CA girls take third at state

By Jeff Harrison
Midwest City Beacon

EDMOND – Coming off their first-ever regional title, Carl Albert’s girls cross country team delivered another impressive performance Saturday at the Class 5A state championships.

The Lady Titans took third overall for their best state showing in 26 years.

“Our girls ran great today and I’m really proud of them,” said coach Bill Case. “This is our highest place at state since 1998 when we were stater runners-up.”

Piper Mitchell capped her impressive sophomore campaign by placing 11th overall in 20:12.53. She shattered her personal record she set a week ago by nearly 45 seconds.

“I felt really good running today,” Mitchell said. “The course felt really fast, and I wanted to push through since I knew it was my last meet.”

Mitchell earned all-state honorable mention with the 11th place finish. The top 10 runners earn all-state medals and the next five are honorable mention.

“I think the adrenaline of running at state helped me today,” she said.

Mitchell competed in cross country all season but only started practicing regularly after volleyball season ended. She’s seen her times rapidly improve in recent weeks.

“If we had her all year there’s no telling where she’d be,” Case said. “She has a lot of heart, guts and grit.”

Senior Elizabeth Harmon was next in 34th place with a time of 21:29.33 in her state meet debut. Sarah Hobrecht finished 36th (21:36.55), followed by Grace West and Ella Pritchard who were 38th and 39th respectively.

Kiaunna Shaw (23:41.21) and Brianna Galindo (23:53.12) were displacers for the Lady Titans.

Bishop Kelley ran away with the 5A girls team title with 42 points. Duncan was a distant second with 125, and Carl Albert rounded out the top three with 146.

Gwyneth Meyers of Bishop Kelley was the individual winner in 18:30.96, followed by Claremore’s Emma Robinson (18:54.17) and Tulsa Edison’s Jade Burnett (19:11.52).

BOYS

Senior Koen Wagner wrapped up his high school career by placing 25th in the 5A boys race. The two-time state qualifier finished the 5k course in 16:58.10.

“I’m really proud of Koen Wagner and the way he ran today and for his leadership,” said coach James McMahan.

Freshman Catch Manley was next in 59th place at 17:41.52. Jesse Blough was the next Titan to cross the finish line in 83rd place with a time of 18:10.99 followed by No. 94 Joseph Robison (18:50.95) and Jaeden Thompson (18:53.55).

Displacers were Jad Maiz (19:30.33) and Riley McMahan (19:50.34).

The Titans finished 14th overall in their first state appearance since 2021.

“I thought we did pretty well today,” James McMahan said. “This was the first time at state for most of our guys and we’re building the foundation. We only lose one runner with Koen and we want to do even better next year.”

Bishop Kelley also cruised to the boys title with 37 points and four runners in the top 10. Classen SAS (108) and Tahlequah (139) rounded out the top three.