The 3A state cross country meet was held Saturday, October 30 at Edmond Santa Fe High School, and when the dust settled, both Marietta High School cross country teams had reached their goal of finishing in the top ten.
The Indians finished in fourth place, just barely behind top three schools Marlow with 122 points, Rejoice Christian with 159 points, and Heritage Hall with 164 points. Marietta’s boys had 182 points and their total team time was 1:33:48, just a few ticks behind Heritage Hall’s 1:33:25.
Wyatt Vinson led his team, as he has all season, placing third with a time of 17:05.96. Kyler Williams was 11th in 17:47.16, Preston Eastman 40th in 19:15.64, Sergio Gomez 63rd in 19:48.36, and Will Laws in 65th in 19:50.70, to finish up scoring for the Indians. Austen McQueen placed 90th and Charles Ayden Jones was 100th in the 163-runner race.
The Lady Indians finished in seventh place with a total team time of 1:10:14. Of a total 160 runners, Marietta’s highest-placing finishers were Maddy Torres and Tanasia Randle in 25th and 26th. Their times were 13:26.22 and 13:30.23, respectively. Rosio Castellanos was 58th in 14:16.82, Nellye Flores 64th in 14:28.77, and Isabella Salas-Garcia 65th in 14:31.57. Alina Fernandez finished 74th and Timberlee Riley in 102nd.
Coach Tanica Anderson was pleased with her teams’ performances at the meet.
“They knew it would be tough,” she said, “and our seniors knew this was their final meet and they gave it their all.”
The group loses four seniors to graduation: Kyler Williams, Rosio Castellanos, Isabella Salas-Garcia, and Yaslin Sanchez. However, they also gain current eighth graders Abigail Garcia, Yulisa Gonzalez, Jaden Peters and Adan Andrade, all of whom Anderson believes will be assets to the high school team.
During summer practices prior to the beginning of the school year, Anderson, the team’s second coach in as many years, spoke of building the program’s continuity and confidence as team goals.
“This season had its ups and downs,” she said, “but our kids’ confidence and positivity improved during the season. That helped us rebuild and keep moving forward. Going into the next season, I will keep the mindset of pushing these kids to reach their fullest potential.”
The coaching staff would like to thank the cross country parents for their encouragement during the season.
“We’d like to give a huge shout out to all of our parents,” she concluded. “Their support and love helped us get through this season. We greatly appreciate them for providing water, snacks, and anything else that was needed for our runners.”