Published: October 31, 2009 11:34 pm      

Antlers grab Buck-to-Buck titles

Deer Creek's Taler Buck follows in brother's foot steps with state title

Taler Buck knows all about the tradition at Deer Creek. He’d heard all about Adam Young leading the Antlers to a state title two years ago, and saw his brother Dakota win it all last fall. This year it was his turn.

The sophomore kept that tradition alive as he cruised to an individual state title, finishing nearly 13 seconds ahead of Guthrie’s Jason Ogan Saturday afternoon at the Class 5A state cross country meet at Mitch Park.

“I wanted to keep the chain going so bad, I didn’t want a space in there, so I worked really hard this year,” Buck said.

After running third for the leg of the 5k race, Buck pulled in the lead at the second mile marker. And he made sure Jason Ogan didn’t sneak past him this time.

“I kept looking back because that Guthrie kid has a kick and he beat me with that a lot last year, so I wanted to make sure he wasn’t just sprinting and trying to catch up,” Buck said.

Deer Creek coach David Riden said he knew Buck had a good shot to win and believed the hard work paid off on Saturday.

“I thought he would win it going in, he was regional champ and he’d beaten every kid in our class throughout the year,” Riden said. “He’s a hard worker, a great kid and he’s just a sophomore, so there’s a lot more that he can accomplish.”

Buck, who finished the race in 16:33, also had company in the front of the pack. Senior Aaron White was right with him much of the race and came in third overall with a time of 16:50.

“That was a great way for (White) to finish his career, he passed like three or four kids in the last 400 to get third,” Riden said.

But it wasn’t quite enough to upset rival Guthrie, which came away with the team title. The Bluejays placed five runners in the top 15 and won the 5A boys title with 43 points. Deer Creek was next with 58 and Bishop McGuinness rounded out the top three with 95.

“Guthrie is a really good opponent, we couldn’t lose to a better group of kids, we’ve been chasing them all year,” Riden said.

Deer Creek also got a strong showing from freshman Jake Moslander, who was all-state honorable mention with a 14th-place finish. Christian Caviness was next for the Antlers in 16th place (17:28), Kody Ewing placed 28th (18:03) and K.J. Nigg finished 33rd (18:06).