TOP ATHLETE OF THE PAST 30 YEARS: LINDSEY COLLINS (CANEY VALLEY)

By Mike Tupa

Nov. 17, 2025

BARTLESVILLE AREA SPORTS REPORT

During his nearly 30 years of covering area high school sports for either the Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise or the Bartlesville Area Sports Report, Mike Tupa has enjoyed the opportunity to observe some incredible athletes.

This is an ongoing series highlighting, each few days, one of those athletes from the 1996-97 school year through the present. The list is not in chronological order. The athletes are presented in random sequence.

Today's Spotlight

LINDSEY COLLINS (Caney Valley)

Early 2000s

Lindsey Collins remains one of the most dynamic female athletes in area sports history.

She suited up for the Caney Valley Lady Trojans in basketball and track and made a golden mark in both.

The tall and solidly built warrior also helped elevate the Oklahoma Wesleyan University women’s basketball team to a national championship.

Her athletic achievements first drew their attention at Caney Valley.

Collins earned a tryout spot in 2001 with the All-State Class 4A-2A East team, named by the Oklahoma Girls Basketball Coaches Association. Collins became just the second Lady Trojan player, under coach Rick Tipton, to be chosen to the team (the other being Class of 2000 graduate Kacey Inman).

Collins was one of a group of talented freshmen gathered by Tipton for the 1997-98 team. She blossomed as a full-time starter her senior year, helping to power Caney Valley to a 19-3 regular season record.

During Collins' sophomore through senior years, Caney Valley never lost at home with nearly 40 consecutive wins in the Holly C. Ward Gymnasium.

Collins poured in 992 career points and averaged 13.2 ppg during her senior season.

Tipton expressed confidence that Collins — a 5-foot-8 warrior that boasted a very good medium-to-long-range jumper, determined defense, and a non-stop hustling motor — would succeed at the tryouts. As mentioned, she did.

But Collins distinguished herself perhaps at a higher level on the track.

It was a painful — but hopefully rewarding — odyssey for the gritty hurdler with hair that flowed in the updraft as she sprang up and down over the hurdles. 

As a sophomore Collins set a new school record in the 300m hurdles (50:14) to win a fifth-place medal in the 1999 Class 2A state track meet. What most people didn’t know was that she was running on a bum knee.

Not too long after the season, she underwent surgery — and emerged as a stronger-than-ever athlete.

Collins would bounce back to be named a girls basketball All-Stater as a senior. During her freshman season (1998-99), Caney Valley powered to a 23-4 record and just missed out on state. She scored 13 points in a 67-48 win against Bluejacket.

She met the challenge and would go on to earn star status in the rest of her prep athletic pursuits and as a valuable player for the Oklahoma Wesleyan University women’s basketball team.

Collins would earn state medals in track all four years of high school.

She suffered one of her biggest competitive heartbreaks in the 1999 state meet when she was whistled for a false start in the girls 100m hurdles. Collins had ran the second-fastest hurdles time during the season and was considered a championship favorite.

Her other track achievements in 1998 and 1999 included:

— Winning the girls 100m hurdles (:16.7) at the 1999 Chelsea meet.

— Sweeping the championships of the girls 100m and 300m hurdle events at the 1999 Bi-District meet in Pawnee, and also sharing gold on Caney Valley’s girls 400m relay (along with Amanda Moses, Jamie Elam, and Leslie Fanning).

— Owning distinction as Copan’s only state qualifier in 1998, placing fifth in the 100m hurdles.

In 2000, just a few months after Collins’ surgery, Collins earned a silver medal in the regional in the girls’ 100m hurdles — losing by less than a tenth-of-a-second to teammate Ashley Corder — and in the girls 300m hurdles.

At her senior state track meet (2001), Collins hustled to fourth place in the girls 100m hurdles — less than a half-second behind the winner. She also medaled along with the other members of the Caney Valley 4x100m relay team.

As mentioned, Collins went on to play for OKWU.

During the 2003-04 season, she averaged 5.4 ppg and 1.1 steals per game, including scoring 19 against the Haskell Indians and 12 against Newman University.

In 2004-05, she became a key component to OKWU’s run to the National Christian Collegiate Athletic Association national title.

During the semifinal win against Hope University, 69-64, Collins dialed in a pair of three-pointers — which proved to be the margin of difference.

Collins combined a brand composed of focus, determination, persistence, commitment beyond pain, athleticism, and fire that elevated her to the peak of her potential — perhaps even higher. She remains one of the unique and best girls’ athletes in the area in the past 30 years and probably in area history.

______

Lindsey Collins

______

This series has featured the following athletes, listed in no particular order.

-Jena’ Williams, Bartlesville

-Eric Rolfs, Bartlesville

-Chris Smith, Caney Valley

-Jill Bryan, Copan

-Barron Tanner Jr, Bartlesville

-Hailey Tucker, Bartlesville

-Jeremy Dunkle, Dewey

-Whitney Metcalf, Bartlesville

-Tim Hamilton, Bartlesville

-Danielle Koster, Bartlesville

-Carson LaRue, Dewey

-John Hamman, Wesleyan Christian

-Jamie Elam, Caney Valley

-Sam Mitchell, Bartlesville

-Karissa Jones, Dewey

-Noah Hartsock, Bartlesville

-Tiffany Paper, Copan

-AJ Parker, Bartlesville

-Tiffany Eden, Caney Valley

-Henry Williams, Bartlesville

-Markell Carter, Bartlesville

-Rebecca Schluter, Wesleyan Christian

-Adam Hibdon, Barnsdall

-Tishuana Hunter, Nowata

-Nate Alleman, Bartlesville

-Jessie Burch, Dewey

-Joey McNair, Caney Valley/Bartlesville

-Michael Thompson, Bartlesville

-Kate Steward, Bartlesville

-Jarrett Rouse, Community

-Amanda Warehime, Bartlesville

-Trey Osborne, Dewey

-Heather Lanphear, Barnsdall

-Erin Epperson, Bartlesville

-Levi Wyrick, Caney Valley (Kan.)

-Spencer Magana, Dewey

-Jackie Jo Chaney, Copan

-Haley Downey, Bartlesville

-Cooper Fogle, Caney Valley

-Amanda Brown, Copan 

-Rachel Smith, Pawhuska

-Casey Cassity, Barnsdall

-Stacy Cornforth, Bartlesville

-Gabby Higbee, Dewey

-Kirby Schoenthaler, Bartlesville

-Tyler Kay, Barnsdall

-Colton Penrod, Bartlesville

-Erin Herchock, Dewey