The O'Colly April 10, 2026

Friday, April 10, 2026

Inspiring unified athlete

BY CALESON COON I ASSISTANT NEWS & LIFESTYLE EDITOR

Despite growing up with a diagnosis that is one in a million, Garrett Jones lives each day with a joy that lightens up each room he walks into.

The first thing Jones does when he walks through the door is hug each of his coworkers and tell them how

much he missed them.

“He is so full of joy and excitement and comes into work with a smile on his face every day,” Ivy Hartman, junior at Oklahoma State University majoring in exercise science and Garrett Jones’ coworker, said. “He truly brightens all of our days and brings a sense of fun to the office.”

Born with oral facial digital syndrome, Jones has been short of opportunities to express who he is and the joy he carries. However, with help from sports, friends, family and Special Olympics, Jones continues to be an inspiration to all those around him.

See INSPIRES on page 5A

Stillwater ministries gather on campus to worship, bring students together

Audie Martin STAFF REPORTER

In 156 hours of prayer across campus, Drew Moss is hoping for two things.

“My hope and encouragement is that it will continue on after this week that people would grow in their desire to seek the Lord in prayer,” Moss said. “The second thing is that God would open our eyes to the goodness of Jesus and to our need for Him.”

Moss, a campus minister at The Table, an Oklahoma State University Christian campus ministry, is the co-leader for the OSUnited worship event and week of prayer leading up to Easter. As 13 campus ministries and church groups gathered on Engineering South Lawn Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Moss is eager to see OSU’s campus become a worship ground.

Stepping onto the stage at OSUnited, Moss addressed the crowd with his heart for the night. At the second annual OSUnited event and third annual week of prayer Moss said there were two key convictions campus ministers across OSU had during the week before Easter, or Holy Week.

See UNITED on page 6A

Bryson Thadhani CO-EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Oklahoma State University Police will be closing Hall of Fame Avenue between Duck and Washington streets will close at 8 a.m. This follows the game-day closures that happen Saturday for The Boys from Oklahoma concert and related pre-show activities. The concert is set to start at 4:30 p.m. Turnpike Troubadours and Cross Canadian Ragweed are coheadlining the show.

businesses prepare for Boys From Oklahoma

The iPhone used to capture lunar shots

Bryson

Artemis II just handed Apple the kind of space flex you can’t fake. NASA’s first crewed lunar flyby in more than 50 years sent four astronauts looping around the moon — and along for the ride were a handful of off‑the‑shelf iPhone 17s. Not ruggedized cinema rigs or custom aerospace cameras, but the same phones people are dropping in parking lots and using to film rec league softball. The contrast with Samsung’s much-hyped “Space Zoom” moon photos, already dinged for heavy AI embellishment, is almost too on-the -nose: one company’s phones just documented a real mission in deep space, while the other’s were caught hallucinating better craters. Before they ever left Earth, the phones went through a certification process to survive Orion’s environment — radiation checks, thermal cycling, microgravity use, protective casing. Once on board, the astronauts used them as handheld cameras, capturing the far side of the moon through Orion’s windows, framing the Earth as a blue marble and taking the kind of “selfies in space” that would be corny if they weren’t historic. These are not primary mission instruments, but they are primary sources: documentary images of a first‑of‑its‑kind flight, recorded on the same sensor stack you can buy at a mall kiosk.

That’s what makes this moment so potent: it blurs the line between specialized space tech and everyday gadgets. For decades, space photography has been the realm of bespoke optics and highly tuned systems the public only encounters as file names in a NASA archive. Now we’re looking at frames shot on a phone whose other job is doomscrolling and group chats. It’s not that iPhone 17 is suddenly a “space camera” in the scientific sense — Orion still carries the serious gear — but that a general-purpose phone is robust and capable enough to stand alongside it as a credible storytelling tool. From a brand perspective, you can’t buy better messaging than “the first smartphone certified and used to document a

crewed lunar mission.”

Set that next to Samsung’s relationship with the moon and the story shifts from wonder to marketing ethics. The company’s “Space Zoom” branding turned lunar shots into its signature party trick: tap the shutter, hold still and watch a fuzzy gray dot morph into a crisp, cratered disc. The problem, as testers showed, is that those jaw-dropping images weren’t just optics and noise reduction. They relied on an AI system trained on moon imagery that actively injected detail not present in the raw capture. Samsung denied outright “overlays,” calling it enhancement, but for a lot of users the distinction was academic; when your phone invents lunar geography to make a photo prettier, the line between photograph and illustration gets thin.

So you have two competing visions of what “space” means in consumer tech. Apple’s is unglamorous but real: spectrum deals, satellite partners, hardware qualification, making sure an iPhone won’t glitch out halfway to the far side of the moon. Its space story is infrastructure and reliability, and now, after Artemis II, authenticity. The photos are exactly what they claim to be: a phone pointed out a window in deep space, capturing whatever physics and glass will allow. Samsung’s space story is algorithmic spectacle — using machine learning to bend reality toward what we expect a dramatic moon shot to look like. One is constrained by what’s actually out there; the other is constrained by what the model has been trained to imagine. Artemis II’s iPhones end up mattering more than whichever handset wins a benchmark chart this year. They take a camera we know is drenched in computational tricks on Earth and place it in a context where honesty suddenly matters again. The lesson for the rest of the industry is simple: if you’re going to invoke space to sell phones, the bar isn’t “does this look impressive on a slide?” anymore. It’s whether your images would still hold up if they were taken out a window at 230,000 miles and archived next to the Apollo negatives.

How businesses prepare for Boys From Oklahoma

Marcus Mesis STAFF REPORTER

As The Boys From Oklahoma arrives Saturday, businesses around Stillwater are preparing for the crowds.

A Red Dirt concert series headlined by Cross Canadian Ragweed and the Turnpike Troubadours, the event at Boone Pickens Stadium that drew more than 200,000 people in four days last year. Tickets for Saturday are nearly sold out.

For some, the 2025 concert was a bigger event than homecoming. The Garage Burgers and Beer is one of those businesses.

Salena Irvin, the general manager of The Garage, said the restaurant’s expectations were broken quickly with how busy it was on the first day of the event last year.

“I’m gonna say on Thursday, we did the same sales as we do on Friday of Homecoming for Walkaround and Homecoming,” Irvin said. “The Friday of Homecoming is usually the busiest day (of the year). ... Thursday, the slowest night of the concert, was the exact same as the busiest day of Homecoming.”

The Garage learned from last year and this year has been watching ticket sales and hotel rooms to get the best sense of what the crowd will be, but preparing for this year has been harder because it will be only one day instead of four.

“We just don’t really know what to expect with it being such a different dynamic compared to last year versus this year,” Irvin said. “So the fact that you can still buy tickets today versus last year was sold out completely. You couldn’t find tickets. So it’s a lot of unknowns going into (Saturday).”

This year, The Garage plans to be overprepared rather than underprepared.

“Honestly, I think I’m a little

overstaffed, but I would rather be overstaffed than understaffed, especially with last year being such a surprise,” Irvin said. “So we just plan on kind of going with the flow.”

Callyn Griffin, a manager at The Hideaway, said the pizza restaurant had a smaller crowd than Homecoming last year but still a busier-than-normal day.

“Last year we probably bought three times our usual inventory just to make sure that we had enough,” Griffin said. “This year we did maybe just (one) and a half, just a little bit extra, to kind of make sure we’re not over buying so we’re not having so much leftover afterwards.”

Eskimo Joe’s is expecting larger crowds like everyone else but isn’t just looking at more staff and products, said Kendra Burtum, director of public relations for Stan Clark Companies.

“We did our best to plan ahead and prepare with staffing and logistics, but also extra seating, tables, TVs, and live music entertainment, plus extra outdoor food and drink service for our guests,” Burtum said.

Eskimo Joe’s hosts special events often and plans to use that experience to be prepared for The Boys From Oklahoma. During the weekend, the restaurant plans to have live entertainment from other Oklahoma bands starting Friday. Preparing for a large event like The Boys From Oklahoma includes getting employees ready for the crowds.

Said Irvin: “(We have had) a lot of conversations, a lot of just being very honest with them and being like, ‘Hey, guys, we’re not 100% sure what’s gonna happen. This is what we think is going to happen. We are staffed. You guys are here. We are here for your support system that you may need.’”

Surviving twice before 30

How Wilber turned crisis into creative drive

BY SEVE SANCHEZ I O’COLLY CONTRIBUTER

Two heart attacks before turning 30. Not a nightmare, a reality for Devin Wilber.

“The heart issues and stuff were hard at first,” Wilber said. “They made me pretty depressed and made me a little angry at the world, and definitely still make some days difficult, but they do come with a little bit of a bright side, surprisingly enough.”

Although COVID-19 pushed many to think about their health, Wilber, then 24, faced a much harsher wake-up call: two heart attacks in January and March 2021.

That gave Wilber a deeper appreciation for life.

“It reminded me that not everything is the end of the world and tomorrow’s opportunities are bigger than today’s problems and challenges,” Wilber said.

Rather than falling, Wilber kept moving. What started as small portrait sessions and event coverage evolved into a formal photography business. He developed the Devin Lawrence Media Co.

The company that has given him the chance to travel the world and cover sports, carrying his name and work ethic behind it.

“I liked the challenge of working for myself and creating something I could be proud of,” Wilber said. “I was once told by a business colleague, ‘It’s better to work 80 hours a week for yourself and something you can be proud of rather than 40 hours a week for someone else who would replace you in 15 minutes if they thought they could benefit from it.’”

For Wilber, the business wasn’t a lifelong dream realized. It started as a late-night thought after time spent on the corporate side of media.

He spent nearly two years as a social media marketing specialist for the Oklahoma Governor’s International Team and the Center for Advanced Global Leadership and Engagement at Spears School of Business at Oklahoma State University. He realized that wasn’t the path he wanted to take.

Wilber gave himself three years to make a profit from his business and to match his pay from his previous jobs.

“The first year was tough; it seemed like one or two months of the year were carrying me through to the same time the next year,” Wilber said. “Luckily in year three, I got some more opportunities in the corporate and freelance world as well as in the media consulting world, and those helped propel me.” Before his business, Wilber

was another college student looking to find a way through.

However, his consistency separated him. Wilber spent one year as a journalist with The O’Colly before earning the title of photo editor. From there, he multitasked the jobs of a photo editor alongside being a sports photographer for OSU.

Still, it came with the challenges of being a freshman.

“Early on in my career, I made a lot of mistakes and dumb decisions,” Wilber said.

“However, I always tried to keep moving forward and learn from them. That allowed me to get involved as an editor early, get into Major League Soccer and international soccer, Major League Baseball and a variety of other work before I was even 20.”

After college, Wilber worked with Pistols Firing Blog, supplying photography to complement the blog’s coverage. This caught the eye of Marshall Scott, the owner of Pistols Firing, who acknowledged the lasting impact Wilber has made in a couple of years.

“Obviously, art is a big piece of the content world,” Scott said. “His photos are fantastic, but more importantly, he works incredibly hard. Working in sports isn’t always easy, given it’s a lot of nights and weekends, but I’m not sure I’ve ever heard Devin complain one time about being at an event or having to

games, and I am busy myself a lot too.”

Although Wilber, a native of Julesburg, Colorado, is 29, his impact has helped the youthful careers of many who attend OSU, which comes from his early interest in photography. Marilyn Wilber, his mom, said passion became clear during his teenage years.

“Devin took a strong interest in photography the beginning of his sophomore year of high school when he started his first endeavor working for the Julesburg Advocate,” Marilyn Wilber said. “From there, he took every opportunity he could to get real-world experience.”

Through those opportunities, Wilber met Beki Jackson, OSU Pom’s coach and spirit coordinator, a position she has held since 2013.

When Jackson needed a photographer for Senior Night on a Saturday afternoon game, a quick text message was all it took for Wilber to be convinced.

“Devin does a great job of capturing movement in photographs,” Jackson said. “His ability to do that benefits groups like Pom and Cheer when showing the beauty and strength in our skill set.”

Spending seven years at Oklahoma State allowed Wilber to gain an attribute many photographers don’t have the opportunity to learn: familiarity. However, little has been

“I learned early that no two shoots are the same, no two clients are the same, and no two media consulting opportunities are the same.”

DEVIN WILBER

constant about Wilber.

viewpoint, often too close to the playing surface, allowed him to produce jaw-dropping photos.

A favorite shot of Wilber’s came at the Oklahoma State wrestling dual against Iowa on Feb. 22. During Pistol Pete’s shotgun ritual, Wilber was able to capture the perfect moment of Pete and the shotgun’s blast to provide fans with a shot good enough that even Wilber printed the shot onto a frame for his house.

The photo made its way around social media and received praise from fans. This helped Wilber stay active on social media with his photography, which has allowed his work to be exposed to more than 2,400 people who follow his photography account on Instagram.

“Luckily, social media has become a great tool to not only grow my business but also has become a profit stream for me with partnerships and pay for engagement,” Wilber said. “I don’t worry too much because I’m always looking for the next big opportunity, and I am always reaching into new industries to get involved.”

leads to technological advances that make it difficult to keep up with. Keeping a competitive edge is important, but for photography, having an edge isn’t enough.

“I learned early on that no two shoots are the same, no two clients are the same, and no two media consulting opportunities are the same,” Wilber said. “Because of that, I strive to learn always. There isn’t much I don’t know about the technological side of cameras and editing software, and I make sure it stays that way.”

Repetition is part of the job. So is pressure. The ability to know what you’re shooting can help reduce that tension and provide a better opportunity.

Wilber has immersed himself in his work, allowing him to shoot 37 college teams, the MLS and international soccer. The opportunities have only continued to grow.

Soon, Wilber will be one of a few selected photographers to shoot the World Cup this summer, a stage that once felt impossible for a student trying to find his way.

hop in a car with me and go on a five-hour drive.”

Those nights and weekends often have a lasting effect on the body over time.

No one knows that more than Jordan Kemmerly, Wilber’s girlfriend. Kemmerly is a cheer director for Zone Twister Cheer and followed Wilber into the realm of photography.

She understands the sacrifices that must be made.

“He is not able to be physically present all the time because of that, but we do the best to keep contact and talk when we can, even if it is only for a few minutes,” Kemmerly said. “It works for us as I am a coach myself, so I understand the demands and importance of being there for practices and

From schedules to health scares, he must find a way to keep a level head. Even neardeath experiences can’t take away his smile.

“He has had various serious health emergencies in his life and suffers from a few chronic conditions and doesn’t feel good a lot of the time,” Kemmerly said. “However, he always shows up with a smile on his face, no matter how bad he feels.”

After his fourth and fifth years, Wilber was no longer another student photographer. He had become a regular at Oklahoma State athletic events. His images appeared across social media platforms and put his name on the map. His

When Wilber graduated from OSU in 2020 with a bachelor’s degree in sports media and strategic communications, things changed. He wasn’t shooting for a grade anymore. If he wanted to keep working, the photos had to matter to someone willing to pay for them.

“Always network; people are your greatest skill resource as a photographer and media professional,” Wilber said. “If you can network well and make every client feel like they are your most important client or person in that moment, you will never struggle finding work.”

Yet the competition doesn’t sleep. It never wavers.

The photography landscape continues to evolve. Social media prioritizes speed, which

“Throughout my years, I have learned that to get the next big moment, you must be totally immersed in the environment,” Wilber said. “Too many people get caught up on how will they edit a photo later or how can I beat a photographer next to me and that hurts their ability to shoot long-term.”

That determination has translated into his business and his network. Former athletes remember him. Pistols Firing seeks event coverage from him. Customers tell their friends about him.

“I love that some of the most beautiful moments and stories have found my camera in these past 10 years, and I am thankful I can do this every day,” Wilber said.

Lifestyle

From ‘dead squirrel’ to doctoral success

After putting her two sons to bed, 24-year-old Kylie Burleson settles in for the night with her laptop and a to-do list.

She will grade papers for at least two hours, spend three more on homework, pack her sons’ bags and her own for the weekend and double-check her schedule before making tomorrow’s list.

Double duty as an Oklahoma State University Ph.D. student in health and human performance and a teaching assistant is difficult. Being a single mom of two and a gymnastics judge working 36hour weekends on top of that can seem unbearable.

Yet Burleson handles it all with an ongoing to-do list, at least two cups of coffee daily and a support system at her side.

“I would not be able to do any of it without my lab supporting me, and we work so well together,” Burleson said. “They help cover stuff for me if I can’t be there, and I try to do my best for them, too. And then my parents and a couple of great friends that I am horrible at texting, but I can call on a weekly or every other week basis to catch up.”

Burleson keeps a bag packed in a corner alongside her sons’. Competition season runs from November to April, meaning Beau, 5, and Carter, 2, spend many weekends at their grandparents’ home in Oklahoma City while Burleson heads to a meet. After all, she has been on a gymnastics floor since she was 4.

As she rose through the levels in Oklahoma City, Burleson was training 20-25 hours a week, learning that balance was key to excelling in school and as a level 10 gymnast competing across the United States. Her mother, Sheri Burleson, said the time-consuming sport taught Burleson to keep a to-do list and manage priorities.

“She would get in the car, and we would be heading to gymnastics, and she would go, ‘Oh my gosh, I can’t [or] I’m not going to be able to do this,’” Sheri Burleson said. “‘I have homework in five classes.’ And I would say, ‘OK, let’s break it down; what do you have in math?’ and she’d say, ‘Well, I’ve got this page I need to do,’ and I’d say, ‘OK, how long is it going to take you?’ ‘Oh, 10 minutes.’ And then we would go through the next one and the next one. Well, by the time we went through the list, she would recognize that she might have something going on in all five classes, but the reality was it wasn’t more than an hour’s worth of work.”

While Burleson did homework from the back seat of a car on the way to gymnastics practices, her mother found a way to pay for the expensive sport.

Spending about $5,000 each season on gyms, meets, travel fees, leotards, uniforms and equipment, some families opt to fundraise for the myriad expenses. Sheri Burleson chose a less conventional route and became a gymnastics judge. After 10 years spent judging, she retired and passed the torch to her daughter when she started college.

As Burleson packs her bag for a weekend of judging, she remembers her years in the gym might not have continued if it weren’t for an unfortunate accident with a squirrel.

At 14, Burleson was recovering from reconstructive surgery on her right ankle and riding with her mom to a

BY AUDIE MARTIN I STAFF REPORTER

new gym, unsure whether she wanted to continue gymnastics, when a squirrel ran in front of their car.

“It went back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, and my mom ended up running over it and killing the squirrel,” Burleson said. “Then a mile down the road, there was another squirrel, and this squirrel committed to crossing the street. And it didn’t get ran over. So then, me and my mom have had a saying [of] ‘Don’t be a dead squirrel,’ and, ‘Are you being a squished squirrel right now because you’re not making a decision. You’re not choosing one side or the other. Choose one side or the other.’”

That car ride became a turning point and when she decided to commit to one side of the street.

Falling back in love with gymnastics, Burleson said she found a family in the gym after one visit.

“She switched gyms after her injury and was really ready to quit and change gyms, and we were going to go look at a couple of different ones,” Sheri said. “She went to the Mat Trotters [Gymnastics, Cheer and Tumbling], where the Carters coached, and we left there, and she said, ‘I’m home.’”

Burleson said Jeff Carter and his wife, Trish, were the reason she fell in love with the sport again. Traveling with the team across the U.S., including to Indianapolis and Missoula, Montana, Burleson said the biggest impact the Carters made was off the spring floor.

In the program, “Coach” Jeff Carter implemented a life lessons booklet where athletes discussed discipline, respect, integrity, honesty and other characteristics and how they apply outside the sport.

Carter wanted to show his athletes how to be respectful, hard workers in and out of the gym. Throughout the years of practice and travel for competitions, Burleson began to see the Carters as a second family.

She felt the bond was so deep that she decided to name her second son in the Carters’ honor.

“I got goosebumps right now,

her schedule and the two boys, but she is doing amazing.”

As Burleson finishes busy days in labs or prepares for long weekends of judging, her evening is far from over. After picking up her sons from day care, she can be found outside pushing them on the swing set or watching them bounce on the trampoline.

Once 7 p.m. hits, Burleson is shutting down her home — at least for her sons.

Even after her competing career ended, Burleson wasn’t ready to leave the sport behind. She transitioned from athlete to coach during her first year of graduate school at OSU and had already become a mother during her second year of undergraduate school. With her first son, Beau, strapped to her

“I love my babies. They are the most important things ever, and I love them so much. It’s a good break [from parenting] for the weekend. But I guess you can say it’s even better coming home to them after that break.”

KYLIE BURLESON

I’ll put it that way,” Carter said.

“It’s such an honor. I believe I probably got teary-eyed, and it was completely unexpected. Again, such a great honor to have her name her son after us; that is something that I’ll never forget. It means a lot.”

Carter continues to admire Burleson as a driven, hardworking individual as she earns her Ph.D. and balances life.

“She stepped up even more and took those qualities into everything she did,” Carter said.

“She excelled at [Oklahoma State University] and is still excelling at OSU. And now being a mom, she is that all with that same determination and great energy with her boys. I actually don’t know how she does everything she’s done with

in a carrier during practices, having a child at the gym until 8 p.m. proved difficult.

To stay in the world of gymnastics, Burleson became a certified judge. In the tightknit judging community, she was reintroduced to Brittney Shaw, the Oklahoma state judging director for women’s gymnastics.

After meeting through her mother when Burleson was an athlete in high school, Burleson and Shaw built a friendship about five years ago.

“Not to sound biased, but she’s pretty incredible,” Shaw said. “She is a single mom with two boys that are rambunctious and funny, and all the things, but so sweet, and she’s continuously talking about her Ph.D., and I can’t even tell you

what she’s doing, but it is really smart.”

Before returning to the hectic life of homework, research and grading papers, Burleson picks up her sons from her parents’ house after weekends of judging.

“I love my babies,” Burleson said. “They are the most important things ever, and I love them so much. It’s a good break [from parenting] for the weekend. But I guess you can say it’s even better coming home to them after that break.”

The time commitment in gymnastics is hefty, yet Burleson finds a way to balance her busy weekends with a Ph.D. lab she said she is grateful for.

Burleson teaches Psychosocial Aspects of Sport and Coaching at OSU and is a teaching assistant for an Ergogenic Aids for Human Performance class. Her Ph.D. team’s research focuses on cardiovascular and vascular dysfunction in offspring, which requires long hours in the lab, in testing and organizing data.

For Petra Kis, one of Burleson’s two lab partners, the athlete mentality continues to shape how to work with a team. A former Division I swimmer at the University of Northern Colorado and a native of Budapest, Hungary, Kis knows what it takes to sacrifice for a team.

“I think athletics in general, any sport, will teach you how to manage your time,” Kis said.

“That definitely helped me to prepare for my master’s and Ph.D.; even now I think about it [and] how much it helped with figuring out them to do what… It just, that’s how we grew up. We learned how to manage time. And now even though it’s not athletics, now it’s more academics working with students, working with different faculty.”

Seeing each other every weekday, Kis, 28, said that despite being older than Burleson, Burleson helped her through her first year at OSU.

“Without her my first year here, obviously she already had a year here when I got here,” Kis said. “I’ve learned a lot from her even though she was

technically she is younger than I am… she knew more from our lab, what we do here, she has already done some projects. She had helped out with other students. So, without her, I would have been a little lost for sure.”

Sometimes the pair walks around Colvin Recreation Center to stretch their legs and get fresh air and sunshine. Kis admires Burleson’s hard work.

“She’s really kind and helpful at everything, but she is the mom of the lab,” Kis said. “She does have two kiddos, we joke around that she’s the mom at the lab, and she makes sure that everything is tidy… But she’s really kind, helpful and will be there for you any time. She might not be able to help you in-person, but she will be there on the phone if you need to.”

The balancing of to-do lists has grown from earning a master’s degree to an inprogress Ph.D., raising two sons alone and judging gymnastics. With it all, the dedication and discipline athletics taught Burleson has shaped her academic vision, and her perseverance and love for life keep her motivated.

“I love judging,” Burleson said. “I love what I do here. I love teaching. I love my kids. I truly love my lab, my family. Like, I have so many good things going on. So, I think that’s my motivation. I just truly love what I do.”

Most nights, that means grading papers for at least two hours, finishing three more hours of homework, packing bags for the boys and herself and updating the next day’s list before she can rest. At 11:49 p.m., Burleson closes her laptop for the night, to-do list finished. Before collapsing into bed, she sets an alarm for 6 a.m., ready to do it all again the next day.

“She just has the determination to get it done,” Sheri Burleson said. “I guess I really look at her and think, ‘She eliminates everybody else’s excuses.’ If you want to accomplish something, you can.”

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Hartman met Jones her freshman year while participating in OSU Unified, a Special Olympics Unified college program collaboration between the OSU Center for Developmental Disabilities, OSU Department of Wellness and the OSU Unified Sports Club.

Special Olympics is what has allowed Jones to bridge that gap from spectator to athlete. He first began Special Olympics at eight years old and at 32, he will have the chance to compete for USA Games Olympic gold come June.

However, Jones didn’t always have all the opportunities he now does. Back in high school, it could be frustrating with the lack of choices and opportunities that he had to deal with.

“In some ways, high school was really hard,” Jones said. “I didn’t get the opportunity to play sports in high school–it would just be a one-time deal.”

But through OSU Unified, Jones gets to do what he loves on a weekly basis as Unified hosts games of different sports depending on the season on Thursday nights.

Jennifer Jones, Jones’ mom and the director of OSU Centerfor Developmental Disabilities, helped found the OSU Unified program in fall 2022. This has allowed her to continue to be on the sidelines to see Garrett Jones athletic pursuits. Garrett Jones has been a part of Unified since its beginning.

“Unified is one of the very best parts of our lives,” Jennifer said. “It’s a community of other athletes and families that share life alongside you.”

Jennifer said Unified offers an opportunity for genuine friendships to develop between athletes with intellectual disabilities and partners without intellectual disabilities, which has given Jones a chance to expand his world–as he and his team will head to Minnesota for the Special Olympics 2026 USA Games in June.

Since the news, the team has been practicing twice a week every week to prepare for the games on June 20-26. The all-star team of six Special Olympics athletes and four Unified partners will be staying at the University of Minnesota for the duration of the games. Along with their coach who is also Jones’ dad.

“Playing basketball with my dad, all in all, it’s very fun,” Jones said. “He pushes all of us.”

In addition to practice, each member of the team also has

On This day

to send a minimum of two workouts each week.

However, outside of training for the 2026 Special Olympics USA Games and competing at Unified on a weekly basis, Jones continues to stay busy and active in the OSU community.

Jones has worked at the OSU Center for Developmental Disabilities as a community specialist for OSU for the past three years. His job consists of working on the research projects, so he mails and enters surveys and prepares everything to be mailed, while working with confidential information.

Erica Still, program coordinator for the Center for

Developmental Disabilities, works alongside Jones daily and oversees the OSU Unified program.

“I get a lot of joy just from the friendships I’ve made–very similar to G–the friendships I’ve made at Unified bring me joy,” Still said. “Friendships I otherwise probably wouldn’t have had. So, I feel like it was a connection for me to something that was missing in my life.”

These connections stay constant for Jones and the mentality he carries.

“It’s about one another, and it’s about everyone,” Garrett Jones said.

By September, Oklahoma State University biochemistry students and faculty will get some extra elbow room.

The elbow room is in the final wing of Noble Research Center, which will house several classrooms, offices, laboratories and an auditorium. The building is one of the center’s three similar wings.

The center also houses geology, plant pathology and entomology departments and the laser research center.

While half the complex’s $47 million cost came from state funds, other monies came from the OSU Foundation and private donations.

Christine Jackson, vice president for business and finance said $7 million came from Section 13 monies, as described by Oklahoma’s constitution.

And Jones continues to get ready for the 2026 Special Olympics USA Games as the team traveled to Nashville, Tennessee in March to take part in a 3-day tournament called the Music City Blitz. It will also serve as preparation for the USA games as the athletes played at the NFL team, Tennessee Titans, stadium.

“I think those opportunities really are–they feel like once in a lifetime opportunities,” Jones said.

Each of these opportunities derived from OSU has meant a multitude of things for Garrett Jones. “It means working hard, you know, and

working with friends,” Jones said. Another friend he works alongside is Landyn Phillips, a freshman political science major, who is the social media intern for Opportunity Orange Scholars and OSU Unified. Phillips said Jones compassion and kindness he shows to everyone is something she aspires to have. Every time he sees her, he makes sure to give her a hug. “It’s like, getting to know G is getting to know his hugs,” Philips said. “That’s his like trademark, I guess you would say, is like a hug.”

news.ed@ocolly.com

socioeconomic backgrounds and experiences to celebrate their faith.

“There’s a campus full of people here who need to know Jesus, and the grace and the hope and the redemption that is in Him,” Moss said. “And number two is that we don’t have the ability or the power to make that happen. That we ourselves have no ability to change anybody’s heart, and no ability to transform lives, and no ability to actually live out the condition that Jesus gave us to make disciples of all the nations. Therefore, we need to pray.”

Rachel Ritchie, a college minister at Sunnybrook Christian Church for four years, said the event is a sign of unity amongst Christians of different denominations,

“Whenever you see the pictures of that or read about it or you walk by and see it, hopefully it brings glory to [God] and not just demonstrates a lot of people gathering together, but really does witness to the goodness of Jesus and glorifies Him,” Ritchie said.

As the lyrics of Cody Carnes’ song “Firm Foundation (He Won’t)” fill the air and students sing along, Avery Green is writing down names of students at the OSUnited event. In her graphic T-shirt depicting two slices of bread, a jam jar labeled “The Gospel” and the caption “Spread it,” Green helped hand out 801 nametags for the evening. An OSU freshman on The Table’s connection team, Green said

her goal for the night is to make connections with others.

“For myself, it would be courage to speak the Gospel and to just not only speak to God’s people and people who believe in Him, but also any lost people that we are called to go after,” Green said.

In the Christian faith, “lost people” are considered those who do not believe in Jesus or “The Gospel,” which Joe Shepherd with The Navigators campus ministry said can be summed up simply.

“The Gospel is the story and life of Jesus Christ, how He came down to earth, died for our sins and rose back three days later for the saving of our sins,” Shepherd said. “His whole life and His story and why He did it.”

As Green and Shepherd spent the evening praying with other students, Isaac

CROSSWORD PUZZLE

Jones’ phone buzzed nonstop. GroupMe notifications from the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, The Table and Reformed University Fellowship gave Jones confidence that marketing for the event was excellent.

Working in the worship band at University Heights Baptist Church, Jones was eager for the worship aspect of OSUnited.

“Most Sundays I’m actually playing as opposed to singing and not focusing on, ‘Am I playing the right stuff?’” Jones said. “So being able to actually just worship is really nice.” Luke Todd from the Baptist Christian Ministry said he was eager to be changed at the event.

“The biggest thing I’m hoping to get out tonight is to leave everything at the foot of the cross,” Todd said.

53 Dendrologist’s concern

Unsubstantial 55 Furthermore

Bodega fixtures 58 Chirp 59 Swirling current 62 On the __ 63 Suffix with puppet

“Just empty out myself so that Christ can fill me up. Because when I’m too full of myself, I can’t be full of righteousness. And so out of tonight, I just want to walk away changed in whatever way that is, big or small.”

Circling the perimeter of the crowd at OSUnited, praying, Moss reflects his gratitude for the campus ministries who made the event come together.

“The cool thing is that there is a real spirit of unity and camaraderie amongst the campus ministries here,” Moss said. “There is not a sense of competition. There is really much a sense of [it’s the] same kingdom, same team. We’re all working together to see more people know Jesus and more people grow up in Jesus to be discipled.”

news.ed@ocolly.com

‘I Remember Everything’ from Zach Bryan’s Tulsa concert

Caleson Coon

On Saturday, Zach Bryan stepped back into Oklahoma to share a piece of his “With Heaven On” tour in Tulsa.

As the sun went its way toward night, people were in the merch lines, food truck lines or snapping photos for proof of appearance, but at approximately 9:03 p.m., the people at H.A. Chapman Stadium came to a standstill to welcome Bryan back home.

There were screams, smiles and tears as Bryan announced that it was “good to be home, Tulsa” and continued the tradition of opening with his song, “Overtime.”

As he continued his route of songs old and new, Bryan relayed his apologies to the concert that was meant to happen the previous night.

Although it was a breezy night, Bryan felt it was the perfect weather, saying he could “play all night long.”

As time passed on, Bryan belted out classics like “Something in the Orange,” “Dawns,” “Godspeed,” “Fifth of May” and “I Remember Everything.”

Throughout Bryan’s most beloved songs, there were hands raised to catch a wind of the tunes in the air, cowboy boots stepping to the beat of the drums and glimpses of why each person in the crowd was in attendance on that April night. Whether it was a song that one’s worn pair of earphones has heard over and over, the concert atmosphere that keeps everyone living exactly where their feet are or seeing Bryan’s pure gratitude to be performing in the stadium of a college he didn’t receive acceptance to and can

laugh about, it would be hard to imagine anyone regretting their attendance on Saturday night.

In the midst of these, Bryan performed “Nine Ball” below the jumbotron that displayed the music video featuring the infamous Matthew McConaughey. It was after this that my dad proceeded to nod his head as if he was impressed saying, “He’s pretty good, he’s pretty good.”

This was followed by Bryan singing “Pink Skies” where folks matched the song’s pace, which then enveloped the stadium with a sense of comfort and deep familiarity against the lights in the stadium.

It was only an hour in, around the time of 10:05 to which my dad asked “So, is

he almost done?” Clearly, in all of his 50 years he’d never attended a Zach Bryan concert. Songs from his latest album were heard as well beginning with “Appetite,” then moving on to others such as “Say Why” and “Dry Deserts.”

And with fans phone flashlights being the substitute for the stars that were hiding in the sky, wind that ran throughout the night as if chasing each song until its inevitable end, Bryan welcomed Tulsa right back as he brought a fan onstage with a handmade sign and written on it, “Heading south for bootcamp in 8 days! Can we play Heading South together?”

To which my dad then said “That’s pretty cool, pretty cool.”

It was soon after this that

OPEN YOUR HEART TO GOD!

“Open your heart and let him in. God will remove all your sorrow and sin. He may not pass this way again, so open your heart and let him come in.” These are words from an old hymn.

Many struggle so hard to take this step, not wanting to give up their independence; not wanting to humble themselves before God. In the Psalms, David said: “When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all the day long. Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat. Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, ‘I will confess my rebellion to the Lord.’ And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone.”

(32:3-5 NLT)

It seems so simple, and it is! Yet, so many

struggle with honesty and humility. These qualities are of great importance with God. The truth is another has paid the penalty for your sins and mine. That is the good news! What we could not do (get rid of our sins), Jesus did by dying in our place. Therefore, “Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven,whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.” (Ro.4:7-8 NIV)

Again, blaming friends or relatives will not help; getting religious does not help, thinking you are among the “better” people does no good. Trust what God has done for you through Christ. Get honest and humble yourself before God. Confess your sinfulness, and God will freely forgive. You will be free of guilt and stand innocent before God. Then you can begin a lasting and fruitful relationship with this great and loving God.

the lights went dark and Bryan thanked Tulsa for the night, left the stage and the crowd in anticipation for what everyone knew was to come–everyone except my dad who looked at me expectantly and asked “So, you ready to go?” I told him that it wasn’t over yet and stood, like many others, awaiting. Although I have to say, my doubt was beginning to creep in as moments passed along and there was still yet to be a glimpse of Bryan and my dad kept sideyeing me while repeatedly asking, “If I was sure.” But if you’ve been to a Zach Bryan concert, I don’t think I have to tell you that my doubts were all in vain because soon enough, “Revival” was there.

Bryan sang through his

now well-known tradition of “Revival.” From giving well-deserved recognition to his bandmates and back up singers to repeatedly belting out “WE’RE HAVING AN ALL NIGHT REVIVAL,” Bryan left the Tulsa crowd with fireworks against the night sky, adrenaline pumping through their veins, his lyrics on their mind and the memory of the night for each to replay until he returns home.

Throughout the night Bryan expressed his love for Tulsa and deep gratitude and how he’d “remember this night forever.” I can’t imagine it being any different for everyone who headed their unique path home with a slice of his “With Heaven On Tour” tucked into their jean pockets.

Friday, April 10, 2026

BUILT IN ATOKA

Ritchie’s rise at OSU fueled by relentless work

Will Thorogood STAFF REPORTER

Before he stepped on the field at O’Brate Stadium, Kollin Ritchie built his path to stardom through years of hard work and leadership at Atoka High School.

Ritchie’s journey from Atoka to Oklahoma State was shaped by a longstanding work ethic that stood out amongst his peers.

From early mornings to late nights, his coaches and parents credit his commitment to daily improvement that led him to this point — a

Wentworth emerging at the right time for OSU baseball

Weston Wertzberger

STAFF REPORTER

For TP Wentworth, the path to Oklahoma State wasn’t just about baseball — it was about finding where he belonged.

Now, in the middle of a pivotal stretch in the season, Wentworth is doing more than fitting in — he’s becoming one of the Cowboys’ most impactful players.

“If you get here early enough each day and you watch it, he’s one of the first here,” OSU coach Josh Holliday said after Sunday’s win

against Cincinnati. “He’s consistent with the work; he loves to work. He’s constantly chasing information that’ll help him. I think he’s always known that there’s more in there, and he’s been in pursuit of it.”

That pursuit is now translating into production.

Wentworth is hitting .315 with a 1.059 OPS, adding eight home runs and 16 RBIs. Over his last five games, he’s totaled four home runs and nine RBIs, emerging as a key piece in the middle of OSU’s lineup.

See WENTWORTH on page 4B

standout, power-hitting outfielder for the Cowboys.

Ritchie has continued to build off the momentum from last year with OSU, as he sits at 39 hits, 50 RBIs, 19 home runs and 41 runs scored this season for the Cowboys. He’s the team-leader in homers and ranks

second in the country.

Ritchie showed a lot of promise before he started high school. His sixth-grade year was when his talent became apparent, with a unique combination of size, speed and power for a middle-schooler.

See ATOKA on page 5B

OSU targeting scoring, ball-handling

Portal season has only been underway for two days, but Oklahoma State already has some gaps to fill. In the span of six hours on Tuesday, multiple reports indicated that guards Vyctorius Miller and Jaylen Curry have entered the NCAA transfer portal. Another report has also linked Anthony Roy to the portal and the NBA Draft process, though he needs a waiver to remain eligible for another year of college.

That’s three double-digit scorers and ball handlers who won’t suit up again for the Cowboys, barring a surprise. They each held important roles throughout the season for an offense that was second in the Big 12 in scoring. Although roster changes are a given during this time of the year, OSU coach Steve Lutz can already put one thing on his transfer-portal shopping list: more perimeter scoring and playmaking.

Bowick, Barnes boosting deep OSU receiver corps

The wide receiver room for Oklahoma State has many new faces, but it also shows a lot of promise for the upcoming season.

North Texas transfer Wyatt Young is the crown jewel of the group, but Justin Bowick and Chris Barnes have continued to stand out during spring workouts, too.

Bowick brings extensive collegiate experience to OSU, while Barnes displays versatility on the field.

Bowick began his college career at Eastern Illinois in 2022 where he started strong, before bouncing around to Ball State and Illinois.

Last season with the Fighting Illini is where he took off, though.

While only missing one game, Bowick collected 22 receptions, 265 yards and

led the team with five touchdowns. In his Illini debut against Western Illinois, he hauled in two touchdown receptions and gave defenses matchup problems throughout the season with his 6-foot-5, 200-pound frame.

Now on his fourth college team, Bowick is looking forward to playing with new Cowboys quarterback Drew Mestemaker to further develop his game. OSU coach Eric Morris has previously said he believes Bowick is “a guy that will really blossom into a really major NFL-type guy.”

And although the Cowboys are still in the midst of spring ball, Bowick is already seeing plenty of potential for himself in Morris’ air-raid system.

“I’ve been loving this offense,” Bowick said. “It’s very explosive, and I feel like it fits my play style very well.”

Bowick also said Mestemaker’s move to OSU was a big part of him coming to

Stillwater, as he wanted to play with a good quarterback.

“Last year I played with a very good quarterback,” Bowick said. “Coming from my last year, with a great offense, I also wanted to have that good quarterback I can rely on.”

Barnes is unlike Bowick in that he’s 5-foot-7, but he’s also an explosive playmaker in his own right with speed.

Last season at Wake Forrest, Barnes was a Swiss Army Knife-type weapon for the Deamon Deacons. He caught 39 passes for 547 yards and three touchdowns and rushed the ball 13 times for 143 yards.

Barnes also served as a kick returner and ran back seven kicks for 263 yards and a touchdown. Morris likes versatility in wideouts, and he’s getting that in Barnes.

This will be Barnes’ third collegiate stop after he began his career at

Washington State. That isn’t uncommon nowadays, but he will also continue to work with Nick Edwards, OSU’s wide receivers coach who was with Barnes at Wake Forrest.

Given that Edwards has a history with Barnes, he’s watched him devlop in real time. But now, Edwards feels like this is Barnes’ best opportunity yet.

“(He’s) matured a lot,” Edwards said. “... (I tell him), ‘This is your year to go ahead and get on the map from a college football standpoint.”

Barnes knows he will be involved in the passing game. But he wants to continue to have an impact in multiple ways, just like when he did damage as a kick returner for Wake Forrest.

“I know special teams will be a vital part to my game with being a smaller player,” Barnes said. “... I just like it when the ball is in my hands.”

Former Sooner Wilson leading OSU cornerbacks

Parker Gerl

CO-EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

When Julian Wilson arrived for his first day on the job, he was given a brand-new, bright orange shirt.

That color has been unfamiliar territory for most of Wilson’s past. But now it’s part of his everyday attire, as he’s preparing for his first season as the Oklahoma State football team’s defensive backs coach.

Wilson, 34, spent his playing days at Oklahoma before a short NFL stint. But after climbing up the coaching ranks at different stops the past few seasons, he made the Bedlam transfer in December to join Eric Morris’ first Cowboy staff and coach the team’s cornerbacks.

“Shoot, I already had my (Air) Jordans ready to rock with (the orange shirt),” Wilson said.

Wilson, an Oklahoma City native, played for the Sooners from 2011-14 and totaled more than 99 tackles in 48 games. He also grabbed four interceptions and broke up 15 passes. His pro career featured stops with the Baltimore Ravens, Minnesota Vikings and Kansas City Chiefs.

Wilson first got into coaching at Texas Tech, where he was a graduate assistant from 2020-21. That allowed him to land defensive backs coaching gigs with Abilene Christian (2022-23), Sam Houston (2024) and North Texas (2025), where he quickly turned heads for new OSU defensive coordinator Skyler Cassity and for Morris at UNT.

So when the chance to continue working for Morris presented itself, Wilson knew he had to take it. But being back in his home state made it even sweeter.

“I’m familiar with what (Cassity) does, and Morris is a great dude,” Wilson said. “When it came down to decisions, am I gonna go here? Am I gonna go there?... At the end of the day, once this opportunity came to come home, back where I played football, back where I did everything, back where my

family still stays, it was just an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.”

Wilson recalled having “some battles” with OSU during his playing days. He also spoke to understanding what it takes to win in Stillwater and understanding some of the “things Gundy had ‘rollin here.”

But now, it’s a new era of Cowboy football under Morris, and Wilson will be a key piece to jump-starting it on the defensive side. He knows exactly what he’s

looking for to do so.

“Versatility, because our defense is kind of complex,” Wilson said. “... There’s sometimes where you might have to go into the game at safety. So, I want dudes who have football IQ, long dudes that can run and high-motor guys… I want dudes to have that dog out there on the island.”

Wilson is working with a revamped defensive backs group, just as most of the Cowboys’ coaches are. But Kollin Lewis, a

cornerback who followed Wilson and Cassity to OSU, is already seeing Wilson preach the same things he did in Denton with the Cowboys’ new players — a lot of messages about embracing being on an island and being ready to take on your individual matchup.

“He wants us to be tough,” Lewis said. “... He wants us to be (in a) lock-down mentality that we got our man chest-tochest. (Ready to) go man-toman the whole game.”

sports

Losses

Continued from 1B

Curry and Miller each played in more than 30 games and averaged 10.1 points and 10.8 points, respectively. They both were important pieces to the Cowboys’ 12-0 start. Miller averaged 17.4 points in the first seven games and Curry scored in double figures in six of the first seven games.

Lutz may have already been preparing to be without Roy, given his eligibility status, that’s still 16.9 points OSU will need to replace.

Luckily for the Cowboys, though, Kanye Clary announced on Instagram on Tuesday that he will return for the 2026-27 season. Clary was another key ball-handler for OSU this past season and averaged 10.6 points and 4.6 assists.

“The city of Stillwater, man, it’s a great place to be,” Clary said after OSU’s season-ending loss to Wichita State in March. “... I’ve never been a part of a community like this. I grew to love this school, the place and just the people here.

Benjamin Ahmed and Ryan Crotty announced their returns, too, but don’t offer much perimeter creation. That’s where the portal could come in handy for Lutz.

On Tuesday, Jeff Goodman reported that OSU is among the

teams FAU transfer Devin Vanterpool held virtual meetings with. Vanterpool, a 6–foot-4 guard, put up 15.8 points and 2.4 assists in 24 games for the Owls and has the type of skill set that could bolster Lutz’s offense.

Another name linked to the Cowboys on Tuesday was Washington State transfer guard Tomas Thrastarson. League Ready’s Sam Kayer reported that OSU was one of the teams Thrastarson has heard from since entering the portal. He averaged 8.8 points and 4.1 rebounds this past season.

Other reports have also tied the Cowboys to Providence transfer Jamier Jones and Sam Houston wing Isaiah Manning, among other names.

Jones played in 31 games for the Friars and scored 11.9 points on 57% shooting. Manning put up 10.7 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.3 assists and scored 16 points against OSU in December.

Regardless of who the Cowboys land, their newcomers will have to make up for lost production. Lutz will also look to get some from an incoming recruiting class that features Jalen Montonati, the No. 1 player in Oklahoma, and Latrell Allmond, a McDonald’s AllAmerican.

“I know that the program is moving in the right direction, and I’m excited about the future,” Lutz said in March.

sports.ed@ocolly.com

TALEXA WEETER

- Division II-best 27.5 points

-51.5% shooting, 39.6% from 3-point range

-Division II All-America First Team selection

-Former “Miss Kansas Basketball”

What does OSU get in Weeter?

Connor Fuxa STAFF REPORTER

A reinforcement is coming in for the Cowgirls.

The NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball transfer portal officially opened Monday and while Oklahoma State has yet to sign anyone from D-I, that hasn’t stopped OSU from making its first signing last week from the D-II level.

The Cowgirls added their first new piece to the puzzle, bringing in transfer guard Talexa Weeter from Fort Hayes State.

Weeter led all of D-II basketball in scoring last season, putting up 27.5 points as a junior. She posted elite shooting splits, too, at 51.5% from the field, 39.6% from 3 and nearly 80% from the free throw line.

Weeter is making her way to Stillwater with a loaded trophy case, too. She was named the D-II CCA National Player of the year and was a D-II CCA All-America First Team selection.

In her time at Fort Hayes she set many records, most recently tying the school record for most points in a game with 46 points. She did so on 16 of 23 shooting (69.5%), while also accomplishing a double-double with 12 rebounds.

Her success wasn’t just at the college level, as before her time at Fort Hayes she was a dominant force in Kansas

High School Basketball.

Weeter was named the Kansas Basketball Coaches Association “Miss Kansas Basketball,” an award given to the best senior in the state. She was also named Class 3A player of the year as a senior.

Alongside individual success, Weeter was a winner. In her time at Goodland High School, she was able to lead her team to two 3A state championships the first state titles for Goodland HS in over 40 years. Her team rattled off 39 straight wins to end her high school career.

Needless to say, Weeter has a resume that speaks for herself from her time in Division II and High School. Now the question will be can she retain that success at the D-I.

With her 6’0 frame, alongside her shooting touch, she seems like the perfect fit for Jacie Hoyt’s system. She is listed as a guard, but for a Cowgirls team that typically runs out a ton of four guard lineups Weeter will likely be playing the three or the four slot for OSU.

With 26 games last season scoring over twenty points, combined with near 50/40/80 shooting splits, it is clear Weeter has a knack for putting the ball in the net and should fit in well in an Oklahoma State offensive system that loves to run and score.

sports

cowboy Baseball Gameday

WHEN: Friday-Sunday

WHERE:

vs.

Tointon Family Stadium

TV: ESPN+

Wentworth

Continued from 1B

But his journey to this point hasn’t been linear.

After beginning his career at Clemson, where he appeared in 26 games and also made 11 relief appearances, Wentworth entered the transfer portal looking for a place that felt right.

The Cowboys provided that opportunity.

“That was definitely something, being a fan of here for so long,” Wentworth said. “I’ve always loved Oklahoma State and what they stand for and who they are. Our coaching staff here is amazing. When I got on campus, it was just another example to me of how great these people are, and the culture and the setup here is amazing.”

That connection runs deeper than the program.

Wentworth grew up around OSU through his father, Kevin Wentworth, a four-time All-American golfer for the Cowboys from 1987-91 who went on to spend 12 years on the PGA Tour. In 1990, he was recognized as the top college player, earning the Ben Hogan Award.

Stories of success in Stillwater helped shape both his expectations and his understanding of what it means to represent the program.

“He’s been amazing,” Wentworth said of his father. “He’s been, quote unquote, my hitting coach all my life. We’ve learned the game together. So, I’m very grateful for him and all that he’s taught me.”

Still, carving out his own role required adjustment.

RADIO: 93.7 KSPI-FM SERIES: 35-13, OSU LAST MEETING: 3-0 sweep, OSU, 2025

“We were highly motivated on TP (while he was in high school),” Holliday said. “He chose Clemson, which was what was in his heart at the time. And then after a year, he decided this was where he belonged. … He was a talent more than a skilled performer upon arrival. And now we’re watching him grow into a skilled performer.”

That growth has shown up on both sides of the ball.

As a two-way player, Wentworth has taken on one of the more demanding roles on the roster. He’s made eight appearances on the mound, including four starts, and recorded 17 strikeouts.

In his last two outings, he’s pitched four innings in each — both career highs — including a six-strikeout outing against Oral Roberts.

Balancing those responsibilities hasn’t been easy.

“It’s definitely a challenge, especially with your body just being able to recover,” Wentworth said.

“I attribute the staff here again to just how awesome they are at communicating and being great coaches in that space. I was grateful to get the opportunity to do that. Not a lot of people do. It was definitely tough for my body.”

The foundation for that approach was built long before college.

Wentworth was a three-sport standout in high school, excelling in baseball, football and basketball before committing fully to baseball during his senior year. A prep AllAmerican, he hit .485 in his career while also posting a 0.51 ERA with 119 strikeouts as a senior.

“I think they all play a factor,” Wentworth said. “In the moment, you’re just trying to help the team win. … Putting the team first is the goal. And then being able to contribute and make the big play, I think that’s just a byproduct of having the right mindset.”

Even as his role continues to grow, Wentworth hasn’t changed his perspective.

“This game definitely has its ups and downs,” Wentworth said. “... Always being ready, always taking each rep as important as it should be, is most important. I think nothing changes on my end in terms of still feeling like I’m climbing, still feel like I’m trying to get better.”

sports.ed@ocolly.com

Brueggemann surging, giving OSU needed spark

Weston Wertzberger STAFF REPORTER

Oklahoma State may have been searching for consistency at the plate, but in recent games, one bat has begun to give it that.

Colin Brueggemann has caught fire.

After a steady — but relatively quiet — start to the season, Brueggemann has turned into one of the Cowboys’ most dangerous hitters during the past week. Since March 31, the senior has totaled six home runs, 13 RBIs and nine runs scored in five games, providing a jolt to an offense that has needed timely production.

The numbers reflect a dramatic shift.

Through his first 28 games, Brueggemann recorded four home runs and 25 RBIs while slashing .255/.375/.479. In the five games since, his production has surged, boosting his overall line to .278/.390/.663 with a 1.007 OPS — the third-highest mark on the team.

For OSU coach Josh Holliday, the difference isn’t just in results — it’s in approach.

“A lot of balls hit hard in the opposite field,” Holliday said. “Just really inside the ball. The ball’s coming off to all fields. I think that’s the mark of him being in a good spot.

“… It’s usually the sign of a hitter covering the entire strike zone. That’s who he is as a hitter. He’s returning to some of the things that I think make him who he is.”

That adjustment has translated into more reliable contact and more power, particularly in high-leverage moments.

In that span, Brueggemann put together back-to-back multi-home run performances, making him a central figure in OSU’s lineup. His ability to drive the ball to all fields has made him difficult to pitch to, while also creating more opportunities for run production in the middle of the order.

The surge didn’t come by accident. “Confidence is everything, especially in baseball,” Brueggemann

said. “Getting here, I had a little bad luck here and there, and I tried to push a little hard for it. I’m just trying to let (the ball) come to me, not trying to push too hard, not trying to do too much and just help the team.”

That mindset shift — from pressing to trusting — has helped unlock a version of Brueggemann that the Cowboys have come to rely on.

Even beyond the numbers, his presence has had a noticeable impact on the rest of the lineup.

“He’s a proven bat,” Alex Conover said. “As long as I’ve been here and the years before then, he’s done so much good for this team and this program. We all know as a team what Colin Brueggemann is capable of.

“When we get to see him at his best, it’s super fun and it’s a huge block for our team in the batting lineup.”

The timing of Brueggemann’s surge is significant.

As the Cowboys navigate the ups and downs of conference play, finding consistent offensive production has been a key challenge. Brueggemann’s emergence offers a potential anchor — a hitter capable of changing games with one swing while also delivering in high-leverage situations.

For Brueggemann, though, the focus extends beyond personal success.

“As the season goes on, you’re not going to win every game,” Brueggemann said. “There’s going to be some stretches. We talk about it in (the clubhouse) all the time about being gritty. About standing back up after you get punched, or how do you respond after losing a game or two? It’s not always going to come easy, but it’s how do you fight? How do you win the pitches each day and how does it carry over into the games?”

If his recent performance is any indication, Brueggemann is answering that question — and giving the Cowboys a much-needed spark in the process.

Ritchie’s father, Shane, still remembers some of the feedback he got on his son early on, too.

“We started having people tell us, ‘You’re gonna have to stay on this kid,’” Shane said. “I’ve never seen a kid as big as him be as fast.”

Ritchie’s first coach at Atoka, Dwayne Dale, also knew early on that he was a star in the making.

“Watching that first eighthgrade summer league game... And him hitting one out,” Dale said. “Getting on a fastball, and hitting it probably 410, and people are like, ‘Holy smokes, this kid is gonna be something special,’ and he just got stronger and stronger.”

Ritchie’s mother, Laura, was not too involved in his games, but there was a time when Ritchie was frustrated on the mound in a district game.

Dale went out to talk to him, but he heard some yelling from the stands.

It was from Laura.

“That game, you could just see it all over his face,” Laura said. “And I was like, ‘That’s not who you are. Get your head up and be a leader.’ Just a big time to keep going forward, and stop letting past mistakes bother you, and he did.”

Ritchie never intended to be a vocal leader of his team. But that changed when Dale spoke with him on the mound.

“I lean over, and kind of put my arm around him, and he goes, ‘I don’t want to be that guy, I don’t want people thinking that I’m big league,’” Dale said. “I said, ‘Son, listen. Everybody in this dugout, everybody in these stands knows where

sports

you’re gonna be someday, what opportunities you’re gonna have. You need to accept that and understand it is your responsibility to lead us like that.’”

After that message, Ritchie hit three home runs in the game and guided his team to victory. It showed that he can have a clutch-gene at the plate, and that has carried over to OSU.

Earlier this season, Ritchie hit three home runs in a 20-0 win over Sam Houston, which marked the 15th time in program history that a Cowboy hit three home runs in a game.

Ritchie has always had that drive to improve his performance on the field consistently, and it has shown for many years.

After a bad game when Ritchie was younger, he was upset because he did not hit well. So, he took matters into his own hands.

COWBOYS’ REMAING SCHEDULE

Early in the morning the next day, Shane found him in the backyard wearing nothing but his underwear. A ball was on a tee.

Ritchie kept hitting it off the tee, over and over again, and made a promise to his father.

“He said, ‘I’m not gonna strike out no more. That’s it,’” Shane recalled.

Trevor Cook, who took over at Atoka in 2022 after Dale’s retirement, says that Ritchie went above and beyond the expectations of how much work was needed to be put in.

Under Cook, Ritchie played at shortstop, but Cook knew that he would probably not be an infielder at the next level. They started doing drills together at the Atoka field, where they went through multiple buckets of baseballs in an attempt for Ritchie to rob a home run. At first,

April 10-12: at Kansas State

April 14: vs. Oklahoma (ONEOK Field, Tulsa)

April 17-19: vs. Kansas

April 21: vs. Wichita State

April 24-26: at Texas Tech

April 28: vs. Oral Roberts (ONEOK Field, Tulsa)

May 1-3: vs. TCU

May 9-10: at Arizona State

May 12: at Oral Roberts

May 14-16: vs. Arizona

May 20-23: Big 12 Tournament (Surprise, Arizona)

Ritchie was not sure whether this moment would happen in a real game, but Cook was confident it would. It came to fruition when Ritchie robbed a home run last season against Duke at the Athens Regional. Cook always talks with him about that moment. “I was like, ‘Remember all those balls? You put in the time,’” Cook said. “He probably took a thousand, two-thousand more at Oklahoma State. That’s just the type of kid he is; he’s just gonna work really hard.”

Ritchie has continued to display great defense in the outfield for the Cowboys. He has made multiple sensational catches on sliding and diving plays this season to prevent trouble for the OSU pitchers.

After a senior year that saw him hit .531 with 11 home runs and 47 RBIs, Ritchie was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in the 19th round of the 2023 MLB Draft.

It was a tough decision for him to make, whether to go pro or play in college. Ritchie ended up signing with OSU, and it was a decision supported by his parents and coaches.

Laura said that she and Shane wanted it to be his choice and not to have any regrets.

“We told him the pros and cons of both,” Laura said.

“Of course, we wanted him in Stillwater, three hours away from home. I think he ultimately made the better decision to stay close to home, or within driving distance, and I think he’s matured a lot.”

Shane told his son he needed to decide around that time.

“I told him, ‘You need to have your mind made up son,’” Shane said. “I said, ‘I

got you to this point, I’m not making your mind up here, this is your life.’ (Kollin) said, ‘Well, I’ve always wanted to go with OSU,’ and I said, ‘Well, you’ve got OU, Texas Tech and others. You might wanna hold off before you just completely commit, but you need to have your mind made up when it comes time.’”

Dale mentioned that the money from the Orioles was a factor in the decision.

“With Kollin, it was kind of easy,” Dale said. “Even the scouts would say, ‘Listen, if the money’s not there, you might try to get it.’ Because we knew there were so many Division I teams that were hitting on this kid, we knew that the back end of that career was gonna be way more than what we were gonna be able to give here to Atoka, Oklahoma.”

Cook also brought up the issue of the money, but says Ritchie made the right decision in coming to OSU.

“The thing that really stuck out with me is just his love for Oklahoma State,” Cook said. “He’s made his mark at Oklahoma State, and the Athens Regional was his coming-out party.”

Whether it was blasting home runs, making amazing catches in the outfield or leading his team, Ritchie has developed into a well-rounded player at OSU from his time at Atoka. His coaches know that the sky’s the limit for him as his career progresses.

“His background will really help him,” Cook said. “Just the mindset of having to work every day. I think it’s as high as he wants to go.”

“I don’t know that I’ve ever had one like him,” Dale said. “And probably will never see another one like him.”

sports.ed@ocolly.com

Berge transfers to OSU, becomes Cowboys’ first portal addition

Weston

STAFF REPORTER

Wertzberger

David Taylor and Oklahoma State have begun laying the foundation for next season’s roster.

On Wednesday, former South Dakota State 197-pounder Bennett Berge announced on Instagram that he will transfer to OSU, becoming the Cowboys’ first transfer portal addition of the offseason.

Berge spent four years with the Jackrabbits, qualifying for the past three NCAA Championships and earning All-American honors at 184

pounds in 2024. He bumped up to 197 pounds this past season. He holds a 75-26 career record with a 39.8% bonus rate. This season, Berge went 17-7 and placed fifth at the Big 12 Championships in Tulsa, where he dropped a decision to OSU’s Cody Merrill in the consolation semifinals. He finished 1-2 at the NCAA Championships.

With Merrill emerging as a national runner-up at 197 pounds as a freshman, Berge will likely move back down to 184 pounds for his final year of eligibility.

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Cowgirls preparing for postseason after strong regular-season finish

Gina Foster STAFF REPORTER

The No. 21 Oklahoma State women’s golf team rounded out its regular season victorious at the Huntington Bank Collegiate tournament in Dallas, Texas, on Tuesday.

The Cowgirls swept the tournament hosted at the Trinity Forest Golf Club. In the 17-team field, the team posted a total score of 839 to secure first place over SMU, which followed just threeshots behind as the final scores were tallied.

No. 29 Marta Silchenko posted a 13-under to win her first individual title of her collegiate career and tie with SMU’s Mackenzie Lee. Silchenko carded a career best, 67, followed by two rounds of 68 in the second and final rounds. This tied her for the ninth-lowest 54-hole score and sixth-lowest score versus par in OSU history.

Carding 16 birdies helped her grasp her fourth consecutive top-10 finish.

No. 179 Yu-Chu Chen finished the tournament at 7-under to place fifth, her first top-5 finish as a true freshman. No. 143 Ellie Bushnell carded 15 birdies to score a 71, 72 and 69 to tie for 12th at 4-under.

No. 282 Tarapath Panya carded an even 216 for the tournament, carding rounds of 73, 72 and 71 to tie for 22nd.

Summer Lee rounded out the Cowgirl scoreboard with scores of 72, 73 and 74 to tie for 34th at 3-over.

No. 175 Grace Kilcrease missed this week’s tournament due to participating in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, but will compete with the team in the postseason.

This third-season win and six-spot jump in the rankings is propelling the Cowgirls into their remaining tournaments. The team’s goal has been to get its photo on the wall at Karsten Creek Golf Club — a strong postseason performance is where that can happen.

The Cowgirls will kick off postseason play on April 23 as they compete for their conference championship at the Big 12 Championship tournament.

OSU is currently the thirdhighest-ranked Big 12 team in the polls behind No. 15 UCF and No. 19 Arizona State. There are currently seven Cowgirls ranked nationally — Silchenko, Bushnell, Chen, Kilcrease, Tarapath Panya, Summer Lee and Lucy Darr.

sports.ed@ocolly.com

OSU golfer Fang competing in Masters

Luke Mazza STAFF REPORTER

Masters week has arrived, and Oklahoma State is well represented at Augusta National Golf Club.

Former Cowboys Viktor Hovland, Alex Noren, Sam Stevens and Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen are leading the way for the Cowboys at Augusta National this year, along with one other player to keep an eye on.

Current OSU golfer Ethan Fang, 20, made his Masters debut after earning an invitation by winning the Amateur Championship in June. In the first round, he shot 2-over, with two birdies and two bogeys.

Fang is tied for 42nd and posted the lowest score among the five amateurs. He averaged 304 yards off the tee, just under the field average and hit 71% of fairways, three over the average from when he finished. Both of his birdies came on the front nine, but he finished 2-over on the tougher back nine.

Fang reached the green in regulation on just half the holes, which was below the field average, and limited his chances for birdies. But Fang averaged 1.61 putts per green in regulation, compared to the field’s 1.68.

Fang transferred to Oklahoma State from California before last season and quickly made a difference, helping the Cowboys win a

national championship. He also earned first-team AllAmerica honors for his strong play.

Rather than arriving early for extra practice, Fang decided to play with OSU at the Augusta Haskins Award Invitational at Forest Hills. He finished second, choosing to put his team first.

“Me and Coach talked about it a couple months before,” Fang said. “I think that’s kind of the best way I prepare is playing tournaments and getting that competitive mindset.”

This competitive mindset has fueled Fang’s quick rise.

Fang, who is from Plano,

Texas, came into the Masters ranked No. 8 among amateurs and is one of the most decorated players in college golf. After helping OSU win the 2025 NCAA team Championship, he earned first-team All-America honors, securing his spot in a program known for its golf tradition.

Last year, Fang made history as the first Cowboy player since 1967, and the first American in 18 years to win The Amateur Championship. That win earned him a spot at Augusta.

For OSU, Fang’s appearance at golf’s biggest event adds to a long tradition that includes major champions and PGA

Tour regulars. For Fang, this Masters is just the next step.

Fang has already faced top competition, playing in last summer’s Open Championship at Royal Portrush and making a PGA Tour start at the Procore Championship in the fall.

He’s also played in the Walker Cup, Palmer Cup and World Amateur Team Championship, which have helped him get comfortable in high-pressure situations.

Even with this experience, Fang hasn’t made a cut in his two professional starts, but Augusta is a new challenge.

“I don’t really like to set too many expectations,” Fang said.

“Obviously, my goal is to be low

am for the week. That would be really cool… but I’m just going to go out there and try to play my best.”

That outlook has been shaped partly by the people around him. Following OSU tradition, Fang has turned to players like former Cowboy, Viktor Hovland, for advice about Augusta National’s unique challenges, especially its swirling winds and firm, fast greens.

Along with that advice, Fang’s teammates have given him something just as important: comfort and camaraderie.

During practice rounds, Fang’s fellow Cowboys followed him, joking and teasing from outside the ropes. Their banter helped him stay relaxed in an environment that can be tough even for experienced pros.

“I think it keeps me more loose out there,” Fang said. “It’s a good time, and I’m glad they’re out there.”

Even the traditions for amateurs at the Masters, like staying in the Crow’s Nest, make the experience special. Fang plans to spend the week with other amateurs, enjoying moments that go beyond the competition.

“Hopefully we can get a couple guys over, maybe play some cards,” he said. “I think that would be fun.”

For now, though, Fang is focused on the course and looking ahead to the next round.

photos from osu-cincinnati series

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NCAA weighs major changes to eligibility rules, includes age limits

Parker Gerl CO-EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

More changes could be coming to college athletics.

The NCAA is weighing a proposal that would give student-athletes five years of eligibility based upon their high school graduation or 19th birthday, whichever comes first, multiple outlets reported on Wednesday. Yahoo Sports had the news first.

Athletes could be given exceptions for military, religious missions and maternity leave.

This comes after President Trump issued an executive order less than a week ago that directed the NCAA to set rules in which athletes can play for no longer than a five-year period and limits them to one free transfer before being required to sit out a season.

Why it matters

This new potential policy seeks to find stability to an ever-changing landscape of college athletics, which has included several issues and lawsuits regarding player eligibility.

It’s also a massive shakeup from the NCAA’s current rules.

Athletes are currently granted four seasons over a five-year calendar, with the ability to regain a year of eligibility through a waiver or redshirt request. Although the new policy would grant athletes a fifth year, a new starting date would be set from a 19th birthday or a high school graduation.

The current proposal would also eliminate the ability for an athlete to regain eligibility through a redshirt or waiver request — the major leader in many of the NCAA’s issues and lawsuits regarding eligibility now.

With athletes being legally compensated by schools

nowadays, player pay has incentivized many athletes to extend their college careers before pursuing a path to the pros.

In February, Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss had his eligibility extended by a Mississippi judge and received a medical redshirt for a previous injury.

But other starting quarterbacks

— Tennesee’s Joey Aguilar and and Virginia’s Chandler Morris — were not able to successfully win their cases against the

NCAA for another year of eligibility.

The new current proposal from the NCAA hopes to clean up inconsistencies and establish more stability across college sports.

Recruiting ramifications

Currently, several college athletes take gap years or repeat a grade to enroll in college as an older, more physicallydevloped freshmen.

If the NCAA’s proposal were to pass, the eligibility

clock for those athletes would have already started before they enroll. It would kill all advantages of coming to school older.

Additionally, coaches would be more incentivzed to prioritize younger prospects who enroll right after high school.

College basketball recruiting could also be heavily impacted.

Many European players currently enroll at 21-23 years old, while maintaining four seasons of eligibility. This

proposal could limit that to one or two years, depending on when they arrive on campus.

JUCO players would also potentially transfer with limited eligibility remaining.

Overall, the new proposal would give power programs more reasons to go all-in on high school recruting and invest more in younger transfer prospects, rather than veteran players with limited time remaining.

sports.ed@ocolly.com

Meet

Author Josh Crutchmer Oklahoma State alum and journalist Josh

(while supplies last) in Stillwater at the following