— Tahlequah senior Jessica Hembree is back in the groove.

And the rest of the Lady Tigers are right there with her as all emerged as Class 5A regional champions at the 4A-6A regional held  Saturday at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa.

Leading the way was Hembree, a former two-time state champion who finished a comfortable 25 seconds ahead of the runner-up, Grove’s Michaela Werner. Hembree’s time on the two-mile course was 12 minutes, 20 seconds.

Just over a year ago and mere yards from a state three-peat, Hembree broke her ankle just shy of the finish line. She’ll get a chance at redemption next week.

Hembree had company among her teammates. Gracie Medellin was fourth in 12:58, Amy Hembree was 10th in 13:27. Lindsey Chaffin was 12th in 13:32 and Breanna Duncan was 20th in 14:00.

Even the two performances that didn’t go toward the team total of 47 points were near the front. Madison Reed was 25th in 14:08. Alejandra Medellin was 33rd in 14:31. Still, Tahlequah just edged Metro Christian, which scored five in the top 18 and seven total runners were no worse than 22nd.

Kelsey McKee of Metro was third in 12:51 and Madi Duncan fifth in 13:09.

Tahlequah’s boys finished third with 92 points, trailing Coweta (70) and Metro Christian (87). Tahlequah’s Zech VanFleet won the boys division in 17:21 on the 5,000-meter boys course, one second ahead of Metro Christian’s Jim Pile. Three Tigers were in the top 15 — Mohamed Bassime was seventh in 18:03, Ara Poteete was 15th in 18:31. Also for Tahlequah, Seth Martin (19:17) took 32nd and Ty Trammel  (19:34) was 37th. The field consisted of 102 runners.

In Class 6A, Filo Espinosa was Muskogee’s best finisher, coming in 26th of 56 with a time of 18:26. Tops in the 101-member field was Bishop Kelley’s Sean Kane, who finished in 16:37. Teamwise, the Roughers were 12th of 15 teams. Dalton Harnage was 58th in 20:01. Jenks, Bishop Kelley and Edmond North were 1-2-3 in the team standings.

Muskogee’s girls, whose best time was LaShai Nunley’s 16:52, finished at the bottom of a 14-team field led by Edmond North, followed by Jenks then Broken Arrow. Nunley was 77th of 92 runners.

Class 4A saw Fort Gibson’s girls take 11th with Lillian Bear earning a state bid with a 19th-place finish in 14:02. Vinita, Newcastle and Claremore Sequoyah were 1-2-3 in the team standings. Cheyenne Cowett of Fort Gibson was 45th among the 102 runners with a 14:59. Sydney Lawrence of Stilwell won the regional in 12:02.

Lincoln Christian won the 4A boys meet with Jay second and Mannford third. Baylor Harvey of Cleveland was top individual among 96 runners with a 16:49. Fort Gibson’s Nick Nunez was the lone area runner and took 90th in 24:42.



3A-2A state

Sequoyah runner Terrance Nofire ran a 16:42 and took second place among Class 3A boys at the 3A-2A state meet Saturday, held at Gordon Cooper Technology Center in Shawnee.

Nofire was 34 seconds behind Chris Lowery of Chandler’s 16:08.

The Indians, who got two others in the top 20, finished third with 123 points. Cayden Salazar ran a 17:55 for 18th and Jordan Galvan was 19th in 17:59. Plainview won with 60 points followed by runner-up Marlow (110).

Eufaula’s Cole Montgomery, the only qualifier for the Ironheads, took 16th in 17:42.

Also scoring for Sequoyah, Brandon Samuels was 57th in 19:16 and Snow Eagle was 59th in 19:28 among the firld of 114 runners.

In Class 3A girls, Keys was seventh with 212 points and Sequoyah 11th with 242 as Plainview, Marlow and Jones were 1-2-3 in the team competition. The top area individual was Vian’s Mykala Rich, who finished seventh in 12:32. Alex Davis of Plainview was champion in 11:02.

Sequoyah’s Kayla Davis was 11th in 13:11, best among her team. Keys had Mylee Hewitt in 29th (13:35), McKenzie Garner (13:41) 32nd, Sierra Cox (13:45) 34th and Brenna Scott (13:57) in 45th.

Taylor Henry of Sequoyah was 58th (14:15), Lauren Henson (14:26)  62nd, Macey Twoshields (14:33) 66th and Kelsey Linch (15:06) in 78th among 105 runners.

Hulbert’s boys were 11th of 14 teams in 3A with 254 points. Tonkawa, which won both boys and girls state team titles, scored 50 points, followed by Quinton with 98 and Watonga in third with 119. Corey Kerr was 28th in 19:24. Also scoring for the Riders were Ty Drywater (20:08) in 54th, Will Craig (20:29) 68th, Trenton Vaughn (21:57)  81st and Ricco Wynn (22:16) 83rd.

Warner’s girls were 10th of 15 schools in 3A, scoring 207 points. Trailing Tonkawa’s 86 points at the top was Boise City (99) and Burns Flat (134).

Warner’s Becky Kauffman ran a time of 14 minutes flat and finished 35th of 114 runners. Taylor Stout was 50th (14:48), Bailey Short 55th (14:53),  Allie Davis 65th (15:24) and Jessica Kauffman (15:32) in 69th.