KHS, Lomega, Hennessey girls reach state

Qualify.

That was the goal of the Kingfisher High School girls cross country team when members toed the start line Saturday.

The top six squads from the Class 4A regional would qualify for state and Kingfi sher was among the favorites to be included in that group.

And the Lady Jackets came through.

KHS finished third in the team standings and is back in the state meet this Saturday at Edmond Santa Fe High School.

“Our main goal Saturday was ‘GET IN,’” said cross country coach Stefan Seifried. “And we took care of that.”

Kingfisher notched 99 points, placing it behind topranked and defending state champ Pauls Valley’s 26 points and Plainview’s 89.

Douglass was fourth with 112 while Sulphur (122) and Bethany (139) also qualified.

Kingfisher had two medalists as Scout Snodgrass was eighth overall and Harper Evans 15th.

Snodgrass ran the twomile course in 12:31.69 and Evans in 13:19.68.

Their scores for the team standings were sixth and 13th, respectively.

Mattie Slezickey and Lily Lunsford were neckand- neck at the finish line. Slezickey placed 21st (19th) in 13:33.63 while Lunsford was 22nd (20th) in 13:33.65.

Terry Ann McCully rounded out Kingfisher’s scoring as she was 44th (41st) in 14:24.09.

The Class 4A girls will run at 1:40 p.m. Saturday.

KHS enters state ranked fourth in the class.

“I think these girls have a great shot at finishing in the top-four at state,” said Seifried.

Long qualifies for KHS boys Kingfisher will also have an entrant in the 4A boys state race.

Wyatt Long placed 19th at Saturday’s regional.

The top seven individuals from non-qualifying teams also are entered into state.

It was revealed early Sunday evening that Long was among them.

He ran the 5k course in 18:31.78.

Also for KHS, Chance Dunn was 58th in 20:46.61 and Conner Askey 67th in 21:21.39.

Long is now a two-time qualifier.

“He’s been running great these last three weeks,” Seifried said. “And I believe he’s got even more to provide at state.”

Hennessey ‘competitive’ in reaching 2A state

Sixth-ranked Hennessey is once again a state qualifier in cross country.

The Lady Eagles took third place Saturday in their 2A regional at Oklahoma Bible Academy in Enid.

This is the Lady Eagles’ fifth straight year to qualify for state.

Hennessey’s 91 points placed it behind only Hooker (20) and Oklahoma Union (77). Those teams are ranked second and fourth, respectively.

Emma Copeland and Jocelyn Matousek brought home medals from the regional meet. Copeland completed the two-mile course in 12:56.2 to place seventh overall, which was fifth among runners scoring points for their teams.

Matousek was 12th (10th) with her time of 13:17.6.

Also scoring for the Lady Eagles were Tayler Franklin, who was 21st (18th); Star Torres, who placed 33rd (26th); and JoHanna Matousek, who finished 41st (32nd).

JoHanna Matousek shaved more than 2:30 off the time she clocked on the same course earlier in the month.

That’s part of what coach Cheyenne Baxter is looking for in her team.

“I talk to my team about being competitive a lot,” Baxter said. “You can’t always look at times in cross country because every course is different, but you can always be competitive. You can try to run faster than your previous time from that course or beat people that you don’t normally beat, or be closer to them.”

Baxter said her team delivered Saturday.

“They were very competitive,” she said. “Almost everyone ran a faster time then when we ran at OBA earlier this month.”

Now Baxter hopes it translates into the state meet.

“Our goal is to finish in the top five at state,” she said.

Lomega girls punch their ticket

A handful of Lomega’s cross country girls team was in Indianapolis on Friday for the National FFA Convention.

That didn’t keep them from being in Waurika early Saturday morning for their Class A cross country regional… or from qualifying for state.

Lomega placed fourth Saturday to be an automatic qualifier.

The Lady Raiders scored 78 points. Southwest Covenant was the regional champ with 14, Velma-Alma the runner-up with 54 and Rush Springs placed third with 71.

Claire Myers collected a medal for her efforts as she placed 12th overall, which was 10th among team-scoring runners. She finished in 13:54.27.

Kate Myers just missed out on a medal as she placed 16th (13th).

Also scoring for the Lady Raiders were Joann Bilger, who was 21st (15th), and Josey Nusz, who placed 42nd (40th).

Dover boys fall short as team, Cohee qualifies

The Dover boys fell two spots shy of qualifying for state in their Class A regional at OBA.

However, one Longhorn will be competing at state this weekend.

Dover placed seventh with 128 points. The top five teams advance from each Class A regional.

But the top 12 individuals from non-qualifying teams also get to compete at state.

Nathan Cohee did just that as he was 26th overall. It was announced Sunday he was among the individual qualifiers.

Cohee ran the 5K course in 19:12.9.

More individual qualifiers

Cashion had two individual qualifiers in Class 2A, as did Hennessey.

Luke Baustert was fourth overall in the boys race at OBA, which earned him a medal on top of advancing to state.

Baustert completed the 5K course in 17:40.2.

Hennessey’s Asher Ward was 34th in 21:29.8 and Seth Sims 38th in 22:40.8. Their placings also got them into the state meet.

For the girls, Cashion’s Addison McCracken was 24th in 14:22.4, a placing that earned her a spot in the state meet.

In Class A at Waurika, Lomega’s Hunter Russell qualified when he placed 18th in 18:54.53.

The 2A girls run at 12:25 p.m. and the 2A boys at 12:55 p.m.

Class 4A girls compete at 1:40 p.m., followed by the 4A boys at 2:10 p.m.

The Class A girls run at 2:55 p.m. and the Class A boys round out the day’s events by running at 4:10 p.m.