Titans romp to Pre-State crown
The Carl Albert boys cross country team finished first in the Pre-State Meet last Friday at Edmond Santa Fe. (Photo by Clive Bond)
EDMOND — If the annual Pre-State Cross Country Meet held at Edmond Santa Fe truly is a preview of the state championships, then Carl Albert High School needs to reserve a spot in the trophy case for the Titan boys’ squad.
In the field of 19 of the state’s best 5A schools, the Titans easily outdistanced the field with a low score of 47 with all five runners finishing in the top 20. Shawnee and Claremore were a distant second, tied at 121, and Piedmont was fourth with 146 points.
There were 140 runners in the Class 5A boys division.
Led by junior Madison Gaiski’s 24th place finish, the Lady Titans finished sixth in the field of 16 schools and 108 runners.
Titan junior Camden Shaw made a strong run for the individual championship with his time of 16:48.2, just one-hundredth of a second behind winner Christopher Lobaugh of Glenpool. The two will hook it up again at State since Lobaugh will qualify in the East regional.
The Titans’ lone senior Coal Phillips finished in fourth place with a time of 17:00.7 and junior Matt Moler grabbed seventh place with a time of 17:13.4. Jacob Dodson was 15th with a time of 17:35.6 and Micah Dodson right behind with a 17:39.3.
The displacers for the Titans were Blake Vogt and Shevrin Gray.
Talented freshman Josie Wiley had the second best time for the Lady Titans as she posted a time of 22:52.9, good for 30th place. Senior Brooke Feldman ran a 23:02.9, Jaylin Johnson had a time of 23:19.1 and sophomore Rachel Hardy had a time of 23:3.8.5.
Displacers for the Lady Titians were Mallory Pursell and Kaycie White.
The Titans will host the Suburban Conference Cross Country Championships on Oct. 11. Regional competition for 5A teams will be Oct. 22, probably at Norman and the State meet will be hosted by Edmond Santa Fe, site of Friday’s meet, on Oct. 29.
Treten OzVath of Midwest City finished in 19th place with a time of 17:15 in the 6A boys division which had 115 runners from 17 schools with complete teams. Joining OzVath on the Bomber squad that finished 10th in the standings were Marcus Simmons, Brady Sullivan, Alex Farrell, Michael Mitchell and displacer Ethan Fogarty.
Representing the Lady Bombers in the meet were Jewels Martinez (22:44), Kenya Bailey (22:58), Katie Kitter (23:33), Jalyn Long (25:05), Mya Gideon (25:16) and displacer Heidi Goff. (27:22)
The Bomber squads will be striving for a slot in the State Championships at the Regional qualifying meet on Oct. 22 and the State Meet will be at Edmond Santa Fe on Oct. 29.
