The Red Dirt Runner

The Eleven-Year Reign: Bishop McGuinness and the Greatest Title Streaks in Oklahoma Girls XC History

Thu, 01 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Bishop McGuinness won eleven straight 4A girls titles, 1992–2002 — the longest championship streak in the Oklahoma XC archive.

The October polls debate who’s No. 1. Bishop McGuinness spent eleven years answering a different question: who’s No. 2? From 1992 through 2002, the Irish won eleven consecutive 4A girls state titles — the longest championship streak in the entire Oklahoma cross country archive, boys or girls, any class. A decade plus one. An entire generation of 4A girls ran their whole high school careers knowing exactly who was winning state in November.

Eleven straight is the mountain; here’s the rest of the range. Tulsa Union won five straight 3A girls titles from 1977 to 1981 — the first dynasty of the girls’ archive, which begins in 1975. Bishop Kelley won five straight 5A titles from 2017 to 2021, the modern-era standard. Jenks did four straight in 5A twice — 1987–1990 and 1999–2002. Plainview won four straight 3A titles (2009–2012); Marietta immediately followed with four straight of its own (2013–2016), turning 3A into an eight-year two-program duopoly. Hooker won four straight 2A titles from 2021 to 2024.

What’s striking is the clustering: the great streaks come in waves, and they tend to come with individual dynasties attached. Bishop McGuinness’s eleven-year run includes Amanda Jordan’s four straight individual 4A titles (1997–2000) and Ashley Boothe’s three straight (1994–1996). Marietta’s 3A reign overlapped Daisey Vanmeter’s three straight individual crowns at Henryetta (2013–2015) — a rival’s star shining inside someone else’s dynasty, which is exactly how dynasties get remembered.

The pollsters’ role in all of this? Mostly ceremonial. You don’t need a ballot to tell you who’s winning when one program wins eleven straight — you need a ballot for the other five classes. The streaks are the archive’s way of reminding us that October rankings are entertainment and November dynasties are history.

Eleven straight. The polls debate October; Bishop McGuinness owned November for a decade plus one.

Championship data via the ohstrack.com past-champions archive; rankings via ohstrack.com.

Repeat Offenders: Oklahoma’s Multi-Year Sprint Kings

Thu, 01 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Winning once is talent. Winning twice is a habit. Photo: Stockcake.

Winning a state title is hard. Winning it twice — with every rival in your class spending a full year gunning for you — is a different species of achievement. A scroll through the 100m past-champions archive reveals Oklahoma’s recent sprint dynasties, and the list is longer than you’d think.

The roll call of repeat offenders: Gage Gibbons (Deer Creek, 6A — 2025 and 2026). Kyler Brown (B.T. Washington, 5A — 2024 and 2025). Damontre Patterson (Sulphur, 4A — 2023 and 2024). Jonathon Brite (Marlow, 3A — 2024 and 2025). James Beasley (Okemah, 2A — 2024 and 2025). Mark Bishop (Garber, 1A — 2024 and 2025).

Read that again: in both 2024 and 2025, five of the six classes were won by repeat champions. Only 6A changed hands (Kayleb Barnett of Broken Arrow in 2024, Gibbons in 2025). For two straight years, if you wanted to win the 100m in Oklahoma, you had to go through the guy who won it last year — and almost nobody did.

The 2026 changing of the guard finally broke most of the streaks: Quinton Mask (Lawton MacArthur) took 5A in 10.18, Caleb Peterson (Lincoln Christian) took 4A in 10.69, Wade White (Rejoice Christian) took 3A in 10.87, Cruz Gillespie (Oklahoma Christian Academy) took 2A in 10.74, Nash Harman (Cyril) took 1A in 10.88. Only Gibbons held serve. The target on his back must have been enormous; he ran 10.32 anyway.

And for the quarter-mile crowd, the 2026 400m champions: Brody Pitt (Broken Arrow, 6A, 47.03), Alec Shumard (Newcastle, 5A, 47.99), Greydon Howell (Broken Bow, 4A, 47.19), Blaze Buchanan (Holland Hall, 3A, 48.56), Hudson Harrison (Carnegie, 2A, 50.43), Carmello Williamson (Oaks Mission, 1A, 49.07). Six new names. We’ll see how many of them become repeat offenders.

Source: ohstrack.com past-champions archive (boys 100m, boys 400m).

Oklahoma Middle School Cross Country Rankings 2026: The October List

Thu, 01 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Oklahoma Middle School Cross Country Rankings 2026: The October List

One month in, and the middle school picture looks very different than it did on October 1st — which is exactly why we publish these as living documents. Since the early-season list, we’ve worked through full results from 21 meets across August, September, and October, and the new data forced a real rebuild. Three of our top four boys have moved up to race high school varsity. The girls’ list gets rebuilt on the distance that actually matters.

A word on standards, because this is the foundation of the whole list: in Oklahoma, middle school girls race 2400 meters and middle school boys race 2 miles. Plenty of meets list the girls’ race as 1.5 miles — that’s 2414 meters, close enough that we’re treating them as the same race. Every girl below is ranked on a 2400m/1.5-mile mark. Every boy is ranked on a 2-mile mark (or a spring track 3200m, which is the same distance on a faster surface). No conversions deciding anything important, no mixing distances and pretending the math sorts it out.

Boys

Diego Cruz is the new No. 1, and the 2-mile times back him up. His 11:01.42 at Wright City in October is the fastest verified junior high 2-mile in the state this fall, and Stevie Hawkins isn’t far behind at 11:22.21 from the Suburban Conference meet. Behind them, the Curtis Inge and Battiest programs are showing real depth — Rayder Phillips (a 7th grader) and Mason Coulter both broke 11:45.

The big structural change: Jake Mann, Max Denney, and Roman Grau are off this list. Not because they got slower — because they’re racing high school varsity as freshmen. Grau ran 16:52.79 for 5K in Deer Creek’s elite race, Mann 17:10.21 and Denney 17:30.56 at the Mustang Night Race. Those are legit varsity times, and they validate everything the spring track marks suggested. They’re high school runners now, so they graduate off the middle school list. Good luck to all three — we’ll be watching them on the HS lists.

That leaves Reed Brown as the last of the spring track quartet still in the junior high ranks, and we’re keeping him high. His 10:28.20 3200m is real fitness — the same fitness his three peers just proved translates — but he hasn’t raced a fall cross country meet we can find. Carl Albert’s middle school boys did run at Suburban; Brown wasn’t in the results. Until he shows up on grass, he sits behind the two fastest actual 2-mile marks. That’s our judgment call.

Diego Cruz, Heavener JH (8th) — 11:01.42, 2 miles (Wright City, Oct). Fastest verified JH 2-mile of the fall. The new standard-bearer.
Stevie Hawkins, Curtis Inge MS (8th) — 11:22.21, 2 miles (Suburban Conference, Oct). Twenty-one seconds back of Cruz on a different course — close enough to keep him honest all October.
Reed Brown, Carl Albert MS — 10:28.20, 3200m (outdoor track, spring 2026). No verified fall XC mark yet. Ranked on fitness, with the asterisk stated plainly: his three peers at this level are now running 16:52–17:30 5Ks in high school varsity races.
Mason Coulter, Battiest (8th) — 11:29.42, 2 miles (Wright City, Oct). Finished second to Cruz in the same race. Battiest has something going.
Rayder Phillips, Curtis Inge MS (7th) — 11:40.62, 2 miles (Suburban Conference, Oct). A 7th grader running 11:40 for 2 miles — the best young-boys mark in the state right now.
Ricardo Ayala, Laverne (8th) — 11:42.26, 2 miles (Mooreland, Sep 5). Our early-season No. 5, verified by the primary source. The new October marks push him down, but 5:51 pace on grass in early September is still the real deal.
Omar Delmoral, Taft MS (8th) — 11:53.27, 2 miles (All City, Oct). Won the OKCPS city meet.
Marco Favila, Southeast MS (7th) — 12:18.00, 2 miles (All City, Oct). Another 7th grader in the top 10. The young talent in this state is genuinely exciting.
Jonathan Herrera, Waurika JH (8th) — 12:41.71, 2 miles (Waurika, Oct).
Koltin Bunch, Destiny Christian MS (8th) — 12:42.68, 2 miles (Hobart, Oct). One second behind Herrera on a different course — effectively tied.
Kash Depron, Bridge Creek MS (8th) — 12:56.24, 2 miles (Waurika, Oct).
Leo Winward, Bartlesville MS — 13:26.00, 2 miles (Mid-Season Meet of Champions, Sep 12); 12:06.65, 3000m (Holland Hall, Sep 19). Still the leader of the Bartlesville pack, but the pack’s 2-mile marks haven’t kept up with the October times.
Oliver Ellis, Bartlesville MS — 13:35.00, 2 miles (Mid-Season, Sep 12).
Jase Hammond, Bartlesville MS — 13:42.00, 2 miles (Mid-Season, Sep 12); 12:33.94, 3000m (Holland Hall, Sep 19).
Benji Castro, Bartlesville MS — 12:55.07, 3000m (Holland Hall, Sep 19). The 3000m mark is his best indicator; it slots him right at the back of the ranked group.

Short-course standouts (directional — fast marks at distances too short to rank directly): cohen davisson (Bixby, 8th) ran 5:10.86 for the mile at Sapulpa, the fastest JH mile we’ve seen this fall, with Dylan Spears (Tulsa NOAH, 8th) at 5:20.06 in the same race. Wesley Enriquez (Moore JH, 8th, 5:23.59) edged Cruz Thomas (Edmond Cimarron MS, 8th, 5:23.73) at Deer Creek in August. Winston Kanali (Heritage Hall, 7th, 8:08.37) and Beckham Steele (Heritage Hall, 7th, 8:14.22) were the fastest MS boys marks at any September meet at the ~1.5-mile distance. Payson Tate (Burns Flat-Dill City, 5th!) ran 12:58.42 for 2 miles at Hobart — a fifth grader. Remember that name.

Girls

This list is rebuilt from scratch on the 2400m standard, and it has a new look. The twelve1running results gave us something the early-season list didn’t have: a full field of girls racing the actual championship distance. And the times are fast. Chloe Coenen’s 9:21.35 at Waurika is the mark of the fall so far — 8th grade, 6:08 pace for a mile and a half, winning by open water.

The most exciting part: the young ones. Remi Tipton is in 6th grade and ran 9:29.57. Lily Adair (7th, 9:24.98), Isabella Allen (7th, 9:40.19), and Remlee McIntosh (7th, 10:13.29) are all 7th graders in the top 10. The future of Oklahoma girls’ distance running is arriving early.

What about the Bartlesville girls who topped the early-season list? Their verified marks are at 3000m and 2 miles — real marks, but not the standard distance. We’re not dropping them; we’re placing them where their marks translate. Madisen Dennis’s 12:58.96 3000m works out to roughly 10:20s pace for 2400m, which puts her 10th — still very much in the picture, and we’d love to see what she runs at the actual distance. Kadie Tank, Jillian Lindblom, and the rest of the Bruins follow in the “also” group below.

Chloe Coenen, Plainview MS (8th) — 9:21.35, 1.5 miles (Waurika, Oct). The fastest MS girls’ mark of the fall at the standard distance. Clear No. 1.
Lily Adair, Bridge Creek MS (7th) — 9:24.98, 1.5 miles (Waurika, Oct). Three and a half seconds behind Coenen in the same race — and a 7th grader.
Remi Tipton, Cleora (6th) — 9:29.57, 1.5 miles (Cleora, Oct). Read that grade again. Sixth. 9:29.
Ava Jimenez, Moore JH (8th) — 9:30.26, 1.5 miles (Elgin, Oct). Won by 23 seconds.
Isabella Allen, Sweetwater MS (7th) — 9:40.19, 1.5 miles (Hobart, Oct).
Hope Barnett, Hinton MS (8th) — 9:41.70, 1.5 miles (Hobart, Oct). One and a half seconds behind Allen in the same race.
Carli Sisco, McLoud JH (8th) — 9:42.87, 1.5 miles (Waurika, Oct). Third in the loaded Waurika race behind Coenen and Adair.
Remlee McIntosh, Battiest (7th) — 10:13.29, 1.5 miles (Wright City, Oct).
Noah Evans, John Marshall Enterprise MS (6th) — 10:14.90, 1.5 miles (All City, Oct). Another 6th grader in the top 10, winning the OKCPS city meet.
Madisen Dennis, Bartlesville MS — 12:58.96, 3000m (Holland Hall, Sep 19). No verified 2400m mark; the 3000m converts to roughly the low-10:20s for 2400m by pace. Our early-season No. 1, placed here on the conversion with the math stated openly.

More names at the standard distance: Kenlie Zilliox (Wright City JH, 8th, 10:28.41), Demi Philipose (Classen SAS MS, 6th, 10:46.17), Tatum Stopp (Kenwood, 8th, 10:03.50). Bartlesville’s 3000m/2-mile group: Kadie Tank (13:24.50, 3000m), Jillian Lindblom (13:29.63, 3000m), Penny McNall (13:57.09, 3000m), Madelyn Potter (14:04.05, 3000m), Brylee Kipps (14:38.00, 2 miles), Eden Thomas (14:44.00, 2 miles), Candace Broch (14:40.79, 3000m). Short-course standouts: Paisley Kevil (Enduro Legacy MS, 8th, 6:07.33) and Lily Parker (Weatherford, 6th, 6:09.98) — another 6th grader — lead the fast milers, with Adley Bradford (Deer Creek, 7th, 6:16.15), Braylee Hay (Sweetwater, 8th, 6:31.59), and Blake’Lee Wyatt (Wright City JH, 8th, 6:36.30) behind them. Kyla Widener (Tonkawa, 6th, 10:50.36) won at Enid at an unlabeled distance.

A note on the data

One more thing, because transparency is the whole point of this site: in working through these results, we caught and removed a bad datapoint — a timing company’s PDF listed a “Dominic Matthias, 8th, Moore Junior High” running 10:41.52 for 2 miles at Elgin. That’s actually Dominic Matthias the Moore High School junior, the defending 6A state champion. Bad data in, bad list out. We’d rather have a shorter list we’re sure about than a longer one we’re not. If you spot something we’ve gotten wrong, tell us — we’ll fix it in the open.

Sources & Methodology

This is an independent ranking — our own read on who’s fastest based on verified 2026 results, not a tally of anyone else’s poll. Every athlete listed has a real, verifiable 2026 mark. No projections, no guesses, no names without times.

Standards: Girls ranked on 2400m/1.5-mile marks (the Oklahoma MS girls’ standard); boys ranked on 2-mile marks (the boys’ standard), plus one spring track 3200m. Marks at other distances are noted separately and not ranked.

Results sources:

twelve1running.com meet PDFs, August–October 2026 (21 meets: Enid, Wright City, Blanchard, Deer Creek MS/HS, Kingfisher, Marlow, Merritt, Cameron, Mustang MS, Mustang Night Race, Sapulpa, Mooreland, Cleora, All City, Suburban Conference, Waurika, Hobart, Elgin). Full extraction notes on file.
Mid-Season Meet of Champions, Lincoln Christian School, Tulsa — Sep 12, 2026 (junior high 2 miles).
Holland Hall Invitational, Tulsa — Sep 19, 2026 (middle school 3000m).
Mooreland XC Meet — Sep 5, 2026 (2 miles).
Outdoor track 3200m marks, spring 2026.

Caveats, stated plainly:

Month-level dating. Most timing-company PDFs don’t print a race date; months are inferred from the results index. Exact dates are given only where confirmed.
Course variance. A 2-mile on a hilly course and a 2-mile on a flat one aren’t the same race. Head-to-head results (same race, same day) carry the most weight.
Inferred distances. A few PDFs don’t label race distances; those are marked ~ and kept out of the ranked lists.
Thin data, still. MileSplit’s full middle school leaderboards require a Pro subscription, and most local outlets don’t publish junior high times. This list reflects what we could verify.
Living document. The BTW Invitational MS 3200m results (Sep 24) and the Owasso and Sapulpa meets are still pending. The list grows as results come in.

The Red Dirt Runner is professional, with our own ideas about who’s actually better. If you have verified middle school results we should see, we want them.

Oklahoma Middle School Cross Country Rankings 2026: The Early-Season List

Thu, 01 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Oklahoma Middle School Cross Country Rankings 2026: The Early-Season List

Superseded: this list has been rebuilt with a month of new results — see The October List for the current rankings. This page is preserved as published.

It’s October 1st, and the middle school cross country season in Oklahoma is hitting its stride. Time for our first-ever middle school list of the season — boys and girls, one statewide list each, no class divisions. We just want to know who’s best. Fifteen boys, eight girls, every name backed by a verified 2026 mark.

A note on what this is and isn’t: this is an early-season list built strictly from results we could verify. Middle school coverage is thin — MileSplit’s leaderboards sit behind a paywall, local papers rarely publish junior high times, and it’s only October. So we’re publishing what we can stand behind and we’ll grow this list as the season unfolds. Every name below has a real 2026 mark attached. If we’re missing someone who belongs, that’s a data problem, not a talent evaluation — send us the results.

One more thing on distances: Oklahoma junior high races are a patchwork. Some meets run 2 miles, some run 3000m, some run 3200m, and the courses range from flat and fast to legitimately hilly. We’ve noted the distance for every mark. Comparing a 2-mile time on a tough course to a 3000m time on a flat one is inherently fuzzy, so we’ve used our judgment on ordering rather than pretending a time converter settles it.

Boys

The track kids are the story. The four fastest middle-school-aged 3200m times in Oklahoma this year all came on the track last spring, and they’re all in the 10:26–10:32 range. That’s serious running for 13- and 14-year-olds. A 10:26 3200m on the track translates to roughly 11:15–11:30 for 2 miles on grass, which puts all four ahead of the best pure cross country mark we’ve verified so far. We’re ranking them at the top because the fitness is the fitness — but we’ll be watching to see if it shows up on the grass this fall.

Jake Mann, Sulphur — 10:26.53, 3200m (outdoor track, spring 2026). The fastest middle-school-aged 3200m in the state this year. If he runs XC this fall, he’s the favorite until someone proves otherwise.
Reed Brown, Carl Albert MS — 10:28.20, 3200m (outdoor track, spring 2026). Two seconds behind Mann. That’s a duel waiting to happen.
Max Denney, Byng — 10:31.38, 3200m (outdoor track, spring 2026). Right in the mix with the top two.
Roman Grau, Edmond Cimarron MS — 10:31.91, 3200m (outdoor track, spring 2026). Four kids within five and a half seconds. Oklahoma’s middle school distance running is in good hands.
Ricardo Ayala, Laverne (8th) — 11:42.26, 2 miles (Mooreland XC Meet, Sep 5). The fastest verified junior high cross country 2-mile in Oklahoma this season, and MileSplit’s current OK middle school No. 1 at the distance. An 8th grader running 5:51 pace on grass to open the season — that’s the real deal.
Leo Winward, Bartlesville MS — 12:06.65, 3000m (Holland Hall Invitational, Sep 19); 13:26.00, 2 miles (Mid-Season Meet of Champions, Sep 12). The 3000m mark is the best of the Bartlesville boys and converts to roughly 12:55–13:05 for 2 miles. He’s the leader of a deep Bruins pack.
Oliver Ellis, Bartlesville MS — 13:35.00, 2 miles (Mid-Season Meet of Champions, Sep 12). Second-fastest Bruin at the 2-mile distance.
Jase Hammond, Bartlesville MS — 12:33.94, 3000m (Holland Hall, Sep 19); 13:42.00, 2 miles (Mid-Season, Sep 12). Better at the longer distance — the 3000m suggests there’s more in the tank over 2 miles.
Benji Castro, Bartlesville MS — 12:55.07, 3000m (Holland Hall, Sep 19). Another Bruin under 13:00 for 3000m. The depth here is remarkable.
Jatniel Castro Reyes, Bartlesville MS — 14:14.00, 2 miles (Mid-Season, Sep 12).
Carter Shea, Bartlesville MS — 13:19.32, 3000m (Holland Hall, Sep 19); 14:19.00, 2 miles (Mid-Season, Sep 12). Like Hammond, the 3000m mark is the better indicator.
Caidon Bryant, Bartlesville MS — 13:37.72, 3000m (Holland Hall, Sep 19).
Levi Thrasher, Bartlesville MS — 14:08.76, 3000m (Holland Hall, Sep 19).
Joseph Laudero, Bartlesville MS — 14:18.32, 3000m (Holland Hall, Sep 19); 15:13.00, 2 miles (Mid-Season, Sep 12).
Jayden Brant, Bartlesville MS — 15:13.00, 2 miles (Mid-Season, Sep 12).

Watch list: We’re tracking Jenks MS (boys won the Mohawk Park meet Aug 29 behind Paxton F., Ethan C., and Max M.), the Booker T. Washington Invitational MS 3200m (Sep 24, 210 boys entered), and the western Oklahoma meets for names to add. The list grows as results come in.

Girls

Madisen Dennis is the clear No. 1, and it’s not particularly close right now. Her 12:58.96 for 3000m at Holland Hall and her 12:42.60 2-mile PR are the two best verified marks in the state by a comfortable margin. Behind her, there’s a real battle shaping up among her Bartlesville teammates — Kadie Tank got the better of Jillian Lindblom head-to-head at Holland Hall (4th vs. 5th), so we’re giving Tank the nod at No. 2.

The honest caveat: eight verified names is thin. MileSplit’s top three 2-mile marks this season (12:37.12, 13:13.10, 13:31.00) belong to athletes we couldn’t identify from public results, and there are 197 girls entered in the BTW MS 3200m whose times we haven’t seen. This list will look different — and longer — by November.

Madisen Dennis, Bartlesville MS — 12:58.96, 3000m (Holland Hall, Sep 19, 2nd place); 13:42.00, 2 miles (Mid-Season Meet of Champions, Sep 12, 5th place); 2-mile PR 12:42.60. The best junior high girl in Oklahoma right now. The 3000m time converts to roughly 13:50–14:00 for 2 miles on a comparable course, and her PR says she’s been faster.
Kadie Tank, Bartlesville MS — 13:24.50, 3000m (Holland Hall, Sep 19, 4th place); 14:30.00, 2 miles (Mid-Season, Sep 12, 14th place). Beat Lindblom straight up at Holland Hall. Trending the right direction.
Jillian Lindblom, Bartlesville MS — 13:29.63, 3000m (Holland Hall, Sep 19, 5th place); 14:02.00, 2 miles (Mid-Season, Sep 12, 9th place). Was better than Tank over 2 miles at the Mid-Season meet, but the more recent 3000m says Tank — for now.
Penny McNall, Bartlesville MS — 13:57.09, 3000m (Holland Hall, Sep 19, 10th place); 14:38.00, 2 miles (Mid-Season, Sep 12, 15th place).
Madelyn Potter, Bartlesville MS — 14:04.05, 3000m (Holland Hall, Sep 19, 11th place); 15:09.00, 2 miles (Mid-Season, Sep 12, 27th place). Big jump from the 2-mile to the 3000m — the longer distance suits her.
Brylee Kipps, Bartlesville MS — 14:38.00, 2 miles (Mid-Season, Sep 12, 16th place); 14:43.25, 3000m (Holland Hall, Sep 19, 21st place).
Eden Thomas, Bartlesville MS — 14:44.00, 2 miles (Mid-Season, Sep 12, 19th place).
Candace Broch, Bartlesville MS — 14:40.79, 3000m (Holland Hall, Sep 19).

Watch list: Jenks MS girls (runner-up at Mohawk Park Aug 29 behind Carmen G., Brea H., and Sophia R.), plus the full BTW Invitational MS 3200m results (Sep 24). We’re also watching for the owners of MileSplit’s top three 2-mile marks this season. Names coming as results publish.

Sources & Methodology

Results sources:

Mid-Season Meet of Champions, Lincoln Christian School, Tulsa — Sep 12, 2026 (junior high 2 miles). Via bartlesvilleareasports.com recap (Sep 24, 2026) and meet flyer.
Holland Hall Invitational, Tulsa — Sep 19, 2026 (middle school 3000m). Via bartlesvilleareasports.com recap (Sep 24, 2026).
Mooreland XC Meet — Sep 5, 2026 (2 miles). Via MileSplit Oklahoma rankings.
Outdoor track 3200m marks, spring 2026. Via MileSplit Oklahoma (boys MS 3200m).
Booker T. Washington Invitational entries, Sep 24, 2026 (MS 3200m seed times). Via MileSplit.

Caveats, stated plainly:

Thin data. It’s October 1st. MileSplit’s full middle school leaderboards require a Pro subscription, and most local outlets don’t publish junior high times. This list reflects what we could verify, not the full universe of fast 12- to 14-year-olds in Oklahoma.
Mixed distances. Marks below span 2 miles, 3000m, and 3200m (track). We’ve ordered by judgment, not by a conversion formula, and we’ve labeled every mark with its distance.
Course variance. A 2-mile on a hilly course and a 3000m on a flat one aren’t directly comparable. Head-to-head results (same race, same day) carry the most weight in our ordering.
Track vs. cross country. Four boys are ranked on spring track 3200m times. We believe those marks reflect genuine fitness that translates to grass, but we’ll update their positions as fall XC results come in.
Living document. This list will expand and reorder as the season progresses — the BTW results, the Owasso and Sapulpa meets, and October invitationals will all add names. Check back.

The Red Dirt Runner is professional, with our own ideas about who’s actually better. If you have verified middle school results we should see, we want them.

Oklahoma College XC Rankings 2026: The Easy Early-Season List

Thu, 01 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Oklahoma College XC Rankings 2026: The Easy Early-Season List

One list. Five programs. No divisions, no subdivisions, no “well, they’re good for NAIA” — we just want to know who’s best. It’s October 1st and the sample sizes are small, so this is a light early-season read, not a final answer. Everything below is backed by a September result; where we’re guessing, we say so.

The Teams

1. Oklahoma State. The defending national champion men lost at home to New Mexico in September, and it doesn’t matter yet — that’s what September is for. The women put two under Katelyn Tuohy’s course record in the same race. Until someone beats them when it counts, they’re the program in the state. Nobody else is close.

2. Oklahoma. The gap between first and second here is enormous, and the gap between second and third is real too. The Sooner women ran fifth at the Jamboree in a field with three top-15 teams, with a true freshman leading the way. The men have a front-runner in Ronald Ngetich and questions after that — but questions at OU look a lot better than answers most places.

3. Oklahoma City. This is the pick that’ll get argued about, and that’s fine. The Stars race NAIA competition most weeks, but Ayenew Devany just won a 257-man race in Missouri that included D1 programs, and Kenzi Readnour’s 21:25.6 is a top-ten NAIA mark nationally. Both cross country teams are defending conference champions. On current form, they’re the best small-school program in the state.

4. Oklahoma Baptist. The Bison won their opener outright, put four in the top ten, and are getting national top-25 votes — the best September in program history by the rankings. They beat Oklahoma Christian head-to-head at Distance After Dark. The Chile Pepper Festival on Oct 3 is their first real test against national competition.

5. Oklahoma Christian. A young team with a clear identity: freshman Ryder Strohman leads the men, senior Brooke Latham leads the women, and both scored well at two September meets. They’re a step behind OBU right now, but Strohman’s debut suggests the future is bright in Edmond.

Ten Individuals to Watch

Billah Jepkirui, Oklahoma State — Won the Jamboree in a course record, running down a two-time NCAA champion to do it. The best runner in the state right now, and it’s not close.

Maureen Rutoh, Oklahoma State — Finished second in the same race, also under the old course record, in a 20+ second personal best. The Cowgirls have the best 1-2 punch in the country.

Denis Kipngetich, Oklahoma State — Second at the Jamboree (23:25.4) behind only New Mexico’s Kitonga. Three-time Midwest Region champion. The steady hand of the Cowboy machine.

Brian Musau, Oklahoma State — Fourth at the Jamboree, three-time Big 12 champion, and the man who ran 12:59.82 for 5,000m on the track — the first collegian ever under 13:00. The most talented runner on this list.

Domtila Cheruto, Oklahoma (FR) — Won her collegiate debut at the Cowboy Preview, then ran 11th at the Jamboree (20:27.3) as the top freshman outside the superpowers. OU’s future is wearing No. 1.

Ronald Ngetich, Oklahoma (SO) — 12th at the Jamboree in 23:56.8, OU’s clear No. 1. If the Sooner men are going anywhere in November, he’s driving.

Ayenew Devany, Oklahoma City (GR) — Won the Gans Creek Black Division 8K in 24:32.5 in his season debut. Defending conference champion. The best small-school man in Oklahoma until someone proves otherwise.

Kenzi Readnour, Oklahoma City (SO) — The Pauls Valley sophomore has two SAC Runner of the Week awards already: third at Distance After Dark (17:57 5K), fourth at Gans Creek (21:25.6 6K, eighth-fastest in the NAIA). The real deal.

Emery Crayton, Oklahoma Baptist (SR) — Fifth at the opener in 20:27.1, leading a Bison team that’s ranked sixth in the region — the highest in program history. The engine of the best OBU team ever.

Ryder Strohman, Oklahoma Christian (FR) — Third in his collegiate debut, then the Eagles’ No. 1 at the Jamboree. Freshmen who lead their team in September tend to be heard from in November.

The fine print

It’s October 1st. OSU hasn’t lost a race that matters, OU’s freshmen are still freshmen, and the small schools haven’t hit their championship races yet. This list will look different in November — that’s the fun of it. We’ll update it when the conference championships roll around.

Oklahoma College Cross Country 2026: The September Results Roundup

Thu, 01 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Oklahoma College Cross Country 2026: The September Results Roundup

September is in the books, and all five of Oklahoma’s college programs have opened the 2026 season. Here’s what actually happened — meet by meet, school by school, with the numbers we could verify. No projections, no hype, just results.

Oklahoma State

The Cowboys and Cowgirls did what hosts do at the Cowboy Preview (Sept 5) — won both team titles, with OU second in each race.

Then came the 88th Cowboy Jamboree (Sept 26), and it delivered the most interesting September storyline in the state: the No. 1-ranked Cowboy men got beat. No. 2 New Mexico put on a clinic, 28–44, with Pasanjo Kitonga taking the individual title in 23:24.4. Denis Kipngetich led OSU in second (23:25.4), Brian Musau was fourth (23:43.0), and Jacob Deacon (7th), Laban Kipkemboi (15th), and Adisu Guadie (18th) rounded out the scoring. Losing at home in September means nothing in November — Dave Smith’s teams famously build — but New Mexico laying 28 points on the defending national champions is a real result, and it cost OSU the No. 1 ranking conversation for a week.

The women’s race was the Billah Jepkirui show. The Cowgirl senior won in 19:24.4, a meet record and a Greiner Family course record, breaking Katelyn Tuohy’s 19:27.7 from the 2022 NCAA Championships. She sat 24th at the 1K split, ran down two-time NCAA champion Jane Hedengren (BYU) with 200 meters to go, and teammate Maureen Rutoh came with her for second in 19:28.6 — also under the old record. That’s two women under a Tuohy course record in the same race. The team finished second (64) to No. 3 BYU (32), but beat No. 2 New Mexico (70), with Victoria Lagat (15th, 20:35.1), Gentry Turner (25th), and Autumn Michalski (30th) completing the scoring.

Sources: OSU recap · OSU Jamboree video recap (men’s details) · BYU recap with full team scores

Oklahoma

The Sooners opened at the Cowboy Preview (Sept 5) with both teams second to OSU — men 55 points, women 61. Freshman Domtila Cheruto announced herself immediately, winning the women’s 3K in 10:04.2, with Sarafina Kibet third (10:27.5). On the men’s side, junior Thobias Cheruiyot was second in the 5K (15:02.6) and sophomore Ronald Ngetich fourth (15:14.0).

At the Cowboy Jamboree (Sept 26), the Sooner women took fifth (158) in a field with three top-15 national teams. Cheruto was 11th in the 6K (20:27.3) — the top freshman in the race not wearing BYU or New Mexico — followed by Sanae Hassnaoui (18th, 20:48.7), Kibet (31st, 21:17.3), Hasnae Goulamzi (45th, 21:36.2), and Mary Van Dyke (86th). The men’s recap lists four Sooner finishers: Ngetich 12th (23:56.8), Hayden Gray (25:41.4), Hamza Belkhalfi (26:48.7), and Joshua Cherry (26:50.6). No team score was published for the men.

One housekeeping note, because it made us smile: OU’s recap says “Results from the Cowboy Preview are available via Red Dirt Running” — that’s the timing company, not us. Different Red Dirt, same dirt.

Sources: OU Cowboy Preview recap · OU Jamboree recap

Oklahoma Baptist

The Bison opened the season with a statement at Rogers State’s Distance After Dark (Sept 3), winning the men’s team title out of 14 teams with 45 points. Senior Emery Crayton led in fifth (20:27.1 over four miles), followed by freshman Jonah Grein (8th, 20:33.1), Brody Woodcock (9th, 20:35.0), and Levi Haynes (10th, 20:38.3) — four in the top ten, averaging 20:35.0, a full 15 seconds faster than runner-up Pittsburg State. That performance put OBU sixth in the USTFCCCA Central Region preseason poll — the highest regional ranking in program history — and earned the men votes in the first DII national poll. The Bison women were third at the same meet.

OBU was slated to race the Cowboy Jamboree on Sept 26, but no Bison results surfaced from Stillwater — either they sat it out or the results never got published. Next up: the Chile Pepper Festival in Fayetteville on Oct 3, then the DBU Old Glory Gallup on Oct 17, with the GAC Championships in Enid on Nov 7.

Sources: OBU Distance After Dark recap · OBU ranked 6th in Central Region / receiving national votes

Oklahoma Christian

The Eagles also opened at Distance After Dark (Sept 3): men third of 14 (92 points), women fifth of 17 (145). Freshman Ryder Strohman was the story — third overall in his collegiate debut (20:17.1 for four miles), earning Lone Star Conference Freshman Runner of the Week. Caden Triantos (18th), Cole Davenport (22nd), and Cole Powell (23rd) backed him up. For the women, senior Brooke Latham (6th, 18:05.6) and junior Kinley Kite (9th, 18:11.7) both went top ten in the 5K, with freshman Graycie Lucas 33rd in her debut.

At the Cowboy Jamboree (Sept 26), Strohman again led the men — 66th in 25:29.8 over 8K — with Blake Morrison (98th, 26:04.5), Triantos (101st, 26:07.6), Powell (120th), and Maxton Barker (136th) scoring. Latham paced the women in 52nd (21:49.4 over 6K), Kite 66th (22:19.1). The Eagles are off until the Old Glory Gallup at Dallas Baptist on Oct 17.

Sources: OC Distance After Dark recap · OC men at Jamboree · OC women at Jamboree

Oklahoma City University

The Stars skipped Stillwater and went to Missouri instead, and it paid off. At the Gans Creek Classic Black Division race, graduate Ayenew Devany won the men’s 8K in 24:32.5 — his season debut, in a 257-runner field spanning D1, D2, D3, NAIA, and JUCO — a mark that ranks 11th in the NAIA this fall. Sophomore Kenzi Readnour was fourth in the women’s 6K (21:25.6), the eighth-fastest NAIA time this season and the best in the Sooner Athletic Conference. Both earned SAC Runner of the Week honors.

Earlier, at Distance After Dark (Sept 3), Readnour was third in the women’s 5K (17:57) and helped OCU to fourth place — the best finish of any NAIA team in the field. The OCU men also raced there. The defending SAC champions on both sides look like they intend to keep the conference streaks alive.

Sources: Readnour SAC honor (Distance After Dark) · Devany & Readnour SAC honors (Gans Creek)

What’s next

October is when the season gets serious: OBU at Chile Pepper (Oct 3), OU’s men at Nuttycombe (Oct 9), OU’s women split between Pre-Nationals and the Weis-Crockett (Oct 16–17), and both small-school programs at the DBU Old Glory Gallup (Oct 17). We’ll round it all up again when the championship season starts.

Jenks Built a Mountain: The Greatest Title Streaks in Oklahoma Boys XC History

Thu, 01 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Jenks won seven straight 5A boys titles, 1988–1994 — the longest boys' streak in the archive.

The longest championship streak in Oklahoma boys cross country history belongs to Jenks: seven consecutive 5A titles from 1988 through 1994. Seven years. In a sport where five runners score and the sixth and seventh displace, seven straight titles means seven straight years of depth — not one star, but a pipeline. That’s not luck; that’s a program.

The five-straight club has two members: Edmond, which won five consecutive 4A titles from 1979 to 1983, and Bishop McGuinness, which won five straight 4A crowns from 1995 to 1999 — bookending the decade in the same class, a passing of the torch written in team scores. The four-straight club is crowded: Tulsa Kelley in 3A (1973–1976), Sequoyah Tahlequah in 2A (2003–2006), Lincoln Christian in 4A (2014–2017), Jenks again in 6A (2012–2015), Edmond Memorial in 5A (1999–2002), and Deer Creek Edmond in 5A (2011–2014).

Notice the pattern: the streaks live in the middle classes. 4A and 5A account for most of the great runs — the big-school 6A crown has changed hands more often, and the small-school titles scatter across programs. Depth wins championships, and depth is easier to sustain where the enrollment gives you a deeper roster to draw from. That’s not a criticism of small-school programs; it’s arithmetic.

And the polls? They spent those streak years doing what polls do — ranking the streak-holder first and everyone else in various orders of wrong. A seven-year title run doesn’t need October validation. It needs five healthy runners in November, seven years running.

Seven straight. Jenks didn’t just win 5A in the late ’80s and early ’90s — they owned it, and the polls were just documenting the inevitable.

Championship data via the ohstrack.com past-champions archive; rankings via ohstrack.com.

Four Straight: Ellie Gilbreath, Cheyenne Walden, and Oklahoma's Individual XC Dynasties

Thu, 01 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Ellie Gilbreath won four straight 2A individual titles (2015–2018) — one of three four-peats in the archive.

Team titles are about programs. Individual titles are about one runner, four Novembers, and nobody else in the state being faster. The Oklahoma XC archive holds three four-peats — and the list reads like a hall of fame ballot. Ellie Gilbreath of Regent Prep won four straight 2A girls’ titles from 2015 to 2018. Cheyenne Walden of Sand Springs won four straight 6A girls’ titles from 2013 to 2016 — the big-class four-peat, against the deepest fields in the state. Amanda Jordan of Bishop McGuinness won four straight 4A girls’ titles from 1997 to 2000, right in the middle of her school’s eleven-year team reign.

The three-peat club is deeper. On the girls’ side: Payton Hinkle of Broken Arrow (6A, 2019–2021), Natalie Gray of Cascia Hall (3A, 1991–1993), Michelle Scholtz of Tulsa Memorial (5A, 1984–1986), Kamryn Baggs of Laverne (2A, 2021–2023), Daisey Vanmeter of Henryetta (3A, 2013–2015), and Ashley Boothe of Bishop McGuinness (4A, 1994–1996). On the boys’ side: Gabe Simonsen of Mustang (6A, 2018–2020), Isai Rodriguez of Ringwood (2A, 2014–2016), Taler Buck of Deer Creek Edmond (5A, 2009–2011), Mark Thompson of Edmond Memorial (5A, 1994–1996), Kevin Connolly of Bishop McGuinness (4A, 1996–1998), and Bryce Balenseifen of Deer Creek Edmond (5A, 2012–2014).

A few things stand out. First, the girls’ archive has more multi-year individual dominance than the boys’ — three four-peats to zero, six three-peats to six. Second, the dynasties cluster inside team dynasties: Jordan and Boothe inside Bishop McGuinness’s eleven-year run, Walden’s four-peat overlapping Bartlesville’s 6A reign. Great runners and great programs find each other. Third, the small classes produce more repeat champions — fewer rivals, but also: when you’re the best runner in 2A for four years, you’re the best runner in 2A for four years, full stop.

No poll ever predicted a four-peat in October of year one. That’s the thing about individual greatness — it doesn’t need a ballot. It needs a finish line, four times.

Three four-peats, twelve three-peats — and not one of them was ever decided by a poll.

Championship data via the ohstrack.com past-champions archive; rankings via ohstrack.com.

Oklahoma 5A Girls Cross Country Rankings: Week 4 (Sept. 28, 2026)

Mon, 28 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Photo: MileSplit archives.

The Week 4 edition of the 5A girls poll is out, and the headline hasn’t changed all season: everyone else in the classification is running for second behind Bishop Kelley.

The Comets sit No. 1 in the team rankings, followed by Sapulpa at No. 2 and Guthrie at No. 3. Southeast and Coweta round out the top five, with Duncan, Edison Prep, Tahlequah, Durant and Bishop McGuinness completing the top ten. The rest of the ranked 25 — Collinsville, Newcastle, Blanchard, Carl Albert, Lawton Mac, Classen SAS, Grove, Noble, Claremore, Guymon, Altus, Woodward, Glenpool and Elgin — deserve their mention, but let’s not pretend this is a wide-open race.

The individual board tells the same story, only louder. Rubie Gross of Bishop Kelley is No. 1 at 17:58, run at the Lincoln MOC back on September 12th. Teammate Annabelle Gentry is No. 2 at 18:50. Kherington Smith — Kelley again — is No. 4 at 19:24, and Selma Grandon makes it four Comets in the top seven at 19:54. When one program holds the No. 1 team spot and four of the top seven individuals, the poll isn’t ranking a competition. It’s documenting a coronation.

Credit where it’s due: Peyton Williams of Duncan is the only non-Kelley runner in the top four, sitting No. 3 at 19:23, and Avery Saeger of Durant holds No. 5 at 19:34 from Pre-State. Allena Cotanny of Lawton Mac (No. 8, 19:58), Piper Mitchell of Carl Albert (No. 9, 20:02) and Clara Winter of Coweta (No. 10, 20:08) round out a top ten with genuine depth — even if the very top of it is painted Kelley blue.

Now the part where this blog earns its reputation. Read the individual rankings closely and answer one question: where is No. 6? The list jumps straight from Saeger at No. 5 to Grandon at No. 7. Somewhere between Durant and the keyboard, the sixth-ranked girl in 5A simply vanished. Terry Stupp’s name is on the update line, and compiling these polls by hand every week is a thankless job — but a skipped number in a top-50 list makes you wonder what else didn’t survive the spreadsheet.

It gets better. Valerie Porras of Edison Prep ran 18:38 at BTW on September 24th — faster than the No. 2-ranked runner’s season best of 18:50. Porras has no number next to her name at all; she just floats in the table between first and second like a ghost. Either she’s the fastest unranked girl in 5A or somebody’s spreadsheet has a row it forgot to number. If times are the currency of this sport, 18:38 spends.

And since we’re proofreading: the team list spells Woodward as “Woodwaard.” Two Ws, zero proofread. (Woodward, you’re No. 22. The extra W is silent. Probably.)

Bottom line: Bishop Kelley is the story, the poll’s arithmetic is the subplot, and October’s championship season can’t get here fast enough. If the rankings crew finds No. 6 before state, the Red Dirt Runner will be first in line to congratulate her — right after we learn her name.

Rankings via ohstrack.com, updated September 28.

Oklahoma 4A Cross Country Rankings: Week 4 (Sept. 28, 2026)

Mon, 28 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Runners grinding up a hill — the 4A boys' poll has its own hill to climb this week.

The 4A poll dropped its Week 4 edition, and it comes with the oldest argument in cross country: what actually makes the best team? Cache is the fifth-ranked boys team in the class. Cache also enrolls the No. 1, No. 3 and No. 8 individual runners in 4A. If that looks like a math problem, pull up a chair — the answer is the sport itself.

Up top, Byng holds No. 1, followed by Sulphur at No. 2 and Bridge Creek at No. 3. OCS is fourth, then our friends from Cache at No. 5. Weatherford, North Rock Creek, Bethany, Heritage Hall and Perkins-Tryon round out the top ten.

Now the individuals. Etahn Jones of Cache is No. 1 at 15:37, run at Deer Creek way back on August 22nd — and keep that number in your pocket, because it is the fastest top-ranked time in any Oklahoma class we have covered so far this season. Teammate Dylan Lawlor is No. 3 at 16:16. Tyler Rumble, also Cache, is No. 8 at 16:48. Three of the top eight, one school, ranked fifth as a team. Meanwhile the No. 1 team in 4A, Byng, does not place a single runner in the individual top eight — their best is Landon Luna at No. 9 in 16:52.

Here is the thing the rulebook will tell you if you actually read it (we did): team rankings are not the sum of your front-runners, and they were never supposed to be. Five score, the sixth and seventh displace, and the poll — like the state meet itself — rewards the best pack, not the best individuals. Byng’s one-through-five compression is apparently elite enough to hold No. 1 without a single runner in the individual top eight. Is that the right philosophy? Reasonable people can argue it all the way to November. But it is not an error; it is a value judgment. Cache’s gripe is not with the poll’s math — it is with the poll’s values. And there is exactly one way to settle that argument.

Behind Jones: Isaac Anderson of OCS is No. 2 at 16:11, Jayden Polk of Purcell No. 4 at 16:25 from Pre-State, Morgan Brown of Sulphur No. 5 at 16:28, and Keon Lackey of Weatherford No. 6 at 16:33 from Hennessey just last Saturday. Bentlee Hernandez of Clinton (No. 7, 16:44) splits the Cache duo.

The girls’ poll, mercifully, adds up. Sulphur is the No. 1 team and backs it up with Jayden Lee (No. 3, 12:04) and Hensely Jarman (No. 5, 12:07) in the individual top five. Byng sits No. 2 as a team and boasts the individual No. 1: Caris Tilley, 11:51 at Norman on August 15th — a mark that has stood untouched for six weeks. Bridge Creek is No. 3 on both sides, the model of consistency. OCS fourth, Metro Christian fifth.

Jacey McGee of Stilwell is No. 2 at 12:01, Pippin Gormley of Mannford No. 4 at 12:04 from Holland Hall, and the OCS duo of Joplyn Gribble (No. 7, 12:17) and Violet Russell (No. 8, 12:21) gives the Eagles two in the top eight. Morgan McNutt of Bethany (No. 6, 12:14), Chloe Coenen of Plainview (No. 9, 12:28) and Brooklyn Moore of Heritage Hall (No. 10, 12:33) complete the top ten.

So the girls’ poll is a picture of order and the boys’ poll is a philosophy seminar. Cache — if you are reading, and somebody in that field house definitely is — the poll did not disrespect you. It just graded something different from what you are best at. Go grade it back in November. Nothing settles an argument like a trophy.

Rankings via ohstrack.com, updated September 28.

Correction (Sept. 30): an earlier version of this post framed Cache’s No. 5 team ranking as a poll error. Per OSSAA scoring rules, it is the sport working as designed — the debate is about philosophy, not math. The Red Dirt Runner regrets the mispriced outrage.

Oklahoma 3A Boys Cross Country Rankings: Week 4 (Sept. 28, 2026)

Mon, 28 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Oklahoma high school cross country. Photo via DyeStat.

Week 4 of the Oklahoma high school cross country rankings is out (posted Sept. 28 on ohstrack.com), and the Class 3A boys gave us everything: a runaway team favorite, a one-man army, and a spreadsheet error that made it all the way to publication.

Lincoln Christian is the team to beat, and it’s about depth

The Crusaders hold the #1 spot with four individually ranked runners: Ty Brooks (#2, 15:50), Noah Caughey (#3, 16:04), Benjamin Bouldin (#16, 17:20) and Landon Durborow (#22, 17:46). That’s the formula. You don’t need the fastest kid in the state when your fourth man would be most teams’ number one.

Now the controversial part

Spiro is ranked #19. Spiro is also ranked #25. Read that again. And the #25 slot — listed under the Spiro name — shows Morgan Allstat of Heavener as its ranked individual. So either Spiro has figured out how to enter two teams in the same poll, or somebody’s spreadsheet had a rough Sunday night.

We’re told these rankings are compiled by volunteer contributors, and we believe it — this has “copy-paste at 11pm” written all over it. Genuinely no disrespect to the volunteers; it’s a thankless job. But if we’re going to argue about these rankings all season, the rankings should at least argue with themselves a little less.

The Eubank show at Dickson

Landon Eubank ran 15:40 — the fastest 3A time on the board — and his brother Parker sits #8 at 16:51. Dickson the team is ranked #7. That’s cross country’s cruelest math: two brothers can win you headlines, but it takes five to win a meet. If Dickson finds three more runners by late October, the rest of 3A should be nervous.

Don’t sleep on Sequoyah Tahlequah

Ranked #2 as a team with four individuals in the top 19 (Jaxson Osburn #13, Chujah Flute #15, Matthew Vann #18, Evan Nofire #19). No superstars, no drama — just a pack that shows up every week. That’s the profile of a team that ruins somebody’s state meet.

Chisholm holds #3, led by Miles Occhiuzzo at #4 (16:13), with Chase Naugle (#9) and Ayden Conrady (#21) in support. Solid, balanced, and probably tired of hearing about Lincoln Christian.

We’ll be going class by class as the season rolls toward the state meet. Next up: more rankings, more takes, and hopefully one fewer Spiro.

— The Red Dirt Runner

2026 Oklahoma Track Season in Review: What March Said and What May Said

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

March rankings are rumors. May is the fact-check. Photo: Hanover Communications / Adobe Stock.

Track rankings, unlike the XC polls, are snapshots — a volunteer compiles the best marks once or twice a season, and they double as regional seeding lists. The 2026 season is in the books, the past-champions archive is updated, and now we can do the fun part: compare what March said against what May said.

Start with Wade White of Rejoice Christian. On March 15th, he sat atop the 3A boys’ rankings at 10.61 in the 100. Come state, he won the 3A 100m title — in 10.87. Slower than his March mark, and it didn’t matter one bit, because championship racing is about place, not time. The snapshot said “he’s the fastest.” May said “he’s the champion.” Both true. Different truths.

Then there’s Blaze Buchanan of Holland Hall — 11.05 and 21.86 in the March snapshot, a sprinter by the numbers. In May he won the 3A 400m state title in 48.56. The rankings had him pegged as a short sprinter; the state meet revealed a quarter-miler. Snapshots capture what you’ve done. Championships reveal what you are.

The repeat business: Gage Gibbons of Edmond Deer Creek defended his 6A 100m crown, improving from 10.71 to 10.32 — faster and still on top, the hardest trick in sprinting. And the fastest 100 meters run by anyone in the state this year belonged to Lawton MacArthur’s Quinton Mask, 10.18 to win 5A. The rest of the 100m champions: Caleb Peterson (Lincoln Christian, 4A, 10.69), Cruz Gillespie (Oklahoma Christian Academy, 2A, 10.74), Nash Harman (Cyril, 1A, 10.88).

On the girls’ side, the team titles told their own stories. Broken Arrow took 6A with 126.50. Lincoln Christian won 4A with a staggering 148 — back-to-back titles, and the second one wasn’t close. Washington’s 130 in 3A completed a three-peat (2024, 2025, 2026). Bishop Kelley took 5A with 85. Thomas-Fay-Custer won Class A with 88. And then there’s 2A, where the archive lists Laverne as champion with 86 while showing Fairview at 86.5 in third — either a typo or a scoring mystery. If you know which, the comments are open in spirit.

2026: the snapshots were rumors, May was the fact-check, and the fact-check mostly confirmed the rumors — with a few glorious exceptions. That’s exactly how this sport should work.

Sources: ohstrack.com 2026 track rankings snapshots; past-champions archive (100m boys, girls team champions).

“No Parents Please, Just the Coaches”: How Track Rankings Used to Work

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Before the snapshots, there were the Sunday-afternoon updates. Photo: Billion Child.

Today’s track rankings are volunteer snapshots — compiled once or twice a season, posted as PDFs, doubling as regional seeding lists. But rewind to 2014 and you’ll find something better: a weekly labor of love, updated every Sunday afternoon by a coach named Johnny Crabtree of Haworth, and governed by the greatest sentence in Oklahoma track history.

“If I miss one of your athletes COACH please email me at jcrabtree@haworth.k12.ok.us and I will add it for the next week. No parents please, just the coaches.”

Read it again. Savor it. In an era before every parent had a MileSplit account and a grievance, the 2A boys’ rankings ran on coach-submitted marks, Sunday updates, and a strict no-parents policy. Only results posted to the ohstrack website counted. Miss the Sunday deadline and your kid waited a week. Crabtree wasn’t running a democracy; he was running a rankings sheet, and the sheet had rules.

The artifacts are glorious. Times were typed with colons where the decimals belong — 10:94, 22:13, 2.02:53 — a formatting chaos that somehow never caused a controversy, probably because everyone understood the assignment. The final edition each season came with a sign-off in all caps: “THIS IS THE FINAL RANKINGS I WILL DO THIS SEASON.” You can hear the Sunday-afternoon exhaustion in it.

Compare that to now: image-only PDFs, posted who-knows-when, invisible to search engines (see our 2024 investigation). The Crabtree era had worse technology and better distribution — a text page, updated weekly, that anyone could read and argue about. Progress isn’t always progress. Somewhere out there, a coach is still doing Sunday-afternoon updates in his head. This one’s for him.

Source: ohstrack.com legacy rankings archive — “Outdoor Best Performances, 2A Boys 2014,” compiled by Johnny Crabtree.

Oklahoma 6A Cross Country Final Rankings 2025: The Poll Nailed the Boys and Whiffed on the Girls

Sat, 01 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The 2025 6A final poll said one thing in October. Edmond Santa Fe said another in November. Photo: meet archives.

The 2025 season is in the books, and the final 6A poll — posted October 13 — makes for a fascinating autopsy now that we know what happened at the state meet on November 1 at Edmond Santa Fe. One poll was nearly perfect. The other one needs to sit in the corner and think about what it did.

Start with the boys, because the pollsters deserve their flowers. The final top three: Deer Creek, Edmond North, Mustang. The state meet top three: Deer Creek (60 points), Edmond North (93), Mustang (118). Exact match. Somewhere a volunteer pollster is reading this and nodding slowly.

The details were nearly as good. Piedmont edged Jenks 137–138 for fourth — one single point, the kind of margin that gets decided by a lean at the chute. Moore was sixth in the poll and finished seventh at state, but the Lions had the last laugh individually: sophomore Dominic Matthias won the whole thing in 15:04.9, the fastest 6A time of the day by nearly 18 seconds. The poll ranked his team sixth. The poll did not rank him at all, because team polls don’t do individuals — which is exactly why you read both.

Behind Matthias: Brody Maasen of Jenks was second in 15:22.5, Ethan Brooks of Yukon third in 15:31.2, and Madden Rutherford of Edmond North fourth in 15:35.4. Deer Creek’s winning formula was compression — a 28-second spread across their five scorers, the tightest pack in the race. That’s not talent winning; that’s coaching winning.

Now the girls, where the poll face-planted. Final poll: Jenks No. 1, Edmond Memorial No. 2, Owasso No. 3. State meet: Edmond Memorial 44, Owasso 55, Jenks 100. The poll’s champion finished third, 56 points behind the actual champion. That’s not a miss; that’s a different sport.

To be fair to the pollsters, Edmond Memorial’s winning margin came from peaking at the right time — their top five went 2-6-9-10-17 with a 1:01 spread, a November machine. Sophomore Molly Missildine was second individually in 18:12.7, and the Bulldogs put four in the top 17. Owasso’s Ava Cornelius won the individual title in 17:06.7 — a full 66 seconds clear of the field — and dragged the Rams to second with 55 points. When your No. 1 wins by over a minute and you still lose the team title by 11, that’s depth beating stardom, and it’s why five score and two displace.

The lesson, as always: the poll qualifies nobody. Regionals decide who goes to state, and state decides who was right. In 2025, the 6A boys poll was right about nearly everything and the 6A girls poll learned — the hard way — that October speed and November trophies are different currencies. Missildine, by the way, is back near the top of the 2026 rankings. The Bulldogs aren’t done.

Final 2025 6A rankings via ohstrack.com (Oct. 13). State results via OSSAA official meet report, Nov. 1, 2025, Edmond Santa Fe.

Oklahoma 5A Cross Country Final Rankings 2025: The Poll Had It Backwards — Bishop Kelley Swept Both Titles

Sat, 01 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The final 5A polls of 2025, posted October 13, told one story. The state meet at Edmond Santa Fe on November 1 told a different one. In the boys’ race, the poll’s #2 beat its #1 by 58 points. On the girls’ side, a team ranked 13th finished fourth. This is the 2025 5A season rewind — poll versus reality, cross-referenced against the official meet report and a year of hindsight.

Photo: DyeStat archives.

Boys: The Poll’s #2 Won by 58

The final boys poll (October 13) read: 1. Bishop McGuinness, 2. Bishop Kelley, 3. Southeast, 4. Collinsville, 5. Pryor, 6. Classen SAS, 7. Claremore, 8. Guthrie. Orderly. Confident. Wrong.

State meet final standings: 1. Bishop Kelley 54, 2. Bishop McGuinness 112, 3. Guthrie 120, 4. Classen SAS 135*, 5. Collinsville 135*, 6. Southeast 151, 7. Blanchard 195, 8. Pryor 198, 9. Claremore 242, 10. Tahlequah 247, 11. Shawnee 255, 12. Newcastle 262, 13. Thomas Edison 275, 14. Coweta 351. (*Classen SAS won the tiebreak on sixth runner.)

Read that again: Bishop Kelley 54, Bishop McGuinness 112. The poll’s second team beat its first by 58 points — more than the gap between 2nd and 6th. Kelley stacked four runners in the top 17 (2-6-13-16-17) with a 1:10.6 spread; that’s a championship profile, and the poll had it sitting second. Guthrie was ranked 8th and finished 3rd. Southeast was ranked 3rd and finished 6th. This wasn’t a poll, it was a preseason guess wearing a trench coat.

The tiebreak deserves its own paragraph, because the rulebook actually mattered: Classen SAS and Collinsville both finished on 135 points, and Classen took fourth because its sixth runner (83rd) beat Collinsville’s (89th). Team scores five, but the sixth and seventh runners displace — and in 2025, that rule decided fourth place.

Boys Individuals: A Dead Heat for the Crown

The finish-line camera couldn’t split them: Carter Gibson (Claremore, SR) and Eli Horeled (Bishop Kelley, SR) both crossed in 15:41.1 — a dead heat for the 5A individual title, gap 0.0. Luke Worthington (Bishop McGuinness, SR) was third in 16:04.6, Isaiah Blevins (Guthrie, SR) fourth in 16:16.8, and Logan Sanders (Duncan, JR) fifth in 16:23.3.

A note on the numbers, because this blog cross-references everything now: the Duncan Banner’s state recap reported Sanders at 16:36.2 — thirteen seconds off the official meet report’s 16:23.3. Local papers round; timing chips don’t. (The Banner also noted Duncan’s boys were crowned 5A Academic State Champions — the classroom title, which counts.)

And spare a thought for the irony: Claremore was 7th in the final poll and 9th as a team at state (242 points, a 3:58.4 spread) — yet produced the co-individual champion. Team polls rank teams, not heroes.

Girls: The Poll Nailed 1-2, Then Went Sideways

The final girls poll (October 13): 1. Bishop Kelley, 2. Bishop McGuinness, 3. Carl Albert, 4. Tulsa Edison, 5. Duncan, 6. Southeast, 7. Durant, 8. Blanchard, 9. Claremore, 10. Newcastle, 11. MacArthur, 12. Collinsville, 13. Tahlequah, 14. Guthrie, 15. Noble, 16. B.T. Washington.

State meet final standings: 1. Bishop Kelley 63, 2. Bishop McGuinness 97, 3. Thomas Edison 127, 4. Tahlequah 166, 5. Southeast 185, 6. Carl Albert 191, 7. Guthrie 193, 8. Claremore 213, 9. MacArthur 222, 10. Durant 229, 11. Duncan 237, 12. Pryor 245, 13. Blanchard 247, 14. Noble 254.

Credit where due: the poll got first and second exactly right, and Kelley earned it — four in the top seven (4-5-7-20-27). But below that, the poll was a rumor mill. Carl Albert, ranked 3rd, finished 6th. Duncan, ranked 5th, finished 11th — the pollsters saw one star and dreamed a whole team into existence. And Tahlequah — ranked 13th! — finished 4th. Nobody was watching Tahlequah. Somebody should have been.

Girls Individuals: Harper by 40 Seconds

Sylvie Harper (Bishop McGuinness, SO) won the 5A girls title in 18:17.0 — forty seconds clear of the field. That’s not a win, that’s a weather event. Jade Burnett (Thomas Edison, SR) was second in 18:56.7, Rio Dugas (Thomas Edison, SO) third in 18:58.1, Rubie Gross (Bishop Kelley, FR) fourth in 19:08.9, and Annabelle Gentry (Bishop Kelley, SO) fifth in 19:37.2. McGuinness had the individual champion; Kelley had the team. Depth wins in November.

The 2025 State Meet Was a Coming-Out Party

Here’s where a year of hindsight pays off. Look at the underclassmen from that 2025 state meet and compare them to this fall’s rankings: Rubie Gross went from 19:08.9 (4th, as a freshman) to 17:58 and the top of the 2026 Week 4 poll. Annabelle Gentry: 19:37.2 to 18:50. Kherington Smith: 19:46.9 to 19:24. Peyton Williams (Duncan): 20:08.0 (12th, as a freshman) to 19:23. Valerie Porras (Edison): 20:34.4 (19th, as a junior) to 18:38. The 2025 state meet was the preview; the 2026 season is the feature presentation.

Bishop Kelley swept both 5A titles in 2025 — 54 points and 63 points. The boys’ final poll had the order backwards by nearly sixty points, and the girls’ poll missed Tahlequah by nine places. October polls predict November badly. That’s not a complaint — it’s the whole reason this blog exists.

State meet results from the official DirectAthletics meet report (via ossaaillustrated.com and ohstrack.com); meet date confirmed on MileSplit’s 2025 5A/6A state championship page. Final polls from ohstrack.com, October 13, 2025. Duncan details via the Duncan Banner.

Oklahoma 4A Cross Country Final Rankings 2025: Lincoln Christian’s 24-Point Coronation and the Cache Paradox

Sat, 01 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The final 4A polls of 2025, posted October 6, did something no other class’s poll managed last year: they nailed the top three in both races. Lincoln Christian, Byng, Bridge Creek — in that order, boys and girls, exactly as the state meet would have it three weeks later. Which makes this the least controversial poll of 2025, and therefore the one where the real stories are hiding underneath the correct answers.

Photo: DyeStat archives.

Girls: 24 Points and a 25-Second Spread

The 4A girls state meet, October 25 at North Rock Creek in Shawnee, was not a competition. It was a coronation with timing chips. Lincoln Christian 24, Byng 98, Bridge Creek 110, Metro Christian 177, Bethany 178, Pauls Valley 219, Sulphur 222, Kingfisher 227*, Plainview 227*, Ft. Gibson 299, Casady 300, Perkins-Tryon 314, Skiatook 325, Jay 344, Weatherford 368, Mannford 377, Cushing 395, Madill 424. (*Kingfisher won the tiebreak on sixth runner.)

Twenty-four points. Scoring order 2-3-4-6-9, with a 1-5 spread of twenty-five seconds. In a 3.2K race, Lincoln Christian’s fifth runner finished 25 seconds after its first — the entire scoring five crossed within half a minute. That is one of the most suffocating team performances in the 2025 data, any class. Byng’s Ava Thompson won the individual title in 11:47.6 and her team still lost by 74 points. When the other team puts four in the top nine, your champion is a footnote.

Behind the coronation, the poll’s only real wobbles: Kingfisher was ranked 4th and finished 8th; Metro Christian was ranked 5th and finished 4th; Bethany was ranked 9th and finished 5th. Respectable chaos, by 2025 standards.

Boys: The Cache Paradox

The boys’ poll (October 6): 1. Lincoln Christian, 2. Byng, 3. Bridge Creek, 4. Crossings Christian, 5. Perkins-Tryon. The state meet: 1. Lincoln Christian 43, 2. Byng 75, 3. Bridge Creek 130, 4. Cache 186, 5. Crossings Christian 200. Top three, dead on.

And then there’s Cache. The official meet report lists the individual champion as Ethan Jones, Cache, JR, 15:49.6 — confirmed by MileSplit’s elite performances (15:49.57) and The Oklahoman’s finish-line photos. Cache’s team finished fourth with 186 points and a 2:58.2 spread. One hero, no army: scoring order 1-28-31-46-80. Jones beat the runner-up by more than eleven seconds and his own fifth man by nearly three minutes. The poll had Cache 17th, which tells you the poll knew exactly what Cache was — a one-man highlight reel — and still couldn’t decide what to do with it.

A spelling note, because this blog now cross-references everything: the 2025 official meet report says ‘Ethan Jones.’ This fall’s ohstrack.com 4A poll lists the same Cache junior — now the state’s #1-ranked 4A boy at 15:37 — as ‘Etahn Jones.’ Almost certainly the same kid; the poll’s spelling, not mine. Somebody at the keyboard owes Ethan/Etahn an apology.

Elsewhere in the boys’ field: Lone Grove was ranked 16th and finished 8th; Woodward was ranked 19th and finished 15th; Weatherford was ranked 8th and finished 14th. And three ranked teams — North Rock Creek (13th), Mannford (18th), Pauls Valley (20th) — never got a full five to the line. Ranked in October, ghosts in October’s last Saturday.

The Rewind That Predicts the Present

A year of hindsight turns this meet into a preview reel. Caris Tilley (Byng) was 6th at 2025 state in 12:00.7 as a sophomore; this fall she’s #1 in the 4A poll at 11:51. Dylan Lawlor (Cache) was 58th in 18:05.5 as a sophomore; now he’s #3 at 16:16 — a two-and-a-half-minute leap. Tyler Rumble (Cache) went from 17:38.1 as a freshman to 16:48 and #8. Morgan Brown (Sulphur) 16:52.3 to 16:28; Jayden Polk (Purcell) 16:27.7 to 16:25; Keon Lackey (Weatherford) 16:30.3 to 16:33; Landon Luna (Byng) 17:12.7 to 16:52; Jacey McGee (Stilwell) 11:52.0 to 12:01; Jayden Lee (Sulphur) 12:23.6 to 12:04. The 2025 4A state meet didn’t just crown champions — it introduced next year’s rankings.

One more thing the 2025 results explain: Lincoln Christian isn’t in the 2026 4A polls. The school reclassified to 3A this fall, where its boys now sit atop the Week 4 rankings. The 4A throne didn’t fall — it moved classifications.

Final ledger for 2025 4A: two polls that got the top three exactly right, one 24-point masterpiece, one individual champion carrying a fourth-place team, and a tiebreak decided by a sixth runner. October knew what it was talking about this time. Don’t get used to it.

State meet results from the official DirectAthletics meet report (via ohstrack.com, North Rock Creek, October 25, 2025); elite marks cross-checked on MileSplit’s A-4A 2025 state championship page; finish confirmed by The Oklahoman. Final polls from ohstrack.com, October 6, 2025.

Oklahoma 3A Cross Country Final Rankings 2025: Heritage Hall Crashed the Girls’ Party and the Occhiuzzos Owned the Day

Sat, 01 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The 2025 3A season ended October 25 at North Rock Creek with a girls’ favorite getting jumped, a boys’ favorite holding serve, and one family turning the individual races into a group chat highlight reel. The final polls — girls October 6, boys October 13 — got the broad strokes. The state meet filled in the details, and some of them are delicious.

Photo: DyeStat archives.

Girls: The Poll’s #4 Won by 31

The final girls poll read: 1. Cascia Hall, 2. Prague, 3. Washington, 4. Heritage Hall, 5. Oklahoma Christian School. The state meet read: 1. Heritage Hall 68, 2. Cascia Hall 99, 3. Prague 120, 4. OK Chr School 150, 5. Washington 154, 6. Chisholm 188, 7. Rejoice Christian 214, 8. Jones 228, 9. Kingston 234, 10. Kiefer 245, 11. Silo 246, 12. Alva 263, 13. Henryetta 270, 14. Bethel 275, 15. Adair 296.

Heritage Hall, ranked fourth, won by 31 points with a 4-10-17-18-19 spread. The poll had the top three in an order the meet declined to honor. Cascia Hall and Prague ran fine — 99 and 120 are respectable — but Heritage Hall brought a complete team to a knife fight, and four of its five scorers finished before Cascia Hall’s third. That’s not an upset. That’s a scouting failure.

The Occhiuzzo Household Had Quite a Day

The girls’ individual title went to Courtney Occhiuzzo, a Chisholm freshman, in 11:32.9 — thirty seconds clear of Prague’s Jocelyn Ward (12:03.1) and Cascia Hall’s Ella Stoermer (12:03.2). A freshman winning state by half a minute is the kind of thing that gets remembered. What makes it better: her brother Miles Occhiuzzo, a Chisholm junior, finished third in the boys’ race in 16:32.1. Two siblings, two podiums, one very loud car ride home.

And here’s the cruel mathematics of cross country: Courtney won the race and Chisholm’s girls finished sixth with 188 points (scoring order 1-16-44-45-82). One champion, four teammates spread across three minutes. The team trophy went home with Heritage Hall. Individual glory and team glory are different sports that happen to share a starting line.

Boys: Sequoyah Held Serve, Everyone Else Shuffled

The boys’ final poll: 1. Sequoyah Tahlequah, 2. Oklahoma Christian School, 3. Dickson, 4. Chisholm, 5. Wyandotte, 6. Jones. The state meet: 1. Sequoyah (Tahlequah) 53, 2. Chisholm 101, 3. OK Chr School 119, 4. Dickson 134, 5. Jones 162, 6. Wyandotte 170, 7. Cascia Hall 193, 8. Silo 207, 9. Heavener 231, 10. Chandler 253, 11. Lexington 266, 12. Prague 276, 13. Christian Heritage 315, 14. Rejoice Christian 324, 15. Dewey 370.

Credit the poll: it nailed the champion. Sequoyah’s 4-8-9-15-17 was the most complete boys’ performance of the day. But Chisholm (ranked 4th) finished 2nd, OCS (ranked 2nd) finished 3rd, and Dickson (ranked 3rd) finished 4th — the poll had the right four teams and the wrong order, which in October might as well be a different poll.

The individual title went to Landon Eubank, a Dickson junior, in 16:02.2 — confirmed by MileSplit’s elite list at 16:02.13. Lewis Cross (Silo, SR) was second in 16:24.2, Miles Occhiuzzo third in 16:32.1, Ogana Swimmer (Sequoyah, JR) fourth in 16:37.5, Isaac Anderson (OCS, JR) fifth in 16:40.7.

Notice the pattern, because 2025 was the year of it: Silo finished 8th as a team with 207 points while Cross finished 2nd individually — scoring order 2-10-62-63-70. Dickson finished 4th with the individual champion. Cache did the same thing in 4A. Three classes, three teams carried by one hero and sunk by the other four. Depth is a team stat; heroes are a footnote.

The Rewind That Predicts the Present

A year later, the names from this meet are all over the current rankings. Landon Eubank went from 16:02.2 (1st, as a junior) to 15:40 and the top of the 2026 3A poll. Miles Occhiuzzo: 16:32.1 to 16:13 and #4. Isaac Anderson: 16:40.7 (5th in 3A) to 16:11 and #2 in the 4A poll — because OCS reclassified to 4A this fall, same as Heritage Hall, which won this 3A girls’ race and now runs 4A. The classifications shuffle; the fast kids stay fast.

Final ledger for 2025 3A: a girls’ poll that missed its champion by three places and 31 points, a boys’ poll that got the winner right and the order wrong, two Occhiuzzos on two podiums, and three more data points for the theory that one great runner is the most expensive way to finish eighth. The 2026 season is already cashing the checks this meet wrote.

State meet results from the official DirectAthletics meet report (via ossaaillustrated.com, North Rock Creek, October 25, 2025); elite marks cross-checked on MileSplit; regional context via The Oklahoman. Final polls from ohstrack.com, October 6 and 13, 2025.

Oklahoma 2A Cross Country Final Rankings 2025: Regent Prep Swept Everything and Nobody Saw the Girls Coming

Sat, 01 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The 2025 2A season ended October 25 at North Rock Creek with the most complete team performance of the entire A-4A state meet — and it happened twice, on the same day, by the same school. Regent Prep swept both 2A team titles with 24 and 30 points, the two lowest scores posted by any team in any class. The boys’ poll saw it coming. The girls’ poll did not.

Photo: DyeStat archives.

Boys: 24 Points and a 1-2-3-4 Sweep

The final boys poll (September 29): 1. Regent Prep, 2. SW Covenant, 3. Summit Christian, 4. Frederick, 5. OCA, 6. Oklahoma Union, 7. The Academy, 8. Minco, 9. Fairview, 10. Hooker. The state meet: 1. Regent 24, 2. SW Covenant 63, 3. Summit Chr Academy 97, 4. OK Chr Academy 159, 5. Minco 186, 6. Frederick 197, 7. Riverside Indian 228, 8. Academy Class Chr 234, 9. Oklahoma Union 244, 10. Hooker 253, 11. Latta 257, 12. Warner 318, 13. Fairview 328, 14. Wynnewood 331, 15. Porter Consolidated 356, 16. Chouteau 392.

Full credit to the poll: the top four came in exactly as ranked, and Regent was the obvious favorite. But knowing a team will win and knowing it will go 1-2-3-4 individually are different things. Thomas ODea, a sophomore, won in 16:13.3 — 35 seconds clear of his own teammate. Clay McKinney (SR) was second in 16:48.9, Elijah Lake (SO) third in 17:15.5, Jeremiah Tangren (SR) fourth in 17:18.0. Four runners from one school, the first four across the line. That’s not a race; that’s a parade.

Girls: The Poll’s Biggest Miss of 2025

The final girls poll (October 6): 1. Hooker, 2. SW Covenant, 3. Oklahoma Union, 4. Regent Prep, 5. Watonga, 6. Hennessey, 7. Caney Valley, 8. Chelsea, 9. Central Sallisaw, 10. Latta. The state meet: 1. Regent 30, 2. Hooker 69, 3. SW Covenant 73, 4. Oklahoma Union 89, 5. Watonga 188, 6. Central 222, 7. Keys 238, 8. Academy Class Chr 248, 9. Merritt 250, 10. Caney Valley 265, 11. Hennessey 275, 12. Latta 295, 13. Stroud 303, 14. Chelsea 317, 15. Fairview 384.

Read that again: the poll’s #4 won by 39 points with a 2-4-5-8-11 spread. Hooker ran well enough to be second. Oklahoma Union ran well enough to be fourth. None of it mattered, because Regent’s girls put five scorers in the top 11 while everyone else was still sorting out their third runner. If the Heritage Hall miss in 3A (ranked 4th, won by 31) was a scouting failure, this one was a blind spot the size of the Panhandle. The poll had Regent fourth. Regent was never fourth. Not in October, not ever.

The Freshman Who Won the Race and Lost the Team Title

The girls’ individual title went to Berkley Jackson, an SW Covenant freshman, in 11:34.8 — nearly 25 seconds clear of Porter Consolidated’s Abby Gourd (11:59.5). Regent’s Kayla King (FR) was third in 12:08.9, SW Covenant’s Allie Sheppard (SR) fourth in 12:11.8, Regent’s Victoria Cunningham (FR) fifth in 12:21.0.

And here is the 2025 theme, one more time: Jackson won the race, and SW Covenant finished third with 73 points (scoring order 1-3-19-20-30). The individual champion’s team needed a 2:05.8 spread between its first and fifth scorer — the widest gap among the top five teams. Courtney Occhiuzzo won 3A and Chisholm finished sixth. Lewis Cross was second in 3A and Silo finished eighth. Berkley Jackson won 2A and SW Covenant finished third. Winning the race and winning the meet are different sports that happen to share a starting line, and 2025 proved it in every class.

The Rewind That Predicts the Present

Regent Prep reclassified to 3A this fall and sits #9 in the 2026 3A boys Week 4 poll — the 2A dynasty relocated and the new tenants get to fight over the empty throne. Thomas ODea is only a junior now; his 16:13.3 from this meet would still win most 3A races. Berkley Jackson is a sophomore; her 11:34.8 would contend anywhere. The classifications shuffle every two years. The fast kids stay fast.

Final ledger for 2025 2A: the two lowest team scores of the entire state meet, a 1-2-3-4 individual sweep, the poll’s worst miss of the season, and a freshman champion whose team finished third. Bishop Kelley swept 5A; Regent Prep swept 2A — and Regent did it with 54 combined points to Kelley’s 117. Somewhere in Tulsa, somebody’s doing the math and wincing.

State meet results from the official DirectAthletics meet report via ohstrack.com (North Rock Creek, October 25, 2025); individual champions noted by The Oklahoman. Final polls from ohstrack.com, September 29 and October 6, 2025.

Oklahoma 1A Cross Country Final Rankings 2025: Laverne’s 18-Point Masterpiece and the Poll’s Worst Boys’ Miss

Sat, 01 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The 2025 1A season closed October 25 at North Rock Creek with the lowest team score posted by any school in any class at the entire state meet: 18 points. Laverne’s girls didn’t just win 1A — they lapped the concept of competition. And while the girls’ race went to script, the boys’ race went off it in spectacular fashion, handing the final polls their worst boys’ miss of the season. (Note for the uninitiated: 1A scores four runners, not five. The math is the same; the margins are crueler.)

Photo: DyeStat archives.

Girls: 18 Points. Eighteen.

The final girls poll (October 6): 1. Laverne, 2. Balko-Forgan, 3. Velma-Alma, 4. Thomas-Fay-Custer, 5. Okeene. The state meet: 1. Laverne 18 (1-4-5-8), 2. Balko-Forgan 60, 3. Thomas-Fay-Custer 78, 4. Velma-Alma 99, 5. Okeene 107, 6. Lomega 130, 7. Boise City 140, 8. Burlington 147, 9. Mooreland 158, 10. Kremlin-Hillsdale 165, 11. Buffalo 172* (tiebreak), 12. Riverfield Country Day 172*, 13. Wister 176, 14. Rush Springs 187, 15. Burns Flat-Dill City 220.

The poll nailed the top two and swapped three and four — a good poll, honestly. But the story is the 18. Regent’s 2A girls scored 30 and Bishop Kelley’s 5A girls scored 63; Laverne’s 18 is the lowest score any team posted at the 2025 state meet, full stop. Jocelyn Pope, a freshman, won the individual title in 11:54.9, with teammates at 4-5-8. Four scorers, all in the top eight. There is nothing to critique here. This is what a finished product looks like.

And note the pattern completing itself: Pope is the third freshman to win a girls’ individual title in 2025 — Berkley Jackson took 2A (11:34.8), Courtney Occhiuzzo took 3A (11:32.9), and now Pope takes 1A. Three classes, three freshmen, three coronations. The sophomore class of 2028 is going to be a problem for everyone else.

Boys: The Poll’s #1 Finished Seventh

The final boys poll (September 29): 1. Thomas-Fay-Custer, 2. Laverne, 3. Tipton, 4. Pond Creek-Hunter, 5. Arnett, 6. Velma-Alma, 7. Sentinel, 8. Texhoma, 9. Kremlin-Hillsdale, 10. Okeene. The state meet: 1. Laverne 37 (1-3-9-24), 2. Sweetwater 54, 3. Ok Bible 82, 4. Burns Flat-Dill City 92, 5. Battiest 93, 6. Hollis 100, 7. Thomas-Fay-Custer 122 (2-28-37-55), 8. Balko-Forgan 124, 9. Mooreland 143, 10. Calvin 162, 11. Buffalo 163, 12. Wright City 171, 13. Carnegie 212, 14. Hillsdale Chr 234, 15. Granite 273.

Thomas-Fay-Custer, the poll’s #1, finished seventh with 122 points. Brayden Cowan (SR) was second individually in 17:21.9 — and then the Terriers’ next three scorers came in at 28, 37, and 55. It is the final exhibit in 2025’s running theme: one hero, three stragglers, one disappointing team total. Cache did it in 4A. Dickson did it in 3A. SW Covenant’s girls did it in 2A. TFC did it in 1A. Every class, same lesson, apparently unlearnable.

Laverne, ranked second, won it with 37: Gentry Long (JR) second in 17:07.4, Marvin Barrera (SR) fifth in 17:42.7, and two more in the top 24. The individual title went to Bly Frieouf, a Medford junior, in 16:56.9 — running for a school without a full team, which means his trophy goes home alone. Sweetwater, unranked in the poll’s top five, finished second with 54. The poll had opinions; the meet had answers.

The Rewind That Closes the Book on 2025

With 1A in the books, the 2025 cross country season is fully archived: six classes, and the final tally of sweeps reads Bishop Kelley (5A), Regent Prep (2A), Laverne (1A) — three schools that won both genders, with Laverne’s girls posting the lowest score of the entire meet. The polls went 3-for-6 on team champions and produced misses ranging from the forgivable (3A boys) to the Panhandle-sized (2A girls). And the freshman class of 2025 — Jackson, Occhiuzzo, Pope — announced itself in triplicate.

The 2026 season is already underway, and the names from this meet are all over the current rankings. The classifications will shuffle again. The fast kids will stay fast. And somewhere, a pollster is staring at a blank ballot for next October, trying to figure out which #4 is actually #1. Good luck. The meet doesn’t care what you think.

State meet results from the official DirectAthletics meet report via ohstrack.com (North Rock Creek, October 25, 2025). Final polls from ohstrack.com, September 29 and October 6, 2025.

Oklahoma 6A Cross Country Final Rankings 2024: The Poll Had It Backwards Twice — Thayer’s Record and Deer Creek’s Reload

Fri, 01 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The final 6A polls of 2024, posted in late September, agreed on one thing: Piedmont was the best team in the class, boys and girls. The state meet at Edmond Santa Fe on November 2 disagreed — in both races. Piedmont finished second in both. This is the 2024 6A season rewind: a state meet record, a dynasty reloading on the fly, a three-peat, and a poll that got the top spot wrong twice in one day.

Photo: DyeStat archives.

Boys: Deer Creek 69, Piedmont 112 — the Poll Flipped

The late-September boys poll: 1. Piedmont, 2. Deer Creek, 3. Edmond Memorial, 4. Edmond Santa Fe, 5. Jenks, 6. Edmond North, 7. Mustang, 8. Moore. The pollsters looked at Piedmont and saw a champion.

State meet final standings: 1. Deer Creek 69, 2. Piedmont 112, 3. Mustang 125, 4. Sapulpa 141, 5. Edmond Memorial 163, 6. Edmond Santa Fe 184, 7. Broken Arrow 193, 8. Edmond North 194, 9. Jenks 204, 10. Yukon 229, 11. Moore 234, 12. Owasso 273, 13. Stillwater 278, 14. Norman 328.

Deer Creek didn’t just win — the Antlers claimed their second straight title and their 11th since 2006, and they did it after losing their top five runners from the 2023 championship squad. Read that again: the entire scoring five graduated, and the replacements put up 69 points. Senior Ethan Stuart led the reload in 6th, followed by junior Colson Robertson (13th), senior Ian Chang (15th), sophomore Micah John (17th) and freshman George Simon (18th). Five scorers, four classes, one system. Coach David Riden’s theme for the year was ’taking it a step at a time.’ The steps led to the top of the podium.

And spare a thought for Mustang: ranked 7th in the poll, finished 3rd at state with 125 — and produced the individual champion. Polls rank depth; they can’t see a supernova coming.

Boys Individuals: Thayer Breaks the State Meet Record

Noah Thayer (Mustang, JR) won the 6A title in 15:06.89 — a state meet record, breaking the fastest mark ever run at the Oklahoma state championships. He’d been the runner-up as a sophomore in 2023, missed three races during a rough 2024 season, and then ran the best race in state meet history when it counted. That’s not a comeback, that’s a coronation with a stopwatch.

Mez Barth (Stillwater, SR) was second in 15:26.22, nearly twenty seconds back — a superb run that history will record mostly as ’the guy who finished behind the record.’ Dominic Matthias (Moore, FR) was third in 15:35.22, the state’s top young runner announcing himself. Cameron Langdon (Mustang, SR) took fourth and Brody Maasen (Jenks, JR) fifth, with Deer Creek’s Ethan Stuart sixth to lead the champions.

Girls: Owasso 43 — the Three-Peat the Poll Didn’t See

The late-September girls poll: 1. Piedmont, 2. Owasso, 3. Edmond North, 4. Jenks, 5. Deer Creek, 6. Edmond Memorial. The pollsters looked at Piedmont and saw a champion. Again.

State meet final standings: 1. Owasso 43, 2. Piedmont 72, 3. Edmond Memorial 108, 4. Edmond North 109, 5. Jenks 112, 6. Deer Creek 153, 7. Moore 167, 8. Edmond Santa Fe 238, 9. Yukon 280, 10. Choctaw 281, 11. Norman 296, 12. Stillwater 298, 13. Bixby 321, 14. Broken Arrow 355.

Owasso’s third straight championship, and it wasn’t close: 43 points, with scorers going 1-3-8-9-22. Edmond Memorial edged Edmond North 108-109 for third in the meet’s tightest team battle — one point, two schools, same suburb.

Girls Individuals: Nelson Goes Back-to-Back

Bella Nelson (Owasso, SR) won her second straight 6A title in 17:27.40, followed by Edmond Santa Fe senior Natalie Duggan in 17:44.98 — the same 1-2 as 2023, in the same order. Some rivalries are rematches; this one was a rerun. Ava Cornelius (Owasso, JR) was third in 17:53, Charli Keely (Jenks, JR) fourth, and Sienna Collins (Edmond Memorial, SR) fifth.

Duggan’s arc deserves a line of its own: the Westmoore regional winner (17:57.7), last year’s runner-up, this year’s runner-up again — and The Oklahoman’s All-City Runner of the Year and Gatorade Oklahoma Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year. Sometimes the best runner in the state is the second-best runner in her race.

The Poll, Graded

Final tally on the late-September polls: both #1 picks finished second, both #2 picks won. Piedmont went 0-for-2 at the top spot. The pollsters weren’t clueless — Piedmont was genuinely excellent, second in both races — but championships aren’t awarded for being excellent in September. Deer Creek’s system beat Piedmont’s September. Owasso’s dynasty beat Piedmont’s September. October polls predict November badly. That’s not a complaint — it’s the whole reason this blog exists.

State meet results from the official DirectAthletics meet report (via ossaaillustrated.com, November 2, 2024, Edmond Santa Fe). Team and individual details cross-checked against The Oklahoman’s state recap and MileSplit’s 2024 OSSAA XC State Meet coverage. Final polls from ohstrack.com, late September 2024.

Oklahoma 5A Cross Country Final Rankings 2024: Kelley Swept Again, Carl Albert Crashed the Party, and Guymon’s One-Man Show

Fri, 01 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The October 1, 2024 polls got the 5A winners right — Bishop Kelley, both races, and the Comets delivered both titles at Edmond Santa Fe on November 2. But a poll that names the winner can still be wrong about nearly everything else. Carl Albert’s girls were ranked 11th and finished 3rd. Guymon’s boys were ranked 11th, finished 7th, and produced the individual champion and the third-place finisher. This is the 2024 5A season rewind — sweeps, snubs, one-hero teams, and the freshmen who would own the next two seasons.

Photo: DyeStat archives.

Girls: Kelley 42, and Then Carl Albert Out of Nowhere

The October 1 girls poll: 1. Bishop Kelley, 2. Tulsa Edison, 3. Blanchard, 4. Guthrie, 5. Duncan, 6. Altus, 7. Bishop McGuinness, 8. Claremore, 9. Pryor, 10. Southeast, 11. Carl Albert, 12. Durant, 13. Tahlequah, 14. Noble, 15. Collinsville.

State meet final standings: 1. Bishop Kelley 42, 2. Duncan 125, 3. Carl Albert 146, 4. Southeast 156, 5. Guthrie 175, 6. Thomas Edison 190*, 7. Blanchard 190*, 8. Bishop McGuinness 199, 9. Claremore 200, 10. Tahlequah 215, 11. Durant 224, 12. Altus 255, 13. Pryor 265, 14. Noble 292. (*Edison won the tiebreak on sixth runner.)

Kelley earned the top spot — 42 points with scorers going 1-6-9-11-15. But look at the wreckage behind them. Edison, ranked 2nd, finished 6th. Blanchard, ranked 3rd, finished 7th. And Carl Albert — ranked 11th, an afterthought — finished 3rd with 146. The poll had eleven teams ahead of Carl Albert; the stopwatch had two. Somewhere a pollster is still explaining that one.

Duncan deserves a line too: ranked 5th, finished 2nd with 125. The Demons were the only team within shouting distance of Kelley, and nobody in October thought so.

Girls Individuals: Meyers, Then the Future

Gwyneth Meyers (Bishop Kelley, SR) won the 5A girls title in 18:31.0. Emma Robinson (Claremore, SR) was second in 18:54.2, Jade Burnett (Thomas Edison, JR) third in 19:11.6, Adella Carter (B.T. Washington, SO) fourth in 19:21.6 — running unattached to any scoring team — and Abby Lee (Blanchard, SR) fifth in 19:36.4.

The individual rankings sheet (September 30) actually called the podium in order — Meyers, Robinson, Burnett — typos and all. The sheet said ‘Gwyn Meyers’ and ‘Jaylin Ramirez’; the official report says Gwyneth Meyers and Jailyn Ramirez. Spelling is hard; ordering the top three correctly is harder, and the sheet did it.

Now the hindsight section, because this blog cross-references everything: Jade Burnett went from 19:11.6 (3rd, as a junior) to 18:56.7 and 2nd at the 2025 state meet. Annabelle Gentry (Kelley) went from 20:04.4 (10th, as a freshman) to 19:37.2 (5th) in 2025 to 18:50 and #5 in the 2026 Week 4 poll. Kherington Smith (Kelley) went from 20:19.3 (12th, as a freshman) to 19:24 and #4 in the 2026 poll. The 2024 state meet was a preview of the next two seasons’ contenders, and Kelley’s freshman class was the trailer.

Boys: Kelley 37, and Guymon’s Two-Man Wrecking Crew

The October 1 boys poll: 1. Bishop Kelley, 2. Tahlequah, 3. Classen SAS, 4. Bishop McGuinness, 5. Santa Fe South, 6. Pryor, 7. Blanchard, 8. Guthrie, 9. Coweta, 10. Southeast, 11. Guymon, 12. Tulsa Edison, 13. Duncan, 14. Carl Albert, 15. Claremore.

State meet final standings: 1. Bishop Kelley 37, 2. Classen HSOAS 108, 3. Tahlequah 139, 4. Pryor 143, 5. Bishop McGuinness 174, 6. Guthrie 188, 7. Guymon 210, 8. Blanchard 214, 9. Southeast 219, 10. Claremore 246, 11. Duncan 253, 12. Santa Fe South 255, 13. Coweta 284, 14. Carl Albert 301.

Kelley’s 37 points (2-4-8-9-14) is a championship profile — the poll’s #1 delivered. But Guymon is the story: ranked 11th, finished 7th with 210, and the scoring line tells you everything — 1-3-40-81-85. Two of the three best runners in the class, and a team that still couldn’t crack the top five. That’s the one-hero pattern in its purest form: two heroes, three stragglers, seventh place.

Classen deserves credit: ranked 3rd in the poll, finished 2nd at state — one spot off. Tahlequah, ranked 2nd, finished 3rd. The top of the boys poll was roughly right, which in this blog’s experience is the exception that proves the rule.

Boys Individuals: Half a Second

Tesfaye Lire (Guymon, SR) won the 5A boys title in 15:41.9. Eli Horeled (Bishop Kelley, JR) was second in 15:42.4 — half a second back. Half a second between first and second, after 5,000 meters. Adam Sium (Guymon, SR) was third in 15:45.8, completing Guymon’s 1-3 punch. Ethan Brooks (El Reno, FR) — a freshman, running unattached to a scoring team — was fourth in 15:51.3, and Charlie Ritchie (Bishop Kelley, SR) fifth in 16:10.2.

The individual rankings sheet had Charlie ‘Richie’ — the official report says Ritchie — ranked #1 at 15:32.37. He finished fifth in 16:10.2. Rankings measure September; state meets measure November.

And the hindsight: Eli Horeled’s half-second loss as a junior became a dead-heat victory as a senior — 15:41.1 at the 2025 state meet, tying Claremore’s Carter Gibson for the title. Isaiah Blevins (Guthrie) went from 16:15.6 (7th, as a junior) to 16:16.8 (4th) in 2025. Logan Sanders (Duncan) went from 16:50.3 (18th, as a sophomore) to 16:23.3 (5th) in 2025. The 2024 boys’ race was a junior-and-sophomore showcase disguised as a senior’s coronation.

The Poll, Graded

Both #1 picks won — the poll’s best day of the 2024 season. But Carl Albert’s girls (11th to 3rd), Edison’s girls (2nd to 6th), Blanchard’s girls (3rd to 7th), and Guymon’s boys (11th to 7th with the champion) mean the poll got the winners right and the season wrong. Naming the favorite isn’t analysis. The gaps are the analysis — and the gaps said the pollsters stopped watching after the top five.

State meet results from the official DirectAthletics meet report (via ossaaillustrated.com, November 2, 2024, Edmond Santa Fe). Final polls and individual rankings from ohstrack.com, October 1 and September 30, 2024. 2025 comparisons from the official 2025 5A state report and this blog’s 2025 5A rewind.

Oklahoma 4A Cross Country Final Rankings 2024: Lincoln Christian’s Twin Coronations and the Cache Paradox, One Year Early

Fri, 01 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The October 13, 2024 polls said Lincoln Christian’s boys were the class of 4A, and put Pauls Valley’s girls on top with Lincoln Christian second. The state meet at Edmond Santa Fe on November 2 said: Lincoln Christian, both races, and it wasn’t particularly close. The Bulldogs put up 40 points in the girls’ race and 38 in the boys’ — twin coronations. And Cache produced the meet’s strangest line: first and third individually, third as a team. This is the 2024 4A season rewind — sweeps, dethronings, and the paradox that would repeat itself a year later.

Photo: DyeStat archives.

Girls: Lincoln Christian 40 — the Favorite Was Second in the Poll

The October 13 girls poll: 1. Pauls Valley, 2. Lincoln Christian, 3. Byng, 4. Kingfisher, 5. Metro Christian. The pollsters looked at Pauls Valley — home of the defending individual champion — and saw a team title.

State meet final standings: 1. Lincoln Christian 40, 2. Pauls Valley 75, 3. Byng 109, 4. Plainview 184, 5. Metro Christian 188, 6. Kingfisher 202, 7. Douglass 211, 8. Bridge Creek 239, 9. Sulphur 257, 10. Cleveland 266*, 11. Poteau 266*, 12. Cushing 277, 13. Perkins-Tryon 301, 14. McLoud 333, 15. Fort Gibson 337, 16. Bethany 372, 17. North Rock Creek 375, 18. Jay 394. (*Cleveland won the tiebreak on sixth runner.)

Lincoln Christian’s scorers went 1-2-6-10-21 — a 1:48 spread and the lowest girls’ score of the entire 2024 state meet at any class. Pauls Valley, the poll’s #1, finished 35 points back. The poll had the top two right and the order wrong, which in this blog’s grading system is a miss.

Two footnotes the numbers don’t show: Douglass finished 7th at state with 211 points despite not appearing in the final poll at all — the poll’s blind spot had a name. And Cleveland edged Poteau 266-266 on the sixth-runner tiebreak, the rulebook’s favorite party trick deciding 10th place.

Girls Individuals: Woodrich Dethrones the Defending Champ

Baylee Woodrich (Lincoln Christian, SR) won the 4A girls title in 11:23.1. Teammate Tennyson Housley (SO) was second in 11:37.5 — a 1-2 Bulldog punch at the front. Amidat Olokunola (Cache, SR) was third in 11:46.3, Isabella Gutierrez (Pauls Valley, SR) fourth in 12:01.7, and Yadira Barbosa (Madill, JR) fifth in 12:11.6.

The dethroning: Pauls Valley’s Kenzi Readnour came in as the defending 4A champion and finished 7th in 12:23.5 — a full minute behind Woodrich. Crowns are heavy; defending them is heavier.

And the hindsight: Ava Thompson (Byng, JR) was sixth in 12:12.9. A year later she’d win the 2025 4A title in 11:47.6 as a senior. The 2024 race was her apprenticeship.

Boys: Lincoln Christian 38 — and the Cache Paradox, One Year Early

The October 13 boys poll: 1. Lincoln Christian, 2. Byng, 3. Cache, 4. Perkins-Tryon, 5. Madill. For once, the poll nailed the winner.

State meet final standings: 1. Lincoln Christian 38, 2. Byng 83, 3. Cache 105, 4. Bridge Creek 209, 5. Heritage Hall 220, 6. Perkins-Tryon 224, 7. Sulphur 226, 8. Madill 227, 9. Plainview 259, 10. Crossings Christian 264, 11. McLoud 276, 12. Woodward, 13. Weatherford, 14. Berryhill, 15. Bethany, 16. Verdigris, 17. Lone Grove, 18. Purcell.

Lincoln Christian’s 38 (2-7-8-10-11, a 0:50.8 spread) is one of the great team performances in 4A history. But look at Cache: 105 points with a scoring line of 1-3-18-20-63. First and third individually — and third as a team, 67 points behind the Bulldogs. Two heroes, three stragglers, and a 2:51 spread. The Cache paradox — individual brilliance that couldn’t survive the team math — and it would happen again in 2025, when Cache’s Ethan Jones won the individual title and the Bulldogs finished 4th as a team.

Boys Individuals: Williams, Then the Sophomore Who’d Be King

Zachary Williams (Cache, SR) won the 4A boys title in 15:35.6. Ty Brooks (Lincoln Christian, SO) was second in 15:50.3, leading the Bulldog machine. And third, in 15:54.9: Ethan Jones (Cache, SO).

Read that name again. Ethan Jones — third as a sophomore in 2024, the 4A individual champion in 2025 (15:49.6). The 2024 race was his apprenticeship too. Cache’s 1-3 punch of Williams and Jones was the best one-two in the class; it just wasn’t a team.

Dathan Custar (Woodward, JR) was fourth in 16:11.9, and Xadrian Hernandez (Clinton, SR) fifth in 16:18.7, running unattached to a scoring team. One more hindsight nugget: Carter Gibson (Verdigris, JR) ran 16:56.4 in this 4A race — a year later he’d dead-heat for the 5A title at 15:41.1 in a Claremore singlet. Classifications change; talent doesn’t.

The Quirks: Random-Order Rankings and Spelling

The 4A individual rankings sheet deserves its own paragraph, because it’s the only one in the state printed in random order — twenty names, no times, no order, just vibes. The 4A pollsters looked at the concept of rankings and said ‘what if not.’ On-brand for the class that also produced ‘Etahn’ vs ‘Ethan’ Jones across two seasons of official reports. (2024’s report says Ethan. The 2026 poll says Etahn. The blog has given up and uses Ethan.)

The Poll, Graded

The boys poll nailed the winner — Lincoln Christian #1, champions. The girls poll had the top two right and the order wrong — Pauls Valley #1 finished 35 points back in second. And neither poll saw Douglass coming. A split decision for October: half right, half humbled. November remains undefeated.

State meet results from the official DirectAthletics meet report (via ossaaillustrated.com, November 2, 2024, Edmond Santa Fe). Final polls and individual rankings from ohstrack.com, October 13, 2024. 2025 comparisons from this blog’s 2025 4A rewind.

Oklahoma 3A Cross Country Final Rankings 2024: Casady Goes Back-to-Back and a Freshman Steals the Girls’ Crown

Fri, 01 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The October 13, 2024 polls said Casady’s boys would repeat and Cascia Hall’s girls were the team to beat. For once, October was right about both — but the details were all November. Casady’s 57 points made it two straight titles. Cascia Hall’s girls won with 115, holding off Prague by 24. And both individual crowns went to underclassmen who’d be heard from again. This is the 2024 3A season rewind — dynasties, freshmen, and the one-hero team that finished fifth with the fastest kid in the class.

Photo: DyeStat archives.

Boys: Casady 57 — the Repeat Nobody Doubted

The October 13 boys poll: 1. Casady, 2. Heavener, 3. Chisholm, 4. OCS, 5. Jones, 6. Sequoyah-Tahlequah, 7. Community Christian, 8. Prague, 9. Dickson, 10. Cascia Hall, 11. Metro Christian, 12. Lexington, 13. Rejoice Christian, 14. Dewey, 15. Kiefer.

State meet final standings: 1. Casady 57, 2. Sequoyah-Tahlequah 99, 3. Chisholm 109, 4. Ok Christian School 123, 5. Dickson 162, 6. Heavener 186, 7. Comm Christian 195, 8. Jones 203, 9. Cascia Hall 213, 10. Lexington 258, 11. Prague 264, 12. Rejoice Christian 275, 13. Metro Christian 306, 14. Dewey 347, 15. Victory Christian 381.

Casady’s second straight crown, and the scoring line is a thing of beauty: 5-8-9-14-21. The Oklahoman’s recap named the five counters — junior Billy Mathis leading the way, seniors Sam Rhoades, Ayden Kerr, Ashton Hale and Joshua Goggins packing behind him. A senior-laden machine executing a system. That’s what back-to-backs are made of.

The poll’s misses: Heavener, ranked 2nd, finished 6th with 186. Sequoyah-Tahlequah, ranked 6th, finished 2nd with 99 — the poll’s biggest 3A whiff on the boys’ side. And Dickson finished 5th with the individual champion and a scoring line of 1-23-25-53-60: the one-hero pattern, 3A edition.

Boys Individuals: Eubank’s First Crown

Landon Eubank (Dickson, SO) won the 3A boys title in 15:57.0 — the fastest kid in the class, running for the fifth-place team. A year later he’d win it again as a junior in 16:02.2, back-to-back champion. The 2024 race was the announcement; 2025 was the confirmation.

The rest of the 2024 top five is lost to the archives’ margins, but the team math tells the story: Casady’s pack beat Dickson’s hero by 105 points. Cross country is a team sport that occasionally lets an individual borrow the spotlight.

Girls: Cascia Hall 115 — the Favorite Holds On

The October 13 girls poll: 1. Cascia Hall, 2. Bethel, 3. Jones, 4. Casady, 5. Heritage Hall, 6. Chisholm, 7. Keys-Parkhill, 8. Adair, 9. Alva, 10. Lindsay, 11. Washington, 12. OCS, 13. Prague, 14. Kingston, 15. Lexington.

State meet final standings: 1. Cascia Hall 115, 2. Prague 139, 3. Heritage Hall 141, 4. Casady 146, 5. Bethel 156, 6. Chisholm 159, 7. Washington 179, 8. Kingston 198, 9. Kiefer 221, 10. Alva 222, 11. Lindsay 226, 12. Ok Christian School 249, 13. Jones 261, 14. Sequoyah-Talequah 299, 15. Keys 303.

The poll nailed the winner — Cascia Hall, 115 points — but the margin was thinner than October suggested. Prague (ranked 13th!) finished second with 139. Heritage Hall (ranked 5th) was third with 141. The top four teams were separated by 31 points, and the poll had two of them ranked 5th and 13th. Naming the winner isn’t analysis; the gaps are the analysis.

Hindsight: Heritage Hall’s girls were third here in 2024 — a year later they’d crash the party and win the 2025 3A title with 68 points. Sequoyah’s boys were second here — a year later they’d win the 2025 boys’ crown with 53. The 2024 podium was a preview of 2025’s champions.

Girls Individuals: A Freshman Wins It

Ella Stoermer (Cascia Hall, FR) won the 3A girls title in 12:09 — a freshman, leading her team to the championship in the same race. Rielyn Scheffe (Washington, SR) — the pre-meet favorite, the regional winner in 11:59.0 — was second in 12:16. Hailey Johnson (Prague, SO) was third in 12:17, Meagan Smith (Lexington, SR) fourth in 12:29 running unattached, and Hanna Rolette (Prague, FR) fifth in 12:30.

Two freshmen in the top five, and the winner was one of them. A year later, 3A would do it again — Courtney Occhiuzzo (Chisholm, FR) winning the 2025 title in 11:32.9. The class of 2028 runs this division now.

The Poll, Graded

Both #1 picks won — Casady’s boys and Cascia Hall’s girls. The poll’s best 3A day in recent memory. But Heavener’s boys (2nd to 6th), Prague’s girls (13th to 2nd), and Sequoyah’s boys (6th to 2nd) mean October saw the favorites clearly and the field through frosted glass. Two for two on winners, shaky everywhere else. November remains the only pollster that matters.

State meet results from the official DirectAthletics meet report (via ossaaillustrated.com, November 2, 2024, Edmond Santa Fe). Casady details via The Oklahoman’s state recap. Final polls from ohstrack.com, October 13, 2024. 2025 comparisons from this blog’s 2025 3A rewind.

Oklahoma 2A Cross Country Final Rankings 2024: One Point, Two Watonga Champions, and Regent’s Boys Rout

Fri, 01 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The October 2024 polls said Regent Prep would win both 2A races. November said: the boys, yes — by 43 points. The girls, no — by one point. One point. Hooker’s girls beat Regent Prep 39-40 for their fourth straight title, the closest team race of the entire 2024 state meet. Meanwhile Watonga — third in the girls’ race, twelfth in the boys’ — produced both individual champions. This is the 2024 2A season rewind: a photo finish, a rout, and the school that won the day without winning a thing.

Photo: DyeStat archives.

Girls: Hooker 39, Regent Prep 40 — One Point

The October 14 girls poll: 1. Regent Prep, 2. Hooker, 3. Watonga, 4. Oklahoma Union, 5. Riverside. The pollsters looked at Regent and saw a champion.

State meet final standings: 1. Hooker 39, 2. Regent Prep 40, 3. Watonga 137, 4. Oklahoma Union 148, 5. Hennessey 169, 6. Commerce 198, 7. Walters 215, 8. Riverside Indian 223, 9. Fairview 236, 10. Chelsea 253, 11. Warner 255, 12. Stroud 269, 13. Hobart 273, 14. Merritt 340, 15. Latta 357.

Thirty-nine to forty. Hooker’s fourth straight championship, decided by a single point — the sixth-runner tiebreak never even came into play, because there was no tie to break. Hooker’s scorers went 2-3-7-12-15; Regent’s went 4-5-8-9-14. Every Regent girl beat her Hooker counterpart except where it mattered: the front. Izabella Neville (3rd) and Ember Stevens (6th) outscored Regent’s top two, and that was the title.

The poll had the top two right and the order wrong — the cruelest kind of miss, one point from perfect. A year later, Regent’s girls would get their revenge and then some: 30 points and a sweep of both 2A titles in 2025. But in 2024, Hooker owned November by a point.

Girls Individuals: Coleman, the Sixth-Ranked Champion

Reese Coleman (Watonga, SR) won the 2A girls title in 12:04.4. Callie Coon (Okemah, JR) — running unattached to a scoring team — was second in 12:09.3. Izabella Neville (Hooker, SR) was third in 12:11.7, Calliy Walker (Cordell, SO) fourth in 12:15.3 (also unattached), and Miley Holt (Oktaha, SR) fifth in 12:18 (also unattached). Three of the top five ran for no team at all — the 2A girls’ race was an individual showcase wearing a team competition’s bib.

Here’s the poll-versus-reality kicker: the individual rankings had Lucy O’Dea (Regent Prep) #1 at 12:04.75. She finished 7th in 12:22. The champion, Coleman, was ranked 6th at 12:19.79 — and ran 12:04.4, fifteen seconds faster than her ranking mark. September times are suggestions; November times are verdicts.

Boys: Regent Prep 34 — the Rout the Poll Saw Coming

The October 7 boys poll: 1. Regent Prep, 2. Hooker, 3. Riverside, 4. Wyandotte, 5. Frederick. For once, October nailed it cold.

State meet final standings: 1. Regent Prep 34, 2. Hooker 77, 3. Riverside Indian 104, 4. Wyandotte 142, 5. Christian Heritage 200, 6. Warner 205, 7. Frederick 230, 8. Comanche 231, 9. Oklahoma Union 258*, 10. Colcord 258*, 11. Vanoss 274, 12. Watonga 278, 13. Kellyville 279, 14. Minco 291, 15. Luther 304. (*Oklahoma Union won the tiebreak on sixth runner.)

Thirty-four points. Regent’s scorers went 2-3-4-10-15 — a pack so tight it looked choreographed. Hooker, the poll’s #2, finished 43 points back in second. The poll’s top two finished 1-2 in order, the rarest of 2024 achievements.

Two footnotes: Oklahoma Union edged Colcord 258-258 on the sixth-runner tiebreak for 9th — the rulebook’s favorite party trick. And Watonga finished 12th with 278 points and a scoring line of 1-43-74-78-82. First individually, twelfth as a team. The one-hero pattern doesn’t get purer than that.

Boys Individuals: Cowan Beats the Favorite

Brayden Cowan (Watonga, JR) won the 2A boys title in 16:02.4. Clay McKinney (Regent Prep, JR) — the #1-ranked runner in the class at 15:45.69 — was second in 16:07.7. Thomas O’Dea (Regent Prep, FR) was third, Jeremiah Tangren (Regent Prep, JR) fourth, and Ulisses Jimenez (Hooker, SR) fifth.

Cowan was ranked #2 at 16:14.30; he ran 16:02.4 and beat the favorite by five seconds. And the hindsight: O’Dea, third as a freshman here, would win the 2025 2A title in 16:13.3 — with McKinney second and Tangren fourth, a Regent 1-2-4 that powered the 2025 sweep. The 2024 race was the freshman’s apprenticeship and the junior’s coronation, all at once.

Watonga: Both Champions, Neither Title

Step back and look at Watonga’s day: Reese Coleman won the girls’ race; Brayden Cowan won the boys’ race. Two individual champions, one school. The girls finished 3rd (137, with a 1-6-29-33-68 line — Coleman plus four stragglers). The boys finished 12th (278, 1-43-74-78-82 — Cowan plus four stragglers). Watonga won the day’s headlines and lost both team races by a combined 340 points. Heroes win medals; packs win titles.

The Poll, Graded

The boys poll went 1-2 in order — Regent, Hooker — the single best-called race of the 2024 season. The girls poll had the top two right and the order wrong by one point — the single most painful miss of the season. October’s 2A report card: an A on the boys, an A-minus that felt like an F on the girls. One point is the difference between a coronation and a footnote.

State meet results from the official DirectAthletics meet report (via ossaaillustrated.com, November 2, 2024, Edmond Santa Fe). Championship details cross-checked against The Oklahoman’s state recap and MileSplit’s 2024 OSSAA XC State Meet coverage. Final polls from ohstrack.com (boys October 7, girls October 14, 2024); individual rankings from ohstrack.com. 2025 comparisons from this blog’s 2025 2A rewind.

Oklahoma 1A Cross Country Final Rankings 2024: Southwest Covenant’s First-Ever Title and the Wednesday Boys’ Race

Fri, 01 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The 2024 1A season was the strangest of the six classes before a single race was run: the boys’ state meet was pushed from Saturday to Wednesday by weather, while the girls ran as scheduled on November 2 at Edmond Santa Fe. When the dust settled, Southwest Covenant’s girls had won the first state title in school history — in any sport — and Sweetwater’s boys had won from 4th in the final poll. This is the 2024 1A season rewind: a first-ever crown, a Wednesday shocker, and the #1-ranked runner who never made the results sheet.

Photo: DyeStat archives.

Girls: Southwest Covenant 29 — the First Title in School History

The October 13 girls poll: 1. Southwest Covenant, 2. Velma-Alma, 3. Boise City, 4. Texhoma, 5. Rush Springs, 6. Balko-Forgan, 7. Laverne, 8. Turpin, 9. Thomas-Fay-Custer, 10. Amber-Pocasset.

State meet final standings: 1. Southwest Covenant 29, 2. Velma-Alma 90, 3. Thomas-Fay-Custer 96, 4. Balko-Forgan 101*, 5. Laverne 101*, 6. Rush Springs 111, 7. Texhoma 121, 8. Burlington 125, 9. Boise City 140, 10. ACCS 153, 11. Lomega 161, 12. Wright City 167, 13. Amber-Pocasset 169, 14. Prue 174, 15. Turpin 233. (*Balko-Forgan won the tiebreak on sixth runner.)

Twenty-nine points, with four scorers going 2-7-9-11. The poll’s #1 delivered — and then some. But the score is the least interesting part. The story, per The Oklahoman: Southwest Covenant’s program was four years old. Coach Clay Schubert started it with a single runner — Aubree Allison, now a senior, who ran the whole thing into existence. The championship counters: Allie Sheppard (JR) 3rd in 12:48.62, Kennedy Robertson (FR) 8th in 13:03.45, Bennet Carmack (JR) 10th in 13:17.58, Kara Bird 13th in 13:27.30, with Mallary Barnhill 33rd in 14:08.25. Four years from one runner to the first title in school history. That’s not a season, that’s an origin story.

Hindsight: a year later, Laverne’s girls would put up 18 points — the lowest score of the entire 2025 state meet — and take the crown. Dynasties are temporary; in 2024, the moment belonged to Southwest Covenant.

Girls Individuals: Hegwood, the Twelfth-Ranked Champion

Mia Hegwood (Boise City, JR) won the 1A girls title in 12:32.2. Abby Gourd (Porter, JR) — the #1-ranked runner in the class at 11:58.00, running unattached to a scoring team — was second in 12:40.2. Allie Sheppard (Southwest Covenant, JR) was third in 12:48.7, Jessi Foster-Anderson (Velma-Alma, SR) fourth, and Caylie Brewer (Rush Springs, SO) fifth.

Hegwood was ranked 12th at 13:19.00. She won by eight seconds. The #1-ranked runner finished second, 42 seconds slower than her ranking mark. And Boise City — Hegwood’s team — finished 9th with 140 points on a 1-14-59-66 line. The individual champion’s team, ninth. The one-hero pattern, 1A girls’ edition.

Boys: Sweetwater 58 — the Wednesday Shocker

The October 13 boys poll: 1. Southwest Covenant, 2. ACCS, 3. Wright City, 4. Sweetwater, 5. Mooreland, 6. Lomega, 7. Battiest, 8. Boise City, 9. Oklahoma Bible, 10. Summit Christian.

State meet final standings (run Wednesday, November 6): 1. Sweetwater 58, 2. Mooreland 61, 3. Southwest Covenant 67, 4. Laverne 80, 5. Hollis 93, 6. ACCS 100, 7. Summit Christian 126, 8. Battiest 130, 9. Oklahoma Bible 136, 10. Boise City 192, 11. Prue 193, 12. Cimarron 205, 13. OCA 212, 14. Wright City 220, 15. Balko-Forgan 237.

Read the poll against the results and try not to laugh. The poll’s #1 (Southwest Covenant) finished 3rd. The poll’s #2 (ACCS) finished 6th. The poll’s #3 (Wright City) finished 14th — fourteenth, with 220 points. The champion, Sweetwater, was ranked 4th; the runner-up, Mooreland, was ranked 5th. The top three teams were separated by nine points — 58, 61, 67 — the tightest podium of the 2024 meet. October’s top three went a combined 3rd, 6th, 14th. That’s not a miss, that’s a different sport.

Hindsight: Laverne’s boys were 4th here with 80 — a year later they’d win the 2025 1A title with 37. The 2024 race was their apprenticeship.

Boys Individuals: Hensley, the Eighth-Ranked Champion

Reece Hensley (Mooreland, SO) won the 1A boys title in 16:40.1. Canaan Motley (Hollis, SR) was second in 16:47.8, Adrian Olmos (Boise City, SR) third in 17:01.6, Dylan McDevitt (Prue, SR) fourth, and Blake Webb (ACCS, FR) fifth — a freshman in the top five, with fellow ACCS freshman Asher Green sixth.

Hensley was ranked 8th at 17:17.7. He won by nearly eight seconds, running 37 seconds faster than his ranking mark. The individual rankings nailed exactly zero of the top three — Motley was #2 (the one they got close), Olmos was #10, Hensley was #8.

And the ghost in the rankings: Bly Frieouf (Medford) was the #1-ranked boy in the class at 16:34.4. He doesn’t appear in the state results. A year later, he’d win the 2025 1A title as a junior in 16:56.9. The 2024 rankings crowned him; the 2024 state meet never saw him; 2025 settled the argument.

The Poll, Graded

The girls poll nailed the winner — Southwest Covenant #1, champions, 29 points. The boys poll was the worst of the 2024 season in any class: the top three picks finished 3rd, 6th, and 14th, and the champion came from 4th. October’s 1A report card: an A on the girls, an F on the boys. The Wednesday race belonged to whoever showed up in November — which, come to think of it, is the whole point.

State meet results from the official OSSAA state reports (via ossaaillustrated.com; girls November 2, boys November 6, 2024, Edmond Santa Fe). Southwest Covenant program details via The Oklahoman. Final polls and individual rankings from ohstrack.com, October 13, 2024. 2025 comparisons from this blog’s 2025 1A rewind.