STAR OF THE DAY

JAX JOHNSON
TAHLEQUAH TIGERS

Shot rounds of 73 and 72 to

win the Class 5A regional title
on Monday at Pryor Creek
Golf Course. He also helped
the Tigers make next week’s
state tournament as a team.

Muskogee Phoenix Tuesday, May 1, 2018 www.muskogeephoenix.com

Hilldale, Tahlequah head to state Playoff

Staff report
STATE SLATE
(98, 90) Cade Waltman (83-90—173), Hayden table reset
with next
190 (89, 91) and Robby Hummingbird (88-89—
Hilldale and Tahle- Monday, Tuesday, May 7-8 Allen 191 (92, 99). 177) and Cooper Ferrell
quah emerged as the Class 4A — Buffalo Rock, Cushing Wagoner shot 411 and (92-94—186). Bishop
lone area teams to 386 for a 797. Austin Kelley won with a 630

reach state from the
various boys golf re-
gionals held Monday.
In Class 4A, Hilldale
finished third with
rounds of 349 and 341
in the 36-hole event
played at Jimmie Aus-
tin Golf Course in Sem-
inole. The 690 was 41
shots behind Ada (326-
323) and individual
champion Max Roberts,
who shot 148 (71 77)
rounds
Class 5A — Cimarron Trails, Perkins
Class 3A — Trosper Golf Course, OKC Hornbuckle le3d the and Coweta was second
Bulldogs with a 191 at 648. Also making
total (103, 88), followed it as a team, fourth
Colby Cox (82-82— make the three-team closely by Lucas Mays through sixth, were Three head to state in
164) led the Hornets, cut, finishing fourth be- at 194 (100, 94). Claremore, Pryor and slowpitch today, soccer
followed by Caleb York hind the final qualifier, In 5A, held at Pryor Tulsa Washington. is in second round
(85-83—168), Kurrin Sallisaw at 695 (352, Creek Golf Course, Tah-
Finch (94-85—179), 343). Conner Calavan
Lance Lienhart (88- (93-84—177) did make
lequah, led by Jax John- Class 6A at Broken Arrow Staff report
son’s 145 (73, 72) for
91—179) and Kade Ro- state as an individual Muskogee did not The prep postseason
top individual honors,
mine (106-88—204). at-large. Rounding out qualify for state in ac- continues its march to-
finished third with a
Fort Gibson, which the Tiger scores, Jaden tion at Forrest Ridge ward gold and closure
661. Other Tiger scores
shot 727 on rounds of Snyder shot 180 (91, this week.
were Seth Mascho (83-
365 and 362, did not 89), Trent Downey 188 Today at ASA Hall
83—166), Luke Green (See GOLF, 2
of Fame Complex, Fort
Gibson and Sequoyah in
Class 5A and Haskell in

Lilli’s journey
4A will take part in part
one of the OSSAA state
slowpitch tourney. The
lower classifications will
play Wednesday.
Sequoyah and Fort
Gibson came out of the
Beggs Reegional, finish-
Out of times ing 1-2 to qualify while
unseating the top seed
of early peril, and host to get there.
Sequoyah, which beat
Muskogee Fort Gibson 24-23 in the
first round of regionals
senior has and went on to get the
top spot in the regional,

thrived — at life gets No. 5 Prague (24-

By Mike Kays
Phoenix Sports Editor
Lilli Joseph’s inner fire for
running track goes back to an
encounter with a half-sister, an
experience more duly noted by
her father, Edgar.
“She watched her run and I
think that stuck in her head,”
her dad said of the Muskogee
High senior. “I remembered
watching her watch her run
and how that triggered a fire
in her.”
The journey would take a far
different path from there for
everyone involved, thanks to
Hurricane Katrina’s devasta-
tion in 2005 and the encounter
with death and dismay she and
her family found themselves
surrounded by.
Back then, the Josephs lived
in New Orleans, in a modest
home along the third ward
west of downtown. It was a
rock’s throw from prime real
estate and high-dollar homes.
Rumors of Katrina becom-
ing catastrophic began with a
voluntary evacuation. Edgar
and his wife, Juanita had been
through two major hurricanes
in Camille and Betsy and
weathered it out.
“We had our provisions and
Juanita said, ‘I’m not going.’
She wanted us to go and leave
her there. Well that wasn’t
going to happen, so we all
stayed,” Edgar said.
Katrina hit, and the morn-
ing after it appeared they had
weathered a third major hur-
ricane.
“We just had puddles of wa-
ter,” he said.
What they didn’t know was
how emergency officials were
channeling rising water. What
happened remains puzzling,
even to this day. But it became
apparent quickly that a turn
for the very worst was immi-
nent.
The Josephs home stood two
feet above the ground. Water
Muskogee senior Lilli Joseph runs a relay event at Indian Bowl earlier this season. Her journey to be-
coming a Rougher started out of the waters of Hurricane Katrina nearly 13 years ago.
had reached the house.
A boat owner got to them.
Lilli’s first steps are still etched
in her mind.
“I reached as far as our front
steps and the steps came apart
and floated,” she said.
The boat ran out of gas and
Edgar and the boat’s owner
pushed it and eight people
inside it to the Superdome,
through water chin-high. On
the journey, Edgar recalled see-
ing something puzzling.
“We lived seven blocks away
from an area where the largest
body of water is on their back
door and people in that neigh-
borhood were out walking dogs
and riding bicycles,” Edgar
recalled.
The family stayed a week at
the Superdome with thousands
of others before beginning a
2 1/2 day bus journey to find
refuge. Places in Dallas, includ-
ing arenas, were at capacity.
Winding in and out of Texas
and Arkansas, they wound up
at Camp Gruber.
VON CASTOR/Phoenix Special Photo
“One other thing that stuck
in my mind about that,” Lilli
said. “Me and my sisters didn’t
know anyone, but they gath-
ered all of us together and all
the kids got to watch a movie
on a big screen. We were finally
doing something fun. Movie
Nights at Camp Gruber were
special.”
Within days, those kids were
being enrolled in area schools.
That’s where the fit came for
(See JOURNEY, 3)
5) at 11:30 a.m. Fort
Gibson (24-4), one of
three teams tied at No.
6 in the rankiings, gets
No. 9 McLoud (23-11)
at 1 p.m. The two locals
cannot meet unless it
is in the finals at 5:30
p.m. at HOF Stadium.
Sequoyah would play
No. 3 Heavener (27-7) or
No. 8 Lexington (22-5)
and Fort Gibson would
get No. 6 Cushing or No.
4 Perkins (23-3), both at
2:30 p.m. in semifinal
action.
In 4A, Haskell (19-17),
ranked 16th, gets No.
1 Dale (36-2) at 11:30
a.m. Advance there and
they’d play either No. 4
Washington (28-15) or
No. 6 Stroud (28-7) in
a 4 p.m. semifinal. The
championship in 4A is
set for 7 p.m.
Soccer playoffs re-
sume Tuesday with sec-
ond-round action in 4A
involving Fort Gibson’s
boys and girls and Hill-
dale and Wagoner girls.
Miami (8-8) plays
Fort Gibson (12-4) in
boys action at 7:30 p.m.
Earlier at 5:30, Fort
Gibson girls (16-0) will
take on Skiatook (14-2).
Should the FGHS boys
advance, they’ll face
either Glenpool (13-3)
or Verdigris (10-5) later
this week. If the Lady
Tigers win, they’ll get
the Cushing-Wagoner
winner.
Hilldale (12-4) plays
Oologah (13-2). The win-
ner gets Holland Hall
(11-5) or Verdigris (12-3)
in the quarterfinals lat-
er this week. Wagoner
(15-1) plays Cushing
(12-4) with the winner
getting Fort Gibson or
Verdigris.
Action in 5A begins
this week. Tahlequah (7-
(See PLAYOFFS, 2)

ATHLETES OF THE WEEK

GIRLS BOYS
KAYLEE SMITH ASHTON BARTHOLOMEW, GARRIN BLAYLOCK
SEQUOYAH LADY INDIANS, SOFTBALL WAGONER BULLDOGS TRACK, WARNER EAGLES TRACK

Consistency defines her Double-golds in regionals

Smith didn’t get the most home runs Bartholomew won the high
in a day full of dingers, was about as jump in 6-6 and cleared the
consistent as she could be in two re- long jump in 20-7 to become a
gional shootouts against teams in the double-winner in 4A regional
top six in Class 5A. Smith was 10-for-12 track last week Blaylock won
in a 24-23 win against Fort Gibson and the 800 in 2:05.45 and the
a 27-17 win against Beggs to send the 1,600 in 4:48 in the 2A regional
third-seeded Lady Indians into state as at Okemah. His efforts helped
the regional champ. the Eagles to a second-place
team finish behind Cordell.