The Waurika girls cross country team turned in a third-place performance at the Class 2A Regional Cross Country meet held last Saturday at Harmon Park.
The third-place finish put the Lady Eagles in Saturday’s Class 2A State Cross Country Meet at the Gordon Cooper Technology Center in Shawnee. The girls’ race begins at 12:30 p.m.
It will be the third straight year for Waurika to send the high school girls cross country team to the state meet.
The Ryan Cowgirls claimed the regional crown with 58 points, while Merritt was the runner up. The Lady Eagles finished two points behind Merritt in third place.
The Class 2A girls’ competition featured 110 runners and 11 teams – the largest number of runners of any of the three regionals last weekend.
The top 15 runners earned medals at the regional meet and the Lady Eagles had three runners awarded medals.
Asia Smith led the way with a sixth-place finish. She turned in a time of 13:17.36 – nearly 40 seconds better than her best time of the season – over a 3,200-meter course.
Tallin Mora was right behind her teammate and finished seventh. She also bested her top time of the season. Her time of 13:21.21 was 30 seconds better than her best mark of the year.
Liberti Simmons finished ninth in the crowded field with a time of 13:29.31 to round out the medal winners for the Lady Eagles.
Lexie Streeter finished 18th with a time of 13:49.94, while Faith Roberson finished 68th with a time of 16:01.47 to contribute to the team scoring.
Also competing for the Lady Eagles were Kaci Reynolds (75th, 16:14.77) and Hope Cummings (84th, 17:00.51).
The previous best finish at a regional meet for Waurika’s girls has been fifth place and they accomplished that three times – in 2013, 2014 and 2017.
The 73 points scored by the Lady Eagles was by far the best mark of any regional competition since 2007 when Waurika first had enough runners for the team competition. The previous best point total was 123 points set in 2013.
The Waurika boys competed in the regional meet, but finished ninth with 205 points. Only the top seven teams qualify for the state meet.
The top seven individuals not on a qualifying team also advance to the state meet.
(l-r) Nick Alvarado, Cache Dunn, Kevin Garcia, Bryson Hernandez, Edwin Garcia,
Gustavo Gomez, Octavio Gomez, Cody Ramsey. Photo by Curtis Plant
Kevin Garcia was Waurika’s top finisher and he finished 30th with a time of 20:16.28. He was just two places off qualifying for a spot in the state meet. His time was the second best of the season for the Waurika junior.
The other competitors for the Eagles included Gustavo Gomez (44th, 21:09.54), Octavio Gomez (49th, 21:30.39), Cache Arellano (58th, 22:16.61), Edwin Garcia (79th, 24:01.92), Nic Alvarado (90th, 25:09.6) and Cody Ramsey (95th, 26:34.22).
Oklahoma Christian claimed the team title with 61 points, while Carnegie was the runner up with 66 points. Silo was third with 98 points.
Waurika also played host to the Class 3A and Class 4A regional competition for the boys and girls.
Marietta and Plainview girls tied for the Class 3A crown with Marietta claiming the championship on the tie-breaker. Each team had 35 points.
Marietta also won the boys’ title for Class 3A with 47 points. Marlow was the runner up with 77 points.
In the Class 4A division, the Madill girls took the title with 55 points, while Pauls Valley was the runner up with 64 points. The Cache girls finished third.
Madill claimed the boys’ title with 27 points, well ahead of Byng’s 61 points and Cache was third with 83 points.
