Washington runs 2 gold; Mecklenburg injured in HJ win
Maximus Washington
First the good news.
Kingfisher High School’s Braxton Mecklenburg continued his streak of winning the high jump at every meet this season.
Mecklenburg won the event Saturday at the Class 4A regional track and field meet at Chisholm High School.
He cleared 6 feet, 4 inches, which was four inches higher than any other competitor in the field.
That put him in this weekend’s Class 4A state meet, which will be Friday and Saturday at Catoosa High School.
Mecklenburg, last year’s state runner-up, enters state with the best jump of any 4A regional.
Trenden Collins of Muldrow, last year’s state champ, has the second-best jump of the four 4A regionals at 6-2.
Now the bad news.
The chances of Mecklenburg being healthy at state are slim.
After clinching the regional title, Braxton was set to make an attempt to jump 6-6.
He attempted to stop during his approach when his spikes caught in the surface, wrenching the knee and ankle on his jumping leg.
Medically, it was determined over the weekend that Mecklenburg’s knee and ankle are “structurally fine.”
He will rehab the injuries until the state meet, where he’s expected to compete on Saturday. Mecklenburg was one of
Mecklenburg was one of two regional champions for the Jackets.
Fellow senior Maximus Washington claimed gold medals in both the 100 and 200 meter dashes.
In both races, Washington was able to close strong by chasing down the leaders to win at the wire.
He won the 100 in 11.18 seconds.
The 200 saw him finish in 22.68.
The Jackets scored 42 team points to finish fifth in the team standings.
Bethany won the regional title with 143. Cushing was the runner-up with 115.
Washington and Mecklenburg were the boys’ only state qualifiers.
Others scoring points for KHS were Brayden States, Harrison Evans and Connor Hine in individual events.
States was fourth in the long jump. Evans took fifth in the shot put and Hine fifth in the 800.
The 800 relay team of Hine, Ethan Karcher, Cade Cooper and Washington was also fifth.