O’colly grad edition 2026
Canvas outage tied to cyberattack disrupts finals at Oklahoma State
Bryson Thadhani
CO-EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
OSU GRADUATES SAY GOODBYE
Canvas, Oklahoma State University’s learning management system, suffered an outage Thursday afternoon during finals week, interrupting exams and grading across all OSU A&M campuses as parent company Instructure responds to an escalating cybersecurity incident.
An OSU spokesperson said Thursday that both the web and mobile versions of Canvas are currently down and that students are unable to access any assignments, quizzes or exams.
“We do not currently have a timeframe for resolving this issue, but we are working
diligently with Instructure to identify solutions,” the spokesperson said. “We understand this situation presents challenges with accessing academic material, and we will share updates as soon as possible with additional information.”
See CANVAS on page 2A
Former OSU student settles civil rights lawsuit for $2.55M
Bryson Thadhani
CO-EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Former Oklahoma State University student Claire Hosterman has accepted a $2.55 million settlement from the City of Stillwater to resolve a federal civil rights lawsuit stemming from her September 2022 arrest and strip search at the Stillwater City Jail.
“What happened to me at the Stillwater City Jail on September 22, 2022, is a disturbing example of abuse of power by law enforcement,” Hosterman said in a statement to The O’Colly.
“I was subjected to abuse, dehumanization and humiliation by the very institution sworn to serve and protect the community.”
Hosterman, who worked as a reporter and Lifestyle Editor
at The O’Colly from 2020 to 2022, was an OSU senior when Stillwater police arrested her during a downtown encounter. She filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma in September 2024, naming the city and multiple officers as defendants under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.
See LAWSUIT on page 2A
OSU Graduate’s biggest takeaways from college
“I’ve been really involved in clubs, community, and research on campus, and so I think I’ve really expanded my network and just made connections that will last a lifetime, both in friend groups and professional settings.”
VANESSA RENDON NATURAL RESOURCE ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT MAJOR FROM OWASSO, OK
“The lifelong friends and memories that I’ve made over the past four years has really made college worthwhile.”
LARAMIE FREENY GENERAL BUSINESS MAJOR FROM BROKEN ARROW, OK
“I think the biggest thing is just the growth from where I was in high school, I was very shy, did not want to talk to people at all and now I’m going out – I love talking to people, I’m a lot more open, outgoing, and I’d say I was able to use college as a chance to redefine who I was and go out into the world a lot more confident than I was in high school.”
ANGELINA BARROW WILDLIFE ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT MAJOR FROM MCKINNEY, TEXAS
“Rushing the field after beating OU, and that anything is possible if you push yourself and work hard enough.”
AUSTIN WISHARD SPORTS MEDIA MAJOR FROM EDMOND, OK
“It’s all about the connections that you make and it really brings you together with the people that are here.”
CAITLIN BULLARD CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY MAJOR FROM BIRMINGHAM, AL
“Truthfully, like the people here, our department is full of wonderful people, graduate students, faculty, just like people that really got you through hard times, celebrated good times – just the whole journey here.”
BURKE HAHN CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY MAJOR FROM TULSA, OK
PHOTO BY PAYTON LITTLE I THE O’COLLY
Person of interest identified in shooting on ‘The Strip’
Bryson Thadhani CO-EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to include information from the Stillwater Police Department. Erick Hagler, 33, of Stillwater has been identified as a person of interest in a shooting on The Strip late Friday night, according to a statement from the Stillwater Police Department.
SPD said officers responded at approximately 11:55 p.m. Friday to the 300 block of South Washington Street for a reported shooting. When officers arrived, they found one victim with a gunshot wound, who was transported to Stillwater Medical Center, is in stable condition and is cooperating with detectives, according to
Lawsuit
Continued from 1A
According to earlier reporting on the case, Hosterman alleged officers used excessive force during her arrest and subjected her to an unlawful strip search at the jail, which she said violated her constitutional rights. The lawsuit detailed the incident and claimed the actions caused her lasting trauma.
In her statement to The O’Colly, Hosterman described the difficulty of processing the incident and its aftermath over the past four years.
“Over the past four years, I’ve tried to put this experience into words, but it has been incredibly difficult,” she said. “Each attempt brings intense emotional and physical stress, making it nearly impossible to fully recount what happened.”
She acknowledged the challenges of having details of the incident become public record.
“Knowing that this information is now public, especially the deeply vulnerable footage of me being forcibly stripped, is something I am still struggling to process,” Hosterman said.
Despite the personal toll, Hosterman said she understood the importance of transparency.
“Even so, I understand the importance of sharing this,” she said. “People need to see the reality of how I was treated and why I chose to file a lawsuit against the City of Stillwater.”
Hosterman emphasized that her lawsuit was motivated by accountability rather than financial gain.
“My decision to hold the City of Stillwater accountable was never about money,” she said. “It was about ensuring that this violation of my civil rights did not go unnoticed or unchallenged.”
She also highlighted broader concerns about systemic issues in law enforcement and the vulnerability of marginalized communities.
“If this could happen to someone like me, a white, privileged woman, then it should be acknowledged that this kind of treatment is not isolated, and it has undoubtedly happened to people without
the statement. The Stillwater Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division responded to process the scene, and the investigation remains active.
Oklahoma State University issued a Cowboy Alert late Friday night reporting a weapon near the intersection of University Avenue and Washington Street in Stillwater and urging people to avoid the area as police investigated. The alert, sent through the university’s emergency notification system, instructed people to stay away from the area while officers responded and said additional updates would be sent as they became available.
OSU sent a second alert at 12:53 a.m. stating: “The subject was last seen heading southbound away from campus. There is currently
the same support systems or knowledge of their rights, particularly minorities,” Hosterman said.
The settlement comes as the Stillwater City Jail prepares to close its doors permanently.
The facility is scheduled to shut down July 1, a development Hosterman welcomed in her statement.
“I am pleased that the Stillwater City Jail is set to close, effective July 1,”
Hosterman said. “That facility will no longer be able to harm anyone in the way it harmed me and many others.”
The closure of the jail marks a significant shift in how Stillwater handles detention, though details about alternative arrangements for arrestees have not been fully disclosed by city officials.
Court records show the city and individual defendants filed responses to the complaint in October and November 2024. The case proceeded through federal court before reaching the settlement announced this week.
The $2.55 million settlement represents one of the largest civil rights payouts in recent Stillwater history and raises questions about police conduct, jail procedures and oversight of detention facilities in the city.
Hosterman expressed deep gratitude for those who supported her through the legal process. “I will never be able to fully express my gratitude for the constant support my family, friends, therapists and legal team provided me,” she said. “I would not have had the strength to fight this without them.”
She noted that while the settlement brings some closure, her healing process continues.
“For the first time in four years, I am finally at the point where I can start truly healing from this,” Hosterman said. “One day, I hope to be strong enough to share my full story. But today is not that day.”
In closing her statement, Hosterman offered a message to readers about compassion and government accountability: “Please remember to be kind to others, you never know what someone is going through,” she said. “Whatever you allow your government to do to others, they will eventually do to you.”
news.ed@ocolly.com
Editorial board
Co-Editors-in-Chief Bryson Thadhani & Parker Gerl editorinchief@ocolly.com
Design editor Katie Lehew design.ed@ocolly.com
Social media editor Jose Brito news.ed@ocolly.com
Assistant news & lifestyle editor Caleson Coon news.ed@ocolly.com
no active threat, and campus is in an all-clear status. Please remain safety aware and monitor for any future alerts.”
In an updated statement Saturday, SPD said officers and detectives had gathered additional information and reviewed video surveillance related to the shooting and identified Hagler as a person of interest. The statement said an attached photo of Hagler was from a previous booking in February 2026.
No arrests had been announced as of Saturday morning. Anyone with information related to the incident is encouraged to contact the Stillwater Police Department Tip Line at 405-533-TIPS (8477), according to the statement.
news.ed@ocolly.com
Continued from 1A
On Wednesday afternoon, OSU Enterprise IT emailed faculty and staff about what it called a “security incident” involving Instructure, saying the vendor had experienced a cyberattack affecting nearly 9,000 educational institutions nationwide.
“At this time, Instructure reports that no sensitive personal information was compromised, including passwords, dates of birth, government identifiers or financial information,” according to the email. “Student Canvas accounts should be fully operational, and this incident should in no way affect finals week or hinder business as usual.”
The message encouraged employees to watch for suspicious messages in Canvas and report anything unusual to abuse@ okstate.edu.
Less than 24 hours later, Canvas was offline across OSU A&M campuses. In a campus notice Thursday, OSU’s IT department said a service interruption for Canvas began at 3 p.m. and affects both faculty and students systemwide.
“EIT is aware that the incident with Canvas and its parent company, Instructure, has escalated. Students logging on may see a pop-up,” according to the campus notice. “We are currently working with Instructure to restore security and identify solutions. We will report back as soon as possible with additional information.”
Instructure’s public status page listed Canvas, Canvas Beta and Canvas Test as unavailable Thursday afternoon and showed Canvas LMS as under maintenance while the company investigated the outage. The same page also reported a partial outage affecting Student ePortfolios, while other Instructure services remained operational.
The outage comes as Instructure faces a broader breach and extortion campaign linked to the hacker group ShinyHunters, which has publicly claimed it breached the company and stole data from millions of users across thousands of institutions.
Instructure has confirmed a cybersecurity incident, said it has contained the attack and reported that exposed information at impacted schools includes names, email addresses, student ID numbers and messages among users, but not passwords, dates of birth, government identifiers or financial data.
When some OSU users attempted to log in Thursday, they were met with a full‑screen message from the hackers instead of the usual Canvas dashboard.
The note, branded with the name “ShinyHunters,” claimed the group had breached Instructure “again,” accused the company of ignoring earlier warnings and threatened to leak data tied to schools on an “affected list” unless Instructure and
Assistant social media editor Megan Gibson news.ed@ocolly.com
Photo editor Chance Marick photo.ed@ocolly.com
Assistant photo editor Andon Freitas photo.ed@ocolly.com
institutions responded by May 12. The message urged schools to work through a cyber advisory firm and included contact information for “settlement” negotiations.
The O’Colly strongly advises students, faculty and staff not to click any links in the hackers’ message, not to visit any websites it promotes, not to contact the group in any way and not to pay any money. Any response to the extortion attempt should come from Instructure and OSU leadership through official channels, not from individual users.
On OSU’s Stillwater campus, the outage left faculty scrambling to finish work before grade deadlines. Assistant professor of professional practice in multimedia journalism Iara Roberto was in her office when Canvas abruptly stopped working.
“I was in my office grading final assignments when I suddenly got a weird message on Canvas,” Roberto said. “I could still do a little grading at first, but when I opened a new tab to check the gradebook, I couldn’t access Canvas at all. I tried different browsers, the OSU website, even an incognito window, and I still can’t log in.”
Roberto said she is teaching four classes this semester and still has a substantial amount of grading left before final grades are due next week.
“I don’t know when this will be resolved, so I don’t know now how much time I will have to finish all my grading before it’s due,” she said.
Students taking online finals were also interrupted mid- exam. Strategic communications major Addison Clayton from Tulsa said she was more than halfway through a 100- question insects and society final when the message appeared on her screen.
“I was in the middle of my final, I’m over halfway through, and then this message pops up, and I kind of just was in shock,” Clayton said.
Clayton said she emailed her professor a screenshot and was told IT was aware and that students should watch for an announcement. After waiting about 40 minutes on the IT help line, she said she was told that the issue was “getting taken care of.”
“Now I’m just like, I don’t even know what I’m going to do,” Clayton said. “I feel like he’s (my professor) going to make me retake it, even though he can see my progress, but I don’t really know.”
As of Thursday evening, OSU had not publicly announced any changes to final exam schedules, grading deadlines or accommodations for students whose tests were interrupted. The university also had not publicly said whether OSU user data was among the information claimed by ShinyHunters. Enterprise IT said it is continuing to monitor the situation and will share additional updates as it receives them from Instructure.
news.ed@ocolly.com
Sports
Kaitlyn
Courtesy Stillwater Police Department Erick Hagler, 33, of Stillwater is a person of interest in the shooting on The Strip.
lifestyle
Left out of ‘Now Hiring’
Stillwater grads say jobs favor OSU students
Heather Allmand stood at the door, glancing at a “Now Hiring” sign taped to the window before asking about an interview.
She had already filled out applications at several places around Stillwater hoping at least one would lead somewhere. But like the others, this one didn’t.
“I applied to multiple places and just never heard back,” Allmand said. “It was really annoying because sometimes they literally had ‘Now Hiring’ signs.”
After finishing at Stillwater High School, Allmand hoped to earn money and gain work experience before deciding her next step. But after applying to restaurants and retail stores across town, she said valuable opportunities never developed.
In a town shaped by Oklahoma State University, some recent Stillwater High School graduates say they struggle to find summer jobs as businesses often prioritize college students who return each fall. While students benefit from flexible, short-term work, local graduates say they are left competing for fewer opportunities in their own hometown.
For some, that gap can delay financial stability or push them to leave Stillwater altogether.
“I thought it would be way easier after graduating,” Allmand said. “But it felt like nobody was actually looking to hire last summer.”
For some graduates, the difficulty finding work leads them to look beyond Stillwater.
Chloe Jackson, another recent graduate, said her experience was similarly frustrating.
“Especially during the school year, it felt like you had to know someone just to even be considered,” Jackson said.
After applying to several jobs, Jackson eventually moved to Sand Springs, where she found work at a steakhouse. She said she believes employers tend to favor college students.
“I think they do prefer hiring college students,” Jackson said. “Maybe because they feel like students will stay there until the semester is over.”
Jackson said the experience made her reconsider staying in Stillwater long term, as steady work felt difficult to find without connections or prior experience.
For students at OSU, however, the experience can look different.
Maddie Andrews, a business marketing sophomore, said she was able to secure a job quickly after applying.
“It didn’t take me very long to get hired,” Andrews said. “I applied to a couple places and even heard back the same day from my job now.”
She said many students are able to return to the same jobs each semester, creating consistency for both employees and employers.
“I’ve been able to come back to the same job each semester, so I didn’t really have to go through the hiring process again,” Andrews said.
Andrews said students often fit the type of work businesses are looking for.
“I think employers like hiring students because we have flexible
schedules and can work around classes,” Andrews said.
In a college town like Stillwater, employers may favor students because they return each semester, reducing turnover and training time.
HTeaO manager Jocelyn Bognacki said hiring tends to increase toward the end of summer as students return to campus, while summer months are often slower.
“Probably around the end of summer and beginning of the school year,” Bognacki said. “Summers are a bit slower, so we stay open an hour later to increase business.”
According to OSU Career Services, employment patterns in Stillwater are closely tied to the academic calendar.
Breanna Gallagher, a Career Services manager, said local businesses often see increased hiring needs when students return to campus in the fall.
“As students come back to Stillwater in August, local businesses see an influx in hiring needs,” Gallagher said.
Gallagher said summer can be a more uncertain time for businesses because of the absence of students and their impact on the local economy, which can influence hiring patterns.
While Career Services does not track employment trends for high school graduates specifically, the seasonal changes show how strongly the local job market is connected to the university population.
Gallagher said Career Services also works to support employment through events tied to the academic calendar.
“Career Services hosts a part-time job fair on the second day of classes every fall semester,” Gallagher said. “This fair is set early in the semester, based on the hiring needs for local businesses.”
The timing of the event reflects how closely hiring in Stillwater aligns with the return of students each fall, reinforcing a cycle that can make it more difficult for local graduates to find consistent work.
As summer approaches, Allmand said she is worried about maintaining consistent hours at her current job. With students leaving Stillwater temporarily and business patterns shifting, she said her income could become less predictable.
“I just didn’t expect it to be this hard,” Allmand said. “I do DoorDash though, and that has helped a bit.”
Even with a job now, Allmand said uncertainty around hours and income remains a concern heading into another summer, as she prepares for a season that once again may not bring the stability she needs.
news.ed@ocolly.com
Graduate goes from uncertainty to OSU
Hughes O’COLLY CONTRIBUTOR
Blair Smith’s journey to Oklahoma State University almost didn’t happen.
The financial numbers didn’t add up, and Smith began to wonder if college was something she could afford.
Instead of thinking about where she wanted to go, she found herself questioning whether going at all was possible.
“It felt like everything I had planned was starting to fall apart,” Smith said. “I didn’t think I was going to be able to go.”
Now a marketing student at OSU, Smith’s path to college was shaped by that uncertainty. As she worked through applications, the financial reality of tuition made higher education feel out of reach.
That changed when she qualified for Oklahoma’s Promise, which now covers about 90% of her tuition, making college possible.
Smith said she discovered the program during the college application process.
“When I found out about it, it felt like a huge weight was lifted,” Smith said. “I can vividly remember the relief from that day after talking with my advisor.”
That moment didn’t just ease financial stress – it reshaped what she believed was possible for her future.
“I was grateful because that meant I could attend Oklahoma State with less stress,” Smith said.
For her family, the shift was just as significant.
“We were ecstatic,” said Ashley Smith, Blair’s mother. “Not only was this taking the burden off our shoulders, but she could also attend her dream college without an insane amount of stress.”
The impact extended beyond tuition, giving Smith the ability to focus on school and plan ahead.
“We can put more of her money toward a future fund and support her whenever she needs our help,” Blair’s mother said.
Without that opportunity, college may not have been part of her path at all.
“To be quite frank, it wouldn’t have even been possible to imagine attending without it,” Ashley Smith said.
For students in similar situations, opportunities like the one Smith received can make a lasting difference.
“Oklahoma’s Promise is extremely important because, for a lot of lower socio-economic families in Oklahoma, it makes college possible by allowing students to attend an Oklahoma college without the financial burden of paying tuition,” said Rob Lofton, senior associate director of scholarships and financial aid at Oklahoma State University.
At Oklahoma State alone, Lofton said approximately 2,400 students receive Oklahoma’s Promise each year.
Now working toward her degree, Smith has remained focused on graduating on time despite a demanding schedule.
“The past two years I’ve had a pretty heavy classwork load,” Smith said. “I’ve taken anywhere from 17 to 19 hours to graduate in four years. That doesn’t sound like a lot out loud, until you have to do it yourself.”
Balancing that workload with friendships is something those close to her say she manages well.
“Blair is constantly doing her best in classes,” said Ava Perry, a friend of Smith’s at Oklahoma State University. “She somehow makes time for her friends while also getting everything done on time.”
Perry said Smith’s determination is consistent in everything she does.
“She’s a very determined person in general, so it’s no surprise that she does well in school,” Perry said.
Smith’s mother said that same determination has always defined her.
“Blair is the oldest out of her siblings and a great role model,” Ashley Smith said. “She takes every obstacle with a smile on her face.”
Looking back, Smith sees that moment of uncertainty as a turning point.
“I always think about how different things would look for me if I hadn’t applied,” Smith said. “That one decision changed everything for me.”
news.ed@ocolly.com
Zoey Hughes, O’Colly Contributor
Oklahoma State senior, Blair Smith looks toward graduation in spring 2026.
Zoey
Ella Poe O’COLLY CONTRIBUTOR
Courtesy Barry Fuxa Students are facing tough job markets.
lifestyle
‘I want us to be their first thought’
Bryson Thadhani CO-EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
When she first walked down the hallway toward The O’Colly newsroom, Caleson Coon was nervous.
She was a new writer, she didn’t know many people and she wasn’t sure yet if there was a future for her at the student newspaper.
She did know one person: former-co-editor-in-chief Raynee Howell, who had encouraged her to get involved. That relationship quickly turned into a lifeline.
“I remember being really nervous at first because I didn’t know anybody that well,” she said. “I was a new writer, and I didn’t know how that was going to go. But I knew Raynee, our recent EIC, and she became such a good friend and mentor. I really leaned on her that first semester and even now.”
Coon, the sophomore from Okemah a dual major in multimedia journalism and English, is preparing to take over as the next editor-in-chief of The O’Colly. She steps into the role after serving as a news assistant news and lifestyle editor, moving from anxious new contributor to the person charged with leading the newsroom.
Coon’s path to the top job wasn’t part of an elaborate plan.
“My original plan was to
interview for news editor next semester,” Coon said. “Then the summer EIC position got passed around, and I thought it would be a good opportunity. I talked to mentors, and they thought it couldn’t hurt to apply, so I threw my hat in the ring. Everything kind of flowed from there.”
After being appointed summer EIC, Coon sat for the editor-in-chief exam and interviewed for the fall position as well. Now, as this year’s leadership team finishes its last print edition, she is thinking about how to make the newsroom more visible, more accessible and more connected to the campus it covers.
One of her first priorities is getting The O’Colly in front of more students.
“I’d really like The O’Colly to start having small booths at events, especially early in the school year, so people can know that we’re here for tips, stories or if they want to join us,” Coon said. “We’re here for everybody, not just communications majors.”
Inside the newsroom, she wants to build more intentional collaboration into the weekly routine. She imagines a regular creative meeting that anyone can attend, whether they sit on the editorial board or not.
“I want people to come in and say, ‘here’s what’s going on on campus, here’s what we need to be focused on,’ and add it to our calendar so we can get a jump on things,” Coon said.
She is also thinking about how The O’Colly balances its historic print presence with the reality that most students encounter news on their phones. Coon said she wants a more active website and social media presence, without losing the sense of occasion that comes with a print edition.
“I definitely want our website to be more active because the internet and social media are such huge things in our world,” Coon said. “I’d like to put more stories on the web that we don’t have room for in print. But when stories are good enough for print, I still want to hold those until paper day. I think that anticipation helps people go grab the paper.”
The jump from assistant editor to editor-in-chief feels big, she said. The job means guiding coverage, managing a student staff and standing in front when things go wrong or right.
“Jumping from where I am now to editor-in-chief is a big thing to wrap my head around,” she said. “I never want to lead The O’Colly in the wrong way. It’s not just about me in this position — it’s about my staff, our readers and the alumni who’ve been at The O’Colly.”
Her motivation, she said, comes from a combination of faith and community.
“I have a really good faith foundation where I know why I’m doing this — why I’m reporting and writing,” Coon said. “The people around me
Every final Friday of the semester, the new graduates of Oklahoma State University celebrate their final days as a student on campus. These students have lived through years of classes, final football Bedlam and fountain dying, bringing together the campus through organizations and community building as well as making old and new friends. Over the years students have achieved things bigger than the sky, breaking barriers and creating a life for themselves as they grow into the people they are now. Graduates, thank you for reading The O’Colly while on campus and congratulations on the major milestone you achieved.
at home and here on staff are so encouraging. They help me stay on this path and stay grateful.”
She credits alumni, professors and current leaders with making it possible for her to take on the role.
“I don’t think I’m most proud of anything I’ve done,” she said. “I’m proud of the people who’ve helped me do things — alumni, professors upstairs, and Raynee. They’ve been really encouraging, telling me I can do this and helping me feel assured in the positions I’m taking. I’m proud to have them in my corner.”
As a leader, Coon wants the newsroom to feel welcoming and professional, especially for the next wave of first-time staffers. That balance of fun and respect for the work has been a recurring conversation in student newsrooms nationally and at OSU.
“I want anyone who wants to write, photograph or do social media to walk in here and know they’re welcome, no matter their age or where they come from,” she said.
“We have a lot of laughs here, and that’s great, but this is also our place of work. I want my staffers to respect the newsroom. I want people to understand, ‘I’m welcome here and I’m going to have fun, but it’s also a workplace.’”
Looking ahead, she is already thinking about big campus traditions and the stories they generate. Homecoming sits high on her list.
“I’m really looking forward to doing some fun things for homecoming because it’s such a big deal — I want to do it all,” she said. “I’m excited to see what students bring next year and what stories they give us to write about.”
The O’Colly, she said, has shaped her sense of what journalism is and what kind of career she wants to build after Stillwater.
“The O’Colly has been embedded in the foundation of my journalistic pursuits,” she said. “I fell in love with journalism here. It helped me learn not just about writing, but the interviewing, the scheduling and all the little details. It’s always going to be a part of me.”
Coon says she hopes that path continues beyond OSU. “I definitely want to pursue journalism after college,” she said. “Hopefully it works out — we’ll see where it goes.”
For now, though, her focus is on making sure The O’Colly is the place students think of first when news breaks, rumors start or stories need telling.
“I hope there’s a different feeling when you walk into the newsroom, because I’m a different person and a different EIC,” she said. “I want us to be known more. That means going out and meeting students and faculty where they are, being more active on social media and on the website. If something happens in Stillwater and there’s a scoop, I want us to be their first thought.”
Courtesy Calseon Coon
Fun fact: Caleson Coon’s favorite book is “Persuasion” by Jane Austen and one of her favorite films is “Pride And Prejudice.”
Attention in the age of screens
How Oklahoma State classrooms adapt
Kennedy Brock STAFF REPORTER
The buzz is quick.
The glance is quicker.
The attention is gone.
Today, phones and computers are embedded in classroom experiences, shaping how students learn and professors teach.
Oklahoma State University does not have universal policies, allowing each professor to enforce their own rules on technology. The issue is less about the devices themselves and more about how they divide students’ attention.
Tom Joyce, an aerospace administration and operations adjunct instructor, takes a flexible, trust-based approach with students. In addition to aerospace courses, Joyce teaches career classes, human sciences and freshman seminars. Teaching courses that range from freshman to senior levels, he builds expectations around participation rather than prohibition. Joyce’s syllabus outlines what he considers misuse of technology and how it affects students’ grades.
“I try to treat it like an adult class,” Joyce said. “If they have to take a phone call, step out. If they get a text, it’s fine—they can take a second to answer as long as they are not distracting the people around them.”
Joyce focuses on how technology is used, allowing students to take notes on laptops as long as it does not interfere with the learning environment. He said some students play Sudoku during class because they need something else going on while listening, and he doesn’t mind.
“My policy has been the same from the start,” Joyce said. “I know people have different preferences in how they best learn.”
When issues arise, Joyce prefers to speak with students privately. He gives one warning and explains why the behavior is a problem; if it continues, participation grades reflect the misuse.
Whitney Shepard, a child and family studies professor, also incorporates technology while focusing on student growth and involvement. In courses built on discussion, reflection and applied learning, technology can shape both interaction and the overall classroom experience. Shepard bases her approach on the environment and her students rather than strict restriction.
Shepard moved to teaching online courses a year ago, which has shifted how she thinks about technology. Her policy is influenced by her large in-person lectures, where class sizes of 150 to 300 students affect how technology use impacts others.
“When you picture those big lecture halls and everybody that has a computer open, everybody behind them can see what’s on their computer,” Shepard said. “That definitely plays into how I try to handle it.”
policy than classroom management. She said she rarely takes disengagement personally, instead viewing it as part of a broader responsibility to meet students where they are.
“I have students dealing with serious life situations,” Shepard said. “I don’t assume it’s always about me or the class. I lean in and try to figure out what they need.”
Technology has become an unavoidable part of students’ daily routines. For some professors, the conversation is less about enforcing strict rules and more about adapting to a constantly shifting classroom dynamic.
For Joshua Taylor, director of the leadership institution, teaching has evolved alongside that shift.
“When I first started teaching, it wasn’t nearly as big of a factor,” Taylor said. “Now, it’s just kind of always there, so you have to figure out how to work with it
“I don’t want to spend the whole time telling people to get off their phones,” Taylor said. “I’d rather make it where they don’t feel the need to be on them as much.”
Over time, Taylor said he has become more intentional in structuring lectures and interacting with students, recognizing attention spans have changed. Technology hasn’t only changed what students bring to class—it has changed how instructors teach.
Inside the classroom, students navigate those same distractions, often balancing academic expectations with the pull of their devices. Experiences vary by major, course structure and individual habits.
Attention is fragile in a digital space.
Rebecca Ball, an applied exercise science major at OSU, is studying to become a physical therapist. She said her technology use
“I tell my students, ‘If you’d rather be on Instagram or shopping online, I’m good with you not being here.”
WHITNEY SHEPHARD
Rather than implementing strict rules, Shepard emphasizes clear expectations. One firm policy centers on student privacy: students are not allowed to take photos of others in class.
Although most students use computers for notes, Shepard addresses how misuse can affect others’ learning. She recalled a lecture where a student was shopping for spring break swimsuits, distracting those seated behind them.
“I tell my students, ‘If you’d rather be on Instagram or shopping online, I’m good with you not being here,’” Shepard said. “I don’t take attendance, but if you are here in my classroom, you are engaged in class activity.”
There is more to Shepard’s
instead of against it.”
Rather than banning devices, Taylor emphasizes clear expectations in his syllabus. He said giving students independence reveals how differently they manage attention—some stay engaged, while others drift once a screen becomes a distraction.
“You can usually tell when a student is checked out,” Taylor said. “It’s not always obvious at first, but it changes the energy of the room.”
That shift doesn’t affect only one student. Technology can pull attention away from others, making it harder to maintain a focused environment. Taylor said his role is less about policing behavior and more about creating a classroom that encourages presence.
changes depending on the class. During her sophomore year, she took mostly science courses that required extensive note-taking and long lectures on her computer.
“When I was in my science classes last year, I found it harder to pay attention and listen to my professors lecture for an hour straight,” Ball said. “I would simply just learn the material to get through exams.”
As a result, Ball said she often turned to social media, messaging friends or shopping during class. She said attention depends heavily on how professors teach, and the way material is presented plays a major role in whether she stays focused.
Ball said she responds best to professors who break
up lectures with examples, questions or discussions, making classes feel more interactive.
“It makes a big difference when professors don’t always go slide to slide,” Ball said. “When they actually explain it in a way that feels relevant, I’m way more likely to stay engaged.”
This year, she has shifted to more activity-based courses.
“Now, I get to create workouts and learn how athletes’ bodies feel and work in different scenarios,” Ball said. “It is a lot easier for me to understand when I am doing hands-on activities.”
Ball’s experience reflects a broader trend: in more engaging, interactive classes, the temptation to check devices decreases.
Braylee Tiger, a nursing student at OSU, faces a more structured environment where focus is critical. After daily lectures, she spends about three hours studying or completing assignments.
“My classes are so important and detailed that I don’t have time to not pay attention,” Tiger said. “Even if they’re long lectures, I have to make myself pay attention or it will just be harder than it already is.”
Tiger said engagement can still vary, even in demanding courses. While she pushes herself to stay attentive, teaching style still affects how easily she absorbs information.
“I do better when professors explain the ‘why’ behind our coursework instead of just telling us what to memorize,” Tiger said. “If I understand why what we’re learning about matters, I’m not sitting there thinking about anything else.”
Tiger also said organization is key. In fast-paced classes, it becomes harder to stay focused when lectures feel disorganized or difficult to follow.
“It helps when professors don’t jump around too much,” Tiger said. “If I can follow them easily, I’m not getting distracted trying to figure out what I missed.”
File Photo, The O’Colly
Okahoma State professors are struggling to keep students attention in class due to the rise of technology in learning environments.
a look back to calf fry 2026
Chance Marick, The O’Colly Braxton Keith performed at the Calf Fry festival.
Payton Little, The O’Colly
Flatland Cavalry (right) performed at Calf Fry
Chance Marick, The O’Colly
A beautiful sunset during the 2026 Calf Fry festival at Tumbleweed, where people came to listen to music, dance, and have a good time.
Chance Marick, The O’Colly Cleto Cordero is in the band Flatland Calvary.
Chance Marick, The O’Colly Fans cheered Flatland Calvary on as they took the stage.
Chance Marick, The O’Colly A little boy wearing a cowboy hat watched Josh Meloy perform at the Calf Fry festival.
calf fry 2026 continued
Bands
GOD IS TRUSTWORTHY!
God is worthy of our trust! “... I am watching to see that my word is fulfilled.” “... so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” (Jer.1:12, Is.55:11 NIV)
Certainly from these verses it is clear that the Lord “means what he says.” When he speaks, or makes promises, he makes sure they are fulfilled. The life of Abraham shared with us in the first book of the Bible is telling us of a man who believed that God could be trusted. Abraham had to wait many years to see some of God’s promises fulfilled, and some for hundreds of years, and there was one he waited for thousands. God promised that all the world would be blessed through the offspring of Abraham. Jesus came through
his natural lineage. Jesus brought to all people the blessing of forgiveness and eternal life. God is trustworthy!
“The just shall live by faith.” (Ro.1:17) The theme all through the Bible is the life of faith. The true faith mentioned in scripture has one object; that is God. We are to trust the faithful God! We are to look to this God who has proved himself over and over a faithful God, who keeps his promises. He is worthy of our trust. As we except Christ, God’s gift to us, there is forgiveness of sin. We will not be condemned at the final judgment. He promises to guide us, to comfort and strengthen us in this present life. He will make us fruitful in helping others; laying up treasure in heaven.. The challenge is to take him at his word. Put your life in his hands for he is trustworthy. He will do in and through you what he has promised.
Chance Marick, The O’Colly
such as Flatland Calvary, Josh Meloy and Kaitlin Butts performed at Calf Fry 2026.
Payton Little, The O’Colly
Josh Meloy performed at Calf Fry.
Payton Little, The O’Colly
Fans were welcome to ride the swing at Calf Fry.
Payton Little, The O’Colly
Tyler Nance (right) and his bandmate Ben Hayes played Calf Fry.
Payton Little, The O’Colly The setting sun set the mood for fans during Calf Fry.
Payton Little, The O’Colly Cole Phillips performed Calf Fry.
Payton Little, The O’Colly
Charles Wesley Godwin performed at Calf Fry.
Payton Little, The O’Colly Bottomland signed autographs after their performance.
Friday, May 8, 2026
Wallace stepping up for the Cowboys with ‘fearless’ mentality
For Danny Wallace, the opportunity arrived much sooner than expected.
When Wallace came to Oklahoma State this past summer as a freshman, the plan was simple.
Learn from the older players, adjust
to the college game and continue developing inside the program.
Early in the season, Wallace still found ways to contribute, appearing in 20 games with eight starts during the first two months of the year.
But on April 14 against Oklahoma in Tulsa, everything changed.
Starting right fielder and two-way
How OSU’s Timm has bounced back after ‘hard’ junior year
Gerl CO-EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Claire Timm wanted to attack it head-on.
Two seasons ago, Timm, a senior outfielder, was one of the most consistent players on the Oklahoma State softball team. She finished inside the top five on the team in a litany of hitting stats and played in every game.
Upon entering her junior season last year, the only way seemed up for Timm. She had garnered more experience and was ready to take another leap as one of the Cowgirls’ top players. It just didn’t quite go her way, though.
Timm got off to a slow start and her hitting numbers dropped across the board. So did her playing time. She couldn’t quite calculate the root
cause of the struggles, but knew she had to battle through them.
“Hard is the best word you could use to describe (last season),” Timm said.
Fast forward to today, though, and Timm is back to being an example of consistency. She’s second on OSU in batting average and hits, and is thriving in the lead-off spot of the lineup — one of the key components to the Cowgirls’ late-season surge toward a deep postseason run.
Timm has played in 50 of OSU’s 51 games with 48 starts in the outfield.
She’s hitting a career-best .348 with eight home runs, 30 RBI and 84 total bases, and has helped the Cowgirls finish the regular season 11-2 since she was placed at the top of the lineup on April 12 against Iowa State.
See TIMM on page 2B
player TP Wentworth exited the game in the fourth inning after grasping the forearm area of his throwing arm. It was later announced that Wentworth would miss the remainder of the season, leaving OSU searching for answers in right field.
“It was just really tough to see TP go down,” Wallace said after Saturday’s win
against TCU. “He was really finding it on the mound (and) at the plate. So he’s just been a really big help to me. So far as I’ve been in right field, in the lineup. I struggled a little bit, and he’s always with me, helping me out whenever I need him.”
That answer quickly became Wallace.
See WALLACE on page 5B
REPORTER
Jacie Hoyt entered the offseason searching for puzzle pieces.
Oklahoma State’s coach was faced with the task of constructing a roster and had to find the pieces she wanted.
With 12 departing players, Hoyt had to look to the transfer portal to build the Cowgirls’ new team.
What followed was the addition of arguably the top two players in the portal, Liv McGill and Audi Crooks, as well as the No. 1 transfer portal class, according to ESPN and on 3.
In addition to McGill and Crooks, OSU signed Ellie Brueggemann, Talexa Weeter, Nene Ndiaye, Yuting Deng, LA Sneed and Zoe Canfield out of the portal. In November, the Cowgirls signed incoming freshmen
Annie Kibedi, Bralyn Peck and Addisyn Bollinger. Stailee Heard also returns to Stillwater for her senior season. Now, Hoyt will be tasked with using her pieces and forming the Cowgirls’ lineups.
Here are five potential lineups for OSU:
McGill, Brueggemann, Heard, Ndiaye and Crooks
McGill, Heard and Crooks appear locked into OSU’s starting lineup. This leaves two spots up for grabs that Brueggemann, Ndiaye and Weeter are competing for.
With the skillsets of McGill and Crooks, adding Brueggemann and Ndiaye to the lineup allows everyone to play to their strengths.
See LINEUPS on page 3B
Catherine Dzanski, The O’Colly
Oklahoma State freshman infielder Danny Wallace totaled four hits with one home run this past weekend when the Cowboys swept TCU.
Chance Marick, The O’Colly OSU outfielder Claire Timm is hitting .348, second-best on the Cowgirls.
Parker
Cayden Cox STAFF
Chance Marick, The O’Colly Cowgirls coach Jacie Hoyt has put together the No. 1 rated transfer portal class.
sports
Utah, Cowgirls advance to Big 12 semifinals
stay where I’m at.”
OKLAHOMA CITY —
Oklahoma State ace Ruby Meylan shined once again.
On Thursday, Meylan pitched a complete-game shutout against Utah at the Big 12 Tournament, leading the Cowgirls past the Utes, 7-0. Meylan allowed only one hit, three walks and struck out three Utah batters. OSU is set for the semifinals on Friday.
“I felt pretty good about it,” Meylan said. “Kind of just riding the wave of where I’m at right now and it’s been working for me, so I’m just trying to stick to what I’ve been doing and yeah, it’s been pretty steady. So, I’m just trying to
Utah coach Amy Hogue had high praises for the Cowgirl pitcher after the game.
“She’s the best in our conference and has shown that,” Hogue said. “In the last two years, she’s been in this conference, and then she was in that other conference we were in, and she showed you she was the best there too.”
OSU had a couple of early chances. The Cowgirls stranded runners on first and second in the first, and left the bases loaded in the second inning.
In the bottom of the fourth it had seemed like the Cowgirl offense had something up their sleeve.
Madison Hoffman led off the inning with a base-hit to right.
much of myself. I don’t think it was any of that.
Her 30 RBI and eight homers each ranked third on the team through the regular season alongside her fourthbest 28 runs.
This has come on the heels of a season in which Timm hit .250 and made only 24 starts after hitting .324 with 57 starts as a sophomore. The struggles were frustrating, Timm said, and led her to lean on current and former teammates.
“It was just rough,” Timm said. “I don’t think it was the expectations from the year before. I don’t think the standard was too high. I don’t think people were asking too much, or I was asking too
“... That was just something I had to go through to get to where I am today and who I’ll be from now on. I will always think back to that.”
Despite her struggles and drop in playing time, Timm never once thought about seeking a fresh start elsewhere — something that has become common in modern college sports.
Timm knew the struggles were only at the expense of her. She knew that Stillwater, the OSU program, and the people within it were the ones she needed. It motivated her to bounce back the following season.
“I just kind of wanted to get through it,” Timm said. “It was never about the place or these people or anything external. It
She was able to take second after a bobble in right. Two pitches later it she took third base on a wild pitch. The goahead run was 60 feet away, but after the play was challenged by Utah, Hoffman was called out for leaving the base early.
This was also Hoffman’s first time starting at right field for the Cowgirls.
“She’s playing with nothing to lose,” Gajewski said. “You know, she’s a freshman … I don’t know why she would be leaving early at second base, so that’s a freshman in a big moment, in a bunt situation, trying to get a little far off. So just learning those things, but I mean, Madison’s a pretty awesome kid, and obviously she’s really hot right now.”
was just me, and I just wanted to get through it.”
Now, that patience has paid off, as Timm has put together one of her best seasons and has helped the Cowgirls get hot at the right time. As OSU looks to return to Oklahoma City for the Women’s College World Series, Timm will continue to be a big piece to the Cowgirls’ postseason run.
And as her four years with the program slowly come to a close, Timm, a California native, said that OSU has become “my home” and that the people she can surround herself with have been the most enjoyable part of playing for the Cowgirls.
“She’s just a kid I love,” OSU coach Kenny Gajewski said in March. “Last year was really hard on her. To see what she is doing now is really cool.”
Meylan responded by retiring the Utah side in order in the bottom of the fifth. She picked up her first strike out of the game, retiring Utah right fielder Payton Crank. Then the Cowgirl offense exploded. After Jayelle Austin led off the inning with a hit-by-pitch, Karli Godwin singled, moving Austin to second. Rosie Davis broke the tie with an RBI single. Lexi McDonald then walked to load the bases. Amanda Hasler stepped up with the bases load and a chance to break the game open. Hasler did just that.
She cleared the bases with an RBI triple and later scored from a Hoffman RBI single. The Cowgirls scored five runs
in the frame giving Meylan some much needed run support.
Godwin added to the scoring in the bottom of the sixth. After Austin led off the inning with a walk, Godwin crushed a two-run homer to deep center field. It was her seventh homer of the season.
The lone hit for Utah came in the top of the seventh when catcher Kennedy Proctor led off the inning with a ground ball through the 5-6 hole to break up Meylan’s no-hit bid. This was Oklahoma State’s first win in the Big 12 Conference Tournament since they beat Oklahoma to win the 2022 Big 12 Conference Tournament.
sports.ed@ocolly.com
Bryson Thadhani, The O’Colly OSU coach Kenny Gajewski said it’s “really cool” to see what outfielder Claire Timm has done so far in her senior season.
Meylan shuts out
Ryan Ruston STAFF REPORTER
Laken Chambers, The O’Colly Oklahoma State star pitcher Ruby Meylan struck out three batters and held Utah to zero runs on Thursday at the Big 12 Tournament.
sports
Early projections: What could OSU’s lineup look like in 2026-27?
The college wrestling transfer portal deadline has passed, and Oklahoma State didn’t need to make many changes this offseason.
Heavyweight Konner Doucet is the only NCAA qualifier from last season’s lineup who exhausted his eligibility, leaving the Cowboys with most of their core returning after a runnerup finish at the NCAA Championships.
South Dakota State transfer Bennett Berge, who has competed at both 184 and 197 pounds, was OSU’s lone portal addition.
The Cowboys are also bringing in one of the nation’s top recruiting classes. Six signees landed inside FloWrestling’s top 100 Class of 2026 Big Board, including five ranked inside the top 11. The class originally featured No. 1 overall recruit Jax Forrest, who arrived early and captured a national championship as a true freshman this past season. While the full roster has not been finalized, OSU’s projected lineup already appears relatively clear heading into next year.
Here’s a way-too-early prediction of what the Cowboys’ starting lineup could look like next season:
• 125: Troy Spratley
133: Jax Forrest
141: Sergio Vega
• 149: Casey Swiderski
• 157: Landon Robideau
165: LaDarion Lockett
174: Alex Facundo
• 184: Bennett Berge
• 197: Cody Merrill
HWT: Dreshaun Ross Spratley enters his senior season coming off a Big 12 title and his second AllAmerican finish. After falling short in the conference finals in each of the previous two seasons, he finally broke through in Tulsa and will
serve as one of the veteran leaders of the lineup.
Forrest and Vega are both coming off historic freshman campaigns after winning Big 12 and NCAA titles. The duo became the first true freshmen national champions at OSU since 1947 and finished second and third, respectively, in the Hodge Trophy fan vote behind Penn State’s Mitchell Mesenbrink. At 149 pounds, Swiderski returns for his final year of eligibility after capturing his first Big 12 championship and earning his second career AllAmerican finish.
Robideau and Lockett also emerged as major pieces during their freshman seasons. Robideau followed a runner-up finish at the Big 12 Championships with a
Crooks is able to hangout in the low post, where she has dominated in recent seasons. Ndiaye can set up in the corner, where she’s a 41.6% shooter, or can work her way inside. At 6-foot-1, she also provides a slight size advantage defensively.
The 5-foot-11 Heard has played in the post the majority of her career at OSU, but now she’s able to slide to the wing position and fully play to her strengths.
With Crooks’ presence in the paint, the driving lane will open for McGill, and defenses will have to choose either to help inside against Crooks or cover the perimeter.
If they choose to focus on limiting Crooks, then that opens the outside for Brueggemann, a 44% 3-point shooter.
McGill, Brueggemann, Weeter, Heard and Crooks
The same lineup as above, but subbing Weeter for Ndiaye. That move slides Heard back down to the post.
Weeter, the reigning Division II player of the year, gets to play alongside Crooks and provides another interior presence for the Cowgirls. Heard and Weeter have shown in the past that they aren’t afraid to crash the glass, and that could play into the strengths of this lineup.
The Cowgirls have six players who combined for 184 starts last season, and Hoyt’s starting lineup will likely consist of five of the six.
Sneed, McGill, Weeter, Heard and Ndiaye
national title run in Cleveland. At the same time, Lockett showed flashes of becoming one of the top wrestlers in the country despite falling short of the podium.
Facundo is expected to return for his final season after reaching the Big 12 finals during his first full year in the lineup. Although he narrowly missed All-American honors, he remains one of the more experienced wrestlers on the roster.
One of the biggest offseason questions comes at 184 pounds.
Zack Ryder battled through a shoulder injury late in the season and still earned AllAmerican honors as the No. 22 seed in the 184-pound weight class at the NCAA Championships. But, with
the injury likely requiring additional recovery time, a medical redshirt is a possibility.
That opens the door for Berge, who spent four seasons at South Dakota State. He qualified for the past three NCAA Championships and earned All-American honors at 184 pounds in 2024 before moving up to 197 last season.
With Cody Merrill firmly established after his NCAA runner-up finish, Berge is expected to slide back down to 184 pounds for his final season of eligibility.
Merrill headlines a group of returning freshmen after placing second nationally as the No. 7 seed at 197 pounds.
His breakout postseason run established him as one of the top young wrestlers in the
Stailee Heard, who averaged 11.9 points this past
This is a long-shot lineup for the Cowgirls, but they could use it if Hoyt prioritizes defense.
Inserting Sneed into the point guard role slides McGill to the shooting guard, but gives the Cowgirls a lineup that could wreak havoc.
Sneed and McGill combined for 109 steals this season and would lockdown the backcourt for OSU.
Heard and Ndiaye may be undersized on the inside, but
that hasn’t phased them in the past. They have combined for 218 steals and 49 blocks throughout their careers.
Brueggemann, Bollinger, Deng, Heard and Ndiaye 3-pointers, 3-pointers, 3-pointers.
This is the Cowgirls’ strongest 3-point lineup. Brueggemann would be the point guard, a position she played at Lindenwood, and
would run the offense.
Deng was a 3-point specialist at Baylor, and her clutch gene has helped her make big shots in big moments.
Heard and Ndiaye at the four and five give the Cowgirls two versatile players who, like Deng, don’t shy away from the clutch moments and shot 35.6% and 41.6% from 3.
The final spot in the lineup came down to Bollinger, Peck and Canfield. Canfield is the only one of the group
country entering next season.
Heavyweight remains the most open battle on the roster, but Dreshaun Ross appears to be the early favorite to step into the spot. Ross, the No. 4 overall recruit in the country, finished his high school career as a four-time Iowa state champion at Fort Dodge High School and could become the next breakout freshman under David Taylor. Unlike last offseason, OSU isn’t expected to undergo major roster turnover. With most of its lineup returning from a team that won a second straight Big 12 title and finished second nationally, the Cowboys should once again enter the season as one of the top contenders in college wrestling.
with college experience, but ultimately, Bollinger got the nod due to her volume of 3s. In her senior season at Frenship High School, Bollinger fired 192 3s and made 76 of them for a 39.6%.
This lineup does take the talented McGill and Crooks off the court, but it could put up points in a hurry.
Sneed, Canfield, Bollinger, Peck and Kibedi
The five youngest Cowgirls on the court at the same time — why not?
This look allows for OSU to see the young talent it has. Canfield is the oldest of the group, but has only played 25 games in her career.
Sneed started 16 games for Utah, averaging 6.3 points, 2.2 rebounds and 3.3 assists. As for Bollinger and Peck, both come to Stillwater after successful high school careers in Texas.
Bollinger averaged 13.6 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.6 assists with Frenship High School, while Peck recorded 17.6 points, 7.2 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game with Decatur High School.
Kibedi comes to the United States after playing for the Kangoeroes Basket Mechelen in Belgium’s Top Women’s Division, where she averaged 10.2 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.0 assists.
There’s also a positional fit for everyone in this lineup.
Sneed plays the point guard, Canfield at the two, Bollinger plays on the wing and Peck and Kibedi run the four and five.
Although Hoyt likely won’t play all five at the same time, it is a fun chance to look at what the future could hold for OSU.
Connor Fuxa, The O’Colly
season, is returning for OSU next season.
Trey Creel, The O’Colly
Oklahoma State 125-pounder Troy Spratley is one of the key returners for next season’s Cowboy wrestling team.
Cowboys have a visible path to become an NCAA Tournament regional host
Looking back at the final weekend of March, Oklahoma State was sitting in a tough position nearly halfway through the regular season.
The Cowboys were well below the NCAA Tournament bubble, ranking No. 68 in the RPI, and finished the month with two devastating losses at BYU, dropping to 3-6 in conference play.
Fast forward to today, OSU has jumped more than 30 spots to No. 32 and has entered a conversation that looked unlikely a month ago: regional hosting.
Since the beginning of April, the Cowboys have gone 11-4 in conference play, with sweeps over Cincinnati, Texas Tech and TCU, and are currently fifth in the Big 12 standings at 14-10.
Last weekend’s series against the Horned Frogs was a statement win for the Cowboys over a team chasing the same spot, given where both teams ranked in the RPI heading into the series. OSU was No. 36 while TCU was four spots below at No. 40 in the bubble area.
Looking at OSU’s record for each quadrant, it’s a pretty good case to make for potentially their 13th consecutive trip to the national tournament. The Cowboys are 6-8 against Quad 1 opponents, 7-4 against Quad 2 opponents and 18-5 against Quad 3/4 opponents.
At this point, the conversation for OSU is no longer about simply getting into the field. The Cowboys have played themselves into a position where the final two weeks could determine whether postseason baseball returns to Stillwater.
OSU has seven regular-season games left, including a three-game series at Arizona State this weekend, a midweek matchup at Oral Roberts next Tuesday and a three-game series against Arizona next weekend.
The Sun Devils are currently No. 39 in RPI, almost identical to where TCU was entering last weekend. The difference will be that ASU will be a Quad 1 opponent, since the Cowboys will play on the road against a team with an RPI ranking of at least 60.
If OSU wants to seriously chase a regional host bid, it likely needs at least a series win in Phoenix. Then the Cowboys will need to end their kryptonite against Quad-3 opponent Oral Roberts in Tulsa, whom they’ve already lost to twice this season.
A sweep against Arizona at home is a must, considering OSU is 20-5 in Stillwater this season. Even one loss against the Quad-4 Wildcats could hurt. If the Cowboys finish the regular season in those scenarios with a 37-18 record with one loss to Arizona State, they would be in a good position. Then comes the Big 12 Tournament. If the Cowboys earn a Top-6 seed for a double-bye into the quarterfinals, they will certainly need two wins on their way to the Big 12 Championship game, plus some help from results in other conference tournaments, considering where they stand in the RPI right now.
If OSU wins the Big 12 title for the second time in three years, it would almost certainly lock up a regional host bid. If the Cowboys finish as the runner-up for a 39-19 record, they still could make a solid case. The worst-case scenario would be only a quarterfinals win before falling in the semifinals. OSU has already played its way back into the NCAA Tournament conversation. Now comes the harder part: proving it belongs among the teams hosting in late May for the fourth time in the last five years.
sports
Where is OSU baseball projected to play in the NCAA Tournament?
After a sweep over TCU, Oklahoma State has worked its way into the postseason conversation and is getting many different projections on where it will likely end up playing in a regional.
The Cowboys sit at 31-17 (1410 Big 12) and are No. 25 in the country, per Baseball America, as they prepare for a three-game series against Arizona State in Phoenix.
Here are projections from four different sources on where the Cowboys are currently projected to play in the regional round of the NCAA Tournament.
D1Baseball: College Station Regional, No. 2 seed
Along with Texas A&M (No. 1), OSU is projected to be with UTSA (No. 3) and Oral Roberts (No. 4) in the College Station Regional. That already presents a tough challenge for the Cowboys.
ORU has defeated OSU twice this season, and will look for the season-series sweep when the two teams face off on ORU’s campus on May 12. The last time the two schools faced off in the postseason was at the 2023 Stillwater Regional, and the Golden Eagles beat the Cowboys 6-4. OSU has not defeated ORU in a postseason game since the 1999 Midwest Regional.
After a down year last season, Texas A&M is back to its usual self as it prepares to potentially host a regional for the 14th time in program history.
The Aggies have lost the last two matchups against the Cowboys by a combined score of 12-5, but those two games were at a neutral site, with 2020 being in Frisco, Texas, and 2025 being in Houston. The last time OSU went to College Station was in 2011 under head coach Frank Anderson. It got swept by Texas A&M, as it was
outscored 24-4 in the three-game series. Josh Holliday is 2-0 against the Aggies, but this would be his first time facing them at Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park.
The Cowboys are 3-0 alltime against UTSA, but the Roadrunners currently have a commanding lead in the American Conference standings. If OSU ends up matching up with them, it will have to be careful against a solid mid-major team.
Baseball America: Atlanta Regional, No. 2 seed Holliday has some familiarity with Georgia Tech (No. 1), as he was an assistant coach for the Yellow Jackets from 2005 to 2007. During that time, GT went to the 2006 College World Series, where it was eliminated in the first round with losses to Clemson and Cal State Fullerton.
The Cowboys are 3-2 all-time against the Yellow Jackets, with the last matchups taking place in the 1998 Midwest Regional in Wichita, Kansas. OSU took the first game 13-4, but Georgia Tech got its revenge by eliminating the Cowboys with a 6-5 win in the regional semifinal.
Tennessee is projected as the No. 3 seed in that regional, while Niagara is projected as the No. 4 seed.
The Volunteers are 5-1 alltime against the Cowboys, but it has been a long time since the two schools matched up in the postseason. That last matchup was at the 1997 Mideast Regional in Stillwater, and OSU defeated Tennessee 6-1 in the regional.
The Volunteers have done well in their first season without Tony Vitello since 2017, but they are near the bottom of the SEC standings with an 11-13 record against the conference.
The Cowboys have faced Niagara only once, as the two teams clashed at the 2024 Stillwater Regional. OSU dominated the Purple Eagles 19-7 in its regional
opener at O’Brate Stadium.
USA Today: College Station Regional, No. 3 seed
The changes in this projection compared to D1Baseball’s projection are that Wake Forest is the No. 2 seed, while the Cowboys are now the No. 3 seed with Texas A&M and ORU staying in the same spots.
OSU has only faced the Demon Deacons once in program history. That game was all the way back in the preliminary final of the 1955 College World Series when the school was called Oklahoma A&M, and the mascot was the Aggies. Wake Forest won the preliminary final 2-0 before defeating Western Michigan for its first and only national championship.
On3: Chapel Hill Regional, No. 2 seed
Along with No. 1-seeded North Carolina, the Cowboys are projected to match up with Campbell (No. 3) and Winthrop (No. 4) in the Chapel Hill Regional.
The last time OSU and UNC faced off was a three-game series in the Cowboys’ 2016 College World Series season, but the Tar Heels got the best of the Cowboys with a sweep of that series.
The two schools do have some postseason history, with two matchups at the College World Series.
The 1960 College World Series saw OSU dominate UNC 7-0 in the lower round one after dropping the opener against Arizona. In that game, Jim Wixson threw the first no-hitter in program history for the Cowboys.
The 1966 College World Series saw another matchup in the lower round one between the two teams. The Cowboys defeated the Tar Heels 5-1, which jump-started their run to the championship game.
OSU has never faced Campbell, while last year’s two-game series against Winthrop was the first between the two schools.
Natalie Koepp, The O’Colly
Two outlets, USA Today and D1Baseball, project OSU to play in the College Station Regional.
Will Thorogood STAFF REPORTER
Weston Wertzberger STAFF REPORTER
Dzanski, The O’Colly
OSU baseball team is riding a late-season surge.
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Cowboys getting much-needed rest before ASU series
Will Thorogood STAFF REPORTER
After a sweep against TCU at O’Brate Stadium this past weekend, Oklahoma State is getting some rest before heading to Phoenix for a three-game series against No. 16 Arizona State, starting on Friday.
The Cowboys are riding their longest rest time of the season, with five days in between the TCU and ASU series. They have not had a rest period longer than four days this season, and their last four-day rest period was in February. OSU will also look to repeat history, as a four-day rest period before last year’s ASU series resulted in a series sweep for the Cowboys.
It’s the perfect time for OSU to get some time off before its next series, as the Cowboys are looking to keep the energy up after an exciting series with TCU.
OSU coach Josh Holliday spoke about how important this time off will be for his team after the series finale against the Horned Frogs.
“We’ll just keep our bodies right during the week,” Holliday said. “It’s not an easy week for the kids, but they’re used to the privilege of stressing their life of getting to play baseball and go to school, so they’ll handle it.”
Looking back ahead of the GCU series, OSU’s last long rest period, the Cowboys looked to bounce back from a 1-2 finish at the Shriners Children’s College Showdown at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, and they did more than just that.
OSU won eight of its next nine games, which included an eight-game winning streak that lasted until the series opener against Gardner-Webb.
After that GCU series, the Cowboys would not get a lot of rest between series, but that did not pose a disadvantage for them. They have tallied three sweeps while only suffering one sweep at the
hands of UCF in March.
During that time, there have been some injury scares for OSU. The pitching staff has dealt with the majority of them.
Hudson Barrett left game one against GWU with an arm injury, Noah Wech did not pitch for roughly two weeks due to a shoulder injury, Mario Pesca did not pitch in the series against Texas Tech due to a blister in his throwing hand and TP Wentworth’s season ended when he felt discomfort after delivering a pitch against Oklahoma April 14.
Fortunately for the Cowboys, Barrett, Wech and Pesca have worked themselves back onto the mound and contributed largely in the series against TCU.
Barrett struck out four
batters in 1 ⅔ innings in the series opener. Pesca dominated the Horned Frogs with six strikeouts and one hit allowed in a 3 ⅓ inning outing in game two. And Wech picked up his sixth save of the season when his two-inning, two-strikeout outing shut down TCU in the series finale.
After game three, Wech spoke about how he and his teammates can use this time off to analyze themselves entering the series against the Sun Devils.
“There’s never nothing to work on,” Wech said. “I think it’s going to be good for us.
I think it’s gonna give a lot of our guys that are a little banged up here and there, just some rest and time to really get back to their best self before our next series. And I think it’s really important coming down
the stretch here, I think it’s gonna be really good for us.”
One player who will enjoy the time off is catcher Campbell Smithwick. Smithwick has been behind the plate for 15-consecutive games due to his reliability at the catcher position. That reliability has given him 39 starts behind the plate this season.
Smithwick spoke about this rest period after the finale against TCU.
“We’ll have finals this week,” Smithwick said. “... So I don’t really have a choice but to rest and recover a little bit.
Chris (McKenzie) and the training staff do such a good job keeping us all healthy and ready.”
Entering last year’s series against ASU, OSU had a fourday rest period between a
Continued from 1B
Since Wentworth’s injury, Wallace has started 11 of the Cowboys’ last 12 games and has slowly settled into a larger role late in the season. During that stretch, he has recorded six hits, one home run, 10 runs, seven walks and three RBIs.
His strongest weekend came during OSU’s series sweep against TCU, when Wallace totaled four hits, one home run, three runs and one RBI.
Entering the weekend, Wallace carried a .184 batting average. After the series, it jumped to .213. He currently holds a .213/.377/.393 slash line with a .770 OPS, as he continues adjusting to Division I pitching late in the season.
Wallace said adjusting to everyday opportunities at the college level has been part of the learning process. Part of that process included simplifying his approach offensively after struggling earlier in the season.
“Being in the lineup so far, it’s kind of something that you do all of high school league play,” Wallace said. “I came here knowing that there were a lot of older guys who were really good baseball players, especially in the outfield. So just knew that I had to keep working.
“There’s been a lot of issues with my swing. I’ve been trying too many different things, and I finally just simplified. I’ve been working with (assistant) Coach (Victor Romero), and he’s been helping me out a lot, so that’s been a really big help for me.”
5-4 loss on the road to Baylor and the series opener against the Sun Devils at O’Brate. Meanwhile, ASU had only two days between its midweek game against GCU on the road and the series opener against the Cowboys. OSU swept the Sun Devils to close out the regular season. This time, ASU has a fiveday gap between its series finale against UCF and the opener against the Cowboys because its midweek game at Missouri on May 5 was cancelled due to inclement weather. So it will be interesting to see whether both teams getting a lot of rest leads to a different outcome in this year’s series. That will be determined when the series kicks off on Friday.
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Josh Holliday said Wallace’s willingness to learn has stood out throughout the season as his confidence continues to grow.
“He’s great,” Holliday said. “He always has a smile on his face. He’s inquisitive, he’s looking to learn. He’s fearless. He’s just excited we won. He’s excited he contributed. He’ll show up here tomorrow with bright blue eyes and a smile. They want to work on the things (Sunday) that he learned from (Saturday) and that’s all you can ask your young players to do is just keep taking on these challenges and saying, ‘God, I’ve never seen a sidearm pitcher like that before. Next time I face one.’ So they’re just learning.” Holliday pointed to Wallace as part of a larger group of younger players who have continued to grow within the program as the season has progressed.
“I’m very excited about the amount of growth and a lot of homegrown players,” Holliday said. “He’s sitting down at the bottom of the order with Garrett Shull, a homegrown sophomore, and in the twohole is Brock Thompson, a homegrown sophomore. There are a lot of our kids who are starting to just gain a lot of confidence by growing inside the program.”
For Wallace, the role may have arrived unexpectedly, but his confidence has continued growing with every opportunity.
And with the Cowboys entering the final stretch of the regular season, OSU is starting to see one of its younger players develop at the right time.
Catherine Dzanski, The O’Colly
Danny Wallace improved his batting average from .184 to .213 this past weekend.
Catherine Dzanski, The O’Colly
The Cowboy baseball team has five days of rest in between the TCU and ASU series, a time of much-needed rest for OSU.
Top OSU sports storylines from the school year sports
Massive changes, backto-back championships and Bedlam wins.
Those were just some of the things Oklahoma State sports teams endured in the 2025-26 school year, a stretch that has had its highs and lows and has continued to make headlines.
As the school year comes to a close, here is a look at five of the biggest OSU sports storylines from 25-26 period:
Gundy firing
The biggest shakeup within the OSU athletic department came in September, when the school fired Mike Gundy as football coach and entered the market for a new coach for the first time in 21 years.
Gundy, one of the most important figures in school history, spent more than half his life as a Cowboy as a quarterback, assistant coach and head coach. He became the program’s all-time winningest coach and guided it to unprecedented success, as OSU made a bowl game in 18 straight seasons, posted eight 10-win seasons and won two New Year’s Six bowl games under his guidance.
The firing came after the Cowboys went 3-9 in 2024 and started the 2025 season 1-2 with an upset loss to Tulsa, Gundy’s last game. It also began a new era of OSU football for the first time in two decades.
“Cowboy football reached an unprecedented level of success and national prominence under
Coach Gundy’s leadership,”
OSU Athletic Director Chad Weiberg said in a release in September. “I believe I speak for OSU fans when I say that we are greatful for all he did to raise the standard and show us all what is possible for Oklahoma State football.”
Cowgirl basketball make big splashes in the portal Oklahoma State? The team with the No. 1 overall transfer portal class? Yes. It happened. Not a blue blood. OSU.
After reaching the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament, the Cowgirls became the biggest winners of the offseason with the additions of five (!) transfers rated in the top 100. Two of those were rated in the top five by some outlets — Iowa State center
Audi Crooks and Florida guard Liv McGill.
Crooks averaged 25.8 points and shot 64.9% from the field this past season. McGill put up 22.5 points and dished out 6.3 assists. With their services coming to Stillwater, OSU is primed for a potential deep tournament run.
Cowboy wrestling continues its dominance
All David Taylor has done at OSU is win big.
The Cowboy wrestling team won its second straight Big 12 Tournament this past season with individual titles from Casey Swiderski, Troy Spratley and Jax Forrest. The team also finished second place at the NCAA Championships
and saw Sergio Vega, Landon Robideau and Forrest each win individual championships.
The first two years of the Taylor era at OSU have been nothing short of successful. And the program is rising.
Bedlam wins
With Oklahoma no longer in the Big 12, Bedlam isn’t a given anymore. But in April, we got it on the diamond, and the OSU baseball and softball teams each pulled off upsets.
The Cowgirls defeated the Sooners 6-4 on April 15 at Devon Park in OKC on the back of a complete-game effort from star pitcher Ruby Meylan. She recorded nine strikeouts and held OU’s prolific offense
to four runs, giving OSU its first win against a No. 1 team since 2022.
The OSU-OU baseball game was shortened to eight innings due to rain, but the Cowboys picked off the No. 14 Sooners 7-3 on April 14 in Tulsa after holding OU scoreless in the first seven innings. Campbell Smithwick homered twice alongside Kollin Ritchie. This came after OU defeated OSU 10-1 on Valentine’s day.
OSU hires Morris, lands
North Texas firepower
The Cowboy football program followed up on the firing of Gundy by hiring former North Texas coach Eric Morris in December.
Morris’ track record sparked the OSU fanbase, but who Morris brought with him has also primed the Cowboys for a bounce-back.
Alongside Morris came former UNT quarterback Drew Mestemaker, the nation’s leading passer and a potential first-round NFL draft pick, with running back Caleb Hawkins and wide receiver Wyatt Young. Morris also brought most of his Mean Green coaching staff with him after UNT won 11 games. Now, after going 4-20 in the past two seasons, the Cowboys are in a position to get back to winning and compete for a Big 12 title.
sports.ed@ocolly.com
Bailey Schmitz, The O’Colly
Oklahoma State 149 pounder Casey Siwderski and 285 pounder Konner Doucet helped the Cowboys win back-to-back Big 12 Championships this year.
Chance Marick, The O’Colly
Eric Morris was officially introduced as OSU’s football coach on Dec. 8.
Bryson Thadhani, The O’Colly
Ruby Meylan throws a pitch during the Cowgirls’ 7-0 win in the series finale against KU.
Laken Chambers, The O’Colly
Aubrey Jones gets ready to swing the bat.
Connor Fuxa, The O’Colly
Aubrey Jones (right) celebrates with Elle McCloskey (left) after hitting a home run in OSU’s 8-1 win.
Bryson Thadhani, The O’Colly Madison Hoffman celebrates with teammates after hitting a home run.
Connor Fuxa, The O’Colly
Audrey Schneidmiller tags a runner out at home plate during OSU’s 8-1 win.
Laken Chambers, The O’Colly RyLee Crandall throws a pitch during Game 2.
Bryson Thadhani, The O’Colly
Jayelle Austin catches a pop fly in center field.
Connor Fuxa, The O’Colly Lexi McDonald celeberates after hitting a double.
Cowboys sweep TCU
Natalie Koepp, The O’Colly
Colin Brueggemann tags out a runner at first base during Game 2 of the series.
Natalie Koepp, The O’Colly Kollin Ritchie slides into home plate during Game 1.
Laken Chambers, The O’Colly
Danny Wallace slides into third base during Game 2.
Kaitlyn Robertson, The O’Colly
Hudson Barrett celebrates with teammates after a strong inning during Game 1.
Natalie Koepp, The O’Colly Noah Wech throws the game-winning strike to complete the series sweep.
Kaitlyn Robertson, The O’Colly Hudson Barrett throws a pitch during Game 1.
Laken Chambers, The O’Colly Avery Ortiz rounds the bases after hitting his first homer.
Kaitlyn Robertson, The O’Colly
Josh Holliday carries Kollin Ritchie’s bat after Ritchie’s walk-off home run in Game 1 of the series.