Carl Albert boys break 5A state meet record in 4×200 relay

The 2024 Oklahoma high school track and field state meet for Classes 6A and 5A began Friday in Western Heights.

Several championship events were held as well as preliminaries, and the competition will conclude on Saturday.

Here are some takeaways from day one.

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Carl Albert boys break Class 5A state meet record in 4×200

Carl Albert’s 4×200-meter relay team fell just 0.08 seconds short of reaching its goal last season.

Deontra Dukes, Byron Stubbs, Trystan Haynes and Trey Washington had a strong race at the Class 5A state meet, but John Marshall edged out the Titans for the title by finishing in 1:28.39.

This defeat was a motivation for Carl Albert’s four sprinters during the offseason.

“We told our coaches, ‘We don’t want to feel like this anymore,'” said Washington, an OU junior football player.

Carl Albert came into this year’s state meet with something to prove, and the Titans’ performance ended up landing them in the Oklahoma high school record books.

Carl Albert completed the relay in 1:26.60, winning the championship and breaking the Class 5A state meet record, which was 1:27.00 and set by Lawton MacArthur in 2015.

Carl Albert posted a time of 1:26.95 at the regional championships, but he was even better on Friday.

“We always come into the competition with hopes of winning first place, but just to see that happen after last year means the world to all of us,” Haynes said.

Like Washington, Haynes is a junior committed to OU football and plays both wide receiver and defensive back for the Titans.

Washington committed to the Sooners alongside teammate Marcus James in November, while Haynes announced his commitment this week.

They will focus on football at the next level, but there is no doubt that competing in track and field will allow them to become better players on the field.

“It helps me a lot because I focus heavily on speed, being that of a cornerback,” Haynes said. “So coming here competing with the people who are the fastest in the state, being able to improve while working on my speed to help my football talent, that’s just everything.”

Carl Albert is in a tight race atop the team standings in the Class 5A boys division.

Tulsa Lincoln Christian leads with 37 points, while the Titans are second with 32 and Lawton MacArthur third with 27.

“The work is not done yet,” Washington said. “We’re trying to win everything.”

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Deer Creek’s Brody Woodcock wins 3,200 in Class 6A

Deer Creek’s Brody Woodcock and Edmond North’s Zac Rutherford battled throughout the school year.

The senior distance runners are both signed with Division I colleges, with Woodcock preparing to head to Tulsa and Rutherford committed to Arkansas-Little Rock.

And although Rutherford won the Class 6A state cross country title in the fall and Woodcock placed third, Woodcock emerged victorious Friday.

Woodcock won the Class 6A championship in the 3,200 by finishing in 9:09.92, while Rutherford placed second with a time of 9:16.92.

Woodcock placed third in the race at last year’s state meet finishing it in 9:27.08. His time this year was close to the state meet record, held by Kevin Thatcher, who finished in 9:08.70 with Edmond Memorial in the 1982 state meet.

“He ran really well,” Deer Creek coach David Riden said. “It’s kind of fun to watch him run.” He makes hard things look easy and he’s really humble about it. He ran very well. He ran his race, I think, pretty much the way he wanted.

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Mustang’s Emily Cloutier wins Class 6A pole vault title

Mustangs senior Emily Cloutier set the state record in the pole vault at the regional championships last week, clearing 13 feet, 2 inches.

Although she didn’t match that performance on Friday, she still did enough to win gold.

Cloutier won the Class 6A championship with a score of 12-8.

She was more than a foot better than her competitors as Moore senior Alisondra Pope was runner-up at 11-6.

Cloutier’s performance was the highlight of a strong day for the Mustang girls. The Broncos are in second place with 31.21 points, while Jenks leads with 48.

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Other notable performances

● Moore junior and Oklahoma State softball commit Libby Jaques won the Class 6A shot put title with a 44-4 draw. Edmond North senior Hayden Wolfe won on the boys side with a throw of 55-9.50, and the Huskies have a 44-39 lead over Broken Arrow atop the team standings.

● Midwest City senior De’Yanna Douglas won the Class 5A championship in the discus (139-5). She set the state record in the shot put with a 46-9 toss while competing in Class 6A at the state meet last season. Douglas will compete in the shot put on Saturday.

●Tulsa Lincoln Christian leads the Class 5A girls standings. The Bulldogs have 51 points and are followed by Grove (26), Muskogee (20) and Glenpool (20).

Nick Sardis covers high school sports for The Oklahoman. Do you have a story idea for Nick? He can be contacted at [email protected] or on Twitter at @nicksardis. Sign up for the Varsity Club newsletter for more high school coverage. Support Nick’s work and that of other Oklahoma journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at Subscribe.oklahoman.com.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OSSAA Track: Carl Albert boys break 5A state meet record in 4×200