Cougar Cross Country Team Finishes Sixth at State Meet

Ada's Biles runs way to All-State

EDMOND — Josiah Biles became Ada High’s first-ever cross country All-State selection in leading the Cougars to a sixth-place finish at Saturday’s Class 5A state meet at Mitch Park in Edmond.

Biles, a state qualifier in 2008 for a program that didn’t field enough runners to qualify as a team, ran easily the fastest time of his career — 17:11 — to finish 10th in Saturday’s five-kilometer race. As a team, Ada — competing as a team at a state cross country meet for the first time in school history — totaled 226 points, just one ahead of Duncan and El Reno, who tied for seventh.Guthrie claimed the team crown with 43 points, and Deer Creek — led by overall gold medalist Talor Buck (who ran a time of 16:36 to finish 13 seconds clear of his nearest competitor) — was second with 58 points. Bishop McGuinness (95), Bishop Kelley (123) and Tahleqhah (158) rounded out the top five.

“Sixth out of 14 teams, plus 14 individuals, is not too shabby in our first trip to the state meet,” second-year Ada coach Drake Daniels said. “Josiah ran well. He averaged about 5:30 or 5:31 per mile. He knocked about 30 seconds off his fastest (previous) race.”

Cale Prince, who ran cross country this fall for the first time, turned in a solid 17:53 clocking to finish 21st, and Colin Earle was 43rd in 18:58. Brooks Thompson (90th in 20:22), Diamond Middleton (98th in 20:58), Seth Windsor (102nd in 21:08) and Matt Smith (106th in 22:31) completed the running order for the Cougars.

Headed to State!

Drake Daniels’ Ada boys squad finished fifth at last week’s 5A regional in Norman to earn the school’s first-ever berth at a state meet.

“We’re trying to pump up all the runners to get their best places this weekend,” said Daniels, whose boys squad — led by medalists efforts from Cale Prince and Josiah Biles and a near-miss from Colin Earle after he fell at the start — was fifth at the 5A regional in Norman Saturday. “We got beat at the regional by one team (Duncan) we had beaten before. I expect the best out of everybody this weekend.

“It’s hard to predict, because you have seven teams and seven individuals coming from each (regional). We think Cale, Josiah and Colin all have a chance to medal. Getting there was part of it, but we’re not just going to be happy to be there. We’re going up there to compete and beat some people.”

Biles is the only member of this year’s Ada squad to have competed at a state meet, advancing out of the 2008 regional as an individual after the Cougars and Lady Cougars didn’t have enough runners to compete for team awards. Because of his team’s overall lack of experience, Daniels said he will try to keep things status quo heading into this week’s race.

“I found out if you start changing things, you just mess things up, so you just go do what you’ve been doing,” he explained. “Josiah really loved this course last year. It’s pretty flat, and that should help us.”

Cougar Cross Country Qualifies for State!

NORMAN — Area teams will be well-represented at Saturday’s Class 5A and 4A state cross country meets at Mitch Park in Edmond.

Cale Prince and Josiah Biles both medaled as the Ada boys became the first squad in school history to qualify for state in cross country with a fifth-place finish in the 5A regional Saturday in Norman.

Ada’s girls squad failed in its bid for a state tournament berth with a 10th-place finish.

“It was just one of those days, just unlucky,” second-year Ada coach Drake Daniels said of the tough afternoon for the Lady Cougars. “Ariel Bayatfar had an asthma attack halfway into the thing and couldn’t breathe, my fifth runner (Megan Wright) couldn’t breathe, either, and one of my freshmen fell. It just wasn’t our day.”

Things went much better for the Ada boys, who placed three runners — Prince (seventh in :18.02 for the five kilometers), Biles (14th in :18.17) and Colin Earle (who finished one spot out of the medals with a clocking of :18.22) — in the top 16 and wound up with a team score of 162. Deer Creek, led by overall gold medalist Taylor Buck (:17.05), ran away with the team gold with a score of 29 and was followed by Bishop McGuinness (84), El Reno (133), Duncan (152) and Ada. Tecumseh (176) and Southeast (195) rounded out the seven qualifiers.“We could have done a little better, but I’m happy,” said Daniels, who didn’t have enough runners to qualify a team for state in 2008 but sent Biles to the state meet as an individual. “I’m excited and they’re excited.

“Cale really did run well,” Daniels said of Prince, who ran cross country for the first time. “Deer Creek, Bishop Mcguinness and Southeast have some really good runners. Josiah just placed last year; this time he medaled. It’s a pretty good deal for him.”

Earle might have lost his chance at a medal at the start, where he slipped in the wet conditions. Seth Windsor (67th in :20.44), Brooks Thompson (70th in :20.51), Matt Smith (72th in :20.55) and Diamond Middleton (76th in :21.11) rounded out the Ada running order.

“Our times weren’t great, but it was real windy,” Daniels said. “Sometimes it’s not time-wise but place-wise that counts. How can you complain when you finish 5th?”

On the girls side, Victoria Lotter (:15.18), Amber Mayhue (:15.38) and Wakima Kumar (:15.44) all had solid races for the Ada girls, but the misfortune that befell Daniels’ other runners prevented the Lady Cougars from qualifying.

ADA — When Drake Daniels became Ada High’s cross-country coach last fall, he inherited a program with almost no tradition. That’s something he plans to change this weekend.

Only a year after AHS failed to attract enough runners to field a complete team — either boys or girls — heading into the postseason, the Cougars and Lady Cougars will enter Saturday’s Class 5A regional in Norman as contenders for their school’s first-ever berth at a state cross-country meet.

“If we can qualify for state, that’s what we’re shooting for,” Daniels said. “I think we have enough firepower to get us into it. We didn’t have teams last year. We need seven (runners) to qualify as a team, and we only had five or six on both teams.

“I think we should have a pretty good chance of qualifying for state, both boys and girls,” he said. “It’s kind of hard (to predict), because we haven’t seen all the teams (in the regional).”

If the Ada boys and/or girls squads can finish in the top seven of 17 teams expected for Saturday’s regional, they will advance to next Saturday’s 5A state meet at Mitch Park in Edmond. The Lady Cougars will begin their race at noon, with the Cougars due to start at 12:45.
Josiah Biles was Ada’s only state cross-country qualifier last year, and he has returned as the senior leader this year of a boys squad that, like the girls team, has grown dramatically in numbers. Daniels said that, despite missing several girls who will be at this weekend’s state band competition, he will have plenty of runners to field boys and girls squads for the regional.

“We’ll have a couple of kids out for the regional meet because of band, so we’ll have to use a couple of freshmen to have a full team, but we have plenty of girls this year,” he explained. “Last year when that happened, we didn’t have enough kids to step in and run.”

Daniels said Biles became the immediate poster boy for his fledgling cross-country program and is a major reason the boys squad has also grown in numbers this fall.

“All these guys just showed up to run with Josiah,” Daniels noted. “He’s a good athlete and a really good kid.

“I didn’t know who I had until Aug. 17, the first day of school,” he added. “I was really surprised.”

Daniels’ boys squad is loaded with athletes who have competed in other sports at AHS, including Cale Prince (basketball), Tanner Cain (golf) and Seth Windsor, Brooks Thompson, Diamond Middleton and Matt Smith (soccer).

“Cale decided to run cross-country instead of playing basketball,” Daniels said. “He and Josiah have been head-and-head lately.”

Daniels said the boys squad has also been bolstered by the return of sophomore Colin Earle from an injury midway through the season.

“He and Josiah used to run neck-and-neck, then he got hurt,” Daniels said of Earle. “We’ve got him back in the mix now. Matt, Cale, Josiah and Colin are on the two-mile relay on the track team, and they’re planning to win state this year.”

The Ada girls squad is considered a little more of an outsider for a state berth than the boys team this weekend, but Daniels said the Lady Cougars are a threat to advance despite the loss of several of his front-line runners to other school activities this week.

“I think the girls have a good chance,” he said. “We’ve beaten some of the teams in our class, but we haven’t seen them all. We went to a couple of different meets to see how they stack up with some of the best teams in the state, and they’ve done okay.”

Sophomore Victoria Lotter, who will be the captain of the AHS girls soccer team next spring, and senior Amber Mayhue are the only members of this year’s cross-country squad who competed at the regional in 2008. Mayhue just missed qualifying for last fall’s state meet by three seconds and joins Ariel Bayatfar as the only seniors on this year’s team.

‘I’ll have most of my girls back next year, and their times are improving every time out,” Daniels said. “ACT tests were the same day as the regionals last year, so we just took a few girls up there. This year, all the girls except for the girls in the band will run, so we’ll have enough for a team.

Daniels said the most pleasant surprise on this year’s girls squad has been sophomore Wakima Kumar, who, like Lotter and Bayatfar, is a member of the soccer team.

“She was a soccer player last year, and this year she wanted to run cross-country,” Daniels said of Kumar. “She worked out all summer. She wants to be the best she can be.”

The remainder of the AHS cross-country roster for most of this season included sophomores Claire Pottebaum (who will miss the regional because of the band competition) and Hannah Lightfoot and juniors Macy Huffman and Meagan Wright (a member of the tennis team). Huffman, Bayatfar, Mayhew and Lotter are the only members of this year’s team who also competed in 2008.

Daniels said freshmen Madison Gillespie and Brittany Sweeney will compete at the regional to fill the spots left by the absence of his runners who will be at the band competition.

Daniels said he is pleased with the growth of his program in just two seasons, and he said a good showing at the regional and state meets the next two weekends should help AHS cross-country become even bigger in 2010.

“We have a lot of kids (in school) who I figure could run if they just come out and do it,” he noted. “A lot of kids think it’s grueling, but these kids really enjoy running. That’s been the best part of it.”