Oklahoma 4A Cross Country Final Rankings 2021: Cache and Cascia Hall Win the Close Ones

The final 2021 4A poll, posted October 24th, missed both winners — but only by a little, and the races were close enough that nobody can claim robbery. Boys’ poll: Oklahoma Christian School No. 1. Champions: Cache, 70 points, from No. 3. Girls’ poll: Byng No. 1. Champions: Cascia Hall, 76 points, from No. 2. Two near-misses, two deserving champions, and a season-best list that predicted neither individual winner.

The boys: OCS, Lincoln Christian, Cache, Byng, Metro Christian in the poll; Cache 70 at state. Seventy points is a solid, professional win — not a blowout, not a squeaker. The voters had Cache third, which means they saw a contender and just liked two other teams better. That’s the most forgivable kind of wrong.

The girls: Byng, Cascia Hall, Pauls Valley, Lincoln Christian, OCS in the poll; Cascia Hall 76 at state with scorers going 6-13-14-16-27. Look at that line — no superstars, no top-five finishers, just five kids between 6th and 27th running like a metronome. That’s the platonic ideal of pack running, and it’s why the poll’s No. 2 beat the poll’s No. 1. Byng had the ranking; Cascia Hall had the compression.

Now the season-best wrinkle. The 4A individual rankings had Cascia Hall’s Avery Gonzales fastest among girls at 11:56.94 and Lincoln Christian’s Andrew Smithwick fastest among boys at 16:01.05. The state champions: Tuttle’s Madi Surber (12:01.81) and Harding Charter Prep’s Ryan McLaughlin. Neither September leader won in October. And Surber’s Tuttle team finished 13th — the fastest girl in the state race ran for a team nowhere near the team picture. Times in September are trivia; places in October are trophies.

The rest of the boys’ poll: Seminole, Bethany, Community Christian, Elk City, Mannford, Cascia Hall, Sulphur, Plainview, Poteau, Blanchard, Holland Hall, Anadarko, Bridge Creek, Cushing, Berryhill, Perkins-Tryon. Girls: Pauls Valley, Lincoln Christian, OCS, Kingfisher, Madill, Anadarko, Plainview, Cache, Metro Christian, Poteau, Community Christian, Perkins-Tryon, Sulphur, Blanchard, Tuttle, Wagoner, Skiatook, Verdigris, Berryhill.

2021 4A: two close polls, two close races, and a reminder that the fastest September time is just a rumor November hasn’t checked yet.

Final poll via ohstrack.com (2021); state results via the OSSAA championships recap.