LEAPS OF FAITH

Ally Stephenson couldn’t stand to watch, so she walked away.

On Friday, the first day of the Class 4A state track and field championships, Stephenson found herself trailing Cache’s Madisyn Crandall in the long jump.

It was Crandall who edged Kingfisher High School’s Stephenson by a mere 2.25 inches to win the long jump crown in 2021.

The 2022 meet came down to the same duo and, at the same Catoosa High School complex, Crandall’s best jump in the preliminary round was 17 feet, 9.5 inches.

Stephenson’s was 17-8.

After running a preliminary race in the 100 meter hurdles, Stephenson returned to the long jump pit for her three finals jumps.

She scratched on the first one.

Her second jump was “just” 17-6.

It came down to one final try.

She made her approach, hit the board clean and landed in the damp sand.

Then came the call. “17 feet, 11 and one-quarter inches.”

The Kingfisher contingent of fans - sans Stephenson herself - erupted with cheers.

The good news was Stephenson had surpassed Crandall’s best jump. The bad news was Crandall still had her three finals jumps ahead of her as she was completing her own preliminary race.

After Stephenson heard her distance, she left the pit.

She couldn’t watch.

“I just didn’t feel like I’d jumped my best and I didn’t want it to end like that,” she said.

Crandall returned, rested and jumped.

Scratch.

Scratch again.

And then…scratch.

Stephenson had avenged her defeat from a year before, dethroned the champ and claimed the first of what would be four medals in the final meet of her high school career.

She led KHS to a seventh-place finish in the team standings.

Weatherford won the team title for the second year in a row and fourth time since 2018 with 128.5 points. Tuttle was the state runner-up with 118.

KHS notched 40 points. Stephenson tallied 36 of them.

“What can I say about Ally?” said KHS head track coach Kerri Lafferty. “She’s a very special athlete and individual.”

Her meet – and career – were special indeed.

Stephenson came back Saturday to win the high jump in dramatic fashion as well.

She was one of four jumpers to clear 5 feet, 4 inches.

The other three scratched out at 5-6.

Stephenson, a two-time state champ in the event, missed her first two attempts at the height, one she hadn’t cleared all season.

But on her final jump, Stephenson slid just over the bar, which wobbled, but stayed on the standards.

She was a state champ yet again to go with titles she won in the event in 2019 and 2021.

The University of Oklahoma signee followed that up with silver medals to Tuttle’s Madi Surber in the 100 meter hurdles and 300 meter hurdles.

Surber is one of the best athletes in the state’s history, period.

The Oklahoma State University signee won both hurdles events as both a freshman and a junior (like Stephenson, she missed out on her sophomore year due to COVID-19).

Entering the finals on Saturday, Surber owned the state meet records in both events.

Stephenson pushed her in the 100 hurdles and even bettered her own school record.

However, her run of 14.68 seconds wasn’t quite enough to knock off Surber’s 14.52.

In the 300 hurdles, Surber established herself early and cruised to a 43.08.

Stephenson was second in 45.61.

She was the state runner-up in both events despite having not run the hurdles prior to this season.

She did so at the urging of Lafferty.

“I thought she’d be a natural hurdler because she has speed and body control,” Lafferty said. “Ally knew it would be tough to beat Surber, but she was eager to take on the challenge.”

It took work. “The hurdles are very technical, especially the 100s,” Lafferty said. “They take time to master and run correctly.”

Time wasn’t on Stephenson’s side. She had – at most – a couple of months to try to track down someone who had dominated the events for, essentially, four years.

“Ally just kept working on her form and stamina and continued to get stronger with each meet,” Lafferty said.

It began to pay off on Good Friday at Chisholm’s invitational meet.

Stephenson broke the school record in both hurdle events, one of which had held firm for 39 years.

She followed it up by sweeping the events at the regional meet and had the second best times behind Surber entering state.

But Surber was on her game.

She held off Stephenson in the 100 and nearly reset the 300 hurdle state meet record she broke in the prelims the day before.

Surber, for the second year in a row, won four gold medals. She has 10 in her career in track and field and another in cross country.

“It’s extremely impressive for Ally to be able compete with the best hurdler in the state after just starting to train a few months ago,” Lafferty said.

“Any other year and Ally would have won two more gold medals instead of silver.”