By Chuck Reherman, Sports Editor – OKLAHOMA CITY – Yukon’s cross country team turned into another stellar performance, but the Millers were kept from winning the team title by one team for the second meet in a row.
Midwest City Carl Albert.
Carl Albert, the top ranked team in class 5A, had four runners finish in the top 10 and all five in the top 12, to edge out the Millers, 33-43 at the Enduro Brush Creek Cross Country Classic at Lake Hefner Park.
The Millers had three runners finish in the top 10 and their five scorers in the top 15 to finish second. Carl Albert had beaten the Millers at the Patriot Invitational six days before and there is a chance the teams will meet again this week at the OK Runners Classic in Norman.
“We got a little closer to where we needed to be,” Miller head coach Matt Parent said. “Elijah (Ankrom) ran a great race. His hard work is really paying off. Halfway through the race he was in a group of three. When he came out of the woods, he was in control.
“Also, Kolby (McCoy) ran his best race of the year by far,” he said. “He finished as our number two guy, and he finished strong. I was really happy with the result. This is something to build on for sure.”
Ankrom won the individual title and covered the 5K distance in 17 minutes and 49.72 seconds. He finished the race nearly 24 seconds ahead of the field.
Ankrom led the pack from the start, but Capitol Hill’s Carlos Frayre and Carl Albert’s Camden Shaw were running right on his heels. That lasted until the midway mark when Ankrom pulled away from the field.
McCoy finished seventh overall in a time of 18:55.82, two seconds out of sixth place. Grant Olander was 10th overall in 19:11.62.
All five of the Miller runners that scored finished in the top 15. Cade Pope finished 12th in 19:27.63 and Noah Hanscom rounded out the field by finishing 13th in 19:30.93.
Kohl Kimmel finished 14th in 19:35.90 and Kyle Crow placed 17th in 19:46.32 to round out the Miller runners.
“As a team, I think we all got better and can take something from the race,” Parent said. “Hopefully, this week we get back to practice and make ourselves even better. Friday’s meet on Norman is a tough, tough meet. It will be used as a measuring stick and will serve as the halfway point in the season.”
The Millerettes finished third in their division just two pointe behind Deer Creek. Capitol Hill won the meet with 35 points, Deer Creek had 55, Yukon 57 and Carl Albert 66 in the nine team field.
“That is a good course but also one of the toughest courses we will run until we go to Stillwater for conference,” Millerette coach Rod Zimmerman said. “I was looking forward to seeing how we would do with Capitol Hill, they are a pretty good team.
“We fell short of them in the meet with a few injuries and illnesses that plagues us during the meet,” he added. “The girls handled the course and the problems we had pretty well though.”
Elora Jones pulled away from the field and won the individual title. She covered the 5K distance in21:37.33.
Asley Baker also finished in the top five, taking a fourth place finish 23:58.67. Lauren Brown finished 13th overall (12th in the scoring) in 25:56.58. Myka Heimbach was 21st overall (19th in scoring) in 26:54.03 and Abagail Janka rounded out the scoring by finishing 23rd overall (21st in scoring) in 27:25.33.
“Elora took care of the field pretty handily,” Zimmerman said. “I really feel like everyone is running pretty good and improving every time we run.”
The Millerettes finished second in the junior varsity division. Deer Creek won the meet with 24 points and the Millerettes had 58.
Yukon had two top 10 finishers and six in the top 20.
Savannah Yancey had the best finish for the Millerettes, placing eighth in 27:02.47. Madelyn Johnson placed ninth in 27:31.26, Zoe Wilson was 12th in 27:57.12, Makenzie Dobbins was 14th in 28:15.27, Savannah White 15th in 28:16.06 and Cristen Ripel 16th in 28:22.04.
The Miller JV won their division, edging out Carl Albert by two points.
The Millers had three runners finish in the top 10 and their five scorers in the top 12 to score 41 points and best Carl Albert, who had 43. Capitol Hill was third with 54.
Aron Tahdoonippah had the best finish for the Millers, placing second in a time of 20:06.96. Landis Scoon ran fourth in 20:35.33, and Mikael Stamm placed eighth in 20:56.49.
Kole Frederick placed 12th in 21:10.19 and Mickey Boyer rounded out the five scorers, running 15th in 21:19.35.
Ben Wilkins, 18th in 21:31.92 and Zac Lewis, 21st in 21:55.46.
The Millers and Millerettes will compete in the OK Runners Classic in Norman on Friday. The girls division will run around 5 p.m. and the boys division at 6:15 p.m.
