Cross Country season gets off to a fast start in Ponca City

The Guthrie High School cross country teams opened their season on Tuesday with team wins in the Ponca City Cross Country Meet.

Head Coach James Strahorn took 33 athletes to the race and 32 came away with medals. With the dominance, Guthrie won the varsity team titles.

The Lady Jays took the team title with some comfort by totaling 17 team points. Next was Cherokee High School’s 71 points.

The Bluejays team win was much closer. One point, actually. The Jays edged Capitol Hill 45 to 46.

For the Bluejays, once again, it was Trevor Sallee leading the charge and coming across the finish line first with a time of 11:47.

Loren Husky and JD Coonfield finished with top 10 places with third and sixth place, respectively.

The Jays appear to have added depth this season with the addition with two freshmen in Grant Mayer and Dawson Sallee. In their first varsity race, Mayer finished in 15th place and Dawon Sallee in 20th.

In the girl’s race, Guthrie witness the first four runners come across the line.

Last year state medalists Mercy Dement and Tori Wells were joined by Allie Guggisberg and Sierra Warner. Right behind them was newcomer Abby Chalk with a seventh place finish.

Dement, a junior, walked away as the individual winner with a time of 15 minutes.

Guggisberg, a senior, and Wells, a junior, finished with the exact run time of 15:33, while Warner was only a second behind. In her first race, Chalk, a sophomore, came in at the 16:03 mark.

Both teams will take a brief timeout from competition until they travel to Deer Creek on August 25.

Pictured below is the Guthrie High School varsity team