 200 medley relay-1, 400 free relay-1, 200 free relay-3, Anna Young (200 free-1, 500 free-1), Addison Howze (200 I.M.-1, 100 back-1), Ashlynn Taylor (100 fly-2, 100 back-4), Emma Howze (200 free-2, 100 free-5), Tristin Weaver (50 free-4, 100 free-6), Annabelle Droege (200 I.M.-7, 100 fly-16), Lily Talbot (200 I.M.-9, 100 fly-8), Calli Richards (100 breast-6, 100 free-8), Regan Patzkowski (50 free-16, 100 fly-18), Gabrielle Burke (500 free-8, 100 breast-10), Erin Roper (500 free-7, 200 free-10), Julie Vilardo (500 free-13, 200 free-14), Cara Moore (100 breast-8, 50 free-24), Addison Williams (100 breast-12) Macie Stapleton (100 back-21).

BOYS: 400 free relay-1, 200 medley relay-3, 200 free relay-6, Griffin Craig (100 fly-1, 100 back-1), Cody Lay (200 free-3, 500 free-4), Luke Olsen (50 free-5, 100 free-8), Parker Shoesmith (200 I.M.-5, 100 breast-8), Ethan Peterson (200 I.M.-7, 100 breast-7), Aysen Offutt (200 I.M.-11, 100 fly-20), Camden McDonald (500 free-5, 200 free-10), Zane Deal (500 free-8, 200 free-11), Travis Lief (500 free-9, 100 back-13).

Chad Englehart is the Bartlesville head swim coach.

Girls wrestling

Bartlesville High School’s Theresa Hamilton and Shaylee Silver both put it all on the line at the OSSAA Class 6A East Regionals held earlier this week.

Hamilton (105 pounds) won one match (fall, 2:17) on the mat but lost in the fourth round of the consolation bracket (fall, 2:30).

Silver (120) also made it to the consolation fourth round. During her tourney journey she won one match by fall (0:55) and one by decision (8-6) but suffered a loss by pin (1:13) in the fourth round.

Neither of the Lady Bruins placed.

Basketball

No doubt that Bartlesville High School basketball teams eye grueling challenges in next week’s Class 6A playoff openers.

But, stiff legs won’t be one of them.

Both the Bruins and Lady Bruins will have relatively short hops to pull up the curtain on their regional openers.

This year’s OSSAA Class 6A and 5A postseason tournaments are historic — whereas in past years a first-round regional loss resulted in elimination, starting with this year each team will be guaranteed two games.

Following is a closer look at Bartlesville’s regional playoff schedule next week:

Tuesday, vs. Bixby, 7:30 p.m. (at Owasso High School)

Bartlesville (11-11) and the Bixby Lady Spartans (17-6) never met in the regular season. Bixby caught fire in early January, reeling off nine-straight wins and an 11-2 mark in its last 13 games.

Bartlesville also caught a gust in momentum in the second half of its schedule, recording a 7-4 record.

Tuesday’s winner will face either Muskogee or Owasso in the regional championship game on Friday (Feb. 23).

Tuesday’s loser will return to Owasso on Saturday (Feb. 24) to play either Owasso or Muskogee in an elimination game.

Bartlesville is coming off its most successful season in five years. Justyn Shaw coaches the Lady Bruins.

Bruins

Thursday (Feb. 22), 6 p.m., vs. Broken Arrow (at Broken Arrow)

Bartlesville (3-19) and Broken Arrow (16-7) didn’t meet in the regular season.

No doubt, the Bruins have to make a major U-turn in order to make a surge in the playoffs. They finished the regular season with six-straight wins — although they might have turned in their strongest game against a high-quality opponent in last Tuesday’s 66-53 defeat at Sand Springs.

Broken Arrow is 5-4 in its last nine games, including a season-ending loss to Bixby.

The Feb. 22 winner between Bartlesville and Broken Arrow will advance to Friday’s regional championship game (Feb. 23) against either Edmond Memorial or Stillwater.

The Bartlesville-Broken Arrow loser will play an elimination game on Saturday (Feb. 24) at Broken Arrow.

Bartlesville. — which is coached by Clent Stewart — will be looking to record its first playoff win since 2018.

Boys wrestling

Bartlesville High School plunges into the Class 6A boys regional on Friday at Broken Arrow. The top four finishers per weight division will advance to the next week’s state tourney.

Bartlesville has employed several different lineups this season, including numerous freshmen.

Cameron Kirk has been serving as the team’s interim head coach.

This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: BHS athletes eye powerful postseason tests on mat, court and in water