The Red Dirt Runner2020 · High School Cross Country
Oklahoma 4A Cross Country Final Rankings 2020: Plainview Validates, and a Champion Hiding in Plain Sight
The final 2020 4A poll, posted October 25th, split the difference: it nailed the girls and missed the boys. Girls’ poll: Plainview No. 1, and Plainview won with 87. Boys’ poll: Community Christian No. 1. Champions: Oklahoma Christian Heritage, 79 points — a team the poll’s top four (Community Christian, Cache, Lincoln Christian, Oklahoma Christian School) didn’t include at all.
The girls’ validation is worth a moment: Plainview 87, champions, poll No. 1. In a season of uncertainty, the surest thing in 4A was the team everyone agreed on. The rest of the girls’ poll: Byng, Kingfisher, Metro Christian, Lincoln Christian, Madill, Weatherford, Community Christian, Verdigris, Jay, Cushing, Oklahoma Christian School, Newcastle, Perkins-Tryon, Blanchard, Holland Hall, Harrah, Bridge Creek, Anadarko, Inola, Poteau.
The boys’ miss is the bigger story. The poll’s top four had no room for Oklahoma Christian Heritage, and OCH put up 79 to win it. Seventy-nine isn’t a squeaker — it’s a team that was better than the poll knew. The poll was built on a season of scattered, half-cancelled meets; some teams just didn’t get seen. That’s not an excuse, it’s 2020.
The individual champion was Holland Hall’s Libby Rowland. Holland Hall was No. 16 in the girls’ team poll. The fastest girl in 4A ran for the sixteenth-ranked team. If that doesn’t tell you the difference between ranking programs and racing people, nothing will.
The rest of the boys’ poll: Byng, Madill, Bethany, Holland Hall, Elk City, Newcastle, Poteau, Weatherford, Blanchard, Wagoner, Plainview, Kingfisher, Tecumseh, Anadarko, Seminole, Mannford.
2020 4A: the girls’ poll was a mirror, the boys’ poll missed a champion hiding in plain sight, and the fastest girl in the class ran for the No. 16 team. That season didn’t do normal.
Final poll via ohstrack.com (2020); state results via the OSSAA championships recap. The 2020 season was run under COVID restrictions, with a patched-together schedule.