Golf tournament raises $42,000 for Stillwater athletics

Stillwater's Pioneer PlayDay golf tournament raised approximately $42,000 this year to support every sport in the high school's athletic department, organizer Carolyn Walstad said.

The 36th annual tournament, held Monday, July 20, at Stillwater Country Club, is one of the athletic department's largest annual fundraisers, and the money is spread across programs rather than earmarked for any single team. Walstad said the event supplements what the district budget cannot cover, helping coaches pay for travel, equipment and other needs beyond their allotments.

The $42,000 total covers the golf tournament alone. A companion silent auction that completes the annual fundraiser is still to come, set for the first home football game Aug. 28.

Stillwater Pom members greet arriving golfers, left, as special events coordinator Carolyn Walstad holds the door during the 36th annual Pioneer PlayDay golf tournament Monday, July 20, at Stillwater Country Club. At right, Walstad photographs one of the golf teams. – Photos by Chris Peters

Walstad, who has organized the tournament for years, said participation is climbing again. The event returned to two tee times this year after running only one last year, she said. In recent years the tournament and auction together have raised just under $40,000 annually, she said, with a single-year record of $47,000.

For Chad Cawood, Stillwater's football head coach and assistant athletic director, the PlayDay is the department's financial backbone.

"It's our biggest fundraiser for our whole department," Cawood said. "It helps support everything."

Cawood said longtime supporters return year after year, including former athletes he coached decades ago who now bring their own children. Students from across the program work the event, with football players carrying golfers' bags, girls wrestlers helping out and pom and cheer members greeting participants.

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The fundraiser arrives as the district's athletic programs navigate a year of construction. Work tied to a $22.5 million athletics facility upgrade the school board approved in 2025 has displaced teams around campus while new spaces are built.

Cawood said a new pom and cheer practice facility and new locker rooms for soccer, track and cross country are expected to open this fall, with football and other programs shifting locations as the work continues.

"When you're building, you might have to move around and do some things," Cawood said. He said relationships with community partners have helped bridge the gap during the transition.

Few programs have felt the churn more than girls wrestling. Head coach Elizabeth Tidwell, who joined Stillwater Public Schools in August 2023 and is entering her fourth year with the program, said it has repeatedly bounced between spaces — sharing the boys' room, gaining its own before it was condemned, then moving back.

Stillwater coach Marshon Carthen talks with golfers along the cart path, left, as head coach Elizabeth Tidwell and members of the girls wrestling team gather in the shade near the tee box on hole 17, right, during the 36th annual Pioneer PlayDay golf tournament Monday, July 20, at Stillwater Country Club. – Photos by Chris Peters

Tidwell said fundraising like the PlayDay helps the program cover travel, in-state competition and equipment such as singlets.

"It helps pay for a lot of our travel," Tidwell said.

The program qualified seven wrestlers for state in its second year, Tidwell said, and continues to grow, with some athletes reaching state after only a few months in the sport. She credited Stillwater's wrestling culture and club programs for accelerating her wrestlers' development.

Tidwell said girls are often drawn to the sport because they've been told it's not for them.

"They want to do something that someone tells them they can't do," Tidwell said. "Everybody says wrestling's for boys, and it's not — it's for everybody."

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The facility upgrade will give wrestling a permanent home for the first time, with four mats and separate locker rooms and coaches' offices for the boys' and girls' programs. Tidwell said she expects the wrestling facility to be finished in 2027 or 2028, and that the space will finally give her athletes a sense of home after years of moving around.

The fundraiser's second half is still to come. The silent auction that accompanies the PlayDay moves to Stillwater's first home football game, Friday, Aug. 28, against Fayetteville, Ark., at Pioneer Stadium. Walstad said organizers typically stage about 80 items for bidding during the game, and that moving the auction into the stadium after the pandemic broadened who takes part.

"It made people feel a part of it," Walstad said.

Walstad, who spent 28 years as the district's cheer coach before becoming its special events coordinator, said the fundraiser reflects what she cares about most.

"Kids and sports are my passion," she said. "I'm really proud of this event."

Walstad can be reached for questions at 405-880-3943.