Editor’s note: We’re bringing this story back as we take a look at some of the top stories SportsDayHS has written in the last few years.
Why subscribe?
That’s a common question we get. The Dallas Morning News touts live coverage of more than 150 schools every week during the football season, in-depth coverage of all high school sports, amazing photos and video — all of which is true.
Quality storytelling is another big one. Our talented writers go beyond the “what” and dig into the “why” to give our readers the most in-depth story possible. Here are some of the best non-football stories from our staff in 2019.
Click/tap here to read our best football stories from 2019. Subscribe today for as little as $5 a month.
Wrestling
With wrestling as her refuge, this Kimball star’s state title shows potential for all Dallas ISD
Destiny Miles stood up. She turned around. The referee raised her hand to declare her Class 5A girls' wrestling state champion in the 148-pound weight class.
And then she started running.
She barreled off the mat and into the arms of Kimball coach Devon Fortson. He caught her mid-air and lifted her higher.
When the embrace finished, she didn't mention her excitement to eat pizza, pasta and soul food again. She didn't talk about finally getting to rest the injuries that hampered her junior season. She didn't reflect on her tumultuous upbringing that sometimes interfered with her wrestling preparations.
"Oh my God, this is Kimball," she told Fortson. "Kimball is now on the map. We're now up there."
The victory — a pin in less than three minutes — marked just the third time a Dallas Independent School District girls wrestler has won a state title in the 20 years the UIL has offered the sport. Miles is the first from Kimball and with teammate Ki’Aundra Green finishing sixth in the 165-pound class, Kimball’s ninth-place Class 5A team state finish was the program’s best ever.
So in that moment, Miles felt pride for more than overcoming instability throughout her childhood.
Continue reading about her monumental achievement here.
Volleyball
Volleyball faces an epidemic that is hurting the sport, local coaches say, and significant injuries are at the forefront
Denton Guyer volleyball star Jordyn Williams saved her season with a trip to the doctor.
After playing club ball all summer, then getting no break before the start of the high school season because she spent time with the U.S. Girls Youth National Training Team, Williams learned that she was playing with a foot injury that was much worse than anyone imagined.
“It was about to explode,” Guyer coach Heather Van Noy said. “She was literally playing on that for the first part of our season. She just thought it was aching.”
Williams was sidelined nearly a month with a stress contusion. Had that gotten any worse and become a stress fracture, the season could have been over for a player who is committed to SEC champion Kentucky.
As coaches have watched several of the best players in the Dallas area miss significant time with injuries, they think that year-round play and specialization are hurting their sport.
Read more about the issue here.
Lovejoy is one of the greatest volleyball dynasties in state history. Can its success be replicated by other area teams?
Lovejoy didn’t have any juniors or seniors when it started its first season of varsity volleyball in the fall of 2007.
But the Leopards had an entire town behind them. That helped create one of the greatest dynasties in state history.
“We were the first varsity sport in Lovejoy,” coach Ryan Mitchell said. “They didn’t even have a football varsity team at that point, so the community came to volleyball games that year. It was like it was the only show in town, and in a small community, people were anxious to get behind their high school.
“That created a level of success and tradition in the program that still exists.”
In 2008, two years after the school opened, Lovejoy won the first of five consecutive state championships. The Leopards are the only volleyball team in UIL history to win five straight titles in the largest three classifications, but just as impressive is how they have remained a perennial state title contender ever since.
Continue reading about the Leopards here.
Basketball
A real-life ‘Hoosiers’ resides in tiny Slidell, Texas – a community rich with Olympic, NBA and high school basketball history
SLIDELL, Texas — One of the best Class A boys basketball teams in the state no longer plays in the “rock gym” a half hour northwest of Denton, which is a shame, because it’s a barn straight out of Hoosiers. Eight rows of bleachers lacquered like Elvis’ pompadour. Elegant arched roof with wood beams. Burnished oak floor swanky enough for the Savoy. “Gym Rules” sign, the first and third lines of which read, “Clean gym shoes only” and “No smoking — dipping”. And, of course, stone walls on all sides. Only thing missing is Gene Hackman in a sweater vest.
A Works Progress Administration legacy, the rock gym opened in 1940, two years before Slidell won the Class B state title, then repeated in '43. The Greyhounds also made the state semis in '49, '52 and '55. The girls took state in '63. Slidell won so big in basketball, no one cared that they never practiced the state religion. They were basketball heretics.
Then suddenly Slidell didn't win big anymore. The Greyhounds were always good, but never good enough. One decade after another passed without a trip to the state tournament. Turns out the old rock gym wasn't the only echo of Hoosiers. They could have filled out the cast in Slidell, too.
Consider Freddie Fortenberry, whose family members, like the Pruetts, wind through Slidell's hoops history like wisteria. He promised to burn his hat on the front steps of the rock gym the day they finally went back to the state tournament.
Freddie didn’t live long enough to see it, but 64 years since the Slidell boys’ last trip, the bus pulled out Wednesday morning for San Antonio. All 281 students, K-12, lined up waving orange-and-blue streamers to see the Greyhounds off to play Oakwood on Thursday at the Alamodome. The Greenwood/Slidell Volunteer Fire Department even provided a seven-piece escort to the county line.
Continue reading about Slidell, which won the state title in the beginning of 2019, here.
‘I didn’t even know he had one hand’: How Bishop Lynch’s Jarett Nunez overcame a birth defect, loss of his mother to become a tri-sport athlete
Jarett Nunez was just practicing on a small court off to the side, with no one guarding him, but it was an incredible display of basketball.
The Bishop Lynch senior dribbled with both hands, dribbled behind his back, and finally showed off a spin move that ended with a layup. The 6-1 guard displayed a fluid shooting motion, swishing pull-up jumpers and free throws without hesitation.
It all looked so routine, but that was what made it remarkable. Due to a birth defect, Nunez doesn't have a fully formed left hand.
Nunez has symbrachydactyly, a rare congenital hand defect in which the fingers are abnormally short and webbed or conjoined. On his left hand, Nunez has a thumb that doesn't bend normally, and small stumps in place of fingers.
"When I first played against him, I didn't even know he had one hand," said senior Zach Muller, the team's second-leading scorer, at 16.3 points per game. "He just plays like a normal kid. He will beat me in pickup."
It’s the same when Nunez talks. The 18-year-old speaks with such a zest for life that you would never guess that he has faced one hardship after another, from the death of his mother to having to teach himself menial tasks that most take for granted.
Continue reading about Nunez here.
When the iconic prep school allure isn’t enough: Why some of area’s best are spurning potential NBA pipeline to stay in Texas
Jahmius Ramsey and Micah Peavy could have followed in the footsteps of Kevin Durant and Carmelo Anthony at Oak Hill Academy.
This week at the UIL state tournament in San Antonio, Duncanville will have a chance to win its first boys basketball state title since 2007 because its two stars turned down the opportunity to play at one of the best college preparatory schools in America.
Durant and Anthony each played at the legendary boarding school in Virginia for one year -- not at the same time -- before both became 10-time NBA All-Stars. But Oak Hill, a school that lists 27 NBA draftees among its alumni since 1980, couldn't persuade Ramsey to stay after he spent a few weeks there this fall and couldn't lure Peavy to transfer there.
North Crowley coach Tommy Brakel calls it a meat market, with so much contact between prep schools and elite high school players that he joked that "we have to recruit our own kids to stay because everyone else is recruiting them."
The NBA draft shows why prep schools are so alluring and can pay off in such a big way down the road. Five of the top seven selections in the 2018 draft spent time at prep schools across the nation, where elite-level prospects often play a national schedule against the best of the best.
But there aren’t prep schools like that in Texas.
Continue reading this story here.
‘Like the NBA with training wheels’: How Little Elm star RJ Hampton’s path to New Zealand pros over NCAA could signal a new trend
When Rusty Segler walked into a local restaurant to pick up lunch Monday, his waiter, a former Little Elm student who recognized the former Little Elm boys basketball coach, had a question.
"Where's RJ going to go for college?" he asked Segler.
It seemed to Segler everyone wanted to know where RJ Hampton, a five-star combo guard who last month chose to forgo his senior Little Elm season and reclassify to 2019, would commit for a likely one-and-done NCAA year.
The answer? Nowhere.
Hampton announced Tuesday on ESPN's Get Up! morning show his plans to play internationally for the New Zealand Breakers in the National Basketball League during the 2019-20 season.
The move came as a "curveball," Segler said, to most fans and followers expecting Hampton to pick among defending national runner-up Texas Tech, Memphis or Kansas.
But experts say Hampton’s decision could spark a trend for elite recruits aiming to profit during the mandated one-year separation between high school and the NBA draft.
Continue reading about that trend here.
The Cathy Self-Morgan saga
The Dallas Morning News followed this series of events very closely while it unfolded.
Cathy Self-Morgan will be remembered as one of the most successful girls basketball coaches in Texas and U.S. history.
But after resigning as Duncanville’s coach, a day after a stunning first-round playoff loss, Self-Morgan left amid a cloud of controversy and questions.
After eight state championships and more than 1,100 career wins, Self-Morgan informed her players that she was leaving Duncanville and planning to retire, Duncanville ISD chief communications officer Tiara Richard said. Self-Morgan, who is being investigated by her own school district for potential recruiting violations, released a brief statement at the time.
“I have been in Duncanville for 19 years, and some of those have been the highlight of my coaching career,” Self-Morgan said in the statement. "I have loved my Pantherettes and our amazing fans, but after 42 years of coaching it’s time for me to step away. That’s why on February 4, I submitted my letter of retirement. I will always cherish the memories I have from this district and with my Pantherettes.
Self-Morgan won five state titles and amassed a record of 638-83 since becoming Duncanville’s coach in 2000. She left one week after UIL state executive committee chair Mike Motheral ordered Duncanville ISD athletic director Dwight Weaver to investigate Self-Morgan — giving Weaver a month to complete that process.
Below is all of The News’ coverage and a timeline of what happened.
Dec. 14, 2018: Hannah Gusters transfers from Duncanville to Irving MacArthur
Jan. 28: Gusters is ruled ineligible by the UIL for transferring to Duncanville
Feb. 12: South Grand Prairie shocks state power Duncanville in first round of girls basketball playoffs
March 7: Investigation into Self-Morgan finds ‘insufficient credible evidence’ of recruiting
April 2: Self-Morgan issued 3-year suspension by UIL for recruiting violations
April 3: Self-Morgan tells her side of the story, says ‘I did not recruit anyone’
Baseball
Colleyville shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. could become D-FW’s greatest ever. Here’s how the top MLB prospect has stayed ‘Humble and Kind.’
COLLEYVILLE — You’d expect the high school freshman, the one whose name screamed baseball star from birth, the one who captivated baseball camps as a six-year old, the one who would eventually be referred to as a generational shortstop talent, to choose a different song.
Alan McDougal did. The Colleyville Heritage baseball coach has tasked his players for the last four years to send him songs that can be played during batting practice. He anticipated fast and upbeat choices, music to get a player going for a round of hacks. His band of teenage baseball players delivered, except one.
Amid the pump-up radio hits and "Sweet Home Alabama" was Tim McGraw's "Humble and Kind." It's slow. It's emotional.
It has no place in a batting practice.
It, in McDougal's mind, personifies the freshman who chose to swing to it four years ago: Bobby Witt Jr., the son of a former Major League pitcher -- selected third overall by the Rangers in 1985 -- and the possible No. 1 pick in Monday's MLB Draft.
“That’s the kind of kid he is, and he’s remained that way,” McDougal said. “You could tell as a freshman this was going to be special. I’m not sure I would’ve predicted what this was going to become, but that humble and kind sits over him in my mind as we’ve gone the whole way.”
Continue reading about the No. 2 overall pick in the 2019 MLB draft here.
How Mason Greer, son of a former Ranger, used his Type 1 diabetes diagnosis to become a role model
Here’s what makes Mason, son of Rangers outfielder Rusty, different from his teammates and most people in general:
Type 1 diabetes, not that you could tell.
Like a lot of athletes with Type 1, such as the Cubs' Brandon Morrow or the Braves' Adam Duvall, Mason makes it look easy. Calculates the carbohydrates before eating anything and gives himself a shot. Gives himself another before going to bed. And if that was all there was to it, maybe it really wouldn't be so hard.
Consider what it feels like when his blood sugar levels drop for what seems like no reason at all.
"My heart starts beating fast," Mason says. "Everything starts moving weird, like I'm too fast for everything around me."
On the other hand, let his blood sugar climb too high for too long, and it can mean long-term damage. Or worse. Doctors scared him straight in the hospital. Told him he could lose a limb some day. Go blind. Also risk cardiovascular problems.
Mason understands that his loving parents, Rusty and Lauri, can only do so much. Maintenance of the condition is his responsibility.
Which is why kids with Type 1 grow up fast. Before Saturday's scrimmages with Keller, Mason was up at 7:30. Made his own breakfast. Packed his cooler. He's got one for school, and a larger one for games. Carries Gatorades and snacks and apple juice for times when he feels sluggish or his heart starts to race.
And he must maintain this sort of routine every single day for the rest of his life.
Keep reading about Mason here.
How Argyle went from small-town high school to a reigning ‘beast’ across multiple 4A sports
Ricky Griffin grew up in Frisco, a place he lovingly called a farm town, way before it was a 10-high school city like it is today. Back then, he said, he did everything in high school: sports, band, theater, you name it.
That helps explain why he second-guessed his freshman and eighth-grade sons when they told him they wanted to focus on one sport. It was 2006 and he was coaching baseball at Wylie. He asked his sons if they wanted to do that, or if that's just what everyone else was doing at a school bigger than the one their father grew up playing for.
They confirmed the latter, and Griffin went searching for a smaller school where he could coach baseball and his two sons would have the chance to play multiple sports. He ended up at Argyle, a Class 2A school in a budding town south of Denton and 12 miles northwest of Flower Mound, just east of I-35W.
Today, 13 years later, Griffin's Argyle baseball program is one of the best in the country. The Eagles went 37-0 last year and won the 4A state championship. They were called national champions by multiple outlets. This weekend, the Eagles will go for their second straight baseball title and the third since 2015.
It’s an example of the incredible growth this baseball program has had, but it’s not the only one to have success at Argyle. The school is tied with Canyon for the lead in the UIL Lone Star Cup standings, an award given to the school from each classification that succeeds in sports, as well as academics, the arts and robotics, to name a few. The baseball team’s state tournament appearance should give Argyle enough points to win its eighth consecutive Lone Star Cup and its 10th in school history.
Continue reading about Argyle here.
Track and field
It takes a daredevil: Pole vaulting comes with all kinds of risks — some even fatal. So why do athletes do it?
Connor Gregston has no fear when he pole vaults, even though he has witnessed gruesome injuries.
"I've seen people break their ankle, to the point where you don't want to look at it or you are going to throw up," the Keller Fossil Ridge senior said. "I've seen people land off the mat and they had to be carted off by an ambulance."
Gregston ranks among the best high school pole vaulters in the nation, having cleared 16 feet, 1 inch, and the Texas A&M signee will compete at this week's UIL state meet in Austin. He isn't fazed by statistics that highlight the sport's dangers, such as an average of nearly one catastrophic pole vault injury per year from July 1997 to June 2017, according to the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research.
"I try not to think about it. My coaches never talk to me about it," Gregston said. "I've never had a serious injury in pole vault. I've had close calls.
"I think about pole vaulting the way I think about life. If you are sitting there constantly thinking, 'Oh, this could hurt me or this could kill me,' and it makes you afraid and you don't do it, you could say that about anything. It is not being productive, and it's not living."
This is an event that has killed people. It takes a daredevil to even try it, using a pole that bends to swing upside down and propel yourself more than a dozen feet off the ground while trying to clear a crossbar.
Continue reading about these daredevils here.
His 9.98 is drawing comparisons to legends Usain Bolt and Jesse Owens. Can anyone defeat Matthew Boling at state?
Mansfield Summit coach Ronnie Roberson is reminded of two of the greatest sprinters in track and field history when he watches Houston Strake Jesuit's Matthew Boling run the 100 meters.
"He makes me think of [Usain] Bolt and the late great Jesse Owens rolled up into one," Roberson said.
Pretty good company for a high school senior.
Bolt holds the world records in the 100 (9.58 seconds) and 200 (19.19), and the now-retired Jamaican star won gold medals in both events at three consecutive Olympics (2008, 2012 and 2016). Owens won four gold medals (100, 200, 4x100 relay and long jump) at the 1936 Olympics and was voted by ESPN as the sixth-best North American athlete of the 20th century.
Boling ascended to near-legendary status when he won the 100 with a wind-aided time of 9.98 on April 27 at the Class 6A Region III meet.
‘It’s going to turn me into a monster’: Why many of Dallas-area’s elite football players participate – and excel – in track
Plano East senior Tyler Owens turned down the opportunity to start college this spring so he could chase a 100-meter state championship in track.
To claim the title of fastest man in Texas, he will have to be the fastest football player in the state.
Owens, a football All-American who has signed Texas, is ranked No. 2 in the nation in the 100 meters with a time of 10.29 seconds. Joining him in the top 15 are a pair of Illinois football signees -- Plano running back Kyron Cumby at No. 5 with a time of 10.42 and Duncanville All-America wide receiver/defensive back Marquez Beason, who is tied for 14th at 10.55.
“I like that I’m not the only fast football player,” said the 6-2, 205-pound Owens, who is rated the ninth-best safety in America in the Class of 2019 by 247Sports.com. “The toughness of football practice really prepared me for the hard track practices.”
It’s not hard to find Dallas-area football stars in the DyeStat.com national rankings for track. They are everywhere.
Lancaster's Ketron Jackson is No. 3 in the long jump with a leap of 24 feet, 7.5 inches, and he runs on a 4x200 relay team that ranks second in the nation with a time of 1:24.95. He's also a lightning-fast wide receiver who as a sophomore already has an offer from national runner-up Alabama for football.
Denton Guyer's Eli Stowers is considered one of the nation's premier quarterbacks in the Class of 2021. Don't be surprised if you see the 6-4, 205-pound Stowers hurdle a defender or leap over a pile of players to score a touchdown next fall, as he's tied for No. 3 in the nation in the high jump with a mark of 6-10.
Continue reading about more dual-sport stars here.
-
