CLEVELAND — Cleveland’s cross country runners head toward regional competition with individual victories, multiple top-10 fi nishes and faster recorded times throughout much of the lineup.
Cleveland will compete in the Class 4A regional Oct. 17 at Bridge Creek, 2209 E. Sooner Road in Blanchard. The girls race begins at 9 a.m., followed by the boys at 9:45 a.m. State qualifi ers will advance to the Oct. 24 championship meet.
Freshman Michael Kesner has combined top-10 fi nishes with a steady progression in his published 5K times. He opened the collected season results with second place at Oilton on Aug. 10 in 20:05.25, then lowered his time at each of four later meets.
Kesner ran 17:59.3 for 11th place at Rogers State’s Distance After Dark on Sept. 3 before placing sixth in Oklahoma Baptist University’s 1A-4A race Sept. 19 in 17:52.89. Five days later, he fi nished seventh at Booker T. Washington in 17:34.30.
His fastest collected mark came at the Oct. 3 Chile Pepper Festival, where he ran 17:06.60 for 115th in his El Caliente heat. That was nearly three minutes faster than his August performance and about 28 seconds faster than his Booker T. Washington time.
Junior Josiah Logsdon has also paired strong placings with faster times. He won Oilton’s August boys race in 19:44.31 and earned another top-10 fi nish at OBU, placing 10th in 18:20.56.
Between those races, Rogers State. He continued lowering his time with 17:44.50 at Booker T. Washington and 17:38.50 at Chile Pepper, a recorded gain of about 2:06 from August to October.
The two leaders fi nished about 28 seconds apart at Chile Pepper, giving Cleveland a faster front pair as the qualifying race approaches.
Freshman Easton Hough earned sixth place at Oilton in 22:36.22. His later 5K times fell to 21:25.5 at Rogers State, 20:25.83 at OBU, 20:13.30 at Booker T.
Washington and 19:46.00 at Chile Pepper — about 2:50 faster than his August mark.
Oilton’s August results also listed Cleveland’s Proctor Shawn third in 20:50.79, Bobby Smith fourth in 21:18.86 and Jeremiah Smith 10th in 23:55.60, giving the Tigers six of the fi rst 10 boys fi nishers.
For the girls, senior Kidan Logsdon opened with a victory at Oilton, completing the 3,200-meter race in 14:07.51. She added a third-place fi nish at OBU in 13:02.51, about 1:05 faster over the same listed distance.
Logsdon also placed 23rd in Rogers State’s two-mile race in 12:54.3 and 11th in Booker T. Washington’s 5K in 21:12.70. Those di erent distances provide separate benchmarks rather than direct time comparisons.
Senior Hallie Collins has earned two top-10 fi nishes in the collected results. She placed fourth at Oilton in 15:19.72 and 10th at OBU in 13:41.88, a di erence of nearly 1:38 over 3,200 meters.
Collins later lowered her 5K time from 21:57.70 for 14th place at Booker T. Washington to 21:31.90 at Chile Pepper, about 26 seconds faster.
Senior Kasey Metzer placed fi fth at Oilton in 16:30.94, then ran 13:45.32 for 12th at OBU, about 2:46 faster over the same distance.
She fi nished just over three seconds behind Collins at OBU, giving Cleveland two closely matched runners behind Logsdon.
Metzer also improved between the late-season 5Ks, moving from 22:31.00 at Booker T. Washington to 22:20.90 at Chile Pepper.
Junior Adrianna Brown earned second place at Oilton in 14:47.65. Sophomore Jada Whited placed sixth in 17:30.28, while freshman Reece McKinney fi nished seventh in 17:38.17.
Whited later ran 15:51.72 over 3,200 meters at OBU, about 1:39 faster than her August mark. McKinney posted 16:48.38 there, nearly 50 seconds faster than her Oilton time. Both also lowered their 5K times between Booker T. Washington and Chile Pepper.
The early top-10 fi nishes came in a di erent fi eld from the larger invitationals, and course conditions a ect comparisons. Still, Cleveland’s results show faster recorded marks from its leaders and several supporting runners.
At regionals, the Tigers will look to turn that progress into qualifying places, with Kesner and Josiah Logsdon pacing the boys and Kidan Logsdon, Collins and Metzer supplying an experienced girls front group.