By Trey Hunter
Sports Editor
NORMAN – The Wildcats are heading back to state.
For the second straight year both the Piedmont girls and boys won the 2019 Class 5A west regional Saturday at Irving Middle School, punching their tickets to the state championship meet at Edmond Santa Fe.
Four runners finished inside the top-10 to help spur the Wildcat girls.
Jillian Crawford and Aubrey Bray set the pace, finishing back-to-back in third and fourth place. Crawford finished third with a time of 21:28 and Bray finished fourth with a time of 21:29. Maci Brannnum finished eighth with a time of 21:57 and Rachel Caldwell finished 10th with a time of 21:59. Sydnie Cox rounded out the team’s placers in 24th with a time of 22:51 while Lexi Meier (35th) and Naia Shepherd (36th) finished as the team’s displacers.
Piedmont’s girls finished with 44 points, 12 ahead of second-place Bishop McGuinness. Carl Albert fnished third with 70 points.
The Wildcat boys were led by five runners inside the top-15 as well as their two displacers inside the top-20.
Fares Maarouf led the way in fifth place with a time of 17:26 while Tanner Bailey finished seventh with a time of 17:46. Beckam Hartin finished ninth with a time of 17:51 and Jacob Brightwell finished 11th with a time of 17:54. Garrett Bickley nearly cracked the 18-minute mark, finishing as the team’s last placer in 14th with a time of 18:01. Reese Fricke (14th) and Gibson Barlow (17th) finished as the two displacers.
The boys team finished with 45 points, 17 ahead of second-place Guymon. Santa Fe South finished third with 89 points.
The Cats now turn their attention to the Class 5A state championship meet Saturday. Piedmont’s boys enter as the favorite to repeat as state champions while the girls enter ranked No. 2 behind Bishop Kelley.
The Class 5A girls meet is scheduled to begin at 12 p.m. followed by the Class 5A boys at 12:45 p.m. Awards will be handed out at 1:30 p.m.
