By Doug Eaton
Journal Sports Writer
Break out the championship banner!
The Jenks Lady Trojans cross country team will add to the school's state championship banner collection lining the walls of Frank Herald Gymnasium as they turned an anticipated tight finish into a relatively easy win despite losing their top runner to an injury.
The Jenks boys team came about as close as possible to making it a double championship victory day but came up only four points shy as the Trojans took second place in the Class 5A boys' competition. The Trojan boys were barely edged out by defending state champion Mustang who was led by three-time individual champion, Kevin Schwab.
As for the girls and the class 5A girls team standings, Jenks captured first place with 102 points, Edmond North took second with 133 and Edmond Memorial was a close third place with 134 points.
Union came in fourth place with 142 points; Bartlesville was fifth with 154; Westmoore sixth 155; Owasso seventh with 175; Norman eighth with 195; Mustang ninth with 221; Edmond Santa Fe tenth with 227; Yukon eleventh with 230; Broken Arrow twelfth with 251; Tahlequah with 258 and Ponca City fourteenth with 279.
Sara Vaughn of Union took home overall individual honors as she ran the 3200 meter course in 11:56.
Jenks' hopes for the state title hit a snag early in the race as the team's top runner, Grace Skocik, was forced to bow out with an injury and she was unable to finish the race. This mishap set the stage for the team's remaining six runners to be motivated just a little more in order to overcome being short a runner in the race for the team points.
Leading the way for the Lady Trojans was sophomore Amy McCarthy. She ran 12:46 which was good enough for 13th place overall.
Jacquelynn Skocik placed 19th in 12:57 and was followed closely by Lauren Wienecke who placed 20th in 12:59.
Miranda Zollner finished in 22nd place in a time of 13:01; Kim Schauer came in 28th in 13:12 and Anna Barber came in 30th place in 13:18.
The state championship was the Jenks girls fifth cross country state title in the last eight years and Jenks girls' twelfth state cross country title since 1985.
Head coach Maria Fernandez was obviously pleased with the team's championship win.
"We had some bad luck as we lost our top runner (Grace Skocik), but our other girls definitely stepped up to make up the difference. Our team's depth paid off. Everyone pitched in to help make up for the loss of Grace. It was truly a team effort to win."
Besides the loss of Skocik in the state meet, the girls' team was without senior Renee Andersen, a three-year letter winner, who has been out the entire season with an injury.
The boys race turned out to be just what it had been advertised. Going into the state meet, the general consensus was that the boys class 5A championship could be won by any of four pretty evenly-matched teams - Jenks, Union, Mustang and Edmond Memorial.
This was one case in which the consensus was exactly on point.
Mustang, led by three-time individual state winner Kevin Schwab, held off the Trojans to claim the 2006 state championship. Schwab, who committed earlier in the week to run at the University of Oklahoma, was in a class by himself as he dominated the race and won by 37 seconds over second place finisher Mitch Owenby of Yukon.
For the Jenks boys, Ryan Fischer placed highest as he finished in 14th place in a time of 17:17 over the 5,000 meter course on the Oral Roberts University campus.
Jared James came in 16th place in 17:21; Shawn Dolan was 19th place in 17:27; Dylan Moon was 22nd in 17:34; Reese Jackson came in 23rd place in 17:41 and Ryan Jackson was 53rd in 18:40.
Head Boys' Coach Bryan Yockers reflected on his team's effort. "Our guys ran awesome. I was very pleased with our effort. It turned out to be just a numbers game. Unfortunately, we came up a little short. At the first of the year, the challenge was for us to even be able to get up on stage (at the awards presentation). We were able to do that. We peaked at the right time and I think we maximized our potential."
Many teams would gladly settle for second place in state competition. However, missing out on a state title by only four points can make coming home with second place somewhat bittersweet.
"Jenks may the only place in the state where finishing second is a disappointment. The reason for that is at Jenks our expectations are always high. There are 30 other teams (in Class 5A) that would gladly trade places with us," said Yockers.