Back on the Map

Hidden away on Oklahoma City's south side is a story. You'd have to be looking for it to find it, because this isn't the sort of thing one just happens across. It's hard to find 2801 South Shartel - home of Mount Saint Mary High School. Tucked in a tangle of neighborhoods, just east of I-35, the Mount as the locals call it, is a showpiece high school and an impressive structure. The campus might be hard to find. The story is harder to believe. "This is all new for our kids,'' said boys basketball coach Lenny Hatchett. "And we're all enjoying it.'' What's not to love? From the hidden depths of losing, the Mount has risen like one of its majestic buildings to the top of the Class 3A rankings - unbeaten through the middle of January and back on the map among the top teams in Oklahoma basketball. "I'd like to say that we can go as far as we want,'' said senior Toby Rives. "I think we're the only ones who can stop ourselves.'' And that's quite a change from a time not too long ago when, not just the campus, but the wins were hard to find. Five seasons ago, Hatchett came to Mount Saint Mary as a rookie coach and found himself lost, too. The team went 0-22. And that's not too long after the team had won the 2001 state title. "I had never been around anything like that at all,'' he said. "But I guess you learn from losing. It taught me so much.'' It taught Rives and felling seniors James Biscone and Steven Nguyen - 8th graders at the time - that they wanted no part of a team that didn't win. "We thought we could come in and make a big difference,'' said Nguyen. "We wanted to come here and a make a difference,'' Biscone said. And they have. Growing up in the Catholic feeder school system, Rives thought he would end up going to Bishop McGuinness like a lot of his friends, including McGuinness senior standout basketball player Daniel Orton. Instead, he found the campus on the south side, and things have changed since then. "I'd say Daniel made fun of us for coming here,'' Rives said. "But I think there's been a buzz here the past few years.'' The past few years have been decidedly different. From 0-22 to 18-6 in 2006, Hatchett and his seniors have turned around the Mount. "We don't talk about that first year much any more,'' Hatchett said. "We're trying to create our own identity.'' For most, the identity of Mount Saint Mary is wrapped up in its elusiveness. "I've had several people ask me where the school is,'' Hatchett said. "There's people all over that have never been here and are surprised once they get here. People like it here. It's a great place to be with good kids.'' "I didn't know where it was before I goet here,'' Nguyen said. "But be here awhile and you realize it's a huge family here. You have to see it.'' Now, only if you can find it. "I wouldn't say that I had a great time that first season,'' Hatchett admitted. "But it shows us where this program has gone and where it's going.''