To the community,
This week’s school highlight is Newcastle Middle School.
Mr. Wade Hampton (principal) shared the following information.
It has been an exciting and productive school year at Newcastle Middle School! Our Racers want to say a huge thank you to the community of Newcastle for the state of the art classrooms and restrooms provided through the last school bond. Our students and teachers are utilizing the new spaces and are very appreciative to have facilities that are helping drive the teaching and learning at NMS to the next level. Thank you again!
Our greatest challenge this year is to raise the rigor in core content areas through higher level questioning and project based and critical thinking assignments. Our teachers meet regularly as a professional learning community to design instruction and assessment that challenge students to learn at high levels. Teachers also have focused on custom designed interventions to help students with specific learning targets to maximize student learning. New this year is our EL specific intervention to help students new to the English language. We can confidently say that our students have grown well through our benchmark assessments.
Providing student services when needs arise is paramount to having a great school. We have been pleased to provide a Racer Reset program to help students learn to manage their behavior and impulse control which is essential at this developmental stage. We have worked in conjunction with the Newcastle Police Department to implement a “Handle With Care” protocol to assist students who may have dealt with trauma before coming to school. We take care of all Racers during good and difficult times.
NMS has also focused on building culture and community within our building. This year we have established a “Victory Lap” award given by extraordinary teachers to extraordinary teachers in our building in an effort to recognize the great work happening on the teaching front. We have also established a monthly Student Celebration pep rally where we recognize our Students of the Month, Great Attendance, and have spirited competition between staff and students. Students have stepped up to take the lead on several initiatives DR. WALKER on page 2
Racer Reset helps with behavior, impulse control including hurricane relief efforts, providing puppuccinos for furry friends of NMS, creating a veterans display to honor family members, and helping in an effort to keep our campus looking fantastic. Students groups work actively in conjunction with each other and our PTO to help sponsor Red Ribbon Week, Angel Tree, and various spirit dress up days throughout the year. Great things are happening within our school community thanks to the hard work of staff and students.
DR.WALKER: NMS sports having many successes
Middle School athletics also had a great year. Here are a few highlights for each sport.
Football
Seventh grade went 5-3. Players worked hard and really grew as a group. Eighth grade went 3-5. The team showed a lot of growth and improvement over the season.
Powerlifting
We had our first middle school team this year competing in three competitions. We had eight girls on the team: McKinley Sawatzky, Remi Eischen, Alyssa Nero, Rebecca Brummett, Addison Berger, Kolbie Barnett, Jazmin Garcia, and Caden Adams.
Two of the girls medaled at the Jones invitational. McKinley Sawatzky placed second and Remi Eischen placed third. At Regionals we took five girls and had one State qualifier. McKinley Sawatzky finished second overall in the South Regional and placed ninth at State.
We had eight boys on our team this year. Colton Wall, Mason Cochran, Kash McLean, Dylan Black, Dax Stewart, Zander Rozas, Bentley Bittner, and Tyler Barbee. Colton Wall competed at State in Powerlifting and placed 13th.
Cross Country
Our 8th grade girls were led by first time XC Runner Taytum Burke. Taytum is an 8th grader who was our number one runner in every race. Taytum finished 9th overall in The Jr. High All-Star Championships. She medaled in five out of seven races.
Our 7th grade girls were led by Rachel Wiles and Tanzey Doresey. Rachel and Tanzey were our 1st or 2nd runner in each race.
Our 7th grade boys were led by Seth Haskins and Cameron Harris. Seth and Cam finished 1st or 2nd for our team each race. Seth also ran up in the 8th grade race a couple times this season. Both young men medaled in almost every race.
Our 8th grade boys were very dominant this year. They were led by Mylo O’Daniel, Jackson Stevens, and Nash Phifer. We won two meets this season, finished 2nd in four meets(behind 6A schools), and we finished 3rd in the Jr. High All-Star Championships. O’Daniel won The Cameron University Invitational and The OBU XC Challenge with Stevens finishing second in both. Contributing to the team wins were Levi Visor, Rhett Allen, Eric Terrazas, and Luke Arrington. O’Daniel and Stevens finished in the top seven or better in every race this season. O’Daniel finished 8th, Stevens finished 13th and Phifer finished 14th at the Jr. High All-Star Championships this season.
Cheer
Newcastle Middle School Cheer had a great first year rebuilding the program and its goals. We competed at Gameday State with a fantastic routine, and had a great summer camp at J&C over the summer. These girls gained skills all year and worked so hard. Several of them got high point jumps, and tumbling at summer camp this year. It was a great season!
Volleyball
Both the 7th and 8th grade teams had fantastic seasons filled with growth, resilience, and determination. Over the course of the season, every player showed significant improvement — both individually and as a team. The 7th grade girls earned 2nd place in the Silver Bracket at the Peak Memorial Tournament, showcasing their progress and competitive spirit. The 8th grade team had an outstanding run, placing 2nd in the Gold Bracket of the highly competitive Bethany Tournament and capturing 1st place in the Peak Memorial Tournament.
Softball
We finished the season with 14 wins and nine losses. We started the season strong but hit a mid-season slump, then rallied late to have a winning record. We did beat Elgin at Newcastle late in the year and at the time they were undefeated.
Girls Basketball
Both 7th and 8th grade girls basketball received 3rd place in our Newcastle Tournament, and the 8th girls placed runners-up in the Blanchard Tournament.
Boys Basketball
Both 7th and 8th grade boys basketball teams had great seasons. The 7th grade finished the season with three straight wins to go 7-7 and the 8th grade boys ended their season at an amazing 13-4! The 7th grade boys took 3rd in our own tournament and our 8th grade boys won the whole thing! Great season! Girls Wrestling
While the JH girls were successful as individuals, only having four weights does not allow for dual success. The girls had the following placements at Norman: Emma Watson 1st, Presley Garrels 2nd, and Raelynn Boffey 4th. Presley Garrels was the only medalist at the Yukon Tournament coming in 3rd. At the Midwestern Conference tournament three of the ladies placed: Emma Watson 4th, Zoey Bornt 6th, and Raelynn Boffey 2nd.
Boys Wrestling
This was a tough year for the JH Racer Boys Wrestling, with injuries and illness making its way into the lineup more than once this season. This was also a learning year for us as we had very few wrestlers that had any prior experience on the mat. The boys went 9-10 in duals and the team earned a 2nd place trophy at the Jim Smith Dual Tournament that we host every year. We had a few individuals place at tournaments. They include: Stockton Herring placed at Chickasha and Conference while Eason Beaty and Austin Mitchell placed at Chickasha.
MS Baseball
The team went 2-1 at the Marlow Festival. Crosby Winchester pitched four shutout innings and drove in the winning run to beat host team Marlow at the festival.
Thank you for a great year at NMS! It’s a great day to be a RACER!
Dr. Cathy Walker
Superintendent, Newcastle Public Schools
