Finding their way to Santa Fe
KHS, Hennessey girls reach state XC meet, as do Lomega boys, Cashion’s McCracken
HARPER EVANS (top left) and Scout Snodgrass (top right) led Kingfi sher to a runner-up fi nish at a Class 4A cross country regional in Enid. Snodgrass placed seventh out of 93 runners while Evans was right behind her. Kingfi sher’s regional placing automatically qualifi ed it for this weekend’s state meet in Edmond. Also qualifying were the Lomega boys, who were fi fth in their 2A regional at Checotah. Austin Chestnut, (below right) and Logan Zielinski (below left) were two of the Raiders’ scoring runners at the meet. [Kingfi sher photos by Russell Stitt/www.stitt.smugmug.com; Lomega photo by Chris Simon/www.simons-sports-photos.smugmug.com]
KHS JUNIOR Emmy Lunsford finished 30th out of more than 90 runners as she helped the Lady Jackets to a runner- up finish at last week’s 4A regional in Enid. [Photo by Chris Simon/www.simon-sports-photos.smugmug.com]
Three Kingfisher County cross country teams and one individual have one more race to run this season.
And it’s the big one. The Kingfisher and Hennessey girls and the Lomega boys teams have qualified for their respective state meets.
Also going is Cashion’s Addison McCracken.
They earned that right after their performances last Saturday at regional meets.
The state meets are this Saturday at Edmond Santa Fe High School.
McCracken will be the first local runner to compete as the 2A girls race is set for 11:45 a.m.
The 2A boys, featuring Lomega, will begin at 12:15 p.m.
Kingfisher’s girls will run in the 4A girls race at 1 p.m.
The 3A girls, which will include Hennessey, will begin at 2:15 p.m.
Here’s how they got there:
4A Girls
The rankings didn’t quite hold up as No. 5 Byng won the regional crown with just 44 points in the meet held at Oklahoma Bible Academy in Enid.
KHS, ranked seventh in the class, was the runner-up with 68.
Both teams defeated Anadarko, which entered the meet ranked fourth. The Lady Warriors scored 74.
However, all three teams easily qualified for state, which pulls in the top-seven teams from each of three regional meets across the state.
Also included at state are the top-seven individuals from non-qualifying teams.
The Lady Jackets had a pair of freshmen lead their charge as Scout Snodgrass was seventh and Harper Evans eighth in a field of 93 runners.
Snodgrass’ finish was sixth and Evans’ seventh for scoring purposes.
The former finished in 13:13.31, which was just .31 second ahead of Evans.
Chesni Newkirk took 15th (14th) and crossed in 13:43.09.
Kingfisher’s other two scoring runners were Terry Ann McCully, who was 22nd (20th) and Peyton Walker, who was one spot behind her.
4A Boys
The KHS boys fell short in their state bid as they placed 13th out of 15 teams.
Kingfisher totaled 340 points.
Bethany won the regional title with 48 while Byng was the runner-up with 85.
Junior Coleman Gilles was the Jackets’ best chance to reach state.
He was 42nd out of 105 runners and finished the 5K race in 20:35.41.
However, his placing wasn’t among the top-seven individuals from non-qualifying teams.
3A Girls
Fifth-ranked Alva easily won the crown at the OBA regional with just 48 points.
Meanwhile, sixth-ranked Hennessey took fourth in the meet with 88 points.
The Lady Eagles were just two points out of third and nine points from runner- up Chisholm.
The youth movement remained strong for Hennessey as its top three runners to cross the finish line were freshmen.
Jocelyn Matousek was 14th (12th) out of 64 competitors.
She finished in 14:08.72.
Emma Sipe took 19th (17th) and Tayler Franklin 20th (18th) for HHS.
Theotherscorersweren’t far behind.
Senior Jamie Torres finished in 22nd (20th) and junior Taryn Jech 23rd (21st).
Those four runners finished within nine seconds of each other.
2A Girls
At OBA, McCracken ran as an individual and wound up 15th out of 110 runners.
She was sixth among runners from non-qualifying teams, which edged her into the state meet.
A sophomore, McCracken finished the two-mile run in 13:33.66.
The Lomega girls traveled to Checotah for their regional and eventually placed ninth out of 19 teams.
The Lady Raiders tallied 223 points, which was 21 pointsbehindseventh-place Deer Creek-Lamont.
Colcord won the regional title with 82 points, 60 points better than Balko.
Kate Myers was the top Lomega runner as she finished 24th out of 147 competitors.
However, she wasn’t among the seven-best finishers from non-qualifiers.
2A Boys
The Raiders made their way in by taking fifth at the regional in Checotah.
Ranked 28th in the class, they finished with 144 team points.
That was ahead of No. 4 Warner, which was sixth with 154 points, and No. 14 Battiest, which scored 156 and was seventh.
Seventh-ranked Meeker took the team title with 84 points, 14 points better than No. 2 Wright City.
Pacing the Raiders was Jonah Pendergraft.
The sophomore ran the 5K race in 20:13.96, good for 16th (12th).
Austin Chestnut, a junior, was 21st (16th) in 20:28.67.
Trevor Lentz was 45th (33rd), Logan Zielinski 47th (35th) and Braxton Murray 63rd (48th) to round out the Raiders’ scoring.