Small School Round-Up Week 4
A
Boys
The headline this week is the boys of Hollis High school winning their home meet over pre-season favorites Sweetwater. En route to the big victory, Hollis put 5 guys under 18:15 which is the fastest 5 man time in the division but the astute reader will know that only 4 score in class A. If the Hollis meet was scored through 4 instead of 5 it would have resulted in a tie 20-20 with Sweetwater. In this event we move to the #5 man and Hollis again comes out victorious but the 5s were only separated by 13 seconds. This is far from an insurmountable gap plus the difference adding in teams like Laverne, Southwest Covenant and Mooreland which have all put 4 guys under 19 so far this season. Individually it is becoming a two horse race between Canaan Motley of Hollis who ran 16:16 and Bly Frieouf of Medford who ran 14:56 to win the Cherokee 2.86 mile race converting to a roughly similar time to Motley over the weekend.
Girls
The Southwest Covenant Girls team posted a solid performance solidifying themselves as who I believe will be your class A team favorite. They put 4 girls 14:46 or quicker led by Allie Sheppard in 13:02 which if I'm not mistaken puts her as class A #1 as well.
2A
Going to combine the boys and girls into one paragraph because the story is the same. Regent Preparatory is very good. Both squads won the small school division at RSU by large margins. First, the girls were led by now 2A favorite Lucy Odea who was second in 12:04 and their 5th was 13:27. The RSU course was billed as a fast course going in and did not disappoint in that department. The only team I see challenging them is Hooker, who again has a history of getting it done when it counts. On the boy's side perhaps more spectacularly the men of Regent put on an impressive display of pack running to dominate the field and if they can keep that going through November they'll be unbeatable. Their win came even without their stud Clay Mckinney who raced the large school division where he came out 2nd overall and sub 15:30. This separates him from the likes of Brayden Cowan if he can continue to lay down similar performances.
3A
Boys
Levi Haynes (Community Christian) opened up his season in tremendous fashion getting 2nd overall at the Westmoore meet beating fellow 3A stars Billy Mathis (Casady) and Sam Rhoades (Casady) all of which were sub 16:05. I had Levi Haynes as my early season favorite and that still remains but the rise of the Mathis and Rhoades makes me a big believer in them moving forward this season. If Ayden Kerr can return to last seasons form they will be a tough squad to beat in 4A.
Girls
I honestly don't see a clear favorite yet in the individual 3A girls race but here are some strong contenders. First Kinley Taylor of Jones High School placed 3rd at the Guthrie meet running 19:33 or roughly equivalent to a 12:0X performance for 3200m a break. A rising sophomore who I was unable to find any previous performance but none the less she should not be left out of title contention. Second Jaden Alexander who is the top returner and we've seen run 12:37 2 weekends ago in Texas. Ella Stoermer a Freshman of Cascia Hall who just placed 3rd in the small school division at Distance After Dark running 12:07. I do not see any clear favorite for team but when I do I'll be sure to add it in.
4A
Boys
In the boys this week there has been a shake-up in my individual rankings. I'd move Ty Brooks (Lincoln Christian) ahead of Dathan Custar (Woodward) and Ethan Jones (Cache) after his 15:39 performance at RSU. Based on performances thus far I'd rank the boys as follows; 1. Zachary Williams (Cache), 2. Ty Brooks (Lincoln Christian), T-3. Ethan Jones (Cache), T-3. Dathan Custar (Woodward) Team wise I still believe Lincoln is the runaway favorites and no one has closed the gap as of yet.
Girls
The 4A girls team battle is still a two team race but now we have been able to see both Pauls Valley and Lincoln Christian over 5km. Lets start with Lincoln Christian who went down the road to the Distance After Dark meet where they ran FAST. More interesting to me than their times is how they ran it. Baylee Woodrich went to the front early setting an honest pace and putting a gap into the field. Tennyson Housley sat with the pack and finished 10th in 18:22, Woodrich one spot behind in 18:30. Could this be the strategy to beat Pauls Valley? Woodrich likes to run at the front, it's how she won the 5A 3200m title last spring. I don't believe it would be unfathomable to speculate that she will try a similar strategy at state XC and dare the Pauls Valley trio to chase. If the Pauls Valley girls get pulled out quicker than they are comfortable that may cause carnage in the later stages and allow Housley who likely will stick the pack a bit more to open a lethal kick and win. Now for the Panthers who over the weekend raced a 3200m at East Central University. As a team, they dominated scoring 21 points but this performance created some concern for me. Their #5 was only 14:40 and that will not be anywhere near what they need if they want to defend their title but it is a long season and a lot of running is still to be done. In other 4a girls news Metro Christian finished second overall as a team in the small school girls division of the Distance After Dark Meet with their 5 and 6 coming in around 14min flat which is the kind of depth necessary for them to possibly sneak past Pauls Valley.