By Nick Eatman
The action has been as intensive and competitive as ever on the
actual playing floor at Bruin Fieldhouse this year for the LSC
Championship. But like always, the sights and sounds away from the
court has been entertaining as well.
From the women's teams visiting
Woolaroc and then conducting a bowling event with the children of
Bartlesville to men's players visiting elementary schools and one
in particular returning the favor for Midwestern State's team, it's
been quite a weekend for the people enjoying the action, along with
the ones actually performing.
"I think this year, we've seen
the fruits of our labor," LSC Commissioner Stan Wagnon said. "In
the third year here in Bartlesville, we've seen more involvement
and more reaction and response with our involvement in the
community than ever before. Every event that we had aimed at
community involvement has been better than it has the previous two
years."
History Lesson
While all eight women's teams
arrived in Bartlesville for Tuesday's LSC Awards Banquet, the first
games didn't start until Thursday. So they made the most of
Wednesday's day off, and learned a little bit about the history of
this area in the process.
The LSC set up a visit to
Woolaroc, located about 15 miles from Bartlesville. The Frank
Phillips-themed museum ranch that covers nearly 4,000 acres,
includes a huge wildlife preserve with exotic animals such as
buffalo, elk, zebra and American Bison.
The ranch was established in 1925
by Phillips, a famous oilman who has definitely put his stamp on
the city and surrounding area of Bartlesville.
The name Woolaroc is derived from
three words - the woods, lakes and rocks that make up Osage Hills
and northeast Oklahoma.
"This town and this area has a
lot to offer," said Bob Pomeroy, a member of the Bartlesville
Sports Commission and former Phillips Petroleum sports marketing
executive. "And we're excited about the opportunity to showcase our
community in every way we can. I know the kids really enjoyed
themselves out there."
Double-Visit
While it has become a regular
occurrence here in Bartlesville for the men's teams to visit a
local elementary while here in town, one of the schools made sure
it gave back to their "team of the week."
Kane Elementary, knowing that
Midwestern State would be visiting on Thursday, one-upped the
Mustangs and brought about 75 kids to the watch the quarterfinal
game against Southwestern Oklahoma.
"That was a special sight
to see those kids up there and they were pretty loud," McCasland
said. "Here we are a team from Texas up in Oklahoma and we've got a
big group of fans cheering us on. That was really nice."
Wagnon said the gesture from the
elementary school was an example of the progress made by the
community events.
"We've visited elementary all
three years we have been here," Wagnon said. "But this year, the
Kane Elementary studied up and did their homework and brought the
kids out here to support them, before the visit occurred. And then
(Friday) night, another group came back with their parents. That's
the type of connection we've been aiming. We want to give them a
reason to take some ownership of our conference and give them a
reason to come out.
MSU Coach Leads Youth Night
Midwestern State men's basketball
coach Grant McCasland might be new to the LSC in his first season
on the Mustangs' sideline, but he made a big impression to about
150 youth members of local Bartlesville area churches on Wednesday
night.
McCasland, a former walk-on at
Baylor, spoke for about 15 minutes in to the group that gathered in
the old basketball gymnasium, adjacent from Bruin Fieldhouse. A son
of a Baptist preacher, McCasland told his own story, which included
overcoming a knee injury as a young teenager and the struggles it
took to become a Division I basketball player.
Different Type Of Lane
After the first round of women's
games on Thursday, all eight teams took part in a bowling event
with local special education children.
It's the third straight year for
the teams to hit the lanes on their day off. And while the
smiles are huge from the kids, they are definitely matched, if not
exceeded by the joy it brings the basketball players as well.