Lady Sandite Cross Country qualifies for State as team, Aden Baughman qualifies individually

Photo: Scott Emigh

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

Varsity Girls 5K

17:32 Cheyenne Walden 1st Place (PR-0:03)
20:01 Alexis Davis 15th Place
20:53 Tiqvah Soap 25th Place
22:27 Sara Abbet 54th Place (PR-0:37)
22:51 Elizabeth Watts 60th Place
23:27 Chezney Kelley 69th Place (PR-0:45)
24:32 Kaitlyn Walden 85th Place (PR-2:00)

Varsity Boys 5K

17:00 Aden Baughman 25th Place (PR-0:06)
17:28 Kaegan Murray 39th Place (PR-0:28)
18:36 Ian Baustert 65th Place (PR-0:06)
18:40 Phillip Elleman 67th Place (PR-1:38)
19:18 Nelson Yazzie 80th Place
19:19 Jaden Weiser 81st Place

It was a great weekend for the Charles Page High School varsity cross country teams. The girls took seventh place at the Regional 5K at Mohawk Park, just making the cut for State. This is their third time qualifying in four years, having just missed it last year. The boys failed to qualify as a team, but set several personal records.

The regional takes the top seven teams and the top seven individuals who weren't on qualifying teams. In 2015 the girls took eighth place, but sent three runners individually. According to Head Coach Chris Corbin, seniors Cheyenne Walden and Alexis Davis are now the first runners in the history of the program to qualify all four years. Sophomore Aden Baughman led the boys and qualified for the second straight year after placing fourth among runners who weren't on qualifying teams.

The girls finished seventh of fifteen teams with an average time of 20:45, their best "true" 5K of the season. Last week they finished in 20:27 at the Conference meet, but that track was a few hundred meters short. Oklahoma State-commit Cheyenne Walden secured her fourth Regional Title by an incredible margin of 53 seconds over the number two runner, Shay Stayton of Bartlesville. She also set a personal record of 17:32, a three-second improvement over last year's Regional time. This is her sixth first-place finish this year and 26th first-place finish of her career. The full qualifying squad is Alexis Davis, junior Tiqvah Soap, sophomore Sara Abbet, sophomore Elizabeth Watts, freshman Chezney Kelley, and freshman Kaitlyn Walden. Abbet, Kelley, and Kaitlyn Walden all set personal records. There were 106 runners in the girls race.

The boys took tenth of sixteen teams with an average time of 18:13, their fourth best this season. Senior Jacob Garbey, who usually finishes top-three among the Sandite boys, was unavoidably out of town for the race, and freshman Jaden Weiser was nursing a mild injury throughout the race and finished 28 seconds behind his previous performance. Garbey's presence might have made the difference between tenth and ninth place, but wasn't likely to help qualify the boys as a whole. Overall, the boys still performed well and finished with strong times all-around. Baughman set a personal record 17:00 finish, marking a six-second improvement over last year's Regional. Freshman Kaegan Murray set a personal record 17:28, improving 28 seconds over his previous best. He finished second among non-qualifying runners and was just nine seconds away from making the cut. Senior Ian Baustert finished his high school career with a PR 18:36, improving six seconds over his previous best. Junior Phillip Elleman also set a PR.

The State Championship will be held Saturday, October 29th at Edmond Santa Fe High School. The school is located at 1901 W. 15th Street, Edmond, Oklahoma. 6A Girls will begin at 12:00 p.m. followed by 6A Boys at 12:45 p.m. The awards assembly will be held at 1:30 p.m. Admission is $7.00 for adults and students.