Ada hopes to put best foot forward at state

Class 5A State Track Preview

Bob Forrest Guest Sports Writer Ada Evening News

Ada —  

Although Ada’s track squad was a win machine at last week’s regional meet, one big mistake left the Cougars needing some help if they’re going to contend for a Class 5A state title Friday and Saturday at Tulsa East Central High School.

Ada won seven individual events and cruised to an impressive victory in the 3,200-meter relay at Ardmore Saturday, but a missed handoff in the sprint relay will prevent third-year coach Nathan Elliott and his team from controlling their own destiny this week.

“(Winning the state title) is not something that’s likely to happen,” admitted Elliott, whose squad finished third behind runaway winner Ardmore and Carl Albert last week. “Our goal is to finish in the top three. We would have to get a little help here and there, but we’re just going to do the best we can do and let the chips fall where they may.”

The misstep in the short relay was one of the few mistakes the Cougars made at their regional. They captured more events than in any meet since Elliott took over the program, and in addition to their eight victories, they added state qualifiers in the 3,200-meter run (where Cale Prince finished third), the mile relay (Travis Cowan, Qumain Black, Chase Bowker and Eddie Brown) and the 300-meter intermediate hurdles (where Cowan was third behind Brown, who swept both hurdles). Ada will also have one girl competitor at the state meet in Jenna Huling, who won the high jump with a leap of 5-2 at the regional.  

“We still have two relays alive and plenty of points in the individual events,” Elliott said. “Hopefully, we’ll have our best performance of the year, and we’ll see how things work out.

“It’s the third year in a row that we’ve finished third in our regional, and that was a pretty good accomplishment for our seniors,” he added. “I thought it was our best performance of the year. We picked up some points that we weren’t expecting. If we can pick up points in every event (at the state meet), we’ll just see where things fall.”

Elliott said Ardmore, Duncan and Guthrie appear to be the top threats for a team title from this half of the state (“Those teams qualified just about everybody”), but most of the AHS athletes who qualified for the state meet figure to be in the mix for a gold medal this week.

Black had a 21-10 effort in the long jump at the regional and had a personal best 22-7 at the non-conference meet in Duncan the week before, and he will head to Tulsa as one of the favorites in that event. Elliott said this weekend’s schedule (field events begin at 10 a.m. and the running events start at 1 p.m. each day) and the fact that the sprint relay (of which Black was a member) didn’t qualify should help Black in both of his events.

“He’s improving, and we’re hoping he will peak this week,” Elliott said. “If there is an advantage to the state meet, he should be nice and fresh when he’s long-jumping, and he can rest up for the mile relay.”

Brown’s sweep last week cemented his position as one of the best hurdlers in the state, and along with Black, pole vaulter Nick Anderson and high jumper Christian Johnson in the field events and miler Josiah Biles and the Ada two-mile relay squad, he will be among the favorites in his event in Tulsa.

Brown won the 110-meter hurdles in :15.68 and the 300 in :40.51 Saturday, and Biles posted a time of 4:43.89 in capturing the mile. Anderson had a season-best vault of 14 feet at the regional, Johnson won the high jump in 6-4, and the two-mile relay — made up of Biles, Prince, Colin Earle and Matt Smith — also ran a season-best 8:46.8, despite being on cruise control for much of the race.

“In the two-mile relay, we won by 50 meters, so we didn’t have to run that fast the last two legs,” Elliott explained. “The mile relay (Cowan, Black, Bowker and Brown) ran together for the first time at the Duncan meet the week before regionals, and that was the best time we had had in that event all year. Their time wasn’t great Saturday, so we’re hoping we can get through qualifying Friday and have an opportunity for them to score some points for us this week.”

Despite failing to qualify in the sprint relay, the Cougars had a chance for a runner-up finish at the regional before their fourth-place finish in the mile relay (with Carl Albert second). Elliott said that no matter what happens this week, his young squad (Black, Brown and Biles are the only seniors who will compete at the state meet) has laid a solid foundation for the Ada track program.

“That was by far the most first places we’ve gotten at a meet since I’ve been here,” Elliott said. “I don’t know that we would have caught Ardmore if we had qualified the sprint relay, but we would have finished runner-up. We were really pleased.

“We’ve got a good nucleus coming back, and our numbers have been up the last couple of years,” he noted. “The kids seem like they’re getting excited about track, so we’re happy.”

Cougs run well at 5A regional

David Seeley Guest Sports Writer Ada Evening News

Moore — Ada Cougars track coach Nathan Elliott believed his team would have to battle the rival Ardmore Tigers to win Saturday’s Class 5A Regional Meet at Lions Stadium. For the most part, Elliott was correct.

Other than a key miscue in the final exchange in the 400-meter relay, the Cougars got several athletes qualified for next weekend’s Class 5A State Meet at Tulsa East Central High School. However, the disqualification in the 400-meter relay may have cost Ada a runner-up spot at the regional as Ardmore won team title with 159 points, but Carl Albert slipped into second place with 114 points. Ada was third with 108.

The Cougars crowned five regional champions and one relay champion on the day. Eddie Brown won both hurdle events, getting first in the 110-meter (15.68 seconds) and the 300-meter (40.51). Josiah Biles won the 1,600-meter run (4:43.89), Christian Johnson was the champion high jumper (6-4), Qumain Black took first in the long jump (21-10) and Nick Anderson won the pole vault (14-0).

Biles, Colin Earle, Cale Prince and Matt Smith won the 3,200-meter relay (8:46.8).

But the chance at a second relay regional title ended for the Cougars on the final exchange in the 400-meter relay as the third- and fourth-leg runners could not get the exchange of the baton done in the required amount of distance, and were disqualified — and will not make it to state.

But there’s still a lot of Cougars who punched their tickets to Tulsa who were not regional champions. Prince was third in the 3,200-meter run (10:44.1), while Travis Cowan was third in the 300-meter hurdles (41.18 seconds).

And the Cougars could get even more state qualifiers. If their fourth-, fifth- and sixth-place finishers are among the top four from all four regional meets combined (excluding all the top three finishers at all four regionals), they will get at-large berths to the state meet — which will likely be known by no later than Monday. And there are quite a few of those candidates for the Cougars.

Johnson was fourth in the long jump (20-0), Earle was fifth in the 800-meter run (2:14.5), Smith was sixth in the 1,600-meter run (4:56.77) and Andrew Scribner was sixth in the shot put (37-10). Ada’s 1,600-meter relay team of Cowan, Black, Chase Bowker and Brown was fourth (3:34.11).

“Carl Albert kind of snuck up,” Elliott said. “Other than our sprint (400-meter) relay, we qualified everyone I thought we would. I think our mile (1,600-meter) relay will get in on time (as an at-large entry). Our two-mile (3,200-meter) relay really ran well — that’s the best they’ve done. We won the high jump, the pole vault and the long jump — and Eddie won both hurdles. We were looking for some points from the sprint relay, and that’s why we coaches hate running that event because anything can happen. We had a really good meet. We’re happy. We’ve got a good group to take to the state track meet, and we’ll see what we can do.”

One Ada Lady Cougar made state, and did so as a regional champion. Jenna Huling won the high jump with a leap of 5-2.

“I am so proud of her,” Ada Lady Cougars coach Michelle Shannon said. “She has stayed focused throughout the season. Up until today, she had only cleared 4-10.”

Shannon also praised the efforts of Ada coach Darin Kapella, who worked closely with Huling throughout the season.

“He’s really helped her in the long jump and the high jump,” she said.

Huling has a chance at a second state event as she was fifth in the long jump (14-4), and will have to wait to see if she is one of the top four long jumpers from the non-automatic state qualifiers.

Huling will not be alone on the waiting list. Catie Newport was sixth in the 200-meter dash (27.73 seconds) and Megan Whitting was sixth in the 3,200-meter run (14:56.56), and they will have to wait to see if they will qualify for state with an at-large berth.

As a team, the Lady Cougars tied for sixth place along with Lawton MacArthur with 14 points. Chickasha won the regional title (139 points), followed by Carl Albert (125), Durant (112), Western Heights (98) and Ardmore (93).

Running to regionals

Cougar tracksters look to contend at Saturday's 5A meet

Bob Forrest Guest Sports Writer Ada Evening News

Ada — Ada track coach Nathan Elliott is hoping he has plenty of company when he travels to Tulsa for next week’s Class 5A state meet.

Elliott’s first two squads were at a big disadvantage when they were thin in the field events and didn’t qualify well in relays at their regional meets or score in them at state, and as a result, the Cougars had no real chance to challenge for a state title. This year, though, Elliott said things could be different.

“I think we have as good a chance as anybody to win our regional (Saturday at Moore High School),” Elliott noted. “We have the capability to place in all three relays, and what is different from last year is that we have some field events where we can score some points.”

Despite some key graduation losses, Elliott’s squad — which was third at its regional but didn’t score points in a single relay at the state meet in 2009 — has been solid all spring. The addition of senior Qumain Black — one of the school’s best all-around athletes — has given the Cougars a boost in both the long jump (where Black is among the best in the state) and on the sprint relay, and Black could also run a leg on the mile relay Saturday.

“Qumain was injured a lot last season,” Elliott said. “He’s been running on our short relay and has one of the top three long jumps in our class.”

Black showed he could be ready for a huge effort this week when he added six inches to his personal best with a 22-2 effort at last week’s Non-Conference Meet in Duncan. The victory by Black in the long jump was one of four recorded by Cougars at the meet, including a win by junior Nick Anderson in the pole vault, where he equalled his second best effort of the season with a vault of 13 feet.

“We were looking forward to using Nick (who placed at the state meet last spring) in the long jump and high jump, but he had some injury issues, so we have only used him in the pole vault,” Elliott explained. “He vaulted 13 feet at OBU in April and he hadn’t touched a pole in two weeks. He’s been pretty consistent.”

Ada’s other two victories at Duncan came from a pair of distance runners. Josiah Biles won the 1,500 meters in a time of 4:56.4 (with teammate Matt Smith fourth), and Cale Prince won the 3,200 meters in a time of 11:05.

“Cale has improved a lot this year,” Elliott said of Prince, who has placed in every meet this spring. “He’s dropped his time down to 10:41, and that puts him in the mix to place at state. He’s in the top six or seven in 5A this year. Josiah and Matt have placed in every meet this year in the mile.”

Senior Eddie Brown was considered one of 5A’s best hurdlers when the season began, and he will enter the regional as one of the favorites in both the 110 high and 300 intermediate hurdles. He was second at Duncan in the 110 and fifth at 300, and he was third and fifth in the two events at the state meet in 2009.

“Eddie has done really well,” Elliott said. “He’s always been one of the best in the 300, and I think he has the second best time in the state this year. Travis Cowan is also running the hurdles, and we’re looking for him to score points in both at the regional.”

Ada also got points in the field at Duncan from high jumper Christian Johnson, who was third with a jump of 6-4, and although his relay squads were fifth (1,600), fifth (3,200) and sixth (4X100), Elliott said he expects to take all three to the state meet.

“Our short relay (made up of Jordan Waddell, Black, Brown and Cowan) and our two-mile relay (Smith, Prince, Colin Earle and Biles) have been very consistent as far as getting us points this year,” he said. “Jordan has had some injury issues, so Dionte Albert ran at our conference meet. It’s fortunate that we have a couple of guys who can step in there and get it done.

“Our two-mile relay (eighth at the 2009 state meet) has probably improved as much as anybody from last year,” Elliott noted. “We’ve been trying to find the right combination in the mile relay. Eddie Brown and Travis Cowan have always run on it. Qumain ran on it at the conference meet, and we’ll either use Chase Bowker or Nathan Blakeley in the fourth spot. Qumain is built like a sprinter, but Chaz Daniels (one of 5A’s best sprinters in 2007 and 2008) was a sprinter, too, and he was a heck of a quarter-miler.”

Elliott said he really didn’t know what to expect from this year’s squad but said the Cougars are a good mix of experience and new blood.

“We felt we would improve off last year,” he said. “We had a lot of young guys last year. It sounds cliche’, but we thought if they would work hard and get better at something every week, we knew they had the talent to be pretty good.

“Obviously, with Eddie and Travis and Nick and Christian, we knew we would have a good nucleus,” Elliott said. “The young guys have surprised us. Qumain didn’t get a chance to long-jump last year, and when he started, he was already jumping 20 feet. We knew we had a group of guys who were going to work really hard and had a chance to improve quite a bit, and they have.”

Elliott said Ardmore is the probable favorite at the regional, with Tulsa East Central, Guthrie and Duncan also in the mix for a state title, but he said the Cougars could make some noise at the state meet if they can qualify well Saturday.

“There’s no dominant team (in 5A) this year,” he explained. “I haven’t seen anybody from the northeast, but I hear Claremore and Tahlequah are supposed to be pretty good.

“Our plan every year is to get as many kids as we can to the state meet,” Elliott added. “If we can place in all three relays (Saturday), that will help. Ardmore is probably the favorite (at the regional), but we definitely have as good a chance as anybody if things work out right.”

Cougar Track Results

Thursday’s Results

Non-Conference Meet at Duncan

Ada Cougars Individuals

110 HURDLES: 2. Eddie Brown, 15.64.

300 HURDLES: 5. Brown, 41.36.

1600 RUN: 1. Josiah Biles, 4:56; 4. Matt Smith, 5:14.

3200 RUN: 1. Cale Prince, 11:05.

LONG JUMP: 1. Qumain Black, 22-2.

HIGH JUMP: 3. Christian Johnson, 6-4.

POLE VAULT: 1. Nick Anderson, 13-0.

400 RELAY: 6. Ada (Dionte Albert, Black, Brown, Travis Cowan), 44.3.

1600 RELAY: 5. Ada (Cowan, Black, Chase Bowker, Brown), 3:31.

3200 RELAY: 5. Ada (Smith, Colin Earle, Price, Biles), 9:08.

NOTEWORTHY: Four Cougars won titles at the Non-Conference Meet Thursday at Duncan’s Halliburton Stadium, which featured Ada, Ardmore, Duncan, Lawton High, Lawton Eisenhower, Lawton MacArthur and Altus. Josiah Biles won the 1600-meter run, Cale Prince took first in the 3200-meter run, Qumain Black leaped to first place in the long jump and Nick Anderson did likewise in the pole vault. This was the final regular-season meet of the season. Ardmore won the team title followed by Lawton and the host Demon squad.

COACHES QUOTE: “This was our last meet before the (Class 5A) regional (meet) on May 8 (Saturday at Moore). We felt that our guys went out and competed hard, and got after it. We will take the weekend off and go back to work on Monday.” — Ada head boys coach Nathan Elliott.

Up next: Ada boys at Class 5A Regional Meet, 9 a.m. May 8 at Moore’s Lions Stadium.

Cougar Track At Ardmore Invitational

Brian Johnson ECU Sports Information Ada Evening News

Ada — Friday’s Results

BOYS

At Ardmore Invitational

Ada Individual Results

300 HURDLES: 6. Travis Cowan, 41.06.

110 HURDLES: 5. Eddie Brown, 15.98.

1600 RUN: 6. Josiah Biles, 4:50.39.

3200 RUN: 5. Cale Prince, 10:54.02.

400 RELAY: 2. Ada (Ramsey Maxwell, Qumain Black, Brown, Cowan), 43.54.

LONG JUMP: 2. Qumain Black, 21-4.

HIGH JUMP: 1. Christian Johnson, 6-4

POLE VAULT: 3. Nick Anderson. 13-6.

NOTEWORTHY: Christian Johnson won the Cougars’ lone event title at Friday’s Ardmore Invitational at Noble Stadium with a leap of 6-4 in the high jump. Qumain Black was runner-up in the long jump, while being a part of the second-place 400 meter relay with Ramsey Maxwell, Eddie Brown and Travis Cowan. Nick Anderson was third in the pole vault.

COACHES QUOTE: “The Ardmore meet was our last Invitational of the season. We will compete in our conference meet at Duncan on Thursday, and then get ready for our regional meet on May 8 at Moore High School.” — Ada head boys coach Nathan Elliott.

Up next: Ada at Conference Meet in Duncan, Thursday.