Boys Track Earns Regional Runner Up Honors
Launch the media gallery 1 playerEnid, OK - The Boys track team headed to Enid, OK and Chisholm HS this past weekend and came away with a runner up finish in the Class 4A Regional Championship. This was a great finish for Bethany as four of the top ten teams in the state were competing in this regional, making it one of the tougher ones out of the four regional meets statewide. In Oklahoma athletes who finish in the top three at the regional championship advance to the State Championship. After the top three spots are advanced the next four best times all of the regionals around the state also advance to create a field of 16 athletes at the State Championships.
Bethany qualified three relay's for the state championships and would have qualified four had it not been for a dropped baton in the 4 x 200 Meter Relay. The 4 x 100 Meter Relay ran extremely well in their preliminary and final races on the day and came away with a 2nd place finish. That relay team is made up of Scott Lynch, Nate Jones, Justin Koonce, and Jackson Howard. The 4 x 800 Meter Relay team also ran extremely well on the day and had a season's best time of 8:26.83 which was the third best time statewide in this relay heading into the state meet. Blake Balenseifen led off the 4 x 800 team and was followed by Carson Sandvik, Jeremiah Martinez, and Tyler Cobb. The 4 x 400 meter relay team didn't run their best time of the year, but they did manage to snag one of the at-large qualifier spots based on their time after a 5th place finish in the regional. That mile relay is made up of Jones, Lynch, Howard, and Zack Copeland.
The boys team also had several outstanding performances in the individual events that allowed them to qualify for the state track meet. Freshman Jalen Beaver had a dramatic come from behind finish to snag 3rd place in the 100 Meter Dash and qualify for the state championship meet. In the 200 Meter Dash both Jackson Howard (2nd) and Scott Lynch (5th) qualified for the state meet in a tough and loaded regional finals race. Tyler Cobb ran a time in the 800 Meter Run that allowed him to qualify for an at-large spot despite a 5th place finish. The real individual stars of the day were Carson Sandvik and Cameron Jernigan for Bethany as they both qualified in the 1600 Meter Run and 3200 Meter Run. Sandvik finished as the regional champion in the 1600 meters and was the runner up in the 3200 Meter Run. Jernigan finished in 3rd place in the 3200 Meter Run for an automatic qualifier spot and had a 4th place finish in the 1600 Meter Run to snag an at-large spot. Cobb also qualified in an at-large position for the 1600 Meter Run. The lone field event participant for the boys team will be Payton Harrell who came away with an at-large qualifier spot in the pole vault after a 5th place finish.
Also of note was Junior Lawson Stout in the 110 Meter Hurdles and 300 Meter Hurdles. Stout ran season's best times in both events to go 5th place, but was unable to snag an at-large spot despite running times fast enough to win the regional held in Ardmore at Plainview HS. Unfortunately the Chisholm regional was extremely difficult in the hurdle events and he was edged out in the 110 Meter Hurdles by just 0.03 seconds by an athlete from another regional for the last at-large spot.
The state championships for Class 4A will be held at Moore High School in Moore, OK on May 4-5, 2018. We will post a full schedule of Bethany qualifiers and events here on BethanyBronchos.com later this week. Click below for the full results from this past weekends Regional Championships.
Class 4A Regional Championship Results