The Holland Hall/BA regional is led by the powerhouse that is Broken Arrow High School. The schools competing are Bishop Kelley, Bixby, Broken Arrow, Enid, Owasso, Putnam City, Sand Springs, and Yukon. On the male side, this meet is pretty balanced. Most events are up for grabs with many athletes in contention for spots. All rankings are via Milesplit and statements about what events the athletes are running are solely based on assumption.
Starting out in the sprints, the 100m favorite going in is Kayleb Barnett from Broken Arrow High School. Already clocking a 10.44, the junior out of BA is looking to be regional champion. Following behind Barnett are three other athletes that have run sub 11 so far this season. Look for these four athletes to battle it out for state qualifying spots, and as long as it's fast I see a good chance all four get into the state meet. In the 200m Cooper Wakley from BA is your leader going in. Wakley has clocked a 21.57 this season and leads the state. Behind Wakley is Jaylen Jones from Owasso. Jones is the only other athlete in this regional that has run sub 22 seconds in the 200 meters this season. I expect a fast race as multiple athletes are in the mix to get qualifying spots. As for the 400m, Wakley is also the favorite going in. He has run a 49.53 early in the outdoor season and if he's running the 400m, it's likely he'll qualify. Slightly behind Wakley is Brody Pitt also from BA. Pitt ran 49.58 at the Frontier Valley Conference Meet last week. With this recent performance, I wouldn't be shocked if Pitt uses this momentum to qualify for state this Saturday. Following these two are Jared Harrington from Broken Arrow who has run 49.91 and Antonio Goodwin from Broken Arrow who has run 49.98. Now, will all four Broken Arrow athletes run the open 400m this Saturday? Hard to say. If all do run, I can easily see a world where all four qualify for state. This could be huge for Broken Arrow here in two weeks.
Moving forward to the distance, the 800m is a fairly stacked event. This race is led by Jane Janowski from Owasso and Rowan Meyers from Bishop Kelley with a pair of 1:55s. Three other athletes have run sub two in this regional. Those being Isaac Krueger from Owasso, Eli Hopkins from Broken Arrow, and Logan Dornbos-McBroom from Yukon. If Janowski and Meyers both run, I see it likely they qualify, but that third spot is up for grabs. Meyers is your leader in the 1600m with a 4:20.87 and will likely easily qualify. Eli Hopkins is not far behind with a 4:22.31 earlier this season. Outside of these two, I see that third spot being fairly wide open. Something I'm wondering is if Dane Janowski will run the 1600m. He hasn't run anything in the event this season that is comparable to his 800m, but in the 2023 outdoor season he set a personal best of 4:25. Lastly, the distance is the 3200 meters. Eli Hopkins is your favorite by a good amount and should easily qualify. Behind Hopkins is Jeanluc Gilbert from Yukon who recently ran 9:45.73, Charlie Ritchie from Bishop Kelley with a 9:51.21 in early April, Rowan Meyers from Bishop Kelley with a 9:53.10 at the first outdoor meet of the season, Kasen Taylor from Broken Arrow with a 9:56.46, and Austin Buchner from Yukon with a time of 9:57.39. This race will likely be a fast one, especially if all of these athletes compete.
In the 110m hurdles, the four athletes from Broken Arrow are your leaders. If all run, it isn't unlikely that they all qualify. Outside of the BA hurdlers, Visanio Boyd from Putnam City High School is ranked 5th out of this regional field, and has a solid chance at qualifying. The 300m hurdles is slightly more diverse school wise. Caleb Goodman from Charles Page High School is your leader with a 39.83. Behind Goodman are three Broken Arrow athletes looking to qualify and one Yukon athlete.
The relays are a mixed bag. Broken Arrow are your likely favorites in the 4x100 and 4x200, but in the 4x400m they only lead Yukon by about a second. So, it isn't a guarantee that they pull out the win, but should easily qualify as long as no batons are dropped. In the 4x800m Owasso is the clear favorite followed by Broken Arrow and Yukon. These three teams are your likely qualifiers but I think it's very possible Bishop Kelley gets in the mix as well.
The shot put is led by Colin Heatherman from Bishop Kelley and Michael Villarreal from Bixby. These are your two likely contenders for the regional title, with a handful of athletes aiming to get in that top three qualifying mark. For the distance, Villarreal is the favorite and is followed by Kale Pennington from Owasso. These two athletes have quite a lead on the rest of the regional field and should easily qualify for state.
In the long jump there is a trio of athletes that have leaped 23 feet this year. Ladarian Shoals from Putnam City has gone 23-2.5, Daniel Barnes from BA with a 23-2, and Tyler Jones from BA with a jump of 23-0.5. With these three athletes leading the way, it'll be interesting to see if at least one of them is able to inch closer to that 24' mark. The high jump is also very competitive in this regional. The freshman from Yukon, Daniel Yebit, is tied for leader in this field with Ben Coker from Owasso. Both athletes have jumped 6'6. Luis Raab from Bishop Kelley is not far behind with a leap of 6-5 going into this meet. As for the pole vault, Cooper Wakley is the far and away favorite with a leap of 15-3 this season. The closest to Wakley in this field is Gabe Prentice from Yukon with a 14-1 season best.
As for the girls side of this regional, it's also fairly balanced, although I'd say not quite as deep in as many events. In the 100m dash, your two likely favorites are Nikole Cozort from Bixby High School and Alana Williams from Yukon High School. The 200m is very similar, except Williams is ranked 3rd coming in instead of 2nd. Cozort is your favorite going into this event just like the 100m, and Alyssa Little out of Broken Arrow is ranked 2nd in this regional field. Moving on to the 400 meters, Alyssa Little is your favorite with a time of 57.08 in early April. Behind Little are two athletes with a pair of 58s, Gianna Incremona from Bixby and Alyssa Luke from Yukon. Look for this to be a very competitive and down to the wire race.
When looking at the distance field, it's mainly a two athlete show. Bella Nelson out of Owasso hasn't ran a lot this season, but is still a common pick for best in the state. Despite not having run much, the Oklahoma State commit has run 2:12.49, 4:57.88, and 10:58.74 this season. If she runs all three events, she will likely qualify in all three. Battling it out with Nelson is Gwyneth Meyers from Bishop Kelley. Meyers has run 2:13.11, 4:56.62, and sub 10 this season. There is high potential for some entertaining races this Saturday that may just come down to the finish in each event. Outside of Nelson and Meyers, I think the 800m will be your deepest field in the distance events at this regional. Malana Eureste from Bishop Kelley has run 2:16.46 and is ranked 3rd coming in. Caroline Sutton has gone 2:19.10 and is ranked 4th. Both athletes have had strong seasons and I could see all four of these leading athletes in this field finishing within a couple seconds of one another.
The 100m hurdles are led by Autumn Mundis from BA and London Poindexter from Bixby. The two Tulsa County athletes are your only two with sub 16 performances this season in the field. They should both qualify pretty handily. In the 300m hurdles, Payton Brown from Broken Arrow is your favorite with a time of 44.36.
Bixby is your favorite going into the 4x100m with a time of 49.26 at the Frontier Valley Conference Meet. Broken Arrow is not far behind with a time of 49.32, also at the FVCM. These two will likely duke it out to the line once again. The 4x200m will likely be a similar story and the 4x400m is looking to be a two way battle between Owasso and Bixby, who both clocked 3:59s at FVCM. In the 4x800m, Owasso is your favorite by about nine seconds. Followed by Bixby and BA. I expect these three teams to qualify handily.
In the throws Angelique Carter is your leader in the shot put and discus. It would not be shocking if she wins both events easily and is double regional champion. Something else to note here is that Broken Arrow has multiple athletes in the top five of this regional in both the shot put and discus, so getting multiple athletes to state is likely. This could be huge for BA's team champion chances when it comes time to compete on May 10/11th.
The long jump is led by four athletes who have jumped over 17-5. London Poindexter from Bixby is your leader with a leap of 17-8 in early March. Behind Poindexter is Truly McClennan from BA, Addyson Beach from Bixby, and Alana Williams from Yukon. As for the high jump, the top jumper going in is Kaitlin Mirc from Bixby. Her leap of 5-3 has two inches on the rest of the field. Davis Crabtree from Yukon is your leader in the pole vault, with Josie Fowler, Truly McClennan, and Annika Bergwall looking to upset Crabtree for a regional victory.
This regional will be a great meet overall and should see plenty of very competitive races. Best of luck to all the athletes competing!
Thanks for reading,
Shawn Rutledge