High school cross country teams preparing to take part in Oklahoma state meets

By Christian Potts 

Cross nation season is into its literal homestretch, with state meets in Courses 2A via 6A set for Saturday at Edmond Santa Fe Excessive College.

All 5 lessons will run on the similar web site, beginning with 6A women after which 6A boys at 8:30 and 9:15 a.m.; 5A women and 5A boys run back-to-back at 10:15 and 11; 2A runs are 11:45 a.m. and 12:15 p.m.; 4A races are at 1 and 1:30; and 3A finishes the day with women working at 2:15 and boys at 2:45.

A whole lot of groups and people have certified of their respective divisions. Here is a class-by-class breakdown of what passed off in final week’s regional meets and what’s developing this weekend.

Class 6A

If the West regional at Mustang final weekend was any indication, the crew title for 6A can be intently contested. Edmond Memorial and Mustang wound up in a tie, with 51 factors apiece, to tempo the boys squads punching their ticket to the state meet.

Graham Mitchell, a junior from defending state crew champion Edmond Deer Creek, scored the person victory by 1.6 seconds over Edmond Memorial senior Josh Cherry. The Antlers had been an in depth third within the crew competitors with 61 factors.

Edmond North has a squad with hopes to run away from everybody, as they had been in a position to do on the Ponca Metropolis regional, the place they gained the crew title by a snug margin. They had been led by the race’s high two particular person finishers, juniors Colby Moore and Zac Rutherford.

On the ladies facet, sophomore Natalie Duggan may have a home-course benefit for Santa Fe, and he or she’ll come into the state meet off a four-second win within the Mustang regional. Edmond Deer Creek positioned three runners within the high 10 to take the crew title on the regional, with Edmond Memorial second and Yukon third.

The ladies facet in Ponca Metropolis additionally resulted in a tie between Owasso and Edmond North, once more every with 51 factors.

Edmond North did have the highest two finishers, together with the dominant winner, sophomore Liesel Kehoe, who was 18 seconds higher than her teammate and runner-up Morgan Kirkland. Kehoe completed fifth on the 6A state meet final yr behind 4 now-graduated seniors.

Jenks, the defending state champion in 6A women, ran third on the Ponca CIty regional. The Woman Trojans had six seniors of their lineup in successful final yr’s state championship.

Class 5A

Piedmont’s women and boys squads each completed second in final yr’s state meet, however proper now every appears the a part of a favourite after they scored dominating performances within the regional at Mustang.

Lily Scheck, Emily Caldwell, Rachel Caldwell and Claire Collins completed second via fifth within the race, main Piedmont to a dominating victory.

Scheck, a sophomore, was barely crushed out for the person win, falling by .05 seconds to Elgin junior Audrey McElhaney.

On the boys facet, Piedmont had its high 5 runners all place within the high seven of the race, led by race winner Dade Humes, a junior, and freshman Nelin Kimery, who ran second.

The highest japanese challenger to the Piedmont girls and boys appears to be Tulsa Bishop Kelley, which comfortably gained the Ponca Metropolis women regional behind sophomores Gwyneth Meyers and Malana Eureste, who ran second and third place behind particular person champion McKenna Hood, a junior from Tahlequah. Meyers was final yr’s 5A particular person state champion.

The BK boys are defending 5A state crew champions, and began their title protection by successful the regional title, led by a trio of runners within the high eight finishers. Guthrie junior Mason Mayer was the person champion.

Class 4A

Byng’s women took the regional title at Oklahoma Bible Academy in Enid in a race managed by Cleveland’s Mazee Southward, who ran as a person however gained by greater than 5 seconds.

At Waurika, Cache edged out Pauls Valley in an awesome battle, with the highest six finishers coming from these two colleges.

And within the Checotah regional, Jay’s women positioned two of the highest three finishers to cruise previous Lincoln Christian for the crew championship.

Three top-10 performances helped Bethany win the boys regional at OBA, whereas the defending state champion Cache boys picked up the title at Waurika and Lincoln Christian gained by a large margin at Checotah, led by senior Andrew Smithwick’s win of greater than 17 seconds. Smithwick was final yr’s 4A particular person runner-up.

Class 3A

Chisholm took the boys crew and particular person title at OBA, with junior Malachi Hisey choosing up a 2.6-second win over Holland Corridor freshman Andrik Ramirez.

OKC Heritage Corridor edged out Bethel’s boys for the victory in Waurika, and Regent Prep edged out Rejoice Christian by one level to win the Checotah regional title.

Defending 3A women state champion Regent Prep was solidly the perfect in its regional in Checotah. The Alva women, paced by 5 finishers within the high 20, confirmed constant type to take the OBA regional, whereas Bethel scored three top-six finishes to dominate the regional at Waurika.

Class 2A

Hooker gained by a large margin in each the girls and boys regional runs at OBA. The ladies from Hooker are defending state champions, whereas their boys squad completed an in depth second to Timberlake final yr.

The Riverside women edged Goodwell-Texhoma at Waurika and Colcord claimed the ladies crew title at Checotah. The opposite two boys occasions noticed Riverside and Meeker convey dwelling regional crew championship trophies.