By Trey Hunter
Sports Editor
MIDWEST CITY – Piedmont swept the Suburban Conference championship meet Tuesday at Carl Albert Middle School, making it three straight titles for the Wildcat boys.
All seven runners finished inside the top-21 for Piedmont, including six in the top-10. The team cruised to an 11-point margin over second-place Guthrie with an average time of 17:07.20.
Junior Fares Maarouf, Beckam Hartis and sophomore Tanner Bailey finished back-to-back-to-back in second, third and fourth places. Maarouf and Hartis each cracked the 17-minute mark at 16:53.18 and 16:56.68 while Bailey clocked in at 17:06.95. Senior Garrett Bickley (17:18.00) and freshman Reese Fricke (17:21.20) finished seventh and eighth to round out the team’s scorers. Senior Jacob Brightwell finished ninth with a time of 17:22.07 and senior Gibson Barlow finished 21st with a time of 18:20.91 as the displacers.
The Wildcat girls won their first conference title in four years, clearing second-place Guthrie by nearly 20 points. All seven runners finished inside the top-30, including five in the top-15.
A pair of freshmen led the way, Jillian Crawford finishing second with a time of 20:35.07 and Rachel Caldwell finishing fourth with a time of 20:46.21. Sophomores Macie Brannum and Aubrey Bray cracked the top-10 as well. Brannum finished seventh with a time of 21:11.09 and Bray finished ninth at 21:22.78. Sophomore Naia Shepherd clocked in at 21:49.52 in 15th place to round out the team’s scorers. Freshman Sydnie Cox finished 23rd and sophomore Lexi Meier finished 28th as the displacers.
The Wildcats now turn their sights to the 2019 postseason. Class 5A regional assignments are scheduled to be released Friday and raced on Oct. 26. Qualifying teams and racers will compete in the state meet Nov. 2 at Edmond Santa Fe.
