The OK Runner’s Classic was held in Norman on Monday, October 4 for cross country student athletes in 2A, 3A, and 4A schools. Both Marietta teams performed well, the Indians winning and the Lady Indians coming in second in 3A schools.
The Indians won their 5K meet by a healthy margin, finishing with 77 points, ahead of second-place Bethel with 114 and Christian Heritage Academy with 152 points. The Indians’ team time of 1:41:13.90 was roughly five minutes faster than Bethel’s.
Wyatt Vinson won the meet, which groups runners of all three classes for the race, with a time of 18:03.54, almost a half-minute ahead of the second-place runner. Kyler Williams finished 12th, Will Laws 18th, Charles Ayden Jones 22nd, Sergio Gomez 24th, Jason Landis 65th, and Fernando Fernandez was 67th.
Among all classes, the Indians’ team time was the third fastest of the day.
The Lady Indians were second in their two-mile race, but just barely. First-place Christian Heritage Academy had 100 points to the Lady Indians’ score of 108, a narrow margin of victory. Bethel finished third with 112 points, making the race a tight one for 3A schools. Total team time for Christian Heritage was 1:16:17.81, and for Marietta 1:16.59.80.
The fastest Lady Indian among all classes was Maddy Torres in 11th place with a time of 14:29.31.
Tanasia Randle came in 14th, Rosio Castellanos 19th, Alina Fernandez 30th, Nellye Flores 34th, Isabella Salas-Garcia 36th, Yazmin Castellanos 57th, and Brandy Palomino 68th.
When measured against schools from all classes, the Lady Indians were 4th overall.
Coach Tanica Anderson spoke of her pride in the recent performances of Rosie Castellanos.
“Rosie has stepped up,” she said, “improving at every meet to become one of the strongest runners on our team.”
Anderson is pleased with the progress of both teams this season, one she called a “rebuilding year” in a pre-season interview.
“I’d say we’re almost hitting our stride,” she explained. “We don’t have our full team back, but they’re really starting to come together.”
With regional and state meets rapidly approaching, it’s a good time to be peaking.