MANNFORD—FreshmanPippin Gormley has given Mannford a steady presence near the front of the field this cross country season, recording two victories and finishing no lower than sixth in the four meets with collected results.
Mannford will compete in the Class 4A regional Oct. 17 at Nichols Park in Henryetta. The girls race begins at 11 a.m., followed by the boys at 11:45 a.m. State qualifiers will advance to the Oct. 24 championship meet.
Gormley began that stretch with sixth place in Rogers State’s Distance After Dark open twomile race Sept. 3, finishing in 12:00.7. Five days later, she won Inola’s 3,200-meter varsity race in 12:56.5, leading a first-and-second finish with senior Marley Beshear that helped Mannford win the girls team title with 54 points.
Gormley earned another victory Sept. 19 at Holland Hall, completing the varsity twomile race in 12:04.12. Her two published two-mile performances were separated by less than four seconds, providing closely matched benchmarks despite the different courses.
She then raced the longer 5K distance at Booker T. Washington on Sept. 24, finishing second in 19:38.50. That gave her a fourth consecutive top-six finish in the available results, with strong performances at both shorter and longer distances.
Beshear has joined Gormley in the top 10 at all four meets. She placed 10th at Rogers State in 12:21.7, second at Inola in 13:08.0, third at Holland Hall in 12:50.08 and sixth at Booker T. Washington in 20:21.50.
Beshear’s Rogers State performance remained her faster collected two-mile time. She finished 11.5 seconds behind Gormley at Inola and 43 seconds behind her in the Booker T. Washington 5K, giving Mannford a dependable front pair heading toward regionals.
Senior Karlee Christian has supplied another important finish behind them. She placed 66th at Rogers State in 14:28.3, then finished 14th at Inola in 14:47.3. At Holland Hall, she broke into the top 10 with a 13:51.24, about 37 seconds faster than her earlier two-mile result. Christian followed that with 26th place in Booker T. Washington’s 5K in 23:46.20.
Francella Jenkins also reached the top 25 at Holland Hall. After placing 118th at Rogers State in 16:25.2 and 35th at Inola in 16:43.5, she finished 25th at Holland Hall in 15:14.10. Her two-mile time there was about 1:11 faster than at Rogers State. She later placed 45th at Booker T. Washington in 27:25.20.
For the boys, Inola’s JV 5K produced a first-through-fourth sweep by Brody Sizemore, Kyson Phillips, Kayden Jason and Evin Holloway. Mannford won that team division with 15 points.
Sizemore led the Inola race in 19:40.1 after placing 85th at Rogers State in 20:59.3, lowering his recorded 5K time by about 1:19. No individual results for him were included in the collected Holland Hall or Booker T. Washington results.
Phillips lowered his 5K time at each of the four meets. He placed 69th at Rogers State in 20:15.8, second in Inola’s JV race in 20:09.6, 44th in Holland Hall’s varsity race in 19:50.09 and 34th in Booker T. Washington’s varsity race in 18:59.30. His final time in that sequence was about 1:17 faster than his first.
Jason placed 93rd at Rogers State in 21:21.4 before finishing third in Inola’s JV race in 20:13.1. He then placed 59th in Holland Hall’s varsity race in 20:44.43 and 39th at Booker T. Washington in 19:20.80. His latest mark was about two minutes faster than his Rogers State performance.
Holloway earned 24th place at Rogers State in 18:33.7, then finished fourth in Inola’s JV race in 21:13.7. He placed 42nd in Holland Hall’s varsity race in 19:46.58 before finishing 26th at Booker T. Washington in 18:28.20. That final performance was his fastest collected 5K, about five seconds ahead of his Rogers State mark.
Jaxon Harvey also earned a top-10 finish at Inola, placing eighth in the JV race in 24:04.8. He had finished 113th at Rogers State in 22:09.8 and later placed 88th in Holland Hall’s varsity race in 22:21.23. His fastest collected performance came at Booker T. Washington, where he finished 53rd in 20:53.60, about 1:16 faster than his Rogers State time.
Doug Tingley placed 135th at Rogers State in 22:54.0 and 11th in Inola’s JV race in 24:58.6. He followed those results with 99th place in Holland Hall’s varsity race in 23:42.69 and 69th at Booker T. Washington in 22:59.00. His final time was within five seconds of his earlier Rogers State mark.
Dayne Ficken earned 14th place in Inola’s JV race in 25:41.2, then finished 37th in Holland Hall’s JV race in 22:18.91, about 3:22 faster. He later placed 73rd in Booker T. Washington’s varsity race in 23:37.40. No Rogers State performance for him was included in the collected results.
Landon Owens placed 108th at Rogers State in 22:05.2, 23rd in Inola’s JV race in 28:35.3 and 38th in Holland Hall’s JV race in 22:27.71. His Rogers State time remained his fastest collected mark, and no Booker T. Washington performance was listed for him.
The boys’ top finishes at Inola came in a separate JV field, while the girls raced different distances across the four meets. Courses and conditions also affect comparisons, but the results give Mannford clear benchmarks for its postseason effort.
With Gormley and Beshear repeatedly finishing near the front, Christian and Jenkins contributing stronger two-mile marks, and several boys posting faster late-September times, Mannford heads toward regionals looking to turn those individual performances into state berths.