Oklahoma
Reunited Oklahoma pop trio OK3 working with a legend to prepare for battle on ‘The Voice’
Zendaya, Chrissy Teigen, John Legend at Green Carpet Fashion Awards
There was a bit of a logjam at the Green Carpet Fashion Awards, as Chrissy Teigen and John Legend walked the carpet while Zendaya looked on.
When Sierra Sikes got married, she got more than one union out of her nuptials.
At her 2021 wedding, the Oklahoma singer reconnected with her girlhood best friends and fellow performers Courtney Hooker and Kenna Fields.
“We all were like, ‘Oh, my gosh, I miss you guys. We should get together and sing again.’ So, we did. We were singing, and we talked about, ‘Did you know that “The Voice” does groups? … That’d be cool to do.’ Then, this opportunity came along, and we were just so excited,” Sikes recalled.
“It just all aligned perfectly, and we really think that it was in the best timing.”
As OK3, the Oklahoma City-based vocal trio immediately emerged as one of the contenders to beat on the latest season of “The Voice.”
Performing a tightly harmonized cover of the Meghan Trainor hit “Made You Look” for their blind audition, the group earned a coveted four-chair turn on the NBC series’ Feb. 26 Season 25 premiere episode, which ended on a cliffhanger as they tried to decide which of the celebrity coaches to choose.
With their pick of the Emmy-winning show’s Season 25 coaches — Oklahoma Country Music Hall of Famer Reba McEntire, EGOT winner John Legend, three-time Grammy winner Chance the Rapper and three-time Grammy-winning country duo and coaching newcomers Dan + Shay — OK3 opted to join Team Legend.
“His style is so close to our style that we love: we’re pop all the way,” Sikes said. “And he’s been great so far.”
Who is OK3?
As the group’s name indicates, OK3 consists of three singers from Oklahoma. They met through their vocal coach, Amanda Earhart, and have been best friends and musical collaborators since they were teenagers, performing together at various shows and competitions.
Their bond is so tight, they said they’re sometimes mistaken for sisters.
“We have been singing for a really, really long time together. … When we were younger, we were together all the time, pretty much six days a week — if not every day — whether or not that would be rehearsing or just hanging out, (having) sleepovers, all of that stuff,” Hooker said in a recent Zoom interview with The Oklahoman.
Sikes, 24, is a University of Central Oklahoma alumnus who earned her bachelor of music degree in musical theater in 2021. She is a teacher at her alma mater, Choctaw High School.
Fields, 22, is a senior at the Academy of Contemporary Music at UCO who is majoring in contemporary music while teaching music classes at School of Rock OKC.
Hooker, 26, is an ACM@UCO graduate who received her bachelor of applied technology in commercial music in 2020. She also earned an associate’s degree from UCO in performance in 2019 and now works as operations manager for a local marketing agency.
How did OK3 prepare their show-stopping ‘The Voice’ blind audition?
OK3 broke up in 2017 because the singers were in different phases of their lives. After not seeing each other for four years, they reconnected at Sikes’ wedding. The trio was inspired by “The Voice” runs for groups like Girl Named Tom and Sorelle to reunite at the Oklahoma Opry and then audition for the NBC music contest.
“We’d all gone separate routes and studied music still. So, we all came back with a more comprehensive, rounded-out knowledge of music and how to arrange songs and harmonies. So, we were throwing every single thing we ever learned at the fan and just seeing, ‘How crazy we can make this performance?’” Fields said. “Our goal was to just put the song on its head … and to set it up for a trio and make it something that people were surprised at.”
Along with arranging the song, working out choreography and practicing relentlessly for their blind audition, the group tried to prepare for every onstage contingency.
“We’d go outside, and we would jog for 30 seconds in the parking lot. We’d put our heels on, and then we’d run through it a couple times, like OK, we need to make sure we’re winded and can still sing this and hit those notes, because we’re gonna be nervous,’” Hooker said with a grin.
“When we did that, people were looking at us like we were crazy. It was so funny,” Sikes added with a laugh.
How are the OK3 singers preparing for their ‘The Voice’ battle?
Their creative methods paid off with a four-chair turn, followed by fierce competition among the coaches to convince OKC 3 to join their team. The trio said the outlandish debate — ranging from Legend deploying a giant inflatable tube man to Reba pulling out one of her Grammys — was flattering but overwhelming.
“John wasn’t our first pick, honestly. We were really interested in Dan + Shay, with them being a group, and obviously, with Reba being from Oklahoma. So, we were trying to go up there with a plan, because we knew it was gonna be chaos. … And we all just had a moment where we were like, ‘It’s John, right?’” Fields said.
With the Season 25 blind auditions completed on the show’s March 12 episode, “The Voice” moves to the next phase: the battles, which will air over the next couple weeks at 7 p.m. Monday, March 18 and 8 p.m. Tuesday, March 19 on NBC.
“As far as John goes, he’s been awesome. We’re super excited; we’ve been preparing for the battle,” Hooker said. “Like he said in our blind audition, he’s been arranging for groups forever. That was one of the biggest things that we were so excited about, was to get his feedback and see how he could help with this arrangement going into the battles. So, we’ve been really prepared for it, and (we’re) making it something really cool and special.”
How do the ‘The Voice’ battles work?
Now that all four coaches have assembled a team of 10 artists through the blind auditions, the battles begin on “The Voice.” The coaches pit two of their own team members against each other to sing the same song together.
Both artists are mentored by their coach, but after each battle round, the team’s coach must choose which artist will advance to the next round of competition, the knockouts.
During this season’s battles, each coach will have one steal and one playoff pass. With their steal, coaches can take for their own team artists whose coach has declared them the loser in a battle.
The playoff pass will allow both artists in a battle round to advance: The playoff pass winner gets a big advantage by skipping the knockout rounds, advancing straight to the playoffs and getting one step closer to the live shows.
The coaches leave the battles with six artists per team, with one artist per team bypassing the knockouts with the playoff pass.
Another Oklahoma contestant, AJ Harvey, a Native American singer based in Norman, also will be competing in the battles on Dan + Shay’s team.
For OK3, the battle round will be particularly tricky, since it will involve at least four singers sharing the stage.
“For the solo artist going up against a trio, it is difficult — three against one — but also in the trio’s sense, we don’t just have to sing well. We have to be very coordinated together, our breathing has to be the same, and all of us have to be hitting the exact perfect right notes at the same time,” Fields said.
“There’s a whole lot that goes into that we’ve been trying torque out to make sure we we hold our own.”
How to watch ‘The Voice’
“The Voice” airs at 7 p.m. Mondays and 8 p.m. Tuesdays on NBC. Episodes stream the next day on Peacock on-demand. The streaming service offers full episodes from the show’s previous 24 seasons, too.
Oklahoma
NCAA Not Done with Kashie Natt, Oklahoma State After Legal Ruling
The NCAA is not done with Oklahoma State Guard Kashie Natt and his eligibility case, based on the organization’s statement on Tuesday.
On Monday, Natt received an ex parte ruling that kept the NCAA from enforcing its decision to cancel Natt’s waiver request to play in 2026-27. That ruling, from District Judge John Canavan, allows Natt to practice with the team, participate in all team activities and participate in any athletics-related benefits.
It also bars the NCAA from punishing Natt or Oklahoma State while the case is working its way through the court.
By its nature, an ex parte ruling is made after only hearing one side of the case. The NCAA posted a statement disagreeing with the ruling, including an explanation for why they canceled the waiver and will continue to pursue the case in court.
The NCAA’s Statement on Kashie Natt
The NCAA posted the statement to social media and was signed by the organization’s chief legal officer, Scott Bearby.
“The order in the Natt case, issued without the NCAA having any opportunity to respond and by a judge not even assigned to hear the case, is demonstrably flawed and the latest instance of an environment where litigation has become a tool to avoid playing by the rules that everyone has agreed to follow. The student-athlete at issue already benefited from the ‘Pavia waiver,’ which provided him the opportunity to play for a fifth season, and nobody, including the institution where he seeks to compete next year, has ever expressed any doubt that his collegiate career ended when the Pavia waiver expired. We will pursue all remedies to seek reversal of this decision, which contributes to the instability in college sports that only Congress can solve.”
The Pavia case, which was a suit called Pavia v. NCAA, was brought on behalf of Vanderbilt quarterback Deigo Pavia, who started his career in junior college. He received a preliminary injunction in 2025 after he challenged the NCAA’s system for junior college and NCAA eligibility, saying that his juco years counting toward his NCAA eligibility irreparably harmed his ability to leverage NIL.
The NCAA ultimately conceded and granted a blanket waiver that extended an extra year of eligibility to similar athletes. The NCAA believes that bucket includes Natt. He started his career five schools year ago at Southern University-Shreveport, a junior college. He followed that with three years at NAIA LSU-Alexandria and then one more year at Sam Houston.
Natt’s attorney, Darren Heitner, contends that Natt’s NCAA clock should have started when he began his career at LSU-Alexandria and therefore has one more year to play.
The case is still pending. A new court date has not been set yet.
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Oklahoma
Oklahoma City police release drone footage of deadly officer-involved shooting
OKLAHOMA CITY (KOKH) — Authorities are releasing more information about a deadly officer-involved shooting that claimed the life of an Oklahoma City woman.
In the afternoon of May 20, officers with the Oklahoma City Police Department responded to a call about an assault with a deadly weapon at an apartment near S.W. 59th and Douglas Ave.
When officers arrived, they spoke with a man who said that a woman inside one of the apartments had fired shots at him through the front door.
Investigators tried to contact the woman, who was identified as Brenda Deer, but they were unsuccessful.
Capt. Valerie Littlejohn, with the Oklahoma City Police Department, said officers decided to not escalate the situation. Instead, they planned to pursue charges.
Later that evening, residents called police about shots being fired from the same apartment.
When officers arrived, they tried to speak with Deer but she refused to come out of the apartment.
Authorities evacuated nearby apartments and attempted to negotiate with Deer for several hours.
After Deer continued to fire the weapon, Oklahoma City police used tear gas in an attempt to flush her out of the apartment.
However, she continued to fire toward officers and was shot.
Deer was pronounced dead at the scene.
The officer who fired the fatal shot has been placed on administrative leave.
Earlier this week, Oklahoma City police released drone footage of the shooting.
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Oklahoma
As World Cup inspires young players, Oklahoma City bets big on soccer’s future
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. (KOKH) — As millions of fans tune in to the FIFA World Cup, Oklahoma City leaders and youth soccer supporters hope the excitement has a lasting impact much closer to home.
A major expansion of a north Oklahoma City soccer complex is designed to meet growing demand for the sport while positioning the city to host regional and national tournaments that supporters say could bring millions of dollars in economic activity and new opportunities for young athletes.
The project is the result of a public-private partnership between the City of Oklahoma City and North Oklahoma City Soccer Club (NOKC Soccer). The city funded the first two phases through the 2017 General Obligation Bond and MAPS 4, while the club is paying for the final phase of the expansion.
City of OKC and NOKC Soccer Club join efforts to expand Cameron Park soccer facility. (KOKH)
Supporters say the project comes at a time when soccer continues to gain popularity, especially during World Cup years.
“Our numbers go up. People want to play soccer. It just inspires everyone to be a part of this amazing game,” said Gabi Noble, president of NOKC Soccer Club.
Once complete, the expanded complex will feature 20 fields. This is an important benchmark for attracting many of the nation’s largest youth soccer tournaments.
“A lot of the major events have field minimum standards, and so we needed to have 20 fields to meet those standards so we could host the events,” Noble said.
According to Noble, hosting those tournaments could have an impact well beyond the soccer community.
She said similar four-day tournaments in other cities have generated between $7 million and $8 million in local economic activity through hotels, restaurants and other spending.
For Oklahoma families, supporters say the biggest benefit could be keeping elite competition closer to home.
Instead of traveling to places like the Dallas area or Overland Park, Kansas, parents could see college coaches and top competition come to Oklahoma City.
“It saves them money because they don’t have to travel all around the nation to get exposure to college coaches,” Noble said. “We wanted to give them a place to stop right here in the middle of our country and show them Oklahoma City and what all it has to offer.”
Stephen Phillips, executive advisor for Oklahoma Energy Football Club and technical director for NOKC Soccer Club, said the city is already seeing the need for additional fields.
“We don’t actually have enough fields to field any extra teams,” Phillips said. “We’re maxed out at this moment in time because of the field situation.”
He said Oklahoma City’s central location could eventually make the city a regional soccer hub, similar to how Oklahoma City has become synonymous with the Women’s College World Series.
“I would think it would kind of mirror that,” Phillips said. “People fly in or drive in here to play games. Instead of us having to go east coast or west coast, a central location is what people want to see.”
Supporters also hope the investment changes how the rest of the country views soccer in Oklahoma.
Construction continues at Cameron Park. (Courtesy: NOKC Soccer Club)
“I hope that they see Oklahoma as a serious contender in the national market,” Phillips said, noting several Oklahoma teams are already competing at high-level national tournaments.
Ultimately, both Phillips and Noble say the project’s greatest success won’t be measured by tournaments or tourism, but by the young athletes who grow up playing on the new fields.
When asked whether a future World Cup player could come from Oklahoma, Noble didn’t hesitate.
“Absolutely. They can and they will.”
Phillips shares that vision.
“I think a lot of our best athletes will play soccer coming out with this project. That’s what my hope and dream is anyway.”
The Director of OKC Parks, Melinda McMillan-Miller, told Fox 25 in a statement:
“Oklahoma City Parks and Recreation is excited for the amazing enhancements and expansion to Cameron Park. The park will provide an elevated soccer experience for our community and will inspire future soccer players to pursue excellence both on and off the field.”
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