Cross Country Rewind

The East side of the state dominated the 5A Boys State Championship meet held in Edmond with 12 runners from the East side finishing in the top 20 individually. Leading the East side surge was Union's Steven Baker, Taylor Monaghan and David Jones finishing first, third, and sixth respectively. The Redskins had an astonishing team score of 39 with Alex Baker and Griffin Mason rounding out the top five finishers and securing the 5A Team State Championship. With the win Baker, who completed the 5,000 meter course in 15 minutes 51.75 seconds, captured Union's first individual state title since 1976. "I wanted to finish top 10," said Redskin junior Taylor Monaghan. "We thought we had a chance to win but that (team score) was pretty crazy." Broken Arrow teammates Ryan Farrar and Mitch Johnson finished second and fourth respectively leading the Tigers to a fourth place finish. "Our goal from the beginning was to win the championship. It was disappointing to get fourth but in regards to their improvement in ability they were impressive. The best finish in school history was 1971 with winning a state title and this was the second best finish in school history. In terms of the modern era they did the best the school has ever done" said Broken Arrow head coach Shane Messinger. Jenks finished second with a team total of 105 led by Dylan Moon (8th), Ryan Fischer (11th), and Reese Jackson (16th). Other East side runners finishing in the top 20 were Nathan Ellis of Sapulpa finishing 10thand Caleb Clark of Bartlesville finishing 13th. Sara Vaughn of Union won the 5A Individual Girls State Championship completing the 3,200 meter run in 11 minutes 33.48 seconds. Vaughn, a senior, entered the meet as the defending state champion and left with the title for the second straight year. Also contributing to Union's third place team finish were Sarah Daggett, Alyssa Smith, Lauren Guidry, and Dalia Taquali. Edmond North and Westmoore claimed first and second respectively. Jenks finished fourth led by Amy McCarthy (7th) and Lauren Weinecke (13th). Stephanie Fleig finished 6th individually for ninth place Broken Arrow while Owasso finished 7th with Celeste St. Gemme (22nd) and Courtney Cleveland (33rd) leading the way. Fleig's head coach Shane Messinger believes that, "Stephanie has a legitimate shot to win the state championship individually. The girls' team only loses one scoring person and can be competitive as a team next year having finished three places better than last year." At the 4A Girls State Cross Country Meet at Mitch Park in Edmond, Andrea Lewis of Bishop Kelley finished first running the 3,200 meter course in 11 minutes 43.67 seconds. Lewis, a junior, adds another title to her collection having won a state tennis title last spring. The Bishop Kelley ladies finished third with a team total of 101 points behind first place Bishop McGuinness (53 total points) and second place Harrah (59 total points). In the Boys State Championship only four runners from the East side finished in the top 20. With Bishop Kelley's Jack Heinrich (9th) and Matt White (11th) along with Tyler Olyphant (15th) of Bixby and Jordan Raper (19th) of Glenpool representing the east side of the state. Edmond Deer Creek claimed state with an incredible team score of 17 total points with runners finishing first, second, third, fifth, and seventh individually. In the 3A Girls State Meet Victory Christian's Whitney Brannan finished third. Allison Carpenter of Metro Christian finished tenth, with a time of 13 minutes 2 seconds, at the 2A Girls State Cross Country Championship in Shawnee. Tahlequah Sequoyah placed third in girls action with a team score of 93 led by Ashley Ross and Brandi Walker. Ryan Schooley of Metro Christian finished first with a time of 17 minutes 12.3 seconds while teammate Will Spears claimed third in the 2A Boys Cross Country Championship. The Patriots claimed the State Championship with a team total of 34 points and a team time average of 17 minutes 59.94 seconds. The Metro Christian cross country program has seen a surge of cross country state wins in recent years thanks to the efforts of coach Matt Pile and the entire coaching staff.