2024 CROSS COUNTRY CITY CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS
Most Friday nights during the Fall in Lawton, crowds flock to Cameron Stadium for high school football, but every year, one Friday morning in the fall brings a crowd across the street to check out the Lawton Public Schools’ (LPS) cross country teams in action at the annual City Championship Meet. The 2024 edition did not disappoint, and the west side of town brought home three-fourths of the hardware this year as Eisenhower High School (EHS) won both high school races and Eisenhower Middle School (EMS) won the middle school boy’s race.
The high school girls kicked the morning off with their 2-lap race around Cameron’s McCord Field. The Eagles have dominated the competition the past few years and this year was no different. Danielle Tomah (11) earned her second-straight City Championship title by a wide margin, coming across the finish line with a time of 22:24.03. She was followed by three of her teammates, including Callee Roberson (10) with a time of 23:20.00 and Vanessa Duron (10) with a time of 24:07.12. Behind EHS’s Talia McCray (12) were three MacArthur High School (MHS) runners led by Emma Kirby (11), who finished the race with a time of 24:28.40. Allena Cotanny (9) and Madalyn Strickland (11) represented the Highlanders in sixth and seventh place while Lawton High School’s (LHS) Grace Demody (10) was their top finisher in eighth with a time of 25:49.18. EHS’s Tiyanah McCray (10) and Arrion Holland (9) rounded out the top-10 individually.
Just like in the high school girls’ race, the boys’ race was won in dominant fashion by an Eagle as Garrett Roberts (11) paced the field with a time of 18:24.25. He was followed by teammate Junior Dollins (12) with a time of 18:53.23 and MHS’s Trevin Shelton (10) with a time of 18:54.81. The Wolverines claimed the next two spots as Phait Blackwelder (12) finished with a time of 19:40.94 and last year’s middle school race winner Levi James (9) finished in fifth with a pace of 19:50.22. The Eagles claimed the next four spots with Parker Polzin (9), Cameron Raymond (11), Maximo Rezaei (11), and Rober Duron (9) finishing in succession while the Highlanders’ Brayden Glenn (9) rounded out the top-10 finishers.
The middle school races were half as long as the high school races, but just as competitive. The Lawton Academy of Arts and Sciences (SAAS) and Bishop joined the three LPS middle schools for the next two races.
SAAS claimed the win in the girls’ race thanks to the 6:26.00 time of Claire Trachte. MacArthur Middle School’s (MMS) Lucian Cotanny (8) was the top finisher for LPS, coming across the line with a time of 6:54.94. Eisenhower Middle School (EMS) had three runners in the top-10 led by Naomie Caldwell (8) in sixth and Madelyn Cerda (6) in sixth. Central Middle School’s (CMS) top finisher was Aubree Cantu (6) in eighth with a time of 7:50.03. She was joined by teammate Aurora Guess (8) in 10th while ninth place was occupied by EMS’s Yazmin Pena (8).
Tyler Rumble (8) from MMS won the middle school boy’s race by almost two minutes, crossing the line with a time of 12:06.50. CMS’s Jesse Silverhorn (8) finished second at 13:57.00 with EMS’s Noah Hinton (7) pacing the City Championship winning Vikings with a time of 14:07.81 in third. The Scots also had Zachary Glenn (8), Eli Tahhahwah-Martinez (7), and Noah McKeever (8) in fifth, sixth, and ninth place respectively, CMS’s Carlos Lopez (7) finished eighth, and the Vikings also had Victor Taylor (8) and Easton King (7) in the top-10.
All of the runners did a great job out on the course, especially battling above-average temperatures. They will continue their fall with many more races, including OSSAA Regionals and eventually State for the high school teams. A live stream of the race can be found on LPS TV thanks to the efforts of the LPS Life Ready Center broadcast class and their teacher.