KHS edges Tuttle for team title
Stephenson wins 3 golds, challenges Surber in hurdles before...
JUMP! JUMP! – Kingfisher’s Ally Stephenson (left) competes in the 100 meter hurdles during the KHS invitational meet last Friday. It was the only one of her four events she didn’t win at the meet. On the right is Dani Rios-Ramirez clearing the bar i
Perhaps the eyebrow-raising event for Ally Stephenson last Friday was the one in which she finished next to last.
Stephenson won three gold medals in her four events at the 11th annual Kingfisher High School Invitational Track and Field Meet.
The KHS senior took home first place honors in both the high jump and long jump, then went to the track and did the same in the 200 meter dash.
However, the buzz around the Kingfisher complex came after Stephenson left some of her skin on the track surface during the 100 meter hurdles.
This is her first year to run the event and the race featured the reigning Class 4A state champion, Madi Surber of Tuttle, an Oklahoma State University signee who won four gold medals in the 2021 state meet.
In the 2021 100 hurdles finals, Surber set the state meet record of 14.11.
But midway through the race last week, Stephenson had Surber on her back hip.
“I think I had her,” Stephenson said. “I just got a little ahead of myself.”
Stephenson’s front foot caught the hurdle and it sent her sliding on the surface. Once she was able to get up and gather herself, the race was mostly over.
Stephenson limped across the finish line in 23.06 seconds and was the 14th of 15 competitors.
Unfortunately for Stephenson, who had a “raspberry” wound on her hip, she had not time to doctor her wounds or sulk.
She went straight to the long jump pit to finish the competition.
Her best jump of 17-11 3/4 won by nearly two feet over Casady’s Riley Dumigan.
From there, Stephenson went straight to the high jump pit where she faced off against Tuttle’s Landry Allen, the 6-foot-2 University of Oklahoma signee in basketball.
Allen bested Stephenson at last year’s regional meet, but Stephenson flipped the script at state.
On this cold and windy day, both jumpers cleared 5-2. Stephenson got it on her first try.
Allen needed a pair of attempts to do the same. Both jumpers scratched out at 5-4, but Stephenson got the win due to her success at the previous height.
It was then time for the 200, which Stephenson ran in 26.88 seconds. Helen Olszewski was the runner-up in 27.35.
Stephenson accounted for three of Kingfisher’s four first-place finishes.
Dani Rios-Ramirez collected the other in the pole vault as she cleared 7-0.
KHS “only” had four golds, but the success after that was widespread.
The Lady Jackets collected 142 total points to edge Tuttle’s 140 and win the team title.
Casady was third with 135. Cashion took fourth with 72.
Other medalists for KHS saw the 3,200 meter relay team of Taylor Mills, Jacee Mueggenborg, Katon Lunsford and Chesni Newkirk take second.
Newkirk was second in the 800 open while Mueggenborg won bronze.
Demi Roden took home third in the 300 hurdles while Lunsford did the same in the mile run.
Emmy Lunsford and Mills took second and third, respectively, in the pole vault.
Kina Frost, Natalie Garrett, Roden and Emmy Lunsford were also third in the 800 relay.
That was one spot behind Cashion, which also got third in the 400 relay and third in the mile relay.
Lauren Lamb, Reese Wiliams, Bella Woody and Abby Hobgood ran both relays for the Lady Wildcats.
Issy Reeves was the gold medalist in the shot put with a throw of 32-6. She bested her teammate, Megan Shafer, who was second with a toss of 29-8 3/4.
Reeves also claimed bronze in the discus with a distance of 69-9 1/2.
Girls Team Standings
Kingfisher 142
Tuttle 140
Casady 135
Cashion 72
Anadarko 71
Merritt 25
Elk City 17
OKC Knights 16
Woodward 10
Clinton 2