MEASURING STICK

Where do the Kingfisher girls stand in the Class 4A cross country landscape.

Right now, it’s fourth to be exact, but coach Kerri Lafferty is optimistic her team can improve that number.

Improvement is what the Lady Jackets showed Saturday when they placed fourth in the Class 4A Pre-State Meet held at Santa Fe High School.

Despite it being the first time KHS hadn’t won the team title at a meet this season, Lafferty was anything but discouraged.

“It was such an exciting day for us,” she said. “Almost everyone ran PR’s (personal records) and most dropped anywhere from 20 to 30 seconds, which is what we wanted to see.”

Plainview won the meet with just 82 points.

Byng was second with 121 and Lincoln Christian third with 123.

KHS had 131 points.

Those teams were ranked 1-4, in that order, in the latest 4A girls rankings.

“Class 4A has to be one of the toughest classes this year,” Lafferty said. “The top-four teams have at least four to five really good runners.”

Kingfisher’s top tandem of Zoey Evans and Katon Lunsford placed 13th and 16th, respectively, out of 231 runners. Their finishes counted 11th and 14th toward the team total.

Evans ran the 3,200 meters in 13:01.85 and Lunsford in 13:12.44.

Senior Andrea Becerra was 31st (29th), freshman Emmy Lunsford 32nd (30th) and freshman Hannah Francis was 50th (47th) to give KHS its five scorers.

With several underclassmen in her lineup, Lafferty wasn’t positive how some of her younger runners would react in the setting.

“There were over 230 runners standing on the start line which can be very intimidating,” she said “The girls came to compete and they did.”

Plainview’s top runners scored anywhere from sixth to 28th to win comfortably.

However, Lafferty feels it’s time for Kingfisher to close that gap.

“We are definitely within striking distance of Plainview,” she said. “We are heading into the part of our season where we really start to focus on speed and endurance. These workouts should significantly help drop our times.”

Kingfisher’s boys didn’t have enough to qualify for a full team and their top runner was unable to finish.

Senior Jayden Newkirk started having sharp pains in his stomach midway through the race.

“He was told he was pretty dehydrated, which would cause the cramping,” Lafferty said. “He should be fine to run this weekend.”

Lafferty said the conditions were hot and humid by the time the 4A boys race was run.

Connor Hine ran the 5K race in 18:58.53, good for 47th.Braden Burns was 96th, Xavier Ridenour 116th and Coleman Gilles 170th.

There were 234 runners in the 4A boys race.

“The conditions were not great, but the boys still came out to compete,” Lafferty said.

Hennessey’s girls took 10th in the 3A race, which was won by Regent Prep.

Sol Tarango paced the Lady Eagles with her 27thplace (24th) finish. Taryn Jech was 32nd (29th).