The Piedmont cross country coaches wore their T-shirts that read, “Straight Outta 5A!” at the Deer Creek meet Saturday.
The Piedmont teams showed they have arrived from Class 5A, and took the plunge into the state’s largest class, 6A, and both girls and boys teams had top finishing places overall and individually.
Landry Finch set a personal record with his time of 16.11.2 and a 13th place finish. He described his 5K varsity elite run, his first in 6A.
“It went pretty good. The first mile was pretty fast and the next two were pretty chill, they were to settle into a pace,” Finch said. I’m pretty happy with it. It’s a PR, so I’m excited for next week and the season.”
Piedmont boys placed third overall Saturday.
The host team Deer Creek finished first overall and Mustang was second followed by Piedmont and Edmond North High School in fourth.
Graham Mitchell of Deer Creek was first with a time of 15:06.4. he was followed by Brody Woodcock, Deer Creek, 15:31.9; Carson Patten, Mustang, 15:44.3; Trae Baker, Tahlequah, 15:46.2; and Colby Moore, Edmond North was fifth, 15:48.9.
Individual results showed Piedmont’s Dade Humes finished sixth in the boys varsity elite with a time of 15.49.1. Piedmont’s other finishers included Landry Finch, 13th with a time of 16.11.2; Nelin Kimery, 16.17.9, 17th place; Cohen McIntosh, 23rd, 16:41.3; and Riley Pauley, 32nd, 16:56.8. Also, Beckam Humes finished 42nd, 17:21.5; Ethan Lam, 60th, 17:45.7; and Landon Jones, 81st, 18:12.9
The Piedmont girls varsity elite team came in second.
Emily Caldwell also had a personal record for the varsity girls elite race.
“At first I started out and I was kind of in the back of the pack,” Caldwell said. “So I figured I was going to have to play catch-up. My goal was to get to my teammate, (Claire Collins) so I could pace off of her. And we both just kind of pushed each other and passed everyone together.”
Collins landed in third place with Caldwell in fourth.
Morgan Kirkland of Edmond North was first with a time of 18:18.5. Gwyn Meyers, Tulsa Bishop Kelley was second, 18:.35.1.
With a start time of 7:40 a.m., the 5K run was ahead of what was forecast to be the hottest day of the year with a high of 106. The gun sounded to start the race with temperatures in the mid-80s at the Deer Creek course.
Deer Creek varsity girls finished first followed by Piedmont second, Edmond Memorial third and Edmond North fourth overall.
Individual results show Claire Collins of Piedmont finished third with a time of 18:59.5.
Emily Caldwell finished fourth with a time of 19.00.4.
Anna Caldwell finished 21st with a time of 19.53.4. Brook Collins finished 23rd with a time 20:16.7. Zaida Kraft finished 37th with a time of 21:07.5.
McKenna Auringer finished 39th with a time of 21:10.1
Kira Dankenbring finished 68th with a time of 22:47.6.
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