Mason Mayer’s firstplace finish at the Class 5A Regional Cross Country Meet guided Guthrie High’s boys team to a second-place finish and a berth in the state meet this week at Edmond Santa Fe.
Bishop Kelley won the boys regional in Ponca City last Saturday.
Guthrie’s girls team, which was short-handed due to illness, finished in fifth place but still qualified for state.
Mayer bested a field of 107 runners with a time of 16:53.57 for the 3.5-mile course. Dathan Custer of Woodward took second in 17:02.49.
Mayer’s senior teammate, Lance Sallee, finished sixth with a time of 17:19.16. The Bluejays’ other runners placed 1734-45 to finish with 103 points. Bishop Kelley finished with 55 points (3-78-18-19).
Terry Beckett (18:11.95), Kallon Cyphers (18:44.39) and Isaac Talley (19:07.43) were the remaining scoring runners for the Bluejays. Ryan Wilkerson (19:12.74) and Gideon Hiel (19:16.54) finished 47th and 51st to close out the Bluejays’ participation.
Mayer’s time was the best of the two regional meets as the Piedmont runner in Mustang won that race in 17:07. Piedmont will still be the team to beat Saturday along with Bishop Kelley.
On the girls side, the Lady Bluejays finished fifth with 118 points as Bishop Kelley won the regional with 48 points. The Lady Bluejays were led by Hannah Smith and Peyton Read, who finished 5-6 with times of 21:10.23 and 21:23.51. McKenna Hood of Tahlequah won the race in 19:20.40.
Klaribel Kirk stepped up and finished 11th with a time of 21:54.18 in her first race of the season. Raley Hooper (24:00.59) and Kristie Botello (24:58.24) finished 42nd and 54th, respectively, in the field of 81 runners. Cameron Ireton and Gracie Ball finished out of the points but completed the race in 57th and 58th place.
The girls race Saturday will start at 10:15 a.m. in Edmond and the boys will follow at 11 with the awards ceremony around noon. Tickets are online at OSSAA.Com for $10. Tickets at the gate are $13. Parking in the Crest Food store parking lot could get your car towed. There is plenty of parking at Edmond Santa Fe.