By Trey Hunter
Sports Editor
GUTHRIE – Piedmont’s girls battled the heat and a new, tougher course on route to the 2019 Red Coyote Guthrie Invitational championship Saturday.
“It was nasty hot,” coach Kelly Beck said. “And they changed the course from what it was last year and it was tough with a large hill they had to fight twice. To fight through it in that kind of heat was impressive.”
All five of the Wildcats’ placers finished inside the top-30 overall, including freshman Rachel Caldwell who led the way in 15th place with a time of 21:41.93. Sophomore Aubrey Bray also cracked the 22-minute mark, finishing 18th with a time of 21:51.17. Freshman Jillian Crawford (22:03.22) finished 20th while sophomores Macie Brannum (22:03.86) and Naia Shepherd (22:39.17) finished 21st and 29th. Sophomore Lexi Meier finished 43rd while junior Lana Daniels placed 55th as the team’s displacers.
“They ran really well,” Beck said. “Aubrey (Bray) was sick all week and for her to able to run as well as she did really helped. Rachel (Caldwell) was really good again and I thought Macie (Brannum) ran a lot better than she did at Deer Creek. Naiah (Shepherd) also had a really good day. We need her to step up and fill that fifth spot and she has done that.”
Piedmont’s boys were a little agitated with their second-place finish in the Red Coyote, but Beck says that just comes with being the defending state champion.
“They were disappointed,” Beck said. “But we’re at that point as a program that when we don’t beat a good 6A team we’re disappointed, which is where you want to be.”
The Cats finished just three points behind 6A Norman and just three points ahead of 6A Westmoore.
Juniors Fares Maarouf (8 – 17:31.25) and Beckam Hartis (10 – 17:33.29) each finished inside the top-10 while senior Garrett Bickley (17:38.42) finished 13th. Sophomore Tanner Bailey also cracked the 18-minute mark, finishing 19th with a time of 17:56.53 while senior Gibson Barlow finished 22nd with a time of 18:01.90. Seniors Jacob Brightwell and Landis Scoon finished 27th and 41st as the squad’s displacers.
“I think they ran well as a group, but can run a lot better,” Beck said. “Beckam (Hartis) has a little bit of a foot injury and fought through it. If he runs healthy, we win the meet. Garrett (Bickley) also ran really well compared to what he did at Deer Creek, which helped us edge out Westmoore.”
Piedmont will either travel to Mustang Saturday or to Shawnee for a meet at Oklahoma Baptist University.
