By: Rodrigo Solis
Special to Guthrie Sports Page
The Guthrie Bluejays competed at the class 5A state meet in Moore this past weekend. The Bluejays took 17 athletes to compete in nine individual and six relay events at the biggest meet of the year.
Friday started off with some outstanding performances from both the boys and girls 4 x 800 meter relay teams.
The girls team composed of Mercy Dement, Tori Wells, Sierra Warner and Allie Guggisberg came in ranked in seventh place. The Lady Jays ran an impressive 10:02 which is 16 seconds faster than their previous best time. Guthrie edged out Altus near the end to place them in second.
The relay anchor, Guggisberg, talked about what was going through her head as she was going down that last stretch.
“I didn’t wanna let my team down, I knew I could do it” said Guggisberg.
The boys 4 x 800 meter relay came in seeded first after last week’s regionals. Only a two second gap kept the Bluejays from becoming state champions as Tecumseh came up with the title.
Coach James Strahorn talked about the boys disappointment after not being able to finish in first place.
“That was our second best time of the year. You can’t always expect to run your fastest at the state meet.”
Guthrie will return all four runners next year and hope to improve from this year’s performance.
Wells, a junior, had a great run in the two mile. With one lap to go she moved up two spots to finish fifth with a time of 12:36 and get on the podium for the third straight year.
Other state competitors on Friday included: boys 4 x 100 (Kaiden Ballard-Stevenson, Caedmon Guggisberg, Tahliq Jackson and Jabez Trekell).
Boys 110 and 300 hurdles with Stetson Harkness.
Girls 4 x 200 Keyana Trekell, Warner, Jules Leach and Denae Davenport. Boys 4 x 200 with Ballard-Stevenson, Caedmon Guggisberg, Jackson and Coonfield.
Saturday saw some great individual performances from the Jays.
The boys 800 meter run included, Coonfield and fellow junior Trevor Sallee.
With an impressive finish, Coonfield moved up as he improved his personal record (PR) by two seconds (1:56:63) and took fourth place. Sallee also improved his PR with a 1:57:93 as he placed sixth.
After not qualifying for state by 0.3 seconds last year, Davenport, a senior, came back this year with a strong performance at the state meet. With a time of 49:80 seconds Davenport took fifth place to finish off her high school career.
Three Lady Jays: Allie Guggisberg, Dement and Wells competed in the mile. After a tough race in the 800 meters two hours earlier, Dement ran a 10 second PR (5:26) and placed third in the mile.
Allie Guggisberg, a senior, had never qualified in the mile before, but she ran a 5:34 to wrap up her last race as a Bluejay.
Even though Wells did not place in this event, her seventh place finish added points for the Lady Jays in the overall score.
On the boys side, after feeling a little bit tired by running the 800, Sallee took fourth place with a time of 4:28. Sallee placed in the mile for the third straight year and helped the Jays by medaling in three different events.
Other state competitors on Saturday included the girls 800 meters with Dement, girls shot put Niah Everly, girls 4 x 400 team of Trekell, Warner, Leach and Davenport.
The Lady Jays finished 9th out of 32 teams, while the Bluejays finished 11th out of 29.
Rodrigo Solis Ruiz is a graduate of Guthrie High School is attending Oklahoma State University and majoring in sports media.
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