The list of events left canceled in the wake of COVID-19 is practically endless.

The list of repercussions from those lack of events is even more endless.

One such topic we’ll touch on in the coming weeks is how it affected some Kingfisher High School juniors who were depending on this season to springboard their college recruitment.

The junior year can be an important one to land on the radar of college coaches and athletes across the country were denied that opportunity.

It’s going to affect them in a number of ways, many of which we’ll try to touch on in one of our upcoming issues.

If you’ve been a regular reader, you’ve been inundated with stories on local basketball players hauling in postseason honors.

The largest number and some of the most prestigious have been bestowed upon KHS junior Bijan Cortes...and rightfully so.

Cortes completed one of the more spectacular individual seasons ever seen by someone in a Yellowjacket uniform.

The numbers show it, but it wasn’t just statistics that brought fans to Kingfisher games.

Whenever Cortes touches the ball, people sat up in their seats. They knew something - a spectacular pass, a ridiculous move off the dribble, a thunderous dunk - could happen quite literally at any time.

His teammate and classmate Matthew Stone was right on his heels for postseason honors.

To compare Stone to the Energizer Bunny would be foolish. The bunny’s got nothing on Stone’s unending motor.

To watch what those two did on a nightly basis was a wonder for 27 games this year.

It’s a shame we didn’t get to see if they could do it for three more.

The good news is...at least we get one more year of it.

Perhaps the most ridiculous stat you can pull from the combination of Cortes and Stone is 82-3.

That’s Kingfisher’s record during their first three seasons, for which they’ve both been starters the entire time (minus a few games when Stone was out with injury during his freshman campaign). 82 wins. 3 losses.

82 wins. 3 losses.

That’s winning 97 percent of your games over a three-year span.

In Class 4A boys in Oklahoma...that’s ridiculous.

And...all that said... when the history books are written, we will look at the 2019 KHS team in amazement.

Cortes.

Stone.

Jett Sternberger. Trey Green. Reece Lafferty. Jarret Birdwell.

It’s an embarrassment of riches and once their careers are done and we have time to look back, we’ll appreciate that group even more (and that’s not to take anything away from the 2020 version).

You want another historically good team?

Look ahead to the 2020- 21 Lomega Lady Raiders.

The team went 30-2, won its last 27 games and won the Class B state title in 2020.

And it did so without a senior on the team. The starters were two

The starters were two juniors, a sophomore and two freshmen.

Logic says they’ll all improve going into next season provided they stay healthy (it should be noted the injury bug wasn’t great to the Lady Raiders last year, yet they persevered).

Plus, next year’s group will be even deeper as contributions will come from at least one player in the crop of upcoming freshmen.

The rich, as they say, get richer.

That’s Lomega girls basketball right now.

Among the postseason honors that garner the most attention are the Oklahoma Coaches Association All-State selections for the various sports.

Those athletes annually come together the last week of July for the OCA All-State games which are held in conjunction with the coaches’ clinic.

For the last dozen years, that’s been held in Tulsa.

However, it’s unlikely this year’s event will take place...thanks again to COVID-19.

It likely will be made official on May 20 when the OCA board holds its next meeting, but Executive Director Milt Bassett has said on record that it’s unlikely the games and clinic take place this year.

There are some contingency plans that will be proposed in hopes of the allstate games being contested, but there will have to be a lot of things fall in place for those to happen.

If you’ll look on Page 6 of this edition, you’ll read about the thoughts of three county seniors who had their spring sports season affected by COVID-19.

This is the seventh week of our series, which will end next week.

To say that I’ve been impressed by the thoughtful answers provided by the student-athletes we’ve featured would be an understatement.

When we first started this series, I designed it to allow for a couple of brief sentences.

However, after answers started to roll in, I had to redesign the layout to allow for more room for the feelings, emotions and overall thoughts of our local seniors.

Some have thanked me for the opportunity to express their sentiments. Others - more than one - have said it was bit therapeutic to type out the words. We’re glad to have the space to give them the opportunity and I hope you’ll pay special attention to the sponsors on the page who made it possible.

I’m even more proud of the seniors and their ability to put their emotions to word and how honest and open they were with this difficult situation.