On Saturday, October 23, student athletes gathered in Waurika for the cross country regional meet. Schools represented were Atoka, Coalgate, Dickson, Davis, Lone Grove, Lindsay, Purcell, Bethel, Comanche, Marlow, Frederick, Holdenville, Lexington, Idabel, Washington, Kingston, and Marietta.
Both the Lady Indians and Indians were runners-up.
In the girls’ two-mile run, Marlow placed first with 79 points, followed by the Lady Indians with 96, and Comanche in third with 108 points.
Of the 83 total runners, Tanasia Randle was the highest placing Lady Indian in 11th with a time of 13:36.92. Close behind in 13th was Maddy Torres in 13:40.55. In 19th was Alina Fernandez in 13:58.64. Rosio Castellanos was 23rd in 14:17.32. Rounding out the scoring for Marietta was Nellye Flores in 30th place in 14:42.97. Isabella Salas Garcia and Timberlee Riley ran 33rd and 34th.
Marietta boys ran second with 64 points behind winning Marlow with 44 points. Bethel placed third with 71 points.
Indian Wyatt Vinson finished the meet in first place in 17:29.83. Kyler Williams was fifth in 18:28.32. Preston Eastmon and Will Laws ran 16th and 18th, with times of 19:45.19 and 19:58.34, respectively. The Indians’ final scorer was Sergio Gomez in 24th place with a time of 20:28.58. Charles Ayden Jones finished in 36th place and Austen McQueen in 43rd.
“We were optimistic about going into regionals and qualifying for state, but there’s always that feeling of the unknown,” said Coach Tanica Anderson. “With previous injuries, looking at times and the other schools in our region, you just never know how it’s going to go.”
Anderson asked her runners to show her what they were made of, and that’s just what they did.
“As each one of them were on the starting line, you could see and feel their determination,” she continued. “Being regional runners-up was exciting, and huge for us.”
Next on track for the Marietta athletes is the state meet, scheduled to be held on Saturday, October 30 at Edmond Santa Fe High School. Girls are to run at 12 p.m. with the boys to follow.
“We are looking forward to competing at state and hoping to finish in the top 10,” Anderson stated.
Tickets for the state meet must be purchased online at ossaa.com.