Spring standouts

May 21, 2008 12:20 am

— By Kenton Brooks and Mike Kays
Phoenix Sports staff
Among the season’s most memorable performances in track, tennis, golf, soccer and powerlifting were these efforts, all of which netted these athletes the top recognition in their respective sports, as selected by the Phoenix staff.
Boys Track
Self-made athlete.
Sequoyah’s Mike Soap defines the term.
The senior taught himself how to high jump and without any formal coaching, he won the Class 3A high jump this season by clearing 6-10 at the state meet in Tulsa.
“My coach (Sam HorseChief) doesn’t know much about the high jump as he’s more of a running coach,” Soap said. “He told me just to go out there on my own. I’ve done it all myself.”
His workouts are unique. He practices to clear 6-foot and 6-2 to “get his form down” and takes off on some days during the week.
Still, Soap has improved in the event, clearing 6-8 at state last year and then soaring over 6-10 at the regionals and then at state this spring.
“I didn’t expect to get 6-8 this year. I thought I was lucky to get it last year,” he said.
Also a standout in basketball, Soap has caught the attention of colleges for his high jumping. He’s soon expected to sign a scholarship with the University of Oklahoma. He had a chance for a basketball scholarship but is now focused on the high jump in his future.
“It’s just fun,” Soap said about the event. “It’s an indoor and outdoor sport.”

Girls Track
Hulbert’s Paiten Taylor wasn’t going to go out for track until a change in school policy allowed her to split time between softball and track.
For Taylor, who is actually a four-sport athlete — her favorite sport is volleyball and she also led the state in blocked shots on the basketball court — the decision paid off. She jumped 5 feet, 2 inches and won the Class 2A high jump.
“That wasn’t even my best jump,” she said. “I went 5-7 in practice and 5-4 in an earlier meet. When I got to state, all I wanted to do was my personal best. I thought I could win but when you hear about girls who have jumped 5-10 and things like that, you’re not too confident.”
She stood alone at 5-2 and scratched on three attempts at 5-4, but it has given her some momentum for next year.
“Next year I want to try and break the state record,” she said, referring to the 27-year-old record held by Yukon’s Jane Clough.
And if the old school policy should be implemented?
“I’ll do track,” she said. “My mind has changed on that.”

Girls soccer
Brennan Miller didn’t care where she played for Fort Gibson this season. Regardless of the position, the junior was prolific with her scoring.
She started the season at forward to center midfielder. Yet, she finished with 18 goals and 12 assists in helping the Lady Tigers to a 10-2 record and the first round of the Class 4A playoffs.
“I don’t know why (coach Gabe Ellis) switched me,” Miller said. “I really didn’t mind because whatever he needed me to play. It’s not a major deal.
“I love playing soccer. It’s so not stressful to me. It’s a great sport to stay in shape. I don’t have a lot of pressure on my back. It comes from the heart for me when I’m playing. I love being out there.”
Does that mean Miller, the Phoenix Female Athlete of the Year in 2007 who excelled in basketball and shined in soccer, likes soccer more than basketball?
“Each one is different,” she said. “I don’t have a favorite sport.”
She doesn’t pick out a particular game as a highlight.
“Getting to know the girls better and becoming more of a team,” she said. “Making those great friends was the greatest time of my life. I don’t know if I had this much fun playing soccer.”

Boys soccer
Opponents of Wagoner probably didn’t like facing the Bulldogs this season, especially with Paul Muzljakovich (Muz-lock-ovich) standing in front of the goal.
Not many shots got by the 6-foot-1 senior as he recorded 143 saves in the Bulldogs’ 12 games, an average of 11.92 per game.
“Being goalkeeper isn’t as easy as it looks,” Muzljakovich said. “There was a lot of good scorers out there. I just tried to stop them. When you play goalkeeper, you have to make sure you’re at the top of your game. You’re like a coach on the field and making sure you do what you’re supposed to do.”
A four-year starter for the Bulldogs, Muzljakovich stopped enough goals to impress college coaches. He has signed a scholarship to play at Lyon University, an NAIA school in Batesville, Ark.

Tennis
Muskogee junior Brandon Finerty worked this season on his serve and transition game. “It’s at the point in my game that if you want to go to the next level, it requires you to keep improving,” he said.
Finerty raised his level in high school tennis, winning the state championship at No. 2 singles. He becomes the first boys state champion from Muskogee since 1976 when MHS coach Rusty Bradley won at No. 1 singles.
Finerty beat Union’s Harry Warden 6-3, 7-6 and 7-4 in the tiebreaker in the Class 5A match. The win was also especially sweet as he avenged two losses to Warden, the last of which came in the regional finals. The Muskogee player finished the season with a 30-8 record.
“We went out there with the mindset that we weren’t going to lose,” Finerty said. “It was great because I had all of that support and people backing me. There was probably about 50 people from Muskogee in the stands cheering me on.”
It was the perfect ending to a memorable season.
“The season started out good for me and I improved a lot. In the end, it all paid off,” Finerty said.

Boys golf
Jordan Perceful wished he had played better this season, but it still was quite a bit better than most.
He had an average of 75 for 11 rounds and finished tied for sixth place at the Class 4A state tournament with a three-round total of 218.
“I put myself in position to win every time or be close to winning,” he said. “It was a fun year.”
A junior, Perceful helped the Hornets to a runner-up finish at the state tournament.
“That was really good because last year was the first time for a Hilldale boys team to make it to state,” he said.
Perceful helped the Hornets this season with a 1-under par 71 at the Canadian Invitational and a 1-over 73 at the Hilldale Invitational. He won both tournaments.
The 71 came at the Arrowhead Golf Course. He credits a change in his swing.
“It was a little change I made the week before the tournament and I was able to work on it during the tournament,” Perceful said. “I made five birdies that day.”

Girls golf
Mychael McWhorter started out the season with a first place finish at the Tulsa Union Preview with a score of 75. The Rougherette ended her senior year with a fourth-place finish at the Class 6A state tournament with a 77-82—159 for the two days.
In between, McWhorter had a memorable season, carding an average of 80.4 for 12 rounds.
“I did better this season than I anticipated,” she said. “I wondered if I would play better than last year and I realized I was hitting the ball more solid than last year.”
Besides qualifying for the state tournament for three years, McWhorter, who is graduating magna cum laude, had seven Top 10 finishes and five Top 5 finishes this season.
McWhorter said she spent a lot of time on her chipping this season.
“It paid off for me,” she said.
The year was culminated with McWhorter signing a golf scholarship with University of Central Oklahoma, joining freshman Raelynn Farthing on the Lady Bronchos’ squad. Farthing, ironically, was last year’s Girls Golfer of the Year.

Powerlifting
Pound for pound, JaRod Jackson of Haskell may be the strongest 224-pounder in the state of Oklahoma. Who’s going to argue?
Competing at the state powerlifting meet in McLoud back in March, the junior lifted 1,425 pounds in the three categories: bench press, squat and dead lift. He won the state championship in the Small School’s 242-pound division.
“I started lifting and I began to like it,” Jackson said. “I just want to get better every day.”
Jackson has gotten a lot better since he lifted his first weights two years ago.
At the state meet, he benched 255 pounds, deadlifted 580 and had a squat of 590 pounds. He received a plaque for having the meet’s Outstanding Squat in his division.
Jackson, a defensive end for the Haymakers in the fall, looks forward to doing more work to powerlift again next year when he’s a senior. In the meantime, he’s working out two hours a day for three days a week.
“I have a few goals I’ve set for myself,” he said.

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