The Lady Raiders hosted a cancer awareness event and with that honored a very special young lady in Gruver graduate Camryn Armes, who is right in the middle of a battle with stage 1 Ewing Sarcoma. Armes was diagnosed in late August and is now in the midst of ongoing weekly chemotherapy treatments.
Both the Lady Raiders and Cowgirls wore the now famous “Claim Victory” teal T-shirts that have taken over the Texas Panhandle in strong support of Armes. Texas Tech head coach Krista Gerlich, a friend of the Armes’ family and Spearman graduate, has been keeping up with Armes’ situation and was more than happy to bring attention to her situation.
“I love that basketball can provide a support of inspiration of encouragement for people,” Gerlich said. “I love that West Texas embraces that inspiration and lifts their own people up. What Camryn Armes is going through is real life and I love that two teams came together to support her.”
Oklahoma State women’s basketball coach Jacie Hoyt echoed Gerlich’s comments.
“We all played for Camryn in this game,” Hoyt said. “We all had the shirts on, and Texas Tech did a really great job of putting this together. Camryn means a lot to Bailey and Brenna. It shows how basketball is bigger than just a game. I don’t know Camryn personally, but she means so much to Brenna and that means the world to us because we all love Brenna. She is so important to us.”
Armes’ former Lady Hound teammates in Texas Tech’s Bailey Maupin and Oklahoma State’s Brenna Butler were both on the floor at the same time at moments of the contest. That trio of Armes, Maupin and Butler were a huge catalyst in leading the Lady Hounds to a perfect 33-0 record and a UIL Class 2A state championship in 2022.
As competitive as they both are, Maupin and Butler made sure that on this Wednesday night, it was all about honoring one of their best friends and the adversity she is facing.
“It was a very amazing night to see one of my closest friends being supported,” Maupin said. “I’m glad we could put this together. Basketball allows us to do this and we’re thankful. We all love Camryn and we’re here for her.”
Butler agreed with Maupin’s comment.
“I think it was very special for my team to support what Camryn is going through,” Butler said. “Now they know how Gruver supports people and how big this is for Camryn and what she all means to us. We love her and we’ll do anything for her.”
“This was so incredible,” Armes said. “I just have no words with the amount of support there was. The amount of Gruver people that were here, to see Texas Tech and Oklahoma State come together to support me was so special. I never thought I’d see so many Gruver people in one place.”
Gruver head girls’ basketball coach Trent Lankford drove the boys and girls Gruver basketball programs to the game on Wednesday. Lankford says there is no way he nor the Gruver basketball teams were going to miss a chance to scream loud for Camryn.
“We let school out a noon,” Lankford said. “That’s how much Camryn means to us. What you saw with this crowd speaks volumes about the community of Gruver and the support they give their students. You have Bailey Maupin playing, you have Brenna Butler playing, and you have their teammate Camryn Armes here being recognized. That shows how much Gruver people love supporting their own.”
“I’m so proud of Hansford County for showing up,” Gerlich said. “In fact, I love something that Bailey’s mom, Julie Maupin told me. She said the goal was to encourage Camryn but also maybe get 100 new prayer warriors out of this event. It was a very special night for the cause.”
Check out a photo gallery by Joe Garcia III from an amazing night below.
