March 2019 Best of Preps Magazine by Shawnee News-Star

Table of Contents

Taking her shot

Seminole’s Abby Carter trades shooting baskets for photo shoots...............................................4-5

Signed...............................................................8 Bethel’s Blair wins state titles, heads to nationals in Reno

....................................................................10

Powell has the recipe for success

4 12

....................................................................12-13

Picture pages........................................16,18 Big Country

To be a special VIP guest at the Best of Preps event.........................................................22-23

PUBLISHER: Kent Bush SPORTS EDITOR: Adam Ewing GRAPHIC ARTISTS: Brooke Jones, Cheyenne Meadows, Reita Easley

GAME. ORDER.

This magazine is published by The Shawnee News-Star. ©Copyright 2019 GateHouse Media, LLC, 215 N. Bell St., P.O. Box 1688, Shawnee, OK 74802-1688, (405) 273-4200. All rights reserved. No portion of this magazine may be reproduced in whole or in part without written consent from the publisher. Serving Shawnee for over 23 years

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Seminole’s Abby Carter trades shooting baskets for photo shoots.

By Kent Bush

She is enjoying basketball and her final semester in high school right now but her lifestyle will change a lot this summer.

What do you do when something that sounds too good to be true ends up being better than it seemed?

“I told my agents they could have me full time after high school is over,” Carter said. “High school is my priority right now.”

For Seminole’s Abby Carter, you spend a summer in Europe modeling and make plans to continue your career full time in Japan and Australia after you graduate from high school.

When she was 14, Abby had an Instagram page like many teenagers. It was through that page that modeling agents “discovered” her. When they first emailed her parents about possibly joining the agency, it wasn’t well received.

Carter is a basketball player for the Lady Chieftains. The senior was a Basketball Player of the Year candidate at the 2018 Best of Preps event. Her role as a senior has changed but coach Charles Kemp said she is still a big contributor to her team even though many of the things she does now don’t show up in the scorebook.

“The agents emailed my mother and it took off from there,” Abby said. “It seemed kind of sketchy at first.” Her mother, Shari Carter, agreed.

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“It seemed shady,” Shari said. “Brad and I resisted the idea.” But being the daughter of an attorney, Abby has always had to come to her parents with evidence and a good argument. This case was no different. “Abby came to us with facts to back up her argument,” Shari said. “We talked to them and found out it was a legitimate offer.” Since signing with IMG, one of the most prestigious modeling agencies in the world, Abby has made multiple trips to New York City for castings and photo shoots. Last summer, she traveled through London and Barcelona working on different projects. One of those projects was an editorial spread in Cosmopolitan Espana. She was featured in multiple photos in the September 2018 edition of the magazine. That photo shoot was a tough one for her mother, who was invited along for the summer tour since Abby was underage. “I had to put her on a train and send her from Madrid to Barcelona without me because the legal age in Spain is 17 so she was able to be on her own,” Shari said. “That was hard, but Abby is independent and she can really take care of herself.” Abby said her small-town heritage is always interesting to people who meet her and work with her, but she feels just as comfortable in the major cities. “Everywhere I go people love to hear about my cows and how I feed them,” she said. “They love to hear how I am still dancing and playing basketball and being a normal teenager. You would think it would be such a shock to be in such a big city but I think that’s where I belong.” Another story Abby shares is how her class will be the only one from Seminole to spend all four years in high school in their grocery store high school. Seminole students will have a brand new school next year. But the new school won’t be part of Abby’s story. In June, she leaves for Japan for a couple of months before returning home for a brief stay. After that break, she will fly across the globe again to Australia for another assignment. After she finishes there, Abby said she hopes to get to work in New York City but she is open to any opportunity if it is good for her career. “I don’t know if I have goals,” she said. “My

dream would be to work as a Victoria’s Secret Angel. I just want to do what it takes to be successful. I can always go back to school but you don’t always have another opportunity like this.” Abby has completed 33 credit hours toward an associates degree and she plans to finish it online while she is working this summer. There is a lot of work to being a professional model and it isn’t always easy, but Abby welcomes it. “I have body image issues. I am very self-conscious,” she said. “You have to remember that everyone is there because they have a unique look.” She said some people make inappropriate comments on her Instagram page, but she knows that just comes with the job. She said some comments are mean. “My favorite was one that just said, ‘You are so ugly,’” Abby said with a laugh. A model’s physique can mean the difference between getting jobs and losing them so Abby works hard to maintain hers. Abby stays fit through basketball and works on her strength and her core through her dance team. She has to do a lot of work to be ready for modeling jobs. “There is a lot of practice. There is something I do with the right side of my mouth. I have to practice my expressions and working on things I have been shown,” she said. Abby said she is even trying to maximize her height by lying on an inversion table. While the opportunity is exciting, her parents weren’t always 100 percent in support. “It took us out of our comfort zone,” Shari said. “We had this vision for her with high school, college and a family. Now that vision is very different and it took us time to adjust to it.” Shari said it was comforting to know the people Abby would be working for and knowing they take care of their models. “She has been with IMG for more than two years and they do a great job,” Shari said. She doesn’t know what the future holds for her, but Abby is excited to get more experience and see where modeling could take her. But she isn’t in a hurry to leave Seminole and her classmates and teammates. “My main goal right now is graduating from high school, going to the prom, being Student Council President, playing basketball, just being a regular senior,” she said. BEST OF PREPS MARCH 2019

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By Kent Bush

Jordan Blair just keeps winning and her wins are opening doors to new opportunities that she could have never imagined when this wrestling season began. Oklahoma is behind other states that have successfully added girls wrestling to competitive sports at the high school level. So girls who wrestle are stuck wrestling against boys. Blair, a freshman at Bethel, had some success against boys this year. But she has been a true standout since she got to wrestle against other girls her size.

Blair won her third state title this weekend, this time at the OKWA tournament in Tulsa. Her championship qualified her for a team of Oklahoma wrestlers who will compete at a national meet in Reno, Nev. in April. “The new challenges and better competition are what I want,” Blair said. “It is thrilling.” Jordan’s mother, Michelle, said she gives a lot of credit for her daughter’s success to Coach Jason McPhail moving to Bethel this year. “Jordan always had a desire to be a competitor,” Michelle said. “But when Coach McPhail got here, her career turned around. He brings out the best in her and other wrestlers. He is a great coach but he is also very positive and pushes the wrestlers to be their best.” Jordan didn’t get pushed too hard this weekend. Her matches were first-round pins until the finals when she made it into the second round before recording the fall and winning the title. “I’ve completed four of my goals,” Jordan said. “I just have to keep moving forward until I get to wrestle in college and maybe even in the Olympics. I am willing to grind and put in the work to get there.” McPhail said he is excited to see what Jordan does at the national tournament with her team.

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The OSSAA is expected to add girls wrestling at the state meet either next season or in 2021. Until then, Jordan will wrestle against boys in her weight class. She has her eye on qualifying in a boys regional next season as a sophomore. “It will take a lot of work and a lot of training,” Jordan said. “I might be underestimated because I’m a girl, but my beliefs can overcome any boy who thinks he has won the match already.”

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“She is a special talent,” he said. “She is fun to coach. She scored more points than any other girls at the Junior High State Tournament and we were told she was named the Outstanding Wrestler at the event. She set her goals and so far, it has been a clean sweep.”

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By Adam Ewing

spring.

Some teams hope to win one state title in their school’s history. For Andy Powell and the Dale Lady Pirates, winning championships is what they do. The Lady Pirates have nine state titles in softball, and Powell was the skipper on eight of nine.

“I knew I wanted to build a program and make it respectable,” Powell said.

Under Powell’s leadership, the Lady Pirates won fastpitch titles in 2013, 2014, 2017 and 2018. Then there’s spring ball. Dale earned gold balls in 2012, 2016, 2017 and 2018.

“Having JD Widner around here for so long helps,” Powell said. “He’s a head coach that decided to stay here and win. He left briefly and came back to us. He’s as good of a coach as any I’ve been around. We built this together and do everything together. He’s one of the main reasons for Dale’s success.”

Powell’s initial goal for himself was to be a baseball coach. When his daughters started hinting about wanting to play softball, plans changed. “I always wanted to be a baseball coach ever since I graduated from college,” Powell said. “I coached baseball for 13 years and when my oldest daughter was a fourth grader, I decided to look for a softball job. I did not want to miss her games. My dad never missed any of my games so I knew I had to look for a softball job.” Powell started his search for a softball coaching position in 2007. Dale principal Ky Wilkins heard about Powell wanting to get into softball and made a pivotal phone call. “With my wife being from Tecumseh and the reputation Dale has for girl’s athletics and is great academically, it was where we needed to be,” Powell said. Just 12 short years ago, Dale hired Powell. After a board meeting approving the hire, Powell asked Wilkins what the Lady Pirates’ record was the year before. Powell recalls they were something like 0-25 in the fall and 1-24 in the

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Powell looks at his assistant coach, JD Widner, as more of a co-coach than an assistant.

Then one day, the future looked bright. “JD and I went down to Jr. High practice and there were about 21 girls out. After the first practice we watched, I turned to JD and told him we were going to win.” It was a struggle at first. Powell said his record his first year was roughly 11-19. Each year the team improved and eventually they knocked on the door of greatness. “The whole team was sophomores when I got here. When they were seniors we went to our first state tournament.

In 2012, when the seventh graders we watched practice were juniors, we won our first state tournament.” For most teams, beating Dale is like a championship. For coaches, beating the Lady Pirates is something to put on a resume. For the Lady Pirates, it’s just another day at the office. Watching this group of athletes, it’s obvious they’re all close friends, but as soon as they step onto the field, they are consummate professionals. “It took a while to get used to, now it’s part of the culture,” Powell said. “We have been number one for so long, now it’s the norm, which is a good thing. At first it was tough. We get the best out of everyone. I don’t know how many coaches tell me that their team lost because we have Dale on our chest.” Winning consistently is what Dale does. A team obviously needs a good coach to win, but having historically great athletes doesn’t hurt either, Powell said.

titles came in droves, he would be happy to make one state tournament. With all the recent success, each title feels just as good as the last, Powell said. Not every player will get a hit or score a run, but one thing is certain, the Lady Pirates have fun. “This wouldn’t be worth doing if you’re not having fun,” Powell said. “Your priorities change as you get older. When we put down our goals as a team. The very first is to have fun. It’s not about winning state championships, or getting college scholarships.” It might seem crazy at the moment, but eventually Powell and the Lady Pirates won’t make a state championship. “Right now we are at the top,” Powell said. “We are fortunate to have the right chemistry and combination of players and community at the right time. I don’t know how long this will last, but until it does, I’ll be doing the exact same thing.”

“Being in this winning environment helped build our program,” Powell said. “We’ve had really good players throughout my time here. We’ve had the

best players, not just in 2A, but the best players in the state for five years now. I don’t care how good of a coach you are, you need good players to win.” Looking back on all the success, Powell remembers telling his wife, before the

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By Kent Bush

The annual Best of Preps event has become a big deal. Last year, more than 1,000 enjoyed a banquet inside FireLake Arena and watched as more than 250 athletes were honored and almost $30,000 in scholarships and prizes were handed out - including a brand new Jeep Renegade to the Student of the Year. This year’s event should be even bigger with another new car to give away and even more scholarships and awards to hand out. It was such a big event, we wanted to bring in a big star to make the event even better. You can’t find many stars who are bigger than Big Country. Big Country is the nickname given to Bryant Reeves when he was becoming a star on the Oklahoma State basketball team. Reeves said as nicknames go, Big Country wasn’t bad.

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“It could have been a lot worse,” Reeves said with a laugh. The “big” part of Big Country is obvious for a man who stands seven feet tall. The “country” made sense too. Reeves had never flown on an airplane before coming to OSU from Gans, Okla. After his basketball career ended, Reeves returned to Gans where he lives on a ranch. Big Country was a nickname that fit so well, it became a brand for Reeves. The Hideaway Pizza chain that started in Stillwater and is spreading across the state, even has a pizza named after Big Country because of his popularity at his alma mater. Reeves led the Cowboys to a Final Four appearance in 1995 and then became the first player ever drafted by the Vancouver Grizzlies NBA franchise. He has even been added to the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 2017. During his time at OSU, he became

famous for several things. Every Cowboy fan remembers him smashing a backboard during practice for the Final Four. Reeves has a favorite memory, though. “The shot from half-court to send the Missouri game to overtime has to be my favorite memory,” he said. That shot tied the game and OSU went on the beat the Tigers 77-73 in overtime. Vancouver was excited to draft Reeves and he was excited to play there, but the move to Canada was not easy for a guy from the banks of the Arkansas River in Gans, Okla. Reeves was well known in the city for his friendliness at community events. That was a part of the move the Big Country enjoyed. “In Vancouver, the people were hockey people so you had to do a lot to really introduce the game and build interest,” he said. He said he was playing basketball, doing what he loved. That made the relocation easier. He said his wife April, working at home and getting to know

Vancouver made it easier for him. “When we got back from a road trip, it was like I had my own tour guide. She took care of everything so I could just play.” Because he was their top pick, expectations were incredibly high for Reeves. Even though he played six seasons in the NBA and scored more than 40 points in a game once and averaged 12.5 points per game and seven rebounds, some were disappointed in his career.

try” and you can even see Coach Arthur in it. Big Country will be at the VIP reception before the event and he will help hand out awards and pose for photos with athletes who win them and other fans. You need a big star for a big event and they don’t get much bigger than Big Country. He is a great guy and he will make our 2019 Best of Preps event even better.

He signed a $61 million contract and kept a big chunk of that despite his career ending prematurely. At one point he was the second highest paid post player in the NBA behind only Shaquille O’Neal. The only thing that disappointed Reeves was that knee and back injuries cut his career short. “I wish I could have played longer,” Reeves said. “I loved it but injuries forced me to quit.” Reeves move back home to a ranch near Gans. He has four children. Two of them attend OSU. His son, Trey, was just put on scholarship this season at OSU by the Cowboys’ basketball team. In addition to three older children, Bryant and April have a two-year-old. “I got to go trick or treating again this year,” he said with his easy laugh. Reeves and Shawnee boys basketball coach Ron Arthur - who worked with the Oklahoma State squad before he graduated in 1993 - are still friends to this day. Because of that relationship, Reeves isn’t taking an appearance fee to be part of the Best of Preps event May 6, 2019. His generosity allows us to use that money on more prizes and scholarships for our area athletes. If you have 45 minutes of free time, there is a great documentary on Youtube called “Finding Big CounBEST OF PREPS MARCH 2019

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Spring Preview Day April 6

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