 |  |  |
| Lady Cougar Cross Country |
| News | Staff | Roster | Schedule | Stats | History | Media |
 |
| Cross Country Regionals Up Next |
| 10/22/09 - 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.” |
| More >> |
| Lady Cougar Cross Country |
| 09/30/09 - Ada Cross Country Results Saturday, Sept. 26 |
| More >> |
| Cougar Cross Country |
 09/24/09 - Madill InvitationalAda Girls Results 17. Victoria Lotter 15:32 24. Wamika Kumar 16:32 25. Meagan Wright 16:54 41. Amelia Stevens 19:47 44. Woodward 23:18 Ada Boys Results 2. Cale Prince 18:13 3. Josiah Biles 18:13 31. Matt Smith 21:09 44. Tanner Cain 27:35 NOTEWORTHY: In the girls race, Ada’s Victoria Lotter led the way for the Lady Cougars with a 17th-place finish in 15:32. Wamika Kumar was a minute behind at 16:32. In the boys race, Kale Prince finished second in 18:13 with Josiah Biles at third in 18:13. The Cougars didn’t have enough runners to qualify for team standings. COACHES QUOTE: Our kids are making progress and dropping their times,” — Ada head coach Drake Daniels. Up Next: Ada at Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee Saturday (Sept. 26.) |
| More >> |
| Lady Cougar Cross Country |
 09/14/09 - 2009 ECU Tiger Chase Results 2009 ECU Tiger Chase |
| More >> |
| Lady Cougar Cross Country |
| 09/11/09 - 3rd Annual Canadian River Run At Shawnee GIRLS Team Standings 1. Seminole 29 2. Yukon 37 3. Shawnee 62 4. Ada 118 5. Shawnee 139 Ada Individual Results (3200 Meters) 30. Victoria Lotter, 16:50.07; 31. Maci Huffman, 16:53.59; 35. Amber Mayhue, 17:01.61; 39. Meagan Wright, 17:31.11; 45. Ariel Bayatfar, 17:44.77; 51. Wamika Kumar, 18:04.20; 61. Hannah Lightfoot, 18:47.39; 63. Claire Pottebaum, 18:47.96; 71. Amelia Stevens, 20:23.07. |
| More >> |
 |
| Lady Cougar Cross Country |
| Upcoming Events |
| Previous Headlines |
| Local runners |
Site Design: bcInternet Designs