Sports Roundup: Layne Kirkendoll wins State Championship in High Jump
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This story was originally written for the Sand Springs Leader.
Layne Kirkendoll came up an inch short of her 5-ft. 7-in. school-record high-jump mark Saturday afternoon in Ardmore, but she was still two inches higher than the rest of the crowd.
Five girls made it past the 5-ft. 4-in. mark, but only the Sandites’ senior leaper was able to clear the next notch up, securing her first State title and first high jump title in program history for the Sand Springs girls.
The jump made Kirkendoll only the fifth Lady Sandite in school history to win a gold medal, and it was the 13th overall for the Lady Sandites.
Kirkendoll also placed fourth in the long jump with a mark of 18 ft. 3 in.
Kelsi Hilton, Josie Myers, Gracie Gifford, and Jazmin Lopez placed 15th in the 4x800 relay with a time of 10:55.27.
Jestin Rawlins placed fifth in discus with a distance of 148 ft. 2 in. and Matthew Shelton placed 15th in shot put with a mark of 44 ft. 3 in.
Overall, the girls placed 15th and the boys were 22nd in their first season under head coach Gloria Avey - notable improvements over the prior season’s 19th place finish for the girls and zero points scored for the boys.
Cheyenne Walden’s 1600-meter State Meet record from 2017 was finally broken, as champion Payton Hinkle and runner-up Caden Dawson both broke her 4:57.07 mark.
Several Sandites participated in the Summit League Championship at Oral Roberts University this past week.
Aden Baughman ran the second leg of ORU’s 4x400 relay team that placed second and also placed ninth in the 800-meter run.
Joel Mackey ran the first leg of the 4x100 relay team that placed fourth and also placed 15th in the 100-meter dash and 10th in the 200.
Mitchell Mefford placed 12th in discus throw and 15th in hammer throw, Victoria Baker placed 21st in the 800-meter run, and Erika Baker placed 24th in the 5K run.
Charles Page High School alumnus Daton Fix won gold at the Pan American freestyle wrestling championship in Acapulco, Mexico on Monday, May 9th.
The Oklahoma State redshirt junior rolled to a 3-0 sweep of the 61 kg bracket for his second Senior continental championship.
In the first round he scored an 11-0 technical fall against Puerto Rico’s Joseph Silva in 2:20, then he won 10-0 against Mexico’s Pedro Flores Salazar in 59 seconds. In the final round he took a 10-0 lead against Canada’s Logan Sloan before pinning him in 40 seconds.
Fix will return to the mat on June 3rd at the Final X competition in Stillwater where he will aim to retain his spot on the US World Team.
CPHS senior Kasidy Holland signed to play collegiate volleyball at Friends University, an NAIA school in Wichita, Kansas, competing in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference.
The team captain and outside hitter was a Frontier Valley All-Conference honorable mention this season and helped lead the team to their second and third winningest seasons in school history over the course of her career.
Holland will join teammates Teyha Johnson and Charley Fahland, who previously signed with Friends in February.
Three Charles Page High School alumnae won titles in their respective softball divisions on Saturday, May 14th.
Sydney Pennington scored the go-ahead run in an upset of No. 1 Oklahoma Saturday afternoon at USA Hall of Fame Stadium. The redshirt senior scored on a bases-loaded walk in the top of the eighth inning to propel Oklahoma State University to its first Big 12 Tournament Championship.
Rogers State sophomore Kimi Presnell helped lift her team to an NCAA Division II Regional Championship Saturday in Claremore.
The Hillcats had to battle back from the losers bracket after a Friday loss to Minnesota State, but won their first rematch 8-2 in a 15-inning showdown.
Presnell hit an RBI double in the final inning and Rogers went on to win 4-0 in the “if” game.
Missouri State University redshirt sophomore Jacie Taber didn’t come out of the bullpen on Saturday, but her team won a 10-4 battle with Northern Iowa in the Missouri Valley Conference Championship.
