FRONT RUNNERS
KHS girls win another team title at home meet; Hennessey 4th
KHS RUNNERS Peyton Walker (far left) and Natalie Garrett (far right) had big days at the Kingfisher Cross Country Meet last weekend. Walker finished in the top 10 of the high school girls race while Garrett shaved nearly one full minute off her time from
Guarded optimism.
Kerri Lafferty continues to carry that around.
The Kingfisher cross country coach remains guarded because there are tougher tests that lie ahead and the realization that some of her teams have peaked too soon in their season.
But she also can’t help but be optimistic about what she’s seen so far.
The KHS girls claimed their third team title in as many tries last Saturday as they won their own Kingfisher Cross Country Invitational.
The Lady Jackets scored just 21 points with their showing at Briscoe Park, easily distancing themselves from runner-up Chisholm (74 points) and third-place OKC Knights (75).
“Almost everyone ran a PR, which is really exciting to see,” said Lafferty.
All five of Kingfisher’s scorers finished within the top-10 in a race that saw 94 runners.
The team was led by Scout Snodgrass, who won the individual title with a time of 12:28.47 on the twomile course.
It’s the first time this season for Kingfisher to run the full two miles.
Snodgrass beat Chisholm’s Addison Pecha by 14 seconds for her second first-place finish in three weeks.
Lily Lunsford was third in 12:43.37, five seconds ahead of Watonga’s Reese Coleman.
Peyton Walker took fifth overall and was fourth in placing among those scoring for their teams.
She crossed in 12:55.03. “It’s really impressive to have three girls running in the 12’s this early in the year,” Lafferty said.
Kinley Taylor was eighth and Liberty Starr ninth. Their score placings were two places higher than their overall placing.
Rounding out the Lady Jackets’ top-seven were Chesni Newkirk, who was 13th (10th), and Harper Evans, who came in 16th (12th).
Emmy Lunsford (20th), Terry Ann McCully (24th), Zaylynn Lopez (25th) and Maya Haney (30th) also medaled.
Lafferty boasted about the likes of Natalie Garrett, a junior who came in 38th overall.
“She took nearly a full minute off of her time from the same meet last year,” she said.
Garrett exemplified what the entire team was able to do, Lafferty added.
“I think they’re starting to realize that they can run fast times,” Lafferty said. “It’s awesome to see their confidence building with each practice and race.”
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Hennessey notched 94 points to finish in fourth place overall.
Ranked seventh in Class 3A, the Lady Eagles were paced by Emma Sipe, who finished 18th overall and 13th in score placing.
She finished in 13:46.25. Sipe was followed by Tayler Franklin, who was 26th (15th), and Jocelyn Matousek, who was 28th (16th).
Taryn Jech 40th (21st) gave Hennessey four runners among the top-25 in score placings.
Chisholm, the meet runner- up, is ranked fifth in Class 3A. (Ed. note: The initial season rankings for Class 4A and above had not been released at press time.)
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No county boys team fielded enough runners for a full team.
The best finish of any county runner was Cashion’s Luke Baustert, who came in 23rd to earn a medal.
He ran the 5 kilometer course in 18:50.24.
Kingfisher’s Conner Askey also earned a medal as he finished 26th in 18:55.41.
There were 157 competitors in the high school boys race.
“I’m super proud of Conner,” said Lafferty. “He works so hard in practice and it’s beginning to pay off for him.”