By Michael Kinney
OKLAHOMA CITY -- Adam Helms was looking to put on a huge meet. The Putnam City Original track coach didn't invite a huge field to Putnam City Invitational March 30th. He kept it to just eight teams on the boys and girl's sides.
For Helms, that made the meet fun and gave some athletes wo don't get a chance to compete against the best each week an opportunity to shine.
"Competition went great," Helms said. "It was nice having a small meet that allowed schools to bring all their athletes."
Deer Creek won both the boys and girls team championships by substantial margins.
On the boy's side, the Antlers racked up 178 points. That was 42 points more than Norman North, who placed second.
PCO (122), Putnam City West (94), Piedmont (59), Woodward (29), Ponca City (22) and the OKC Stom (8) rounded out the rest of the field.
The Lady Antlers were just as strong as they posted 154 points. The Lady Pirates came in second with 122 points.
Norman North (114), Woodward (84), Ponca City (58), OKC Storm (44), Piedmont (42) and Putnam City West (26) followed.
Deer Creek didn't necessarily dominate in every event or even win a majority of them. However, they did have a lot of depth.
In the 3200 meter run, Norman North's TJ Guess won the event with a time of 10:20.34. However, Deer Creek placed four of the top six runners, including Drake Wagner who took third.
In the high jump, it was a clean sweep by Deer Creek. Stephen Wells, Cordell Brown, Oscar LitteChief and Alexander Samples took the top four spots. Wells won it after clearing 6-foot-4.
It was a similar situation in the 300 hurdles. Not only did Deer Creek win the race behind Logan Huslig's time of 40:48, but they also took third and fourth.
Other boys who had a good day included Putnam City West's Jesse Porter who won the 100 and 200-meter dashes, Woodward's Miles Kahoe, who won the 800-meter run and Norman North's Zachary Taylor who claimed the 400-meter run.
For the girls, PCO was strong in the relays. They took first in the 4x100 (50.46), 4x200 (1:47.59) and 4x400 (4:18.23).
"Our kids performed really well," Helms said. "We have a young group and they are making strides every week."
Norman North's Chavon Reece was a double winner in the 100 and 200-meter dashes. She also took second in the long jump behind PCW's India Morgan.
Deer Creek got impressive wins from Rachelle Mengwasser in the discus (122-04), She was 19-feet ahead of PCO's Asia Henry.
But Henry came back and took the shot put with a throw of 32-3.
"I think all teams had bright spots," Helms said. "We haven't had a great weather day until Friday and all the kids took advantage of it."