Oklahoma 5A Cross Country Final Rankings 2021: Piedmont’s Double Denied

The final 2021 5A poll, posted October 8th, had Piedmont No. 1 on both sides — and Piedmont won neither. Guymon’s boys took the title with 58 points; Bishop Kelley’s girls won with 54. The poll’s No. 2 teams swept the championships. If you’re Piedmont, that’s a brutal way to learn that being No. 1 in October is a rumor, not a result.

Boys’ poll: Piedmont, Guymon, Bishop Kelley, Sapulpa, Guthrie. State: Guymon 58, champions. The voters had the top two right and the order wrong — the smallest possible error that still stings, because nobody remembers the poll’s No. 2. They remember the trophy.

Girls’ poll: Piedmont, Bishop Kelley, Coweta, Noble, Santa Fe South. State: Bishop Kelley 54, champions. Again the top two, again the wrong order. Twice in one afternoon, the poll was one slot off. There’s a special circle of frustration for being almost right.

The individual title went to Carl Albert’s Terrance Allen — and here’s the kicker: Carl Albert doesn’t appear in the 5A boys’ poll at all. Not No. 5, not No. 15 — unranked. The fastest kid in the class ran for a team the voters didn’t consider worth listing. The poll measures programs; the individual race measures people.

The rest of the boys’ poll: Coweta, Tulsa Edison, Duncan, Elgin, Santa Fe South, Durant, Newcastle, Mt. St. Mary, Bishop McGuinness, Collinsville, Altus. Girls: Coweta, Noble, Santa Fe South, Guthrie, Carl Albert, Stilwell, Newcastle, Thomas Edison, Bishop McGuinness, Mt. St. Mary, Sapulpa, Collinsville, Pryor, Durant.

2021 5A: the year the poll’s No. 1 went home empty-handed twice, the No. 2s swept, and the fastest kid in the class ran for a team that wasn’t ranked. The voters got the contenders right and everything else wrong. There’s a lesson in there about the difference between the best teams and the teams that win in November.

Final poll via ohstrack.com (2021); state results via the OSSAA championships recap.