Published: November 02, 2009 03:01 pm      

Perfect season ends with gold for Lady Huskies

North girls win second cross country title in last three years

The Edmond North girls have set the pace for the state all season long and they had no trouble doing it for one more day. After barely missing out a year ago, the Lady Huskies came through with their second state title in the last three years as they edged Westmoore for the Class 6A girls crown Saturday afternoon at Mitch Park.

“It’s amazing,” North sophomore Meredith Farley said. “Last year we wanted it so bad, so this year we knew we all had to want it, and all get through it because it will be worth it. And I’m so happy we won.”

The North girls, who also won the academic state championship with a 4.0 team grade point average, took the Class 6A state title with a score of 56 points. Defending state champion Westmoore was second with 77 points, after finishing a close second at regionals last week in Norman.

“That was so exciting because we didn’t know if we were going to win because we barely won regionals,” North junior Hannah Helker said.

Senior Ashley Webb, who was a member of the 2007 state championship team, believes experience was the difference for the North girls, who finished the season undefeated against state competition.

“Last year was the first year for a lot of those girls to run and this year we only had one new girl,” Webb said. “And I think everyone just felt a lot more comfortable, our group was more excited than nervous.”

Jenks’ Jacquelynn Skocik won the individual state title with a time of 11:49 and helped the Lady Trojans to a third-place finish. Memorial was next in fourth place with 120 points and Santa Fe came in seventh with 201.

Farley and Anna Kimsey set the pace for the Lady Huskies, as they both earned all-state honors. Farley was the first North runner through the gate, taking sixth with a time of 12:09. Kimsey was close behind in eighth place at 12:12.

Webb and Helker were all-state honorable mention, taking 11th and 12th. Webb, who was third at state last season, crossed the finish line at 12:19.05, while Helker was next at 12:19.76. Senior Megan Watson rounded out the North scoring with a 20th place finish (12:44).

“This was a great year for the girls,” North coach Kent Douglas said. “Ashely Webb and Megan Watson being my two seniors, this is what you want to do when you have seniors. You want to go out on a good note and they knew what is was going to take”

Memorial’s Tara Lewis led all Edmond girls with an impressive fourth-place finish. The sophomore clocked a time of 12:03.74, finishing just under a half of second behind Jenks’ Paige Barnes.

“I’m ok with it because I gave it everything I have,” Lewis said about the close finish. “I was a little tired at the end, but overall I was pretty pleased.”

Lauren Talbert was next for the Lady ‘Dogs in 42nd place (13:09), Hannah Robinson came in 54th (13:25) and Carley Ellis was 61st (13:32).

Lexie Crist led the way for Santa Fe, finishing 25th with a time of 12:53. Kelsea Wertzberger was 39th (13:06), Hannah Weiss came in 43rd (13:09) and Alyssa Nale took 53rd (13:24).