Ridenour shows up, shows out for KHS track team
A group of guys better known for their basketball skills are playing a variety of different sports this spring.
Track wasn’t among them...until last Friday.
“They came up and said they wanted to do some events, but really didn’t want to run,” said Kingfisher High School boys track coach Timmy Winans.
“Since they had other primary spring sports, I said that was perfectly fine...but that I was still going to keep asking them to run in some events.”
The people in question were the likes of Xavier Ridenour, Cash Slezickey, Drake Friesen and Jud Birdwell.
Each one made an impact one way or another during the Kingfisher High School Invitational.
Ridenour even won gold.
The senior won the high jump competition in his first time to compete.
Ever. “Not even in junior high?” he was asked.
“No, I was more of a baseball guy growing up,” Ridenour said.
Ridenour was one of three jumpers to clear 6 feet along with Caleb Hawkins of North Rock Creek and Nate Reherman of Weatherford.
He won using the tie-breaker as he cleared the height on his first jump.
Friesen and Birdwell both cleared 5-8.
Friesen ended up tied for fifth and Birdwell placed eighth.
Slezickey actually did run in an event...the 100 meter dash.
He didn’t make the finals, there, but he did in the long jump.
He eventually placed ninth.
The Jackets also won in other field events.
Harrison Evans was the winner in the shot put with a heave of 42 feet, 5 inches.
Jake Reagan won bronze in the discus with his throw of 94-4.
Overall, KHS was sixth in the team standings with 34.5 points.
North Rock Creek ran away with the team title with 207 points.
Millwood was second with 78.
••• The girls’ team title came down to the last race of the day.
Anadarko was able to win that mile relay and extend its lead to capture the title with 135 points.
KHS, which took third in the relay, was the runner- up with 124, which was 13 points better than Putnam City West.
KHS was in the topthree in all four relays and also got gold medal performances from Scout Snodgrass and Abbie Myers in individual events.
Snodgrass hadn’t run the 1,600 meters competitively before Friday, but won the event with a 5:34.50, which is the sixth-fastest time in 4A this year.
Snodgrass took a bronze medal in the long jump.
She was also a part of the mile and two-mile relay teams that placed third.
KHS saw Abbie Myers nab a gold in the 100 meter high hurdles.
A freshman along with Snodgrass, Myers later in the meet was able to take silver in the 300 hurdles.
She was also on the third-place 800 meter relay team.
Chesni Newkirk placed second in the 800 and was a part of the two-mile relay team.
Girls Team scores
Anadarko 135 Kingfisher 124 PC West 111 Harding Charter 60 Woodward 54.5 N. Rock Creek 41 Weatherford 41 Hinton 40 Cashion 18.5 Shattuck 10 Millwood 8 HardingCharterB 4 Kingfisher B 4
Kingfisher individual
400 relay - Kingfisher (Ashley Casillas, Hallie Barton, Emmy Lunsford, Hannah Francis) 3rd, 54.32 3,200 relay - Kingfisher (Chesni Newkirk, Liberty Starr, Natalie Garrett, Scout Snodgrass) 2nd, 10:36.50 100 hurdles - Abbie Myers 1st, 17.47; Talor Mecklenburg 4th, 18.31; Jancee Matthews 5th, 18.57 800 relay - Kingfisher (Abbie Myers, Barton, Lunsford, Francis) 3rd, 1:53.10 800 - Chesni Newkirk 2nd, 2:41.62; Harper Evans 5th, 2:42.57; Natalie Garrett 6th, 2:43.09 400 - Hannah Francis 4th, 1:06.16 300 hurdles - Abbie Myers 2nd, 51.52; Jaelin Cortes 3rd, 52.57 1,600 - Scout Snodgrass 1st, 5:34.50; Evans 4th, 6:17.91; Newkirk 5th, 6:18.83; Zaylynn Lopez 6th, 6:28.54 1,600 relay - Kingfisher A (Garrett, Francis, Jaelin Cortes, Snodgrass) 3rd, 4:30.49; Kingfisher B (Emily Myers, Talor Mecklenburg, Lunsford, Abbie Myers) 5th, 4:36.74 Long jump - Snodgrass
3rd, 15-4 1/4 Pole vault - Lopez 6th, 7-0 Shot put - Presleigh Phillips 6th, 26-6 3/4 Discus - Merrin Evans
5th, 74-3 Cashion individual
3,200 relay - Cashion 6th,
11:03.81
100 - Chevy Eubanks
5th, 13.23; Reese Williams
6th, 13.32
400 - Sierra McCracken
5th, 1:07.03 High jump - Jaylee Harp
5th, 4-8 Shot put - Megan Shafer
2nd, 30-1; Williams 5th,
26-10 1/2
Boys Team scores
N. Rock Creek 207 Millwood 78 Anadarko 71 Weatherford 63 Woodward 57.5 Kingfisher 34.5 Elk City 30 Cashion 27 OKC Knights 24 Harding Charter 23 Weatherford B 22 Hinton 1
Kingfisher individual
400 relay - Kingfisher (Cade Cooper, Ethan Karcher, Jake Reagan, Kasen Blair) 6th, 47.54
3,200 - Conner Askey
6th, 12:28.26
800 relay - Kingfisher (Karcher, Kale Hart, Alezandro Cuellar, Harrison Evans) 6th, 1:43.19
400 - Cooper 5th, 56.95 High jump - Xavier Ridenour
1st, 6-0; Drake Friesen 5th, 5-6 Shot put - Evans 1st, 42-5 Discus - Reagan 3rd, 94-4 Cashion individual
110 hurdles - Body Beutler 3rd, 16.49
3,200 - Luke Baustert
5th, 11:59.57
800 - Gage Bedick 4th,
2:13.51
300 hurdles - Beutler
2nd, 42.89
1,600 - Bedick 6th,
5:00.89 Pole vault - Baustert 3rd,
9-0